Was busted to tell y'all that
I wrote it down on here, so I wouldn't forget again If you would turn
to Exodus chapter 16 again And try and talk some more about
Christ our manna D manna Let's read verse 15 16 I don't figure I'll get any further
than that. And when the children of Israel
saw it, they said one to another, it is manna, for they wist not
what it was. And Moses said unto them, this
is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the
thing which the Lord hath commanded, gather of it every man according
to his eating. an omer for every man according
to the number of your persons. Take ye every man for them which
are in his tents. And the children of Israel did
so and gathered some more and some less. I spoke last week about the manna. It was a new thing. And it was
delivered here to the children of Israel in the wilderness after
everything else that had happened to them. There's a progression
here, there's an order here that God has laid out and we can see
in this order our salvation, a pattern, an order to what we
see as far as from our point of view and actually somewhat
of what God does. Israel had a position before
the blood was shed. When the blood was shed they
left Egypt and they left Egypt forever. They went through the
Red Sea leaving Egypt behind and here they are now in the
wilderness and God has delivered the manna right to them. Christ is the bread come down
from heaven, given to you. This is a picture of Christ.
Now, verse 16, this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded.
Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every
man according to the number of your persons, Take ye every man
for them which are in his tents. Now we have the commandment concerning
the manna as given by a man that God had appointed and was telling
the children of Israel what they were to do with this manna. The
manna is here by the command of the Lord, the manna is here
is a gift from the Lord. First they're told what it was,
then they're told what to do. But, this point is very clear,
without the Lord there is no manna. Period. With the Lord,
manna is commanded, thereby and therefore this manna is necessary
to the children of Israel here in this place that they're
at. This is a thing that the Lord
commanded. And it's right here all around
you. It had fell. Now, well, I'll reiterate. which is a fancy way of saying
repeat myself. This manna, I want to repeat
this, this manna was only around the children of Israel and nowhere
else. It was there and nowhere else.
The manna was not for the Egyptians. The manna is not for the world.
And these instructions that Moses is going to give are not for
the Egyptians. and not for the world. Because
these are the instructions, this is the command of God concerning
the manna which was delivered to the children and to the children
only. God's message is always particular. He sends his message to his people
and he sends somebody to tell him his message. Do you want
to know about the manna? Listen to the man God sent you.
This man is going to tell them of the manna, Moses. What to
do and what it's for. Christ Jesus came into this world
to do the will of his father. And we are commanded to tell
you of it. He, Christ, is our man. Our bread from heaven he is our
sustenance And he is our sustenance our
food by the command of God The Lord won't keep you guessing When he wants you to know something
or when he wants you to know better yet someone He'll send
a messenger to you with His message. I'm reminded of the Ethiopian
eunuch in the chariot. And he was reading the book of
Isaiah. And the Lord sent him Philip. And Philip asked the man, joined
him in the chariot, and said, do you understand what you're
reading? And he asked him, he said, how can I understand except
some man explain it to me? So Philip took the book of Isaiah
Preach to him Jesus isaiah 53 to be exact God sends a message with his
food with the sustenance There are some commandments concerning
the manna And you'll find out if you'll
hear the message and the manna the first commandment the first
thing commanded here is this one word. Gather. Gather. Gather. Now is that too
simple? Not really. Where do we start? It's all around
you. Christ is all around His people. And only his people will see
him." Now these Israelites had been separated completely from
the world. They were out in the wilderness
by themselves. We are not, but we are in the
wilderness nonetheless sometimes. After the blood was shed, after
they pass through the Red Sea. After regeneration, when God
gives life to the dead soul, you will begin to see Christ
all around you. Things you have never seen before
and Him whom you have never seen before. And we are together. The manna is of no value to you
unless you gather. This is the provision of the
Lord for you. And this manna is always valuable. Pay attention. He said gather. What do you do when you gather?
Something's out there? You pick it up and you take it
to yourself. You bring it to yourself. You pick it up. There are things for us to do
here. We are to pay attention to this
world, and we are to pay attention to the message of Christ for
us in this world. We are in it. We're not of it,
but we are in it. Because it's there. Pick it up. It's all around you. Gather! God commands it. This is the
first commandment of the manna. Gather! It says later on, if you leave
it, it'll disappear. It'll melt away. When you see
Christ, take it to yourself. Gather. hold it in your heart,
hold it in your head, hold it in your mind. I know it's hard
sometimes when you're at work, when you're surrounded by the
world and you're surrounded by unbelievers. But the truth of
God can even come to you in the midst of that. Even when you're driving down
77 and you see a stupid billboard, you see it. You recognize it. And I look at that and I thought,
my goodness. Some people are very impressed
by that. They think that billboard's holy. And the same people would know
the truth if it bit them somewhere. But I can see that and know that,
hey, that's not the truth of the gospel. Christ is who you need to know.
Christ is who this world doesn't know. Christ is who this world
leaves out, or distorts, or lies flat out about. And we are to
gather Christ. This is the commandment for the
manna, not for anything else. In this wilderness, where they
are right here, this is the only food they have. Now, let me make this clear. We are to remember where we are,
where the children of Israel are in this progression, in the
book of Exodus. Because this is not speaking
of a type or a shadow of salvation. They've already left Egypt behind. We are to gather here, gather
the manna because of salvation. The salvation of the Lord. They
have seen the salvation of the Lord. Why? Because he showed
it to them. How do you see the salvation
of the Lord? The only way to see it is for him to show it
to you. There is no other way. The blood has been shed. They've
already seen the salvation of the Lord. They've already gone
forward. But the manna is something commanded
by the Lord that they need today. Gather. That's the commandment. No one was told to gather in
Egypt. Why? Because they didn't see
any manna in Egypt. This is what we are commanded
to do after salvation, when conversion has started. Gather. But gather the manna. The children received bread from
their father. And the Lord has commanded this
manna. And we are to gather it. Bring
it to ourselves. Bring it close. Now, who is to gather? Every
man. Now, I don't believe this exempts
women. It's every person. Every man is to gather. Everyone. No one is exempted from this
command. not rich, not poor, not bond,
not free, Levite or Benjamite, all the tribes and all the people
are to gather. No one is left out, no one is
accepted. Accepted, no, accepted. Manna is for all of the congregation. because all of the congregation
are together. Every man. Christ is for all of his people. I know that seems simple. It
is. But every man's together. Smart men, dumb men, rich men,
poor men, doesn't matter. If you're a part of the congregation,
the Lord has commanded you to gather. And to gather Christ. To gather the things of Christ.
To gather the knowledge of Christ. To learn of Him. In so doing,
you learn of the Father. Because no man can see the Father
except they see the Son. And if you know the son, you
will know the father. And then it says, according to
each, according to his eating. Now, what does this mean? Well, I put down here, basically
it's your appetite. Every man is together. Do you have an appetite? Gather. Do you have an appetite for Christ? Gather. Some people may have a bigger
appetite than others. Some people gather more than
others. But we are to gather the manna.
Every man to his each eating, every man to his eating. Manna is good food. My biggest problem is that I
like junk food. I can be distracted by this world. I'm not to be distracted, I'm
to gather. I can be captivated by technology. No, I'm to gather Christ. We are to gather all to whom
the manna has been delivered and seen are to gather. And we are to gather according
to your appetite. There are differing appetites
for different people. Some eat more, some eat less.
Some gather more, some gather less. But all need to eat. The Lord gave the bread of the
children. What's it say? This is the bread
which the Lord hath given you to eat. And in order to consume
it, to take it within, you've got to gather. You've got to
pay attention. See Him, Christ, everywhere and
gather Him into yourself. Is there a desire in you, an
appetite for Christ? Earl used to ask if you have
an interest in this. That's true as much after you're
saved as it is before you're saved. Because we're still commanded
to gather now. I know I've been in places and
there are some that have been here after they made a profession
and it seemed to have an appetite for Christ. They didn't seem
to want to gather Mason. They didn't care. They decided
to be somewhere else. This is the place that I come
to get food for my soul, to hear his word preached, to hear about
him, to learn of him, and to gather together with people who
love him. Because the next thing it says,
according to the number of your persons, there's enough for everyone. There is enough Christ. There's
never any lack of Christ. There's never any lack in Christ. I've got something wandering
around here on the desk. According to the number of your
persons and take for everyone in your tents. We're family. Don't forget the family. Don't forget the family when
you're gathering. Don't forget the family. The manna is for everyone in
the family, in the family of God. Is there some that are too old
to gather? Gather for them. their son too young to gather,
gather for them. And you take it as according
to the number of persons in your household. We are to take care
of the family. We are to share the manna with
those in our tents. This is the first instruction,
gather. But the second part is to share
what you've gathered. Believers are not solitary creatures. They're never solitary. Even
if there's no one else around you, the man is there with you. Christ is there with you. But
believers are not to be solitary creatures. We are not to be hermits. I still am reminded of that story.
I can't remember. I think it was in Fox's Book
of Martyrs where these two guys, they were fed up with the world.
This is back in, you know, way back in the old days. And they
went up in a cave and decided to become hermits so they could
dedicate themselves to doing nothing but praying and whatever.
After a little while, they decided this is kind of stupid. That's
not exactly the way they put it, but they said it was of no
profit. Because we are to be in the world, but we are to be
with each other. The family of God is important
to God. And we are to take care. We are
to share. We are to be with the family. Because if you are here, this
is where you are. If you're here, I'm hoping it's
because this is where you desire to be. And if you're here, this is what
you are to desire to eat the manna. It says, verse 17, the children
of Israel did so and gathered some more and some less. What can I say here? They obeyed. Don't look surprised, because
I suspect the hand of God here. And by here, I mean right here
in the wilderness with the children. Because why are the children
of Israel here, in this wilderness, surrounded by this manna, in
this place, and more importantly, in this condition, He brought
them there. He passed over them. He had them
thrust out of Egypt. He allowed Pharaoh's army to
pursue and catch up to them. He parted the Red Sea and he
brought them into this wilderness. The children of Israel are exactly
where God wanted them to be. in this condition and in this
place, both. And then he provided them food. This is a wilderness. It's a wilderness. It's a desert. There is nothing else. There's no leeks. There's no
onions. There's no flesh pots of Egypt. They had to have food to eat
and to live. So his first commandment is to
gather, and so they did. They had to do so. They were
commanded to do so, and they had to do so. None of this is
accidental. Nothing has been left out of
God's plan, and everything is happening according to the will
of the Father. the manna is necessary for living. Not just life, for living. What does that mean? Well, that
means that Christ is necessary for living. You will gather. Why? Well, when it comes down
to it, you want to. Now he put them in a place where
they had to. There was no other food. And understand the point there,
there is no other food for the believer, for the soul, for the
regenerated person. There is no other food other
than Christ. Everything else is just fluff. They did gather. Some more and
some less, but they gathered. Even though we are the same,
even though we are regenerated the same, even though we are
given faith the same, we are all given light, and we are all
different. Some gathered, some more, some
less. Some see much and gather much. Some see not so much and
gather less. What's missing here? I went looking for it, and I
didn't find it. I was waiting for somebody to
say some gathered not at all. No, no. Some more, some less,
but they all gathered. I mean, if you understand a little
bit about human nature, there's always somebody obstinate. Now,
a lot of times, usually it's me. But no, they all gathered. And they all gathered manna. Only the manna was to be gathered. There's only one light. Christ
is the light. There's only one food for the
regenerate soul. That's the manna. That's the
bread from heaven. That's Jesus Christ, the righteous.
There is only about gathering manna. Gathering nothing else. This is a wilderness. There's
nothing else to gather That's the type. That's the point There
is nothing else for the children of God other than Christ There's
only one food for the sheep of the Good Shepherd Christ is our man the bread which
came down from heaven In the wilderness, there is nothing
else. There is no one else. There are a lot of people who
left. Why? Because they didn't like what
we said. They didn't like who we taught.
They didn't like the Christ we preach. They didn't see the manna, the
bread that came down from heaven. They didn't see Christ. as he
is in this book. And they had no appetite for
it. You understand? They gathered
according to their eating. If you don't want to eat Christ,
if you don't want to consume the manna, if you don't want
to know Christ, if you don't want to hear Christ proclaimed.
You understand, some people, and I do understand this, You
know, some people say sometimes we're hard, okay? We're harsh. We're stern. Because it's here,
it's either Christ or nothing. That's the picture we have in
the wilderness. It's either Christ or it's nothing. There is no
middle ground. There is no compromise. And we do believe a certain thing
here. I've heard other preachers say it and I agree with it. You
can't preach man low enough, and you can't preach Christ high
enough. We are fallen creatures. But
Walter has never preached a message, okay? Accusing me or telling
me something about myself that I haven't already thought about
myself. I know what I am, and I don't know it very well. But there are people, when you
preach this Christ, you preach this manna, they will not have
it. They won't eat. They won't join
with the congregation. And they leave. We've seen it
happen over and over again. The manna is all that the believer
has. Christ is all we have. Just as
it is Christ alone for life that gives life, it is Christ alone
who sustains our life. We need the man. It's our food. He's our food. Now we're going to eat dinner
here later, and I'm ready for it. But that's not food for my
soul, that's food for my body. I rejoice when my Lord is exalted. I rejoice when I'm told of things
He said, and things He did, and things He is doing, and things
He will do, things He has done. I want to learn of Him. And if you don't want to learn
of it, you best make your calling and election sure. That's the
way it is. If you've got no desire, if you're
not going to eat, you might as well go. That's just the way it is. This
is the only food we have for the family of God. And this is
the only food I want for the family of God, for me. for me,
because I'm part of the family too. Let me close just a little
bit with verse 18 here, because this is important. And when they
did meet it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing
over, and he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered every
man according to his eating again. Now it doesn't specify it right
here, but somehow this had to happen, because they meted it
out with an omer. They measured it out. So after
every man, everyone went out and gathered the manna, they came together. Because they
meted it out with an omer, an omer to every man. They gathered
according to their eating. But then it says they did meet
it with an omer. They measured out the manna.
I don't know exactly what an omer is. Nobody else is real
sure either. And it doesn't really matter.
But the congregation evidently gathered together when they were
through gathering manna. What did they do? They assembled.
They assembled. To distribute what? The manna. That's the purpose of an assembly.
It's to distribute manna. They assembled together. What
does it say? Do not forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. As the manner of some is. Why? Why are we not to forsake the
assembling? Because the assembling is essential
to the feeding of your soul. We gather together. Now it says
some gathered more, some gathered less. Keeps repeating that. But
we measure it out. This is not feast or famine.
The food is for all of the congregation. And a brother might have what
you need. And you might have what your
brother needs. We gather together. Over the manna. Because of the
manna. Because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Measure it out to all the congregation,
because the manna is food for all of the congregation. And guess what? There wasn't any lack, and there
wasn't anything left over. Everyone got some manna. All
of the congregation of Israel was fed. There was no waste and
there is no shortage of man. They gathered according to his
eating. And then they gathered together
to meet it out, to share. And they gathered enough for
those in their tents. They gathered enough for all
the people. and then they met together and they shared. Do not forsake the assembling
of yourselves together as a matter of some means. The gathering is necessary. Gathering
the manna and gathering together. Gathering the manna and gathering
together and sharing. There were some who tried to
keep it for the next day. It didn't work out, except for
on the Sabbath. We're not to be hoarders. We are to take care of each other. We are to gather, and we are
to share what we have gathered with each other. And that's in
your tent, and that's here. It's wherever you are and wherever
the others are of the children. It's a gift of God. It's necessary
for your life and your living both. And he's given it to us. Our father, thank you again for
this time and this place. Lord, help us to understand and
to feed upon Christ and to learn of Him and to desire to learn
of Him. Thank you, Lord, for everything
you've done and for all you're doing. In Christ's name we pray.