Go ahead and turn your Bible
to the book of Exodus chapter 16 I'm already like first four or five
verses and Hopefully speak from there About the manna of God Exodus chapter 16 verse 1 says
and They took their journey from Elam all and all the congregation
of the children And all the congregation of the children of Israel came
unto the wilderness of sin Which is in between Elam and Sinai
on the 15th day the second month after their departing out of
the land of Egypt And the whole congregation of the children
of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. That will be a common reoccurring
theme. And the children of Israel said
unto them, would to God that 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. For you have brought us
forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger. Then said the Lord unto Moses, behold, I will rain bread
from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and
gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them whether
they will walk in my law or no. And it shall come to pass 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 I'm going
to stop right there. Walter mentioned the manna last
week and got me thinking about it. And then I went home and
was reading on a PDF book, and there was a thing on the manna.
And I thought, I like this stuff. I do. I mean, I know the reality
is better than the type. And the type is never the same
as the reality. And Christ is the reality of
the bread from heaven. But it fascinates me and it really,
it pleases me to know in that this book, thousands of years
old, predicted, prophesied, Christ's life, his work, and the results
of his work. It also pleases me that I can
pick up a book from a guy who wrote 250 years ago, and I can
read a sermon he preached in 1756, and I can say amen. It's hard to do that with preacher's
work today. It's rare. Extremely rare But
the truth has been preached down through the ages because of our
Lord Jesus Christ It has been preserved and it is a blessing
to us that we have all this So I want to start off saying
basically this manna was a reality for the children of Israel in
the wilderness. It's actually happened. You believe
that? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I also believe that their clothes
didn't wax old or wear out while they were wandering around for
40 years. Their shoes didn't wear out.
Because I've got a God. I know a God. He's revealed himself
to me. They can do far greater things
than that. The amazing thing here, part of it is, if you go
back one chapter, you'll see verse one of 15. Then sang Moses
and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake,
I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously.
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord
is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God. You go a chapter and they're
murmuring. That fast. It says they've been there two
months. But that fast, the depravity of man will always
be with us. It's no different. If this was
just a religious book, it would have been all the people say
amen and then gone on into glory. and everything's been happy and
whole. No, we get the truth of man's behavior toward God and
toward each other in this book. Because man is a creature of
circumstance. And I hate to admit it, but it's
true of me. If my circumstances are bad,
I'm grouchy at best. Now I try not to forswear God
or curse about that, but anything I'm complaining about, I'm complaining
about his providence toward me. And I'm ashamed. Unfortunately, I'm also flesh,
and I'm not ashamed enough to stop. But here it is, the congregation,
singing that God is our salvation. And a month or two later, they're
saying, you brought us out. It would have been better if we
had died in Egypt. But the Lord had made provision
for this. I like the type of Christ in
the Old Testament. It reveals the intricacies and
the designs and the promises and the purpose and the plan
of God from the foundation of the world. And this type here, Christ tells
us later in John, and hopefully we'll get to that, this is a
type of Christ. He said, I am the bread from
heaven. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are
dead. But right here, right now, this manna came down to the whole
congregation of Israel, to the people. That's who the Lord promised
it. Manna was promised and manna
was provided The Lord spoke to Moses and told him that bread
from heaven was coming I'm going to rain bread upon you I'm going
to rain bread upon you and it's going to rain bread for you and
the people That was the plan Because that was his purpose
And because it was his plan and his purpose, he provided it. There should have been no surprise,
but guess what? There was. It's kind of funny
if you'll, let's see, where is it? Verse 15 of Exodus 16. This is, well, verse 14. And
when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of
the wilderness, there lay a small round thing, as small as the
hoarfrost on the ground. And when the children of Israel
saw it, they said to one another, it is manna. For they wish not
what it is, what it was. And Moses said unto him, this
is the bread. Moses said unto them, this is
the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. Now I looked through some of
the things about the word manna. The actual Hebrew translation
given by people of the word manna means what is it? That's what
it means. It means what is it? This manna that was promised
and this manna that was provided when it came, they didn't recognize
it. They didn't know what to have.
Does that sound familiar? He came unto his own, his own
received him not. And the princes of this world
crucified him, why? Because they didn't know who
he was. But that's all right, the Lord
provided that too. Moses said, this is what I told you. This
is what the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. Manna was new to the Israelites.
And it was a mystery to them when it came. They didn't know
what it was. They didn't recognize the bread
from heaven. And they named it, what is it? I don't know, but we're gonna
go out in the morning and get some what is it? Manna had shown up. The bread
from heaven had rained down from heaven, just as the Lord said. And then Moses had to tell them
what it was. It was entirely new to the people,
even though the Lord said it was coming. There should have been no surprise
when Jesus Christ came into this world, but there was. The wise men showed up. They
came from the east. The wise men showed up and asked,
Herod, where is he that is born king of the Jews? And they said,
what? What is this? Herod didn't know. The Jews didn't
know. But it had been revealed to some. when he walked on this earth,
when he talked on this earth, when he told them plainly who
he was, they still didn't understand. Because some can't hear, can't
see, and can't understand. He that has ears to hear, let
him hear. He that have eyes to see, Let
him see. He that has a heart to understand
is rare. Only those given to him by the
Father heard and saw and understood. He taught that. Because until
Christ is revealed, the question always is, who is this? And when you tell people about
the Christ of this Bible, Today in this day Where we've got thousands
of years of history of this Christ actually being preached But it's
not being preached now by the vast majority They'll look at
you and say I Never heard that before They'll look at you like told
Walter he's he belonged to a cult and Y'all coming up with that
new doctrine or something. No, it's the old doctrine. It's
in this Bible. From the beginning to the end,
God has always made a difference in his people. And God has always
saved every single one of his people. I thought about it last
week, Walter, when you talked about that cloud that came down
in between the people of Israel and Pharaoh's men that were chasing
them. God always puts a division. God always puts a division between
His people and the people of the world. It's always been that way. The next thing is manna was prepared
in heaven and it came to earth. Manna came down from heaven overnight. It came down as manna. It came down in its complete
form and manner. We know where it came from because
God told Moses, I'm going to rain bread on you from heaven.
It came from heaven. We knew who it was for because
God told Moses, it's for you. And the people are to gather
it. It came fully formed. Even if they didn't recognize
it, even if they don't recognize it, Christ is fully formed. Christ is the food for the people
of God. It was fully formed before it
got here, it's fully formed when it got here. Manna was prepared
before it got here and it came to the earth to the people. They couldn't go and get it.
It came to them. The manna came to them. The manna
had to come to them or they wouldn't have it. Christ was the Lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world, but Christ had to come
into this world. The Word who was with God and
the Word who was God. that word became flesh and dwelt
among us and had to become the lamb slain in reality. But he had to come to this earth
in order for that to be done. The manna came down from heaven
to the earth. And the other part, another part,
His manna was a gift. God said, I'm going to send it.
And God sent it. God said, the bread from heaven
is going to rain down. Now, I don't care what anybody
says, and I don't care what anybody does. I don't really believe in Indian
rain dances or anybody else's for that matter. I know we're
better at predicting the weather now than we ever have been before,
but that's mostly because of radar and jet stream things. And I'll
sit there and watch the weather channel. Why? Because so that
way I'm not watching the news. And it is. It's wonderful. But
I'm going to tell you something. Nobody I know can make it rain. God makes the rain. And he said,
this bread is going to rain on you from heaven. It was a gift
from God to the congregation of Israel, to the people. They
didn't have to pray for it. They did not have to request
it. They didn't have to look for it. They went outside and
it was there. What you had to do was get up
in the morning and open your eyes and the man was there. Manna cost the congregation of
Israel absolutely nothing They didn't it didn't come down
and they didn't have to tend it they didn't have to plow they
didn't have to water They just went out and it was
there You didn't have to look for it
it was everywhere among the people of God Manna was free to Moses
and the people. They didn't have to work for
it, they didn't have to earn it. It came overnight and it
came every night. All the people had to do, like
I said, is wake up. And the manna was already there,
a free gift. I'm reminded of the parable that
Christ taught when he said about the prodigal son. When I came
to myself, my father's got stuff. My father's
got food. My father had when I, when he
came to himself, he knew the problem is Most people never
come to themselves. And that being a parable, it
takes the power of God to get you to come to yourself. My dad used to ask me every now
and then, when are you going to come to your senses? I think he died asking that question. Because some days, I don't get
it. But this, I do know. that my
father provides food for his children. My physical father
did that. My spiritual father's going to
do no less. Matter of fact, he's going to
do much more. He has done much more. Romans 5 and 15 says, but
not as the offense, so also is the free gift. But through the
offense of one many may dead much more by the grace of God
and by the gift of grace which is by one man Jesus Christ has
abounded unto many and Not as it was by one that sinned so
is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation But
the free gift is of many offenses under justification Everything the people of God
have, that is of any value, true value, comes from and is the
gift of God. Everything, every good and perfect
gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights. Everything. Manna was a gift. freely and
it fed manna fed the people of God And it was provided for and it
was provided to the hungry The manna was for Moses and it was
for all of the people It didn't discriminate Older
young male or female rich or poor leaders and followers. It was for Moses and the people. There's no difference in me or
Walter and you. We all need the same spiritual
food and we all need Christ. Moses had to eat the same as
the people. No difference. And guess what? When Moses woke up and went outside,
there was man outside. When Aaron, picture of the high
priest, got up. Any of them, all of them, young,
old, it didn't matter. They were to go out and gather.
And it says, And the children of Israel did
so, and they gathered some more and some less. And then they
meted it out. They got together. They meted
it out with an omer. Now, how much is an omer? I don't
know. I read a little bit on that,
and I got confused. Maybe I'll do it some more. Somebody said
it's like a seventh of a gallon. I don't know. It's some form
of a bushel. They're all kind of, you know.
Yeah, there's all kind of guessing going on. Let's just put it that
way. And some of it is very well-educated guessing, but I don't know how
much an omer was, but I know that's what God allotted for
each individual. And some gathered more and some
gathered less, and they meted out with an omer. He that had
gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered less
had no lack. They gathered every man according
to his eating. That's verses 17 and 18. What a coincidence that must
have been. That when they all got together,
whoever, I mean now, they gathered together as a family, whatever,
you know, I don't know, they settled down usually in tribes,
but they gathered together, two gathered men, they got together,
and they meted it out an omer each, and it come out perfectly
every time. That's just amazing, isn't it?
How lucky could you be? Every day this happened. And
guess what, later on we're gonna find out they started burglaring
again. We live, and I remember hearing
Mahan saying this years ago, we live in a day and age of so
little power. as far as actual seeing things,
the workings of God. But you look here in this book,
and you'll see there's a reason why Christ said, a wicked and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. Because signs and
wonders don't work. Signs and wonders don't give
life. Signs and wonders don't convert. Christ Jesus gives life. And
Christ Jesus converts. That's what he told Thomas when
he said, put your hand in my side now, I'm here. And Thomas
fell to his knees and said, my Lord and my God. And he said,
blessed are your eyes, for they've seen and they believe. But blessed
are those who have not seen and yet believe. That's us. Right now. These people have these miracles.
They got up every morning, there was food outside. Exactly as much food as you're
going to need for a day. And on the day before the Sabbath,
you got twice as much because you weren't going to gather on
the Sabbath. Because the Sabbath is rest. But you're going to
eat on the Sabbath. You weren't supposed to gather,
but you're going to eat. Because the manna was to be consumed
every day. Every day. And it was for all
of the people. Because all need the manna. They were all hungry, and the
manna met everyone's need. And there are many types of people
but there's only one manna. There was an omer given for each
individual after the gathering. They divided it out. He that
gathered much had none left over and he that gathered less had
no lack. God provided exactly as much
manna as was needed. There was always enough. And there is always enough. The manna was delivered there
to be eaten. The manna was there for those
who hungered, and it was delivered to the hungry. And there is always
enough. last part for the day anyway
the manna was pleasant to the taste it tasted good verse 31 and the house of israel
called the name thereof manna and it was and it was like coriander
seed white and the taste of it was like wafers with honey Sweet
manna was sweet The manna was like wafers made
with honey manna tastes good Numbers 11 and verse 8 put it
this way and the people went about and gathered it and grounded
in mills and 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 Whatever was done with the manna
is still manna. Started out manna, it finished
manna. You can grind it up, you can bake it, but you are to consume
it. And it's still manna. It still
tastes sweet. When you start with manna as
the only ingredient, the result of whatever you do, is still
manna. But now the opposite is also
true. If it doesn't taste like wafers made with honey, it's
not manna. And that's the question. Is it
manna? Well, I'm going to go there. Psalms 34 and verse 6, 7 and
8 says this, the poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Verse 8, O taste and see. that the Lord is good. Blessed
is the man that trusteth in him. The Lord is good. The Lord does
provide. The Lord planned to provide,
purposed to provide, and then he provided. The food provided for the child
of God by God is good and it will taste good to the child
of God. Because there is nothing like
the taste of manna, the bread from heaven for the child of
God, nothing. That manna, I'm going to stop, came down from heaven every day. Because we need it every day. And we are to gather it. They
were to gather it. and to eat it, to consume it,
to take it in. Christ is our bread from heaven. And we are to feast upon him
every day. We are to believe him every day. I like that. I've talked about
it last week. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believe it and that believing
is in the present tense and it's in the active and it was in the
present tense yesterday and it's in the present tense today. I
believed yesterday. I believe today and I'm to believe
tomorrow and the next day and the next day as many days as
the Lord has given me. I am to believe him. And I am
to learn of him. And I am to try to take it in. In me. And in you, if you believe
him. You are to take him in. And it will make a difference
in you. He has made a difference in you
if you believe But his manna that he sends is
to be consumed every day because we need it. And I want it. I want it. There are people who don't want
the manna. There are people who will take anything but the manna.
They'll take anything except the bread from heaven, and I'm
going to talk a little bit about that next week. But I want the
manna. I want the truth of God as it
is in the face of Jesus Christ. And when I come to this place,
I don't want anything less. Just manna. You can grind it
up. You can bake it in an oven, as long as it's manna. You can mix it with a little
water and do something. I don't know. As long as it's
manna, as long as it came down from heaven and is fit food for the people
of God, that's what I want. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for this time and this place, which we have set aside to try
to worship you in spirit and in truth. And Lord, thank you
most of all for your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is our
bread, who is our nourishment, who causes us to live in your
sight. In his name we pray, amen.