Turn to Exodus chapter 15. Exodus 15. The title of the message,
The Bitter Made Sweet. The Bitter Made Sweet. had just come across the Red
Sea. They saw God perform a great
miracle, drown the Egyptian army. They saw every one of them dead
upon the shores. Not one of their enemies were
left. They all drowned. God drowned
every one of them. And so they take journey. He says in verse 22, So Moses
brought Israel from the Red Sea. You know, we can only stay in one place so long. You
know, there are places we like to stay for a long time because
we enjoy them. It's pleasant. But this life
is a journey, and we've got to move on. Some of it's bitter,
some of it's sweet. And here, Moses, he brings the
children of Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the
wilderness of Shur. And they went three days into
the wilderness and found no water. Well, they've won two million
people here. And there is no water for them
to drink. They found no water. They are
parched. Their children are crying. I have no doubt the children
are crying. Thirsty. And the parents are thirsty. And I don't know if you've ever
been around a bunch of thirsty people, but if you get around some thirsty
people, it can get a little out of hand. And they were thirsty. And when they came to Mara, this place and no doubt this
river flowing with water, they looked at it and they For a moment, they had
some hope. They were going to go up and
get their thirst quenched. But when they went to Mara, this
water, this river, they could not drink of the waters of Mara. They were bitter. They were bitter. Therefore the name of it was
called Mara. The waters of Mara were bitter."
My first thought in writing these notes, how did they get bitter? How did the waters of Mara get
bitter? So bitter that you could not
drink of it. There's one answer. Sin. Sin. The root of the bitterness
of this water of Mara has in some way to do with sin. Before this, before the fall,
there was no bitter water. No bitter water on this earth.
It was pure from seed and shining sea. There was not one place,
not one spring, not one river you could not drink out of. Sin made the waters of Marah
bitter. And I thought, this is us by
nature. This is human nature. Bitter. Bitter. It takes grace to make us sweet,
doesn't it? It takes the grace of God, the
power of God, the blood of Christ, regeneration, the work of the
Holy Spirit to make us sweet. Now, this experience proved Israel. It proved their faith and their
confidence in God. You would think after seeing
the event of the Red Sea, you would think after seeing the
Red Sea parted, going across on dry ground, seeing Pharaoh's
army drown, seeing their bodies wash up on the shore, you would
think seeing That event, that miracle, that power, the power
of God, you would think that would last a lifetime. It didn't
last three days. Three days they were murmuring,
it says, against Moses, but their murmuring was against God. You'd think it'd last a lifetime,
but it didn't. Again, that's us by nature. by the patience. The longer I
live, the more I marvel at the patience of God, the long-suffering
of God and what He puts up with. But these things were done, the
Scripture teaches us. These things happened for our
examples. We are to learn from these examples. Then he says
here, and the people murmured, verse 24, and the people murmured
against Moses. Moses didn't have anything to
do with that. He didn't make the water bitter. All murmuring in the end of it
is against God. It's against God. They murmured against Moses saying,
what shall we drink? And Moses, instead of murmuring back, instead
of fighting back with them, he did what a good pastor ought
to do. He prayed. I told Jeremy and I was in a
conversation yesterday out at the shop. We were talking about
something. I said, remember this. you could
never win a spitting contest. You'd never win it. So Moses
did not get into a spitting contest with the children of Israel.
He prayed. The fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. Moses prayed and God answered
him. He answered him. Now the waters
of Marah could not be drank because they were so bitter that it would
either, I don't know, it would either make them sick or it would
kill them. A miracle, a miracle beyond, well actually a miracle,
the same miracle that split the Red Sea was going to have to
happen. God was going to have to act
on behalf of his people in order to save them, or they are going
to die of thirst, but he's not going to let them die of thirst.
You know, whatever trials come our way, that trial is not going
to kill us. In fact, it's going to make you and I a sweeter person
at the end of it. But God's going to have to perform
a miracle here. Moses can't do anything. He can't
make the water pure, drinkable. How's he going to do that? You know, God could, at that
time, He could have just spoke and the waters would have been
made pure. But God is a God of means. He's
a God of means. And He's going to use something
here. He's going to use a tree. He's going to use a tree. What is that tree? I don't know.
What kind of tree was it? I don't know. I do know this. It was a tree provided by God
to remove the bitterness of that water at that time. But here's what I see. Here's
a tree cast into the bitter water, and the water is made sweet.
You know that's a picture of the cross. I'm not talking about
that wooden cross, but I'm talking about the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is a picture of the cross
of our Lord. Christ is called what in the
scriptures, in the Old Testament? A branch. He's called the branch. The branch was made to be sent
for us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That tree, and I've read some
different things on it, and people, you know, they've had some different
comments on it, but this is what I think. That tree absorbed all the bitterness in
that water. He took all of it out. That tree
took all the bitterness out of that water, and that water was
pure, clean, and sweet to drink. Our Lord came into this world.
He became incarnate. The branch became incarnate.
And He was made to be sin for us. He took the bitterness away. He took it away. And in Christ we are pure and
holy as He is. It is through Christ crucified
that all things pertaining to God's elect are made sweet. Sweet. The trials that we have
They may seem bitter, and they are. Some are marred. They wouldn't
be called trials. But the end result, and I believe
this, it makes a sweeter person out of you as a believer, more
gracious, more kind, more loving, more Christlike. That's what
it does. It makes the justice of God sweet. Do you fear the justice of God?
Not in Christ. Not in Christ. His justice is
honored, it's glorified, it's magnified. Judgment? You're not afraid of
the judgment of God, are you? Not if you're in Christ. Not
if you're in Him. And there it says he proved them. In verse 25, And he cried unto
the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had
cast it to the waters, the waters were made, you know, it doesn't
just say drinkable, sweet. They were sweet. It had a sweetness
about it. And there he made for them a
statue. and an ordinance, and there He proved them. Where does
God prove us? Where does He really prove us?
At the cross. At the cross. The Scripture said, Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Do you believe
that? Every trial, listen to this,
every trial runs the child of God to the cross to prove him
or her there. What did our Lord say to those
two blind men? Believe ye that I am able to
do this? Every trial runs us to Him. And it proves this. Do you believe
He's able to do this? There He proved them. And then it says in verse 26,
and he said, the Lord said, if thou wilt diligently hearken
to the voice of the Lord thy God. Now, this is part of the
proving here. Now, this still goes on. This is the part of
the proving. And he said, if thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which
is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments,
and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord,
that healeth thee." First of all, even though the
Israelites had been freed from bondage, from the Egyptians,
from slavery, they were still servants. You and I are still
servants. We are His servants. We are free
to serve Him. We're still His. Christ is our Lord, not just
our Savior. He is our Lord. Lord, what would
You have me to do? Here am I, Lord, send me. Speak,
Lord, thy servant heareth." He is our Lord, and he proves them, and he tells them, if you will
obey. Obedience. I like what one writer
said this, a disobedient Israelite will fare no better than a disobedient
Egyptian. I tell you what, you let in Israelite,
not put blood on the door, the firstborn is going to die in
that house. I don't care if he is an Israelite. I don't care
if he is the son of Abraham by nature. He's going to die. And that's why he's saying here,
obey. There's no such thing as salvation
without obedience. That's why he said there's no
such thing as salvation without obedience. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Not to believe is absolute
rebellion. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Not to do that is rebellion.
Scripture says this. No whoremonger shall enter the
kingdom of heaven. I don't care what that person
professes. No drunkard, no whoremonger,
because it's evident, it's evident a work of grace has never happened.
It's evident that new birth has never happened. When God saves a sinner, There
is a radical change. There's a radical change. It
doesn't mean we don't sin or we don't fall or stumble. You
know what goes through your mind. You know we still have that old
nature. You know that. But you're not what you used
to be. You don't love what you used
to love. You hate what you once loved. You love what you once
hated. There's a real difference. And He's saying to them, if thou
would hearken, if thou would diligently, Everything God tells us to do,
he tells us to do diligently. If you would diligently listen
to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right
in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep
all his statutes, I'll put none of these diseases upon you. I tell you what, there's a whole
lot of people who make professions that don't have possession. There's a lot of them. He says, if you do these things,
I'll not put these things upon you. But if you do them, what
then? You're going to suffer the same consequences. Because
it's evident you're not born of God. You know, those Israelites,
how many of them entered the Promised Land out of this group?
That's right. Two. Joshua and Caleb. They were descendants of Abraham. They were the fleshly descendants
of Abraham. And flesh and blood will not
inherit the kingdom of God. But then he says here, oh, this is a good part here.
And it's all good. For I am the Lord which healeth
thee. You know, when you read the things
I just read, if you know yourself, you'll say, Lord, help me. Lord,
enable me to obey. Lord, enable me to do these things,
because I know myself. And he says, I am the Lord that
healeth thee. Christ is the great physician. His grace, His blood, His righteousness
is the balm of Gilead. I am the Lord that healeth thee.
Do you need healing? Do I need healing? I think we need spiritual healing
all the time. I do. I mean, I can get out of
sorts. You can let things get on your
mind and you can just get bent out of shape before you know
it and you're thinking, wait a minute. You start to think,
wait a minute, now wait a minute. That's not the way a believer
would think. That's a disgraceful to think
like that of God, that He wouldn't do this. Your heart breaks your
heart, doesn't it? That's the Lord healing. That's
the Lord healing you. You don't even realize it most
of the time. Most of the time, you're being brought back to
your senses. That's the Lord healing. I'm
the Lord that healeth thee. Whether it be physical healing,
If you need physical healing, ask Him. Ask Him. All true healing is of God. And
He's a God of means. It's like He healed those waters
there. They put a tree in it. He's a God of means. He may use
medicine. He may just speak a word. Whichever you need is what He'll
do. You need spiritual healing, ask
Him. You need physical healing, ask Him. But we do have to remember
this. Sooner or later we have to die.
There is a point where we have to die. And God will use whatever
means He's already purposed to take us out. And we're okay with that. We're
okay with that. is unlike all other lords of
the earth. He heals His servants. He heals His servants. When that day comes, when He
takes us home, that's the final healing. That's the final healing. You'll be sick no more, spiritually
or physically. You'll be sick no more. I am
the Lord, that healeth thee." I want you to look in Matthew
chapter six, in closing. I think I wrote the wrong one
down. Let's go to Matthew 9, verse
35. Let's see if I wrote that one down
right. Matthew 9, verse 35. And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people." Every. In our day, doctors specialize in everything,
don't they? I mean, you go to a doctor, they
send you this specialist, this specialist sends you this specialist.
You know, they specialize. Because human nature teaches
you we're not that good at everything. So you might as well zero in
on something and be good at it. But our Lord healed every disease,
every sickness. He can heal every heartache. He's able. Believe ye I'm able
to do this? Look in Luke chapter 9. 11 And the people, when they knew
it, followed him, and he received them, and spake unto them of
the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. He healed everyone who had need
of healing. And he still does it. He still,
he still heals everyone who's in need of healing. He still
does it. Now look here at the last verse. Verse 27. And they came to Elam where were
twelve wells of water. Plenty of it now. Plenty of it. But I'll tell you what they needed.
They needed Marah before they needed this in Elam. They would have never appreciated
the twelve wells of water in Elam had they not first gone
through Marah. Had they not gone through there,
and had they not experienced the bitterness of Marah, they
would have never appreciated this. Never. And they came to Elam, where
there were twelve wells of water and three score and ten palm
trees. And it sounds like a vacation spot, doesn't it? It does. And they encamped there by the
waters. Whatever your lot is, this was
my thoughts, whatever your lot is right now,
just wait, it'll change. You know, I tried to write some
kind of an outline on this today, and I sketched out about three
or four pages here. And when I got to this, I thought
whatever you're going through right now, just wait, it'll change.
It'll change. At times, it's bitter. At other
times, it's sweet. And that is the lot in the life
of God's children until He takes us home, and then
it's always sweet. It's always sweet. And when they
came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah,
for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was
called Marah. Isn't that what Naomi said, call me? She said,
don't call me Naomi. Call me Marah. Bitter. Call me bitter. She lost her
husband, her two sons. But boy, what the end was. What
was the end? It was sweet. It was sweet. And the people
murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord. He
did what he ought to do. He cried unto the Lord, and the
Lord showed him a tree. The Lord revealed the gospel
to me one day, and God revealed the gospel to you. which when he had cast into the
waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them
a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them." He proved
them. And he said, "'If thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which
is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments,
and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord
that healeth thee." Jehovah Rapha. And they came to Elam. See, their
three-day journey, man, they thought they was going to die.
They thought God had left them out there in the wilderness.
They were so dry, so thirsty. And then now look here, and then
it came to Elam, where there were twelve wells of water and
three-square-ten palm trees, and they camped there by the
waters. I had it in a bulletin here a
couple of weeks ago. I can't quote it verbatim. He
said, there's not a night, but there'll be a day. There's not
a trial, but there'll be a blessing. If there's bitterness, there
will be sweetness. It always happens. That's the
way God operates.