Would you turn to the book of
Nehemiah? Nehemiah, the ninth chapter. Psalm, Job before that,
Esther before that, and Nehemiah. And tonight, we're going to observe
the Lord's table together, and I'm going to be preaching upon
this subject, the family of God. The family of God. Forty years
in the wilderness. That's what we read from Acts
chapter 7. Forty years in the wilderness. Do you know 40 years
ago, I was a teenager, 19 years old. I was a student at
the University of Kentucky, lived over on Transylvania Park. Proud of my efficiency apartment
that I lived in. Never heard of Tod's Road. Never
even thought about there being a Tod's Road Grace Church. There
wasn't one at the time. A lot of water has passed under
the bridge in 40 years, hasn't it? Well, this is a reference to
that 40-year period that the children of Israel wandered in
the wilderness. Forty years is a long time. And
this could have been as many as two million people wandering
around in the wilderness. Now, when the spies went into
the promised land, they said it was indeed just like God promised,
a good land, flowing with milk and honey. But The inhabitants
of the land are too strong for us. We can't go in and take them. They could not trust the Lord
to do what he said he would do. And when Caleb and Joshua said,
we'd be well able to take the land, they said, stone them,
put them to death and stone them. And they wanted to get a captain
and bring us back to Egypt. We remember the leeks and the
onions and the good food we had there. Take us back to Egypt. And God sentenced them to 40
years wandering in the wilderness, a year for each day the spies
had gone into the land to look it out. And they were made to
wander around for 40 years. Now, would you turn with me to
Nehemiah chapter 9? I guess I've already asked you
to turn there. But during that 40-year period,
every day, manna fell from heaven. Food. Every day, a rock followed
them, and water came out of that rock every day. The clothes they
had, they didn't have stores to go get new clothes, they didn't
have looms, but the same clothes they wore from that beginning
never got old. Always new. And the feet, can
you imagine walking around the wilderness all the time? Their
feet never swelled in that walk. Now, in Nehemiah chapter 9, we
have the account of what took place in the wilderness. Let's begin reading in verse
12 of Nehemiah chapter 9. This is what Stephen was referring
to when he talked about the signs and wonders in the wilderness
for 40 years, verse 12. Moreover, Thou leadest them in
the day by a cloudy pillar and in the night by a pillar of fire
to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou
camest down also upon Mount Sinai and spakest with them from heaven
and gave them right judgments and true laws, good statutes
and commandments. This is talking about the giving
of the law at Mount Sinai in the wilderness. and made us known
unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commanded us in precepts, statutes,
and laws by the hand of Moses thy servant, and gave us them
bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought us forth water for
them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them that they should
go in to possess the land which thou had sworn to give them.
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks,
and hearkened not to thy commandments, and refused to obey, neither
were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened
their necks, and in their rebellion, appointed a captain to return
to their bondage. But here's another but, but.
Thou art a God ready to pardon. Gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and of great kindness and forsookest them not. Yea, when
they'd made them a molten calf. This is something else that took
place in the wilderness. when they had made them a molten
calf and said, this is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt
and had wrought great provocations. Yet thou in thy manifold mercies
forsookest them not in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud departed
not from them by day to lead them in the way, neither the
pillar of fire by night to show them light. the way wherein they
should go. Thou gavest also thy good spirit
to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth,
and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst
thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes waxed not old,
and their feet swelled not. Now this is the divinely inspired
description of what took place for those 40 years in the wilderness. Now I see six signs and wonders
in that passage of scripture I just read. And the first sign
and wonder is that he didn't send them to hell. They deserved it, didn't they?
They hardened their necks, they hardened their hearts, they acted
in great wickedness, and yet he didn't send them to hell.
The second sign and wonder I see is that he gave them a written
revelation that came from him. Not everybody was given this.
Most of the peoples of the world were not given this. But he gave
this wicked bunch, this hard-hearted, unbelieving bunch, a revelation
from heaven. And then he provided them manna
every day. Manna would come down from heaven
every day. They'd go up in the morning and
gather it. It would be melted by noon. They were to get it
in the morning. It didn't just appear on their
plates. They had to go out and get it. But he provided them
manna every day. Beautiful talk of the gospel.
And then they were provided during this time water out of a rock. Where's the last place you expect
to find water? A rock. And this rock followed them continually
with water streaming from it. Can you imagine seeing that?
I tried to picture in my mind what that must have looked like.
And then the scripture says their clothes never waxed old. Now, I don't know if I have any
clothes that are that old. I don't think I do. But if I
do, 40 years old, they're gonna get worn out, decayed, but their
clothes never waxed old. And they were able, six, this
is the six sign, they were enabled to continue on this journey. They didn't quit and their feet
did not swell. They were given the ability to
continue. Now I want us to consider each
of these six signs and wonders done in the wilderness. And in
these six signs and wonders, we see such a beautiful illustration
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The first wonder is that God
did not send them quick to hell. It's what we call grace. Verse
18, yet when they had made them a molten calf, and said, this
is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought
great provocations, yet, yet, thou and thy manifold mercies
forsookest them not in the wilderness. Now I try to, I can't put myself
in the Lord's place, I realize that, but I try to put myself
in that place and I think, after what I did, and then make a golden
calf and bow down to it and say, these be thy gods that brought
thee up out of Egypt, I would have forsook them. I
would have. This is the most murmuring, complaining,
critical, wicked bunch of people to ever live, the children of
Israel. You read about their unbelief, their provocations,
their sinful desires. And you have to conclude there's
never been a worse people than the children of Israel. As soon
as they crossed the Red Sea, they remember the flesh plots
of food and the leeks and the onions. And they murmur to Moses,
they complain to Moses. And the Lord uses Moses to give
them manna from heaven. They said in an arrogant way
in chapter 17, give us water. They didn't ask for water. They
said, give us water. And that's when water came from
the rock. They had been eating this manna
from heaven and they said, our souls loathe this light bread. It's insubstantial. It's not
satisfying. We want something else, something
that tastes better. Our souls loathe this light bread. It so happened, it's so sad when
people say that concerning the gospel. Our souls loathe this
light bread. What once was manna from heaven
now becomes insubstantial light bread. When Moses has gone to
receive the law, they make a golden calf and have a big party around
it. I don't know what all was going on during that party, but
it wasn't good. God could have justly sent them
to hell, but, verse 17, after they refused to obey, neither
were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened
their necks, and the rebellion appointed a captain to return
to their bondage, but thou art to God ready to pardon. You think, how could God forgive
me? It's just nature. Gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and of great kindness and forsook us them not. Now, I'm
so thankful that this is who God is because I am who they
are. Do you see an affinity between
you and the children of Israel? I am who they are. So I am so thankful that the
Lord is who he is. He did not send them to hell. What did he do? He gave them
a written revelation. The law. And without question,
the gospel's in the law. When he gave the Ten Commandments,
what did he give in the same chapter? An altar for sacrifice. You see, he knew they would break
it. And in that altar, there were
no steps. We're made to see that they're
not steps to get to God. In the sacrifice, we're there. The sacrifice of Christ. And
they were given a written revelation. Nobody else was. The Canaanites
didn't have one, the Hittites didn't have one, the Jebusites
didn't have one, but God gave them a written revelation of
himself. Thank God for the scriptures. We are not dependent upon some
sinful, fallible, deceitful man teaching us the truth regarding
God, who He is, His character. We're not left to ourself to
make up our mind what kind of people we are. No, the Word of
God describes us as sinful, evil, needing grace. We have the Word
of God to teach us how God saves by His grace through the sacrifice
of His Son. Now, aren't you thankful for
the Scriptures? We have a written revelation
from God. Young people, listen carefully. This book is inspired by God. It's not written by man. God
wrote this book to teach us who he is. Somebody says, well, how
can you expect me to believe that? Well, if God teaches you,
you'll know this is the word of God. And it's not hard for
God to do this and even harder than it is for him to create
the universe. He created the universe and he can inspire men
to write a book. And that's precisely what he
has done. And this is the religion of this
book. He gave these people, unworthy
as they were, a written revelation of himself. Thank God for the
scriptures. Now, the third miracle that took
place was the man. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
16 for a moment. Exodus 16. And they took their journey from
Elam And all the congregation of the children of Israel came
into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on
the 15th day of the second month after their departing out of
the land of Egypt. They'd been gone about two weeks.
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 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, when we said 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 reign. And I can see where it was said
Brimstone, don't you? Byron Brimstone, I can see where it would have
said that, but that's not what he said. He said, 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. Now the Lord said in John chapter
six, I am that bread from heaven. This bread, this manna is given
to teach us something concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it was all together from heaven.
They didn't go out and plant and wait and work. They didn't
do anything to get it. It was all together. from heaven. Christ said, and I wonder what
the people thought when he said this, because they didn't understand
it, but he said, I came down from heaven. If I looked at you
and said, I came down from heaven, you'd say, you're crazy. But
the Lord said it. And he really did. He's the eternal
son of God. He said, I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent And this
is the father's will, which has sent me that of all which he
has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. Now this manna is all together
from heaven. Nothing earthy about it. The
gift of God's grace. And the word of God describes
it as small as a corander seed. When the divinely inspired writer
is describing this, he said it is small as a corander seed. This manna that came down from
heaven. Can you imagine? Manna means
what is it? What is it? What is this? Well,
to the natural man, the son of God is small. Small. He had small beginnings, nothing
impressive to the flesh, born in a manger, insignificant, no
power, no armies, no money. He's small. There's nothing about
the Lord Jesus Christ that is appealing to the flesh. He hath
no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there's nothing
beauty in him that we would desire. Natural fallen flesh sees no
beauty in Jesus Christ. Now, if you're without Christ,
you see no beauty in what I'm saying. You see no glory in what
I'm saying. You're not impressed. The flesh
never has been impressed with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
don't expect the flesh to be, because it's dead. It can't see. It can't hear. He's small. But the scripture also says that
it was round. It was this small, very small,
like a corander seed. That means, you know, a little
tiny seed, but it was spherical. It was round. Now, that is symbolic
of something. In something that's round, there's
not a starting point, there's not an ending point. This speaks
of the eternity of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no starting point
with Him. He never began to be, and he'll
never cease because he is the eternal God. And it was white. It was small,
it was round, and it's white. And in the scripture, whiteness
denotes purity. He's pure God. All that God is,
he is. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in Him. He's pure man. He's not half
God and half man. He's a real man, the man, Christ
Jesus. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He's pure, absolute power. Whatever He wills, He has the
power to bring to pass. He's pure sovereignty. His will
is always done. Always. Everybody in this room
and everybody outside of this room, you're in His hand. Your
salvation's up to Him. He is pure, absolute sovereignty. He's pure justice. Justice and
judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Sin will never go
unpunished. He's pure love. Oh, the love of God in Christ
Jesus. I think of the pureness of his
life. He never sinned. He's white. And the scripture
points out, it tastes good. Tastes like fresh oil and wafers
of honey. Now, I don't know what all that,
I know that's something that tastes good and how tasteful
How filled with good taste is the gospel to those who have
appetite to receive it? Doesn't justification by faith
taste good? Doesn't being saved by his righteousness
taste good? Doesn't the power of his precious
blood that makes you without guilt, without sin, doesn't that
taste good? Oh, the gospel tastes good. It could be cooked in several
ways. They'd beat it in mortar, they'd put it in pans, they'd
bake it, they'd fry it. It could be cooked in various
ways, but it was still manna. However you cooked it, it was
still manna. That's the gospel. Still Christ. Whatever you say,
it's still the gospel of Christ. And what were they to do with
this manna? Well, it appeared every morning.
and you go out and gather it. That's what we're doing right
now with the Lord's help. Oh, give me some manna. If you
waited until noon, it would melt away and it would be gone. They
would gather it daily. I think this is so interesting.
I would have thought, well, I'm going to get enough manna today
and tomorrow, and I won't even have to go out and get it tomorrow.
I know that's the way I would have thought. But what happened
to the manna that if you got extra manna for the next day,
it bred worms and stink. And if you put it in your mouth,
all of a sudden you'd find worms in your mouth. It was no good
then. You can only have enough for
that day. That's what faith is. We look
to Christ right now. Forget yesterday's experience.
Forget it. You don't even know what it meant.
Forget tomorrow. Right now, faith is always in
the present. Right now, you rest in Christ
as everything. Don't look to some past experience
to give you any assurance. Don't look to what you intend
to do tomorrow. Well, I'm going to change things. I'm going to
do better. No, you're not. You look to Christ
right now. Nowhere else. And this is interesting. They were all given the same
amount. Big guys, little guys. They were all given the same
amount. Now in Christ Jesus, you have
no surplus. Yet you have no lack. You have
exactly what you need. You're complete in Him. You need
nothing else. Everyone was given the same amount. In Christ, I lack nothing and
I have nothing over. Nothing can be added to me. They
were given this manna 40 years in the wilderness. In chapter 17 of Exodus, would
you turn there? Here's the fourth miracle. And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord and
pitched in rephidim. And there was no water for the
people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses. That means they criticized. And
they said, give us water that we may drink. Now, it seems like
they would have said, would you provide us water the way you
provide us man? Would you please do that? But that's not the way
they did it. They said, give us water that we may drink. And
Moses said unto them, why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you
tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there
for water. And the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore
is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us
and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried
unto the Lord, saying, what shall I do unto this people? They be
almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses,
go on before the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel,
and thy rod, the rod of judgment, wherewith thou smotest the river,
take in thine hand and go." This was the same rod that was used
to part the Red Sea. And look at the wording carefully.
Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb. and thou shalt smite the rock. Now I'm going to be standing
on that rock. This is to picture the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm going to be standing on that rock. Smite the rock
and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel. And water indeed came out. And
he called the name of the place Masa and Meribah because of the
chiding, the complaining, the criticizing of the children of
Israel, because they tempted the Lord saying, is the Lord
among us or not? Now, the Lord says, I'm going
to stand on the rock. Smite the rock with me standing
on it. I bet Moses felt strange doing
that, don't you? And what happened as a result?
Water came out of that rock. And we know that Paul tells us
in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4, that that rock was Christ. Now, the only reason, and the
only reason needed for you and I to have the streams of God's
grace flowing to us is because Christ was smitten. As a matter of fact, that word
smite also is kill and destroy. It's translated that way. The
Lord Jesus Christ stood upon that rock in a pre-incarnate
whatever, I don't know, whatever you call it, he hadn't been made
flesh yet, but there he voluntarily stands on that rock, Moses smites
the rock, water comes out, and Paul tells us that rock that
followed them. Evidently, I don't understand
how this is, but that rock followed them to the wilderness. It just
followed them, water coming out. That rock was Christ and is to
teach us the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. He's smitten
by the rod of God's justice, complete justification, and all
of God's grace flows freely to me. Now, you will remember from Numbers
chapter 20, that they cried again. You can read this account for
yourself, but they cried again, we want water. Did water stop
flowing from that rock? I don't know. I doubt it. Because remember when they said,
we have no water, we have no bread, and our souls loathe this
manna? It's because they didn't consider
it bread anymore. At one time, it had been angels'
food, but now they don't even acknowledge it. I don't know
if water was still flowing out of that rock, but Moses, at any
rate, comes back to the Lord. And the Lord says, speak to the
rock. He didn't say, smite the rock.
He said, speak to the rock. Moses had a problem with his
temper. And he looked at the children of Israel and he said,
must we fetch water out of the rock as if he had something to
do with it? And then he took that rod and he smote it twice. Disobedience to God. Now, what's
the issue? Christ is smitten once. He doesn't need to be smitten
again. He was smitten once. And to smite
him again is to take away from what he did. You see, when he
died, all of the sins of all of God's elect were put away. Gone. And to You know, this is
what really most stuff that goes on under Christianity teaches.
Jesus Christ died for your sins. He was smitten for your sins.
But you may have to go to hell anyway if you don't do what you
need to do to make what he did work for you. And you'll be smitten
again for those same sins. That's a denial of the very justice
of God. If Christ paid for my sins, they're paid for. Don't
smite the rock again. But that's what Moses did, but
God in his mercy let water come out of that rock. But Moses didn't
get to enter the promised land because of that. But you know,
that was all a part of God's purpose because Moses represents
the law and the law can't bring me and you into the promised
land. We're too evil. We're too disobedient. If salvation,
entering heaven, is in any way depended upon something you or
I do, it's over for us. Thank God, when Christ was smitten,
and he did this willingly, he said, I'll stand on the rock.
And Moses smote that rock. The waters of grace came through.
Complete salvation for all of God's people. That rock is to
be smitten once, and it was once for the glory of God. 40 years, water flowed from that
rock. Manna came down from heaven and
water flowed from that rock. Now the fifth sign and wonder
is that for 40 years, their clothing never got old. I reckon they had the same shirt
or whatever it was they were wearing when they went through
the Red Sea 40 years later, They're wearing the same clothes and
they never got old. Now, what does a garment represent
in scripture? The garment of salvation, the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is the garment we wear, the
justification that's in Christ Jesus. He's that fine linen,
clean and white, the righteousness of the saints that's granted
to every child of God. Now, we have a covering, clothing,
the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ, and this clothing
never grows old. Now this is the one clothing
that you're not going to get tired of. You're always going to want to
wear it. You're going to wear the same thing every day and
you're going to be glad to do it. And you're going to love
wearing his righteousness as your righteousness before God.
There's nothing you can do to mess it up. It doesn't get old.
There's nothing you can do to tear it up. It's the eternal
righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, justification. Now, this thing of justification,
I think it can best be understood by 2 Corinthians 5.10, where
it says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and
receive the things done in the body. whether they be good or
whether they be bad. Now, if Christ is my clothing,
that means the things I've done in this body are all good. This is not righteousness being
credited to my account, even though I'm bad. If I have His righteousness,
that means everything about me is good, pleasing to God, that
which God accepts and glories in and rejoices in. That's the
clothing we have. Every believer has this glorious
righteousness, this perfect garment that makes them without guilt
before God. never waxes old. Why don't we wear those clothes,
don't you? And then the last miracle we read of is that their
feet swelled not. Their feet swelled not. Now,
they were in the wilderness 40 years. A hot, desert, rocky,
it would be unusual for them to even find vegetation. What walking days upon days upon
days through the wilderness? You reckon your feet would hurt? Not theirs. Their feet swelled
not. They were given the grace to
persevere, to continue in the faith. They kept going. Their feet swelled not. They
walked by faith and not by sight. And they were given the grace
to persevere all the way to the end. Now, how many people in
the over the years have we seen come and go? People who once
professed to believe the gospel, they leave. They leave. Oh, I still believe the gospel.
Oh, OK. OK. Nobody's going to admit to
not believing the gospel, but people leave. People leave, but
God's people do not. They continue grounded and said
they're not going to be moved from the hope of the gospel.
They're given grace in their feet to continue walking all
the way to the end without leaving, without quitting. without turning
their back on Christ, they're given feet to continue in the
faith, grounded and settled and be not moved from the hope of
the gospel. We're made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Now, the only real evidence of
salvation is not what we say, It's if we persevere all the
way to the end. I can remember back, oh, it's been 30, 35 years
ago, I was talking to Henry Mahan and he made this statement, the
only evidence of salvation is somebody continuing. That's it. You're going to have people come
and go, but the only evidence is continuing all the way to
the end. Well, they were given. Their feet didn't swell. And
understand this about continuing. That means you continue to look
to Christ only. You continue to look to Christ
only. as all you have." Are you one
of those people? Right now, do you look to Christ
only as all you have? That's what it is to continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and not being moved from the
hope of the gospel. Signs and wonders in the wilderness,
and how clearly we see the gospel. Grace, he didn't send them to
hell. He gave them a written revelation, manna from heaven,
water from the rock, clothes that did not decay, and feet
that swelled not, causing them to continue in faith. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
signs and wonders in revealing yourself to us by your grace,
that you haven't destroyed us with your judgment
as we deserve, but you've given us a written revelation that
reveals who you are and who we are and how you save sinners
by your grace. How we thank you for thy son,
the bread that came down from heaven. How we thank you for
the cross where he was smitten and the waters of your grace
come freely to us. How we thank you for this glorious
garment that never decays or waxes old. And how we thank you
for grace to cause us to continue in the faith. And Lord, we wouldn't
presume upon that. We ask that you would give us
grace to continue looking to thy son only as everything in
our salvation. In his name we pray, amen.