Remember those who requested
prayer. Remember especially Fred who's found out some news today
that the chemotherapy isn't working like the doctor thought it was
going to. So remember him in your prayers. He might have to
change his chemotherapy in the weeks to come. Happy birthday
to Arlene today. She's 29. 29 again. I'm getting glad for that. Uh, Cora's down, probably in
Florida by now, but she was headed down that way. Her niece, her
nephew's getting married and his wife-to-be is gonna get a lump
taken out of her chest, which is the size of, almost the size
of a grapefruit, but it's not cancer. So that, so you got to
have that operation, so remember them as they travel. Christy
Sullivan's baby is doing better after the anaphylactic shock
of the chemotherapy. They're going to be, in a couple
weeks, they'll be changing the chemotherapy to try something
else on the baby. But remember her and the baby in your prayers.
And other than that, I can't think of any. The Crow family
has lost loved ones. The others who we've been talking
about that had prayer reports, which crew? Huh? Okay. Remember those folks in your
prayers, if you will. Seek the Lord's help for them.
Hymn number 205 we'll sing, and that's what we'll sing. Patsy? Oh, bless her heart. Remember Patsy Ledford in your
prayers. Hymn number 205. Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, grace hath redeemed us. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now are we free. There's no condemnation. O hear His sweet call Come and
He saves us once for all Once for all, O sinner, receive it
Once for all, O brother, believe it Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall Christ hath redeemed Children of God, O glorious calling. Surely His grace will keep us
from falling. Passing from death to life at
His call, blessed salvation. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to Exodus chapter 15. I'm going to read verses 20 through
27, Exodus 15. And Miriam, the prophetess, the
sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women
went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered,
Them sing ye unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. His horse and the rider hath
he thrown into the sea. So Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea, and they went out of the wilderness of Shur, and
they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when
they came to Myra, they could not drink of the waters of Myra,
because they were bitter. Therefore the name of it is called
Myra. And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the
Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast
it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made
for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and
said, If thou wilt diligently hearken unto 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
will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought
upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And
they came to Elam, where there were twelve wells of water, and
threescore and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the
waters. Let us pray. Our Father, we bless you and
thank you grace and mercy for ruined sinners. We are thankful
that because of the work of Christ we are not condemned. That we
stand before you as your children, whom you have made Christ to
be, their righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, and redemption.
They stand forgiven. Their sins have been put away.
Their debt fully paid. so much so that you will remember
those sins no more. And where remission of these
sins is, there is no more sacrifice. All that's left as far as sacrifice
goes is our sacrifice of praise, which is thanksgiving from our
lips unto the Lord. Father, we pray for those of
our company who are sick. Remember these. Remember Patsy
as she's struggling. Remember the ones who've lost
loved ones and have been diagnosed with cancer. We pray for Brother
Fred that you'd continue to minister to him and to Arlene as she ministers
to him. We ask Lord you to be merciful
and gracious. You know what our heart's desire
is. You know that we desire his healing.
We know that we bow to your wisdom in these things. Give us grace
to believe and trust you. Do what only you can do, Father.
Nothing's too hard for you. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ
that you might heal him and bring him back to a good measure of
health. Pray for the others who requested prayer. We ask, Lord,
your help for them. Thou knowest every case. You
know all things. We ask, Lord, that you be a minister
to them. Minister to their heart as only
you can. We ask for your help tonight as we gather here that
you might be pleased to open up the scriptures to us. Teach
us your gospel. Remind us again of what we have
because of your goodness and mercy toward us. We ask this
in the name of Christ. Amen. Many years ago, a dear brother of the gospel minister
named Henry Mahan and I were having a cup of coffee sitting
at a table somewhere and talking about the ministry. We were talking
about the end of our ministries and he said, I hope I finish
well. He said, I hope I finish well. He said, it would be much
better to start badly and end well than to start well and end
badly. And this conversation came to
mind as I read of Miriam her worshiping the Lord with timbrel
and dancing and singing praises of the Lord for His mighty and
glorious deliverance of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. The
name Miriam is akin to the name Mary. In fact, the Hebrew name
Miriam is translated in English Mary. And it comes from the same
word that this pond or this body of water is named after, Myra,
which means bitter. This was the name that Naomi
gave herself when she returned from Moab to Bethlehem, after
she had lost all, lost her husbands and her sons, and even one of
her daughter-in-laws had left her, and only Ruth remained. But Naomi, in the book of Ruth, chapter 2, verse 19 and 20, said
this, So the two went until they came to Bethlehem, that is, Naomi
and Ruth, and it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem
that all the city was moved about them and they said is this Naomi? and she said call me no more
Naomi call me Myra for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with
me call me Myra because my life is bitterness now this mention
of Miriam back in our text is the first mention of her in scripture
She is the sister of Aaron, as she is so called here, but she
is also the sister of Moses. She is said to be a prophetess.
Now that word is used to women sometimes who were singers, sometimes
of women who were wives of prophets, and also for women who God has
made to be a prophet or a prophetess, and she was that latter. She
was a prophetess, which means the Lord spoke to her. He spoke
to her and gave her visions and messages for the people of God.
in Micah chapter 6. In Micah chapter 6 and verse
4 it says this, God says, For I brought thee out of the land
of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants, and
I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. The Lord mentions
Miriam's name there in the book of Micah. Now her beginning The
first time we meet her is wonderful. She praises the Lord, honors
Moses for leading them out of the horrid helletry and sinking
the Egyptian army into the depths of the sea. She began well, but
she didn't end very well. Turn over to Numbers chapter
12. In Numbers chapter 12, verses
1 and 2, it says, And Aaron spake against Moses because of the
Ethiopian woman whom he had married. Now it sounds like they were
getting a little racist there because the Ethiopian woman was
darker than they were, but they wasn't playing the race card.
What they really were was envious of Moses for his position that
the Lord had put him in as it goes on to say. For he had married
an Ethiopian woman, and they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken
to Moses, or only to Moses? Hath he not spoken by us also? And the Lord heard it. The Lord
heard them speak against his servant Moses, and the Lord was
displeased with them. What she was saying was that
out of envy that they considered that Aaron and her considered
that they were on equal status with Moses in the matter of leading
Israel and thought that they should be co-captains as it were
with Moses in the leading of Israel. Now they didn't end well
in Numbers chapter 12. Again in verse 10 it says this,
but all the congregation, excuse me I skipped an extra page. And
the cloud departed off the tabernacle. God called them out of the tabernacle.
And the cloud departed off the tabernacle. And behold, Miriam
became leprous while it snowed. And Aaron looked upon Miriam,
and behold, she was leprous. He smote her with leprosy. Now,
he didn't smite Aaron. And why he didn't, I don't know.
That's up to God. But he did smite her with leprosy. And she was leprous. as snow. The result of this hubris is
revealed there in Numbers chapter 12 and verse 10. The Lord made
her leprous and though she began well she didn't end that good. Wherefore let him that thinketh
that he standeth, the scripture says, take heed lest he fall. The account in our text paints
her in a favorable light as she sojourns with the people of Israel
and even in the end though she's leprous It is said that her leprosy
was white as snow. That means something in the account
of the disease of leprosy. You remember in Leviticus when
the leper was to be brought before the priest to be pronounced clean
or unclean. If he just had a pimple, he was
pronounced unclean. If he had a running sore, he
was pronounced unclean. If it was just a blotch of skin
that had leprosy, he was pronounced unclean. But if he had leprosy
from the top of his head to the ball of his foot, if he was covered
in leprosy as white as snow, then he was pronounced clean.
He was pronounced clean. Why is that? Because that's a
picture of sin. When we, as children of God,
find out our sin, we find out maybe just that we have a pimple.
But when God shows us what we are, we're covered with our sin,
and that's when God will do something for us, when we have no hope
in ourselves. And so her last record, or the
record of her here, is that she had leprosy. God had made her
a leper, but she was covered from head to foot. She was leprous
as white as snow. This according to the ritual
of the cleansing of the leper would have the priest pronounce
her clean. We find that in Leviticus 13, verses 12 and 13. And though
leprous, she was yet the daughter of God and still a prophetess
in Israel. Still a prophetess in Israel.
Now it says that they journeyed three days and they ran out of
water or three days without water. We're not sure. It doesn't really
say. they came upon a spring that they could not drink of
because the waters were bitter and after the spring a pond became
known as Myra afterward it became known as Myra because of the
quality of water it was bitter that's what it says in verse
20 when they came to Myra they could not drink now it wasn't
named Myra at this point afterward it was named that they came to
Myra they could not drink the waters of Myra for they were
bitter therefore the name was called The Israelites did what
would prove the common response to every trial they encountered.
All the 40 years they were in the wilderness, when they came
upon a trial, they did one specific thing, and it's spoken of in
verse 24. The people murmured against Moses,
saying, What shall we drink? In another place they said, we
want some flesh because our soul loatheth this light bread. One
place they said, we don't have any water, though a rock was
following them and giving them a deluge of water every day.
They murmured. In Deuteronomy it says, and the
people were complainers. In Numbers it says the same thing.
They were murmurers. That's what they do. That's what
they do. For 40 years, this will be the
hallmark of their existence and the most common report of their
character in the wilderness. They murmured, and they murmured
against Moses, it says. One thing about being a leader
is, as President Harry Truman said, the book stops here. Three days prior, they were extolling
Moses. They were praising Moses. Now
they murmur against him. Here the word murmur means to
grumble, to grumble. And the word in modern vernacular
comes from a Dutch word which means to mutter. And the word
murmur suggests a low pitch, almost whispering, continuous
sound that exudes from a crowd. So imagine that. Spurgeon said
it was a sound that any beast can make, a murmur. Think of
Moses standing silent, by the bitter waters, and surrounding
his are whispering groans of a hostile crowd, and all the
groans and the murmuring is against him." You've been in places where
there's just kind of a general murmur in a crowd, where people
are whispering all around, where something has happened, and people
are trying to come, trying to reach some kind of conclusion,
or they're angry or something. This is what was going on. They
were murmuring. The whole outfit was. The whole
outfit was murmuring against Moses. There's but one thing
that he can do in such a situation. It would be useless to try to
quiet the groaning den or seek to reach some sort of democratic
compromise by vote. He cries unto the Lord, is what
it said. It said, and he cried unto the
Lord. That's all a person can do when
he reaches such a situation, because the Lord is the one who
is responsible for their deliverance thus far. The Lord has brought
them to this place, and the Lord has promised to bring them into
the land of milk and honey. So he cries unto the Lord, and
it says of the Lord that the Lord showed him a tree. That's
what it says, it showed him a tree. It doesn't say that the Lord
told him to cast the tree into the water, it simply said he
showed him a tree. But this word showed can mean
to instruct or to point out. It can also mean to cast or throw.
It's an interesting word. It can mean things it ought to
mean together, but it does. The Lord pointed out the tree
for him to throw or to cast into the water. Trees play an important
role in the scriptures. They often represent strength
and longevity like the cedars of Lebanon. The way of the tree
of life adorned with cherubim The Way of the Tree of Life was
kept by the altar at the east of Eden, and that altar, we know,
had two cherubim upon it, like the mercy seat. And that altar,
the cherubim faced each other with their wings outstretched
towards each other. Between them is called a flaming sword, but
actually the word there is shaken, which means the Shekinah glory
of God, there on that altar. And that altar was there for
blood offerings. You remember Abel offered a blood
offering and he was accepted. Cain offered the fruit of his
hand and was rejected. But that altar was there, it
says in Genesis 3, 24, to keep the way. of the tree of life. That altar
where God dwelt and a blood offering was made was put there to keep
the way of the tree of life. The fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil was there in the garden and that
was prohibited on pain of death. The tree of life and the revelation
yields its fruit every month and its leaves were for the healing
of the nations. The single most important and
vital tree in the scripture is Calvary's tree, on which the
Lord of Glory hung as substitute for the Lord's people. It was
that tree that is pictured in our text, the tree that when
cast into the bitter waters made them sweet. Why? Because this
was a trial. Remember, our Lord took them
into the wilderness and kept them there 40 years to prove
them and he says that in this very text in the last phrase
of verse twenty five it says and he proved them what does
that mean he puts them to the test to see if they will be satisfied
with what God has done in Deuteronomy chapter eight he gave them manna
to prove them to prove them what does that mean to see if they
would be satisfied with the way God fed them and we know those
things picture the Lord Jesus Christ. This tree pictures the
cross of Christ. The manna pictured the body of
Jesus Christ. He's the bread of heaven. He's
the manna from heaven. And what was being proved was,
were they satisfied with what God has provided? And that just
translates over to, are you satisfied with Jesus Christ? Is He enough? I know a lot of people who are
in religion, Christ is not enough. They want to feel something.
They want to see something. They want to be promoted in something. They want something more than
Christ. Well, they're being proved. They're being proved by God to
see if Christ indeed is that which satisfies the soul. For
the children of God, at this time, this was a trial. And like
all the people, the first response is to complain. There's no use
for us to think otherwise. Those of you who go through trials,
you know this, the first thing you do is try to figure out some
way to get out of it. The first thing you do is complain.
Pain hurts. It don't feel good. We don't
like it. Trials don't make us feel good. Providence is often
painful. And we murmur. Now, we might
not do it out loud in front of our friends, but we do. We murmur. And we will murmur until God
helps us, until we cry out to Him. And we usually look for
somebody to blame. They did, they looked and blamed
it all on Moses. Moses here, having been told
to look at the tree, pictures the gospel preacher whose job,
whose calling is to cast the tree in the midst of the trial
and make it sweet. That's what we do, we preach the gospel.
You're going through trials, what do we do? We don't tell
you how to get out of the trial. We tell you to look to Christ,
look to the tree. God showed him a tree. That's
what the gospel preacher does, he shows them a tree. As the old hymn says, every joy
and every trial cometh from above, traced upon our dial by the son
of love. And when the Christ of Calvary's
tree is cast into the midst of the bitter trial, the bitter
waters become sweet peace of wine on the leaves, well refined. regardless of the trial, when
Christ is in the midst of it, it will be sweet. Now, it may
not seem sweet while it's going on, but once it's cast into the
waters and the trial ends, it's sweet. It's sweet. He showed
Moses a tree. I just love the way that's put
it. He showed Moses a tree. The people
were murmuring. There was a din in the crowd.
They were upset. God showed him a tree. God showed
him a tree. How sweet that is. Bunyan said,
Prisons would palaces make if only Christ were there. Moses
was told to look at a tree. In Isaiah chapter 45 and verse
22, our Lord says, I am the Lord, I change not, look unto me. all
ye, all the earth and be ye saved for I am God there is none else
look unto me look unto me in chapter 61 in verses 1 and 2
he talks about why Christ came into this world I read this I
think Sunday morning in our message on Sunday morning in Isaiah 61 he says the spirit of god is
upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the
meek that is to those that are cast down he sent me to bind
up the broken hearted when are you broken hearted in the midst
of trial you're broken hearted to proclaim liberty under them
that are captives to opening of the prison to them that are
bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord and the day
of vengeance of our god to comfort all that mourns to appoint to
them that mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes." We said
ashes are useless. They're nothing to them. All
the fires going, there's no longer more fuel in them. You can't
burn them. All you can do is cast them aside.
What's God going to replace those ashes with? Beauty. Beauty. The oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they
might be what? Called trees of righteousness. the planting of
the Lord that he might be glorified. Then over in Hebrews chapter
12 it speaks of this race that we're
in and how often we're beset by
things easily beset by things in this race that we're on, in
this sojourn and travel. We're not strong people. We're
not brave people. Our Lord tells us to be courageous,
but we don't add up very well. Our Lord tells us to be strong
in faith, but we don't do very good on that either. Things beset
us. Things set our mind away from
Christ. It puts us off. It says, wherefore, now seeing
we have such a great, are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses. Who's he talking about? He's talking about all those
wonderful people he's spoken of in chapter 11. All of them. All of them. The great heroes
of scripture who have lived and died for the gospel's sake. These,
he said, were compassed about with him. let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which does so easily
beset us, which all comes back to unbelief, let us run with
patience. Why patience? Because we're going
to run into things that require patience, the race set before
us. How do we run it? Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
set before him, that is, the salvation of his people, seeing
his seed when he made his soul an offering for sin, who for
the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, the
Lord has showed us a tree. And the end of that look is sweet
rivers of living waters, fountains open for cleansing and for sin
and for uncleanness, Every believer knows that when in trial, when
he looks to Christ, the trial becomes the place of deliverance.
Back in our text, in verse 27, it says, And they came to Elam.
They didn't have no water. They got a little sweet water
back there near Shur. They got some sweet water, but
now they come to a place where there's twelve wells. A well
per tribe. Twelve wells. of water and sixty,
seventy palm trees. Seventy palms. What do they got?
They come to an oasis. Oasis. And they encamp there
by the waters. Every trial will end in you.
By these twelve ponds of fresh water and seventy trees to find
shade for your soul. A believer learns in the trial
that the family that the trial itself is the means of god employs
to turn our eyes next time you're in a trial you will be because
that's the life of the child god don't show you a tree moses
look at that tree something there cast that tree in the waters
the bitter waters become sweet the lord by his grace has showed
all his people the tree. Father bless us to our understanding
in Christ's name. Amen.