Exodus_Ch16

Hello and welcome to the Harvest Baptist Church sermon podcast.

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All right.

If you'll grab your Bible, it will turn to me this morning to Exodus chapter 16.

Exodus chapter 16.

Well I hope I'm not starting a trend, but I'm going to give you a sermon title for two

weeks in a row.

This morning, wilderness nourishment.

Wilderness nourishment.

We'll get there in just a second, but we are now across the Red Sea.

God's people have been brought out of Egypt and they are now in the wilderness.

Now most people stop the story of Exodus and most of our knowledge kind of goes up to the

point where God rescued them through the plagues and crossing the Red Sea and Pharaoh's

armies drown, and that's kind of where the story ends.

But first Corinthians 10, another part of the New Testament tells us there's much more

to learn here, and that the God of Israel is our God.

And Christians, we are true Israel, Paul says in Galatians 3 and in Romans 10.

We are God's people.

We have been grafted into Israel and the God of the Bible in the Old Testament is our

God.

The way he treats his people then is how he treats us now.

And we have much to learn from what happened in the wilderness.

Now if you've missed on Wednesday night, I would like to say you've missed a blessing,

but that's probably not true.

On Wednesday night, we've been going through the book of Revelation and I feel like a young

kid trying to learn how to ride a bike, like I'm just not really sure what's going on

there.

I just did not find balance yet in all of this.

And however though, as I was thinking through, we were in Revelation chapter 12.

I could not help but miss the correlation between Exodus 16 and Revelation chapter 12.

I would encourage you, Revelation chapter 12 is one of the most amazing scriptures in

all the Bible.

And if I could just take a minute and show you the correlation, I believe that is there.

And in Revelation, it's not really a book.

I argue that is sequential.

In other words, this event, that event, these things going to happen in chronological order,

it's more cyclical.

It's more concurrent.

It shows things that are happening in the life of the church that happen over and over

again in different scenes and looking at it from different perspectives.

And it's like if you read Pilgrim's progress, it's like where Pilgrim goes into a Christian

goes into interpreter's house and interpreters says, hey, let me show you this room.

Oh, you see that?

Now, let me show you this room.

Now, let me show you this room.

And so you see different pictures and things going on in Revelation chapter 12 is a very

interesting picture.

John sees a scene in heaven.

He sees a sign in heaven, a spectacle in heaven.

And it is of a woman who is fleeing from a great dragon, a great serpent who is pursuing

the woman.

And she is great with child.

And this dragon, it's really a grotesque scene.

This dragon is waiting to devour the child of the woman.

And really, as soon as the woman has the child, the child is, it goes up to be with the

Lord.

Of course, this is Jesus.

But the woman, the woman flees into the wilderness.

And there it tells us twice in Revelation 12 that God nourishes her while she is in the

wilderness.

It's fascinating to read in different parts of the Bible, Josea, for instance.

God will say, I want to allure you back into the wilderness, oh Israel.

What was this wilderness experience supposed to be?

It was supposed to be where God's people grew and knowledge and experience of the character

and nature.

Mind I say, the glory of God.

Now there are in the wilderness.

And in the book of Revelation, it doesn't make words.

There is a dragon, the serpent from Genesis 3, the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the serpent

has become a great dragon.

And he's been thrown out of heaven.

He has been defeated.

At the cross, Jesus said, Luke, he says, I see Satan falling from heaven.

Satan was defeated.

He was cast out at the cross.

But he knows that time, Revelation 12 tells us he knows his time is short.

And he is still seeking to devour the woman.

And the woman is us.

It is God's covenantal people.

Our enemy is real.

Our enemy, Revelation, you know, is very clear in the Bible is clear.

You know, we have Pharaoh and Exodus who in later texts is referred to as the serpent.

We have Babylon in Assyria in Isaiah, where those nations are referred to as the serpent.

And what the Bible tells us is that the political powers that be that stand against God and his

law, that it's not just political powers.

There are satanic forces behind that.

And also, you go in Revelation, there are the beasts that come next.

And these beasts, they mimic Christ.

We're looking at Wednesday night and they mimic the gospel.

Every false religion in this world, the three major ones and all the cults, every one

of them.

It's not just, you know, some people who, they just think differently, they just think

about something.

They think about, no, no, no, that is satanic activity in our world, all politically

that stands against the Lord, religiously that stand against the gospel.

It is all satanic forces trying to devour the true church, God's true people.

And so all that's true and all that's real.

The wilderness is a hard place to be.

But what I want us to see in the text this morning, what this life, this nourishment that

God has for his people, Revelation tells us he nourished his people.

But what was it supposed to look like?

What was it supposed to look like then?

What is it supposed to look like now in this wilderness and this fight that we're a part

of in this Christian life?

This battle, the battle is real, but the victory is won.

What is it supposed to look like for us?

That's what's in the passage for us this morning.

So if you'll stand with me this morning as we read God's Word.

Exodus chapter 16, they set out from Elam and all the congregation, the people of Israel

came to the wilderness of sin.

Well, this sounds good.

Alrighty, don't know.

Which is between Elam and Sinai.

On the 15th day, the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

And the whole congregation, the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the people of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the hand of the Lord and

the land of Egypt.

When we sat by meat pots and they bred to the full for you, speaking of Moses, have brought

us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you.

And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may trust, I must

I may test them, excuse me, whether they will walk in my law or not.

On the 6th day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they

gather daily.

So Moses and Aaron said to the people of Israel, at evening, you shall know what is the Lord,

it is the Lord who has brought you out of the land of Egypt.

And in the morning, you shall see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your grumbling

against the Lord.

For what are we that you grumble against us?

And Moses said, when the Lord gives you the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread

to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him.

What are we?

Your grumbling is not against us, it's against the Lord.

Did you notice there are three times in 7 and 8?

You grumble against the Lord, verse 9, and Moses said to Aaron, say to the whole congregation

of the people of Israel, come near before the Lord before he has heard your grumbling.

And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the

wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel say to

them, that's why light you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with

bread.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God.

Verse 13, in the evening, quail came up and covered the camp and in the morning do lay

around the camp.

And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like

thing.

When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, manna, as Hebrew for what

is it?

For they did not know what it was, and Moses said to them, it is the bread that the Lord

has given you to eat.

This is what the Lord has commanded.

Gather of it, each of you as much as you can, you shall each take an omer according to

the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.

And the people of Israel did so.

They gathered some more than less, but when they measured it in an omer, whoever gathered

much had nothing left over, whoever gathered little had no lack.

Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.

And Moses said to them, leave, no one leave any of it over till the morning, but they did

not listen to Moses, some left part of it till the morning, and it read worms and stank.

And Moses was angry with them, morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as

he could eat.

But when the sun grew hot, it melted, and on the sixth day they gathered twice as much

bread to omer's each.

When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, this is

what the Lord has commanded.

Tomorrow is the day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over, lay aside

to keep till the morning.

So they laid it aside till the morning as Moses commanded them.

And it did not stink, and there was no worms in it.

Father, thank you for the giving and reading of your word.

Father, bless it.

Father, take it and form and transform your people.

Give us the mind of Christ this morning.

May the Holy Spirit enlighten us and convict us and challenge us and encourage us in the

gospel.

We ask it in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, amen, you may be seated.

What is this wilderness experience supposed to look like?

Well let's see first the consequences of their grumbling.

I want to focus on that as we move through these first three verses.

And it says they set out from Elom.

Now if you back up just a second, if you remember from last week when they got to Merah,

the water there was bitter.

And if you look in chapter 5 and you see in verse 25, they cried to the Lord, of course

they grumbled before that.

But the Lord heard their grumbling, this hour he responded in verse 25, and the Lord showed

him a tree or a log and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet.

What God did there, we spoke about how God was able to take a curse which is that bitter

water and turn it into a blessing.

And how God had did the opposite in the plagues of Egypt, how he had took a blessed now and

made it a curse.

But in Christ, how he takes a man, his man, his son, who became a curse for us and that

is our biggest blessing for theirs, our right standing with the Lord.

And so God responded that way.

And then we look on down as he reveals himself at the end of verse 26, he says, if you keep

my statues, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, we need

to remember that verse, for I am the Lord, your healer, I am Jehovah Rafa, I am the one

who healed you.

And as we see about their grumbling, their real need was not an outward rescue from

Egypt, their real need was an inward, they needed a new heart.

And that's what we learned really about this generation is that they needed an inward

healing.

Verse 27, then they came to Elam, that's where they leave in verse 1 of 16, where there

were 12 springs of water in 70 palm trees and they encamped there by the water.

Their grumbling was shortsighted.

God had prepared for them a oasis.

He was bringing them to rivers and palm trees, I mean palm trees are evident that the water

is sufficient.

God had prepared this for them.

That's what this wilderness was experienced, supposed to be like relying on the Lord and

him leading you to oases, to oases, to oases, to oases.

And then so let's get to chapter 16 in verse 1, they set out from Elam.

Well, that had to be a leadership accomplishment, to get millions of people after being thirsty

and to leave, really this palm springs area, this oases.

And the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of sin.

Well, we're going to see why it's called that, by the way that they acted here, which

is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day, the second month after they departed from the

land of Egypt.

So six weeks, about 45 days or so, they are from when God had rescued them.

I mean, they're really just got done singing on the bank of the Red Sea.

And here they go out in verse 2 and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled

against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

Notice that it was the whole congregation.

It wasn't 10 people, it wasn't a small group, it was all of them, the whole congregation.

We noted last week about grumbling, we'll talk a little bit more exactly what grumbling

is.

But when you start the grumble, that's a habit that's hard to kick.

I can remember being at a church in our first church, our pastor, and I remember, I said,

I want to challenge you to fast.

I said, but not just a food, not a food fast, but a fast from grumbling, from critiquing,

from being critical, from being overly judgmental.

And I can remember this elderly sweet lady, oh, Miss Evelyn, sweet, sweet lady.

I remember about a month later, she come to me, pastor, I've been fasting food for, you

know, four weeks.

You need to eat, I don't think that's, you need to talk to a doctor.

I said, that's not what I said, that's not, I didn't, I didn't recommend that, don't

go tell any doctor I recommended that, because that's not what I said, I said, I said from,

from being critical, from complaining, from grumbling, but it is a habit, kicking food

may be harder than kicking grumbling.

But here notice, it's also contagious, it's also contagious.

If you have kids at grumble, you don't need to look too far in the mirror and maybe find

the source of that.

The whole congregation, all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

Now what is grumbling?

We noted last week, there's difference between groaning, lamenting, we have a whole book

in the Bible about lamenting.

We have Psalm after Psalm, where the psalmist cries out to God, help me, I need help, I need

deliverance, I need, I need you God to cry out to the Lord, right?

We're told to cry out to the Lord, but there's a difference between that and groaning.

Groaning is the heart shaking its head to God, it's rolling the eyes to God.

It's cursing under your breath about God.

Grumbling is the cough of a sick heart.

See grumbling is a theological issue, but you see we don't think of it like that, because

mixed in with grumbling is a whole sort of respectable sense, I won't say that again,

a whole sort of respectable sense.

You see you and I are skewed in this, and I mean I'll admit that myself where there

are some sense we tolerate.

There are some sense that are grotesque to us, and we call them out in society and culture,

we have no problem pointing fingers at all, but very often we get to spec out of somebody

else's eye and forget the log in our own.

In gratitude, thanklessness, discontentment, and grumbling all go together, and those

are scenes we are willing to put up with, those are scenes we are willing not to confess,

but we need to acknowledge what is the right, Moses, this place is now called the wilderness

of sin because they grumbled against God.

You see it's a theological problem, look down in verse 7 here at the text, Moses, they

grumbled what's the text against Moses and Aaron, and in verse 7 Moses says, let's just

set this record straight or quick, congregation, look what he says in verse 7, in the morning

you will see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord,

that's a fascinating statement itself, we'll come back to it.

For what are we that you grumble against us?

Did we bring the plagues in Egypt, yeah I had the staff but you think I had the power

to bring them?

Did I part the Red Sea, did I drown the Egyptian army?

That wasn't me, that was God, you think I want to come at you, you think this was my

plan?

No.

He goes on to say, verse 8, Moses said, when the Lord gives you in the evening meat to

eat morning bread to the full because the Lord has heard your grumbling, that you grumble

against Him.

What are we, your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord, see the repetition

there, you get the point, grumbling, we need to write it down in our hearts, is a sin

against God.

There's a lot of reasons to do things and not to do things, but Christian somewhere down

the line we've become, we quit becoming accustomed to because God said so, right?

If you're a parent, that's one of the first things you want to instill in your child, right?

You do what I say, what?

Because I said so.

Hey, and kiddos, that's a good enough reason, right?

And they can explain if they want to, but you obey first and you can get the explanation

later, right?

Because God said, why should we do evangelism as a church as individuals?

Because the glory of God, the greatness of the gospel, amen, and yes to all of that,

but because we're commanded to, right?

Why do we gather on the Lord today?

Because we're commanded to.

And because it's rest in the Lord, right?

There's all kinds of reasons, and apologetic reasons to do things, but we need to keep

in mind what the Lord commands us to do and doesn't command us to do.

The Bible in Philippians 2 says, argue and complain about nothing.

To do, and you may, we may put it in other ways, right?

We may complain, we may grumble about a boss.

We may grumble about situations that come in our life.

We may, about ruined plans, about diagnosis to cancer, or you name it to a sickness.

You may complain, but what we need to understand is that grumbling is a sin against the Lord.

It is a sin against the Lord and needs to be repented of.

So first thing, grumbling is a sin against the Lord.

It is a theological problem.

So not only is it a sin against the Lord, but grumbling, let's look at the effects of

what grumbling does and what it does, grumbling affects our time.

It really affects our time.

So look what they say.

Let's go back into verse 2, why the whole congregation and the people of Israel grumbled

against Mosir and the wilderness, and the people of Israel note what they said to them.

What that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat

pots and ate bread to the full for you have brought us into this wilderness to kill the

whole assembly with hunger.

Grumbling distorts the past.

It inflates the past.

Look what they said there, Moses, when we were in Egypt, we had a fine.

We had a buffet line of meat.

We had all the bread we can eat.

Is that true?

No it wasn't true.

I don't know if you romanticize the past, I don't know if you do that or not, but I tend

to do that.

I got a few fish stories and the fish keep getting bigger and bigger, right?

And one of those that come into my mind with food is when I was in the wilderness at

the Coa Falls College.

I can remember Jerry Lore, my very good friend.

Now in Pastor in California, Jerry was a sushi expert and I never really eat sushi.

Now I'm from Banks County, right?

He said we're going to go eat some sushi and he took me to, if you know, to Coa very

well, the shopping center out there on Big A to the right and down there were about half

of the outlets weren't rented, okay?

There was a Chinese buffet that I don't think any of the lights worked on and we went

in there and I can remember.

To this day, I believe it was the best thing I ever ate, pretty sure it was terrible.

But I remember I ate a piece of that sushi, I was like, oh gosh, this is not, you know,

if you paid $8 for a meal, sushi probably ain't the right thing to order.

But I can't remember.

He said just dip it in the wasabi and the soy sauce and it'll be fine.

It won't hurt you.

Right?

And I thought as a college kid, I thought that was the best meal I'd ever ate, best meal

I'd ever eat again.

But what?

But we do.

We tend to romanticize the past.

It's keeping a lot of us from seeing the glory of God, enjoying God, being used by God.

As we live in the past, we romanticize the past.

I think of John chapter four where Jesus comes to the woman at the well at Samaria and

it says the lady walked up and Jesus was at the well and he said, well, you get me some

water.

She said, how are you going to ask a Jewish man asks a Samarian woman for some water?

He said, if you knew who I was, you would ask me for water.

If you knew the gift of God, you would ask me for water.

He goes, well, you ain't got no bucket anywhere, where are you going to get this water from?

And he said, if you knew who I was, I would give you water that you would never thirst

again.

She goes, oh, well, where is this living well at?

Where is this spring of eternal bliss at?

He said, oh, okay, why don't you go get your husband?

Oh, conversation changed a little bit.

She said, well, had five of them.

He goes, oh, I know very well.

Right?

She thought she didn't need it.

She thought she didn't need the Lord, right?

We tend as Christians and we have this fallacy, people who are not Christians have all the

joy and all the fun.

And when we become a Christian, we've got to put our head down and no joy as a Christian.

No friend.

It's really not.

Now, we don't need to get wrong.

There is joy and happiness and the Bible speaks in Hebrews 11 of the pleasure of sin

for a season.

Well, listen, you can eat the devil's corn, but he will choke you on the cob, right?

The old time we used to say sin fascinates and then it assassinates.

It thrills and then it kills.

That is always how sin ends.

I can remember a college ministry when we were working at UGA with some of the college

kids and the Baptist Union, the B.C.M. there had a ministry.

I can remember recruiting some of our college kids to help out with it.

It was, they would go to Athens and on at midnight and after midnight, they would give

rides to students who were leaving bars.

And I can remember certain students saying, I might be tempted.

I don't think I want to do that.

And I can remember the leader of B.C.M. said, oh, don't worry.

There's no temptation.

If you've ever seen anybody drunk leaving a bar, I promise you.

It's all gone.

It looks terrible.

The puke and the smell and the problems and the crimes, no friend.

You can eat the devil's corn, but you'll choke on his cob.

No, there is pleasure and sin for a season.

But we tend to look and say, oh, we need, and the Bible tells us in Luke chapter 17, Jesus

says, remember, lots, wife.

You see, looking back is a terrible problem.

Paul speaks of people who left him, demons left him for the love of the world.

There is a great sin in looking back.

And when we grumble, we distort the past, but it also messes up the present as well.

Not only does it inflate the past and distort it, it also distorts the future.

If you look in verse 3 as well, who did they accuse?

They accused Moses.

They said, Moses, you brought us into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

No, they missed it.

And what Moses is doing, it wasn't Moses's plan.

If you're a grumbler, that is a besetting sin of yours.

You need to note that you're going to have a hard time understanding people's intentions.

You're going to have a hard time understanding reality, seeing things the way that they truly

are.

Not only that, but it also in the biggest issue.

Not only was it a sin, but it kept them from seeing the glory of God.

Let us move on in verse 4.

And then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I am about to reign bread.

Man, I thought he was going to reign something else on him.

Heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion, every one of you,

that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

Many of us, I used to, before I studied this passage, I think about the man in the wilderness

and God providing, but it's really a test here.

Whether they will walk in my law or not, verse 5 on the sixth day, they will prepare what

they bring in.

It will be twice as much as they gather daily.

Next week, we're going to talk more about this Sabbath ordinance.

So notice here, just to note and get ready for next Sunday, the Sabbath ordinance came

before the giving of the law, which is an Exodus 20.

Do you know that?

Good math lesson.

Exodus 16 comes before Exodus 20, right?

Why do they, why are they to get twice as much mana because they're not going to gather

on the Sabbath day?

This was an ordinance of God before, this is a creation ordinance.

In verse 6, Moses Aaron said to all the people at Israel, at evening, you shall know what

the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

In the morning, you shall see the glory of the Lord because he heard your grumblings against

the Lord for what are we that you grumble against us?

In other words, in the morning, because of your grumbling, you are going to see the glory

of God.

And that sounds crazy.

But here, they're going to really, you could sum up the rest of Exodus, they missed the

glory of God.

They didn't value the glory of God, they truly missed it.

But that's what happens in our grumbling.

We too miss it.

Some people do live in the past.

Some people have great memories in the past.

Some of us, perhaps, even have dreams that didn't come to flourishing.

We have lives that we hope would happen, regrets in our life about spouses or about friends

or about investments, about opportunities.

We missed, and if we stay there, we'll miss the glory of God now.

We are called to pursue him.

They would not pursue God in the present because they wanted to go back to Egypt.

We have to get to where Paul got in Philippians chapter 3 where Paul said this one thing I

do, I don't think that I have made it.

One thing I do, I leave what's behind and I press forward to the high calling of God

that is in Christ Jesus.

They wouldn't move forward.

They wanted to go back.

Their future was, their present was, distorted.

But the odd thing here, verse 7 seems like a contradiction because they grumbled, they

were going to get to see the glory of God.

How is that possible?

How was it that grumbling that God was going to provide for them, where it said there

in verse 4 that he was going to reign bread from heaven?

It seems like he would reign the opposite.

It seems like he would reign down hell in Brimstone.

That seems to what they definitely deserved.

But how was it the case?

Here's what I want to point out to you.

Not only do we need to see the consequences of grumbling, but we need to learn to be

nourished by the Lord's daily provision.

We need to learn to be nourished by the Lord's daily provision.

And in the text, what is connected is the glory of God in his daily provision for the

people.

Okay, here's what we want to have to stop for a minute and think hard about the rest

of this text.

God's glory.

This is, by the way, the first time in the Bible where the glory of the Lord is mentioned,

where the glory of the Lord is mentioned.

They were supposed to understand his nature and his presence and his character and how

was it they were going to understand that by his daily provision.

But they were grumbling.

They didn't deserve that.

They didn't deserve that at all.

We noted above in chapter 15, if you follow my rules and my statues, I will not bring

on to you what I brought on the Egyptians.

But later, as we read, we won't get there today, but they sinned against God.

They did try to gather on the Sabbath day.

They failed.

Does God rain down the plagues of Egypt on them?

No, he doesn't.

Here's the point.

God's grace was greater than their grumbling.

Can't help missing Romans chapter 5 where Paul says we're sin abound, grace did much more

about how come God did not bring hellfire down on them for their grumbling?

How come he didn't bring the plagues of Egypt down on his people?

Was it because they were better than the Egyptians?

No, if anything, what we learned from this text is they were just as much sinners as

the Egyptians were.

Why was it that he responds in such a way because of his grace, because of the true

manner from heaven?

Notice what happens in the text here.

I hope you didn't miss it, but in verse 9, not only did God promise to provide for him

and he will provide for him, they get to hear God speak out of the cloud.

In Revelation chapter 11, we had to go back a little bit Wednesday night and the arc of

the covenant was unveiled.

Now for a Hebrew person that blew their mind.

They never got, nobody in the Old Testament ever got to see the arc of the covenant after

the construction.

All the generations, only the high priest, once a year, got to see it, but let's look

inside of it.

And in Revelation 11, it's opened up.

Not only is it opened up, they see thunder and lightning.

This generation, this is before the arc of the covenant, they notice what happens in

verse 9.

Moses said to Aaron, say to the whole congregation, come near before the Lord, for he has heard

your grumbling, and as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel,

they looked toward the wilderness and behold the glory of God appeared in the cloud.

How does this make sense for their grumbling?

What did they get?

They got to see the glory of God.

They deserve that.

They didn't get that, but they saw the glory of God.

How does that possible?

It's possible because of the true manna from heaven.

John 1, 1, the Bible tells us the word became flesh and to weld among us.

In verse 14 of John chapter 1, it says, we be hailed his glory, the glory of the only

one God.

And when Jesus Christ came to this earth, he was the glory of God.

He was God in the flesh.

And John chapter 6, when he feeds the 5,000, he tells them, I am the bread of life.

Notice what we read about the fading of the 5,000s earlier?

The little kids lunch.

I can never get the numbers right.

Y'all had to help me.

However many loves the bread, however many fish, how much was left over?

I'll always get this part right.

12 baskets.

What's the point?

And his provision is sufficient.

What happened at the cross?

God's grace is greater than our seeing Christian.

His grace is greater than our grumbling.

He is provided for us.

How is it that they weren't destroyed right here by the glory of God in the cloud by the

grace of God because Christ was cursed on the tree?

Because he took the wrath that they deserve for their grumbling.

Christ took it on the tree.

The wrath that you and I deserve for our grumbling.

Christ took that on.

You think about your sin and the sins you struggle with?

And you think, yes, I'm glad Christ died for those.

But he also died for those that you respect.

The sins that you and I are, he died for those.

He took the curse for those.

That's how they got to see the glory of God.

Notice in verse 13 about this provision.

This provision, this day, not only did they get to see the glory of God.

But this provision was providential.

That is, he used the normal means of grace.

I'll show you this in verse 13.

In the evening, Quail came up and covered the camp and in the morning due later around

the camp.

They were hungry and God fed them.

Now, Quail is a migrant bird in this wilderness.

And a couple months a year in the spring, these birds, it's known that they would land.

And because of their migration, they become so thirsty that they would land to be so tired.

They would even land on top of each other.

These birds have known to sink ships because there's so many of them.

But when they would land, they're so tired, they easily can go and just pick them up.

But there is also something amazing about this that not, I mean, the magnitude to feed millions

of people every evening with these Quail.

It's like poultry, I mean, McDonald's every evening.

Not bad kiddos, huh?

All right, chicken nuggets every night.

God fed them.

Provincial means.

You say, well, I go to work and I work, yeah, we're told to work hard.

We're told to provide for our families and do those things.

But who gives you the breath to do that?

Who gives you the world to do that?

Who gives you a family to provide for?

All of that is God's providential, pre-providing for us.

But then there's miraculous provision.

This is the man in verse 14.

And when the dude had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing.

It's fine.

It's frost on the ground.

The people saw it.

They said to one another.

What is it?

That is Hebrew from Manna.

That's what they're going to call it later.

But they did not know what it was.

And Moses said to them, it's the bread the Lord has given you to eat.

Now this bread was miraculous.

Simply because this is the only time this has ever occurred.

This Manna appearing in the morning in the dew has never been seen in that wilderness

sense.

Before they got there, this was miraculous that God did this.

And the Bible tells us at the end of this chapter, when they left, we got into the promised

land.

The man no longer appeared.

This was miraculous.

And we know it's miraculous for many reasons.

One, if they were to keep it before the Sabbath, right?

If they held it overnight, it went bad.

But if they gathered twice as much on Friday before their Sabbath on Saturday, it wouldn't

go bad.

It was miraculous.

God is doing a miraculous thing here in this Manna.

It was miraculous.

And this proves us that no matter our situation, God can provide, He is not limited by our circumstances.

Now say all that to end here on this point.

Here they gathered.

You're looking verse 18, no one lacked anything.

Those who gathered more than they needed found that they were okay.

Those who didn't gather enough found that they were okay as well.

They ate and they were satisfied with it.

Listen with this thought.

If you think about going through a desert, how do you travel through a desert?

You do it like Pastor Alex, Pastor Nate, and then you go over it on a plane, right?

How do you go through a desert?

If you were to go through a desert, you'd have to plan it out.

All right, here's where the water is.

This is where we're going to stop.

Here is how much food.

We don't want to carry too many animals to me, beast of birth, and that ain't going to work out.

Right?

You would be very meticulous about how you'd do it.

You wouldn't want to stay there long.

You would want your journey to be as short as possible.

What was this wilderness experience supposed to look like?

It was supposed to look like them being provided by God every day.

Food provided at night, poultry at night, bread in the morning.

On one day a week you could get to worship the Lord.

I mean, with all of God's people, if you ever notice nowadays there's golf courses in

the desert and they are beautiful and immaculate.

All the old money has built some amazing golf courses in the deserts of this world.

That's what God's people was supposed to look like.

They were at a golf resort being nourished by the Lord in the desert, in the desert.

That's what their experience was supposed to look like.

Not only they were surviving, but they were supposed to thrive.

That's why God in Hosea 2, so I want to lure my people back in to the wilderness.

This world is full of its battles and its conflict, but God has called us to be such a people

not just to survive in this battle in this world, but to thrive in it.

Don't mix up health and wealth gospel with what I'm saying this morning.

God didn't promise us that, but in the middle of poverty, in the middle of sickness, there

can be true joy found if you found it in the Lord and in His grace, in His mercy and

in His provision.

Friend, what is anxiety and worry other than living out the future before it comes?

I won't say it again.

What is worry and anxiety other than living out the future before it comes?

Think about it.

Jesus said in Matthew 6, why do you worry about the food that you eat and the water that

you drink and the clothes that you wear?

Is life not more than food and drink and clothes?

Look at the birds.

The birds of the air, they don't so and read, they don't gather and put in a barn, but

their father feeds them and takes care of them.

Don't worry so much about what you're going to wear.

Look at the lilies of the field.

I tell you not to solemn in and all of his plunder was clothed like one of these.

But yet those lilies are taken up and burned.

Are you not much more valuable than the lilies?

Jesus said, why are you of little faith?

I tell you, don't worry about what you eat or drink.

For the father knows you need all these things.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and He'll provide for everything else.

You see, whatever God has placed you in today, whatever He's brought you through, wherever

He's brought you to, He has given you enough grace today to deal with it.

You don't have to go ahead and live tomorrow's needs because they're not here yet.

But you know what you can have confidence in?

His mercy and His grace will be sufficient for you when that day comes.

You know how you can be confident in that?

Paul says, did he who did not give us his only son?

But he not freely give us all things.

If he did not forfeit sending his son to down the cross for our sins and take the wrath

that we deserve so we might become the righteousness of God, how much more will he not provide for

our daily needs?

Father, thank you that you do provide, that you have provided our greatest need and that

is salvation for our soul, salvation from your wrath.

Thank you that we do not meet you in your wrath, but we meet you in your mercy because

of you giving of your son for us cursed on the tree to be our propitiation.

Father, because of such a gift, because of such freedom, may we trust you daily and be

confident that your grace is sufficient and that your mercies are new every day.

May we seek first your kingdom of God and your rights just knowing that you will provide

everything that we need.

Help us have confidence in you.

We ask it in Christ's name, amen.

Thank you for listening to this sermon from Harvest Baptist Church.

For more information about the church, please visit our website, harvestbc.church.

If you would like to contact us, please email us at contact.harvestbc at gmail.com or you

can call us at 706-780-2211.

If you were looking for a church home or visiting the North Georgia area, we would love for you

to join us on a Sunday morning at 9.30 in the fellowship hall for breakfast and Sunday

school and then at 11 a.m. for our Lord's Day worship service.

We hope that you have a great week.

God bless.