morning everyone. We want to give everyone a very warm welcome to our meeting this morning. And especially, Lincome and his family. Great to see you back again.
And of course everyone that's come out today to hear the word of God. I'm going to invite you to turn in your Bibles to the Book of Exodus and chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. I want to speak to you today about lessons in the wilderness, part two.
Lessons in the wilderness, part two. Exodus chapter 16. And just for connection, if you look at chapter 15 and verse 25, there's a little phrase there that stood out in my mind. It says that there, in the wilderness where they were, there the Lord tested them.
There the Lord tested them. We're going to see how that unfolded. Chapter 16 and verse 1. And they set out from Elam, all the congregation of the people of Israel.
And they came to the wilderness of sin. Verse 2. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. They grumbled.
What did they say? Verse 3. Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt? We sat there by meat pots and we ate bread to the full.
You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And the Lord said unto Moses, behold, I am about to reign bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and they will gather a day's portion every day. They will gather a day's portion every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
Verse 6, it says, at evening you shall know that it was the Lord who 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. Verse 8. When the Lord gives you in 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 but against the Lord. Verse 10. And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation, the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness to 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, at twilight, you shall eat meat. In the morning you shall be filled with bread, then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.
Verse 14, and when the dew had gone up there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. And when the people of Israel saw it, they said went to another. What is it? For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, it is the bread that the Lord your God has given you to eat. Gather it. If you drop down to verse 21, it says morning by morning, they gathered it. Each as much as he could eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
Verse 31. Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded.
Little farther down it said, so they may see the bread which I fed you into wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. Verse 35 says, the people of Israel ate the manna 40 years till they came to the habitable land, the land of Canaan. They ate manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. Now turn over to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 8.
I want to reference this verse because I think it is a summary of life with God in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 8 and we're going to read that verse 2. And you shall remember the whole way the Lord your God led you these 40 years. You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God led you these 40 years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what is in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not.
And he humbled you and he let you hunger and he fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know that he might make you to know that man does not live by bread alone. But man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. I find this to be a striking story and I find a very strong correlation between what the Israelites experienced in the wilderness and our life. That summary that we just read in Deuteronomy chapter 8 is a real summary of life with God in the wilderness.
Now if you're a Christian here today and you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior and maybe you're not too far along the road you might think this is such a beautiful life it's all good. If you keep living you will experience things that are similar to the characteristics of a wilderness. And I think that God let this passage be known to us so that we can be instructed in our life as we move through this world which is a wilderness and we move through it with God. Let me summarize it this way the children of Israel leaving Egypt were on a emotional high.
They had just experienced years of slavery. They felt the whip of Pharaoh and his generals. They saw many many plagues that had probably gone on for months and then there was the miraculous parting of the Red Sea when God opened up the waters and they walked across the sea on dry land. They looked back and they saw that the Egyptians their enemies had drowned.
On the other side of the Red Sea it would have been easy for them to think all our difficulties are over. They worshiped the Lord with singing and dancing. They were probably thinking just a few more weeks of traveling through the wilderness and we're going to be in the promised land. God was going to quickly destroy the giants.
He was going to wipe out all of our enemies and we were going to move into a land flowing with milk and honey and beautiful trees and fresh fruit and we're going to sap our life and we're going to live happily thereafter. It didn't unfold like that did it. You know there's many people that come to Christ and they feel that the greatest need of their heart of their life has been met and it has and their sins are forgiven and they're born again and they're on this new road with God and then difficulties come and trials and problems and we might be tempted to think I thought all of our problems were over. When you read a summary verse like Deuteronomy chapter 8 and you hear what God said about the children of Israel that God led them 40 years and he fed them and he tested them to see what was in their heart.
I want to suggest to you today that life as a believer in the world is like passing through the wilderness. There's not anything here to satisfy our spiritual longing. There's not anything here that really satisfies the soul and everything around us is temporary. Life for a believer in the wilderness is a life of testing.
It is a life of training. It is a life of feeding our souls on Jesus Christ as we journey through this wilderness. I'm on a little series as I've gone through the book of Exodus at high level. I'm looking at four things.
Unfortunately I don't have slides for you today but that's okay they didn't come through. First thing I want to tell you is that we've learned a lesson of moving. At the very beginning of Exodus when God is taking the children of Israel he's saying I am going to give you a pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night and when it moves you will move with it. Here is a great lesson of guidance.
When God moves we move with him. I don't know if you remember my first message on Moses he's in a dilemma and he's looking at the children of Israel and he's looking at going into Cain and he's saying Lord how are we going to do this? Who's going to come with me? And God said my presence will go with you.
I will be with you and I will give you peace. A lesson in moving. A lesson in guidance with God. Today we have the Word of God.
Today we have the Holy Spirit and he guides us through his Word and through the Holy Spirit that when God moves we move with him. Lessons taught in the wilderness moving. Secondly there's a lesson in murmuring. I'm amazed how many times I've seen this word as I read through the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
I see this word murmuring and grumbling and there's a huge lesson there because God brings trials into our life to test us. Are you got any trials in your life? How are you doing with those trials? More importantly what's your attitude like as God brings you into circumstances that are adverse?
Well what I learned about these people is they're not very different than me. They grumbled and they complained about everything. A lesson in murmuring how we deal with trials and difficulties in our life. The third lesson is a lesson of the manna that I'm speaking on today and it is a lesson of provision.
It is a lesson of dependence. Trusting God for your very basic needs. You know we like to have money in the bank. We like to have food in the cupboard.
We like to have lots of work ahead of us so we can feel somewhat financially secure in this life. We work hard because we want to get a pension. We invest our RSPs because someday we want to be able to live on that. You know what God says is very different than that.
He says that you may know that I am the Lord your God. I will provide for you. Are you ready willing and able to trust me? You ever heard of a man called George Mueller?
He had thousands of orphans with no income and no food and daily he fed these thousands of children and every day he trusted God. He would wake up in the morning and he would say Lord please provide food for these orphan children and a baker would show up at the door with a truckload of bread for George Mueller and the orphanage. These people learned the fundamental basics of trusting God one day at a time. A lesson of manna trusting God for your basic needs.
There's another lesson that we haven't looked at yet. It's a lesson of Mount Sinai. It's a lesson that God taught Moses when he brought him up the Mount and he was with God for 40 days and 40 nights in his divine presence. And Moses was in awe of God.
Alone with God in that mountaintop he came down to communicate truth to the people of God, the lesson of the presence of God. I want you to notice the three greatest sins that the children of Israel committed in the wilderness, the three greatest sins. Number one, unbelief in God. Diseritated God.
They're unbelief. He called them a stiff-necked people. They were full of unbelief. That was their number one greatest sin.
Number two, their greatest sin was murmuring. All they did was complain. We need water. The water's undrinkable.
It's bitter. We remember the beautiful food and everything that we had in Egypt. They murmured. That was their second greatest sin.
Their third greatest sin was idol worship. God is with Moses up the mountain in the holy presence of God, giving them the law of the 10 commandments and the children of Israel are down, worshiping the golden calf. Three greatest sins, unbelief, murmuring, and idol worship. Let me stop here and make this point.
What do you think some of the greatest sins are of Christians today? Let me suggest for you a lack of faith in God. Complaining and idol worship. And you might say, wait a minute.
I don't worship idols. You don't. Think about this for a minute. Do you remember when the Lord Jesus was with his disciples and he told them to get into a boat and go over to the other side?
Did he not know that there was a storm coming? Does he not know that you are entering into storms in your life? Does he not know your health condition, your anxiety, your fears? Does he not know your lack of funding?
Does he not know that you're unemployed? Does he not know that you need all of these things? Yes, he knows it all. But he directed his disciples to go into that storm.
And it says that they were rowing and the wind was against them. And the conditions were adverse. Everything was against them. And they're thinking, where is the Lord?
How do you think Mary and Martha felt when they're watching their loved one? And Lazarus is sick and they know he's going to die. And they send word to the Lord. The one whom you love is sick.
Come quickly. And Jesus, when he heard that, decided to stay where he was. And he's four days late. And Lazarus is dead and buried and in the tomb.
God wasn't late. All of these things that come into our life are by the divine providence of God to test us, to see what is in our heart, to see if we're willing and ready to trust God, to see if we are able to just fully depend on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that scene? The fourth watch of the night.
Jesus comes walking on the water. And there's a little phrase in Mark's gospel that says, he would have passed them by. But they called out to him. And he gets in the boat and immediately they are at the other side.
Do you know what Jesus said to his disciples? Over and over and over again. He said, where is your faith? He said, how long shall I suffer this generation?
Where is your faith? Can I challenge you today? I don't know anything about your life. I really don't.
But I'm speaking to you from my own experience. Where is your faith? When your back is against the wall and you need some basic needs, is your faith in God? Is it in yourself?
Is it in the economy? Is it in the government? Where is your faith? There's only one place to put your faith.
And it's in Jesus Christ. One of the greatest sins that Christians commit today is lack of faith. Second greatest sin that I think Christians commit today is murmuring, grumbling, complaining. I see this in my own heart and it is sin.
It's too cold. It's too hot. I miss that. I need this.
You should have done it this way. Get out of my way. When you know what happens, we grumble and we complain. Step back, beloved, and understand this.
All the things that are happening to you in your life right now are in the sovereign hand of the control of God. And he is teaching you and training you and trying your faith. Your tribulation is probably different than mine. And mine is different than yours.
But we're all passing through a wilderness and we are all being tested by God to see what's in our heart. He's going to provide for you. You know the worst sin that we can commit is idol worship. Do you know what the D&Es today are?
They're not a golden calf. The people of God, you know what we do? We worship people. We even have a name for people that we say, he's my idol.
That's idolatry. We worship possessions. We worship things that take the place of my heart away from God. We worship status.
Here's one of the worst sins that we commit. We worship self-aggrandizing. We have this thing called Instagram. We have this thing called Facebook.
And you know what we do? We take pictures of ourselves and our lifestyle. And we make this look, oh, look at the food that they're eating. Wow, look at their house.
See what they have. I saw them on Facebook. You know what we do? We self-aggrandize.
That is the opposite of what God wants us to do. What does the Lord require of you? Do justly love mercy and walk humbly with your God. This is what God wants of us.
God says to this man, will I look the one who has a humble and contrite heart and trembles at my word. That's what God values. And so often we in 2025, we self-aggrandize. We worship status and possessions and people and money and and superficiality.
This phone that we all have is a curse. And we are all addicted to it and we can't put it down. In Revelation chapter 2, God said this. He said, I know your works.
He said, I know that you do all of these things right in your life. But I have something against you. You have left your first love. Can I ask you today?
Anyone here ever left their first love? I think if we're honest, many of us have displaced our love for God with love for many things. Our brother, last week, I think it was, spoke on the soils. And one thing that happens is the seed of the Word of God is planted, but the thorns and the lust for many things they creep up and they choke the word.
That happens to us. And so as we're going through the wilderness, God has something for us. He has manna. And if I can go back to Exodus chapter 16 for a second, they didn't know what it was.
You know what it's called in Psalm 78? It's called the grain from heaven. The grain from heaven is called angels food. And it's what God fed his people as they went through the wilderness.
It was small. It was round. It was sweet to the taste. And they were to gather it every morning.
And they were to gather it in individual portions. It satisfied them. It fed them. It met their physical need.
I think that a lot of people completely don't get this. Can you imagine for a second? Just do the math for one second. If you read in Exodus chapter 16, it says how much omers they were to take each individual person.
It works out to in today's weight 17 liters. So if you look at how much this person and this individual, like let's say a family of six, if there was mom and dad and four kids, that whole family would have consumed 17 liters of manna a day. 2.4 million people, God had to provide six, seven million liters of manna a day. And he did it every day, except the Sabbath, and he did it every day consistently for 40 years.
Now if God is able to provide seven million liters per day of manna for a people that are going through a wilderness, is God not able to provide for you? He is. He is. I want you to notice something about the manna.
The manna was small. You know what we think sometimes? I'm so busy. I don't have time to read my Bible.
I'm so busy. I got a big appointment today. I got to get out the door. I got to get this going.
I got to get this going. My phone's ringing. I'm getting texts. And I don't have time for that small thing.
You know what else happens to us many times? We get distracted. The crazy distractions in this life are insane. And I think they're worse today than ever before.
We have so many distractions that we don't discipline ourselves to take time alone with God. It was small. It was round. Do you know why it was round?
Because that circle never ends. You know what it points to? For us, eternity. When we feed on the manna, we are feeding on something that is eternal, not temporary.
It's eternal. You know what it is? Sweet to the taste. How beautiful it is to get up early in the morning, set aside some time to spend alone with God.
And let his word, the grain from heaven, feed my soul, the manna that he rained down. It feeds my soul. It nourishes me. It is critically important for my spiritual life.
I want you to turn to John chapter 6. And I want to make some points that are related to this. John chapter 6. And I want to read at verse 27.
And as we turn to John chapter 6, I want to ask you this question. What are you feeding on? Like seriously, what are you occupying your mind with? What are you looking at?
What do you value? What are you spending your money and your time on? You know what Jesus said? He said about the Pharisees, these people draw near to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
These people were outraged that the disciples didn't wash their hands before eating. And in Matthew chapter 15, they charged the Lord Jesus. And they said, why do your disciples transgress the traditions of the Pharisees? Jesus said, you draw near to me with your lips and with your mouth, but your heart is far from me.
It's a critical point because sometimes we can get occupied with the superficialities or the motions of going to church, going to do the things that we know look good on the outward appearance, but it's our heart right with God. When I look at John chapter 6, I see a people that Jesus was in a debate with, and they're all about the temporary. They're all about the outward. They're all about this idol that they had called Moses.
Look what Jesus said, verse 27. Labor not for food that perishes, but for food that endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you for Him. God has sealed. They say unto Him, what shall we do that?
We might work the works of God. He says, this is the work of God that you believe on Him whom God has sent. Look at verse 32, Jesus said unto them, barely I say unto you, Moses gave you that bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is He who came down from heaven and gives His life unto the world.
They said unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me will never hunger. He that believes in me will never thirst. I want you to notice a few things about this verse.
Jesus Christ is the true bread. Do you know what we do in our lives? We substitute the true bread for imitation. We feed on things that temporarily give us satisfaction.
We feed on things that satisfy the lust of our flesh instead of the true bread that has come down from heaven, Jesus Christ. That's one thing that we do. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me will never hunger.
Do you know I've known a lot of people in my life that are wealthy, business gurus. I've sat with some people that are worth millions and millions and millions of dollars. They've had several wives, some of them have 28 cars, they live in houses that are 12, 14 million dollars. I remember on three occasions sitting with people of that caliber that all told me my life is empty.
I'm not satisfied. I remember sitting with a group of executives when I was at Mohawk and we were around the table and every single person at the table in a senior leadership role was on their second and third wife. And you know what they said? It was something we had to sacrifice to get to the top of the corporate ladder.
And I asked every one of them, are you satisfied? No. I used to work for a man who was worth 18 million dollars. And he said to me one day, he said, John, he said, I have a lot of money, but he said it's empty to me.
He said, I have many, many things, but he said something inside of me is not satisfied. He said, I see you, you have a life that looks appealing to me, it's satisfying. You know what it is? Nothing other than Jesus Christ can satisfy the emptiness of the human heart.
Now, none but Christ can satisfy. No other name for me. There's love and life and lasting joy, Lord Jesus found a name. Do you know why we're not satisfied?
Because of the thirst of the curse, in John, chapter six, we have the cure. Jesus said to a woman in chapter four, give me to drink. And she said, why do you ask me for drink? And he said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, you would give him, he would give you, ask of him, he would give you living water.
And she said, sir, give me this water. You know, in eight inside of every one of our human hearts is an emptiness, a longing, a satisfaction that we can't get. That's why McJagger penned the words, I can't get in all satisfaction. How many of these guys that are movie stars, rock stars, celebrities, end up taking their life.
It's empty. I want to tell you today, a life without feeding on Jesus Christ is empty and it ends in destruction. Jesus said as an open invitation, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He that believes in me will never hunger and never thirst.
Why? Because the greatest need of our human heart can only be met in believing in Jesus Christ. Can I ask you today? Are you satisfied?
I know that there are problems in life. I know that there are needs. But if you are a believer in Jesus Christ at the very root foundation of the heart of your life, you have a satisfaction because you know Jesus Christ. Jesus taught in John chapter six, and it was very clear.
He said, everyone who feeds on him has everlasting life. You know what the man did? It's a good picture, but the picture has flaws. Because when the sun came out, it faded.
It melted. And it disappeared. The manna satisfied the physical need of a person's body for 24 hours. But that's why Jesus said, I am the true bread that comes down from heaven.
Moses gave you that bread in the wilderness, but I am the true bread. And every man who eats of this will never die. They will be satisfied. They will be raised up at the last day.
They will have everlasting life. Jesus Christ satisfies the spiritual need of every soul eternally. He is the perfect righteousness. The manna was small and it lay flat on the ground.
You know, that's a sign of what we read this morning, what our brother art read this morning. Philippians chapter two, he who is God humbled himself and came down. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation. That's a picture of the almighty God of the universe becoming small and coming down and laying on the ground.
Actually, he went into the ground, except a corner of wheat fall into the ground and die. It abides alone, but if it die, it brings forth much fruit, small, flat. That manna was white. Can I tell you this?
None of us in this room are white. And I don't mean the color of our skin. None of us are pure and holy intrinsically, but Jesus Christ is. He is the only one who is impeccable without spot, without sin, without hypocrisy, without respect to persons, without immoral thoughts.
He is pure, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He is pure. Everyone who believes in him has his righteousness within them. Him who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
If you come to believe in Jesus Christ, you will be made righteous in the sight of God. You will be justified. There is no condemnation. Because you are in Christ, pure, white, sweet to the taste.
Can I tell you this? There is nothing sweeter than a soul who has fellowship with God, a soul who is satisfied. When I wake up in those early morning hours and I take out my Bible and I sit down with God and I say, Lord, feed my soul. You know my weirdness.
You know my heartache. You know my burdens. Feed my soul. You know what God does?
He feeds my soul. Can you say today, the Lord is my shepherd? I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He restores my soul. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He feeds my soul.
I want to tell you that not only is he perfect in his righteousness and not only does he satisfy us, he has given his life, his flesh for the life of the world. You know that man of that came down from heaven? It was for Israel. But the true bread of God that came down from heaven is not now just for Israel.
It is for the whole world. He gave his life for the world. Every human being that has ever lived on this planet has an opportunity to come to God and receive his son as their savior to have his righteousness, to have the forgiveness of his sins. And God gives them an unconditional promise.
Everyone who comes to me, I will never cast out. And everyone who comes to me will never be lost. Can I emphasize that today? If you come to Jesus Christ and put your faith and trust in him, you will never be lost.
But God will raise you up with the last day. All that we have comes to us by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, as we walk through this world, we're going to be tested. Our heart is going to be tried.
There's going to be adverse circumstances. There's going to be needs that we're going to have. But how we respond to that will either glorify God or we will sin against God. As you walk through this wilderness, are you feeding on Jesus Christ?
If you've gone this past seven days and not read your Bible, just take the last seven days. Monday morning is tomorrow. You've got a week ahead of you. If you go that whole week and never have personal time with God and never read the Scriptures, you cannot expect to be satisfied.
You are walking through a wilderness, a place that doesn't know God. And as a believer, you need to nourish and feed your soul on the Word of God. What did Peter say? As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.
If you're not reading your Bible, you're not feeding on Christ and you're not nourishing your soul and you'll have no strength to face your own sinful temptations. You'll have no strength to face the challenges of the day. Let me encourage you today. Jesus Christ is the true bread, came down from heaven and he's given his life, his flesh for the world.
As you walk through this wilderness, I exhort you to feed your soul on Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the Word of God. We thank you Lord for the truth of God.
We thank you that you sent your one and only Son into the world to die. To give his life, to shed his blood, to feed our souls with spiritual nourishment that will carry us into eternity. We thank you Lord that he died for our sins. He was buried and he rose again and he has ascended and one day he's coming.
Help us to be faithful to you. Encourage this church as we leave church today that in the coming week we will have time alone with God to nourish our soul and to encourage our hearts. Bless us we pray and we would pray for all of our children and all of our family and our relatives and pray that you would bless us all. Be with us this week we ask in Jesus name.
Amen.