Israel Grumbles, God Hears

Transcript

GRS 2-20
5/22/2005
Israel Grumbles, God Hears
Exodus 16
Gil Rugh

We are studying the Book of Exodus together and we have come to Chapter 16. So turn there in your Bibles if you would and let me say something about the emphasis we are having in our sermons. We are going to be talking about division and conflict and it seems that’s where we are again this evening in some of our passages. I can't say I have planned this so well that our study in Corinthians that deals with our study in Exodus, but I am aware as the Lord leads and guides in what we are studying. I do have a concern that this is not the issues that we have to deal with, but I want to be sensitive to the word of God and I trust we all will be, so that the truth of God is used properly in our lives.

We are looking at the children of Israel as they have left the bondage in Egypt. What a glorious event. God's deliverance there focused in a series of plagues of judgment on the nation Israel that will be talked about among unbelievers for generations and of course in Israel it is to be an ongoing event. Passover will be the reminder regularly so they can teach their children again and again. 40 years later when Israel finally comes into the Promised Land, the people of Canaan are still talking about what God did to the Egyptians to bring about the deliverance of His people. Marvelous is that is for some reason it has failed to make the impact you might expect on the people of Israel and that is a sad testimony and commentary on them.

In Chapter 15, Moses compose a great song under the inspiration of the spirit of God to be a reminder to Israel as they join together and singing this truth. Remember they did now have a copy of this to carry with them, so they learned it in song and can be reminded of the great deliverance of the Lord and just look at what it says about the Lord and then it is demonstrated of what God did to the Egyptians, but we just pick up some of these emphasis. Verse 2 of Chapter 15 of Exodus, "The Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise Him, my father's God and I will extol Him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is His name."

Verse 6, "Your right hand O Lord is majestic in power. Your right hand O Lord shatters the enemy. And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning anger and it consumes them as chaff.” People who don't really believe the message of the Bible try to say there is a distinction between God as He is presented in the Old Testament and the God who is presented in the New Testament. There is no difference. Our God is consuming fire. He is awesome in His Holiness. Book of Romans opens up by talking about God pouring out his wrath on unbelievers. The Book of Revelation emphasizes the awesome and awful judgment that await this world culminating in the sentencing of men and women to an eternal hell, but He is a God of mercy and love because in His wrath in bringing judgment on the unbelieving nation of Egypt, He in love and mercy is bringing deliverance to His people.

So both aspects of God's characteristics are seen. Look at verse 11, "Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in Holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders? Verse 13, "In Your lovingkindness you have led the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation." You see that God who is shattering His enemies is dealing in lovingkindness with His people. Concluded in verse 18, "The Lord shall reign forever."

Then Miriam the prophetess went out with the women of Israel and rejoiced before the Lord, "Sing to the Lord," verse 21 "For He is highly exalted. The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea." What an awesome mighty deliverance. Then we read verse 22, they travelled three days in the wilderness and verse 24, the people grumbled. You say how can this be, I mean they grumbled at Moses saying "No water." We are going to see as we come into Chapter 16. This is not a good trip. You are going to take several million people out of Egypt which is a land of abundance. It was a land of servitude for the Jews, but they had their own houses.

Remember, they put blood on the door posts and lintel of their homes. They had a house or place to live and they had ample food. They will bring that up from time to time. You know where these people are going. They are going out into the wilderness, a barren, forsaken area and they are going to live as nomads in tents and they are going to be faced with lack of necessities like water and food. It seems like things are going downhill. Mighty tremendous deliverance of God, so His people can go and die of thirst or hunger in the desolate desert and only it takes a few days.

There is something about the immediacy of what strikes us and that’s what is on our mind. So they grumbled. We saw God promised that He would be their provider, He would be their healer, He would keep them from the diseases that afflicted other people particularly the Egyptians, if they would be faithful to Him. In end of verse 26, "I the Lord am you healer." Then He brought them to an Oasis. There were twelve springs of water, seventy date palms and they camped there. Now this is more like it.

Then we come to Chapter 16. Now remember in all this before we look the Chapter 16, go back to Chapter 13, verse 21, "The Lord was going before them in a Pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way and a pillar of cloud by fire by night to give them light. They might travel day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. So as we go on this, keep in mind the visible manifestation of the Lord's presence is there for them every day and every night. We come to Chapter 16, "They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin," and you get an idea of where we are going.

They have come out, we said they probably I think more likely the route came down here and there is some evidence that the Gulf of Suez sometimes called the Red Sea all the way up here. Even went up in past days and was joined more to the Bitter Lake, but somewhere down here they crossed through this body of water. And this is the region we are talking about in here, the wilderness of sin maybe taking its name from Sinai. Not always clear where about we are in this region, but this is a desolate region. Some of you taken trips to Israel, it is not welcoming place and now you got entourage. Here is an engineer who went through and figured out that with this line of people and the way you have to spread out, it could have stretched for a 120 miles in a line.

We got a lot of people, I told you want you to realize. We brought them out into this desert region. Now what you ought to know is they are out here by divine appointment. The cloud and the pillar of fire are leading them. So everyday they are exactly where God wants them to be and in some ways it won't be as good as it used to be, but it is where God wants them to be. Then they set out from Elim and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which between Elim and Sinai on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. So Israel left Egypt one month ago. We have a summary here and if you go to Numbers 33, verses 5 to 11 and we are not going to do that for time. But it will even fill in some other places where Israel can't, but we have a time line here in verse 1, which indicates they are about a month now out of Egypt.

Now look at verse 2. The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The sons of Israel said to them would that we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt. When we sat by the pots of meat remember what it was like, Oh remember that when we were cooking the meat, remember how good it smell. We had to work hard during the day, but when we came home, we ate well remember. Oh, remember we just sat by those flesh pots when then meat cooked, Oh boy, nothing like a good stake after a hard day's work. We ate bread to the full you remember, Boy we just stuffed ourselves, and said Oh I ate too much and where are we now. "You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. They are grumbling, verse 2, against Moses and Aaron.

What about the cloud and what about the pillar of fire? You did it Moses and Aaron. You know they think that they you know sort of cover themselves. They are not directly grumbling against God in their own mind. They are grumbling at Moses. What are Moses and Aaron are doing. They are following the cloud and the pillar of fire. Like sometimes I have said to you. It is not my fault. I mean we have to follow the Lord. He brings us to places we want to be and places we don't want to be. Egypt looked so good. Previously, it was lack of water back in Chapter 15, verse 24, that produced the grumbling. Now, its lack of food and how are you going to feed several million people out in the midst of barren desert and then all the animals that have to go with this travelling group. I mean how long do you begin suffer some serious consequences in the desert.

Look over in Numbers Chapter 11. Numbers Chapter 11, moves us to a later time yet, but you see a pattern is established. They are sort of got something in their mind that yesterday was the good time. Numbers Chapter 11, verse 5. "We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, that was free because you know what happens when you are a slave your master provides the food. So there was a catch on the free, but somehow they only remember how good it was. We remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeches, the onions, Oh my and the garlic.” Some of you know my wife Marlene has some Jewish blood and it comes out in the thing she likes. I will sometimes come home and I opened the front door, I say "Marlene you ate lunch out today and you had garlic." Oh yes, remember Egypt, these are the foods we liked. So go back earlier in time that’s where we are.

I just want you to see the problem with remembering what it was like in Egypt, what it was like in past days. They forget, that back in Chapter of Exodus verses 23 and 24, in Chapter 3 verse 7, they were crying out to the Lord because of the burden of their slavery and the Lord graciously responded to their cry, but this is not what they had in mind. They had in mind that Lord take away all their problems, but we want to keep the abundance of food, the abundance of drink. We just don't want to be slaves here anymore. We don't tell the Lord how to do His business. There were other ways to take the Jews to Canaan. He takes them the hard way. He takes them through the wilderness. God responds graciously. He says in verse 4, behold I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people should go out and gather a day's portion everyday, that I may test whether or not they walk in my instruction. God is going to give them food, but it is going to be a test.

On the sixth day, they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much, so here the pattern. Everyday, you gather enough for one day. Go on the morning, you get provision for that day, but on the sixth day you gather enough for two days because I don't want you doing anything on the Sabbath and He is going to prepare them for what will be placed into the law at Sinai that the Sabbath is to be given special observance. So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, "At evening, you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt," then it said they have to say that.

Wouldn't God's people that who had experienced such miraculous deliverance and saw the awesome hand of God bring destruction on the Jews, even culminating with the destruction of the armies of Pharaoh in the Red Sea after they walked through a dry land. You need another evidence that it was the Lord's doing. "In the morning, you will see the glory of the Lord." Now note this, "For He hears your grumblings against the Lord." That’s a terrible and terrible state that I have marked in my Bible. You got to mark it. He hears your grumbling against the Lord. He is ultimately the one who were complaining about and know that is always the case. We complain about things, we don't like something. We remember the way it was. Who are we complaining about? Who has brought us to this point? Oh, I think it has been people. It was Moses and Aaron.

Oh I think it was. Is the Lord sovereign? I mean or we other than where the Lord has brought us. Visiting with the pastors during this week, I have been here long enough. They have a history and I can remember when. You know it’s like you tell your kids, "Oh I remember when I was young, oh this is time to go to bed," but it comes with age. I have to be careful if that is a Church. I remember back in 1985 when the Lord did this, but this isn't 1985, this is 2005. I can remember what the Lord did to rejoice in it, but I rather not remember what the Lord did then to complain about what He is doing today.

He hears your grumblings against the Lord. What are we that you grumble against us? Moses and Aaron, who are we? We were servants like you. We are following the cloud, we are following the pillar of fire, we are following the Lord. Who are we? Moses said "This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread to the full in the morning. For the Lord hears your grumbling, which you grumble against him and what are we your grumblings are not against us, but against the Lord, sad, sad commentary. You know I wonder, I would say you know they have a point, I mean let’s be practical. We had plenty of food in Egypt and now we are a mass of people parked in the desert with nothing to eat. Now I don't think that’s way the Lord works. I mean the Lord knows we need food. So I think somewhere along the line, Moses and Aaron missed a signal, don't you, I mean I just don't think this is the way the Lord would do it and that the way our grumbling goes. We are not going to grumble against the Lord, I mean I hate to say it, but I could see Israel's complaint here.

I am looking around, I got my family, my relatives all my friends and as far as I can see, I see people and where there is not people there is just desert and it was spent about a month out here, now we are far enough out in the desert, and what we are going to do? Come before the Lord. Verse 9, "For He has heard your grumbling." It came about as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, awesome "I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel." That become I grumble that my complaint about something, I didn't realize. The Lord here is saying "I heard that, I am listening. At twilight you shall eat meat, in the morning you shall be filled with bread, you shall know that I am the Lord you God."

Here be another clear demonstration, but you know we don't walk by faith. All the demonstrations don't serve to solve the problem. The Lord knows that, but He is gracious, "So it came about at evening that the quails come up and covered the camp." Oh, God miraculously brings a whole flock of quail, here they are flying over "flap, flap, flap," oh suddenly you got all this fresh meat. Quails, pretty good eating I guess, I haven't had it also but when I have had it, it was good. Since I haven't had it also I guess it’s exceptionally good. They got quails, plenty of meat. And you get up in the morning, there is dew on the ground, and when the dew evaporates what is left is verse 14, a fine flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. It is like a flower I guess. When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was and Moses said to them, "It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat."

So here is what you do "You gather enough each man as much as he can eat, take an omer apiece according to the number of people in each of your tent." So here is how much of this you will need. The sons of Israel, some gathered much, some gathered little, and then they divided up, that’s the point. Each has to have an omer, so some did gathered more, but then when they get back to their tent, they divided out, so everybody has an omer enough for them for the day.

Manna, called the bread from heaven in Psalm, 105 verse 40, because it is what God provided from heaven as the nourishment for His people and this equal distribution because maybe some of the elderly or sick or the young, they couldn't gather enough, but that’s alright others gathered more, then when they come, they share it equally according to the plan of God. Paul used that in Second Corinthians Chapter 18, verses 14 and 15 as a pattern for sharing in the church in their giving.

They have hard time with obedience. Gather just enough for the day, verses 19 to 21. Think about it now. We have got manna; we can make bread with it like a flower on the ground. We gather enough for today. What are we going to about tomorrow, I mean "I know, I know" just take enough for today, but what if it is not here tomorrow. So some of the people think they have come up with a better idea. Verse 20, "They did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning. They were not allowed to leave any of it until morning, you know what it did, it bred worms and stunk, that’s appetizing and Moses was angry with them. Simple thing, here is God's gracious provision, here is what you do and they don't do it, they don't do it.

Verses 22 to 26, the instructions "On the sixth day gather enough for two days, because it won't be here on the morning of the seventh day the Sabbath and you know what miraculously it doesn't go bad on that day. See they have this ongoing reminder, this is going to go on for forty years and every Saturday, they are reminded of a supernatural work of God that this manna, which would breed worms and develop the foul odor, if you kept it overnight any other day of the week, but Friday night for Saturday it will go bad. So there is this ongoing supernatural reminder, which you know what some didn't pay attention in verses 22 to 26, verses 27 and 28.

So verse 27, "It came about on the seventh day, some of the people went out together, they found none." The Lord said to Moses "How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions." And we part of the Church read this and say you know it is just inconceivable that this is the pattern of Israel, but remember we are studying the Church in Corinth in the morning and they are having just as a harder time, just do what God says. Why do we have such a difficulty, just to trust our God for today and tomorrow I will trust Him for tomorrow. I will do what He says, well I don't know, I don't know. You don't have to know, He knows. Just do what He says.

So the house of Israel verse 31, named it Manna, and it was like coriander seed, white and it tastes like wafers with honey, "Oh that's pretty good," I mean even gave it flavor, I mean it’s like a wafer with honey on it that would be desirable. Moses said "This is what the Lord has commanded, 'Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt." Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations." And Aaron placed it before the testimony.

In Hebrews Chapter 9, verse 4 says that this omer of manna was contained in the Ark of the Covenant along with the tablets of the Ten Commandments and Aaron's rod that budded be ongoing reminder. You know what, that omer kept as that ongoing reminder never bred worms and never went bad, year after year after year after year, another supernatural reminder to these people of the Sovereign hand of God. According Joshua Chapter 5, when Joshua led the people into the land, Joshua Chapter 5 verses 10 to 12, the first time Israel ate of the produce of the land; you know what there was no manna in the morning. Forty years of manna, now we are in the land, we don't need manna anymore. We are out of the desert. We are into a land flowing with milk and honey, supernaturally, the manna stops. Now this manna was significant, because it provided for Israel's literal physical need, but it also taught them that it’s not the physical food that is the ultimate substance for man, but what God provides from heaven, His truth, His word.

Turn over to Deuteronomy and Chapter 8, and verse 3, and here Moses is reminding them of the wilderness wanderings, verse 2, "You remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know," now note this, "That He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." There is something more important than your physical food and you need to learn to trust the Lord, rely upon His word.

Jesus used this, when he was confronted with the temptation with Satan in Matthew Chapter 4, verse 4. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the Lord." This manna, bread from heaven prefigures Christ, who would be sent from heaven to be the spiritual food to bring life and sustenance for the people of God. Turn over to John's gospel Chapter 6, and we are going to verse 30 as He deals with the people that are following Him, assembled around. He said in verse 26, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled or then even the miracles were attracting them, it was a fact that it was free food.

"Don't work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give to you, for on Him the father, God, has set His seal," and they ask what shall we do that we may work the works of God. "This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He has sent." They said what you do for a sign, never enough signs. They were enough for the children of Israel, their deliverance from Egypt and the works of Christ has done were still not enough. They go on to tell Him, verse 31, "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written "He gave them bread out of heaven to eat." Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true bread out of heaven for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.

They said to Him, "Lord always give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life, He who comes to me will not hunger, and He who believes in me will never thirst." You see He draws that connection that, that manna from heaven was a type, a picture just like the sacrificial system would be of the sacrifice that God would provide with His son. So the manna was a picture of the spiritual bread that would come from heaven so that those who would eat of Him would have life, those who would partake of Him. Down in verse 40, “this is the will of my Father that everyone who beholds the son and believes in Him will have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Jump down to verse 48, verse 47, He says "Truly, truly I say to you he who believes has eternal life. Now the emphasis here salvation is by faith. "I am the bread of life, you fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die, this is real bread from heaven." Just like the Old Testament sacrifices they were just a picture of the only sacrifice. They would never need repeated and would bring ultimate forgiveness. So the manna from heaven was just a picture of the ultimate bread from heaven that would bring you eternal life. The bread that when you partake of it would assure that you would never die. Verse 51, "I am the living bread that, came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."

So you know He connects the bread to His own personal, physical existence. He has come down out of heaven. He said this in John 3, "No one has ascended to heaven. It’s the one who has come down from heaven, referring to Himself." The Jews are confused. We don't understand. "How can He give us His flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them verse 53, "Truly, Truly I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise Him up on the last day, for my flesh is true food, my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living father sent me and I live because of the father, say who eats me, he will also live because of me.

This is the bread, which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died (the manna in the wilderness). He who eats this bread will live forever." There confusion here, they are thinking now how can you partake it His body, literally and physically. Roman Catholic churches are still confused on this and are corrupted into the kind of teaching, that when you partake of the mass and the communion in the mass and the water and the cup, there is actually some kind of physical transformation that goes on that you are actually partaking of the literal body and blood of Christ.

The Jews are offended by this. You know, we have got an idea today that we have to teach biblical truths in such a way that it doesn't confuse anyone, nor will it offend everyone. Jesus disciples, verse 61, "But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." You see it’s the word of God regarding the son of God that brings life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the work of Christ. It is not actually a physical action of eating of His physical body, it is partaking spiritually of His body and blood as the sacrifice on your behalf that brings life.

For by grace you have been saved through faith and that salvation is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, by grace through faith and we enter into a spiritual relation with Him. We have seen this in our studies recently. We abide in Him and He abides in us. That’s the union, that’s the oneness. We become partakers of Christ. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life. It’s the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. Don't be confused. It offended some people, they never did get it right, so on verse 66, "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore." Many who had joined themselves to Christ and claimed to be His followers decided this is more than I can take. You see the issue, they don't want to believe the word that He speaks and so they turned back even though its famous question of Christ in verse 67, you do not want to away also do you? Peter, thank the Lord for Peter and he is always the one who speaks up, "Lord to whom shall we go, You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy one of God." What a tremendous statement.

We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy one of God, the Manna from heaven. So what was going on in Israel in the wilderness was a preparation in picture form, but what God ultimately would provide from heaven to bring life to His people Jesus Christ the bread of heaven. That’s as far as we are going to go. We will pick up with Chapter 17 and you know what, it doesn't get any better. By that I mean it doesn't get any easier for Israel and when we get to Chapter 17, you know what they are going to be doing. It will take them to verse 2, the people quarreled with Moses, they grumbled against Moses. You know what happens after the problem there, they are going to have to fight the Amalekites. We can be so spiritual and look back and say I don't know what the problem with the Israel, God was obviously leading. Just trust the Lord. Do not always be talking about the flesh pots of Egypt, don't always be talking about what you had to drink in Egypt, don't be all talking about how safe you are in Egypt. Recognize that the sovereign God is working. He has chosen to bring you into the wilderness. He has chosen to bring into difficulty.

He has chosen you to bring into a place where there is no food and no water. He has chosen you to bring into a place where there are people going to attack you and they are going to do it in a vicious way, they are going to attack the elderly, the weak, the stragglers. So this is not what I signed up for when we left the Egypt. I signed up for things to get better and better and they have not gotten better and better. Trust we learn a lesson. We bask in the glory of God's grace today and I enjoy everything He has done until today, but even as I get older and now can be considered to a senior citizen and there are great benefits as I get senior discounts and take them. I don't want to be living in yesterday because the grace of my God is great today and tell me to live looking back although I remember what he has done and my life is built on His saving work, but I am looking for the blessed hope and I believe He is sovereign to bring me to this point in my life and He will be sovereign for my tomorrow too.

Let us pray together. Thank you Lord for your greatness. Thank you for the record of your people Israel. It is easy for us to look down on them, to shake our heads at their hardness of heart, at their persistent discontent and yet we realize Lord these things were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the earth have come. It had been written so that we might learn not to grumble as some of those grumbled. Lord may we be a faithful people, may we be a people assembled as your Church, who walk by faith in your truth and believe that you have brought us to this day and your grace is working your purposes even it had has in the past.

So you brought us today to this day for your purposes and that will be true of all the tomorrows of our life until Christ comes. Lord we rejoice that we know the one and have partaken of the one who is the true manna from heaven. We have believed to know that He is the Holy one of God and in Him all your purposes and all your promises for us as your people are fulfilled. We have a glorious destiny. We are privileged to walk day by day with you. Use us in the days of the week before us to be shining testimonies of your grace wherever we are, whatever we are doing. We pray in Christ's Name, amen.