Jehovah-Rapha

JEHOVAH-RAPHA

Ex. 15:22-26

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Ms. Smith was assigned to be a monitor on the playground and caught little Johnny making ugly faces and scaring other kids.

2. Smiling sweetly, she said, “Johnny, when I was a child I was told that if I made ugly faces, it would freeze and I would stay like that.”

3. Johnny looked up and replied, “Well, Ms. Smith, you can’t say you weren’t warned!”

B. TEXT

22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” NKJV

C. THESIS

1. We’re looking tonight at one of the most important passages in Scripture for it is the fountainhead revelation of one of the greatest aspects of God’s nature.

2. Let’s look at what happened to the Israelites and how God used it to give a new revelation to the people of God about who He is.

3. The title of this message is “Jehovah Rapha.”

I. CHRISTIANS WILL HAVE PROBLEMS

A. A GLORIOUS DELIVERANCE

1. They had just come out of Egypt (representing salvation) and passed through the Red Sea (representing baptism, 1 Cor. 10:2).

2. They then traveled for three long, hot days without a drop of water to quench the thirst of approximately 2 1/2 million people! They needed a Lake Conroe just to give everybody enough to drink!

3. When they finally came to a place that had some water, the waters were bitter, brackish (salty) water. It couldn’t be drunk. They would soon die without water.

4. Their throats were dry and parched already. Fear gripped them. “The people murmured against Moses.” “Pastor Moses messed up! He’s led us the wrong direction!”

5. 3 days before, they’d seen the Lord deliver them from generations of slavery, make an impossible escape for them through an ocean, and then utterly defeat their enemies. They’d sung and danced with Miriam on the beach.

6. They wondered – “Can it get any better than this? Glory to God!” But three days later in the wilderness, without water, they were wondering what had happened!

7. When we get saved, we think everyone around us will be as excited as we are about it. But things often turn out different than we think they will.

8. HUMOR: EXERCISE CLASS

a. Like the 65 year-old lady who decided to join an exercise class, and told her daughter Lisa.

b. Lisa said, "That was brave of you, mom! So how did it go?" asks Lisa.

c. "Well, for THIRTY MINUTES I sweated by bending, twisting, pulling, pushing and hopping up and down. But then -- by the time I got my leotards on -- the class was

over!"

B. CHRISTIANS TOO HAVE DRY PLACES

1. There are some of you that are at that dry place; no water. "I thought being a Christian meant I’d always be happy."

2. But God showed Moses a Tree, that when thrown into those dry places -- those bitter places, the things hard for the natural mind to endure -- they are made sweet!

3. That Tree is a type of the Cross of Jesus Christ. When the cross is the central focus of our lives, our trials and tests are made sweet.

4. Christians have always found that God’s presence WITH us and His grace IN us can turn our wildernesses into paradises. “In His presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore!” Ps. 16:11.

II. HERE GOD REVEALS HIS HEART

A. GOG IS A GOD OF LOVE.

1. God is a God of love. He is on our side. He longs to restore us to our pre-sin status. He does not wish to harm us but rather to bless us if we will submit to Him.

2. In light of this, questions like, “Does God really want to heal us?” Is it God’s will to heal me?” “Will God heal me?” almost answer themselves.