Chico Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
"The Bread of Life for the Hungry Soul” Exodus 16
REVIEW
It is important to remember through our current study that physical Israel’s journey toward the promised rest parallels our spiritual journey. The lessons God taught them in the wilderness are the lessons we must learn as we develop our relationship with God. The life experiences they encountered, we will encounter. The choices set before them along the way are the same choices we must face on our journey.
I. God Provided Deliverance from Egypt 1-15
One of the first lessons after salvation the new believer or any believer must grasp has to do with grappling with the bitter experiences of this life without becoming bitter ourselves.
II. God prepared for the Development of trust 15-18
A. Bitter water (no joy) made sweet by the “tree” (The Cross) 15:22-27
There is a lot of work to be accomplished after our initial salvation experience. God does not stop his work after our rescue us from the kingdom of darkness and transfer to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. He wants us to be model citizens of His kingdom. In fact, we are not merely citizens some earthly Kingdom but beloved children of the ETERNAL KING! It is God’s plan and promise that we become like Jesus. The events we encounter in this fallen world contribute to our growth. Trust can only be learned in the wilderness. Paul agonized and labored like a mother in childbirth until “Christ be formed in you.” Each event recorded along the Israelites journey to the Promised Rest parallels our journey. They had to learn to deal with the bitter experiences of life and the excruciating thirst caused by life in a messed up world. It is pretty obvious since the fall that we are not in Eden any more Dorothy. The only way to deal with the bitter experiences of life without becoming bitter ourselves is to submit to the cross. We must die to our agenda. We must relinquish OUR life in order to receive His resurrection life.
But we must die to get it. Dead people can’t be rattled, depressed, offended, hurt, deterred, frightened or threatened. Dead people don’t offend, gripe, complain, gossip, fight, protect or promote themselves. Until we learn to die in Christ and embrace the cross daily, the bitter experiences of life in a whacked out world will surely produce a bitter heart. The sure sign of a bitter heart is a grumbling tongue. Trusting and complaining are mutually exclusive. As sue as you cannot drink water and breathe air at the same time you cannot trust and gripe. Genuine trust in God does not ignore or deny the bitter struggles of life in a fallen world with fallen people and painful circumstances but tenaciously holds on to the promise of God’s presence (“I will never leave you or forsake you.”) and God’s promise (I will work ALL things for My glory and your good and finish the redemptive work that I began in you).
Spiritual Health check
Do I respond to “bitter water” with unquestioned trust in God’s presence and promise?
Am I trying to make life “work”? Be more comfortable? Fill my expectations? Quench my thirst? Escape pain? Fix life? What do the words out of my mouth reveal about the condition of my heart? Out of the heart the mouth speaks.
Jesus laid out the condition of true discipleship.
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. Luke 9:23-24
The supernatural life of Christ will only be realized by those willing to relinquish this life.
Saints through the ages have all come to this place at some time on their spiritual journey.
Paul put it bluntly.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11
This was a life-long quest for Paul. After dying comes living. God lovingly designs moments of refreshment and rest along this earthly journey. Israel’s stop at Elim demonstrated God’s shepherd heart. (See Psalms 23:1-6 )
Anytime we lose sight of the presence, person and promise of God in the face of bitter water, we will be unable to see the “tree” and we will also miss the directions to the wells of refreshment. When we repent of trying to make life work on our terms and embrace Jesus as the author and perfector and ultimate purpose of our journey, we find frequent times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
"Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3:19
The lesson of the cross is vital. The next lesson God taught them, and we must learn in our journey as well, is equally vital.
THE ACCOUNT
B. Hunger Satisfied by manna (The Word) 16
1. The people moved forward 16:1
They are only a month and a half on the trek of their life, the fulfillment of a centuries old promise made to their forefathers. God provided supernatural sign after supernatural sign of His covenant to bring them into their inheritance. He continually manifested His presence day and night by the cloud and the flame. He demonstrated His saving power whenever they bumped into a perceived obstacle to the promise. Each time they had the opportunity to demonstrate their trust in the person and promise of God. Now it is time to move on. Lesson! This side of heaven, any place of refreshment is only a temporary stop on the way to the promise.
Don’t try to make it your permanent place. Always move toward the HIGHER calling.
So far, they have failed each test of trust and God granted grace in spite of their grumbling.
2. The people complained again 16:2-3
The WHOLE congregation “grumbled” against Moses and Aaron. Grumble, mutter, murmur, gripe, complain, moan, grouse, carp, and whine. It is amazing how many synonyms are associated with this crisis of the heart. Each of them indicates some level of discontent and displeasure.
3. God provided grace in spite of grumbling 16:4-36
a) God revealed the plan through Moses and Aaron 16:4-12
b) God provided food from heaven 16:13-36
At two quarts per person, God supplied one and a half million gallons of manna every morning.
Animals?
THE APPLICATION
People
• They were hungry and needy.
Just as thirst signals insufficient water to sustain life, hunger signals insufficient food to sustain life. God put within every human made in His image a hunger for relationship with Him.
Adam’s rebellious act extinguished that hunger and enflamed a new passion for personal satisfaction for each generation to follow. The poisonous fruit of jealousy and selfish ambition instantly appeared on the family tree. Personal satisfaction and pleasure became the ultimate value. Everything in life then became evaluated by its contribution to personal comfort and satisfaction. Man’s personal well-being became the ultimate pursuit of life. Ephesians reveals that our rebellion deadened any passion for God. Only a gracious act of God reignited passion for relationship with God when makes believers alive in Christ and raises them up and seats them with Him. Within every true believer is a restored longing in the depths of the soul to meaningfully connect with God. Hunger for God resides in the soul of every Christian.
Hunger is natural. Hunger signals a need somewhere in the soul.
Three things affect this hunger.
Spiritual nourishment (soul food) supplied by God
Synthetic nourishment (flesh food) supplied by the world, the flesh and the devil
Sin and sickness from a rebellious selfish focus
God allows us to get hungry so we will seek Him with all our heart.
God allows us to get hungry so that we will learn that life comes only from Him.
• They focused on personal comfort rather than persevering commitment and so lost sight of the person and purpose of God.
They again lost sight of the person and promise of God in the face of personal discomfort.
God promised to fulfill His promise to Abraham. God continually demonstrated his loyal love and faithfulness. Their bitter response again demonstrated a heart focused on itself.
Any time we lose sight of the person (God is good all the time) and purpose (I will change your heart) of God we will develop a bitter heart. They demanded from God rather than devote themselves to God and His purpose for them.
Jeremiah lost sight of God’s character. (See Lamentations 3:17-26 )
Asaph lost sight of the purpose of God when he got sidetracked by the temporary suffering of the righteous and the seeming prosperity of the wicked (See Psalms 73:16-17 )
Job, though starting well became belligerent and demanding. (See Job 42:2-6 )
Have we lost sight of God’s presence and promise in the face of the struggles? Where is God?
Why is He mad at me? Why me? He isn’t really that good!
• They complained against God
They did not just express their need to God. Their bitter heart attacked the character and purpose of God. Not directly but God took it personally.
He hears your grumblings against the LORD; and what are we, that you grumble against us?" Exodus 16:7
They questioned His goodness.
He kills His people. (We wish He would have killed us in Egypt save all this pain)
They questioned their decision to follow Him.
We were better off serving Pharaoh. (Not a rewarder of those who seek Him)
They questioned His Promise.
He brought us out here to kill us not to bring us to the Promised Land
Complaining out of the mouth indicates bitterness in the heart. Failure to cling to His presence and purpose produces bitterness and a hard heart.
One cure – embrace the cross.
Die to our agenda and embrace His no matter what.
Demand nothing.
Devote everything.
Paul lamented to the Philippian believers about those who were self-focused. (Philip 3:18-19 )
Are we disappointed with God? What do our attitudes and words reveal about our perspective?
• They were rebellious
They ignored God’s specific instruction. God gave them specific instruction to test whether they would follow His direction. Will they do God’s will God’s way?
They gathered more that they needed and tried to horde it.
They failed to gather more on the sixth day as instructed.
Even in the midst supernatural provision the people continued to do their own thing. God’s provision did not cure their rebellious heart and more than giving our children what they want stops their rebellions behavior. Bitter thinking continually breeds rebellious living. Since God refuses to “fix” it I guess I will have to find away to fix it myself. Rather than trust and obey I doubt and rebel.
Am I really surrendered to God’s plan for me?
How did God respond to this ungrateful attack on His character?
God
• He called them to Himself to experience His glory. (God of glory)
• He generously satisfied their hunger by supernatural means.
“I Am the LORD your God.”
Plenty of quail in the evening. Fresh and abundant manna every morning for 40 years.
• He demonstrated mercy and long-suffering
God did not treat them as their rebellion deserved. He responded to their accusations and actions with mercy and kindness.
Sabbath
God instituted a Sabbath rest even before the Law was formalized. The Sabbath pictures refreshment and completion. It celebrates the completion of Creation on the seventh day.
Hebrews speaks of a Sabbath rest yet to be experienced by God’s people.
Manna
God miraculously supplied a special nutritional substance labeled “manna” which literally translated from the Hebrew means “what is it?” This was nothing like anything ever before experienced. Moses could only use comparisons to known food to describe it. Like coriander seed. Tasted like wafers and honey. I could be ground like flour, baked, fried or boiled. It was a versatile food that perfectly met the nutritional requirements for their desert trek.
If you didn’t gather enough, it multiplied. If you gathered too much, it diminished. If you horded it, it spoiled. Except on the sixth day the rules changed in order to observe a day of rest.
Paul quoted from this passage to teach the importance of sharing resources with those who do not have.
Scripture makes the obvious connection between the physical and spiritual.
"He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, 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. Deuteronomy 8:3
Jesus quoted this passage when Satan tempted Him to put the physical before the spiritual.
Jesus clearly made a spiritual connection in John 6.
He first multiplied from an original five loaves and two fish to feed 5,000 men and their families. The next day when the people came looking for another free meal, Jesus presented the priority of life.
"Do not 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." John 6:27-29
Then they demanded some sign (as if feeding 5,000 people wasn’t enough). They referred to the bread out of heaven which God gave to their fathers. “Show us a sign like that and we will believe.” A forty year desert bread store didn’t help their father’s faith. A believing heart begins with a surrendered heart. If your not truly humbled and surrendered, no amount of supernatural signs will inspire belief.
Jesus made the connection to Himself. (See John 6:32-36 )
Manna represents the Word of God both written and living. Only the cross deals with the bitter experience of life. Only the Word of God sustains spiritual life and satisfies spiritual hunger.
There is no meaningful life apart from daily interaction with the Word. We must come to God every day for that day’s nourishment. God’s truths must be fresh daily. Yesterday’s spiritual experience soon spoils and can no longer satisfy our spiritual hunger. Truth intake must be fresh. Commitment must be fresh. Forgiveness must be fresh. Prayer must be fresh.
The test of manna for the Israelites was daily dependence on God. Daily interaction with Jesus is the only means to spiritual life. Not keeping the rules. Not trying harder. Not doing good deeds. John 6:53-54, 63
Such a call to completely surrender to Jesus and allow Jesus alone to satisfy their spiritual hunger was too much for the crowd looking only to satisfy their physical appetite. Putting Jesus before self was over the top. (John 6:66-69 )
Every believer must learn the principle of first things first. We cannot just add Jesus to all our other things and expect to experience life. Every believer must learn that Jesus is the only one who can sustain spiritual life.
"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33
Vibrant spiritual life is only sustained by a daily word from God. There are no short cuts!
There are no substitutes. Trust comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Jesus promised that He alone can satisfy spiritual hunger for those who trust Him. The presence of hunger indicates the absence of trust.
We are born again by the living and abiding word of God. – Believe it.
We grow by the milk of the word. – Long for it.
Our souls are renewed by the word of God – receive it implanted.
Thus says the LORD, "Cursed (hungry) is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. "For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. Jer17:5-6
How blessed (satisfied) is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalms 1:1-3
Today is a day to affirm your commitment to fully embrace Jesus.
The Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s death, celebrates our identification with Him and communicates our continued desire to make Him the focus of our life.
God proved His love for us by the sacrifice of His own Son.
Will you reaffirm you commitment to Him?
Remember!
Spiritual life and health can only be sustained and developed through daily interaction with the Word of God.
