The Lord Who Heals You

THE LORD WHO HEALS YOU

Ex. 15:22-26

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: THE REAL CHARACTER

1. It’s wild to see the real nature come out.

2. 2 ladies went out to a restaurant to eat lunch They know how big the portions are so they order only one dish of ‘fried fish pieces’ which they intend to share.

3. When the order arrives, the plate contains one big piece of fish and one little piece of fish. Jill and Vickie politely look at each other.

4. Jill says, "Vickie, you choose first." "No," replied Vickie, "I want you to go first."

5. Jill says, "OK, I'll go first," and picks the big piece of fish to put on her plate. Vickie’s surprised. "Why did you take the big piece? That's not very polite."

6. "Well, which piece would you have taken?" asked Jill.

"I would’ve taken the small piece," replied Vickie.

"So what’s the problem?” replied Jill, "Isn’t that what you’ve got?"

7. We’ll see this happen with the Israelites.

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 at a small but packed set of verses, filled with meaning and divine promises.

2. We’re going to see that troubles are really tests to see if we will obey the Lord under adverse circumstances. We’ll also see how these verses apply to us and our need of healing.

3. The title of this message is “The Lord Who Heals You.”

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. TRUE WORSHIP HAPPENS DURING THE TESTS

1. The call of God was to leave Egypt, to go into the wilderness and sacrifice to God. A lot of people missed that part of the story.

2. The worship doesn't really occur at the Red Sea; the worship is to be done in the wilderness (Ex. 3:18, 5:3)!

3. Moses told Pharaoh, “We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.” (8:27)

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