WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christchurch. 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:13.300 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christchurch. 00:00:13.300 --> 00:00:20.500 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at Christchurcheastbay.org. 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:31.920 Today's scripture reading is from the book of Exodus, chapter 16, verses 2-5 and 27-35, as printed in your liturgy. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:34.420 A reading from the book of Exodus. 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:38.000 In the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:39.939 The Israelites said to them, 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:42.679 If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. 00:00:43.460 --> 00:00:46.200 There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:50.620 But you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. 00:00:51.859 --> 00:00:53.120 Then the Lord said to Moses, 00:00:53.580 --> 00:00:55.320 I will rain down bread from heaven for you. 00:00:55.820 --> 00:00:58.920 The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. 00:00:59.760 --> 00:01:03.280 In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 00:01:04.320 --> 00:01:10.140 On the sixth day, they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days. 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:15.820 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, 00:01:15.819 --> 00:01:16.919 but they found none. 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:19.019 Then the Lord said to Moses, 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:22.000 How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 00:01:22.919 --> 00:01:24.839 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath. 00:01:25.459 --> 00:01:28.000 That is why on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. 00:01:28.619 --> 00:01:30.559 Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:31.859 No one is to go out. 00:01:32.939 --> 00:01:34.799 So the people rested on the seventh day. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:37.899 The people of Israel called the bread manna. 00:01:38.199 --> 00:01:41.799 It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 00:01:42.979 --> 00:01:43.539 Moses said, 00:01:43.539 --> 00:01:45.079 This is what the Lord has commanded. 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:48.760 Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:53.500 so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt. 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:55.719 So Moses said to Aaron, 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.340 Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:02.079 Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:05.019 As the Lord commanded Moses, 00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:08.840 Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law so that it might be preserved. 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:13.700 The Israelites ate manna forty years until they came to a land that was settled. 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:16.319 They ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.080 The grass withers and the flowers fall. 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:21.960 The word of our God stands forever. 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:25.180 Good morning to you all. 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:29.879 We are in this new sermon series on the Ten Commandments. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:35.800 We've been spending the last several weeks just looking at the prologue of the Ten Commandments, 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:38.740 which we find in Exodus chapter 20, verse 1. 00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:43.719 And the prologue of the Ten Commandments goes like this. 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:44.080 It says, 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:50.520 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 00:02:51.659 --> 00:03:00.699 And I think a lot of people in the Bay Area, you know, the word salvation can kind of feel vague and abstract. 00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:05.079 But when we get to this prologue of the Ten Commandments, 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:11.159 we find a pretty adequate definition of what salvation is when we hear these words, 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.699 I brought you out of slavery. 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:17.060 I've set you free. 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:18.539 I've liberated you. 00:03:18.659 --> 00:03:20.960 Salvation is liberation. 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:24.460 And that's what this book of Exodus is all about. 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:27.879 Salvation is liberation from our bondage. 00:03:28.659 --> 00:03:30.939 And if you remember over these past few weeks, 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:35.439 we talked in Exodus 12 about the blood of the Passover lamb 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:40.120 and that we were people who had been bought with a price, the price of blood. 00:03:40.920 --> 00:03:44.700 We talked about in Exodus 14, the parting of the Red Sea, 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:47.520 that when there was no way, God made a way, 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.280 that God made a way out of slavery. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:53.360 He made a way through death and into a new kind of life. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:57.680 And so when the New Testament looks back on these events, 00:03:57.820 --> 00:04:01.280 these foundational liberating events of the Old Testament, 00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:03.740 it sees these as signposts. 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:08.600 At Exodus 12, the Passover lamb is a signpost pointing us to Jesus, 00:04:08.860 --> 00:04:12.940 who had shed his blood to deliver us from our sins. 00:04:13.220 --> 00:04:16.160 It's pointing us, Exodus 14, the parting of the Red Sea, 00:04:16.220 --> 00:04:18.560 is pointing us to the resurrection of Jesus, 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:20.759 where God made a way where there was no way. 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:24.480 He made a way out of slavery and out of death into new life. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:28.639 And so that brings us now to Exodus 16. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:30.980 Here we are. 00:04:31.060 --> 00:04:32.399 We've been liberated from Egypt. 00:04:32.519 --> 00:04:34.800 We're on the other side of the Red Sea. 00:04:35.060 --> 00:04:36.639 We've walked through slavery. 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:38.060 We've come through death. 00:04:38.139 --> 00:04:40.980 We're out here with new life on the other side. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:42.439 Now what? 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:46.100 What now? 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:52.379 What is this journey with God, this liberator God, 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:53.700 what's it going to be like? 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:58.560 And here's the thing that a lot of people either don't know or easily forget. 00:04:59.260 --> 00:05:01.939 It's that God's salvation, God's liberation, 00:05:01.939 --> 00:05:07.000 is not about being set free to go and do whatever we want to do. 00:05:08.020 --> 00:05:12.100 And that, I think, is where the postmodern worldview 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:14.580 has seeped into the church quite a bit 00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:21.419 because postmodern philosophy says that freedom is the absence of constraints. 00:05:22.779 --> 00:05:27.159 Freedom is the ability to do what I want to do without anybody telling me what to do. 00:05:27.699 --> 00:05:31.240 But what you're going to hear over and over in the sermon series on the Ten Commandments 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:33.839 is that that is a different kind of slavery. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:38.739 That definition of freedom is actually a slavery to self. 00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:40.259 It's a slavery to your culture. 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:45.759 It's a slavery to the subjectivity of your present historic moment. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.379 And what this is telling us is that real freedom, real liberation, 00:05:51.179 --> 00:05:57.799 is about no longer serving harsh taskmasters and oppressive tyrants in Egypt, 00:05:57.799 --> 00:05:59.899 but rather to have a new and better king. 00:05:59.899 --> 00:06:07.959 Real liberation is not about being set free so that you can live according to your own agenda 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:10.779 and set your own rules and do whatever you want. 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:17.379 No, it's about learning how to be a free human being under your sovereign Lord as your king. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.879 That's what Exodus is about. 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:27.420 And so the question is, what can we expect from this God who's newly liberated us? 00:06:27.459 --> 00:06:29.620 What does it mean to belong to him? 00:06:29.659 --> 00:06:33.860 What does it mean to now be on a journey of liberation with him? 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:35.459 And that's what we're going to talk about today. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:38.060 We're going to talk about the God who trains us, 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:42.420 the God who provides for us, and the God who refreshes us. 00:06:42.740 --> 00:06:45.279 Okay, the God who trains us, the God who provides for us, 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.399 and the God who refreshes us. 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:52.159 I want to start by talking about the way in which God trains us. 00:06:53.779 --> 00:06:59.699 This God who liberates us from slavery is the same God who leads his people 00:06:59.699 --> 00:07:03.299 into what verse 2 calls, quote unquote, the desert. 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:07.339 Why would God do that? 00:07:08.679 --> 00:07:14.719 Why would a good and powerful God lead us into the desert of all places? 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:21.020 Why would he take his people straight from their liberation into a howling wasteland? 00:07:22.320 --> 00:07:26.860 Why does he not take them straight into the promised land that's flowing with milk and honey? 00:07:28.020 --> 00:07:30.940 I mean, he's surely powerful enough to do that. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:35.580 Why doesn't he just take his people on the quickest, easiest, most efficient, comfortable route 00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:37.560 to the promised land? 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:46.899 To use New Testament terms, why doesn't God just take us straight from justification to glorification? 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:55.240 Why does God think it's a good idea to take us through this wilderness we call sanctification? 00:07:57.079 --> 00:08:00.220 I mean, I thought he liberated us so we could be happy. 00:08:00.220 --> 00:08:05.780 I thought he liberated us and set us free so that we could have all we need and all we want. 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:10.740 I thought life with God was going to be this graph that goes up and to the right, 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.160 onward and upward, forever and ever, better and better and better. 00:08:15.880 --> 00:08:23.180 But strangely and inexplicably, here is this God who brings us in our liberation out into desolation wilderness. 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:27.900 Here we are as the people of God in the Mojave Desert. 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:30.860 This God-forsaken Nowheresville. 00:08:31.180 --> 00:08:32.220 Why are we here? 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:41.060 Last week we saw in Exodus 14 that the Lord intentionally put his people in an uncomfortable position in the desert. 00:08:41.180 --> 00:08:42.019 They were hemmed in there. 00:08:42.100 --> 00:08:47.419 They had a mountain on their left, a mountain on their right, Red Sea in front of them, Egyptian army behind them. 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:48.860 And they were sitting ducks. 00:08:48.940 --> 00:08:50.419 Why did God put them in that position? 00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:55.279 And we were told because he wanted everyone to know that he was the Lord. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:01.759 He wanted everyone to see that he had the power and the glory that belongs only to him. 00:09:01.839 --> 00:09:06.199 And there's a very similar pattern, a very similar dynamic here. 00:09:06.299 --> 00:09:07.059 What is the Lord doing? 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:14.219 Well, if you read the story, Exodus 15, God takes his people through the wilderness where they have no water, 00:09:14.579 --> 00:09:16.980 not one day, not two days, but for three days. 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:20.800 And then here he takes them in Exodus 16. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:22.220 They've got no food. 00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:25.000 Exodus 17, they have no water. 00:09:25.300 --> 00:09:26.700 Again, what is he doing? 00:09:27.680 --> 00:09:29.080 He's training his people. 00:09:30.779 --> 00:09:32.139 He's training his people. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:38.080 He's first of all showing them their need and their vulnerability and the weakness of their hearts. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:44.160 And then secondly, he's showing them that he can be trusted to meet their most basic and deepest needs. 00:09:45.160 --> 00:09:46.120 Look at verse two. 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:49.900 It says that in the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 00:09:50.300 --> 00:09:54.500 The Israelites said to them, if only we died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:57.720 There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:03.759 But you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:05.040 Any of you ever get hangry? 00:10:06.379 --> 00:10:08.500 Your parents, your kids ever get hangry? 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:13.180 Here's our redeemed brothers and sisters, the church of the Old Testament. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.980 These are the mothers and the fathers of the faith. 00:10:18.740 --> 00:10:20.660 But they're spiritual newborns. 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:21.759 They're spiritual infants. 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:23.220 And here they are. 00:10:23.259 --> 00:10:26.720 They're one month, you know, out of slavery. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:31.840 They're 30 days into this new life, this new journey of liberation. 00:10:32.620 --> 00:10:33.879 And how's it going for them? 00:10:33.920 --> 00:10:37.279 Well, these people who've been redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb, 00:10:37.680 --> 00:10:42.360 they're terrified by the harsh cruelties of the desert. 00:10:42.500 --> 00:10:45.620 They're feeling serious pain. 00:10:46.620 --> 00:10:49.580 They're feeling serious hunger pains in their stomachs. 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:52.920 And if you've been a Christian for like five minutes, 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:55.440 surely you've felt this. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:56.880 Right? 00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.980 You know what it means to find yourself in an awful place. 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:05.220 God has brought you for some reason to this hard and difficult place. 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:08.659 This dangerous and uncomfortable and troubling place. 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:15.519 And your experience of life is causing you to wonder whether you are indeed one of the Lord's people. 00:11:15.620 --> 00:11:20.779 It's causing you to wonder whether or not you got your guidance wrong. 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:28.100 It's causing you to wonder how the evil one has come in to spoil the Lord's perfect plans for you. 00:11:29.500 --> 00:11:32.740 And our hardships breed all kind of questions. 00:11:33.539 --> 00:11:34.339 Why me? 00:11:35.079 --> 00:11:36.659 Why is this taking so long? 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:38.600 Why is this so brutal? 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:44.059 How could I have slipped so far from the will of God? 00:11:44.059 --> 00:11:45.659 Where did I go wrong? 00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:52.619 You ever wonder what you're doing out here in the wilderness with all this pain? 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:59.440 The quick and easy spiritual answer is that all of our troubles are down to the evil one, Satan, 00:11:59.620 --> 00:12:03.659 who is ever watchful to find some vulnerability in our defenses. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:07.679 Another answer is that knowingly or unknowingly, 00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:11.220 we've strayed out of the will of God or somehow gotten our guidance wrong. 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:18.600 And in some circumstances, these can be sufficient explanations, 00:12:19.160 --> 00:12:22.600 but oftentimes they don't tell the whole story. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.100 Because the reality is the Israelites are here in this wilderness 00:12:27.100 --> 00:12:31.100 because the Lord who loves them has led them there. 00:12:33.300 --> 00:12:36.080 A pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, 00:12:36.160 --> 00:12:38.600 he's led them right here where he wants them. 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:43.879 And so far in this journey, every move in whatever direction, 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.980 every stop and every start, every turn of the pathway was by the will of God. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.960 Whether or not they were at a desert oasis and they were feeling good 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:56.899 or they're out here and they're in dire straits feeling thirsty and hungry, 00:12:57.100 --> 00:12:59.920 it's because the Lord has led them here. 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:02.320 And why would he do that? 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:08.340 Because God trains us by leading us into situations which call for our trust. 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:13.560 He puts us in situations that call for the endurance and obedience 00:13:13.560 --> 00:13:16.200 that prove that our trust is real. 00:13:16.899 --> 00:13:20.040 So that as we exercise that trust in him, 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.320 in the face of new challenges, 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:25.379 our trust begins to develop. 00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:27.159 Our trust begins to mature 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:31.019 until we come to see that everything that happens to us 00:13:31.019 --> 00:13:33.620 is under his divine supervision 00:13:33.620 --> 00:13:38.000 and everything that happens to us is full of God's purposes for our good. 00:13:39.580 --> 00:13:42.560 Our Lord trains his people by putting us in places 00:13:42.560 --> 00:13:45.720 where we have this perpetual choice 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:49.220 between either complaining against God 00:13:49.220 --> 00:13:52.700 or living out our trust and obedience to him. 00:13:52.700 --> 00:13:54.740 And let's go back now to verse 3 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:55.660 because they say, 00:13:56.300 --> 00:13:59.080 If only we died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:00.940 There we sat around pots of meat 00:14:00.940 --> 00:14:02.520 and ate all the food we wanted, 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:04.800 but you brought us out into this desert 00:14:04.800 --> 00:14:08.620 to starve this entire assembly to death. 00:14:08.620 --> 00:14:11.779 They say, 00:14:11.860 --> 00:14:14.139 We are so desperate for food to eat 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:16.779 that we wish the Lord had struck us down 00:14:16.779 --> 00:14:18.120 on the night of Passover. 00:14:19.179 --> 00:14:21.799 We wish he'd have just drowned us in the Red Sea. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:24.940 Why would he send the plagues? 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:26.399 Why would he display his power? 00:14:26.539 --> 00:14:28.720 Why would he go through all this trouble 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:30.379 only to bring us out here 00:14:30.379 --> 00:14:32.320 so that we would die in the desert anyway? 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:33.480 This is absurd. 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:37.159 I wish he'd have left us alone in our slavery. 00:14:37.259 --> 00:14:38.340 I wish he'd have never bothered 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:40.279 to liberate us in the first place. 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:43.680 And why do they say these things in their hearts? 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:45.379 Because they say, 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:50.279 Well, we miss the all-you-can-eat buffets of Egypt. 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:55.220 I mean, the fish was good. 00:14:56.379 --> 00:14:59.200 The cucumbers, the melons, the bread. 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:01.580 It was so good. 00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:07.440 And notice that they're kind of speaking 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:08.539 in the language of addiction, 00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:11.120 the language that addicts use 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:13.920 when they kind of have a selective memory of the past, 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:16.200 this mistaken nostalgia 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:18.639 for what was actually killing them. 00:15:18.779 --> 00:15:20.180 They're living in denial. 00:15:20.460 --> 00:15:23.159 They're only remembering the tiny pleasures, 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:25.659 and they're blocking out the massive pain 00:15:25.659 --> 00:15:28.600 and misery of being slaves. 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:33.320 And this sort of delusional, pathological preoccupation 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:35.720 that God's people can sometimes have 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:38.080 of how great life was 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.600 when we were oppressed without God. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.640 You know about Stockholm Syndrome, 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:46.840 where you kind of come to love 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:49.980 and admire your abusers and your slave masters? 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:51.840 That's Stockholm Syndrome of the soul. 00:15:51.920 --> 00:15:53.180 That's what's going on right here. 00:15:53.179 --> 00:15:57.399 And if you turn in Deuteronomy chapter eight, 00:15:57.500 --> 00:16:00.620 which is kind of necessary to understand this story, 00:16:00.739 --> 00:16:02.819 Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse two says this. 00:16:02.959 --> 00:16:05.439 It says, remember how the Lord your God 00:16:05.439 --> 00:16:08.099 led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years 00:16:08.099 --> 00:16:09.159 in order to what? 00:16:09.339 --> 00:16:11.959 In order to humble you and to test you 00:16:11.959 --> 00:16:14.839 so that you might know what was in your heart. 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:21.200 Why does God want us to see what's in our hearts? 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:24.800 What does he want us to see that's there in our hearts? 00:16:25.940 --> 00:16:27.180 We're saying to ourselves, 00:16:27.540 --> 00:16:28.980 it would have been better to have died 00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:30.740 as slaves with full stomachs 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:33.820 than to be here as God's free people with discomfort. 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:37.660 Forget about God. 00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:40.180 Forget about his liberation. 00:16:40.400 --> 00:16:41.600 Forget about his freedom. 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:43.139 We want to feel good. 00:16:43.139 --> 00:16:48.600 See, though we are legally out of slavery, 00:16:49.319 --> 00:16:53.220 in our hearts, spiritually, internally, 00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:55.559 we can still be slaves. 00:16:57.439 --> 00:16:58.960 Slaves to our stomachs. 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:01.240 Slaves to our situation. 00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:02.980 Slaves to our senses. 00:17:03.220 --> 00:17:04.900 Slaves to all the thought systems 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:08.059 and the patterns of imagination in Egypt 00:17:08.059 --> 00:17:09.559 about the good life. 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:12.119 And as was said last week, 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:14.019 though God has gotten his people out of Egypt, 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:16.519 he still needs to get Egypt out of his people. 00:17:17.939 --> 00:17:19.659 What would the right thing have been to do 00:17:19.659 --> 00:17:21.459 in this moment of pain and panic 00:17:21.459 --> 00:17:23.119 when the people were hungry? 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:26.299 It would have been to drop down on their knees 00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:28.359 and cry out to this God 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:29.699 who'd already saved them 00:17:29.699 --> 00:17:30.039 and say, 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:32.179 God, you've given us so many reasons 00:17:32.179 --> 00:17:34.659 to trust in your goodness and your grace. 00:17:34.719 --> 00:17:36.000 You've shown us time and again 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.299 how powerful you are, 00:17:37.479 --> 00:17:38.399 that you're our protector, 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:39.500 that you're our provider, 00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:40.779 and we need your help. 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:43.339 Have mercy on us. 00:17:43.339 --> 00:17:44.859 But they don't do that. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:47.380 They don't cry out to God. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:48.700 They cry out against God. 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:49.619 And there's a grumbling, 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.519 complaining spirit in their hearts 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:53.859 against the Lord 00:17:53.859 --> 00:17:56.779 that he needs to simply train out of them. 00:17:56.779 --> 00:17:58.680 And I wonder about us. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:17:59.859 What about you? 00:17:59.960 --> 00:18:01.019 How many of us started 00:18:01.019 --> 00:18:03.000 strong in our journey with God? 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:05.680 But like these spiritual newborns, 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:06.859 these spiritual infants, 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:09.299 we begin facing the first challenges 00:18:09.299 --> 00:18:10.220 of our liberation. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.099 We begin to face those first challenges 00:18:13.099 --> 00:18:16.819 of being free yet hungry and thirsty. 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:20.359 And we realize that here we are out here 00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:21.119 in this wilderness 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:24.299 with a severe shortage of supplies 00:18:24.299 --> 00:18:25.980 and we start freaking out 00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:28.140 and we start complaining against God. 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:30.320 You see, 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:31.360 if that's in your heart, 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:32.940 God leads us out 00:18:32.940 --> 00:18:34.160 into these wilderness places 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:35.700 so that he can train us 00:18:35.700 --> 00:18:37.180 to see that that's what's there. 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:40.380 And so that he can train the slavery 00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:43.060 out of the hearts 00:18:43.060 --> 00:18:45.540 of his people. 00:18:47.540 --> 00:18:49.400 So this is the God who trains us. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:51.880 But I want us to also look at verse four 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:53.140 because this is the God also 00:18:53.140 --> 00:18:54.520 who not only trains us, 00:18:54.560 --> 00:18:55.840 who brings us into the desert, 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:57.939 but he's also the God 00:18:57.939 --> 00:18:59.240 who provides for us. 00:19:00.399 --> 00:19:01.119 Look at verse four. 00:19:01.199 --> 00:19:01.419 It says, 00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:02.480 Then the Lord said to Moses, 00:19:02.619 --> 00:19:04.059 I will rain down bread 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:05.559 from heaven for you. 00:19:06.779 --> 00:19:08.059 Now if I were God, 00:19:08.539 --> 00:19:09.799 this passage would say, 00:19:10.379 --> 00:19:13.139 I will rain down fire from heaven 00:19:13.139 --> 00:19:16.379 on you ungrateful people 00:19:16.379 --> 00:19:19.799 who complain against me constantly 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:22.039 even though I liberated you 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:22.859 from your slavery. 00:19:24.500 --> 00:19:25.559 That's what you deserve. 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:26.339 Fire from heaven. 00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:28.899 Now maybe if I'm having a good day, 00:19:29.419 --> 00:19:30.159 I would say, 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:30.539 actually, 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.179 I'm going to rain down on you 00:19:32.179 --> 00:19:34.179 on some random occasions 00:19:34.179 --> 00:19:36.619 a scant supply 00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:37.980 of low quality, 00:19:38.139 --> 00:19:39.179 crusty, moldy bread. 00:19:41.980 --> 00:19:43.519 But thank God I'm not God. 00:19:44.019 --> 00:19:44.419 Right? 00:19:44.579 --> 00:19:45.859 And thank God you're not God 00:19:45.859 --> 00:19:46.559 because I don't know 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:47.259 what you would say. 00:19:48.539 --> 00:19:50.319 But this manna does not come down 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:51.359 on random occasions. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:52.879 It comes every day. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:55.620 And this manna does not come 00:19:55.620 --> 00:19:57.480 in scant amounts. 00:19:57.580 --> 00:19:58.540 It comes in abundant, 00:19:58.960 --> 00:19:59.880 generous supply, 00:20:00.080 --> 00:20:01.900 two quarts per person per day, 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:02.800 which is plenty. 00:20:03.020 --> 00:20:04.620 It's enough to satisfy. 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:08.020 And this is not low quality bread, 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:09.100 but in verse 31, 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:11.360 it says that this manna 00:20:11.360 --> 00:20:14.040 tasted like wafers made with honey. 00:20:14.140 --> 00:20:16.820 This is Trader Joe's quality bread. 00:20:16.819 --> 00:20:20.539 Some of you are like British 00:20:20.539 --> 00:20:21.700 and from the Anglosphere. 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:23.759 This is like McVitie's biscuits. 00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:24.839 Okay? 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:28.339 The people would read this, 00:20:28.579 --> 00:20:29.980 these wafers made with honey, 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:30.319 and they'd say, 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:32.099 this is the most delicious food 00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:33.599 you could possibly imagine. 00:20:34.819 --> 00:20:35.839 And the sweetness 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:37.659 and the substance of this manna, 00:20:37.879 --> 00:20:39.419 it's given not just daily, 00:20:39.539 --> 00:20:41.200 but it's given in a double supply, 00:20:41.339 --> 00:20:42.220 one time a week. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:43.420 And it's this gift 00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:44.279 that just keeps coming 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:45.319 day by day, 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:46.720 week by week, 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:47.819 not just for one year, 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:49.700 but for 40 years. 00:20:49.740 --> 00:20:51.039 And what does that tell us 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:51.940 about God? 00:20:53.299 --> 00:20:54.220 What does it mean 00:20:54.220 --> 00:20:55.420 that a jar of manna 00:20:55.420 --> 00:20:58.019 was miraculously preserved 00:20:58.019 --> 00:20:59.559 in the holy of holies 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:00.720 of God's tabernacle, 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:03.120 right beside the Ten Commandments 00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:03.880 as a sign 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:05.940 for generations to come 00:21:05.940 --> 00:21:06.660 of who God is? 00:21:06.700 --> 00:21:07.180 What does it say 00:21:07.180 --> 00:21:08.400 about the person of God 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.100 and the work of God? 00:21:10.099 --> 00:21:12.619 What says that we need 00:21:12.619 --> 00:21:13.559 to be continually 00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:14.959 reminding ourselves 00:21:14.959 --> 00:21:16.459 and reminding each other 00:21:16.459 --> 00:21:20.299 of how good 00:21:20.299 --> 00:21:22.359 and how gracious 00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:24.419 and how generous 00:21:24.419 --> 00:21:27.099 this provider actually is. 00:21:27.179 --> 00:21:28.099 He continually supplies 00:21:28.959 --> 00:21:29.699 an abundant, 00:21:30.259 --> 00:21:30.819 delicious, 00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:31.519 nutritious, 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:33.059 daily food source 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:33.799 for thousands 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:34.719 upon thousands 00:21:34.719 --> 00:21:35.759 of people. 00:21:36.059 --> 00:21:36.240 Friends, 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:36.919 do you know 00:21:36.919 --> 00:21:38.159 how good he is? 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:40.160 Do you know 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:41.519 how gracious he is? 00:21:41.560 --> 00:21:41.800 Do you know 00:21:41.800 --> 00:21:42.540 how generous 00:21:42.540 --> 00:21:43.740 this God is? 00:21:45.300 --> 00:21:46.600 And here's the thing, 00:21:46.700 --> 00:21:47.460 if he's able 00:21:47.460 --> 00:21:49.100 to meet his people's 00:21:49.100 --> 00:21:49.720 short-term 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:51.500 and long-term needs 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:52.720 with material bread, 00:21:53.080 --> 00:21:54.160 what does that mean? 00:21:55.120 --> 00:21:56.340 It means that he's also 00:21:56.340 --> 00:21:57.120 able to meet 00:21:57.120 --> 00:21:58.040 all of our 00:21:58.040 --> 00:21:59.660 non-material needs. 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:02.060 You see, 00:22:02.140 --> 00:22:03.140 if he rains down 00:22:03.140 --> 00:22:04.160 material bread 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:04.759 from heaven 00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:06.720 that is not necessarily 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:08.039 what the people expect 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:08.860 but it's exactly 00:22:08.860 --> 00:22:09.980 what they really need, 00:22:11.100 --> 00:22:12.299 then how much more 00:22:12.299 --> 00:22:13.039 can he meet 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:15.299 our spiritual needs, 00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:18.100 our existential needs, 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:20.319 our eternal needs? 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:21.180 How much more 00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:22.000 can he give us 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:22.880 of the abundant 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:24.279 spiritual riches 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:25.559 of heaven? 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:29.019 I want us to remember 00:22:29.019 --> 00:22:30.519 that Jesus' 00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:32.079 ministry 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:33.720 began 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:35.839 when he was hungry 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:36.660 and tempted 00:22:36.660 --> 00:22:37.500 in the desert. 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:39.039 That's the 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:40.759 official starting point 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:41.740 of his ministry. 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:42.339 He was baptized 00:22:42.339 --> 00:22:43.500 and he goes 00:22:43.500 --> 00:22:44.039 into the wilderness 00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:45.420 and he's hungry 00:22:45.420 --> 00:22:47.100 and he's tempted 00:22:47.100 --> 00:22:48.860 in the Gospel 00:22:48.860 --> 00:22:50.039 of Matthew chapter 4 00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:50.700 and Jesus 00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:52.279 in that place, 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:53.900 he quotes that passage 00:22:53.900 --> 00:22:55.059 from Deuteronomy 8 00:22:55.059 --> 00:22:56.740 that I read earlier. 00:22:56.860 --> 00:22:57.680 I'll read a little bit 00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:58.500 more of it here. 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:00.039 It says, 00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:01.019 remember how the Lord 00:23:01.019 --> 00:23:01.819 your God led you 00:23:01.819 --> 00:23:02.460 all the way 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:02.940 in the wilderness 00:23:02.940 --> 00:23:03.880 these 40 years 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:04.680 to humble you 00:23:04.680 --> 00:23:05.480 and to test you 00:23:05.480 --> 00:23:06.340 in order to know 00:23:06.340 --> 00:23:07.340 what was in your heart, 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:08.120 whether or not 00:23:08.120 --> 00:23:08.620 you would keep 00:23:08.620 --> 00:23:09.259 his commands. 00:23:10.360 --> 00:23:11.039 He humbled you, 00:23:11.180 --> 00:23:12.039 causing you to hunger 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:13.400 and then feeding you 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:13.980 with manna, 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:15.460 which neither you 00:23:15.460 --> 00:23:16.299 nor your ancestors 00:23:16.299 --> 00:23:16.900 had known, 00:23:17.100 --> 00:23:18.400 in order to teach you 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:18.860 this, 00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:20.039 and this is what 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:20.559 Jesus quotes, 00:23:20.620 --> 00:23:21.700 in order to teach you 00:23:21.700 --> 00:23:23.000 that man does not 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:24.279 live on bread alone, 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:25.660 but on every word 00:23:25.660 --> 00:23:26.360 that comes 00:23:26.360 --> 00:23:27.380 from the mouth 00:23:27.380 --> 00:23:28.299 of the Lord. 00:23:30.600 --> 00:23:31.900 Jesus is saying 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:32.400 there, 00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:33.420 Moses is saying 00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:34.040 there that 00:23:34.040 --> 00:23:35.040 our needs 00:23:35.040 --> 00:23:35.940 are way deeper 00:23:35.940 --> 00:23:36.880 than our material 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:37.980 need for bread. 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:40.019 In fact, 00:23:40.060 --> 00:23:40.820 in the Sermon on the Mount, 00:23:40.940 --> 00:23:41.759 Jesus asks the question, 00:23:41.840 --> 00:23:42.080 he says, 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:42.880 is not life 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:43.640 more than food? 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:45.700 And then immediately 00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:46.200 he says, 00:23:46.300 --> 00:23:47.100 seek first the kingdom 00:23:47.100 --> 00:23:47.540 of God. 00:23:47.980 --> 00:23:48.820 Life is about 00:23:48.820 --> 00:23:49.880 so much more 00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:50.480 than food. 00:23:52.259 --> 00:23:53.680 And what he's saying 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:54.680 is that we don't live 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:56.019 on material bread 00:23:56.019 --> 00:23:56.480 alone, 00:23:56.540 --> 00:23:57.600 that's the lesson 00:23:57.600 --> 00:23:58.120 of the manna, 00:23:58.180 --> 00:23:59.280 but that spiritually 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:01.039 we live on 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:01.740 every word 00:24:01.740 --> 00:24:02.279 that comes 00:24:02.279 --> 00:24:02.879 from the mouth 00:24:02.879 --> 00:24:03.539 of our king, 00:24:03.619 --> 00:24:04.139 every word 00:24:04.139 --> 00:24:05.500 about his kingdom. 00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:08.079 And you remember 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:08.680 in the Gospel 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:09.299 of John, 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:11.359 John chapter 6, 00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:12.299 Jesus goes out, 00:24:12.379 --> 00:24:13.460 he's with at least 00:24:13.460 --> 00:24:14.599 5,000 men 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:15.259 plus women 00:24:15.259 --> 00:24:15.819 and children, 00:24:15.980 --> 00:24:16.619 they're hungry, 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:18.460 they're in this 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:20.339 forsaken place, 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:21.779 and what does he do? 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:23.099 He multiplies bread. 00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:25.259 And then he says, 00:24:25.299 --> 00:24:25.660 he says, 00:24:25.660 --> 00:24:26.940 it was not Moses 00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:27.920 who gave you bread 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:28.519 from heaven, 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:29.660 but my father 00:24:29.660 --> 00:24:30.160 who gives you 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:30.980 the true bread 00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:31.519 from heaven. 00:24:31.940 --> 00:24:32.620 For the bread 00:24:32.620 --> 00:24:33.040 of God 00:24:33.040 --> 00:24:33.600 is the bread 00:24:33.600 --> 00:24:34.380 that comes down 00:24:34.380 --> 00:24:34.960 from heaven 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:36.259 and gives life 00:24:36.259 --> 00:24:37.300 to the world. 00:24:38.840 --> 00:24:39.960 The deeper meaning 00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:40.540 of the manna 00:24:40.540 --> 00:24:41.500 is that it points 00:24:41.500 --> 00:24:43.279 to our spiritual need 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:44.960 for God's word, 00:24:45.100 --> 00:24:45.900 which God has so 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:47.100 abundantly provided 00:24:47.100 --> 00:24:47.560 for us, 00:24:47.600 --> 00:24:48.759 not only in the scriptures, 00:24:49.120 --> 00:24:50.100 but in his word 00:24:50.100 --> 00:24:50.820 made flesh, 00:24:50.860 --> 00:24:51.340 his son, 00:24:51.840 --> 00:24:52.160 Jesus. 00:24:52.380 --> 00:24:53.519 And Jesus goes on 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:54.940 in the Gospel 00:24:54.940 --> 00:24:55.920 of John chapter 6, 00:24:55.960 --> 00:24:56.320 he says, 00:24:56.660 --> 00:24:57.400 we heard it earlier, 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.860 I am the living bread 00:24:59.860 --> 00:25:00.740 that came down 00:25:00.740 --> 00:25:01.360 from heaven. 00:25:02.259 --> 00:25:03.240 Whoever eats 00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:04.220 of this bread 00:25:04.220 --> 00:25:06.580 will live forever. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:07.320 Whoever eats 00:25:07.320 --> 00:25:07.840 the bread 00:25:07.840 --> 00:25:08.620 of my flesh, 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:09.180 he says, 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:10.980 has eternal life 00:25:10.980 --> 00:25:12.240 and I will raise 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:12.640 them up 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:13.480 on the last day. 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:16.340 So how do we 00:25:16.340 --> 00:25:17.140 get this manna? 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:19.100 How do we get 00:25:19.100 --> 00:25:20.380 this living bread 00:25:20.380 --> 00:25:20.920 from heaven 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:21.860 that God has provided 00:25:21.860 --> 00:25:22.480 for us 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.100 in Jesus Christ? 00:25:24.099 --> 00:25:25.019 It's interesting 00:25:25.019 --> 00:25:27.159 to consider 00:25:27.159 --> 00:25:29.039 if God's 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:29.519 so powerful, 00:25:29.699 --> 00:25:31.279 why didn't he 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:32.759 just put the manna 00:25:32.759 --> 00:25:33.639 straight into 00:25:33.639 --> 00:25:34.559 their stomachs? 00:25:35.959 --> 00:25:36.439 Right? 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:37.000 They're like, 00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:38.019 they're walking around, 00:25:38.539 --> 00:25:38.899 they're like, 00:25:38.980 --> 00:25:39.639 we're in the wilderness, 00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:40.619 we're hungry, 00:25:40.919 --> 00:25:41.759 and then boom, 00:25:41.859 --> 00:25:42.039 oh, 00:25:42.719 --> 00:25:43.859 I feel better. 00:25:45.099 --> 00:25:45.779 He's already 00:25:45.779 --> 00:25:46.319 doing a miracle, 00:25:46.419 --> 00:25:46.899 why didn't he just 00:25:46.899 --> 00:25:47.240 go ahead 00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:47.659 and put it 00:25:47.659 --> 00:25:48.199 straight in? 00:25:49.480 --> 00:25:49.959 Well, 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:50.879 the answer is 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:53.160 that they 00:25:53.160 --> 00:25:53.980 were passive, 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:54.520 right, 00:25:54.560 --> 00:25:55.200 at Passover 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:56.720 and all they 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:57.080 had to do 00:25:57.080 --> 00:25:57.560 was just put 00:25:57.560 --> 00:25:57.980 the blood 00:25:57.980 --> 00:25:58.500 of the lamb 00:25:58.500 --> 00:25:59.540 over the doorpost 00:25:59.540 --> 00:25:59.940 and they just 00:25:59.940 --> 00:26:00.540 had to sit there 00:26:00.540 --> 00:26:00.860 and basically 00:26:00.860 --> 00:26:01.620 watch God 00:26:01.620 --> 00:26:02.420 do everything. 00:26:03.840 --> 00:26:04.420 Same thing 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:05.080 at the Red Sea, 00:26:05.140 --> 00:26:05.500 they were just 00:26:05.500 --> 00:26:06.640 completely passive. 00:26:06.800 --> 00:26:07.560 God did everything, 00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:08.260 all they had to do 00:26:08.260 --> 00:26:08.940 was just walk, 00:26:09.040 --> 00:26:09.660 like from one 00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:10.360 end to the other. 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:12.300 And even here, 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:13.720 God is actively 00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:14.660 providing the manna 00:26:14.660 --> 00:26:15.200 while everybody 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:15.920 just sits around 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:17.020 passively watching 00:26:17.020 --> 00:26:17.620 him do it. 00:26:17.619 --> 00:26:20.179 But once the manna 00:26:20.179 --> 00:26:21.259 has been provided, 00:26:22.159 --> 00:26:22.959 God's people 00:26:22.959 --> 00:26:23.459 are called 00:26:23.459 --> 00:26:24.919 to be active, 00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:26.099 right? 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:26.559 They've got to 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:28.059 actively go out 00:26:28.059 --> 00:26:28.519 and they've got to 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:29.299 put their faith 00:26:29.299 --> 00:26:29.859 in God 00:26:29.859 --> 00:26:30.919 by going out 00:26:30.919 --> 00:26:31.539 to receive 00:26:31.539 --> 00:26:32.799 his provision. 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:34.539 And I think 00:26:34.539 --> 00:26:35.099 that's important 00:26:35.099 --> 00:26:35.719 because if you're 00:26:35.719 --> 00:26:36.699 exploring Christianity, 00:26:37.439 --> 00:26:38.579 it's so important 00:26:38.579 --> 00:26:39.519 to take the time 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:40.879 to understand 00:26:40.879 --> 00:26:41.959 who Jesus is, 00:26:42.019 --> 00:26:42.419 to understand 00:26:42.419 --> 00:26:43.959 what he did, 00:26:44.019 --> 00:26:44.439 to understand 00:26:44.439 --> 00:26:45.459 why he's 00:26:45.459 --> 00:26:46.119 the living bread 00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:46.959 that God gave 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:47.900 to come down 00:26:47.900 --> 00:26:48.779 from heaven. 00:26:49.220 --> 00:26:50.319 But there comes 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:50.840 a point 00:26:50.840 --> 00:26:52.019 where you've 00:26:52.019 --> 00:26:52.700 got to 00:26:52.700 --> 00:26:53.920 actively put 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:54.559 your faith 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:55.480 in God 00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:57.380 by going out 00:26:57.380 --> 00:26:58.160 to receive 00:26:58.160 --> 00:26:59.200 what he's 00:26:59.200 --> 00:26:59.660 provided. 00:26:59.779 --> 00:27:00.480 You've got to 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:01.779 put your trust 00:27:01.779 --> 00:27:03.680 that if you 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:04.759 take Jesus in, 00:27:04.860 --> 00:27:05.420 he will be 00:27:05.420 --> 00:27:06.299 the bread of heaven 00:27:06.299 --> 00:27:07.259 that can fill you, 00:27:07.340 --> 00:27:07.799 that he can 00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:09.240 satisfy you, 00:27:09.299 --> 00:27:09.940 he can give you 00:27:09.940 --> 00:27:10.360 life. 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:12.799 That's how you 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:13.500 become a Christian. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:15.660 But if you've 00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:16.539 become a Christian, 00:27:16.539 --> 00:27:17.279 you've got to 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:18.180 realize that just 00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:19.440 because the Lord 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:20.200 is providing 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:21.180 your daily bread, 00:27:21.659 --> 00:27:22.539 you can still 00:27:22.539 --> 00:27:23.500 die in the desert 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:24.299 if you don't 00:27:24.299 --> 00:27:25.059 go out and 00:27:25.059 --> 00:27:25.519 get it. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:28.099 And this is 00:27:28.099 --> 00:27:28.619 what it says 00:27:28.619 --> 00:27:29.200 in verse 4, 00:27:29.299 --> 00:27:29.619 Then the Lord 00:27:29.619 --> 00:27:30.039 said to Moses, 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:30.799 I'll rain down 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:31.460 bread from heaven 00:27:31.460 --> 00:27:31.819 for you. 00:27:31.879 --> 00:27:32.279 The people 00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:33.299 are to go out 00:27:33.299 --> 00:27:33.819 each day 00:27:33.819 --> 00:27:34.319 and to gather 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:34.899 enough for that 00:27:34.899 --> 00:27:35.180 day, 00:27:35.319 --> 00:27:36.000 and in this way 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:36.619 I will test 00:27:36.619 --> 00:27:37.519 them to see 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:38.139 whether or not 00:27:38.139 --> 00:27:38.779 they will follow 00:27:38.779 --> 00:27:40.059 my instructions. 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:40.399 Literally, 00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:41.059 I'm going to see 00:27:41.059 --> 00:27:41.700 whether or not 00:27:41.700 --> 00:27:42.619 they will walk 00:27:42.619 --> 00:27:43.440 by my Torah, 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:43.920 they'll walk 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:44.659 by my law. 00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:46.660 This will show 00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:47.259 the degree to 00:27:47.259 --> 00:27:47.880 which they put 00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:48.860 their faith in me 00:27:48.860 --> 00:27:49.800 and their trust 00:27:49.800 --> 00:27:50.540 in me. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:51.779 Will the provider's 00:27:51.779 --> 00:27:53.019 people trust 00:27:53.019 --> 00:27:53.840 the provider's 00:27:53.840 --> 00:27:54.519 word about 00:27:54.519 --> 00:27:55.320 the provider's 00:27:55.320 --> 00:27:56.620 gift so much 00:27:56.620 --> 00:27:57.080 that they put 00:27:57.080 --> 00:27:57.600 their trust 00:27:57.600 --> 00:27:58.180 into action 00:27:58.180 --> 00:27:58.920 and go and 00:27:58.920 --> 00:27:59.360 get it? 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:02.480 When you 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:03.300 become a Christian, 00:28:03.800 --> 00:28:05.440 one of the 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:05.960 things you need 00:28:05.960 --> 00:28:06.600 to learn right 00:28:06.600 --> 00:28:08.480 away is that 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:09.000 your schedule 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:09.560 is no longer 00:28:09.560 --> 00:28:10.160 your schedule, 00:28:10.660 --> 00:28:12.300 but that God 00:28:12.300 --> 00:28:12.920 has a different 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:13.720 plan for your 00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:14.640 daily schedule, 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:15.380 and what the 00:28:15.380 --> 00:28:16.140 plan is, 00:28:16.180 --> 00:28:16.620 is that you 00:28:16.620 --> 00:28:17.060 need to get 00:28:17.060 --> 00:28:17.460 up and go 00:28:17.460 --> 00:28:18.100 do something 00:28:18.100 --> 00:28:18.680 every morning. 00:28:19.420 --> 00:28:20.180 Just like these 00:28:20.180 --> 00:28:20.700 people went and 00:28:20.700 --> 00:28:21.320 got the manna. 00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:21.880 You've got to 00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:23.620 actively trust 00:28:23.620 --> 00:28:24.360 him by getting 00:28:24.360 --> 00:28:25.280 up and going 00:28:25.280 --> 00:28:26.620 out and gathering 00:28:26.620 --> 00:28:27.340 the sweetness 00:28:27.340 --> 00:28:28.380 and the substance 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:29.620 that he provides. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:31.340 You're to express 00:28:31.340 --> 00:28:32.100 your faith 00:28:32.100 --> 00:28:34.180 by expending 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:34.740 effort 00:28:34.740 --> 00:28:37.400 to go out 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:37.940 and get for 00:28:37.940 --> 00:28:38.580 yourself this 00:28:38.580 --> 00:28:39.160 delicious, 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:40.400 nutritious bread 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:41.020 from heaven. 00:28:41.019 --> 00:28:45.039 Jesus teaches 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:45.480 us in the 00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:45.900 Sermon on the 00:28:45.900 --> 00:28:46.099 Mount. 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:48.200 This is the 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:48.660 way you should 00:28:48.660 --> 00:28:48.980 pray. 00:28:50.339 --> 00:28:50.740 Father, 00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:51.839 give me today 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:52.799 my daily bread. 00:28:54.059 --> 00:28:54.660 But then we 00:28:54.660 --> 00:28:55.180 don't just sit 00:28:55.180 --> 00:28:55.859 there passively, 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:56.500 we put our 00:28:56.500 --> 00:28:58.240 trust in God's 00:28:58.240 --> 00:28:58.639 provision, 00:28:58.980 --> 00:28:59.799 and we go 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:01.160 and we get it. 00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:03.680 if you read 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:04.320 this whole story, 00:29:04.420 --> 00:29:04.880 some people 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:05.940 lacked confidence 00:29:05.940 --> 00:29:06.480 in God 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.000 that he would 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:08.759 provide the next 00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:08.960 day, 00:29:09.019 --> 00:29:09.320 and so they 00:29:09.320 --> 00:29:09.960 tried to keep 00:29:09.960 --> 00:29:10.380 some of the 00:29:10.380 --> 00:29:12.300 manna more 00:29:12.300 --> 00:29:12.840 than they needed. 00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:13.320 They tried to 00:29:13.320 --> 00:29:14.060 keep it overnight, 00:29:14.340 --> 00:29:15.000 and it just 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:15.960 completely spoiled. 00:29:17.340 --> 00:29:18.080 And the reason 00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:18.800 is that God's 00:29:18.800 --> 00:29:20.160 trying to train 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:21.060 us to live 00:29:21.060 --> 00:29:22.160 by faith 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:24.100 and trusting 00:29:24.100 --> 00:29:25.220 him every day 00:29:25.220 --> 00:29:26.779 afresh. 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:27.259 It doesn't 00:29:27.259 --> 00:29:27.960 matter what you 00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:28.620 did yesterday, 00:29:28.700 --> 00:29:29.700 what about today? 00:29:29.700 --> 00:29:31.059 You've got to 00:29:31.059 --> 00:29:31.519 eat bread 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:32.120 today. 00:29:33.299 --> 00:29:34.160 God is 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:34.980 training us 00:29:34.980 --> 00:29:36.600 and challenging 00:29:36.600 --> 00:29:38.279 us to 00:29:38.279 --> 00:29:39.140 rearrange our 00:29:39.140 --> 00:29:39.900 daily lives 00:29:39.900 --> 00:29:40.380 and our daily 00:29:40.380 --> 00:29:41.480 schedules around 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:42.559 his gracious 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:43.460 provision so we 00:29:43.460 --> 00:29:44.200 don't die out 00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:45.279 here in the 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:45.580 wilderness. 00:29:47.059 --> 00:29:48.200 And this is my 00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:48.660 concern. 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:49.279 I'm concerned 00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:50.140 that some of us 00:29:50.140 --> 00:29:50.700 who profess 00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:51.759 faith in Christ 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:53.120 may be 00:29:53.120 --> 00:29:53.940 experiencing 00:29:53.940 --> 00:29:55.100 unnecessary 00:29:55.100 --> 00:29:56.440 self-inflicted 00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:57.640 pain and 00:29:57.640 --> 00:29:58.440 misery and 00:29:58.440 --> 00:29:58.980 stress. 00:29:59.700 --> 00:30:00.759 that some 00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:01.140 of us are 00:30:01.140 --> 00:30:01.539 experiencing 00:30:01.539 --> 00:30:02.340 self-inflicted 00:30:02.340 --> 00:30:03.840 exhaustion and 00:30:03.840 --> 00:30:05.480 malnutrition and 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:07.680 emaciation because 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:08.819 we're not going out 00:30:08.819 --> 00:30:09.880 by faith and 00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:10.700 gathering our 00:30:10.700 --> 00:30:11.759 daily spiritual 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:12.660 bread and that 00:30:12.660 --> 00:30:13.700 heavenly substance 00:30:13.700 --> 00:30:15.100 that God wants to 00:30:15.100 --> 00:30:16.380 feed us in his 00:30:16.380 --> 00:30:16.720 word. 00:30:17.080 --> 00:30:17.500 And if that's 00:30:17.500 --> 00:30:18.840 you, we love you 00:30:18.840 --> 00:30:19.240 so much. 00:30:19.319 --> 00:30:19.660 We're doing a 00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:20.539 class today called 00:30:20.539 --> 00:30:21.200 How to Read the 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:21.660 New Testament. 00:30:22.299 --> 00:30:23.140 And we encourage 00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:23.580 you, if you can't 00:30:23.580 --> 00:30:24.279 come today, come 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:25.039 next week. 00:30:25.120 --> 00:30:25.840 Can't come next 00:30:25.840 --> 00:30:26.000 week? 00:30:26.019 --> 00:30:26.660 Come the following 00:30:26.660 --> 00:30:26.940 week. 00:30:26.940 --> 00:30:27.820 We want to 00:30:27.820 --> 00:30:30.019 teach you how 00:30:30.019 --> 00:30:30.700 to go get your 00:30:30.700 --> 00:30:31.580 bread so you can 00:30:31.580 --> 00:30:32.820 feed yourself and 00:30:32.820 --> 00:30:34.580 not die in the 00:30:34.580 --> 00:30:34.880 wilderness. 00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:37.620 Okay. 00:30:38.660 --> 00:30:39.640 He's the Lord who 00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:40.940 trains us. 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:41.500 He's the God who 00:30:41.500 --> 00:30:42.559 provides for us. 00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:43.620 And I want to say a 00:30:43.620 --> 00:30:45.539 last word here on the 00:30:45.539 --> 00:30:46.480 God who refreshes 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:46.799 us. 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:48.480 He's the God who 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:49.039 refreshes us. 00:30:49.100 --> 00:30:49.840 Look at verse 5. 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:50.799 It says that on the 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.500 sixth day they are to 00:30:53.500 --> 00:30:55.640 go and prepare what 00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:56.460 they bring in and 00:30:56.460 --> 00:30:57.360 that is to be twice 00:30:57.360 --> 00:30:58.180 as much as they 00:30:58.180 --> 00:30:59.120 gather on the other 00:30:59.120 --> 00:30:59.640 days. 00:31:00.600 --> 00:31:01.160 And then down in 00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:01.920 verse 29 it says, 00:31:02.040 --> 00:31:02.720 bear in mind that the 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:03.420 Lord has given you 00:31:03.420 --> 00:31:04.300 the Sabbath and that 00:31:04.300 --> 00:31:05.100 is why on the sixth 00:31:05.100 --> 00:31:06.360 day he gives you 00:31:06.360 --> 00:31:07.400 bread for two days. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:09.120 Everyone is to stay 00:31:09.120 --> 00:31:09.720 where they are on the 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:10.180 seventh day. 00:31:10.280 --> 00:31:11.180 No one is to go out 00:31:11.180 --> 00:31:13.440 so the people rested 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.460 on the Sabbath day. 00:31:17.259 --> 00:31:18.060 What does it say to 00:31:18.060 --> 00:31:19.140 us about this God 00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:21.280 that one of the main 00:31:21.280 --> 00:31:22.400 things he wants for 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:23.360 his people who've 00:31:23.360 --> 00:31:25.220 been wearied and 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:26.579 exhausted by 80 plus 00:31:26.579 --> 00:31:27.660 years of slavery. 00:31:28.339 --> 00:31:29.500 Never had a day off, 00:31:29.620 --> 00:31:30.660 seven days a week. 00:31:31.339 --> 00:31:32.000 They're just in the 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:33.440 daily grind generation 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:34.920 to generation to 00:31:34.920 --> 00:31:35.400 generation. 00:31:35.539 --> 00:31:36.299 What does it say that 00:31:36.299 --> 00:31:38.440 this God is providing 00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:39.400 for their rest? 00:31:40.620 --> 00:31:41.860 He's providing for his 00:31:41.860 --> 00:31:42.759 people's physical 00:31:42.759 --> 00:31:44.100 refreshment and their 00:31:44.100 --> 00:31:45.799 spiritual renewal. 00:31:47.799 --> 00:31:49.120 It tells us that 00:31:49.120 --> 00:31:50.819 though Pharaoh was an 00:31:50.819 --> 00:31:51.740 oppressive tyrant, 00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:55.140 this God, this Lord is a 00:31:55.140 --> 00:31:56.140 liberating father who 00:31:56.140 --> 00:31:58.040 wants his children to 00:31:58.040 --> 00:31:59.380 experience refreshment 00:31:59.380 --> 00:32:02.420 by stopping every seven 00:32:02.420 --> 00:32:04.620 days to just worship 00:32:04.620 --> 00:32:08.160 him and enjoy him, 00:32:08.680 --> 00:32:10.560 to rest in his grace. 00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:12.700 But as you can see, 00:32:12.780 --> 00:32:14.140 this is sometimes hard for 00:32:14.140 --> 00:32:15.340 God's people to trust 00:32:15.340 --> 00:32:17.560 because it says in verse 00:32:17.560 --> 00:32:18.040 27, 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:18.400 nevertheless, 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:19.380 some of the people went 00:32:19.380 --> 00:32:20.540 out on the seventh day to 00:32:20.540 --> 00:32:21.500 gather the manna, 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:23.000 but they found none. 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.180 God's asking his freed 00:32:27.180 --> 00:32:28.359 people to do for their 00:32:28.359 --> 00:32:29.299 refreshment something 00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:31.359 that feels counterintuitive 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:31.880 to them. 00:32:35.740 --> 00:32:37.019 He's not only wanting them 00:32:37.019 --> 00:32:38.480 to gather the manna every 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:39.960 morning and not take more 00:32:39.960 --> 00:32:41.799 than they need because it's 00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:42.700 going to spoil overnight, 00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:44.259 but he's also every six day 00:32:44.259 --> 00:32:46.559 wanting to ask them to 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:47.779 discipline themselves to 00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:50.500 trust in him that what he 00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:51.920 provides will be enough. 00:32:54.059 --> 00:32:56.279 And that they can have a 00:32:56.279 --> 00:32:58.920 Sabbath and that it's not 00:32:58.920 --> 00:33:00.319 going to spoil overnight as 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:01.539 it might on all the others. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:02.539 And this is just a really 00:33:02.539 --> 00:33:04.079 strange thing. 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:05.200 It's unfamiliar to them. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:06.740 Why would God ask them to do 00:33:06.740 --> 00:33:07.740 something that's 00:33:07.740 --> 00:33:08.980 counterintuitive to them? 00:33:09.019 --> 00:33:11.180 Because God is training them 00:33:11.180 --> 00:33:14.559 to do things that are not 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:16.000 normal to their cultural 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:16.819 sensibilities. 00:33:16.819 --> 00:33:20.399 He's testing to see if his 00:33:20.399 --> 00:33:22.359 people will obey not only 00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:23.439 those commands that make 00:33:23.439 --> 00:33:24.700 perfect sense to them, 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:26.639 but also especially the ones 00:33:26.639 --> 00:33:27.799 that do not. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:31.939 If I give you a double 00:33:31.939 --> 00:33:34.299 amount once a week, 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:36.539 will you just take me at my 00:33:36.539 --> 00:33:38.720 word that it will be enough 00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:39.179 for you? 00:33:40.439 --> 00:33:42.279 And just rest and worship me. 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:45.039 And see, clearly the Sabbath 00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:46.240 didn't make sense to people. 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:47.200 Verse 27, 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:47.980 Nevertheless, some of the 00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:48.880 people went out on the 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:49.240 seventh day. 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:49.980 They gathered the manna, 00:33:50.039 --> 00:33:51.259 but they found none. 00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:52.059 And then the Lord said to 00:33:52.059 --> 00:33:53.140 Moses, how long will you 00:33:53.140 --> 00:33:55.079 people refuse to keep my 00:33:55.079 --> 00:33:57.180 commands and my instructions? 00:33:58.740 --> 00:33:59.900 Some people just couldn't 00:33:59.900 --> 00:34:02.220 resist trying to get ahead. 00:34:02.339 --> 00:34:03.279 They couldn't resist trying 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:04.740 to advantage themselves. 00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:06.759 But of course they go and 00:34:06.759 --> 00:34:07.859 they find no manna. 00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:08.980 And in trying to find the 00:34:08.980 --> 00:34:10.239 manna, they also don't stop 00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:11.820 to rest and worship. 00:34:11.900 --> 00:34:13.079 So they get no refreshment. 00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:17.380 God is not going to bless 00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:19.119 his people when they try to 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:20.299 do things their way 00:34:20.299 --> 00:34:22.480 rather than God's way. 00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:24.259 And the reason I'm pointing 00:34:24.259 --> 00:34:25.279 this out is because we're 00:34:25.279 --> 00:34:26.099 going to jump into the Ten 00:34:26.099 --> 00:34:27.059 Commandments next week. 00:34:27.099 --> 00:34:28.199 And the question is, 00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:30.420 if there's an attitude or 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:32.299 there's an action that seems 00:34:32.299 --> 00:34:34.159 intuitively right to us, 00:34:34.659 --> 00:34:37.539 it seems culturally reasonable, 00:34:37.539 --> 00:34:41.000 it seems like this is a no 00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:42.179 brainer, this is pleasurable, 00:34:42.300 --> 00:34:44.460 this is not so bad to us, 00:34:44.460 --> 00:34:46.759 but God happens to disagree 00:34:46.759 --> 00:34:50.079 with us about that thing 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:51.820 that seems so normal and 00:34:51.820 --> 00:34:54.699 natural, what do we do? 00:34:56.579 --> 00:34:59.000 And the Ten Commandments is 00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:00.579 going to address all kind of 00:35:00.579 --> 00:35:02.259 like practical things like 00:35:02.259 --> 00:35:03.900 money and sex. 00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:06.240 And what we're going to see 00:35:06.240 --> 00:35:07.880 is that pagan societies, 00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:09.880 they've basically always been 00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:11.559 stingy with their money and 00:35:11.559 --> 00:35:13.019 promiscuous with their bodies. 00:35:14.820 --> 00:35:16.099 Every pagan society says, 00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:17.440 this is the way to be free. 00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:18.940 This is the way to be refreshed. 00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:20.180 This is the way to be human. 00:35:21.539 --> 00:35:23.539 And so, pagan societies, 00:35:23.740 --> 00:35:24.740 you see that, you know, 00:35:25.300 --> 00:35:26.260 they would basically give 00:35:26.260 --> 00:35:27.300 nobody their money and 00:35:27.300 --> 00:35:28.280 practically everybody their 00:35:28.280 --> 00:35:28.599 body. 00:35:29.980 --> 00:35:31.660 But then God's people come 00:35:31.660 --> 00:35:33.420 along and we can see 00:35:33.420 --> 00:35:35.019 historically and biblically 00:35:35.019 --> 00:35:37.720 like they give practically 00:35:37.720 --> 00:35:39.619 nobody their body and 00:35:39.619 --> 00:35:40.960 almost everybody their money. 00:35:41.820 --> 00:35:43.420 It's the exact opposite of 00:35:44.099 --> 00:35:45.280 what our culture says and 00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:46.700 what our intuition says. 00:35:47.659 --> 00:35:50.260 And what happens as a result? 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:52.840 Well, the same thing that 00:35:52.840 --> 00:35:53.980 happened when they kept the 00:35:53.980 --> 00:35:54.700 Sabbath holy. 00:35:54.900 --> 00:35:56.519 When they did it God's way, 00:35:56.700 --> 00:35:58.019 they got refreshed. 00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:01.039 And when they did it their way, 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:02.639 they got exhausted. 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:05.599 When they did it God's way, 00:36:05.699 --> 00:36:06.460 they were blessed. 00:36:07.380 --> 00:36:09.199 And when they did it their way, 00:36:09.340 --> 00:36:10.759 they were cursed. 00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:13.659 When they stopped to worship 00:36:13.659 --> 00:36:15.179 their liberating God, 00:36:15.219 --> 00:36:16.380 when they stopped to worship 00:36:16.380 --> 00:36:18.440 the God who was providing for them, 00:36:18.739 --> 00:36:20.340 they were refreshed. 00:36:20.739 --> 00:36:21.480 They were blessed. 00:36:21.480 --> 00:36:24.420 And the question for us as we 00:36:24.420 --> 00:36:25.960 continue on this journey is, 00:36:26.219 --> 00:36:28.820 will God's people pattern our 00:36:28.820 --> 00:36:32.139 lives on God's counterintuitive, 00:36:32.539 --> 00:36:34.079 countercultural ways? 00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:36.599 It says, 00:36:36.860 --> 00:36:39.219 so the people rested on the 00:36:39.219 --> 00:36:39.740 seventh day. 00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:40.940 And as they rested, 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:42.659 they remembered, 00:36:42.860 --> 00:36:43.300 oh yeah, 00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:46.260 this is the God who graciously 00:36:46.260 --> 00:36:47.380 led us out of slavery. 00:36:47.579 --> 00:36:48.059 Oh yeah. 00:36:48.059 --> 00:36:50.579 This is the God who generously 00:36:50.579 --> 00:36:52.099 rained down bread from heaven. 00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:52.759 Oh yeah. 00:36:53.480 --> 00:36:55.000 This is the God who knows what 00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:55.920 it means to be human. 00:36:56.059 --> 00:36:57.340 This is the God that can show 00:36:57.340 --> 00:36:58.179 us how to be free. 00:36:58.320 --> 00:36:58.739 Oh yeah. 00:36:58.920 --> 00:37:01.739 This is the God that can give 00:37:01.739 --> 00:37:02.480 us life. 00:37:02.599 --> 00:37:03.860 He can give us refreshment. 00:37:04.099 --> 00:37:05.599 He can give us a blessing that 00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:07.440 we cannot get for ourselves. 00:37:08.440 --> 00:37:10.279 That's what happened when they 00:37:10.279 --> 00:37:13.400 stopped and they worshiped and 00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:15.519 they rested and they fixed their 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:16.840 heart on God. 00:37:18.340 --> 00:37:19.420 In the name of the Father, 00:37:19.539 --> 00:37:19.679 Son, 00:37:19.719 --> 00:37:20.360 and Holy Spirit. 00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:21.340 Amen.