Mt. Rose OPC

The Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 19 verses 16 through 25, and this is the infallible, the inerrant Word of God. Let’s give our attention to God’s Word. On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and very loud trumpet blasts, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish, and let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.'” And the Lord said to him, “Go down and come up, bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Let’s turn now to Hebrews chapter 12 for the New Testament reading. We will turn back to Exodus. That is our sermon text this morning. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 18 through 24. And in this passage, the author of Hebrews compares what took place in Exodus, what we just read about, with what takes place when we, as the church of Jesus Christ, gather for worship.

Hebrews 12:18-24: “For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’ But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. There is nothing that you and I do in this life that is more important or more consequential than what we are doing right now today in this room. And that is worship. Worship, giving praise to God, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, exalting Him, magnifying His name. This is the reason why God created us. He created us to worship Him. And as Christians, we know that this is the reason why God has redeemed us, so that we would be His worshipers, to glorify Him, in praising Him, in magnifying Him. And we will spend an eternity doing this very thing: worshipping God, glorifying His name.

And so for all those reasons, the question of how we are to worship God, the question of what we are to believe concerning the worship of God, these are among the most important questions that you and I face in this life. And these are the kinds of questions that our passage this morning from Exodus addresses. There is much for us to learn here in this passage concerning the worship of God.

In this passage, Moses describes for us what took place when the Lord led the Israelites to Mount Sinai. If you recall, the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses that they were to consecrate themselves for two days. And then on the third day, the Lord would come down on Mount Sinai. He would come in the sight of all the people. And so in verse 16, we pick up with the third day, the day that the Lord comes down on Mount Sinai. The people, they consecrated themselves. However, no matter how faithfully they may have consecrated themselves or prepared their hearts, clearly they weren’t truly ready for what was about to take place when the Lord would come down on the mountain.

No matter how much they may have looked forward to and anticipated the Lord’s coming down, perhaps seeing him in a way they have never seen him before, hearing his voice, they looked forward to that. The experience is quite different from what they may have imagined, because the whole experience left them absolutely terrified.

And we’ll look at this passage and as we do, what can we learn from this passage about worshiping God, about the worship that we bring to the Lord when we meet and gather like we are now for worship? Well, two lessons. First of all, we must worship God with reverence and awe. So that’s the first lesson. Secondly, and this lesson comes from reading this passage in the light of New Testament teaching, and that is this: that in Jesus Christ, you and I, we can approach God in worship despite our sin. We can approach God in worship with perfect confidence, knowing that in Jesus Christ, the Lord receives us and he receives our worship. So those are the two lessons.

First of all, you and I must worship God with reverence and awe. You’ve heard of the expression, a mountaintop experience. Maybe some of you have had an experience like that when you’ve been to a camp or you’ve been to a conference and you left with such a renewed zeal and passion for Christ and for serving the Lord. When we speak of a mountaintop experience, it’s an entirely positive thing. It’s a good thing. For the Israelites here, this was the opposite of a mountaintop experience. You could say that this was their mountain bottom experience. Their encounter with the Lord here was anything but exciting. Rather, it was a terrifying, it was a dreadful experience.

When I was a young boy, our family lived in Southern California. And of course, we had to make our visit to Disneyland there. And I can remember the first time that we went to Disneyland. I was probably nine or ten years old, something like that. And there was a ride there that was almost brand new. It was called Space Mountain. And at the entrance to Space Mountain, there was a sign there. The sign, as I remember it, Just a little bit of what the Israelites must have felt when they came to Mount Sinai that day as they stood at the foot of the mountain. When the Lord descended on the mountain, their hearts were filled with dread. They were nearly overcome with fear and terror.

Even before they got to the base of the mountain, while they were still in their camp, the text tells us that the people trembled at the thunders, at the lightnings, at the thick cloud and the trumpet blast. Hebrews 12 tells us that the sound of the trumpet and the voice of God was so terrifying that the people of Israel begged Moses that no further messages be spoken to them.

What the people of Israel had already experienced up to this point. They were familiar with God doing mighty works in their presence. These were the people that saw God accomplish all his signs and wonders of the land of Egypt and all of the incredible ways that he brought destruction upon the people of Egypt. They had witnessed God’s almighty power in the parting of the Red Sea and bringing them across the sea safely. They saw the Lord as he appeared to them in this pillar of smoke and fire as he led them through the wilderness. But none of that prepared them for what took place here. None of that really was like what happened here on Mount Sinai, that God himself came down on the mountain. They heard the voice of God speaking to them from the mountain, and what they saw and heard left them in abject terror.

Even Moses himself was frightened by what he saw. Again from Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12:21, “Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.'” And part of the fear that the Israelites felt And so this mountain was engulfed in smoke. The Lord was on top of the mountain in a blazing fire. The whole mountain trembled. The ground shook under the feet of the Israelites and the noise, this piercing trumpet blast from heaven, it got louder and louder until God finally spoke in a voice that sounded like thunder. That would be terrifying for anybody to experience.

But as dreadful as those signs were that accompanied the Lord’s presence, what made them really awful, what made the whole experience truly frightening was this: that those signs all pointed to an even more awful reality, and that is the holiness of God. The holiness of God, that was what was being revealed to the Israelites on that day.

Now the Israelites knew something about the holiness of God. We saw back in chapter 15, after they were brought through the Red Sea, that they lifted up this song of praise to the Lord, the song of Moses. Exodus 15:11, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” But when they sang that song, did they have any idea of what they were saying? Do they have any idea of just what it meant that the Lord was majestic in holiness? What they saw on the mountain was something that gave them a true understanding of what the holiness of God is all about. And it left them in fear.

At Mount Sinai, God gave the Israelites a revelation of who He is, His character, His nature as God, the Creator, the Holy One, the One who is supremely holy. And because God does not change, what was true then is still very much true today. That Almighty God is the same God. He is the same God today whose presence then inspired such fear in the hearts of His people.

We know this to be the case because throughout the Bible, God is made known to us. He reveals himself to us as a God who is holy. In the last book of the Bible, in Revelation, as the Apostle John is given a vision of God in heaven, he describes what he saw in this way in Revelation 4:5. “From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.” And then the Apostle John saw the four living creatures crying out day and night, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.”

And that same holiness, that perfect righteousness, the purity of God that is God’s and belongs to him that inspires such fear in the hearts of men. This is the same holiness that the Lord Jesus Christ himself possesses as the incarnate Lord, as God in the flesh. Again in Revelation, when John sees the exalted Christ in heaven, he says that his eyes were like a flame of fire, his voice like the roar of many waters. In other words, John describes Jesus in much of the same way that Moses describes the Lord here in Exodus. And the reason for that is because they’re one and the same. The Lord who came down in this, with all these dreadful signs, with the trumpet and the thunder and the lightning, and inspired such fear in the hearts of the Israelites, this is the very same Lord who has come in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

But that raises the question, why is this holiness of God so terrifying for us? We know that God is good, and yet why does the perfect righteousness, the purity, the holiness of God fill our hearts with dread? Well, it’s for the same reason why it was so terrifying for the Israelites. It’s because of our sin.

God is infinitely righteous. He has a purer eyes than to behold evil. His holiness is like a devouring fire that utterly consumes all that is unholy and unrighteous. And we in ourselves, apart from the grace of God, we in ourselves are unholy. And therefore, in our sin, we know that we cannot come into the presence of such a God without being consumed, without being destroyed by his perfect righteousness.

In this passage, the Lord tells Moses to warn the people that they are not to break through. They are not to go further than what is commanded in order to get a closer look at the Lord, as it were. Because if they do, they will perish. And that’s exactly what Isaiah thought would happen to him. You know that passage from Isaiah 6? When the Lord made himself known to the prophet Isaiah, he beheld the glory of the Lord in the temple. He heard the seraphim crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.” And Isaiah was overcome. He said, “Woe is me, for I’m lost! For I’m a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” And so there is for us as sinners the sense that if we come into the presence of God in all of His holiness and righteousness that we are undone, that we are lost.

Now as believers in Jesus Christ we know that our sins are forgiven. We know that we are covered with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ but nevertheless even as Christians, we are still sinners. We are justified sinners, nevertheless, we are still creatures. And God is the Creator. He is God. We are not. And therefore, when we come into His presence, when we come into the presence of God to worship, to worship Him, we must never forget this truth, that He is majestic in holiness. And so we come to Him in a spirit of reverence, humility, and awe.

And that’s what this passage from Hebrews 12 is teaching us as the author of Hebrews reflects upon what took place to the Israelites back in Exodus. What we’ll see in a minute that the author of Hebrews is really contrasting our worship today as Christians with the worship that took place or with the Israelites experience before the Lord here in Exodus. But he’s also saying that there is a fundamental continuity between the people then and their experience and us today as the church as we worship the Lord. And that continuity has to do with the character, the nature of God. God always will be, He always has been, He is today a God who is holy, holy, holy.

In fact, when you read Hebrews 12, you might even say that there’s even an intensification of the majesty, the glory of God as we come to Him in Christ compared with the Israelites’ experience. The Israelites, they came to an earthly mountain, but we come to the heavenly mountain, Mount Zion, Jerusalem. And so if it was true for them, how much more true it is for us. As Hebrews 12 says, “Let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

And so that’s how we must come here on Sundays. We come to worship God. We come not casually. We don’t come into his presence irreverently, flippantly. But we come knowing that we are entering into the presence of a God who is called a consuming fire. So we come with reverence and awe.

In our passage in Exodus after Moses went up to the mountain, the Lord in verse 21 told Moses to warn the people not to come up to the mountain. But Moses had already given the people this warning. Last week we saw that Moses gave the command to the people of Israel from the Lord that if anyone even touched the mountain, whether man or beast, they were to be stoned or to be shot with an arrow. And so Moses figured that the people of Israel did not need to hear this warning again. And so Moses said to the Lord in verse 23, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.'” In other words, Moses was saying to the Lord, “Oh Lord, that’s not really necessary that we warn the people again, because they’ve already been warned. They already know that they’re not supposed to come up to the mountain.”

But the Lord’s response to Moses was not, “Oh, that’s right, I forgot. We don’t need to warn them again.” The Lord’s response to Moses was, “Do it anyway. Warn them again.” And so we did.

Now why did God repeat these instructions to the Israelites? Why did He impress this warning upon them multiple times? I believe it’s because God knows the heart of man. He knows that in our sin and in our pride, the first thing that we are likely to forget about God is that He is righteous and that He is holy and that because of our sin, we cannot come into His presence and live.

There are truths about God that naturally we love more and we tend not to forget them. We love that God is a God of mercy and grace and compassion, that he is a God of love and we should love these truths about God. Our hearts should be filled with gratitude and joy and wonder that God is merciful. He is compassionate and kind. But we quickly forget the truth that God is not like us. He is not just a compassionate and kindly person who is just like us, who happens to be almighty in power? No, He is the Creator. There is something absolutely distinct about God that makes him distinct from us. He is holy.

And we forget that. And we forget and we don’t want to be reminded that in the light of the holiness and righteousness of God our own sin appears in all of its depravity and evil. And we live in a culture today, we live in a time and place in which the default understanding of most people and therefore what tends to be our default understanding as well is that God is not a holy God. But he is a kind, a tolerant, a non-judgmental God. We like to think of God as a God who winks at sin. A God who gladly accepts all kinds of people, all kinds of lifestyles. A God who wants us, above all else, to be happy and to have the things that our hearts desire. People like to think a lot of things about God, but the truth of His holiness, His righteousness is not one of them.

And for that reason, because generally speaking, as a society, we have no real consciousness of the holiness of God. Therefore, as a culture, we have profaned everything that God has consecrated and made holy. In other words, let me put it this way. In our thoughts, when God isn’t holy, nothing is holy.

And so, we take his name in vain. We take the precious, the sacred name of God and of his son Jesus Christ and we use it as a curse. We drag it through the mud. We desecrate it. We’ve taken God’s gift of sexuality and by our promiscuity we have cheapened it and trivialized it. We have taken the sacred institution of marriage and have degraded it. We have taken human life itself and we have desecrated its sanctity by elevating our own comfort and convenience over it.

And for this reason, and this is just one reason, but for this reason, because the world has no conception of the holiness of God, the last thing that we want to do as a church is to worship God in a way that fails to acknowledge this truth about Him, that He is pure and righteous and holy. The last thing we want is a worship service that treats God lightly or irreverently, a worship service that is centered upon ourselves and our own experience, a worship that substitutes entertainment for worship. The worst thing about all of that is, of course, that we are failing to worship God for who he is.

But not only that, such worship fails to make known to a world, a world that profanes what is sacred, such worship fails to make known to this world that the God who created all things, the God who has revealed himself to us in his son Jesus Christ, the God who has created us and called us to be his servants and to worship him, that above all else this is a God who is full of glory, righteous and majestic and holiness.

And this really gets to the gospel, doesn’t it? This really relates to the message of the gospel that we proclaim as a church. The gospel message is not, “God wants you to be happy. Therefore he gave us his son Jesus Christ so that we can be happy in this life and then we get to go to heaven when we die.” But the message of the gospel is this: that God has sent his son Jesus Christ into the world to save us from sin and guilt because he is a God who is righteous. He is a God who condemns us for our sin. He is a God who cannot abide with us unless we are purified and cleansed and he sent Jesus into the world so that we as sinners might be made right with God. That is the message of the gospel. And that message is hollowed out of its meaning if in our worship of God we treat him in a way The first lesson that this passage teaches is that we must worship God with reverence and awe.

The second lesson is this: is that in Jesus Christ you may approach God in worship with the perfect confidence and assurance that he accepts you and your worship.

What happens right after this passage, and this is where we will camp out for many weeks, is that the Lord, he declares his law to the people of Israel. He gives them his Ten Commandments, and then he gives them all kinds of other laws that the people of Israel are to keep. And so, the giving of the law then comes in the context of the Lord’s revealing himself to his people in this way in which he makes known to them his holiness, his righteousness with these accompanying signs that bring terror into the hearts of the Israelites.

And why does God do that? Why does he not simply give Moses the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone and he can deliver them to the people? Why does he do it in this fashion in which he shows himself in all of his frightful holiness? Well, he did so in order to impress on the hearts of the Israelites, to impress on their hearts, to impress on our hearts in the strongest possible way, that apart from the grace of God, the law of God only leads to death.

Now, the Bible does say that the law is good. Romans 7:12, “The law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” And as I said last week, and as we’ll look at next week as well, God gives his law to a people whom he has redeemed, to his saved people, a people whom he first loved and saved, he gives them the law. However, however, the law in itself, when it meets us in our sin, it is not good. By that I mean, it is not good for us. Rather, the law, when it comes to us in our sin, it only brings condemnation and death. And that’s because the law demands perfection. The law demands absolute conformity to all that God commands, one slight deviation from the perfect, holy, righteous law of God, and we are condemned as lawbreakers.

And so all the terrifying signs that accompanied the Lord’s descent on the mountain, all these signs that accompanied His giving of the law, the cloud and the thunder and the lightning, these were like the warnings that I spoke of earlier on Space Mountain. “If you have ever committed a sin, do not come near. I am a holy God. If you have entertained ever a single thought that was selfish or lustful or covetous, do not come near. If you have not loved God perfectly with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, if you have not loved your neighbor perfectly as yourself, do not come near, because if you do, you will perish.”

Now this truth of the uncompromising nature of the law of God and of the holiness of God that stands behind it. This truth of the law’s demand for perfect obedience on our part, perfect conformity to all that it says, this should convince us beyond all doubt that we could never hope to come to God on the basis of our own righteousness or goodness or works. And so Mount Sinai stands forever as a warning to all who would seek to establish their own righteousness before God. You cannot do it. You cannot do it. You cannot be saved. You cannot have any hope of heaven on the basis of your own goodness or your own decency or because you have such high moral standards, or because on the balance when you evaluate your life, you can see that you’ve done more good than you have done bad. No. The perfect law of God, that law that is the expression of his own intrinsic and infinite holiness, it demands perfection. And as sinners and lawbreakers, the only thing that the law can do for us is to condemn us to the judgment and to the wrath of God forever.

And this is why, because the law comes to us in this way in our sin, this is why, at times in the Bible, the law will be spoken of in a completely negative way, even though it’s also called good. But sometimes the entire Old Covenant, that is, all of God’s dealings with his people before the coming of Christ, is spoken of in a negative way. And it’s not because there was no grace under Moses. The people of Israel who truly believed in the Lord, who believed in the coming Messiah, they were saved in the same way that we are saved: by faith in Christ. But you see, the law was so central to the old covenant that the entire ministry of Moses is sometimes identified in scripture with the giving of the law and with the condemnation that the law brings to sinners. And so it’s for that reason and in a similar way in the book of Hebrews.

The author of Hebrews tells us over and over why the new covenant that is given to us in Jesus Christ is superior to the old covenant given through Moses. That covenant could not save us if we hoped to attain righteousness by keeping the law. And so when we come to Hebrews 12, the author is saying, as those who belong to Jesus Christ by faith, you are in a far better place than were the Israelites under the old covenant when they came to the Lord at Mount Sinai. They came to Mount Sinai. They came to the law. It was foreboding. It was terrifying. But you, Christian, you have come to a far better mountain, to Mount Zion, which is nothing less than heaven itself.

Hebrews 12:22 and 23: “To the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels and festal gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” And the reason why you and I come to this better place, not to Sinai but to Zion, to heaven, the reason we come there is because unlike the Israelites in Exodus we have a better mediator, not Moses and his law. But our mediator is Christ, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Verse 24 in Hebrews 12 speaks of “Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.”

Moses and his law could only bring condemnation and death, but Jesus came into the world to give us life by laying down his life, by taking our sin and guilt upon himself on the cross, so that by faith in him we might be forgiven, that we might come to God through him and join the worship at heaven with angels and saints. And so if your trust is in Jesus Christ, He is your Savior from sin and death.

And there is a warning here. If your trust is not in Jesus Christ, if you are not resting in Him, if you have not come to Him as your only Savior from sin and guilt, if you are still somehow trying to establish your own goodness before God on the basis of what you do or on the basis of how decent or good you are, the warning is, there is no hope for you in that. The law can only condemn you. The law condemns those who die in their sins. And so come to Christ. Come to Jesus, the new mediator, the one who offers his own life for you, that you may live.

And so as a Christian, by the grace of God, you have been given a wonderful gift. Again, God is the same God that He was in Exodus chapter 19. He is holy, and yet you come to Him covered with the blood of Christ. And so you can have perfect confidence, perfect assurance, that no matter how terrible your sin may have been, no matter how wayward and evil you may have lived, nevertheless, in Jesus Christ, you can come to God with the perfect assurance of knowing that He receives you, and he receives your worship as well.

And perfect though it is, Hebrews describes in this passage in chapter 12 this glory of our worship of God through Christ. I love this passage because it shows us what’s really taking place here. You know, if anybody comes into our worship service what they see is pretty ordinary. They see a pretty ordinary worship service: ordinary people sitting in ordinary pews. You sing ordinary hymns. You pray ordinary prayers. You hear an ordinary sermon from an ordinary pastor. However, by the grace of God, what is actually taking place here when we gather together in the name of Jesus Christ is anything but ordinary. It is extraordinary because God, as it were, If you’re a baseball fan, you know it’s playoff time and you know if you’ve ever experienced in person going to a game, baseball or football, and there’s thousands of people cheering and the home team wins and there’s jubilation and rejoicing and it’s just magnificent, but then an hour later everyone’s gone home and the stadium is dead quiet.

But not in heaven. In heaven there is a sound of jubilation, exaltation, rejoicing that will go on forever and ever and ever as long as Jesus is in heaven. There will never be silence, but there will be praise and worship for all time. And by the grace of God, that’s where you and I are when we come to meet with him in our service of worship. We are those that Hebrews 12 describes that come to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Jesus said in John 4, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.” And here is the kind of worshippers that God seeks, those who worship Him in the splendor of holiness, and those who worship Him by faith in Jesus Christ His Son.

Let’s pray.

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Our Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 19, verses 1 through 15. And this is the infallible and inerrant word of our God.

On the third new moon, after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.

So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord commanded him. All the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever. When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day, The Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot. Whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people. And they washed their garments. And he said to the people, be ready for the third day. Do not go near a woman.

This will be our sermon text for this morning, so you can keep your place there. 

But for our New Testament reading, let’s turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 through 12. Part of this was also our New Testament reading from last week as well. But the apostle Peter, he draws directly from our passage this morning in this passage in 1 Peter 2 verses 9-12 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

As you may probably know, the tallest mountain in all of North America is Mount McKinley up in Alaska. Depending on who the president is, sometimes it’s called Denali, but whatever you want to call it, it is a very, very tall mountain. It’s just over 20,000 feet high. But what’s most impressive about Mount McKinley when you see it is that the height from the base of the mountain to the very peak of the mountain is 18,000 feet, which I understand makes it the tallest mountain in the world if you measure it from the base to the peak. And so, if you’re ever up there and if you’re blessed to have a clear day, which usually is not the case, but if you’re able to see the entire mountain from a good vantage point, You can see that the whole mountain from base to peak, and it is a very impressive sight. It is a truly imposing presence. It towers over the entire landscape for hundreds of miles around.

And in our passage this morning, we learn about another mountain, Mount Sinai. And scholars don’t know exactly what mountain In the Middle East is the biblical Mount Sinai, but whatever mountain it is, it is not nearly as tall or physically imposing as Mount McKinley. Nevertheless, in different ways, Mount Sinai is just as imposing, just as dominating as Mount McKinley is. In a metaphorical sense, Mount Sinai towers over the landscape of the Bible. It was here that the Lord appeared to His people in a way that left them terrified. He came down in a thick cloud with fire and smoke and thunder and lightning, and there was a piercing trumpet blast. It was here that the Lord made His covenant with His people. It was here that the Lord gave to Israel the Ten Commandments, and He spoke to them in a voice that thundered. In the landscape of the scriptures, Mount Sinai towers as this great mountain of God. And it also towers over our spiritual landscape because Mount Sinai stands for the law of God. It represents the holy, uncompromising, perfect moral law that condemns us for our sin. And it is from that condemnation that we must be saved. And so in our sin, Mount Sinai towers over our conscience as the law of God that demands justice, condemnation.

But praise the Lord, we have one who has saved us from the law of God. We have the Lord Jesus Christ. And in our passage today, as we’re working our way through Exodus, We have come, along with the Israelites, to the foot of this towering mountain, the mountain of God, Mount Sinai. And so we will spend much time here at the foot of the mountain. This morning, we will focus our attention on the words that the Lord speaks to the people of Israel through Moses in verses 5 and 6. And as we continue on in Exodus, we’ll consider everything that takes place at this mountain. But for today, we’re going to focus on what God told the people of Israel as they prepared to come nearer to Him, to draw closer to Him by coming to the foot of the mountain. But in these verses, particularly verses 5 and 6, the Lord tells the people of Israel that as his people, they will be three things, or they are three things.

First of all, they are his treasured possession. Secondly, they will be a kingdom of priests. And thirdly, they will be a holy nation. And so these are the three points that we will consider this morning. But before we begin that, let’s consider the background to this message by looking at verses one through four. In verses one and two, Moses describes for us how the people come to Mount Sinai. So it’s three months after the Exodus, three moons after the people have been brought out of Egypt. We’ve considered some of their wilderness wanderings. Now they have left Rephidim and they’ve come into the wilderness of Sinai. And of course, that is where Mount Sinai was, the wilderness of Sinai. And even though the ultimate destination for the people of Israel is the promised land, it is Canaan. That is why he brought them out of Egypt, to bring them into this promised land. Nevertheless, in the book of Exodus itself, it is Mount Sinai that occupies the bulk of the book of Exodus.

This is the concern that we’ll have as we continue through Exodus, what takes place at this mountain. This is where the Israelites will hear the voice of God. This is where they will receive God’s commandments, where he will enter into a covenant with them. In fact, they will end up spending about ten and a half months at Sinai. This is where they will build the sanctuary. This is where they will receive not just the Ten Commandments, but all of God’s laws for them as a people. But when they first arrive there, it is Moses who goes up on the mountain. And the Lord tells Moses this in verses 3 and 4 about halfway into verse 3 we read this the Lord speaking to Moses thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself And so the Lord has taken the people out of Egypt. They’re about to draw near to Him. And then in verse 5, He calls them to obey His voice, to keep His commandment. And we’ll look at that in a moment. But first of all, in this way, in the words that the Lord says to Moses to tell the people of Israel, verses 3 and 4, He reminds them of what he has done for them. He has rescued them out of their bondage in Egypt.

He doesn’t explicitly talk about the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, but all of that is surely comes to the minds of the Israelites when they are reminded of how they have been brought out of Egypt, that God rescued them with these signs and wonders, that by his almighty power, his grace, he brought them out of Egypt. And he uses this wonderful image of an eagle carrying its young on its wings and describing how he brought them out of the house of bondage. Many of you, I’m sure, have read the book The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. And there’s that wonderful scene in The Hobbit in which Bilbo Baggins and his fellow hobbits are about to be killed by the evil goblins. And then out of nowhere, these eagles come flying to them and rescue them by picking them up and delivering them to safety. And it’s that picture of an eagle lifting her young out of danger that the Lord uses to describe the way He delivered His people out of Egypt and carried them to safety. And this picture speaks of the sovereignty of God, the power of God. It reminds the Israelites that their salvation was entirely because of His grace and His power. They did not rescue themselves out of Egypt. They were doomed to destruction. They would surely have perished had the Lord not brought them out. And so He reminds them of that. And he brought them out to take them to himself, to make them his people. And now he’s about to draw near to them, to speak to them on the mountain.

And so in verse five, the Lord calls his people to obey his voice. He says in verse five, Let’s stop there for a minute, verse five. And notice the order in which the Lord tells these things to the people of Israel. First, He speaks to the Israelites of the grace that they have received from Him, of the salvation that is theirs because of His mighty power. He says in verse 4, I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself. And it is only after telling them how he has saved them, how he has been made his people, or they have been made his people. Only then does he say in verse 5, obey me. He says, now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant. you shall be my treasured possession and so the order is this first salvation first salvation and then the command to obey his voice the call to obedience and this is the way in which God works with us as his people first is salvation first God saves us through his grace through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ first he saves us he brings us to himself and then He commands us to obey His voice, to keep His commandment, to keep His covenant.

We’ve seen this over and over again, and this is one of the lessons that the book of Exodus teaches us. This is what the Spirit wants us to take from this book, at least partly, and that is that we are to see ourselves as the Israelites were in Egypt, helplessly in bondage. By nature, because of our sin, we are enslaved to sin. We are helpless in our captivity to sin and evil. We cannot rescue ourselves. We cannot free ourselves. Just like the Israelites, we’re under the tyranny of Pharaoh. But through the death and resurrection of Christ, through what God has done for us in His Son, Jesus Christ, through what the Lord has accomplished for us He has saved us from that bondage. He has brought us out from under the tyranny of sin and death forever. He has carried us on eagle’s wings and brought us to Him. And now, as those people whom He has loved, those whom He has redeemed, those whom He has rescued, He calls us to obedience.

And so, as Christians, like the Israelites then, so you and I, as the people of God, we are commanded to obey His voice. to keep His covenant, to entrust ourselves to Him, to walk according to His law. Again, we are not saved by any obedience that we render to God. First, we are saved by the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, by the perfect life that He lived, by the death that He suffered for us. And even by the Spirit of God, by the grace of God, as we begin to render to Him that obedience that He requires, our obedience is never complete or perfect, and yet He calls us to obey His voice. And as we keep His commandments, however imperfectly, as we do so out of a heart that is filled with gratitude to God for His salvation, it is in that way, by walking before the Lord by seeking to keep His commandments, that we fully enjoy all the blessings of communion with God, of knowing Him as our God and Savior. And so we are saved entirely by the grace of God, but we are saved in order to keep His commandments, and in keeping His commandments, in keeping His covenant, in walking with the Lord by His grace, seeking to do His will, it’s in this way that we find the fullness of that blessedness, that peace, that joy of knowing Christ as our Lord and Savior.

And so the Lord calls His people to obedience, and then He promises them in this passage what they will be as they keep His commandments. First of all, He says that they will be His treasured possession. And this is our first point then. that is the church of Jesus Christ, you and I are God’s treasured possession. He says in verse five, now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine. Do you have a treasured possession? Think of what is most near and dear to your heart. And apart from your loved ones, obviously, who are your most treasured possessions in that sense, but what is it that you own that you would hate to part with? Is it something that you inherited from your parents? Is it a new car that you purchased recently or your home?

Robin and I have talked about what we would try to save from our house should it ever catch fire and the photo albums are at the very top of the list. We are old enough to still have actual prints of pictures saved in photo albums and so if there’s ever a fire in our house after all the living creatures obviously are out of the house we will go in to rescue those pictures and if we do rescue those successfully I will go back in and start saving my books. And so we have our treasured possessions in our home that God has his own treasured possession. When you consider the fact that according to verse five, all the earth belongs to God, that whatever God treasures must be a true treasure. Whatever God says, this is my treasure, this is what I delight in, that must be something of near infinite value and worth simply because it is God who treasures it, it is God who values it. and that treasure is his people.

Of all the worlds that God has created, of all things in his virtually infinite, his vast universe, of all things that he has made, it is his people, his church, whom he delights in, whom he loves, whom he treasures, the people whom he has chosen in eternity. The people for whom His Son laid down His life, those who will be with Him in glory forever. This is what is near and dear to God’s heart. It is His people whom He loves and treasures. And the Bible expresses this truth in different ways. And one way that the Bible expresses this is to compare the relationship between Christ and His people as that of that fills the hearts of a groom on the day of his wedding as he sees his bride walking down the aisle. There is nothing in all the world that fills him with more delight and happiness than his bride. And that is the way that the Bible describes Christ’s thoughts towards us as his people. He delights in us.

We are his bride whom he loves. I know the way that the Bible describes this is that we are the children of God the Father. You who are parents, you know how much you love your own children. You love your own children more than life itself. You would give up anything for the sake of your children. and multiply that love by infinity, and you get a sense of the love that God has for his people in Jesus Christ. You can see, or begin to see, you get a glimpse at least of just the depth of the divine love that the Father has for us as his sons and daughters. And so, as those who belong to Jesus Christ, we are God’s treasured possession. brings up a question that it is good to ask ourselves. Do I treasure what God treasures? Do you treasure what God treasures? Do you love what He loves? Do you delight in that which He delights in? When you look at one another as fellow members of the body of Christ, as brothers and sisters in Christ, do you see what God sees? That this is a treasure, a delight, that these brothers and sisters are those whom God himself loves, and therefore I too should love what God loves.

And as we see others in the church in this way, as we see them as God sees them, as the apple of his eye, as his treasure, we cannot but begin to treat one another with the care, with the respect, with the love, that is due to those whom God loves and cares for and delights in. 

After the Lord calls his people his treasured possession, in verse 6 he says that they will be a kingdom of priests. A kingdom of priests. When I was in seminary, it happened to be in an area where a lot of Catholic people lived, and a lot of times when people found out, when I told them that I was a seminary student, A lot of times they said, oh, you’re going to be a priest. I said, no, I’m married. Not going to be a priest. I’m actually going to be a minister, a pastor. I’m a Protestant. But what I could have said was actually, I’m already a priest. And I have been a priest from the moment that I put my faith and trust in Christ. And I could have said that because that is true for every single Christian. as one who belongs to Christ by faith.

You are a priest of God. And what that means is, is that by virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf and through Christ, you have free, unfettered access to God the Father, to Almighty God. You can come into the presence of God through Jesus Christ. You do not need a human priest to mediate. You can lift up your prayers to God through Jesus Christ. You can know that you are received and heard by the God who loves you, by the God who joyfully accepts you in His Son Jesus. And also as a priest, through Jesus Christ, you are one who brings your sacrifices of praise and worship to the Lord. Again, not through a human priest, but through Jesus Christ, you render to God that sacrifice that glorifies Him and that pleases Him, a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. 1 Peter 2.5, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

And so just as the Israelites, in part, fulfilled their calling and their role as a kingdom of priests by worshiping the Lord, so you and I, as Christians, as those who are priests of God in Jesus Christ, we fulfill our role, in part, by coming to the presence of God to worship Him, to offer to Him our sacrifices that are acceptable to Him through Christ. And when you consider who we are in that light, that we are those whom God has created and redeemed to be his priests, to worship him, to bring him sacrifices in the sense of thanksgiving and praise, when you consider who we are in that light, It impresses on us just how important it is that we do what God has called us to do, to worship, to worship. This is why we come here on Sunday. This is a non-negotiable for us as Christians, a top priority, to worship together. My dad often used to describe somebody who would do something very, very consistently, like a friend who played golf every weekend, he would say he does it religiously. Well, how many people would say of us they go to church religiously? But that should be so true of us. There should be nothing more important to us, if we can be, to be with the people of God, to worship Him because we are His priests. He has created us and redeemed us to be His worshipers.

But there’s even more significance to this phrase, the kingdom of priests. It means even more than the fact that we can come to God through Jesus Christ, that we are called to worship Him. It also has reference to the role that we have in this world as His people. and then this promise that the Lord makes to Israel that they are to be a kingdom of priests what we see here is the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham way back in Genesis 12 verse 3 the Lord said to Abraham I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed And so the Israelites, as part of their calling as the priests of God, were to be in the world a blessing to the nations of the world, to the peoples of the world, as they worship the Lord, as they bore witness to the truth of who God is, as the true God. And the nations would be blessed through them as they saw that example, and as they too, by the grace of God, would come to know the true God and also to worship Him. And the same is true for the Church of Jesus Christ today. We can say it in truth, and this is not, we’re not somehow making ourselves look good by saying this, but we can say it truly, we are God’s gift to the world as the Church.

Because it is through the Church, it is through the Church that the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ the Son of God is made known. It is God’s will that this message of salvation be made known through his people, through the church. And it is through the church that the knowledge of God spreads throughout the world. And so it is through the church now that God’s promise to Abraham is more and more being fulfilled that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. But even short of salvation and the knowledge of God, the church has been the means by which the world has been blessed due to the presence of God’s people in the world. When you consider it historically, the world has received incalculable benefits by virtue of having the people of God in the world, the rule of law, the dignity of man as God’s image bearer, the care of those who are weak, of those who suffer, The abolition of slavery, these are all values that derive from Christianity. And these are values that have spread into different parts of the world, but they come through the church. And when you consider that, what a privilege it is that you and I have been called to be a part of this kingdom of priests. What a privilege it is to be a priest of God in the world. 

Thirdly, the Lord tells us, or the Lord tells Moses to tell the people of Israel that they will be a holy nation, a holy nation. Groucho Marx once sent a telegram to a Hollywood club that he belonged to. And this is what he wrote in the telegram. Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member. And that kind of describes our relationship to the church, doesn’t it? God says that the church is a holy nation, and we would love to be part of a holy nation, but we know that because of our own sin and unholiness, if a society that is holy accepts us as members, it’s no longer holy as it once was. But what this phrase, holy nation, refers to first of all, and most of all, is the fact that God’s people are set apart from the world.

That is what makes us holy, is that we are distinct, we are set apart from the world to belong to God. And so holiness, first of all, does not refer to the amount of inherent righteousness or holiness that is in us by the grace of God, but it refers to the fact that we are devoted to God, that we belong to Him, that we are distinct from the rest of the world. So we are holy in that way. And that is why the Lord goes on to tell Moses in this passage that the Israelites were to consecrate themselves before they came into the presence of God. They were to wash their garments. They were to refrain from marital intercourse. And this is how they were to show forth that they belong to the Lord, that they were holy. These things were not sinful in themselves, of course, but at least for this season, they were to do these things to to manifest their belonging to the Lord. So it’s not that God chose Israel to be His people because they were holy. God did not choose Israel to be His people because they were more numerous than other peoples, because they were more gifted than other peoples, because He saw in them something better than the rest of the world. He certainly did not choose them to be His people because He saw that the Israelites were more righteous or holy than other people in the world. but he chose them out of his good pleasure, his goodwill, to be his people, and he has made them holy by choosing them, by setting them apart from the world.

One British journalist put it this way, how odd of God to choose the Jews. And the same is true for you and me and Jesus Christ. How odd of God to choose us. to belong to Him. But at the same time, because we are set apart to belong to a holy God, we also are to be holy in the sense that our lives are to reflect the righteousness, the purity, the holiness of God. So God did not choose us because of our holiness, but because He chose us, we are to be holy. We are to strive for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Now, the wonderful truth of the gospel is that in Jesus Christ, we already possess that perfect righteousness and holiness. It is already ours by virtue of the imputation, the reckoning of it to us through the gospel. However, at the same time, we are to strive for holiness. We are to die to sin. We are to repent of sin, to live lives that please God, that are righteous and holy according to His Word.

In 1 Peter, the passage that we read from 1 Peter, it’s obvious how Peter just lifts this language right out of the Old Testament and applies these same descriptions to the church of Jesus Christ. He says in verse 9, 1 Peter 2, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, and so on. Now, Peter is writing to a people who are living in a pagan and a morally bankrupt world. He was writing to former pagans who once shared in the corruption, the worldliness, the evils of that society. And so the Greco-Roman world in which Peter was writing, it was filled with evils that were rampant. You name it, adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, slavery, all the abuses connected with slavery, abortion, infanticide, all of that was just part of the world as it is today. And so Peter was writing to a world, to Christians living in a world filled with ungodliness, wickedness. But Peter’s message to them was to be holy, He says in 1 Peter 1, 14 through 16, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.

So Peter says, don’t be the people you once were. Don’t be the people that surround you in this fallen, corrupt worlds, but be holy. And then later in the passage that we read, 1 Peter 2, 11 through 12, he says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. So what Peter is doing here, he is connecting the holiness, the righteousness of the people of God to the salvation of others who do not yet know God. And he says that as a result, in part, by the holy conduct of God’s people, this will result in those who are unbelievers now giving glory to God on the day of visitation, which means that the holiness of God’s people will be used by God as a means to bring others to faith in Jesus Christ so that at the return of Jesus Christ they will give praise and thanks to Christ for the holiness and the righteousness of the lives of the people of God whom they once reviled. Because God used that holy conduct on the part of God’s people to bring them to faith in Christ.

And then Peter goes on, if we were to read further along in 1 Peter 2, he goes on to show them what that holy and honorable conduct looks like in very ordinary ways. They were to show forth that they were a righteous people. They were to submit to all lawful authority. They were to honor Christ in their marriages. They were to be united in love. They were to return blessing for evil. They were to be ready to suffer for righteousness sake. And he says more. And so what Peter’s saying here is this, that as God’s holy nation, when we look out at the world and we see the sin and the evil that is ever present in the world around us, our first priority as a church, our first priority as the people of God is not to denounce the sin and the evil of the world. Now, of course, there is a place for the church in her prophetic calling to call sin, sin, to call evil, evil. Again, as we find ourselves in this world surrounded by those who do not know Christ, in a society that is filled with the very same kind of evils that Peter knew all about, living in that Greco-Roman world, our first priority is not even to call the world to repentance and faith in Christ. That is not our first priority, even though that is the mission of the church. That is what we are to do in this world. We are to make disciples of all nations, but that is not even our first priority.

Our very first priority, as those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, is to pursue holiness and righteousness in our conduct in the world, at home, at work, and in the church. Because if we do not, if we ourselves are not pursuing this holiness that is God’s will for us, then when we call sin, sin in the world, we are only hypocrites because we have not forsaken that sin ourselves. And by the same token, if we do not pursue holiness as the people of God are preaching, the gospel will sound hollow and false. because we will fail to bear testimony to a gospel and the power of God that saves us from sin if we are not ourselves pursuing righteousness. And so we can put it this way. With this fallen world full of perishing souls, what this world needs from us as the church most of all, first of all, is for us to be the church. for us to be the people of God whom he has called us to be. A people who are pursuing righteousness, forsaking sin, living righteous lives in our homes, in our marriages, in our dealings with one another. This is what the world needs us to be.

The world needs us to be a colony of heaven here on earth. A place where there are true demonstrations of love and righteousness. A place where Jesus Christ is truly worshipped in spirit and truth. Of course, we need to proclaim the gospel. But this is even more basic. And this is how, as the church, we will most profoundly influence the world. We want to see the world change. I know you want to see the world changed. that the world would be most influenced by us as the people of God, as we are obedient to the call of God, to pursue holiness, pursue righteousness, beginning in our own hearts, beginning in our marriages, beginning in our life as families, in our life, in our dealings with one another, by being the holy nation that God has made us to be and calls us to be. Again, verse 12 from 1 Peter, Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Let’s pray.

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The Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 18, verses 13 to 27, and this is God’s infallible and inerrant word. Let’s hear God’s word.

The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, what is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come to me to inquire of God.

When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws. Moses’ father-in-law said to him, what you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.

Now obey my voice. I will give you advice and God be with you. You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God. And you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy, and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you. You will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace. So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and they judged the people at all times, Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

 And now let’s turn to 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10 for our New Testament reading. And then we’ll turn back to Exodus after that.

1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

You may have noticed in the bulletin that the title that I gave to the sermon is Getting Organized. And if you thought that this would be a sermon about how you can improve your time management or bring some order to the chaos in your life, I’m sorry to disappoint you. The title of the sermon actually refers to the organization of the church or church government.

And that will be our general subject today as we look at this passage from Exodus, the governments of the church. And now you may be thinking, well, I wasn’t disappointed before, but now I’m really disappointed. And I don’t blame you if church government is not your favorite subject. It’s not your favorite thing to study in the Bible or in theology. I don’t know that many people are filled with a zeal and a love of church government that just makes them impassioned about it.

I think some people are, but nevertheless, if you truly believe that the entire Bible is the word of God and that it is authoritative for every aspect of your life as a Christian, which I trust all of us believe that, then you do have an interest in this subject of church government. And it’s a subject that may be more important to you than you realize. In this passage, Moses tells us about the organization of the nation of Israel and specifically how these judicial matters were dealt with and how a better way to deal with them came up.

And as we consider this passage, we need to bear in mind here that the immediate concern of this passage from Exodus, from the Old Testament, has to do with the nation of Israel. It does not have to do with the Christian church, the church of the new covenant, the church that Christ established after his coming, but it has to do with the nation of Israel, what we might call the church of the old covenant, the church that existed as the people of God before the coming of Christ.

But for that reason, we can’t always draw a straight line from how the nation of Israel was organized to how the church in the new covenant ought to be structured or organized. Israel was a political entity. It had land, it had an army, it had borders. The church today is far different from that.

We belong to a spiritual kingdom. Israel had men who were prophets, priests, and kings, but we have the great, the ultimate prophet, priest, and king in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he reigns over his kingdom from heaven. And for that reason, then, the new covenant church today will look a lot different from the nation of Israel back then. And so many of these specific structures that were given to the nation of Israel, they do not carry over into the life of the church today.

So for that reason, then, on the basis of this passage, we are not going to start electing chiefs over thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens and so on. However, there are certain lessons here concerning the structure, the organization of the church that do apply to the Christian church today. And the first lesson is this. The fact that the Lord gave to Israel then and the fact that the Lord gives to the church today a definite structure or organization for the church, this is one way in which God shows that he cares for his people.

In other words, church government teaches us that Jesus cares for his people. Jesus cares for his church. From what we’ve seen so far in our study of the book of Exodus, you could say that this is a story of God’s love and care for his people. There’s a lot of different ways we could approach Exodus and what we’ve seen so far, but this would be one way to look at it, that this is the story of God’s love for his people Israel.

When the Israelites were hopelessly enslaved in Egypt, when they were suffering at the hands of the cruel and wicked Pharaoh, they cried out to the Lord in their misery and in their despair, and the Lord heard their cries. He had compassion on his people. He was merciful. He took pity. He raised up a Savior for them. He gave to them Moses, who would deliver them out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord’s goodness and his grace towards his people only continued after that.

He himself would lead his people, as we’ve seen, he led his people in this pillar of cloud and fire, and he was leading them to a good place. It was God’s will that his people should inhabit the land of Canaan, the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And we’ve also seen how the Lord provided for all the needs of the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings. When they came to a place without water, the Lord provided them water.

When they came to a place without food, the Lord gave them quail and manna to eat. And so despite the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel, despite their complaining and grumbling, God has done nothing but good to them. And that’s because he loved his people. He cared for them. And He wanted them to be free, to be secure in the land of Canaan so that they could worship and serve Him as His people.

And it was out of that same love, that same care for His people, that the Lord also gave to them an order and a structure to their nation. It would be for them a blessing. It was for their good. And in this passage, the Lord gives some of that structure to the people of Israel, to the nation of Israel, through the advice that was given to Moses through his father-in-law, Jethro.

Last week, we left off with verse 12 in chapter 18, and that tells us how Jethro, and Moses, and Aaron, and the elders of Israel, that they joined together to worship the Lord, ate this holy meal in the presence of God. And then the very next day after that, we read how Moses was adjudicating disputes among the people of Israel, how he was completely occupied with this from sunup to sundown. Jethro took notice of that. And he also saw that not only Moses, but the people of Israel were wearing themselves out in the process.

Remember, this was a nation of over 1 million people. And as we’ve seen, this is a people, this was a people who did a great deal of complaining and grumbling. And so you can imagine that there must have been an overwhelming number of disputes, conflicts that needed to be resolved among them. And so the people came to Moses as their judge to decide these disputes.

Verse 13 says, the next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. This is what we would call today a serious judicial backlog. There were way too many cases that Moses could possibly handle. And also we would say today that Moses was crazy busy. Here he was listening to all the disputes, the disagreements that the people were bringing him from morning to evening.

We can imagine that the people were bickering and arguing with each other. And over and over again, Moses had to listen to the tedious explanation of every grievance that the people were bringing to him. He had to hear the accusations and the counter accusations that the people were throwing at each other. And somehow Moses had to be able to figure out, to sort through each one of these conflicts, to see who had done wrong, who was to blame, what the resolution should be, and so on and so forth.

And it’s not hard to imagine that when Moses looked up from his judgment seat and he saw that he was in the midst of a sea of people all waiting to take their turn to argue their case before him, it’s not hard to imagine that Moses probably at times sighed deeply and thought about the good old days when he was a shepherd in Midian, when all he had to worry about was a flock of sheep out in the fields. But now here he was, exhausting himself as the leader of Israel.

The Japanese have a word for working yourself to death. It’s karoshi. And it’s something that actually happens over there from time to time. It’s a result of the absolute devotion that’s expected of a Japanese employee to his job and to his company. And so there is a word for death by overwork, karoshi.

And Jethro recognized when he saw Moses working the way he was, that he was a prime candidate for karoshi. And so Jethro asked Moses about it in verse 14. He says, what is this you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning to evening? And then Moses explained to Jethro what he was doing, that the people were inquiring of God through him, that they needed to know what were the statutes and the laws of God and how they applied to their disputes.

Now, if you’re reading carefully or hearing carefully, you’ll ask yourself, well, how did Moses know what laws and statutes to apply to these various conflicts when God had not yet given all of his laws from Mount Sinai? That comes later in Exodus. Well, we don’t know for sure. Either Moses had some advanced knowledge of these laws that would be given on Mount Sinai, and he was applying those to these various conflicts, or perhaps he was actually learning at the time, perhaps God was communicating to him directly what these laws and statutes were as each case came up, but we don’t know.

But in any case, the problem here was that Moses was handling this entire caseload all by himself. And so when Jethro saw what was happening, he voiced his disapproval. He said to Moses in verses 17 and 18, if you look at those verses, he says, what you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.

Now we’ll look at a minute at the advice that Jethro gave to Moses and how he should better handle all these disputes that were coming to him. But for now, I want you to see this, that Jethro was concerned for Moses. He was concerned for the people of Israel. And we can safely say that this concern was not only on the part of Jethro, but the Lord himself was concerned, that he cared for Moses, for the people of Israel. And so when Jethro says, what you are doing is not good, we can say that this is also what the Lord, that the thought that the Lord had in his mind as well, that this is not good.

There needs to be, of course, the Lord knows everything, but we can imagine him saying, if we can put it this way, that this needs to be done in a better way for the good of Moses, for the good of God’s people. And so in God’s wise and sovereign rule over his people, he is the one who sent Jethro to Moses to bring about a fundamental change in the way in which Moses was leading the nation. And it was a change that was for good. It was for the good of Moses, for the good of the people of Israel.

And so again, when we hear Jethro’s concern for Moses and the people of Israel, we should hear there really a reflection of or an expression of the Lord’s concern. His care for the people of Israel. And just as the Lord cared for His people then back in Exodus, so Jesus is concerned for His church today. Jesus loves His people. And of course, we know what the greatest manifestation of the love that Christ has for His people is.

It was the fact that He, as the eternal Son of God, that he came into our world, that he humbled himself, he lowered himself, he took the form of a servant. He came into our world to identify with us, to take on our human nature, to live the life of obedience to God that we have failed to live, and in our place as man, as our representative, to bear the condemnation that belongs to you and me for our sin and guilt. And in that way, Jesus came into the world in order to save us.

And that was an expression not only of the love of the Father, in that he sent his son for us, but also of the love of Christ for us, that he laid down his life for us. 

The good shepherd loves his sheep. He laid down his life for his sheep but the love and the concern that Jesus has for us as his people, that he has for his church did not end at the cross, but rather all that Jesus does for his church is a manifestation of his care and of his love for his people. And that includes even what we usually consider to be the mundane topic of church organization or church government. This too is an expression of the care of Jesus for his people. And so that’s just the first lesson that we can take from this passage, is that the government of the church is really a gift, a gift of God’s grace, a gift of his love for his people, because he wants us to be blessed. He wants us to experience good in our being a part of the body of Christ and of the church. And so that’s the first lesson. 

The second lesson that we find in this passage is the importance, the importance of church government. The problem that Moses was having, the fact that he was overwhelmed with all of these cases that were coming before him was really the result of the faithfulness, the goodness of God in fulfilling his promises for the people of Israel.

In the first chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses, he, tells us about this episode again in that chapter, in chapter one of Deuteronomy. And there he mentions that the reason that Moses couldn’t bear all the people by himself was because God had blessed the people by making them so numerous. He had made them as numerous as the stars of heaven. And so you could say from one perspective that this was a good problem because God had truly fulfilled his promises.

Increase the people. They were as many as the stars in the sky. And yet it was still a problem. It was a serious problem. Moses was wearing himself out. But thankfully, Jethro had a solution. His advice was for Moses to lighten his load by delegating the majority of these cases to other men who were capable, who were God-fearing, who were trustworthy, who hated taking a bribe, or who would refuse to take a bribe.

And so Jethro says in verses 23, or 22 and 23, he says, and let them, that is these men that Moses would choose, let them judge the people at all times, every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide for themselves, so it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their place in peace.

Now, when you consider the circumstances here, it is a remarkable thing that Moses took this advice so willingly in the way that he did. Verse 24 says this, so Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Here’s one reason why the Bible says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. Here, his meekness, his humility are on full display.

Because remember, his father-in-law, Jethro, he was a recent convert. He did not know the Lord until the very day before, just as recently as yesterday, he was not a believer. But the day before, we would say he got saved, he came to know the Lord by faith, and so it’s the day after his conversion that he takes Moses aside and he offers him this counsel. Now, if I knew somebody who had come to faith in Christ one day, and then the very next day he showed up in my study and he said, Pastor Scott, what you are doing is not good. Let me tell you all the things that you are doing wrong.

Let me tell you all the things that you should be doing in order to be the pastor of this church. I would find it very challenging to welcome his counsel with a humble and teachable frame of mind. But Moses and his humility and his wisdom He listened to his father-in-law. He followed his advice. Perhaps Moses knew that this was not just coming from Jethro, but that this was coming from God.

But in that way, the Lord gave structure, organization to the nation of Israel. And the result was that Moses was no longer burdened by handling all of these petty conflicts that were coming to him, but he could concentrate on his calling as the leader of Israel, as the prophet of Israel. He could pray for his people. He could lead his people in the way that he should. And the result was also good for the people of Israel.

They were no longer spending all their time, all day long, waiting for Moses to hear them. But as Jethro says, they were able to go to their place in peace. And just as the Lord gave structure to his people then, the nation of Israel, so Jesus has given structure and order to his church today. The New Testament tells us a lot about that. Everything that the New Testament says to us about elders and deacons, about the qualifications of men who would serve in those offices, how elders are to faithfully shepherd the people of God, the principles of church discipline, these are all ways in which Jesus has revealed to us the church the way in which we are to structure, to order, to organize the church of Jesus Christ.

And when the church is faithful to structure itself according to God’s will that he has revealed in his word, it is for the good of the people of God. And so again, the church government, this may seem to be a topic that will leave to the Parliamentarians will leave to the theologians. It’s not so much of a concern of mine. Whatever, as long as the church is functioning, that’s fine with me.

But that’s not the way that the Lord Jesus sees it. It’s very important to the head of the church, to Jesus Christ. It’s not as though Christ says to us, All that really matters is that you love me with your hearts, that you love others. As far as the details of how you are to live together as the body of Christ, how you are to worship, how you are to be led, how you are to serve as my body, well, I’ll just let you figure that out as best you can.

Clearly, that was not what the Lord has done for us because the scriptures give us so much in the New Testament concerning how the church is to be structured. Now, having said that, to be sure, the government of the church is not a matter of salvation. It is not the gospel. When Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15 that he delivered to them the things of first importance that he also received, he included in that list of things of first importance, quote, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

And so this was Paul’s burden when he went to the Corinthians to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead according to the scriptures for our salvation. You’ll notice that Paul did not include among the things of first importance that he delivered to the Corinthians, he did not say, I also delivered to you the latest copies of the book of church order. I know for us Presbyterians that we might think that that was a serious oversight on Paul’s part, that he should have been a little more attentive to that.

But we could say that the government of the church is a matter, not of first importance, but of second importance, but it is important nonetheless. One way theologians have explained the relative importance of this topic is that, well, they make a distinction between what is necessary for the being of the church and what is necessary for the well-being of the church. And so biblical church government is not necessary for the church to exist.

No one is made a Christian, no one is saved from sin and death because of faithful church government. The existence of the church depends upon, rather, the truth, the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what creates the church. The Spirit of God is what sustains the church. But the teaching of church government is necessary for the well-being of the church.

Just as it was for Moses and the Israelites, God’s will for the government of his church today is meant to be for our spiritual health, for our blessing. And so the second lesson that this passage teaches us is that church government truly is something important. It is very important. Not of absolute importance, but very important. It is for our good.

And the third lesson in this passage is this, that Jesus rules over his church through human leadership. Notice how Moses led the people here. Moses was no Dr. Phil, just dishing out advice on the basis of his own understanding and wisdom. But in verse 16, it says, Moses says, I make them know the statutes of God and his laws. And we can safely assume that these lesser judges that Moses would go on to appoint, that they would adjudicate these disputes in the very same way, that they would apply the law of God, the statutes of God to these various conflicts that came to them.

And so really in this way, it was not Moses, it was not these lesser judges, but it was the Lord himself who was ruling his people. But he ruled them, he governed them through these human leaders. And the same goes for the church today. There is one supreme king and ruler over the church of Jesus Christ. It is not your pastor, it is not the elders, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the supreme head of the church. He is the one who rules sovereignly over his people, but Christ carries out that sovereign rule and government through the leaders whom he equips and calls and gifts to serve as office bearers in the church. And so Jesus also rules over his church through the human leaders that he raises up to serve in those offices. So what does this look like?

It doesn’t look exactly like it did for Old Testament Israel, but the New Testament speaks of two offices of leadership, elders and deacons. The elders have the responsibility for the spiritual care, the spiritual governing of the church. The deacons are to lead in the mercy ministry of the church and caring for the poor, for example. And as far as elders go, there are two kinds. There are teaching elders, those who are devoted full-time to the ministry of the word.

This would be pastors and missionaries and so on. And then there are ruling elders, men who join with the ministers in governing the church. And so just like these men chosen to help Moses with judging the cases of Israel, so there are teaching elders, ruling elders who join together in governing or ruling the church of Jesus Christ. And with that in mind, one very important thing to see from this passage was the basis on which these men were chosen to govern God’s people.

First of all, they were to be able men, verse 21, able men. And so today as well, the leaders in the church, those who would be officers in the church must have some basic competency to carry out the functions of that office. But far more crucially, far more important than that, was that Jethro told Moses to appoint godly men, men of character. Verse 21, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe.

It’s not hard to see why this was so important for those who would be judges over Israel because these were men who would make judicial decisions and if they could be tempted with a bribe, if they did not fear God, justice would be corrupted among the people of God And in the same way, when you read the qualifications for elders in the New Testament, which includes pastors and ministers, what stands out in those qualifications is that almost all of the emphasis is not on competency, but it is on moral, spiritual character, godliness, Christ-likeness.

To be sure, elders and pastors must be competent to fulfill that office, 1 Timothy 3.2, says that elders are to be able to teach, but above all else they must be mature men of God, wise, faithful, devout, above reproach in their personal lives. And so men who are gifted and called to lead as elders and pastors are the leaders through whom Christ rules over the church. And because Christ himself is the Lord of the church, because he is the great shepherd who shepherds his people, those whom he laid down his life for, for that reason, the role of the leaders of the church, the elders of the church, is merely to minister the word of God, to minister the word of Christ.

The way that our book of church order says it, all church power is only ministerial and declarative. And so a pastor, an elder, he does not have any power in himself just because he occupies that position, but he is merely a servant. He declares the word of God. He ministers the word of God. And in that way, it is Christ himself who rules over his people, who leads his people, who shepherds his people.

And so Christ rules over the church through those officers whom he has gifted and called to serve. Well, what does this mean for you? Well, first of all, as a Christian, you ought to be under the authority of a local church body with leaders, leaders to whom you have promised to submit to their leadership. And there are some Christians who refuse to do this.

refused to come under the authority, the leadership of a local church. But the question for those who refuse to do so is this, how does a verse like Hebrews 13, 17 apply to you? Hebrews 13, 17 says, obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Well, if you have not submitted yourself to the leadership of a local church.

How does Hebrews 13 17 even speak to you? How does it apply to you? Who are your leaders? Have you submitted to them? When you read the New Testament, you will find that there is no category of a Christian who is not a part of a local church body and under the authority of the church leaders of that body.

There is no category of a Christian who separates himself from the authority of the church in that way. It simply doesn’t exist in the New Testament. And so one, every Christian should be under the authority of the leaders whom God has called and who’s placed in a church body. Secondly, pray for your leaders. Pray that those who are elders, your pastor, deacons, pray that they will serve faithfully.

And three, pray that God would raise up godly men to serve the church as leaders. Pray that the Lord would raise up men who have the heart of Moses here, who was spending himself day and night to minister to, to serve the people of God, who was humble and meek, who took advice from his father-in-law to do things better. Pray that the Lord would raise up such men who have a love, not only for Christ, but for his people, for the good of the church, to serve in those offices of elder and deacon.

To bring all of this to a conclusion, I’ll end with this observation. Why did the Lord deliver his people out of Egypt? Was it only because he took pity on them and their suffering? Was it only because he wanted to fulfill his promise to bring them into the promised land, the land of Canaan? That wasn’t the only reason, but we might say the primary reason was this, the word that the Lord gave to Pharaoh through Moses was this, let my people go that they may serve me, that they may serve me.

So the purpose, the reason why the Lord brought his people out of Egypt was that they would be his servants. In other words, that they would worship him, that they would worship him. But the Israelites, they needed what Jethro had to offer. They needed to get organized. They needed their chiefs over thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens.

They needed that structure, that organization to enable them to devote themselves to their true purpose, to be a people redeemed by God in order to serve and to worship him as their God. And in the very same way, God has saved us from sin and death through the work of his son, Jesus Christ, not just so that we can avoid condemnation, not just so that we can look forward to the hope of heaven when we die, but the apostle Peter tells us the true reason, or the greatest reason, why God has brought us salvation.

First Peter 1.9, we read this or we heard this earlier from the New Testament, that you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous lights. We have been redeemed by the grace of God. God sent his son into the world to save us from our sins, to make us his people so that we would be the people who proclaim his excellencies.

In other words, we are saved in order to be God’s worshipers. And if the church is unstructured, undisciplined, disorganized and disordered, We cannot really devote ourselves to our purpose as the people of God to serve and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, to declare his praises as we wait for the world to come. And so God has given us his will for the government of the church. And Jesus has shown us how he wills to rule over us as his people so that we can be what God has saved us to be, a holy nation to proclaim the excellencies of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.

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The Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 18, verses 1 through 12. And this is the word of God.

Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. And the name of the other, Eliezer, for he said, the God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. And when he sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her, Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other for their welfare and went into the tent. Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people. And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

And now let’s turn to 1 John 4 for our New Testament reading. We will turn back to Exodus after we hear from 1 John. 1 John 4, verses 7 through 12. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. We can turn back to Exodus chapter 18.

Last week in Exodus, we heard about the battle that took place between Israel and the Amalekites. It was a very real battle, very physical battle with actual swords and spears and so on. But even more fundamentally, that battle was a spiritual battle. It was a spiritual struggle between the people of God and those who are the enemies of God and therefore enemies of the people of God. and we considered how that battle was a type or picture of the spiritual struggle that you and I are engaged in as Christians. We are in a spiritual war. Our battle is against spiritual enemies and we fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And the weapons of our warfare, the scriptures tell us, are spiritual, not physical.

Well, after that battle with Amalek in our passage this morning, Moses describes for us a completely different kind of scene. Here is a family reunion, and we can assume safely that it was a joyful family reunion between Moses and his wife and sons. And not only that, but Moses describes for us in our passage here the wonderful fellowship that he enjoyed with his father-in-law, Jethro. Moses tells us how they worshiped together, how they shared a meal together in the presence of God. In this scene, in this passage that we just heard, it stands in stark contrast to so much that we have read in the previous chapters in Exodus. There are no enemies here who are threatening to destroy the Israelites. There are no difficult tests of faith in this passage. There is no murmuring and complaining on the part of the people of Israel. There is no talk of stoning Moses.

Instead, here’s a picture of harmony, of concord, joy, and friendship. And all of that is centered upon a shared faith in the Lord, the God of Israel. And so if the struggles of the Israelites in the desert that we have seen, if those struggles are a picture of the spiritual warfare that you and I are engaged in as Christians, then this passage that we have just read gives us a picture of spiritual refuge. And according to this passage, our spiritual refuge is found in this. It is in the communion that we have with one another’s fellow members of the body of Christ. And in this Christian fellowship or communion of saints that we enjoy with one another, we find, or at least we should find, a true refuge from the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged in so much of our lives.

And the word that I’ve chosen to describe this spiritual refuge that this passage really presents to us is the word sanctuary. And so I gave the title to the sermon, “A Sanctuary in the Wilderness”. Of course, later we’ll learn about the tabernacle and how that is a sanctuary, but this is a different kind of sanctuary. But the word sanctuary I thought was very fitting to use here because it involves two ideas. First of all, a sanctuary is a place of safety from danger. For example, a wildlife sanctuary is a place where animals can be free from the danger of hunting or fishing or other dangers. And so as a sanctuary, our fellowship in Christ is a safe place. Spiritually it is a safe place.

But a sanctuary is also a holy place. For example, we call this room a sanctuary. We do so not because there is something intrinsically holy about this room itself, but because this is where we meet with God. This is where we worship the Lord, which is a holy activity. And so as a sanctuary, our fellowship in Christ is a holy place. And that’s because our fellowship with one another, in that fellowship with one another, God is present with us. And so our fellowship in Christ is both a safe place and a holy place. It is a sanctuary, spiritual refuge.

And we’ll consider our passage this morning from those two perspectives. So first of all, our sanctuary, our fellowship in Christ, is a safe place. For us to understand this passage better, it’s helpful, I think, to review the history of Moses. If you remember way back in chapter 2, when Moses had to flee from Egypt because he killed an Egyptian man, he went to the place or the country of Midian. And in Midian, he met the future Mrs. Moses, that is Zipporah, and he also, of course, met her father Jethro. Exodus tells us that Jethro was a priest of Midian, and so he led his people in the worship and service of whatever god or gods that the Midianites served. As we’ll see next week after Jethro’s conversion, which is described for us in this passage, Jethro not only became a true believer in the Lord, but he also became a solid Presbyterian. But you’ll have to come back next week to hear how that worked out.

We know from the book of Acts that Moses ended up living in Midian 40 years. And during that time, Moses and his wife, Zipporah, had two sons. One of them was named Gershom, which means sojourner. And that was because Moses was a sojourner in Midian while he was away from Egypt. And the other son’s name was Eliezer, which means my God is help. And Moses chose that name for his son because God was his help who saved him from Pharaoh when Pharaoh was out to kill him for killing the Egyptian. And during those 40 years, Moses was employed while a Midian as a shepherd. He worked for his father-in-law Jethro. And it was while he was shepherding Jethro’s flocks that he was out in the wilderness. He came across the burning bush. And in that burning bush, the Lord commanded Moses to return to Egypt in order to lead his people out of their bondage to Pharaoh.

And so Moses, out of obedience to the Lord’s call, after spending 40 years in Midian, he leaves there. He returns to Egypt and to his people, the Israelites. And apparently at some point, either on the way to Egypt or after he had gotten to Egypt, he sent his wife and his two sons back home to Midian. And most likely he did that for their own safety. Moses had dangerous work to do in Egypt. And so for their own good, he sent them back to Midian. And then, after all that took place in the Exodus, after some of the wilderness wanderings that we have seen, after the battle that the Israelites had with the Amalekites, finally Moses is reunited with Zipporah and his two sons, as well as with his father-in-law, and that’s the reunion that is described for us here in this passage.

We learn from verse 1 that somehow Jethro had heard the news that the Lord had done great things for Israel, that he had delivered Israel from their slavery in Egypt. And somehow Jethro also found out that Moses was encamped at what is called, in verse 5, the mountain of God. And of course, the mountain of God, that is Mount Sinai, Mount Horeb. And that will play a very prominent place as we continue in Exodus. But Jethro took with him Zipporah and the two sons and he went out to Mount Sinai to meet Moses. And when Moses heard that Jethro and his wife and his two sons were on their way to see him, we read in verse 7 that Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down to him and kissed him. This was a very respectful greeting that the son-in-law gives to his father-in-law, but it’s also a very affectionate greeting. And the impression that it gives us is that this was a happy reunion between the son-in-law and his father-in-law.

And that impression that this was a joyful reunion is reinforced in what is said next in verse 7, and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. Here are two men who clearly care for one another. They’re glad to be together again. And we have to assume, although the text doesn’t say so explicitly, that the reunion with Zipporah and her two sons, and Moses and his two sons, that this was an even happier reunion. and then later in the passage after Jethro learns from Moses all that God has done for Israel they worship the Lord together they eat a sacred meal together before God and in that they are joined by Moses’ brother Aaron and the elders of Israel and the whole atmosphere that is pictured for us here is one of peace of mutual encouragement of joyfully being in the presence of one another and in the presence of God What a contrast this is when we compare it to so much of what we have read so far, almost everything that we have read so far, the book of Exodus.

Because up till now, it seems that Moses has just been dealing with one very difficult struggle after another. He had his confrontation with Pharaoh. He then led a faithless, complaining, bitter people out into the wilderness. And then, as if that was not enough, the Amalekites, out of nowhere seemingly, attacked the Israelites. But finally, Moses has found a place of peace. Here is safety. Here was a sanctuary from the continual conflict and strife. And in this sanctuary, Moses was among friends. He is with his wife, reunited with her, his two sons, His father-in-law, his brother Aaron, the elders of Israel.

And in the same way, what makes our sanctuary, our fellowship in Christ, a safe place is that we are among friends. Unlike your enemies, your friends are on your side. Your friends look after you. Your friends care for you. Your enemies seek your hurts. Your friends seek your good, your welfare. And one thing that should characterize our fellowship in Christ is that we know that here at church we are among friends. The Quakers, they were really onto something when they named their church the Society of Friends. There is a good biblical reason for such a name. 3 John 15, John says, Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, every one of them. That’s how John characterized the congregation of Jesus Christ. They were friends.

Now, what is it that makes us friends? Well, to answer that question, let’s see what made Moses and Jethro friends. Well, they had a lot in common, of course. They were in-laws. Now, being in-laws isn’t always a great recipe for great friendships, we know, but they also had other bonds that kept them together. They knew each other for 40 years. They worked together. They shared much in common for that reason. But most importantly of all, and this is the true reason, the real reason that they were friends, was that they shared a common faith in the Lord. We know that was true of Moses. Moses was a servant of the Lord. But in this passage, we learn how Jethro, how he comes to faith in the Lord as well.

And Jethro’s conversion was through the witness of Moses. After they greeted one another, Moses says this in verse 8, Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. You can imagine Moses had a lot to say. I wonder how much detail did he get into. Did he describe the detail of every single plague? Did he describe all that happened in the wilderness? He must have done so to some degree, and it made quite an impression on Jethro because when he finished, Jethro, this pagan priest, became a true believer in God. Verse 9 says, And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. So Jethro did not just nod his head in agreement politely to what Moses had said about what the Lord had done for the people of Israel, but he rejoiced in that.

It gladdened his heart and then verse 10 tells us that Jethro blessed the Lord that is he praised God and he praised him for the salvation that the Lord had accomplished for his people and in verse 11 it says now I know and this is Jethro speaking now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people and this is Jethro’s profession of faith here After all that he’s heard about the saving power, the saving grace of the Lord towards his people of Israel, he believes. Now I know, he says. And then for the first time in his life, Jethro offers sacrifices and worship, not to the idols of his people, but to the true God, the God of Israel, the God of Moses, the God who led his people out of Egypt.

And so whatever natural reasons or natural affinity Moses and Jethro had for being friends, what really knit their hearts together, what really brought them together in a bond of love and affection was their common faith and love for the Lord. We can even put it this way. The friendship between Moses and Jethro was grounded in the spiritual reality that by the grace of God, they had each become friends of God. And we can put it that way because that’s the way that the New Testament tells us about, or that’s what the New Testament says about us as Christians, that in the gospel of Jesus Christ, God has made us his friends. Because by nature, you and I are not friends of God. By birth, we are enemies of God. Because of the sin that is in us, because we are, by nature, sinful, we are rebels against God. We are anything but His friends. We are His enemies. And God is our enemy.

But through the work of redemption, through what Jesus Christ did when He came into our world, in offering himself upon the cross as a sacrifice to atone for our sins. He has reconciled God to you. He has reconciled you to God. Romans 5.10 says, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Have you believed in Jesus Christ? Have you repented? of your sin. Are you resting in Him by faith? If so, then know this, that your sins are forgiven. You are at peace with God. You are no longer His enemy, but God is your friend. He has made you His friend through Jesus Christ. And so in the Bible, Jesus calls us His friends. Jesus said to His disciples in John 15, 15, no longer do I call you servants, but I’ve called you friends. And so by faith in Jesus Christ, most of all, our friendship is with the Lord. He has become our friend.

But whoever is a friend of Jesus must also be a friend of the friends of Jesus. Because when Christ in his work of salvation, when he brought you to God, when he reconciled God to you and you to God, he also brought you into the communion and fellowship of all those that he has saved. And for this reason, the scriptures tell us that the litmus test, the test that tells us if we truly do love God, if we truly do belong to him is this, if we love those whom God has loved. 1 John 4, 20, if anyone says, “I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And so for that reason, because God has brought us to himself and brought us together to belong to one another as members of the body of Christ, as those who have been reconciled to him and to one another, our fellowship in Jesus Christ This is a sanctuary because we are truly among friends, true friends. Your best friends will be Christians. Now, of course, you will have friends, even good friends, who are not believers, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but your best friends, friends who have your deepest interests at heart, friends who want you to know Christ better, they will be Christians. We’re living in a time when many people do not have close friends or perhaps no friends at all. One sociologist said that we are in the midst of a major friendship recession. And ironically, despite all of our interconnectedness on social media, Despite the fact we are constantly in touch with one another online, nevertheless, there are more people who are lonely today than there have ever been. As one author described the strange situation we’re in, in which we are more connected to one another than ever before, and yet more isolated from one another than ever before, she said, we are alone together.

But as Christians, we ought to have close and encouraging friendships. Friendships with others who share our hope and our faith in Christ. And historically, Christians have highly valued deep friendships with other believers. This is something when you study church history, this was a great concern for many of our forefathers in the faith, that we cultivate Christian friendships for our good, to help us in our walk with Christ. The fourth century theologian Gregory of Nazianzus said, if anyone were to ask me what is the best thing in life, I would answer friends. John Calvin, he kept up correspondence with several friends in the letters that he shared with them. He encouraged them, he confided in them. Sometimes he even chided his friends. In one letter to his fellow reformer, Guillaume Ferrel, Calvin said that he really should think about lengthening or shortening the length of his sermons. And some of you may be thinking, I know a pastor who could really use a friend like that.

But let me ask you, do you have friends? Do you have friends? And I don’t mean your 950 friends on Facebook, but do you have a friend you can confide in? A friend that you can be honest with, to share your fears, your failures, struggles that you had in your walk with the Lord, a friend that you can count on for counsel and encouragement, a friend that you know not only likes you for who you are and likes to be with you, but who is truly concerned for your soul. Now, in saying all this, I’m not ignoring the fact that what should be true in the church is often far from the case of what is actually true. There may be times when we just struggle to make friends or find friends. And there are times too often that in the church, there are those who should be our friends, but who sometimes deal with us as though we were their enemies. And that is extremely painful and difficult. Moses experienced that. At one point, the Israelites were ready to stone him. They thought he was their enemy.

And the truth is, when we’re in conflict with a brother or sister in Christ, we are all tempted to start thinking this way, that this is not a brother or sister in Christ, a friend that I’ve had a falling out with, but this is now my enemy. We are tempted to think that way. But in the body of Christ, in the church, what should be true is that in the fellowship that we have with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, in the love and concern that we have for one another, in the way that we seek to build up and serve one another, that we have here in our fellowship a sanctuary where we know that we are among friends.

And so our fellowship with one another in Christ is a sanctuary, it is a safe place because we are among friends, but it is also a holy place. Going back to our passage, after Jethro hears the story of God’s saving work on behalf of the people of Israel, in other words, after Jethro hears the gospel according to Moses, he rejoices, he blesses the Lord, he confesses that he knows now that this God is greater than all gods, including the ones that he once served as a priest. And finally, at the end of the passage, he worships the Lord, and he shares in this holy meal with Moses and Aaron and the elders. Verse 12 says, And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

Jethro has come to know the Lord truly and this is before the Lord has given the Israelites through Moses all the laws concerning the sacrifices and his worship and so on and yet already Jethro understood that God was holy and that he was a sinner and that therefore the only way that he could approach God in worship was through sacrifice through some kind of atonement And I wonder, did Moses tell Jethro about the promise that the Lord made in the Garden of Eden that the seed of the woman one day would crush the head of the seed of the serpents? Perhaps. But in any case, Jethro had put his hope in the Lord. And Moses says in verse 12 that Aaron and the elders of Israel, that they came and ate bread with Jethro, quote, before God. they ate in his presence and his family, and Aaron, and the elders of Israel, that this communion that they had, this fellowship that they enjoyed, was not only based upon the fact that they shared a common faith in the Lord, but it was also based even more deeply on the spiritual reality that in that fellowship, the Lord himself was there with them.

This holy meal that they shared, they shared with each other and with God himself. And there is a sense in which the greatest expression that there is of the communion that you and I have with one another as fellow members of the body of Christ. The greatest expression of that fellowship takes part in what we will do today when we come to the Lord’s table. Because we share this meal together in the presence of Christ himself. It is the Lord Jesus who sets this table. And it is Jesus himself who is the feast he gives to us, his body, his blood, his spiritual food and drink. And this is what makes our fellowship a holy fellowship. We commune together with the Holy One.

In 1 John, John said this about his fellowship with the readers of his letter indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ and for this reason because our fellowship is a holy fellowship we always need to make sure that in our fellowship in our communion with one another that Christ Christ is the center of it that He is what binds us together. Now that’s not to say that every time we get together with one another it has to turn into a prayer meeting or a Bible study or some kind of super spiritual activity. It’s fine just to spend time, to hang out together, to shoot the breeze, to talk about guns or sports or whatever. But it’s not fine only to hang out and talk about guns and sports.

The goal of our fellowship is to encourage one another, to encourage one another to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to stir up in each other holy affections and desires, to urge one another on in love and good works, to build up one another in our faith and hope in Christ. That is the purpose, that is the goal of our communion with one another. How do you do that? Well, you can ask a brother or sister in Christ, how can I pray for you? Or perhaps you can affirm. What you see is something admirable, noteworthy in their faith, in their service to the Lord. I really appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made for your children. I can see that you do that out of love of Christ. And I just want to say, keep it up. Or something like that.

Like I said last week, you can make a priority of times that we have set to spend together in prayer meetings or Bible study. Those are times in which we are purposeful in which Christ will be the subject of our praying, our gathering today. The point is, is that we must never forget that our fellowship is in Jesus Christ. in any way that you can lovingly point another to Jesus and encourage him in his walk with Christ. This is the way for you and me to maintain the holiness of this sanctuary and this fellowship that we have with one another.

Will you be a friend to those who are sitting in this room today? Will you be the instrument that God will use for the encouragement, the comfort, the blessing of a brother or sister in Christ? If by the grace of God, You and I pursue this kind of fellowship, then our fellowship in Christ will be for us a true sanctuary. It will be a spiritual refuge where we know we are among friends, and it will be a place where our greatest friends, the Lord Jesus himself, will make himself known to us in all of his grace and in his love for us. Let’s pray.

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The Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 17, verses 8 through 16, and this is God’s infallible and inerrant word. Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, the Lord is my banner, saying, a hand upon the throne of the Lord. The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

You can keep your place there at Exodus and turn to Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 through 20 for our New Testament reading. Ephesians six, 10 through 20. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

You may turn back to Exodus chapter 17, As we have been making our way through Exodus, it wasn’t too long ago that the Israelites were still in Egypt. They were still there in their bondage and in their misery. But at that time, God made a promise to them that he would lead them to the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And we have seen, again, as we have gone through Exodus, how God has begun to make good on that promise. He has brought his people out of Egypt by signs and wonders, by his almighty power. But God never promised the Israelites that they would arrive to the promised land without a struggle. There would be, on their way to Canaan, many adversities, many difficulties and struggles. We’ve already seen how the Israelites, as they are being led in the wilderness, were led to a place without water and a place without food. And now in our passage this morning that we are considering, the Israelites face another kind of trial, and that is they are attacked by another nation, the Amalekites. And so the Israelites would have to struggle. They would have to fight on their way to the promised land. And the same is true for us today. For the Church of Jesus Christ today, God has promised us in His grace that He will lead us to our promised land in glory in the life to come. But on the way there, we can anticipate that we also will have to struggle. We will have to fight. The way to our promised land will not be easy either. And just as God never promised the Israelites a smooth and easy journey to Canaan, so God does not promise us a smooth and easy journey to heaven. Rather, the Bible tells us the exact opposite of that. In Acts 14.22, it says, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

So with that in mind then, let’s take a look at our passage and there are three things that I want us to notice in this passage. The first thing is this, that Israel was engaged in spiritual warfare. It is a physical battle to be sure, but it is at heart spiritual warfare. So Moses says this in verse 8, then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Moses doesn’t tell us why the Amalekites attacked Israel. On the surface, at least, it would seem that perhaps attacking other nations for plunder was probably a practice of the Amalekites, as it was for many other nations at that time, and as it has been for many nations ever since that time. No doubt the Amalekites saw that the Israelites were not well armed and therefore they looked to be a soft target. In Deuteronomy, Moses gives us a fuller description of this attack on the Israelites by the Amalekites. In Deuteronomy 25 verses 17 through 18, Moses says, remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. The way that Moses describes it for us is that this was a very cowardly attack on the part of the Amalekites. They attacked the weakest part of the people of Israel. The people of Israel as a whole were not a formidable force. They were vulnerable. They were innocent. They had not attacked the Amalekites. But again, this is the kind of thing that has happened throughout human history. The real reason why Amalek attacked Israel was deeper. It was spiritual. And that is Amalek was used of Satan to try to destroy this newly liberated people before they could reach the promised land. Whether the Amalekites realized it or not, I’m sure they did not realize it, but it was because the Israelites were the chosen people of God. Because they were God’s people, it was for that reason that they attacked them. It’s the same reason why Pharaoh and the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites while they were in Egypt. Because they were the people of God and behind those nations there was the evil one and he was using them for his own evil purposes. And this sort of conflict between Israel as the people of God and other nations of the world is exactly what the Lord said would happen way back in Genesis chapter 3. In Genesis chapter 315 the Lord said this to the serpent who had tempted Eve and caused Eve and Adam to sin the Lord said to Eve that he will put enmity between or he said to the serpent rather I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel of course the woman was Eve and the serpent is the devil, the evil one. Those who are of the seed of the woman, or the offspring of the woman, these are those who belong to God, who belong to Christ. They are the people of God. And those who are the offspring of the seed of the serpent are those who do not belong to God. They continue to rebel against God. They do not belong to Christ. And therefore, however unwittingly it may be, those who are of the seed of the serpent have the devil as their father, and they do his will. And from that point on in Genesis chapter 3 until the end of history, there would be and there still continues to be a fundamental conflict and struggle between the people who belong to God and to Christ and those who are not his people. And this conflict that takes place on earth, this is just the stage for a far greater cosmic conflict that is taking place between God and His hosts, that is the angels who belong to Him, and the devil and his hosts, that is his demons. And therefore, when Israel, here in our passage, Israel who is the offspring of the woman, when they were attacked by the Amalekites, the offspring of the serpents, it was part of this greater spiritual warfare between Christ and Satan, between good and evil, between light and darkness. There was in the wilderness that day in Rephidim a real physical battle. Nevertheless, the deeper struggle, the true struggle was spiritual. And for the people of God today, for us who belong to Christ, for the church, we are engaged in the same spiritual warfare. We read from Ephesians chapter 6, let me read verse 12 again. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. In the verse before that, in verse 11, we are told who is the chief of our spiritual enemies and it is the devil, it is Satan. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. First Peter 5 8 tells us, be sober minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And so, just as we observe here in Exodus 17 that the Amalekites were used by Satan to oppose, to try to destroy the people of God then, so today Satan is very active. His purpose is to oppose, to try to destroy, if he can, the Church of Jesus Christ today. And very often his attacks do come in the form of the kind of oppression or opposition or persecution that We have witnessed throughout church history that’s taking place very much in different parts of the world today, but Satan has other weapons at his disposal. He has other tools that he uses. They may be more subtle, but they are no less devastating. When he attacks the church, he uses various temptations to lead the people of God into sin. He seeks to seduce us through different kinds of idolatry. He tempts believers to doubt the truth of God’s word and promises. This is what Satan did to Eve. Hath God really said? And so the devil will use any means he can to try to separate us, if he can, from our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And because we have a powerful enemy, an evil enemy, who devotes all his might, all his resources to destroy our faith in Christ and to hinder our faithfulness to God, as believers in Jesus Christ, you and I are called to be fully engaged in this spiritual warfare. We must fight. We must fight against temptation. We are called to put to death the sin that is within us. We must hold fast to the word of God. We must stand upon the truth of God. And so the Christian life, while we can characterize it in many ways, one way that is very true of the Christian life is it is a life of struggle, of striving, of fighting. We have true enemies. We have real opponents who seek to destroy our souls. Again, we strive against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. A shorthand way of saying all of this is to say that we are in a continual battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And we could even put this in an even more shorthand way, and that is to say, as a Christian, you fight against sin. You fight against sin, the sin of unbelief, the sin of disobedience.

Well, the good news is we know what the outcome will be of this spiritual warfare. In his death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, he has already dealt the death blow to the devil, to all the powers of evil and hell that oppose us. And so while we may in this battle in which we are engaged in this warfare, we may lose a skirmish here or there. Sin may get the upper hand from time to time, but nevertheless, as one who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, as one who has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you can know with absolute certainty that the final outcome of this battle will be victory. It will be your victory, your conquest. Romans 8 37 says that in Christ we are more than conquerors through him who loved us and Romans 8 also tells us that there is nothing there is nothing in all creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and so the victory is ours however however having said that notice here in this passage that the Israelites were called to fight It was not the Lord’s purpose to simply destroy the Amalekites by raining fire down from heaven. No, He called them to fight and it was through the fighting of the Israelites that the Amalekites would be destroyed. And in the very same way, for you and me, although we give all praise and glory and credit for our salvation, for our ultimate triumph over sin and death and the powers of hell, we give all credit to the Lord Jesus Christ for that. Nevertheless, in this life, we are called to be fully engaged in this fight, in this spiritual battle. We are called to fight the good fights of the faith. and so this battle then between Amalek and Israel at heart it was a spiritual warfare the very same kind of warfare that you and I are engaged in as believers in Christ and the reason why the Israelites were victorious that day against the Amalekites was because of the intercession of Moses and this is the second thing that I want us to take from this passage or notice in this passage Israel depended on the intercession of Moses for their victory After the initial attack of the Amalekites against the people of Israel, Moses had a plan on how Israel would counterattack, and no doubt it was a plan that was given to him by the Lord. First of all, he told Joshua to choose a fighting man to go out the next day to fight against Amalek. Most likely, Joshua chose the best of the fighting men, such as they were. As for Moses, he would go up to the top of a nearby hill, with the staff of God in his hand. He would raise it above his head in order to call for the help and the power of God to fight for his people. And the plan worked marvelously. That is, until Moses became tired and his arms drooped and the staff of God dropped and he couldn’t hold up the staff anymore. And then the Amalekites would begin to prevail. And so this passage tells us that as long as Moses was able to hold up that staff, the Israelites prevailed, but as soon as he lowered the staff, because he got tired, the Amalekites prevailed over the Israelites. Well, thankfully, Moses’ brother Aaron was with him, and there was another assistant with Moses that day, Hurr, and they helped Moses by giving him a place to sit, and then they held up his arms for him. and so with their help he was able to hold up the staff of God all the way until sundown and by that time the Israelites had completely routed the Amalekites. Verse 13 says, and Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. So this is how the Israelites won their first battle, their first engagement with an enemy nation. They’re off to a good start. They’re 1-0. They’ve defeated the Amalekites, but of course Their victory, although they fought, their victory was entirely due to the power of God. Joshua led the armies of Israel, but it wasn’t his leadership that won the battle. It certainly wasn’t the strength of the Israelite army. Remember, these were a people who just months before were in abject poverty. They were enslaved. They were simply trying to survive. The only skill they had was making bricks, certainly not warfare, fighting. Who knows what kind of weapons they were able to cobble together. And so if we think of this in sports terms. The Amalekites would have been the overwhelming favorites. No one would have bet against them. But the Israelites, they had the Lord. They had the Lord on their side. The almighty power of God. And that power of God, the power of God for his people, God’s purpose, his will to fight for his people, this was signified in this staff that Moses held up above his head. And it was by his divine power that God won the victory for his people. But he only accomplished that victory as a means or as a result of using the means of the intercession of Moses as Moses held up the staff of God.

Now the historic And I believe correct way of understanding this passage, the way that most commentators have interpreted this passage is to say this, that Moses here, he was interceding by prayer. This is Moses praying for the people of Israel and so have been some commentators, they have been a little too fastidious in interpreting this text by arguing that because it doesn’t actually say that Moses was praying, we cannot say that Moses is praying here. He was merely holding up the staff of God, that’s all it says. But if you were at a restaurant and you saw across the room a family, and when their dishes were served, they bowed their heads, they folded their hands, And you told me, now technically, I don’t know if they were actually praying to God or not because I could not hear the words that they were saying. You would sound like you were splitting hairs. Here in this passage, Moses clearly is in a posture of prayer. His hands were raised up to God. He was appealing to the Lord for help. Clearly he was directing his heart heavenward. He was interceding on behalf of the Israelites for the help of God. In other words, he was praying. He was praying. And although the Hebrew of verse 16 is hard to interpret, it may be saying, as the English Standard Version interprets it, as saying, a hand upon the throne of the Lord. The hand was Moses’ hand. His hand was upon the throne of God as he prayed, as he interceded for the people of Israel. This is not just a picture of prayer, but this is a picture of persevering prayer. Moses kept praying this way all the way to sundown, until the Amalekites were defeated, and that’s how we are to pray as well. We are to pray with persistence, with patience, with perseverance. And another lesson to learn from this prayer of Moses is that we are to pray together. We are to pray together. And I believe that this is the meaning of Moses being helped by Aaron and Hur. Some people have been very creative in their understanding, their explanation of what it means that Aaron was on one side of Moses, Hur was on the other side of Moses. They were holding up his hands and helping him to pray. Some people have said that Aaron and Hur represent the Old and the New Testaments and that our prayers must rest on both Testaments of the Bible. Others have said that this was a symbol of the Calvary of Jesus on the cross where his arms are outstretched and he had on one side of him a man who was being crucified and on the other side of him another man who was being crucified. So those are certainly interesting but that kind of fanciful allegorical interpretation is not nearly as persuasive as the interpretation that this is a picture here of corporate prayer, of the people of God praying together, of God’s people helping one another in praying to the Lord together. And an obvious implication of this truth is that we should not only be faithful in praying individually, we should not only, as Christians, have a private prayer life, but we also ought to seek times to pray together with our fellow Christians, with fellow members of the body of Christ. We all have priorities in our lives. We all have things that we believe are more important than other things, things that we could be giving our time and attention to. And as Christians, one major priority that every believer ought to have is that we ought to make time for and take advantage of occasions for us to pray for and with one another together. Consider this passage here. What would have happened if Aaron and Hur decided it was more important for them to go down to the battlefield and to fight alongside of Joshua than it was for them to be up on top of the hill with Moses helping him pray? Well clearly we know what would have happened. Israel would have been defeated. The Amalekites would have won. We read in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 that the very first Christians, they devoted themselves to certain things. They made certain things a priority. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. and if you read Acts 242 you’ll notice it doesn’t just say and praying or prayers but it says and the prayers the prayers and that definite article suggests and I believe it means that this is referring to set times of praying together that were there were appointed times in which the first Christians would meet together to pray together and the question that we need to ask ourselves is this Are you devoted to the same things that the first Christians were devoted to? Are your priorities the same as the priorities of these first Christians? That is to make time, to meet with other believers, to pray together, to unite in prayer for the church, for one another, for God’s glory. The commentator Phil Reichen says, Both individually and corporately, the neglect of prayer means the loss of spiritual warfare. Even if we fight like Joshua, we will not win the battle unless we pray like Moses. And I would add, unless we pray like Moses and Aaron and Hur, at times praying together. But even more important than the example that Moses gives us here of prayer is the picture that Moses gives us here as the leader of God’s people, interceding for his people. And in this picture, we have here a shadow, a type of the greater leader of the people of God, the ultimate leader of God’s people. That is Jesus Christ. And just as Moses made intercession for the people of Israel then, so our Lord Jesus, our leader, our captain, He makes intercession for us daily, continually, always. Hebrews 7.25 tells this about Jesus. He always lives to make intercession for them. What a marvelous truth this is, that if you belong to Jesus Christ by faith, that if He is your Savior, that you have come to Him in faith and repentance, and He is your Lord and your Savior, that you have one who, first of all, interceded for you upon the cross, that he interceded for you by taking upon himself your guilt, your sin, so that the wrath of God, the judgment of God that belonged to you and to me was poured out upon Christ. And he said on the cross, it is finished. And so, one time, once for all, Jesus made intercession for you so that you may receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that you may be saved. But you also have a Savior whose intercession did not stop there, but who continues to intercede for you before the Father on the basis of His death and resurrection. He always lives to make intercession for you and me. And because, unlike Moses, Jesus is perfect, because he is perfect in strength, perfect in holiness, perfect in faithfulness. Unlike Moses, he never tires, he never fails, his arms do not droop, but he always prays before the Father for you and for me. And so we have a better intercessor than Moses. And by his intercession, we know that we have the victory. that the ultimate triumph is ours in Jesus Christ.

The third thing to take from this passage is Israel’s victory shows God’s purpose to defeat evil forever. Verse 14 says this, then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Notice that Moses was not only to write this down in a book, but that he was specifically to recite this promise to Joshua. And he was to do so because Joshua, of course, would be the next leader of Israel, and he needed to know that it was the Lord’s will, his purpose, that he would destroy this perennial enemy of Israel, the Amalekites. And when we read on in the New Testament, or the Old Testament, we see that God made good on this promise. David, in 1 Samuel chapter 30, he defeats the Amalekites once and for all. Now, as the people of God today, unlike the people of Israel in the days of the Exodus and the days of Moses, we belong to a purely spiritual kingdom, not an earthly kingdom. And so is the church today. We are no longer called, like the Israelites were then, to engage in physical, actual battle or warfare against the peoples or the nations of this world. In the same way, we do not defend the kingdom of God. We do not advance the kingdom of God with guns and bullets and bombs. The 2 Corinthians 10.4 says, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. And so, rather than calling us, as the Church, to go out into the world to wage war against peoples and nations, as the Church, God sent us out into the world with quite a different mission, and that is to declare the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to sinners who are dying and perishing in their sin. To proclaim the good news that God has sent His Son into the world. that he was crucified for sinners, that he was raised to new life, and that all who come to him in faith are saved, will be saved from the judgment that is to come. That is how God is at work in the world today advancing his kingdom. It is through the preaching of the gospel. It is by the power, again, not of earthly weapons, but by the power of the word of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit as he imparts new life and gives faith and repentance to sinners. And so in this gospel age, God overcomes his enemies, Christ triumphs over his enemies by the power of his divine grace and love and by the power of the gospel. But just as the Lord promised Moses, that he would utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. So it is the will of God one day to bring those who are his enemies, who remain his enemies, one day he will bring them to complete destruction forever. God will bring eternal ruin and destruction to all his enemies on the day of judgment when Christ returns with his angels and the glory of his father and judges all who have ever lived for what they have done. The day is coming, but it is still not yet here. And in the meantime, praise the Lord. Christ has many, many of those who are his enemies today, but who will be redeemed by his grace, who will become his servants and worshipers. And also in the meantime, as long as we are in this world, we are again engaged in spiritual warfare. And as we are, we must look to the banner of Christ. the banner of Christ. After the Lord defeated Amalek Moses built an altar and he called it the Lord is my banner. The word that’s translated banner here could have been a flag like we think of as a banner. It may have also been a pole but it was something that the armies of Israel would have looked to to encourage them in their fighting. It was a military thing and so the Lord is my banner means here for Moses and for the Israelites is this that we will look to the Lord when we are engaged in battle when we are fighting our enemies we will look to the Lord to his banner because he is the one who brings victory not by our strength, not by our might but by the power of God we have hope of victory and until God brings in that total defeat of evil and sin in the world Until that day when all his enemies shall be cast out of the new heavens and new earth forever and ever, as the people of God, our banner is Christ. Our banner is Christ. And we might even be more specific. We might even say our banner is the empty tomb, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because that really was the victory of God over all his enemies, over all our enemies, sin and evil, They did their worst when Jesus perished on the cross. They seem to have won the day. The Son of God was destroyed. He bore the curse of death. He was buried in the grave. But then God raised Jesus from the dead. And it was the ultimate proclamation from heaven to all creation that the enemies of Christ, the enemies of God, that they were defeated, they were broken, they would rise no more. And so our savior is victorious over all his and our enemies. And in Christ, your victory over sin and death is assured. And so when you are in the heat of the battle, in this life, in this struggle against sin and temptation and evil, when you feel like you are struggling to walk by faith, when you feel weak in your fight against temptation and sin, when your enemy seems so strong and invincible, Don’t get discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. Keep praying. Keep worshiping. Keep holding fast to the Word of God and look to the banner of Christ. Look to the empty tomb. Look to the exalted Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, your Savior, the one who has triumphed for you. And know that as one who belongs to Jesus Christ in whatever battle you are experiencing now, in whatever struggles you may have in this life, you are on the winning side. You are on the winning side because Christ, because Christ is your Lord, He is your Savior, and His victory is yours. Let’s pray.

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Our Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 17 verses 1 through 7, Exodus 17, 1 through 7, and this is the inerrant and infallible word of our God. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages according to the commandment of the Lord and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water. And the people grumbled against Moses and said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried to the Lord, What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses, Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel and because they tested the Lord by saying, is the Lord among us or not?

Keep your place there in Exodus and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 for the New Testament reading. 1 Corinthians 10. I’ll read verses one through five. 1 Corinthians 10, one through five. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

You may turn back to Exodus chapter 17. This is our sermon text for today.

When I was growing up, one of the many places where we lived as a family was in a little town in the middle of the Texas Panhandle, a town by the name of Canyon, Canyon, Texas, just south of Amarillo, if you’re familiar with that part of Texas. And further south from us was another little town, even smaller than ours. And the name of that town was ‘Happy’. And the motto that the people of Happy gave to their town was, ‘The town without a frown’. And surprisingly, Happy didn’t grow much. It remained a small town. You would think that a town with a name like that would be bursting at the seams. Who wouldn’t want to live in a place called Happy? Or, closer to where we live, there’s the city of Pleasanton, California. That’s another place where you’d think people would be moving to in droves. Everyone wants to live in a place that’s happy or pleasant.

As we turn to our passage this morning in Exodus, the Israelites are continuing their journey through the wilderness. And so far, we’ve seen one place where they stayed in their journey, where they left their mark by giving that place a name. But the name of that place was not appealing as happy or pleasant, rather it was Mara, which means bitterness. Imagine working for the Visitors Bureau for a town called Bitterness and trying to convince people that that’s where they need to go to spend their vacation. And in our passage today, we read of another place in the wilderness that had the honor, or perhaps we should say the dishonor, of having two names given to it thanks to the Israelites. And neither one of those names is even, or is any more appealing than Marah. One of those names is Masah, which means testing, and the other is Meribah, which means quarreling. And thanks to these two names, this place in the wilderness would forever be a memorial to the great sin that the Israelites committed there. at Massa or Meribah, the people of God, they both quarreled with their leader Moses and they tested the Lord.

And today, as we look at this passage, first we’ll consider how the Israelites sinned there, how they sinned in quarreling with Moses and in testing the Lord. And second, we’ll consider what is really the far greater story in this passage, and that is how God responded to the sins of his people. He did not respond with righteous judgments, but he responded with mercy. His mercy was in the water that he caused to flow from the rock. And so first, we’ll consider the Israelites’ sin, and then secondly, God’s merciful response.

The first way the Israelites sinned was by quarreling with Moses, and it came about this way. The Israelites, they’re in the wilderness of sin, and they go to a place that had a name already. It was called Rephidim. And like the place they went to earlier in the wilderness, there was no water there. and predictably the Israelites did not do what they should have done they did not trust in the Lord that he would provide water for them somehow neither did they pray for his provision but rather they did what they have already done and what they will continue to do in the wilderness they grumbled, they complained about the lack of provision, the lack of water there and specifically the text says that they quarreled with Moses They quarreled with him. That means they complained bitterly, angrily, even violently, or at least almost violently against Moses.

And by this time you would think that they would have learned the lesson that God will provide for them, but they were slow to learn. And so when they come to this new place with no water, they burst out in this complaining and quarreling with Moses. But if we’re honest, we have to admit that we are slow learners as well. Despite the fact that we can look back on our lives and see how the Lord has marvelously provided for us at all times, nevertheless, when we come into a situation where provision is uncertain, we become anxious, fretful, we begin to murmur and grumble in our hearts against God.

Now not only did the Israelites quarrel with Moses, but they again accused him so slanderously, so falsely, they accused Moses of leading them out into the wilderness so that he could kill them or so that they would perish there. And according to what Moses tells the Lord, the people were so carried away by their sinful anger against him that they threatened to stone him. And this was not just a panicked exaggeration on the part of Moses, but this was really what the people of God were prepared to do. And so often in the scriptures, whenever there is, like the people of Israel here, an unbelieving people, people with evil in their hearts, and they are led by a godly righteous man or instructed by a prophet, so often the time comes when that people are ready to stone the one who is speaking or who represents God to them. And oftentimes they want to kill their leader by stoning. David, he was nearly stoned at one point. Some of the prophets after him were stoned. Stephen in the New Testament was stoned. Paul was stoned, incredibly he survived that but he was stoned at one point and of course Jesus himself was nearly stoned more than once. And so here the people are so violently enraged against their leader Moses because he has led them to this place where there is no water that they are ready to put him to death by stoning.

But we also learn in this passage that Moses wasn’t the true object of their anger. Yes, they directed their anger towards Moses, but their anger, their rage was against another. When Moses asked the people in verse two, why do you quarrel with me? What he meant was, what he was telling the people of Israel was, your quarrel is really with the Lord. Moses was telling the people, you know, who led you here was not me, it was God. He is leading us by the pillar of cloud and fire. You know that He is the one who can provide for you water to drink and food to eat. You know I am just a servant. And so you people, the one whom you would really like to stone and put to death, and you would if you could, is God Himself. So the people of Israel were enraged against God and ready to put Him to death. And so because Moses represented the Lord to the people, he became the lightning rod for their anger against God. And this is not an experience that is foreign to us or unfamiliar to us as Christians today in this world. Perhaps you have had this experience when you have been the object of someone’s anger or even hatred when you knew that ultimately it was God that they were raging against, but because as a believer in Christ you represent God, you stand for Him in the world, you become the lightning rod, the object of that unbeliever’s rage against the Lord. And that will be the case from time to time, as long as we live in a world in which there are people in unbelief who rage against God.

Now as if the shaking of their fist at God and nearly stoning Moses to death was not bad enough, we also learn here that the Israelites tested the Lord. In verse 2 Moses says, why do you test the Lord? And to test the Lord means to withhold your belief in Him, your trust in Him, to withhold your submission or obedience to the Lord until He meets some demand or requirement that you lay upon Him. Look at verse 7. It says, They tested the Lord by saying, Is the Lord among us or not? Now it’s not as though the Israelites were literally questioning the presence of God with them. There was no doubt that that was true because of the pillar of cloud and fire. Nobody could deny that God truly was with the people of Israel. But what they were saying with that question, is the Lord among us or not, or what they were expressing was a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that God was their Lord, that therefore He had rightful rule and mastery over them. For the Israelites here, until God met their demand that they put before Him for water, until He did what they wanted Him to do, they would not render to Him that submission, that honor, that obedience, that reverence that they owed to Him as their Lord, as their God. And that is how they tested the Lord. And so God, until He satisfied their demands, as far as they were concerned, He wasn’t even there among them. He wasn’t with them. It’s the Lord among us or not.

And the heart of the problem for the Israelite people here was that in their hearts there was unbelief. The author of the book of Hebrews in chapter 3, when he writes about this incident, he describes the hearts of the Israelites as evil and unbelieving. And a person with an unbelieving heart, this is exactly what he will do. He will test the Lord. He will test the Lord. And this attitude of putting God to the test, this is very characteristic of the unbelief of our modern age. This is one very typical way that the unbelief of our world today expresses itself, to put God to the test, to put Him on trial. And if He is acceptable to our preconceived notions of what God should be, if He conforms to what we think God should be like, then He passes the test. If not, We refuse to acknowledge him as God or serve him as God.

C.S. Lewis put it this way, The ancient man approached God as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are reversed. He is the judge, that is, man. Man is the judge. God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge. If God should have a reasonable defense for being the God who permits war, poverty, and disease, He is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal, but the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock. And for the Israelites, God was in the dock. He was the one being judged. He was the one being tested. Is he among us or not? Will he prove worthy and qualified to be our God or not? And God is in the dark for the unbelieving world today as well. I will not believe in a God who allows this to happen. I will not serve or acknowledge a God who calls evil and sinful that which I call good. And of course, that is the attitude, the stance of the unbeliever towards God.

And yet, even as believers in Christ, we can be infected with the same kind of thinking, the same kind of attitude of putting God to the test. And we do this whenever we confuse our desires with God’s promises. When God doesn’t fulfill our desires, when he doesn’t answer the prayers in the way that we want him to answer them, then you and I become tempted to complain, to grumble, to doubt God’s goodness or his promises. Where’s the good health that I asked for? I’ve been praying for healing for so long. Why, God, are you not answering? Why haven’t you provided me with a spouse yet? Why doesn’t God take away my suffering? Why hasn’t God answered my prayers for this person? And when we ask those questions from a spirit of complaining or grumbling or doubting the goodness of God, we’re really betraying then that there is within our hearts the same testing of the Lord that the Israelites did here in the wilderness. Is God with me or not? Oh God, if you do what I want you to do, then I know you are with me, but if not, then I begin to doubt your promises. I question that you are truly with me.

I once talked to a man who desired a particular blessing from God, and it was not a bad thing that he desired, it was a good thing that he desired, a true blessing, but for whatever reason, in the providence of God, that blessing was withheld from him. God did not give it to him. And this man said to me, why is God punishing me in this way? In other words, he didn’t say this, but what his question was saying was, I’ve put God to the test and he’s failed to deliver. And so obviously he’s rejected me. He’s not on my side. He’s punishing me. But that is the voice of unbelief. That is the same attitude essentially as the Israelites were displaying here in the wilderness.

God calls us to faith, to believe in His promises, to trust that in all things He is truly with us and He is working out our good and that He gives us what we need in His way and in His timing. And He does not withhold anything from us that He deems to be good and necessary for us. And so faith humbly acknowledges that it is God who does the testing. Faith recognizes that God is not in the dock, it is not God who is being tested by us, but we are being tested by God. That the adversity, the suffering, the withholding of the blessings that we desire, that these are means by which we are being tested, we are being tried. That God is working out His good purposes in us and for us. Faith believes that God is worthy and must be worshipped and obeyed even when he withholds some good thing that we desire of him. Faith says with Job, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And faith trusts that God will give you what he knows that you need. Earlier in Exodus, when the Israelites were at Marah, The Lord knew that they needed water, and He provided for them. Later, the Lord knew that the Israelites needed food, and He provided for them, first quail and then the manna. And even before all of that, even while the Israelites were still in Egypt, the Lord knew His people. He knew what they needed, and He provided for them. And God will give you what you need. He will provide for you, but here’s the rub. It is God who determines what you need, not us. It is God who gets to say exactly what you truly, truly need. And faith believes this. Faith trusts in the Lord for this, that He knows what is best for us and He will do what is best for us. And so faith rests in God’s goodness and His promise of provision even when at least for a time God in His perfectly and infinitely wise and good purposes for us may withhold from us whatever blessing, whatever good thing it is that we desire of Him and pray to Him for. Faith believes that God will give us in His timing what we truly need, what is for our good.

So the Israelites lacked faith. They were unbelieving and as a result they sinned. They sinned both in quarreling with Moses and in testing the Lord. And in the process, that place where they were, Rephidim, it lost its perfectly respectable name and from that point on it lived in infamy as Massa and Meribah, testing and quarreling.

Now Moses, he did do the right thing in this passage in crying out to the Lord. After the Israelites quarreled with him, he cried out to God for help. In verse 4 it says, So Moses cried to the Lord, What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. So Moses, we can commend him for doing what he should have done, crying out to the Lord. But when you hear his question, you hear some exasperation in his voice, perhaps even a bit of complaining himself. What shall I do with this people? You could almost hear Moses saying, perhaps he didn’t say it, but he probably thought it. Lord, don’t you remember at the burning bush, I told you I was not the man to lead this people. Look what’s happened. Complaining is like a virus. It’s very contagious. And even Moses is infected with it a little bit.

But God was merciful to both Moses and to the people of Israel. To say he was merciful is a huge understatement. He was amazingly merciful, wonderfully merciful. Once again, he did not deal with the Israelites as they deserved. God was within his rights to respond to their sinful quarreling with Moses, their complaining against the Lord. He was within his rights to strike them down, to destroy them there, but instead he gave them water. gave them water, and he did so in the most unusual and spectacular fashion. He led Moses and the elders of Israel to the foot of Horeb, which is another name for Mount Sinai. And Mount Sinai, as you know, will figure prominently as we go on in Exodus. Then the Lord appeared before them. Most likely he appeared in that pillar of cloud and fire. And we we learned that he was on the rock in some way the Lord himself was either on the rock or near the rock depending on how you translate the Hebrew and then by the Lord’s command Moses lifted up the staff of God and he struck the rock and as soon as he struck the rock water started gushing out of it.

Now thankfully for us as readers of the Old Testament thankfully for preachers we have an inspired and infallible interpretation commentary on this passage, and that’s in the New Testament, that’s in the passage that we read from 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 10, verses 3 and 4. Paul is speaking about the Israelites and their wilderness wanderings and he says all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and the rock was Christ the rock was Christ and so in this passage here is Christ he is the rock and what does it mean that the rock was Christ.

Well, it means that the rock and the water that flowed from it had a sacramental quality. And what I mean by that is that just as in our sacraments, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, the sacrament of baptism, in those sacraments there is a spiritual reality that is united with the physical elements. So here too, with the rock and the water, there is a spiritual reality that is united to those elements for the blessing for the good of the people of Israel and that is this that just as the water itself gave physical life physical sustenance to the people of Israel so it is the Lord it is the Lord who gives spiritual life who gives spiritual sustenance to his people and God gives us the spiritual life through his son Jesus Christ He is the promised Messiah. He is the one whom the Israelites were looking forward to. He is the one who was to come, who would bring salvation and eternal life to the people of God. But even before his coming into the world, even before the incarnation of Jesus Christ and his work of salvation, he was to the Israelites in the wilderness. He was to them the fountain of living waters, the source of eternal life. He was present there with them in this rock and the water that flowed from it.

And since the rock is Christ, it is very significant that the rock was struck by the staff of Moses, because in this way the Lord was teaching his people that the Christ would be the source to them of life-giving water, but only after he was struck, only after he would be struck by the staff of the judgment of God. And that is what took place, of course, at the cross. Jesus was struck down by the wrath of God. As we sing in our hymn, He was smitten, stricken, and afflicted. He was struck down for us sinners. And by His death, He gives us the forgiveness of sins, eternal life to all who believe in Him. He was struck so that He would be to us a fountain of living water. And after He died upon the cross, still hanging there, His dead body was pierced by the Roman soldier’s spear, and blood and water came flowing out of his side. And once again, the life-giving water flowed from the rock who was Christ.

And the water that flowed from the rock that Moses struck in the wilderness that day, this was not just a small trickle that barely sufficed to meet the needs of the Israelites. Don’t think of just a small stream kind of trickling out from this rock, but rather it was more like the gushing torrent of a swollen mountain stream in springtime. And we know it was like this because Psalm 78 tells us that. In Psalm 78 verses 15 and 16 we read, He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers. And so the picture that is given to us, the image that is given to us is that as soon as Moses hit this rock with his staff, it was like the bursting of a great dam. Suddenly gushing out of the rock was a torrent of cool, clear water that began to flow across the dry ground and all the Israelites could drink all that they wanted of it.

If the rock is Christ and the life that flows from Christ to you and me is not a small trickle of water, it’s not a few drops of water, but it is rivers of living water. Christ pours out his blessings on you, the blessings of joy and life and peace, not in small measure, but in abundance, in super abundance, in overflowing measure. As David says in Psalm 23, my cup overfloweth. and there is fullness of life in Christ. There is a super abundance of life and blessedness and every spiritual blessing that we could possibly desire in Jesus Christ because of who Jesus is. He is the incarnation of God himself. He is the one who is infinite in being and therefore he is the infinite inexhaustible source of life and blessedness. Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says, for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And so Christ is to us an inexhaustible supply of every spiritual blessing. Have you sinned? Are you guilty of sin? The blood of Christ is more than sufficient for you and for your sin and guilt. In fact, the blood of Christ is not only sufficient to take away your sin, it is sufficient to take away, if it were God’s will, the sins of the whole world, And not only that, but we’re at the will of God, the blood of Jesus that was shed upon the cross because He is the incarnate Son of God. That blood is of such inestimable value and worth that it would cover the sins of a million worlds of a fallen people. And so can the blood of Christ cover your sin? Is there forgiveness for you? Well, it is more than sufficient to cleanse and to purify you from all unrighteousness.

Are you fearful or anxious? The peace of God that is yours in Christ is a peace that surpasses understanding. Are you hopeless? Are you despairing? Every promise that God makes to you in Christ is yes and amen. Do you feel that you are unloved? If you have Jesus Christ by faith, you are not unloved, but the breadth, the length, the height, the depth of the love of God that he has for you in Jesus Christ surpasses knowledge. It cannot be measured. Just as Jesus himself cannot be measured, just as he himself is infinite and divine, so the love that he has for you is infinite and divine. In whatever way you are at need, you are like a thirsty person who comes to God and holds out an empty cup to God, hoping for just a few drops of water to wet your mouth, but instead of filling your cup, God leads you to the base of Niagara Falls and he says, here is the water that you need. Will this be enough for you now? Because if not, this is just a droplet of the fullness that I will give to you.

If you ask how can I come to experience this all-surpassing fullness of life in Christ, the answer is by faith. It is by faith, it is by coming to Jesus Christ as who He is, the Son of God who became man, entrusting yourself to Him, believing that He and He alone is the one and true source of eternal life by resting in Him as your Savior. And this is exactly what the Israelites failed to do. What a tragedy for these Israelites. Because God had been so good to them. He had made himself known to them. These Israelites were delivered from their bondage to Pharaoh and their bondage to Egypt. And after their deliverance, they received blessing after blessing from the Lord. He provided for them this flowing water. He provided for them the manna day after day. These Israelites witnessed and benefited from His miracles in the desert, and yet so many of them died in their unbelief. What a tragedy that they should then die because they failed to believe in the Lord. And what a tragedy it would be for you and me, for any one of us, to have Christ so near to us throughout our lives and yet never come to Him by faith and so to perish without Him. What a tragedy it would be for you and me to have heard the gospel week after week, to know the truth, to know that Christ is there, that He is our Savior if we but come to Him and yet fail to come to Him because of our unbelieving hearts.

Christ offers himself to you. He offers the fullness of life to you in the good news of the gospel. Hear the words of the psalmist, Psalm 95. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as at Meribah, as on the day at Massa in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. Do not be unbelieving as the Israelites were. but put your trust and your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and be filled with his life-giving waters. And don’t be satisfied with just a few drops of that life-giving water, but ask the Lord that he would give you a great thirst, a great thirst for Christ. Ask him for a thirst for Christ like the thirst that is described for us in Psalm 42 of the deer who pants for the stream. Psalm 42, 1 and 2, is a deer pants for flowing streams. So pants my soul for you, O God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Many years ago, I went on a week-long backpacking trip in the mountains and to help us carry all of our gear, we took along with us two or three llamas. And if you’re not familiar with a llama, it’s kind of a strange-looking creature. They must be related to camels in some way because they kind of look like camels, and they have this amazing ability to need very little water. And so after hiking uphill for hours and hours in the summer heat, we had our gear on our backs, but we also put a lot of gear and weight on the backs of the llamas, we’d come to a mountain stream flowing with ice-cold, crystal-clear water and You’d think that these animals would plunge their heads into the water and just drink and lap up as much as they could possibly drink, but instead they put their heads down to the water and they’d take one or two tiny little sips of water and they were good to go. That’s all they needed. They definitely weren’t thirsty. They were not the deer who pants for flowing streams.

But why should you and I be like that? Why should you and I settle for a few paltry sips, a few droplets of the life-giving water that flows from Christ? He offers us flowing rivers of living water. And make the delight, the treasure, the joy of your hearts. Make that the abounding spiritual life that Christ gives. Ask God for that thirst for Christ, a thirst that you just cannot quench, but you continually go to Him for more and more and more and want to be filled more with His life. And Jesus gives you this promise. If you seek Him, if you seek that living water that flows from Him, This is the same promise he gave to the woman at the well in John 4. Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. Let’s pray.

The post The Rock Was Christ appeared first on Mt. Rose OPC.

The Old Testament reading is Exodus, chapter 16, verses 1 through 36. So this is the whole chapter. And this is God’s holy, his inspired, infallible word. Let’s hear the word of God.

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month, after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pot and ate bread to the fool.

For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, at evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. And for what are we that you grumble against us?

And Moses said, when the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling, that you grumble against him, what are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.

And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, at twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God.

In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. And in the morning, dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? For they did not know what it was.

And Moses said to them, it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has gather of it. Each of you as much as he can eat. You shall take each an omer according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.

And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it over till the morning.

But they did not listen to Moses. And some left part of it till the morning. And it bred worms and stank, and Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted.

On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, this is what the Lord has. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will, bake, and boil what you will boil. And all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.

So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them. And it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it. But on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.

On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.

Now the house of Israel called its name ‘manna’. It was like coriander seed, white. And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded. Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.

And Moses said to Aaron, take a jar and put an omer of manna in it and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations, as the Lord commanded Moses. So Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. The people of Israel ate the manna 40 years till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. And Omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

And the New Testament reading is John 6:41, 51 and this is part of the Lord’s interaction with the Jews after the feeding of the 5,000 in which he instructs them concerning the true bread from heaven, which of course is himself. So John 6:41,51 so the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know how does he now say, I have come down from heaven?

Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

We are continuing our look at the book of Exodus, and last Sunday we saw what happens when the Israelites were led to a place where there was no water or there was water there, but it was undrinkable because it was bitter. And what happened was that the Israelites complained. They grumbled. Verse 24 says the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what shall we drink now, in this passage which we read here a few minutes ago, beginning in chapter 16, verse 1, this was probably several weeks after what took place last week.

But we see in this passage at the beginning what happens when the Israelites are led to a place with no food and surprise, surprise, their response is to complain, to grumble. And so we are told in verse two. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. You can’t accuse the Israelites of being inconsistent. They were predictable. They were consistent. No matter what sort of adversity came their way, you could rely on it. Their first response was to grumble, to complain.

And as we go along in the book of Exodus, we’ll see that this pattern does not stop, but they continue to complain along the way. But what I want to focus on with you today is not the grumbling of the Israelites, but the response of God to the Israelites, how He responded to their complaining and grumbling. And that is, he responded by giving them food to eat. First, he gave them quail in the evening, and then in the morning. And for the next 40 years, he gave them manna to eat as their daily bread.

First of all, the fact that God didn’t simply destroy the Israelites for their unbelief, for their sinful complaining against them, is a testimony to the grace of God, the mercy of God. And no doubt this demonstration of God’s patience, His forbearance, was one reason why the Lord gave the manna to the Israelites in the wilderness, to show them that he does not deal with them as their sins deserve. But as we read on in this chapter, and as we consider what other parts of Scripture say about this manna, we learn that there were other reasons why the Lord gave the Israelites this manna in the wilderness. And we’ll consider two of those reasons today. There are two reasons why God gave His people manna in the wilderness beyond, simply to provide for them so that they could live.

And the first reason is this. The Lord gave manna to his people in the wilderness in order to test them, to see if they would obey. The chapter, chapter 16 begins with the people of Israel leaving the place called Elam. And if you remember from last week, Elam was almost like a little paradise on earth. There was a lot of water there, 12 springs of water. Presumably there was plenty of, plenty of food there of some sort. If there wasn’t, we would have read about the Israelites complaining about that.

However, it was the Lord’s will for the people of Israel not to remain in Elam, where there was food and water and life was relatively easy. But it was his will that they would go through the wilderness. It was God’s purpose for them that in order for them to be brought into the promised Land, they would have to get there by going through the adversity, the affliction of the wilderness. And so they leave Elim and they come to a place called the Wilderness of Sin. And by the way, in case you’ve ever wondered about the name of that place, even though the Hebrews did a lot of sinning in that place, the name of the wilderness of sin has nothing to do with sin as we know it. It just so happens that that Hebrew word is the. Is pronounced sin. So it has nothing to do with sin as we understand it, but it is just the wilderness of sin. It’s just the name of it.

But sometime after they arrived to this place, the Israelites, they complained against Moses because they complained against Aaron as well. But they complained because there was no food to be had there. Verse 3, chapter 16. Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

All of a sudden, all of those years, centuries of backbreaking toil, of abject misery, being under the bondage, the tyranny of Pharaoh, all of a sudden, to the Israelites, those were the good old days. Every day was like an all you can eat buffet. Life was wonderful. But you, Moses and Aaron, you had to go and ruin all of it by bringing us out into this desert in order to kill us. You really have to wonder how well their memory was at this point of what their life was like in Egypt. But of course, a person or people, in this case with the complaining spirits, will say almost anything in order to give vent to their grumbling.

As Moses and Aaron later point out to the Israelites, their complaining, their grumbling was not really against them, but it was against the lord himself. Verse 8. They tell them, your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. And how true that is for us as well. When we find ourselves murmuring in our hearts or complaining. So often, we direct our complaints to this person or that person. But when we examine our hearts, what we find is that really our complaint is against God.

It is God who has brought us into these circumstances. It is God who is sovereign over the situation. And we don’t like it. And instead of complaining directly to him, we complain to those that we can blame for bringing us there. And that’s exactly what the Israelites were doing. Moses and Aaron were the targets of their unhappiness, their grumbling, but really their complaint was with God.

Now, at this point, you would expect that the Lord would respond to all of this ungratefulness, this complaining spirit on the behalf of the Israelites, with righteous indignation, with his judgment, with his wrath. But instead of raining down fire and brimstone upon the people of Israel as they deserved. He tells Moses that he is going to do something quite different. He is going to rain bread down from heaven upon his people, and so he will not deal with them as they deserve, but he will be merciful. He not only gives them bread in the morning, but the night before. He gives them quail as a kind of hors d’ oeuvre to tide them over until the morning.

But here’s an illustration of what is true of God in all of his dealings with us as Christians. Psalm 103 says, he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. And how thankful you and I should be that this is true of God, that though he is righteous, though he is holy, though he is in his rights to deal with us according to the terms of strict justice, he does not do that. But he is merciful, he is gracious, and in Jesus Christ he has shown us mercy. He is not given us that judgment that we deserve.

If we were to cry out for fairness, we wouldn’t want that from God. But he is merciful, and his purpose for us, his loving purpose for us in Christ is to redeem us, to sanctify us. And that was his purpose for his people, his people, Israel in the wilderness as well. And one way that he would show forth his loving, gracious purpose to them was to give them bread to feed them, even in spite of their grumbling and complaining.

The Lord provided for them, and he gave them this, or gave them their daily bread in the form of manna. The manna in the morning would appear on the ground as the dew evaporated. Moses tells us in verse 15 that when the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? For? They did not know what it was. And the question that they asked, what is it that became the name for this mysterious heavenly food? The Hebrew word for what is mon. And so mana or manna comes from the word for what? What is it? Well, that’s its name. But maybe you’ve wondered the same thing that the Israelites did.

What was this manna exactly? What did it look like? What did it taste like? Well, Moses gives us some description of it in verse 14. He says, and when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake like thing, fine as frost on the ground. And then he says in verse 31, now the house of Israel called its name Manna. It was like Coriander seed white. And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

And so it was a fine substance, it was flaky, it was white, like coriander seed, which, to be honest, I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but if you do, it looked like that it tasted like wafers made with honey. And the fact that it tasted like honey, that it was sweet, probably meant that it was quite a delicacy for the people of Israel. It’s not hard to imagine that, unlike us today, we love our sweet things. We have an abundance of sugary snacks to eat, but not so for the people of Israel.

So for them, it would have been a delicacy, quite a special treat, at least at first, because eventually, as you know, the Israelites will begin to complain because of all the manna that they have to eat every day. But this manna was from the Lord. It was for their good. It was a blessing. It was good to eat. And this wasn’t some kind of naturally occurring substance. Some people have tried to argue, just like with the parting of the Red Sea, there’s natural explanations that can account for what happened. That’s not the case with the manna. It wasn’t the case with the Red Sea.

You’re not going to go to the Sinai Peninsula today and find on the ground a line there, a manna, like they did in the days of the wilderness wanderings. But this was God’s supernatural, miraculous provision for his people during their 40 years in the wilderness. You notice that when those 40 years were up, the manna stopped. So this was God’s supernatural provision that they may eat and live in the wilderness. It was truly, as it is called in this passage, bread from heaven. It was a heaven sent food for his people.

Now, when the Lord said to Moses that he was going to give the Israelites this manna, he said that he would give it to them as a test. It would be a test. Look at verse four. Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day that I may test them them whether they will walk in my law or not.

So this was the test. Would the Israelites obey the commandments of God? Would they walk in his law? Would they do what he commanded them to do? And a big part of this test of obedience was that the Israelites were commanded to do something that would have been contrary to their common sense. The people of Israel, they were an agricultural people. So naturally they knew that there was wisdom in storing up food for the future so that if the crops didn’t come in next year, you would have food on hand to survive.

However, the Lord here commands the Israelites to do the very opposite of anything like that. They were only to gather enough manna for that day. This was not supposed to be a trip to Costco where you load up, you know, it was six months of food, food, but only for that day. They were to gather as much manna as they needed. Verse 4 says, the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day.

Specifically, they are to gather about an omer each. Apparently an omer is about two quarts. And this would have been enough food to sustain the average Israelite for the day. I don’t know if this would be enough food to for the average American today, but it was enough for the Israelites back then. And the only day that they were to gather more than one omer was on the sixth day, when they had to gather enough for two days. And the reason for that was because the seventh day was the Sabbath day. And on the Sabbath day, they were to rest.

They were to rest for their usual labors, which included going out and gathering manna in the morning. And so on the night of the sixth day, the Lord would miraculously preserve this manna from going bad. It wouldn’t get rotten overnight as it would on the other days of the week. And so the Israelites were commanded to gather only enough manna that they needed for that day for each person. That was the test.

Well, how did they do? Did they pass the test? Well, many of them did. In fact, probably most of them did. However, some we learn failed miserably. Verse 20 says, but they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and the bread, worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. And then later, not only that, but on the seventh day, when the Israelites were commanded that they were not to go out and gather manna that morning, some of the people went out anyway looking for manna on the ground. And so the Lord says to Moses in verse 28, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

Of course, Moses himself is not the one who was guilty of breaking God’s commandments. But the Lord is addressing the people of Israel through Moses. And so his verdict was that the Israelites failed the test. They did not obey his commandments, they were not faithful. They broke his laws concerning this manna.

Of course, if you and I Had been there, if we had been part of the Israelite people in the wilderness, we would have passed with flying colors, right? We would have kept God’s word to the T. We would not have tried to gather any more than that. We need that day. We certainly would not have gone out on the Sabbath morning to seek for manna.

Well, let me ask you this. Have you ever worried about how you’re going to pay your bills next month? Have you ever been anxious about your future income? Have you ever felt a kind of fear or anxiety about some possibility of a financial disaster? If you have said yes to those questions, and I think that’s true for all of us, that you and I have been guilty of the same kind of thinking, the same kind of reasoning that led some of these Israelites to try to hoard some of the manna for the days ahead.

The Israelites thinking would be very familiar to us. They would reason something like this, sure, the manna was there this morning, but how do I know that it will be there tomorrow morning? It may not be there. And if I wake, what happens if I wake up sick and I can’t go out and gather any? I have mouths to feed, I have kids in the house. I’ll feel much better, I’ll feel much more secure if I simply go out and just gather a little bit more, just to set it aside for the next day, just in case.

And that was their thinking, which really was the fruit of, of distrust. It was their anxiety, their fear, their worry because they had failed to trust in the Lord. And we can all understand that. We have all been there. We fail to trust in the promises of God to provide for us. And so out of that we sinfully in one way or the other, we act in a way that’s not pleasing to him.

But really at the heart of the matter, the test of obedience was a test of trust. Would the Israelites believe God? Would they believe him when he promised that he provide manna for the next day? Would they entrust themselves and their welfare into the Lord’s hand? That is the test that the Lord gives us, or that is what we face in our day to day lives in this world.

Whenever we are anxious, whenever we are worried, whenever we are fretful about how we will make ends meet, what will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear, and so on, we are succumbing to that same kind of anxiety and worry that led the Israelites to break God’s commandments. Jesus teaches us to pray, give us this day Our daily bread. There’s a promise implied in that prayer. The promise is that the Lord will give us our daily bread, just as he supplied, literally, the daily bread for the Israelites with this daily manna on the ground.

Do you really trust in God’s promise that he will provide for your needs? Jesus commanded us to, therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Are you anxious about tomorrow? Are you worried about the months ahead, the years ahead? Or are you resting in the promise of God that you need not be anxious for tomorrow? Tomorrow will be anxious for itself. And so God’s will for you and me is that we believe his promise. Trust in him that he will provide the daily bread that we need.

Consider the Israelites. We’re just considering now in this chapter how the Lord provided manna for them. But we learn later in the Old Testament that the Lord not only provided their daily bread, but he gave them clothes and that they did not wear out. He gave them shoes that did not wear out. They were not in need. They did not go naked and hungry. But the Lord provided provided for them. Of course, he did not give them a gourmet meal every day. He did not provide them with designer shoes and a fancy wardrobe. But the Lord provided what they needed according to God’s definition of what their needs truly were.

And if the Heavenly Father took such good care of his people, then he will certainly take care of you and me today. He loves us in His Son, Jesus Christ, just as he loved his people, then he is still he is the one who promises to provide for you. The One who provided for his people in the wilderness says he will provide for you and me.

And so the first reason why God gave His people manna in the wilderness was to test their obedience. 

The second reason God gave Israelites the manna was to show them what their deepest need really was. It wasn’t manna, but something deeper. In Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3, Moses says this to the people of Israel. This is Deuteronomy 8:3. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Now, when the Bible tells us here that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God, it is telling us something that is very, very important. Concerning what it means to be human. What does it mean to be a human being? What is man? This is perhaps the most pressing question that we face today. What is man? What does it mean to be a human being?

And there are basically two possible answers to that question. We can distill all the various answers to that question to basically two answers. The first would be the answer that is given by the prevailing worldview of today. That is the worldview, the philosophy of naturalism and materialism. This is a philosophy that denies the truth of God, that he is the creator of all things. It denies the truth of creation, that we were made by God. According to this worldview or philosophy. As a human being, what you are is purely a physical being. You are nothing more than the evolutionary result of chemical reactions, of random mutations. And therefore, you are completely of this material, natural world, this physical world.

Now, of course, you are a complicated physical being. You have certain other needs that other animals don’t. You have needs that are emotional and relational and so on. But nevertheless, in essence, you are material. You are the stuff of this world. You are physical, and that’s all you are. And based on this understanding of what it means to be man, we would have to say that, yes, man does live by bread alone. As long as our needs are met by the things of this world. Food, water, shelter, safety, relationships, maybe a few other basics. As long as you have these things, then you have all that you need for life. Why? Because you are just a physical being. Therefore, what more could you possibly want?

And yet, some of the most miserable people in this world are those who lack none of these things, who have all of their felt needs met and abundantly met. And yet there is within them a profound emptiness, profound joylessness. This materialistic view of man just doesn’t square with reality. We sense that life has to be more. There must be more to life than what this world offers. Even the abundance of all that we can gain from this world. Food, drink, wealth, friendships, and so on. And yet we have a sense that there’s got to be more. I need more than this. We’re more than just physical beings.

So the second possible answer to the question of what is man? What is a human being, the biblical answer, the true answer, is this. That, yes, we are, in part, physical beings. But more fundamentally, you and I are spiritual. We are spiritual creatures. Of all that God created, including the angels themselves. Of all that God made in all creation, Only one part of his creation was made in his likeness, his image. And that is you. It is me. Man, humanity. And this is where a correct view of man must begin. That at heart, though we are physical, we have bodies, we have physical needs, and so on. At heart you are a spiritual creature. And therefore, because God created you, and because God created you to have life in communion with Him, God has given you an inbuilt longing to have that life in knowing him as your Creator, as your God.

And for that reason, because we are created by God in His image, because we are spiritual in essence, you and I cannot be truly satisfied with only the stuff of this material physical world. And yet, in our sin and unbelief, we seek our life in this world, in our unbelief, we try to feed our souls with the bread, with the things of this world. And yet it doesn’t truly satisfy. Man does not live by bread alone.

Earlier we heard from the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, Our Lord said this. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh, the manna. Yes, it sustained the life of the Israelites for 40 years through the wilderness. And yet they died.

It did not give them everlasting life, it could not give them eternal life. But the very same Lord who reigned manna down from heaven upon his people Israel, in the fullness of time, He Himself, in His incarnation, he came into our world, this very same God in the person of Jesus Christ. And he came to us in order that we might know him as true bread, true life. He came to die for us, to be raised again in order to give us what is truly bread from heaven. And you can only receive this bread of life, this true bread from heaven. You can only receive it as you come to Jesus Christ by faith.

And until a person puts their trust in Jesus Christ, until a person comes to him by faith believing that he is Lord, believing that he is the Savior of His sins, or the Savior from His sins, until then, Jesus cannot truly, while we cannot truly enjoy him or know him or his life giving bread, we must come to him by faith. Until we come to know Christ, his word. All that the Scripture reveals will only be so much religious talk. All that takes place in worship, the sacrament, all this will be so much religious ritual, empty of any meaning, until we come to Know the Son of God by faith, apart from faith and the words of the psalmist, a person cannot taste and see that the Lord is good.

In his final book of the Chronicles of Narnia series, CS Lewis and the book is the Last Battle, he describes the scene in which there is a group of dwarves. The dwarves find themselves in what they think, and to them it truly was this dark and filthy stable for donkeys. And because of their spiritual blindness, that’s where they were. But there were others who were physically with him, standing with him, but they were standing in a place that was like a paradise. And no matter how many times the others who were standing in what was like a paradise tried to make the dwarves understand that they were not standing in a dirty donkey stable, they would not listen. And as long as they would not listen, they remained in that stable.

And then Lewis describes how Aslan, the king of that world, who of course is Christ, he appears and he makes for the dwarves a feast of fine food. And this is what the book says. Aslan raised his head and shook his mane. Instantly a glorious feast appeared on the dwarf’s knees. Pies and tongs and pigeons and trifles and ices. And each dwarf had a goblet of good wine in his right hand, but it wasn’t much use. They began eating and drinking greedily enough, but it was clear that they couldn’t taste it properly.

They thought they were eating and drinking only the sort of things you might find in a stable. One said he was trying to eat hay, and another said he had got a bit of an old turnip. And a third said he’d found a raw cabbage leaf. And they raised golden goblets of rich red wine to their lips and said, ugh, fancy drinking dirty water out of a trough. Never thought we’d come to this.

The problem with the doors is that they were spiritually blind. And until the Lord takes away that blindness, we can have no taste for the life giving bread that Christ came to give us. And I think the question for us is, do we have such a taste for Christ? Do we have a hunger and a thirst for the spiritual food that only Christ can give us?

In John chapter six, we’re told how the Jews followed Jesus after he fed them with the bread. When he fed the 5,000 the bread and the fish, they followed Jesus, but they only followed him for what he could give them, for the bread that he gave them. They failed to see that he himself was the true bread of heaven. Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say, to you. You are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

What do you seek for in Jesus? Why would you follow Jesus? What are you seeking for? Some people, they seek Jesus because of some advantage or benefit that they desire to receive from Him. Some people would profess at least to follow Jesus in order to make perhaps their family happy, their parents happy. Some would follow Jesus at least externally. They would seek Jesus only for the advantage that he might give to them, that they might enhance the reputation of being churchgoing Christian people. There are some people, sad to say, who seek Jesus only because they have this false hope that Jesus will provide for them the earthly riches that they desire. There’s only one reason to seek Christ, and that is for the eternal life that he gives for Jesus himself.

Don’t follow Jesus for some other reason besides Jesus, but follow him for him. That you may know him. That you may know the love of God that comes to you from him. That you may know the joy, the peace, the hope that only comes with a true communion with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. He Himself is the true bread from heaven. Yes, he is the source of every good gift and every perfect gift, every blessing that he gives to us in this world. But that’s not why we seek Him. We seek him for himself, because he is life. He is the only one who can fill your heart with the everlasting life that nothing in this world can give. He is the bread of life. Feast on him.

And so God gave His people manna to show them their true need, that is for the bread from heaven. In verse 32, the Lord commands Moses. This he says, or this is what Moses says. This is what the Lord has commanded. Let an omer of it, that is the manna, be kept throughout your generation so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.

According to the Book of Hebrews, this manna that had been set aside, eventually it was placed in some kind of golden urn. And eventually, after the ark was built, it was placed into the Ark of the Covenant, along with the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, and also with Aaron’s staff that budded it. Presumably, though the Bible doesn’t say so, but presumably from time to time, the high priest or someone would take out the jar of manna to remind the Israelites of why the Lord gave their fathers the manna in the wilderness. That was in order to test them, to see if they would obey. But also to show them that their true need was not the manna itself, but the word of God or the life that God gives.

Now, of course, today we no longer have this jar of manna to behold, to look at. We no longer have the ark of God and everything that was in it. But we have something far better than that. We have the promises that God gives to us in the Scripture. And if you ever begin to question God’s provision, if you ever begin to worry about whether or not you will have what you need for life in this world, if you ever begin to worry that somehow the Lord is going to withhold something needful for you or good for you, you go to the promise of God in the Scriptures.

Go to Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for his all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” The Israelites grumbled and complained in the wilderness, and yet the Lord graciously gave them manna to eat. And despite your sin, despite my sin, our Father in heaven, out of his love for us, he graciously gives us His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior from sin. And he promises that if he has given us His Son, how will he not also with him give us all things that we need?

And so God, because He has given you Christ, he will most certainly freely give you all that is truly needful in this life. And he promises to give you all that you need for the fullness, the perfection of life and joy and peace in the world to come. Let’s pray.

The post The Bread of Life appeared first on Mt. Rose OPC.

The Old Testament reading is Exodus 15: 22-27, and this is God’s infallible, His inerrant word.

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. Therefore, it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. 

Our New Testament reading is John 4:7-26. John 4, 7 through 26. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans?

Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.

Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you, am he. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

You can turn back to Exodus chapter 15. This is our sermon text for this morning. Last week, as we looked at the first part of chapter 15, saw how the Israelites sang a wonderful praise song of Thanksgiving to the Lord. They sang God’s praises out of gratitude to Him for the salvation that He had just worked for them. He brought them across the Red Sea on dry land. He destroyed all their enemies, the Egyptians. And in our passage this morning, we learn what takes place over the next few days or several days after that deliverance at the Red Sea. After they left the shores of the Red Sea, it began their journey in the wilderness. And if the Israelites at that time, if they had wanted to keep singing, and if they had had a hymn book at the time, The hymn that they should have chosen to sing after they left the Red Sea is the hymn, Trust and Obey. Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but trust and obey. Those words from that hymn really summarize the lesson that the Lord was teaching the people of Israel in this passage here and really a lesson that the Lord continued to teach the people of Israel throughout their time in the wilderness. The Lord was showing them their need for them to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to entrust themselves to His word, to His promises, to His care, and at the same time He was calling them to obedience, obedience to His word and commandments.

And as Christians as the Lord directs our lives, as he guides us in this world, this world which is to us a wilderness just as the wilderness of the Israelites was the place they were at until they came into the promised land. So in this world we are pilgrims, we are sojourners looking forward to that eternal promised land of heaven that God holds out for us. but the Lord also impresses upon us he wants to teach us this lesson as well over and over again we must learn this lesson over and again and that is trust and obey there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey and so we’ll consider that this morning as we look at this passage, there are three parts of this passage that we will consider.

First, the Lord tested the Israelites. Secondly, the Lord promised to bless the obedience of the Israelites. And thirdly, the Lord showed the Israelites the greatness of His provision for them. So we’ll consider each of those three parts of the passage. 

First of all, the Lord tested the Israelites. Verse 22 says this, Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness ashore. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Somewhat like the Israelites, we here in Reno, we live in a desert environment and it wouldn’t be hard for us to imagine that if we took a three-day journey eastward that we could easily find ourselves in a place where there was no water.

That’s what happened to the Israelites. They left the Red Sea. They are in this wilderness, ashore. The wording of verse 22 isn’t super clear. Either the Israelites went three whole days without water, or else after three days of traveling in the wilderness, they ran out of water. But either way, they were in need of water. Probably in dire need of water. No doubt that they were suffering by now from a searing thirst. And a person can live quite a long time without food, but a person cannot live very long without water, maybe three to five days.

And so the Israelites, here they are in a desert with no water. They are in a very dangerous situation. These are very distressing circumstances. But what made it even worse is that they thought at last they had found water when they came to this place called Marah. But of course they were severely disappointed. They had been marching in the desert wilderness, their canteens were empty, their animals were staggering with exhaustion, their children were crying uncontrollably because of their thirst, and then suddenly the Israelites see this pool or spring of water in the distance.

The sun is causing the surface of the water to shimmer in the rays of the sun. They see the water. They drop their sacks. They run towards it. They’re almost delirious with joy and relief that at last they can quench their searing thirst. But when they stoop down to fill their mouths with that refreshing, cool water, they spit it out in disgust. As soon as it hits their tongues, the water was no good. It was bitter. It was totally undrinkable. Probably it was bitter because of dissolved mineral spirits that for one reason or another had permeated the water.

And so there they were, the Israelites in the wilderness, completely now demoralized, despairing. They are standing next to this spring or pool of water, but they could not drink a drop of it. And how do they respond to this situation? How do the Israelites deal with this very trying circumstance when their lives seemingly are in danger? They’re completely demoralized now that this water turns out to be bitter. What does the passage say? What does the text say? Does it say, And the people remembered all the wondrous works that God had done for them, how he had spared the Israelites from the plague, how he brought them out on the night of the Exodus, and how he parted the Red Sea.

The people remembered God’s promise to bring them into the Promised Land. and they patiently and cheerfully waited upon the Lord to give them all that they needed. If your Bible says that, you’ve got a bad version of the Bible. That’s not what our Bibles say. Instead, it says in verse 24, the people grumbled, they murmured, they complained, they grumbled against Moses. They were overcome with anger, with frustration, with despair, and so they complained. You might even say they became a bunch of whiners. The same congregation who filled the air by the Red Sea with their praises, their worship of God just three days ago. Now they are filling the desert air with their voices, their sounds of complaining and grumbling against the Lord and against Moses. Have you ever praised God on Sunday and then complained on Monday? You don’t have to raise your hand or answer that question. I think we’ve all experienced that. 

So the people grumbled. And in the time-honored tradition of godly people everywhere, they complained to their pastor. They spoke against Moses. They directed their anger towards him. But really, their complaints, although directed towards Moses, their human leader, they were expressing, they were venting their resentments, their anger against the Lord. The only thing that was more bitter there at Marah than the waters was the bitterness that filled the hearts of the people of Israel. And as we’ll see as we go on in Exodus, this is not a one-off event. This is not some kind of isolated incident in which the people were overcome with frustration and they complain and they grumble to the Lord and to Moses, but no, they’ll go on again and again throughout Exodus to complain.

At heart, they were so often an ungrateful, a discontent people, unbelieving, forgetting all that the Lord had done for them, all that he had promised them. And by their complaining here in this passage, what they reveal in their complaining is a fundamental spiritual failure on their part, and that is that they failed to entrust themselves to the Lord. They failed to believe in God. They failed to trust that God would provide for them. That is the reason why the Lord led His people to this specific place in the first place.

He led them to these bitter waters in order to test them, to see if they would trust Him in the midst of adversity. And we know how they performed on that test. They failed miserably. They got an F-. They failed to trust in God. And they failed in many ways. First of all, they failed to trust in God’s provision. It was not so long ago, the night of the Passover, when the Israelites left Egypt, they took their unleavened dough with them. They left with the clothing and the valuables of the Egyptians. In fact, they left Egypt with all that they needed for life. That should have taught them that the Lord would continue to provide for them, that he was not going to let them die of thirst and starvation in the wilderness. Secondly, they failed to trust in God’s promises. God had promised them, the reason why he had brought them out of the land of Egypt was to bring them into the land of Canaan. He had promised the patriarchs that their people would inhabit that land. That was God’s promise, that they would be brought into Canaan.

And yet they’re acting like they’re about to die here in the wilderness as though God had never promised that at all. Thirdly, they failed to trust in God’s wisdom. And from a purely human perspective, as we consider this, it seems very foolish. Why in the world would the Lord lead over one million thirsty people through a dry wilderness for three days only to bring them to a place where the water was undrinkable? And so when they’re murmuring, they’re grumbling against Moses, against the Lord, they are calling into question, they are doubting the wisdom of God.

They didn’t think he knew what he was doing. And as we read about the Israelites, as we hear how they responded to this situation, it’s very easy for us today to look back on them and say, how could they possibly be so foolish? How could they be so forgetful? How could they fail to trust in the Lord? It was not so long ago that God showed them the power of His might in delivering them from Egypt. The plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of the Egyptians, the way He provided for them on the way out of Egypt.

How could they fail to trust in God, whose very presence was with them in the pillar of cloud and fire? How could they fail to trust in Him when these miracles, these acts of God on their behalf were so fresh on their minds? But we would be no different because we betray as well a basic mistrust, a failure to believe in God and in his promises to us. We fail to trust in God’s provision. It’s called worry, anxiety, fear. The Israelites expressed their anxiety over what they would drink, they say in verse 24, what shall we drink? What shall we drink? 

Many, many centuries later, the very Lord who heard these unbelieving words expressed by the Israelites in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, that very same Lord, he said to his disciples, therefore, do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Those are words that Jesus speaks to you and me.

That’s the promise that God gives to us through His Son. Do not worry, do not be anxious. You will be provided for, and yet, how often have you worried? How will I pay the bills? How will I make ends meet? How will I make enough money to provide for my family? And when you worry, you are anxious. When you are anxious, you forget that you are a child of God, a child of your Heavenly Father. He knows what you need. He knows your needs even before you become aware of them. And He promises that He will give you all that you need for life in this world.

Like the Israelites, we also fail to trust in the promises of God. And the one promise of God, the overarching promise that should be most precious to us in times of fear or times that are distressing, is the one promise we forget, and that is this, that God promises that He will work out all things for our good. And so, so often you and I find ourselves in circumstances that are painful, that are distressing and we think to ourselves, or we cry out perhaps, why Lord? Why am I going through this? Why are you allowing me to suffer in this way? Why do you not take this affliction from me? Why am I dealing with this? Oh Lord, you are powerful, you can take away this suffering. But in every situation no matter how grievous, no matter how painful, no matter how stressful, no matter how frightening, God promises you, as one who belongs to Jesus Christ, His Son, that He is at work in those circumstances, in those particular circumstances, He is at work for your good, for your everlasting good, for your eternal happiness.

And this promise of God is similar, we could relate to the fact that God was with his people in this great pillar of cloud or this pillar of fire. It was a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. All the Israelites had to do was to look up in the sky and see that the Lord was with them. The presence of God was there. And they would be assured that God has their good in mind. He is there with them. He brought them to this place. And all you and I have to do is to remember that promise.

That promise is with us wherever we go, even in a place of bitterness, a place of suffering. I am working on this too. I’m working in these circumstances, even these circumstances for your good, to do you good, to bless you. And so no matter where you are right now, no matter what the circumstances of your life are right now, no matter how difficult they are, no matter how far from ideal they are, perhaps you are in a place that is called Mara. You are in a place where there is much bitterness, much distress, but no matter, the Lord and His promise is there with you.

He is working out His loving and gracious and holy purposes for you in your circumstances where you are today. And like the Israelites, we also fail to trust in the wisdom of God. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that just don’t make any sense. They are perplexing. Bewildering. Why is this happening to me? I don’t understand. Perhaps the Lord closes the door to a job that would have been perfect for you. Or maybe you’ve saved enough money for that $3,000 car repair, and then the next day you go to the dentist and find out you need $4,000 worth of dental work.

And you think, why, Lord? Why is this happening to me? It makes no sense. And of course, we feel that all the more intensely when a far worse tragedy strikes us. When a loved one dies, a loved one dies unexpectedly. It seems so inexplicable. Why? Why now? Why her? 

One of the saddest news stories I ever remember reading was about a young soldier who had just returned to his base up in Alaska. And he had just finished serving a tour of duty. I forget if it was Afghanistan or Iraq, but someplace where there was war. And he had survived that. And he got back to the base. And just a few days or weeks after returning back to the safety of the base, his car hit a moose. And he was killed. And it’s hard to imagine trying to process that. It makes some sense that a soldier would be killed in a combat zone. But to be killed by a moose when you come back to the base? Surely his family was asking, God, why? Why would you allow this? Why would you bring him safely through a war zone only to have him die in this way?

But God is infinite in wisdom. He is perfect in wisdom. And He always chooses the very best means to achieve the very best ends. Our good, His glory. And so, the circumstances that we find ourselves in, the things that happen to us, all the affairs of life, this is all the outworking of God’s perfect purpose, His plan for us. A plan that is perfect in every way. God had a reason for bringing the Israelites to Marah. It seems so illogical, so inexplicable, but God had a reason for it.

And He has a reason for everything. that he brings into your life, for every place where he leads you, for all the difficult, bewildering situations that he brings you in at times, he has a purpose for that. The Israelites show us what distrust and unbelief look like, but Moses, he is a bright, shining example in this passage of what faith and trust look like. First of all, unlike the Israelites, he doesn’t murmur, he doesn’t complain and grumble, but he prays. He prays. One author said, Moses’ one prayer of faith accomplished more than all the complaining of the Israelites. And he didn’t question God’s wisdom. After he prayed, the Lord showed him a log, or perhaps a tree, and he told him to throw it into the water. Moses didn’t say, Why should I do that? What will the log do? How will this help the water? But he obeyed God’s command. And once the log hit the water, the water became sweet. It was no longer bitter. The Israelites could drink of it. Truly that log became a tree of life to the Israelites that day. 

But as we read this passage, and we consider it and consider our lives in the light of it, we see that this passage is a little too much like a mirror that reflects our own failure to believe and to trust. We see here an all too clear reflection of our own failure to trust in God. But the good news is that there is a savior for those who fail to trust in God as we should. Part of the good news of the gospel is not just that Jesus died for our sins, of course that is the heart of the gospel that God, that Jesus died for us, but part of the gospel is that Jesus also lived for us. He lived the perfect life that you and I have failed to live. And his life was a life of perfect obedience to the will of God, beginning with perfect trust.

And His Heavenly Father in all circumstances. Jesus never once failed to commit Himself wholly to the care of His Father. He was never worried. He was never fretful. He never gave up hope. He never once questioned the wisdom of God. And the Gospel tells us that by faith in Jesus Christ, this perfect obedience on the part of Christ, His perfect trust in God, this is counted as your very own and as though you yourself have trusted in the Lord at all times. And at the same time, there is forgiveness for you and for me when we are like the Israelites, when we fail to trust in the Lord.

So after the Lord tested the Israelites, he promised to bless their obedience. After the Lord made the water sweet and drinkable with this log that Moses threw into it, we read this in verse 26, and this is the Lord’s words to Israel. If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians for I am the Lord your healer. 

And so the issue here in this verse is a question of obedience. Will the Israelites, will they obey the commandments of the Lord? Will they do what he commanded them to do? Will they be blessed in that? Or will they disobey and forfeit that blessing? We have to read further on in the Old Testament to find out what the answer to that is, but I know that you know the answer already. 

The history of Israel in the Old Testament is a history of unbelief, of disobedience, of failing to keep the commandments of the Lord. But the Lord calls them to obedience here, and the obedience that He calls them to has everything to do with the trust that the Israelites just failed to demonstrate in the Lord. Because the obedience that God calls His people to is an obedience that begins with trust, it begins with faith, it begins with entrusting ourselves to Him as our God. The Lord says that they are to diligently listen to the voice of God. They are to give ear to His commandments. That is an act of faith. Believing that these are from the Lord. That He knows that they are good for us. That I trust in His Word and then obey out of that trust. And so, you and I, we must exercise trust in the Lord and in His Word in order to render Him that obedience that He requires of us.

And so that same distrust that led the Israelites to grumble and complain against the Lord, it would also lead them to disobey God’s commandments. And so that’s why God calls for their obedience right after He tests their trust in Him. And if they would obey God, God promises them that they would not be afflicted with the same plagues that He afflicted the Egyptians with. And the reason was because the Lord was their healer. If the God or if the Israelites would obey the word of the Lord, they would obey his commandments, he would bless them by sparing them the plagues and the diseases that he placed on the Egyptians that otherwise the Israelites would deserve as well.

And so God promises the Israelites here that he would bless their obedience and the same is true for us. God makes the same promise to us today. He promises to bless obedience. Now that doesn’t mean that the obedience that you and I render to God by His grace, that this somehow earns or merits His favor or blessing. It’s not as though we put God in our debt by obedience, but what this passage is saying is that God graciously blesses those who seek to obey Him, not on the basis of merit or grace, or not on the basis of merit or works, but on the basis of grace.

This is a covenant promise of covenant blessing to his covenant people for obedience to his covenant demands. And that covenant is a covenant of grace. It is a covenant of grace. It was by grace that the Israelites were in this covenant with God in the first place. And it was only by the grace of God that they could render to God that obedience that he requires of them. and the same is true for you and me and Jesus Christ the obedience that God requires of us this is a fruit of his grace and God is gracious and blessing that obedience nevertheless what God says is obey me and I will bless you you will be blessed in that and what is that blessing that God promises for obedience to his commandments by faith in Christ it is not a promise similar to the promise that God made to the Israelites here God does not promise that he will spare us from disease or from sickness or from suffering but the blessing of God is spiritual the blessing that God promises to give us as we by his grace walk in obedience to his commandments is the blessing of the enjoyment of his goodness and grace and favor having his face shine upon us knowing that we are his and that he is ours Our catechism speaks of these spiritual blessings that God pours out upon us as we walk in obedience to his commands by his grace, the assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, grace and perseverance therein to the end.

And so we are justified by the grace of God, by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from works, apart from obedience, but having been brought to Christ, having been adopted as the children of God, God calls us to obey Him, He gives us the grace and the will to do so, and He promises, I will bless that obedience. And so the Lord promised to bless the obedience of the Israelites. Thirdly, the Lord showed them the greatness of His provision for them. So look at verse 27. It says, Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

So it was God’s will to bring them to a better place. Even though the water was made sweet, Mara was still in some way a place of bitterness for the Israelites, but God had a better place in mind for them. And he leads them to this place called Elim. And we are told very specifically that there were 12 palm trees, or I’m sorry, 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. Now, why is that detail included? Why is it important for us to know exactly how many springs of water, how many palm trees were there? Well, I believe that there were literally 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees there, but these numbers are symbolic. They are representative of a spiritual truth, and that is this. that God is a God who gives in abundance. He gives in fullness. Twelve and seventy are numbers that communicate the idea of abundance. And so the point of these numbers is that there was more than enough water to provide for the Israelites in their number. The place there was more than sufficient to sustain them for as many days as they would camp there.

There was an abundance of water there. and that gets us to an even greater significance of Elim in this passage, and that is this, that this place represents the super abundance, the overflowing greatness of the blessing of God, of the grace of God, of the life of God that he gives to his people. We might use the words of Psalm 23 at Elim, “the cup of the Israelites runneth over”. It was not just full, it was running over. Or in the words of Jesus, Elim was their good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, that was put into their lap.

And it is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who promises to give us not just life, but abundant life – super abundant life. He says in John 7:38, “Whoever believes in me”, as the scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”. And this is the true water that God gives to us as his people. The water that alone can quench the thirst of our souls, the life, the joy, the peace that our hearts long for that can only be found in the Son of God in Jesus Christ. And, it’s just just as the Israelites found that in Elim there was not just a trickle of water there was not even just sufficient water but there was an abundance of water twelve springs of water so those who are led by the grace of God to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ find in him rivers rivers of living water not a cup or two the flowing water abundant water to satisfy our thirst and more.

And that living water is there for you now to satisfy your soul’s thirst. Because just like the Israelites then, we are a people who are pilgrims in this world. We are making our journey to the promised lands. And like the Israelites then, we often encounter places in this life that we could call Mara, places of bitterness and distress. There is so much in this sad and fallen world that is bitter. All the evil things that men and women do. The sorrow and pain of disease and death. The grief of broken relationships. We live in a world where at times it seems the forces of ungodliness and unrighteousness triumph. But even in this bitter and fallen world, Jesus is an oasis where you can go to be filled with life-giving waters. And there is no other source of this abundant life, these flowing rivers of life, than in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why we read from John chapter 4, that passage where Jesus speaks with this Samaritan woman at the well. He offered this woman this very same life-giving water. He even calls it living water. He says in verse 14 of John 4, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. 

Jesus knew this woman. He knew that her heart was thirsty for this water of life that she was seeking for, looking for, seeking to quench her thirst with the things of this world. And she had been seeking that life in men, but her heart’s thirst was never satisfied. She had had five husbands, and now she had another man who was not her husband. And perhaps she thought to herself at some point, this last relationship, this fifth husband that I’ve had, this has left me empty, but maybe things will be different with this new one, with this new man. Maybe this is the man who will finally fulfill the longing of my heart. But of course, just like before, because she sought to fill her heart’s desire in a creature, in a man, she sought that which only Christ could give her.

The hope for living water became for her bitterness. And that is true for whatever it is in this world – that a person might look to satisfy their heart’s thirst for living water. It could be like the woman at the well, a relationship, or it could be our idea of success, or it could be simply pleasure or wealth. And from a distance, just like the waters of Mara seem to the Israelites to be pools of refreshing, cool water, so these things to us seem to be like life-giving sources.

I will fill my hearts with joy and contentment only after I make so much money, or if I have this perfect relationship, or if I can only experience these things in this world. But then after we’ve drunk from these things, seeking to quench the thirst of our hearts, we’re left instead, not with fulfillment, but with emptiness, perhaps even disappointment and bitterness. And maybe your own heart today is thirsting for the living water that only Christ can give. 

Maybe you have been drinking deeply from the wells of the waters of this world, and they have become so unsatisfying to you. They have become even bitterness to you. will come to Jesus, put your hope in Him, come to the one who is the source of true life, true waters, and He will give you that water that becomes a spring of water, welling up within to eternal life. And if Jesus is the source of living waters in this life, how much more will He be that for you and me in the life to come? because now we drink of these waters by faith in Christ and it satisfies, but how much more will your heart be satisfied when on that day of glory you are in the presence of Jesus himself?

How much sweeter will your communion with Christ be then when you have no more sin? When you are raised up in a body that is immortal and incorruptible, how much greater will the love of Jesus flood your hearts when you see his face, when you hear his voice speaking to you. I imagine to the Israelites that after they left Marah and came to Elim, Elim must have seemed like a paradise to them compared to that place of bitterness. Well, the glory that Jesus is preparing for you and me will be filled with such life, such joy, such peace, such unspeakable blessedness that even the most blessed moments and times in this life will seem like bitterness in comparison to what is in store. And keep this hope before you. Trust in the Lord. Trust in Him and all of His dealings with you because He is leading you. He is guiding you. Your final destination is not in this world. It’s not in a better life in this world, but your final destination is in that glory that He is preparing for you. In this world, there are so many places that we could call “mara”, bitterness that the Lord is preparing for us a glory that will far outweigh all the blessings and joys that we may experience in this life. It will make all the experiences of bitterness and suffering seem like light momentary afflictions. And there in the presence of Christ, we will never be thirsty again forever. Let’s pray.

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The Old Testament reading is Exodus 15 verses 1-21 and this is the inerrant and infallible word of our God. Let’s hear God’s word. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my Father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariot and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up. The flood stood up in a heap, the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. You blew with your wind, the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who was like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders. You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples have heard, they tremble. Payings have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed. Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

Terror and dread fall upon them. Because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone. Till your people, O Lord, pass by. To the people passed by whom you have purchased, you will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever. For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them, sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

And now let’s turn to Revelation chapter 15. According to this passage in Revelation, this song that was sung by the people of Israel continues to be sung. In heaven, the song of Moses, as the saints glorified, sing praise to the Lord in heaven. Revelation 15 verses 1 through 4. Revelation 15, 1 through 4. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and also those who had conquered the beast and its image, and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. You may turn back to Exodus chapter 15.

This is our sermon text for this morning. Our passage this morning tells us what happened. Immediately after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. And if you recall from a few weeks ago, just before the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Moses told the people of God this. He said in chapter 14, verse 14, the Lord will fight for you. You have only to be silent. And did the Lord ever fight for his people? He not only parted the waters of the Red Sea in a miraculous way so that the people of Israel could cross on dry land, but he caused those two towering walls of water to come crashing down on the mighty army of Pharaoh so that all of his horsemen and soldiers and chariots were drowned in the water. And what role did the Israelites play in that great deliverance? Well, basically, none at all. Just as Moses had told them, they were silent. They had only to be silent to witness the almighty power of God as he brought them salvation. All they had to do was to step out in faith and to trust in the Lord and in his saving might. It was God who fought for them. It was God who accomplished their salvation.

But once they were across the sea, once their deliverance was complete, the Egyptians had been destroyed, they are safely on the far side of the Red Sea, now is the time for the Israelites to be no longer silent. Now was the time for them to rejoice, to make a joyful sound, to sing to the Lord Praises for this great redemption that he worked for them and that is what they do. No sooner are they on the other side of the shore that we read in verse 1 of chapter 15 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord. This is the first thing that they do on the other side of the sea. They don’t keep marching on, they don’t sit down to have breakfast, but they sang, they sang. And can you imagine what a sound, what a glorious sound that must have been. Remember there were probably over a million Israelites gathered there, perhaps even two million Israelites, and all their voices in unison rang out together the praises of God on the seashore. wonderful sound that must have been and then Moses later in chapter 15 tells us that his sister Miriam she took up the chorus and began leading the women singing the same song playing tambourines dancing for joy so that the Lord was glorified not only in the whole choir of Israel singing his praises but in these hundreds of thousands of women’s voices singing his praises as well and that too must have been an amazing sound to hear as well.

Well there’s a lot for us in this passage to learn as Christians because our response to the grace that God has given us is the same response as the Israelites to the grace God gave them and that is we are to praise God with our song. We are to sing his praises And so as we look at this song of Moses that he sang and that the people of Israel sang, we’re going to consider what does it teach us as the people of God today, as Christians, what does it teach us about our singing to the Lord? And the first thing that I want us to see here is the most obvious thing, and that is simply this, that the Israelites sang to the Lord. This was their response of gratitude and thanksgiving. They sang to Him their praises. And this is a pattern that we find over and over repeated in scripture. Whenever God does some great work of deliverance for his people, his people respond by singing his praises. For example, in the book of Judges, after the Lord defeats Jabin and the Canaanites, we read that Deborah, who was judging Israel at the time, and the general Barak, that they sing a song of praise for the salvation of the Lord. Or in 2 Samuel 22, after the Lord saved David and Israel from the Philistines, David sang a psalm of deliverance. He gave thanks to the Lord in song. Isaiah 51 11 looks forward to the day when the people of God will be restored from their time in exile and they will be brought back into the promised land. And they will not go back to the promised land with their mouths shut in silence, but they will go back singing the praises of God. Isaiah 51 11, And the ransom of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. And so when God does His works of salvation, they are followed by the praises of God’s people as they sing to Him His praise and His worship.

That same pattern is repeated in the New Testament Luke’s Gospel tells us that after Jesus the Savior was conceived even before he was born, that Mary, his mother, sang a praise, a song of praise to the Lord, the very Lord who was incarnate in her womb. She praised him with song. And then after the birth of Jesus, of course, we know that the angels of heaven formed this glorious heavenly choir and lifted up their worship and praise to God who had brought his son into the world. And so in our worship as Christians, we sing. This is what we do as the people of God, as those who have been saved by His grace. We sing. We sing His praises. We must sing. It’s almost impossible to conceive of anything that could go by the name of Christian worship that would exclude singing the praises of God. Christians have always sung, and we always will sing praise to God. because this is our proper, this is our God-glorifying response to the mercy, to the grace that we have received from God in His Son Jesus. When you read the book of Revelation and when you see John’s vision of heaven, the glorified saints there, the angelic hosts, the heavenly beings, how they are singing to the Lord, praising Him, worshiping Him with song. It’s clear that we will continue to sing beyond this world, beyond this life, and the life to come. Worshiping God will consist of this, our singing His praises, thanking Him, worshiping Him with song. One day our voices will join with that great heavenly chorus that sings forever and ever the praises of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Now one feature that we should take note of as we consider the song that the people of Israel sang here at the Red Sea is that they sang as a congregation. They sang together. This was not a musical performance for their entertainment. This wasn’t a concert. This was not an occasion to showcase the virtuoso talents of a few gifted musicians. But this was their united corporate expression of thanksgiving and praise in the form of song. This was their collective worship. They sang praises to God as one people, one body. And that’s how we are to sing our praises to God. We are to worship Him as one people, one body, one voice. Now that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for a choir or perhaps special music in Christian worship, but it does mean that nothing should replace or diminish the corporate singing of the people of God as one body. Romans 15, 6 says that we are together with one voice to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Israelites, this is the first lesson, They sing the praises of the Lord together as they rejoiced in that deliverance that God had worked for them at the Red Sea.

The second thing that I want us to observe about their singing is this. They sing to praise God for who He is. They simply worship the Lord for who He is as God. The great musician Johann Sebastian Bach, perhaps the greatest musician ever, he often inscribed the initials SDG on his compositions. And SDG stands for Soli Deo Gloria, and that’s a Latin phrase that means for the glory of God alone. And you could say that SDG, for the glory of God alone, is inscribed across this entire song that the people of Israel sing. This song is all about God and his glory. God, who he is, as the creator, as the redeemer of the people of Israel. It’s a song of thanksgiving and praise for who God is, as the one true and living God. And there are so many wonderful truths about God that we could examine In every verse of the song, we don’t have time to do that, but let’s just look at some of the ways that the Israelites praise the Lord simply for who He is. Verse three, the Lord is a man of war. In other words, the Lord fights for his people. Verse six, your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power. All power belongs to God. He is omnipotent. He can do all things, and he does all things according to his righteous will. No one can stay his hand. No one can frustrate or hinder his purposes. He is almighty in power. Verse 7 speaks of the greatness of his majesty God is majestic he is infinitely greater than anything that he has created he is infinitely greater than we are he is majestic in holiness in verse 11 says who is like you oh Lord among the gods who is like you majestic in holiness awesome in glory in glorious deeds doing wonders there is no God but the one God of creation, the God of Israel, the God of the Bible. All the gods of Egypt, all the idols of Egypt, they prove themselves to be nothing in the face of the mighty, the true God. And that is true for all the false gods, all the idols of other religions, all the idols of the world, all the idols of our own hearts. They are nothing before the true and the living God. verse 13 speaks of the steadfast love of God that is that God will always show his love and his mercy to his people whom he has made his own by his covenant of grace and in verse 18 we read that the Lord will reign forever and ever This God who saved the Israelites from the Egyptians on that day at the Red Sea. He is the Lord who reigned from everlasting, from all eternity. He is the Lord whose rule will extend to everlasting, to all eternity.

And as Christians, we must also praise God in our singing, as we sing our praises to Him for these very same reasons, because He is God. He is worthy to be praised. He is worthy of our singing, our worship. He is still a man of war who fights for us. He is almighty in power. He is majestic. He is the only true God. He is a God who has shown us and continues to show us love and mercy. And He reigns as Lord. And as Christians, we know that all of these truths about God, everything that is true about God is most supremely revealed in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, because his son is God in the flesh. And so we sing our praises to worship God, to glorify him as we sing them in the name of Jesus and to Jesus. It is Jesus who is the man of war who fights for his people. It is the risen and exalted Jesus who is almighty in power. He is majestic in holiness. He is love and he reigns as Lord and will reign as Lord forever and ever. And so we glorify Jesus by singing his praises. And when we sing our hymns and songs of praise to God to bring him glory as we sing the praise of Christ, the incarnate Lord. We do so primarily in order to glorify God. That’s what we’re all about, to worship Him. But God uses that worship of Him to build us up in our faith and in our love and devotion to Him.

Several years ago, I read a very helpful book on worship by an author named Marva Dawn. The book has a catchy title. We’re reaching out without dumbing down, a theology of worship for this urgent time. And one point that the author makes in the book is this, that one function, one purpose of our worship, obviously overall it’s to glorify God, but one other purpose for our worship in the songs that we sing to God is to form the character of the people of God. And she says this in the book, when God comes to us in all the fullness of who God is, our character will be transformed. Consequently, if our worship practices accord God the proper place and scope, who we are and what we are becoming as Christians will be rightly developed. And so the goal of our singing, the goal of our music in church and our worship, is first of all to glorify God, but In addition to that, it is to build up and to edify the people of God. It is to help develop in us, to form in us a Christ-like godly character. And only music and words that are centered upon and communicate the truth about the character, the greatness of God and Christ will do this. And so the songs that we sing really do matter. They really matter how we sing to God, what we sing to God, the words that we use to praise God. They matter most of all because God’s honor is at stake, but they matter because these songs are forming us as the people of God into a kind of people, a kind of people that God would have us to be. What kind of character do we want to see formed in us? What kind of character do we want to see formed in our children? Well, we want to be people for whom God is great. We want to be people who are deeply impressed with the majesty, the holiness, the glory, the weightiness of God. We want to be people who come before Him with reverence, with awe, with joy. One way to see that is to ensure that the hymns and the songs that we sing, that they truly do magnify, they glorify God, that they are theocentric, God-centered, that they are giving glory to Christ as well.

The New Testament recognizes this function of music and singing, that it is meant as well. And so these Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that we are to sing as the people of God they are of course to praise God but also in praising God we are teaching, we are admonishing one another we are administering to one another, we are building up one another even in our singing praises to God and that’s what the people of Israel here were doing even as they gave glory and praise and thanks to God they were teaching, they were admonishing one another They were growing together in this way, in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. And we do the same. And so this song of Moses sets the standard for what singing in worship should be. It is one way in which we worship God, glorify Him, but also in singing God’s praises in worship, we build up one another, we are built up in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, His Son. So that’s the second lesson. They praise the Lord for who He is.

Thirdly, the Israelites sang praise to God for what He had done for them. And so they praised God not only for who He is, but for what He had done for them. When Moses led the people of Israel in this song of praise to the Lord, it wasn’t as though he had spent the past few days meditating on all the attributes of God and filling his heart with the truth of God’s glory. And then this song was the result of his meditations. That’s a good thing to do, of course, but that wasn’t the case here. Rather, Moses led the people of Israel to praise the Lord because they had just experienced this most amazing deliverance. Remember, the Israelites are standing on the far shore of the Red Sea. The bodies of the dead Egyptians are washing up on the shore. And they sing this praise. It almost appears to be spontaneous. Of course, it’s inspired by the Spirit, but it’s this immediate response of praise and worship and thanksgiving on the part of the Israelites for the salvation that the Lord had just accomplished for them. And so the song exalts all that the Lord had just done for the Israelites. Moses begins the song by singing, I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The song goes on to describe in various ways how the Lord triumphed marvelously, gloriously over his enemies and the enemies of the people of Israel.

And one of the most remarkable things that the scripture tells us about this song of Moses is that this was not the first and last time that it was sung, but it is still being sung in heaven. By the saints and angels in glory, we saw that passage from John’s Revelation, or John’s vision in Revelation. He sees those who have conquered the beast with harps of God in their hands, and he says, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord, the God Almighty. And notice where John how John describes their situation. He says that they are standing by a sea of glass mingled with fire. And so just as the Israelites were standing by the Red Sea as they sang their song of praise to the Lord, so now in heaven John gives us his vision of the glorified saints, the angelic host, praising the Lord as they stand by this heavenly sea. And John tells us it’s not just the song of Moses that they are singing in heaven. but it’s also the Song of the Lamb. And so if the Israelites were praising God for the mighty deliverance that the Lord had worked for them, bringing them through the Red Sea, destroying their enemies, the Egyptians, so we praise the same God, not only with the Song of Moses, but with the Song of the Lamb. We give Him praise for the salvation He has worked for us through Jesus Christ, His Son. that Jesus came into the world, sent by the Father to lay down His life for our sins, that He was raised from the dead on the third day, that He came to deliver us from our bondage to sin and death, to bring the forgiveness of sins, to give us eternal life, to give us the promise of everlasting life and glory with Him forever. And if Jesus Christ is your Savior, if today your faith and trust and hope are in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Song of Moses is yours, the Song of the Lamb is yours. The Song of the Lamb, the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world. And so we sing in response to what God has done for us.

And just like with this Song of Moses, and the Song of Moses and of the Lamb that we hear in Revelation, songs of joy that we sing to the Lord. Now, when we take all of Scripture into consideration, we know that there are other states of mind or emotions that we may express to God in our singing to Him. We sing of the cross. We have hymns that sing of the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong later. Many of those hymns are in a minor key. God has given us the psalms as songs to express every emotion or state of mind that we may experience as God’s people. When you read the psalms, you see the psalmist giving vent to the state of his heart. It could be grief, it could be sorrow, it could be suffering, longing for God. We may sing to the Lord as an expression of different kinds of emotions or the state of our mind, but having said that, the predominant note, the prevailing theme in our hymns is joy. That is the note that is the recurring theme of our singing. This is the predominant theme, joy, rejoicing, thanking the Lord, for his salvation. And that’s because, above all else, as Christians, we have received God’s grace in his Son, Jesus Christ. We are a redeemed people. We are a saved people. We are a forgiven people. We are a heaven-bound people. And therefore, for most of our singing, the prevailing theme of our songs will be joy, rejoicing, thanksgiving, and gratitude for the grace that we have received in Christ. And that’s what music does. Music really is an expression, or it gives expression to our emotions, our feelings. You know that from your own experience, just not even thinking about singing in church or sacred music, but you listen to the kind of music you’re in the mood for. If you’re in a sad mood, you might listen to the blues. If your dog gets run over by a train, you might listen to country music. Very fitting for that. When you are happy, you want to hear a song that is as light-hearted as the feeling that you have in that happiness. But music goes even deeper than that. Music really is a vehicle for expression of the state of the soul, the state of the heart, the state of the person before God.

I once had a memorable and even somewhat jarring experience that brought home to me just how powerfully music can communicate the spiritual condition of those who make it and perform it. I was living in Japan at the time and one night this small village in which I lived they were putting on their annual festival and it was a festival of the date of Japanese religion which is Shinto and part of what they did as part of this festival was to parade up and down the streets of the village, playing what was the traditional music of that festival, which was, again, it was all tied to the Shinto religion. And if I could describe the music, there was sort of this dark, low beat of the taiko drums. And then there were other instruments. I don’t know what they were, but they made a kind of wailing or crying sound. And it just so happened that night when that was passing by my street on which I lived, with that kind of music, I just happened to be reading the famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And if you have read that sermon by Edwards, you know that in it he gives some extremely powerful and vivid descriptions of God’s judgment in hell. And as I read the sermon and I heard this plaintive and woeful music in the background. It was almost as though I was hearing the sounds of the lost in hell, the hopeless, the sad wailing and screaming. And that kind of music is fitting for a religion in which there is no good news. What is there to rejoice in? That music gives expression to a soul that is cut off from God. There is no redemption. There is no joy. in that religion. So why should their music be joyful? But that is not the case with the people of Israel by the Red Sea. It is not the case for us as the people of God. We sing songs that express the joy that God has given us and the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. God has given us joy and therefore we sing songs filled with joy. And when we do sing, we must sing from the heart. The joy must be genuine and must be singing with our whole heart to the Lord. We’re commanded to do so. Psalm 81 says, sing aloud to God our strength. Shout for joy to the God of Jacob. In Ephesians 519, we are told that we are to be singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. So here’s a reminder to us that when we come to church on Sundays, God’s will for us is that we are to sing from the heart. We are to sing with joy, with gratitude. If we are merely mouthing the words of the hymn, not thinking about them, if our hearts are far removed from what we’re singing, if we are detached from the words and the music, If we’re just going through the motions in a rote kind of way, that is not worship. We are not worshiping the Lord. The words may be impeccable in their orthodoxy, but if we are not singing from the heart with joy, we might as well not be singing at all. And so God wants you and me, like the Israelites here, to sing his praises with joy and gratitude from the heart for all that he has done for us as our God and Savior.

Now, when the Israelites sang this song, they were singing a song, as we know from the lyrics, that specifically gave thanks to the Lord for this particular redemption, this act of salvation, and bringing them across the Red Sea. Did the Israelites have any music before this? Did they already have written hymns that they sang to God? We don’t know. But one thing is clear, they did not dust off an old song for this occasion. Rather, they sang a song that specifically praised the Lord for this new work of salvation, for this latest act of deliverance that the Lord had worked for His people. And in doing so, the Israelites followed what is a biblical principle, and that is, in response to the new mercies of God, in response to the new saving acts of God, the people of God are to respond with a new song. with a new song. Psalm 98.1 says, O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. And we sing a new song. We stand on the other side of the cross from the perspective of Moses and these old covenant saints. We sing a new song. We sing praise to God for what he has done for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gift of his son, the death and resurrection of Jesus, the new life that he gives us. We sing a new song. When Moses and the Israelites sang the song by the Red Sea, they said this in their song, they said, the Lord is his name. The Lord is his name. With the coming of Christ, the Lord has revealed to us a new name. God has a new name. His name is Jesus. And so it is right, it is biblical for us to sing the new name of the Lord in a new song. Jesus is the name that is above every name and therefore his name is most worthy to be praised in our singing. And so they sang praise to God for what he had done for them.

Finally, they sang praise to God for what he had promised them. If you look at verses 14 through 16, the song of Moses speaks of the terror and the dread that came upon the Edomites, the Moabites, the Canaanites when they heard what God had done for Israel. You’ll notice that grammatically, it’s in the past tense. However, this is actually a prophetic word of what God will do in the future. He will bring this dread and terror upon the enemies of God when Israel will be brought into the promised land. So this is a promise and the Lord did this very thing, but it’s in the past tense because it is certain as if it had already taken place. And so these promises are spoken of in the past tense and yet they are future promises. And then the song goes on to sing about how the Lord will lead the Israelites into the promised land. He will plant them on His holy mountain. There He will make His dwelling among them in His sanctuary, His abode. And so the song, here’s another prophecy, is looking forward to the time when the Israelites will be in the promised land, when God will set apart Mount Zion as the place of His dwelling. Here is a prophecy of the building of the temple, because it was there that the Lord would dwell with His people. And so the Israelites praise God, not only for what he did for them, but for what he would do for them, for his promises. And as we, as Christians, look back, we see that all of these promises, the Lord has fulfilled for his people, but he still makes promises to us in his word. As believers in Christ, we still look forward to future blessings. The promises that God makes to us is that when we die, we will go to be with Christ in glory. When Jesus returns, you and I will be raised from death to everlasting life in the body that is immortal and incorruptible and will live forever. That on the day of judgment, when Christ returns, you and I, by faith in Jesus Christ, we will be acquitted on the day of judgment. We will be made happy and holy forever. And we will live in a new heaven to a new earth forever and ever, where there will be no more sin, no more sickness, no more death or grief or sorrow. But the greatest promise of all that God makes to us is this, that He will be with us forever, that we will be in His gracious, loving, glorious presence for all eternity. And really, this was the same hope that the Israelites expressed in their song, that God would dwell in their midst. And we know that is our hope. That is our greatest promise that God has given to us, that we shall be with Him forever. And what the song does for us is it gives us hope because if God was faithful to all of the promises that he made to them in the song, he will most certainly be faithful to the promises that he makes to you and me in Christ. And so as we sing the praises of God with our songs, we praise him for who he is. He is the Lord. He is worthy to be praised. We praise him for the salvation that he has worked for us. and we praise Him for His promises, for all the ways in which God will yet show to you and me His goodness, His favor, His love to us in Christ. Let’s pray.

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The Old Testament reading is Exodus Chapter 14, verses 15 through 31. And this is the inerrant, the infallible word of God.

The Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. and I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host his chariots and his horsemen and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh his chariots and his horsemen then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch, the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, let us flee from before the Lord, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Let’s turn now to Hebrews chapter 11 verses 23 through 29 for our New Testament reading. We’ll turn back to Exodus for the sermon. Hebrews 11, 23 through 29. This chapter testifies to the faith of the saints under the old covenants and the various ways that they demonstrated their faith. And this passage in particular speaks of the faith of Moses, but it also speaks of the faith of the people of Israel who, by faith, crossed the Red Sea on dry land. So Hebrews 11, 23 through 29. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer, the firstborn, might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

You may turn back to Exodus chapter 14. And today, in our study of Exodus, as we are going through this book, we come to one of the outstanding passages in all the book of Exodus. And in fact, this is one of the outstanding passages in all of scripture. And that is the parting of the Red Sea. Even people who know very little about the contents of the Bible know this story about God parting the Red Sea. Everybody knows that Moses, when he lifted up his staff, the Lord caused the Red Sea to part so that the Israelites could walk through on dry land. Everybody knows that the Lord then caused the Red Sea to come crashing down upon the Egyptians and they drowned in the ocean. Of course, everybody knows that Moses looked a lot like Charlton Heston, looked in the movie about this. And so this is a very well-known passage. But long before the parting of the Red Sea was the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters, it was, and of course it still is, a part of the Word of God. and as such because it is part of scripture it is given to us to teach us the truth about God about his saving work for us And as we read this story, we read it as Christians, as those who belong to God by faith in Christ. We are his people. So this is our story. The story belongs to us. This is a story of how God redeemed his people under the old covenant, but it also teaches as much about God’s salvation for us in Christ. So this morning as we take a closer look at this passage together, I want to see what this means for us as those who belong to Christ.

As we’ve seen as we’ve been going through the book of Exodus, the book of Exodus tells us in the first part of the book about how the Lord brought His people Israel out of their bondage and misery in Egypt, how the Lord brought them into the wilderness, of course we’re just getting to that part now, but The Lord brought his people into the wilderness where they would be free to serve and to worship him as their God. And of course, out of Egypt, they would be well on their way to the promised land, to Canaan. That was their destination. We’ve seen how God demonstrated his fearsome power, his almighty works of judgment in bringing these 10 plagues upon the people of Egypt. We saw how he spared Israel, the bulk of that suffering, how he brought his people into the safety of the wilderness on the night of the Passover. But it turns out that the wilderness was not such a safe place after all. Despite all that the Egyptians and Pharaoh had suffered as a result of the ten plagues, despite all the misery that was brought upon them by the Lord, nevertheless, Pharaoh was determined, he was wickedly, irrationally determined to capture his escaped slaves. He was not going to let the people of Israel go even after he let them go. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing all that free labor, I suppose. Who else is going to make him all of his bricks?

And given that fact, given the fact that Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen are out pursuing the people of Israel, they’ve left Egypt, they’re in the wilderness, they’re going after their slaves, you would expect that the Lord would have led his people as far from Egypt as possible and as quickly as possible. But we read last week at the beginning of chapter 14 that the Lord commanded the Israelites not to flee away from Egypt, but to backtrack, to head the opposite direction, and to actually go more towards in the direction of Egypt so that they ended up in what was, humanly speaking, an impossible situation. And so the Israelites, in the place where we pick up in chapter 14 this morning, They’re in this place where they are trapped. On the one side of them is the wilderness. In fact, they’re surrounded by wilderness. But coming from Egypt is Pharaoh with all of his mighty chariots and horsemen and soldiers. And Pharaoh is determined to capture his people, to bring them back to Egypt. And on the other side is, of course, the Red Sea. And unlike the British soldiers who were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk during World War II, there was no armada of ships on the other side of the sea to come and rescue the Israelites. They were in a desperate, desperate situation. If the Israelites fought the Egyptians, they would certainly die. They were not armed. They were not ready for war. If they surrendered to the Egyptians, they would be enslaved again. They would be made Pharaoh’s slaves. And of course, that was no better than a living death. And if they fled into the sea, of course, they would die. The Israelites, they could have, quoted Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians, had those words been written, we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. And so at this point, the Israelites, it must have seemed that they had received the sentence of death. At this point, it seems from all that they can tell, it is all over. The game is up. They will soon But of course, you know how the story ends. By His almighty power, the Lord who can do the impossible, He did the impossible. He caused the waters of the Red Sea to part so that the Israelites could cross over the dry land to the other side of the sea and then So that’s the basic story of the parting of the Red Sea, but let’s take a closer look at some of the details in this passage.

And as we do so, the first thing that we want to say is this, that in order to really understand this passage of scripture as God would have us to understand it, to truly understand the mind of God in this passage, we need to receive these words for what they are. They are the very words of God. They are infallible. They are true. They are an accurate and true description of all that they describe for us. Therefore, the parting of the Red Sea, this is not just a legend, a fable, a greatly exaggerated episode from Israel’s history, but this actually took place, and it took place exactly as the scriptures describe it for us. I say that because this is one of the most famous passages in the Bible. It has been subjected to all kinds of scrutiny and has been given all kinds of explanations as to what allegedly really took place. One theory is that the water parting and returning, this was just a natural movement of the water as the result of the tide rising and lowering and somehow over time the Israelites interpreted this as a supernatural parting of the Red Sea Another theory is that the wind that blew that day was not a supernatural wind from God that caused the waters to part, but it was just a normal wind, perhaps an extra strong wind that caused the waters to move to the side somehow so that the Israelites could cross over. But of course the problem with these theories and of any other theory that seeks a naturalistic explanation of what took place here, the problem with those theories is that they have nothing to do with what the passage actually says.

The passage tells us that this was accomplished by the power of God. That the Creator, the Lord of all, the One who brought all things into being, who has sovereign power over all that He created, He exercised that sovereign power to part the Red Sea so that his people could be saved. And as Christians, this is a reminder to us that we must take the word of God for what it says. We must believe that because God is God, because he is the creator, the Lord of all, he is fully capable of using his supernatural divine power to divide the waters of an ocean. Because if we can’t believe that God did that or that God can do that, then what hope do we have as sinners? That is the real question. If God cannot divide the waters of the ocean in order to deliver his people in a supernatural way as he did, then he certainly could not raise his son Jesus from the grave. And if God has not raised Jesus from the grave, then you and I are still in our sins. We have no hope for the forgiveness of sins. We have no hope for the life to come. But thanks be to God, he is the one who has done what he has said that he has done in his word. By the same power by which he separated the waters of the Red Sea, he raised his son Jesus Christ from the dead. And so we do have true hope. We can trust and believe that God is able and that He did the things that He testifies to in His Word. And so we’re going to take this passage of Scripture as we ought to take all Scripture at face value, receiving it for what it is, the Word of God describing for us the things that have taken place.

Now I want you to imagine, I want you to think, to imagine yourself as one of the Israelites on that day that is described for us here in chapter 14. Put yourself in their shoes, if you will. First of all, how are you feeling? Well, you are terrified. You are filled with dread. In your panic, in your fear, you’ve been crying out to the Lord. Now, normally, crying out to God is a good thing, but here, your cry for help has been really a lack of faith on your part. That’s why the Lord says to Moses in verse 15, why do you cry out to me? Now the Lord wasn’t speaking to Moses as though he himself were crying out to the Lord in panic and in fear, but because Moses represented the people of Israel, Moses was really, or the Lord was really saying to Moses, why are your people, why are the Israelites crying out to me? Why are they doing so in this unbelieving way? And so the Lord, he rebukes your fear and panic when he addresses Moses in that way. But humanly speaking, again, as an Israelite in this situation, you have good reasons to be afraid. First of all, you’re terrified of the Egyptians. Pharaoh has unleashed all the violent power of his chariots and soldiers and horsemen. They’re coming on you fast, you’re unarmed. He has state-of-the-art military technology and he’s ready to use it. And you are afraid because you have been led to this place where there’s no escape. You are surrounded by the desert, except behind you is an entire ocean, the Red Sea. You’re an Israelite. You’ve spent your whole life making bricks. No one has taught you how to swim. You’re a top-notch brick maker, but if you are to go into the sea, you will drown. You will sink, just like one of the bricks you have made for Pharaoh. And then your leader Moses, he says something that only adds to your fear. It’s a dreadfully, well, it seems to you, a dreadful thing to say, confusing as well. He says, go forward. And you’re thinking, go forward? Go forward where? Go forward into the jaws of Pharaoh and his army? Go forward and drown in the Red Sea? Where can we go forward without being destroyed? But before you have time to think too much about that, something extraordinary takes place, a reminder to you that you are not alone in the deserts by the Red Sea. It has to do with that pillar of cloud and fire that has been leading you on your journey so far. That pillar that has become a comfort to you because it is in that pillar that the Lord himself, he is with you. His presence is in that pillar of cloud and fire. And that pillar goes from being in front of you, and it moves behind you. That is, it comes between you and the Egyptian army. And the cloud gives light throughout the night for you and your fellow Israelites, while it keeps the Egyptians in the dark. And then you witness the most wonderful thing of all. You see Moses, your leader, with the staff of God in his hand. He stretches out his arm. He’s facing the sea. And a mighty wind from the east begins to blow. And as soon as the waters begin to part, you can see the ocean floor below. Verse 22 describes the waters as being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The word for wall there is the same word that is used to describe the giant walls that surrounded the ancient cities of that time. And so the water isn’t just piled up a few feet high, but the Lord creates this giant canyon in which on either side of this path through the Red Sea, there are two giant towering walls of water looking over the seabed.

Now once the waters are parted you begin your walk across the ocean floor. Now the ground is as dry as the desert sand. And of course you realize on your way through the Red Sea that if the ground is dry enough for you to walk over, it is also dry enough for the Egyptian army to cross over. And indeed the Egyptians have begun their pursuits across the dry ground of the Red Sea. They are behind you, but then Something goes terribly wrong with the Egyptians. The wheels of their chariots start to malfunction. The text isn’t very clear as to exactly what happened, but somehow the wheels figuratively, and perhaps even literally, begin to fall off for the Egyptians. The Lord caused the dry ground to become mud, perhaps, which clogged the wheels, or perhaps He just supernaturally caused the chariot wheels to fall off. But in any case, whatever it was, that caused these battle-hardened soldiers, these fierce Egyptian warriors, it caused them to fall into a panic. They realized through their horror that they are not just fighting against the Israelites, but they realize at that point that they are fighting against the God of the Israelites. And if you could hear their shouts, you would hear them shouting, let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. You would see the entire army frantically trying to run back to the safety of the shore. And then, once you’re on the other side of the sea, once you’ve crossed through that channel that the Lord created, you see Moses stretch out his hand again. And those two towering walls of water come crashing down into the channel of dry land. And the thunderous sounds of the rushing water soon dry out the anguished cries of horses and men as they are drowning. And then there is quiet. There is quiet. No more cries. No more rushing water. the surface of the calm or the surface of the sea is calm except the occasional chariot wheel bobbing to the surface and then you notice one by one the bodies of dead men beginning to wash ashore and then you realize at that point all the Egyptians are dead every last one of them has perished in the sea all those fierce warriors that caused you so much dread and panic they’re all dead, drowned in the sea.

Now if you had been there, and if you had experienced all that, what do you think would be going through your mind and your heart at that moment? Of course, one emotion that would overcome you is one of pure joy. You would be exultant that you have been saved from the Egyptians. And in fact, that’s how the Israelites responded because in chapter 15, as we’ll see soon, they sing this song of praise to the Lord for this great deliverance. But another feeling would soon overcome you, and that is fear. But this would be a different kind of fear, no longer a fear of the Egyptians, no longer a fear of the Red Sea, but a fear of God because of what you have just witnessed. When the Israelites saw the way in which the Lord caused the waters of the Red Sea to come crashing upon the Egyptians, to engulf them, to destroy them, and as they stood on the far side of the Red Sea and as they watched the corpses of the Egyptians washing up on the shore, Moses tells us in verse 31, the people feared the Lord. And they feared the Lord because not only were they saved, but because they had front row seats to witness the terrifying judgments of God, of a holy God against an evil people. And I wonder how many of those Israelites at that time thought to themselves, but for the grace of God go I. I could be an Egyptian, that could be me, but the Lord has been merciful to me. But what an awful judgment that they just witnessed.

In this passage, this account that the Lord gives us of the parting of the Red Sea, this is as much about the judgment of God against his enemies as it is about the salvation of God for his people. In this passage, when the Lord spoke about what he was going to do to the Egyptians in parting the Red Sea, he spoke as much about the destruction of the people of Egypt as he did about the salvation of the Israelites. Look at verses 17 and 18 when the Lord is speaking to Moses. He says, And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they shall go in after them. And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. And so, this was an act of God’s judgment, as much as it was a wonderful act of His salvation. Many, many centuries later, the Lord Jesus, He took Peter and John and James with Him up to the top of a mountain. And as Jesus prayed, He was transfigured before these disciples so that they beheld the divine glory that belonged to Jesus, they saw it revealed on top of that mountain. And when Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus, Luke tells us in his gospel that, and this is Luke 9.31, they spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now the Greek word in that verse that is translated departure is literally exodus. it is the word for exodus and so Jesus was about to accomplish an exodus, a new exodus, a greater exodus in his death and resurrection that would take place in Jerusalem and just like the exodus out of Egypt including the parting of the Red Sea, the exodus of Jesus it also was both an act of God’s judgment as well as an act of his salvation and for Jesus It wasn’t salvation. For Jesus, it was judgment. Jesus was not saved at the cross, but he was in the place of the Egyptians. It was at the cross that Jesus was engulfed and overcome by the waters of God’s divine wrath and judgments, just as the Egyptians were engulfed by the waters of God’s wrath in the first exodus. And so for Jesus, his exodus was a judgment, but for you, who belong to Christ by faith, that judgment that He endured, that has become for you salvation. Because Jesus endured the judgment that was yours, His death on the cross, that judgment for Him has become for you redemption, salvation.

And that brings us to the first of two lessons from this passage about the parting of the Red Sea. So we’ll take two lessons from this passage. The first lesson is this. Salvation is found in Christ alone, and it is yours by faith alone. Salvation is found in Christ alone, and it is yours by faith alone. In order for us to truly understand the meaning of what takes place here in the parting of the Red Sea, what takes place in the whole exodus of God’s redeeming his people, delivering his people from the Egyptians. The first thing that we need to understand is this, we need to grasp this fundamental truth and that is this, that the Israelites’ bondage to slavery, this is a type or a picture of the spiritual bondage that you and I are born into the spiritual tyranny of sin over us that is ours by nature. As a sinner, just as the Israelites were helpless to free themselves, just as they were helplessly enthralled to Pharaoh, so you are helpless to free yourself from the power of sin over you. and therefore salvation, salvation is a salvation from the dominion of sin, the power of sin, the enslaving tyranny of sin over you. That is what we are by nature. We are slaves to sin. Now you might think to yourself, true, I have sinned, but I’m not in bondage to sin. I’m not a slave to sin. I’m not like those people who have made a wreck of their lives because of their addiction to drugs or alcohol. I’m not like those criminals who have thrown away their lives by the crimes that they have committed and now are languishing in prison. But those are only the most obvious ways in which sin can enslave a person. The truth is, apart from Christ, And again, I’m speaking of us as we are apart from Christ, by nature, by birth. No matter how upright, no matter how decent, no matter how moral we may be, we are in bondage to the power of sin. Jesus said, Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. We can be in bondage to all kinds of sin in different ways. We can be in bondage to our own pride. We can be in bondage to the sin of self-righteousness. We can be in bondage to our idols that we worship, the sin of worshiping money or possessions or the pursuit of pleasure. We can be enslaved to our need to manipulate, to dominate, to control others. What Jesus meant when he said that everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin is the fact that we sin demonstrates or proves the truth that we are by nature in bondage to sin. In other words, because we are slaves to sin, we sin. Because we are sinners by birth, by nature, we commit sins. The truth is, if you are not trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, you are in bondage to sin. If you are outside of Christ, if you are not in Him, you are under the tyranny of sin. No matter how nice and decent and moral you may be, no matter how even religious you may be, apart from freedom in Christ, there is only slavery to sin. And therefore, as a sinner, what you need most of all, your greatest need is to be set free from the power of sin over you.

The Israelites were in helpless slavery to Pharaoh. They were helplessly in bondage to him. The only thing that could free them from their slavery to Pharaoh was the almighty power of God interceding for them. And in the same way, only Jesus Christ and what he has done for you can free you from the enslaving bondage to sin. Jesus put it this way, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. There is no other way to be free indeed, to be free truly from the power sin, than for the Son, the Son of God to set you free from that sin. And so you are saved by Christ alone, and that salvation is yours by faith alone. Moses tells us that the Israelites, that after their deliverance, they had faith. The last verse in the chapter in verse 31 says this, they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. At some point, the Israelites, at some point here, they stopped panicking and they took to heart the words that Moses had said to them before the Lord parted the Red Sea. Back in verse 13, Moses said, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. We read from a passage from Hebrews chapter 11. And according to Hebrews, when the people of Israel, when they crossed the Red Sea, that was an act of faith. They were literally walking by faith. They literally stepped out in faith. Hebrews 11, 29, by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. They were saved by faith, by faith alone, in the power of the Lord to save them. Verse 14 in chapter 14 says, the Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. The Lord will fight for you, Moses told the Israelites. Commit yourself to the Lord and trust yourself to Him and to His promises. He will deliver you. He will fight for you. He will save you.

Imagine if the Lord, rather than parting the waters of the Red Sea and allowing His people to cross over, imagine if He had dropped from heaven all the materials that the Israelites needed to build a bridge. All the concrete and steel and whatever else they need. They could build a bridge across the Red Sea. Then we might say that the Israelites were saved by faith plus works. But no, the Lord did it all. They only watched. They only saw with their eyes what the Lord was doing for them. And by faith, they stepped out and they crossed the ocean. And this is the faith that saves you. by trusting in the finished, complete work of Jesus Christ. You bring no good works to your salvation. You bring no merit of your own or any righteousness or morality of your own to God because you have none to bring. You only bring your need, your sin, and by the grace of God, your faith. Trust that Jesus Christ can do what you cannot do, that he can bring you salvation. The Lord will fight for you. You have only to be silent. Is that your faith and hope today? Are you trusting wholly in the person of Jesus Christ and the work of Jesus Christ to deliver you from the power of sin? So the first lesson is that salvation is found in Christ alone and it is yours by faith alone.

The second lesson is this, in Christ you have complete victory over sin and death. In Christ you have victory over sin and death. It’s not surprising that movies have been made about this about this account in Exodus of the parting of the Red Sea. It’s such a wonderful dramatic story that is told in the scripture. If I were to make a movie of the parting of the Red Sea the last scene of my movie would be of the bodies of the Egyptians washing up on the shore And so I can picture my movie as it comes to an end. I’d first cue the dramatic music. And then the camera would zero in on one Egyptian body as it is lying on the shore. Then I’d slowly widen the angle of the camera so that you could see that for hundreds of yards of beach, there are thousands and thousands of Egyptian corpses washing up on the shore. And then I’d show the Israelites standing beside them, staring with a mixture of joy and fear at all of these Egyptians who are now dead, who are washing up on the beach one by one. And then they’d start to sing the song that they sing in chapter 15. And right then I’d have the credits roll, the movie would be over. And I finished my movie that way because I believe in that way, it would make the point that the passage is making for us that the spirit of God wants us to take from this passage. And that is this, that the enemies of Israel were dead. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. These were their enemies, and now they were not just a defeated foe, but they were destroyed, they were annihilated. They were not just weakened, they were lifeless, they were powerless. No more would they terrorize the Israelites. No more would they rule over them as their slave drivers. Moses even makes a point of telling us of the complete, the total destruction of the Egyptian army. He says, not one of them remained. Not one. They were all dead. They all perished.

And just as the Israelites gained a complete victory over their enemies, the Egyptians, so in Christ, you have in the same way a complete, total victory over sin and death. Now to be sure, The enemies of Christ and of his people are still active in the world. They’re still active in opposing the people of God. In different times and places, even attacking the people of God. Satan is still alive and well in all his hosts. Those who do Satan’s will in this world are still active. But as far as the enemies of God can do any lasting harm to you or me, as far as the enemies of God can possibly separate us from the grace of God, from the salvation that we have in God, they are as good as dead. They are as good as dead. They cannot bring us back into bondage, to sin, to death. They cannot take away from us the salvation that we have in Christ. They cannot separate us from the love that God has for us in Christ. They are powerless. They are lifeless. They are dead. In the death that Jesus died on the cross, he put to death forever the power of death over us. It was by his death that we now have victory over death. By his death and resurrection, we have now complete and total victory over death. and over Satan, over the powers of hell, over the bondage and dominion of sin, your spiritual enemies, and you do have spiritual enemies, but they are just as powerless to enslave you, to rule over you, to separate you from the grace of Christ as the corpses that washed up on the shore of the Egyptians were powerless to do anything to the Israelites.

This is the truth that you and I, we need to hear this over and over again. Because no matter how many times we hear it, we are prone to forget it. And we rob ourselves of forgetting this truth that we have victory in Christ over Satan, sin, and death. Because we forget this, we rob ourselves of the joy and the peace that should be ours in abundance in Jesus Christ. and that’s It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s astounding that they would have been worried at all as they stood there with their backs against the Red Sea, the Egyptian army bearing down on them. It’s astounding that they would have been fearful that they would be destroyed or captured by the Egyptians after all that they had seen what the Lord had done for them. After all the ways in which the Lord supernaturally delivered his people. Did they forget that the Lord had brought disaster upon disaster upon the Egyptian people? Did they forget how on the night of the Passover, the angel passed through the land and destroyed all the firstborn of Egypt? Did they forget how the Lord set them apart so that they would be spared from those plagues? Did they not remember just a little while ago how the Lord destroyed the firstborn and spared them? How could they forget what the Lord had done for them? How could they be so filled with fear? Well, the question you and I need to ask is, how can I forget what Christ has done for me? Why am I so filled with fear in the face of death, knowing what Christ has done for me? Why do you allow yourself to be crippled by the remembrance of past sins, by the guilt of past sins? Why does that paralyze you? Why do you allow the fear of death to upset you when you know that because of the death and resurrection of Christ, death is for you an entrance into glory? Or why do you forget the promises of God that he will provide for you, that he will work out all things for your good? Why are you anxious about what you will eat or wear or drink? When Jesus has promised that you have a heavenly father, who knows what you need, who will give you what you need in his good timing, Why do you fear? Why are you anxious? Why are you worried about the future when all your days are already planned and arranged by a sovereign God who loves you and has determined and promised that he will dispose all things for your eternal joy and blessedness? The saving work of God in the Old Testament for his people, his parting of the Red Sea and destroying the enemies of Israel, let this remind you of the salvation that you have in Christ. that your victory in Christ is not just a possible victory over a defeated or weakened foe, or a probable victory over your enemies, but in Christ you have an assured victory, a complete victory over a defeated, utterly defeated foe. The Lord has fought for you. He has won the victory for you in His Son Jesus Christ and His victory for you over sin and death. This is your victory today. It is your victory forever and ever.

Let’s pray.

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