Exodus 16Scripture
Everybody, turn your Bibles to Exodus. We missed last week, so you might be confused as to where we're at. So was I. We are in Exodus 16. I'm not going to go back and do the chapter we missed, or the section we missed. We'll just go on. We'll continue on, blazing the path. We're going to do Exodus 16. I think that's right. If it's not, just pretend like it is. Give me a second. We have the whole chapter. That's our assignment this morning, and it's a lot, and I'm going to read it all. So, hello, boys and girls, we have reading time. I don't have any picture pages for you, but we're going to read through this.
"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 fifteenth 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 pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'" And I'm not going to stop a bunch reading through here, because it's a bunch to read, but you don't die from hunger, by the way. You just don't die from feeling hungry. And so I think that's important. How many of you have complained and said, "I'm going to starve to death," when you missed a meal, or you're like one minute late from lunchtime?
Introduction
Anyway, I'm not saying that's their situation. I am just saying we do have a tendency to bicker about stuff when we get uncomfortable. "Then the LORD said to Moses..." So maybe you can relate. "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,'" and listen to the reason for this, "'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. 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."'" You mean you don't know by now?
"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 commanded: "gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer..."'" An omer is about two liters, okay? So it's a good portion for each person. "'"...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." They gathered some more, some less. "But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over." Check
Point 1God provides exactly what's needed, in spite of us
This. Don't miss this. You can't miss this. This is really cool. They weren't obeying. Some gathered less than they were assigned to gather. That's the test.
Some gathered more. Listen to the results of the test: the exact amount needed was there.
Provision moves beyond your obedience.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:15
God provides no more, no less, exactly what's needed, in spite of you. In spite of you. That's grace. Even when you fail the test, even after he delivers, even when you continue to disobey, grace covers and provides in spite of you. How can we not cheer for that? How can we not just jump up in our hearts and rejoice that he is that good, and that merciful, and that longsuffering? That's amazing. That's good news. That's the good news of the gospel: you will always fail the test, and he always still provides exactly what you need. That's good news. Now, today we should all walk out... That's the kind of news you can share with people that will make everybody want to come to Jesus, right? You have much to share. Okay. Oh, man. Listen, guys, seriously, we could stay here all year in this chapter. This chapter is so rich. It took me forever to figure out what I was going to talk about. But that's good stuff, so don't miss that. All right, now, where am I? "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...'" "Let no one leave any of it over till the morning." "But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning," and guess what happened? "It bred..." It bred. I thought that was funny, because that's what it was used to make. "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 commanded: "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." Oh, his grace. "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." Yummy. "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 forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)" Writing a sermon on this is nuts, because it's a lot. Give me a second here, for your sake. There's too much to talk about, and I hope you spent a considerable amount of time in it, because there's a lot for us to see about the goodness of God in this. And I mean, that's the point, isn't
Point 2The gifts of God teach and test
It? To see and look on the goodness of God. That's the point. The gift of God... The gifts of God teach and test. And I think that's important. We often think of gifts as something given for our pleasure or our benefit. Yet the gifts of God operate in a manner far different from temporal gifts we receive on the earth. It's not surprising, then, that we sometimes find ourselves confused when we receive his gifts. They take us aback. We don't know what to do with them, and quite honestly, we don't know how to deal with them. Consider for a moment the gifts of the Spirit. Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:22–23, and I quote, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." That's some good gifts. Those are things that we receive from God that we could not do on our own, away from him.
But note this: fruit is not produced for the benefit of the tree. It is a gift intended to bless others through the tree.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:17
That's the point. It is amazing, in our generation today, inside churches, we talk about the fruits of the Spirit as if it is a form of elitism, of those who operate in higher levels of gift, as if it puts you in a place of superiority. "I'm gifted and anointed. I'm blessed."
The fruit's not to make you better. The fruit's to make others better.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:02
When's the last time you walked by a tree and it was sitting there with its branches, taking a bite of an apple? Like, at the end of the day, the apple's for the people who walk by. If you find yourself at times utilizing gifts for your good pleasure, you're missing the whole point. And at the end of the day, the whole point of the gift is that God might be glorified. Because how can a tree produce this? How can an inanimate object, a stick of wood, produce such beautiful things that sustain those who walk by? It brings glory to God to watch this happen in our creation, and it happens without any effort of the tree. This is why we can look at creation and glorify God and know he is real, because only God could do that. Fruit is not produced for the benefit of the tree. It is a gift intended to bless others through it. Just as a tree bears fruit to nourish others, the Spirit cultivates his gifts in us so that they might minister to those around us. However, this does not mean that we are unaffected by these gifts. Hebrews 12:11 tells us and teaches us, "For the moment..." For the moment, "all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant." Oh, God disciplines. "All discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." So there is a testing, a teaching, and a training that comes to those who bear the fruit, through the gifts of God. We're shaped, disciplined, sanctified, and we become more Christlike, and we learn to live for his glory instead of our own, for the good of others. So let's just focus in on something that we see in this text here. God gives them a gift. It's a gift of food, sustenance, of bread and of meat. And honestly, don't miss the idea that this manna from heaven is Christ. That's what this is. And he gave us Christ, and it is the greatest gift, and it is a food you can feast on that people don't know about. Not everyone knows about it. And it sustained them. And by the way, it sustained them for a long time: 40
Point 3The gift teaches that God cares for us
Years in the desert. The gift of God teaches. It teaches some things. They learned this: they learned that God cared for them. Right? There are some of you here today, possibly, it's possible, and maybe all of us at times, just different times in our life, in different situations, we question and wonder, "God, do you care for me? Have you forgotten me?" And this is really a beautiful thing to see, because we get to see God does care for us. Oh, but how many of you would say that the way that he cares for you is not necessarily the way that you would like him to care for you? I mean, are you with me? Right? Because sometimes you just want a gift without the teaching and the testing. Amen? Amen. I mean, just give me a gift with no strings attached. Can you give me one of those? Just throw a bone. Throw a guy a bone. Why do you keep attaching tests to this? It teaches. It teaches that God cares for them. And it's amazing, because we can miss that God cares for us, because we don't like the way he's delivering and caring for us. They grumbled about it. They grumbled because they didn't have it, and then when they had it, they grumbled because they wanted something different. Like, you know what I mean? Like, they grumbled about the way they were supposed to take it up. They grumbled that they couldn't have more. They just were unhappy about the way he cared for them.
Sometimes we can grow so unhappy with the way he dishes it up that we miss the blessing of understanding that God cares for us faithfully.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 17:43
What was it that they were to learn? He wanted them to know him. God desired then to teach them himself by the gift of manna. He taught them, he taught them first, his care over them: that he was their God, and he was their provider, and that they were his people, and that he would lay himself out to provide for them. God divinely provided the perfect amount of manna for every woman, every man, every child, every morning, for 40 years. This is caring consistently. Now, before the beauty of that is lost on you, those of you in the house today, let's just talk about marriage first, and i'll talk about another example. Those in the house today that are married, how many of you faithfully care for those you're in the house with every day, faithfully, all the time, without ever having a hiccup or a speed bump? All right? I mean, think about that. Think about the beauty and the majesty and the wonder of it all: that every morning, faithfully, and every evening, faithfully, he did what he said he would do. He provided, over and over and over, never missing a beat.
That's goodness on a level you've not experienced on this earth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:31
That's not even goodness on a level you haven't experienced; that's goodness on a level you could never deliver. Right? You haven't delivered it to those you love the most. You haven't delivered it to your children. Your children haven't delivered it to you. Your favorite person on the earth, you haven't delivered it to.
And let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, God delivers.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:56
That's good news. He's teaching them that he is like no other. That's good news. The Lord taught them the importance of remembering his faithfulness by providing for them every day. Listen, if he had given them one large outpouring... It's like, "Just give me everything. Let me manage it." If he had given them one large outpouring of blessing to sustain them for their entire journey, there wouldn't have been enough wagons in Egypt to carry it. I promise, because I did the math, and I'm going to share the math with you. It's overwhelming, his provision. Instructing them to gather and carry it along, they would not have understood his constant care as clearly as they did when he provided it for them anew every morning.
That's a more beautiful display of God's goodness than giving it in one lump sum.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:07
But do you miss it, because he don't serve it up like you want?
Do you miss it? Do you miss learning what you should learn, because the gift is trying to teach you something?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:19
Not to mention, they could not bear the weight of such a blessing. The burden would torment the receiver of the blessing. It is not just important that you are blessed; the way of the blessing is uttermost.
There's a way. He has a way that the blessing will come, and the way teaches.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:46
Point 4Manna reveals the greatness of God's provision
Can we pause for a moment and talk about the consistency of caring? I mean, this is unbelievable. This is what love looks like. Let's move on. They learned about God's greatness. Okay? They learned about his goodness; they learned about his greatness. The Bible says in Exodus 16:16–18 that each person was to gather an omer of manna per day. An omer is a measure of volume, and it's typically estimated to be about two liters, or about two liters. Okay, I did some math. That is 66.72 billion liters over 40 years of manna. 66.72 billion liters. In summary, for a visual of how much that is, because none of us know how much that is, 66.72 billion liters of manna is enough to fill 10,090 Olympic swimming pools. Okay, maybe that doesn't do it for you. Fill... Because I was in the bath while I was doing this math... Fill 444.8 million bathtubs, depending on how big the bathtub is. And this one blew my mind: to stack 66.72 billion one-liter bottles, it would stack to a height that reaches halfway to the sun. Just for perspective, it's 91 million miles to the sun, so that's 44.5 million miles it would travel, stacking one two-liter bottle on top of another. That's a lot of manna. They couldn't have carried that. "Just serve it up, God. Just give it to me now." You can't handle the truth. You know what I mean? Like, you can't handle it all. You can't handle it. It would fill... Listen, it would fit into 26.7 Great Pyramids. That's a lot. It would fill them up completely, the volume of them. This helps put into perspective just how immense the amount of manna was over those 40 years that God provided. We have a hard time at offering time. Do you understand what he has provided? Everything you have, he sustains, and consistently and faithfully delivers to you. Do you understand the magnitude of provision in your life? They were just wandering in the desert. They had a lot they could have complained about. "Well, I don't have a roof over my head." Literally, they didn't. But, man, were they provided for. God is great. There is a way of his blessing and his provision. Let me tell you, don't let
Point 5The gift tests us: gather daily, feed on Christ
His provision be lost on you. It's great. It's grandiose, man. All right. Did you know that... It's the gift of God that tests. I want to talk about that.
Their situation was, in many ways, quite favorable. They didn't have to labor for their daily bread. All they had to do was go out and gather it. It was provided for them. But here's the key point: the manna was given daily. There was never any surplus to store. Imagine someone who's been gathering manna for 20 years. And I don't know if you can relate to this, so just maybe put yourself in this vein, because I think that this could be applicable for us in some ways.
Imagine someone who's been gathering manna for 20 years (now that we get a picture of how much that is, provision-wise, for everyone that's there), imagine someone who's been gathering manna for 20 years saying, as I've often heard, "I'm no better off than I was 20 years ago. Same place, same dead-end job, same marriage, same situation, same life, same stupid car. I'm in the same place." Yet I think they're missing the bigger picture.
Isn't it progress to be 20 years older and to have experienced 20 years of God's faithful provision and mercy?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:51
Isn't that a blessing? To be at the same place and to have spent 20 years of God faithfully providing, is that good enough? They didn't grow any richer, which meant there was no room for greed, as the manna was provided equally for everyone. Even if someone tried to gather extra, using both hands to scoop up as much as possible, when they returned to their tent, they found they had just enough. They all had an omer for themselves, for their spouse, for their children, no matter how many omers they had. Not a bit more, not a bit less, after they gathered and returned to their tent. It is so with grace. Track with me here. God gives each a measure. Not a bit more, not a bit less.
He gives each a measure of grace, and there is nobody here who has laid any grace up for themselves.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:29
He gives the measure. That's good, man. It's just so good. Romans 12:3 says, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." And Ephesians 4:7: "But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." Sounds like Exodus, doesn't it? That Friday gathering must have felt unusual. They were used to collecting food each morning, but Friday came with a different instruction: "Today you will gather twice as much." They might have thought, "I like routines and doing things the same way every day, but now there's this command to do something different: gather double and save half." Some people love structure. They like a rigid system of theology. But there was a law with some flexibility. A double portion was provided on Friday, meant to last through the Sabbath. Yet one person disobeyed and didn't save it when instructed to, and another tried to save it when he was told not to. And through this the Lord tested them. God's testing is remarkable.
Sometimes we think we have an abundant faith, but then God tests us, and we realize how little we actually have.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 30:04
Manna is Jesus. I actually thought about this. They said the word manna means "What is it?" That's what they said. They called it manna: "What is it?" Track with me here. Do you remember, when they saw Jesus walking, they said, "What manner of man is this?" He is the bread that came from heaven, the Scripture says. That's who he is. Every day, you and I ought to go forth and find this spiritual... This food for our spiritual life. We should not wait for Sunday to get a small morsel. We're supposed to do this every day. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, the instruction rings true today.
Listen to me, teenagers. "You know, I'm not old. I don't have readers yet, so I can't read the Bible. The only way you read the Bible and do something boring like that, you have to have readers. And when I get readers, then I'll read the Bible every day like a nerd." Well, that's not what the Bible says.
If you have spiritual life, you need spiritual bread.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:45
You have to feed your spiritual life. If you have spiritual life, you have to feed it. And God will give you manna from heaven, that is, Christ himself, the Word, with which you feed your soul. He's the bread of life, which came down from heaven, and you must feed on him. Listen, if this gift is also a test, how are you scoring on your test of gathering manna daily?
How you doing?
It's a test. It's a gift, and it's a test.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:30
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