God Provides Food for the Hungry, Part 4

Today is a great day. Of course, every day is a great day, isn't it? Yeah, some of you are not sure about anything about that, are you? Listen, every day is a great day because we serve a great, wonderful, marvelous God. And this morning, I'm going to make sure that this day is even going to be greater for you because we're going to feed you this morning not only spiritually, we're going to feed you. Physically. That's right. We're going to feed you this morning. If you have your Bible, turn to Exodus chapter 16.

And Exodus 16 tells us three things about our God. It tells us about the grace of God. It tells us about the Son of God. And it tells us about the Word of God. And we've emphasized those three things for you throughout our study of Exodus chapter 16. It begins with the grace of God because the nation of Israel began to murmur once again about the fact that they had nothing to eat. They always found something to grumble about. And yet, God, in His wonderful grace, instead of zapping them, instead of destroying them, would provide for them in a supernatural way.

Way. In fact, the Bible says in Exodus chapter 16, verse number 4: the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.

I'm going to provide for your need. And that's the grace of God, giving us what we don't deserve because of his wonderful compassion, his wonderful kindness. His wonderful long-suffering. That's the God we serve. We've spent weeks talking to you about that aspect of it. But we move from that point to letting you understand that not only was it about The grace of God, but it was about the Son of God as well. And we saw you where the manna that was given to them from heaven would represent the Son of God in all of his glory.

And our last sermon dealt specifically with that. Today, as we conclude Exodus 16, we want you to also understand how the man given to Israel represents also the word. Of God, the Word of God. And I want to give you ten words this morning, ten words that will parallel the manna they received in Exodus 16 with The significance of the Word of God that we hold in our hands. But before we do that, I'm going to have the ushers come down the aisle. Because what I want to do today is, I want to give you Sam.

Okay? And what I'm going to ask you to do is we're going to pass these cups through the aisles. You're to take one. Piece of the manna. Just one. Because you got to save some for the second service.

All right? It says. And the house of Israel named it man, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. What I'm giving you this morning is the coriander seed. All right? That was the size of the manna. Remember, if you've got a New King James Version or an Old King James Version, the text says in verse number 14 of Exodus 16: When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness, there was a fine Flake-like thing, or the New King James says, a small round thing.

And what you have when you parallel that with verse number 31 in Numbers chapter 11 is the coriander seed, which is a small round thing. The only difference between this one and the one in Exodus 16 is that the one in Exodus 16 was white. And this was about the size of the manna. And this is what was on the ground when they would awaken in the morning and see it on the ground. And they would collect it. Two million Jews every day they would collect this manna. One million tons of manna a year. Forty million tons of manna throughout the forty-year wilderness wandering.

Now if you hold that little piece of coriander seed in your hand, just think how many of those would make up one million tons of manna. This was a supernatural act of God. And so we're going to begin by helping you understand. If you could just hold that in your hand, I know it's kind of small and you might lose it. Maybe put it in the crease of your Bible there so you can refer to it because we're going to come back to it here in a moment. But understand this: that ins. Of the word of the Lord is an understanding of how God feeds his people.

And so I want to give you 10 words this morning to help you understand the parallel. Between the manna given from God and the word of God. We've seen how Exodus 16 is about the grace of God, the person of God, and now the Word of God. And the manna given Exodus 16 helps us understand the power of God's holy word. You with me so far? Okay, here we go. Number one, I'm going to talk to you about the origination of the man.

Where did it originate from? Well, the Bible tells us it came from God. Verse number 4. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will 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 or not they will walk in my inst. Every day they would go out and there would be more manna on the ground. God gave us his word. And God, in a supernatural way, over 1 years, in 40 different authors, gave us a composite picture of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in 66 books.

These are the very words of God. And as God would speak the universe into existence, so he would speak the manna into existence. How does God make manna? Simply, he just says, Mena. Just like he said, and let there be light, and there was light. And God spoke his word into existence. And so we have the divine author himself who in a supernatural way would feed the children of Israel in the wilderness this manna. So now he in a supernatural way gives us the word of God to feed us on a daily basis.

Because they are his inspired words. After its origination, I want you to notice number two: its location.

Its location. God brought the manna to them. They didn't have to go out into the wilderness and look for the manna. Wow, I wonder where it is today. Let's see if we can find it under this rock or under this tree. Maybe it's over there. Oh, no, it's over here. No, they went out of their tents. In the morning, they saw the manna and they were able to gather the manna each and every day because God brought the manna to them. Just like God c to us, so too the word of God has been given to us. Now you think about that.

God has given us His word. He brought it to us. The Bible says in Romans chapter 10, verse number 8, Paul quotes.

The words of Moses out of Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse number 14, when he says, The word is near unto thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. Think about that. You know, we in America are so blessed. I mean, we can go to just about any bookstore and pick up a Bible, right? And unfortunately, the Word of God is so accessible that we take it for granted. It might be better if it was hard to find a Bible because then we'd know who really wanted one. They'd have to search for what. for it and seek it.

You go to places in Russia, in places in China, in places where there's persecution and people just grab holds of just bits and pieces of the Word of God and they treasure it because it's so valuable to them. It's so hard to get a copy of the Bible. But when they have it, they treasure it because it's their life. And God has brought the word of the Lord to us. Many people have rejected the word of the Lord. Romans chapter 1. Talks about how man suppresses the truth of God, who wants nothing to do with what God has said in His Word, because they don't want to be accountable to a holy God.

And yet, God has given us His Word, and the miracle of translations over years, and people translating the Bible into thousands of different languages, so people can actually hold the Word of the Lord in their hands. As God would bring the manna to the people, so He brought us the spiritual manna, the Word of God, to us, that we might read it. And understand it. From its origination, from its location, the third thing I want you to see is its assimilation.

When the people went out to gather the manna, it wasn't enough just to gather it. First of all, it wasn enough just to go out and look at it and say, wow, look at the manna.

Isn't that kind of neat? And then not gather it. They had to go gather it, right? And once they gathered it, they couldn't just keep it, those om, on their shelves and just leave it there without preparing it to eat. It had to be assimilated into their lives. Why? Because it was their daily sustenance. Same is true with the word of God. We just can't sit back and admire the Bibles that we carry or just put them on our shelves at home or collect a whole bunch of different copies of them. We need to assimilate the Word of God into our lives.

We need to read the Word of God. We need to study the Word of God. We need to memorize the Word of God. We need to meditate upon the Word of God. And then we need to apply the Word of God to It does us no good just to carry a Bible around. We need to assimilate the words of God into our lives in order for it to take effect, in order for it to work in a powerful way in and through us each and every day. The fourth thing I want you to see about the word of the Lord is this. It's valuation. It's valuation.

The value of the manna for these people. This is how they were going to live. This is how they made it from day to day. That unless they ate the manna, they would perish in the wilderness. They would die. They would die. And you parallel that with the word of the Lord, and you begin to realize the importance of God's word in your life. Turn over with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 8 for a moment. Deuteronomy chapter 8. And the Bible says in verse number 3, talking about God's dealings with the children of Israel in the wilderness, that he humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know.

Why? Because he wanted to humble them. The whole manna experience for Israel was to show them that man can live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's the valuation of the manna. Now, you think about that in your life and in mind when it comes to the word of the Lord. Listen to what the psalmist said in Psalm 19:10. More to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold, is the word of the Lord. That's the value of the word of the Lord. You see, God's word is everlasting.

God's word will never pass away. God's word is eternal, like God Himself is eternal. Christ is called the Word of God in Revelation 19:13. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and that Word, John 1:14, dwelt among us. You see, Jesus Christ and the Word of God are one and the same. You can't separate the two. And we need to understand that it's the Word that God has given us that is so valuable. Just like the manna people received on that day would sustain them throughout the course of that day and throughout the 40 years they walked through the wilderness, so too the Word of God sustains you every single day.

That's why you need to be into the Word of God. That's why you just can't pass it off. That's why you just can't treat it as another book. It's so, so important. So its origination, its location, its assimilation, and fourthly, its valuation. The fifth thing I want you to see is its coloration. Its coloration. The Bible tells us in Exodus chapter 16, verse number 31, that it was like a coriander seed and white. White. It speaks of its pureness. It speaks of its wholeness. It speaks of its cleanliness.

And we saw you how the whiteness of the manna also portrayed the the purity of the Son of God in all of his spotlessness. Well, the same is true with the Word of God. If Christ Himself is spotless, so are the words of Christ. And the Bible says this.

In Psalm 5, verse number 6, the words of the Lord are pure words. Psalm 119, 140, Thy word is very pure. Proverbs 30, verse number 5, every word of God is pure. And like that manna, being white in color. To emphasize its purity, so too God's Word is absolutely holy and pure. It speaks of the faultlessness of the Word of God. It speaks of the wholesomeness of the Word of God. And that's why God's Word never returns void, as Isaiah 55 so eloquently speaks. That when God's word goes forth, it always accomplishes its purpose because it's all about God.

But the sixth thing I want you to see is the detestation of the manna, the detestation of the manna. They would begin to detest it. Numbers chapter 11. If you got your Bible, turn there with me if you would for a second.

Second. Numbers chapter 11, verse number 4. And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires, and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this man.

Now the manna was like coriander seed and its appearance like that of delium. Wow. Think about it. They began to detest God's provision for them. Now, I don't know about you, but it would seem to me like when I got up every morning and I went out and I saw what God did. And real the magnitude of that supernatural act, I'd be pretty much turned on about that thing for many years to come. But these people, after About a year, they thought to themselves, you know what? There's got to be more than this.

As if what God gave them wasn't enough. Now, you think about that with the word of the Lord. And you hear it all the time in churches, don't you? Well, you got more at your church than just the Bible? No. Well, can't you do something to liven it up, to spice it up, to make it more interesting? No. How can we add to the supernatural act of God? And yet the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 13, verse number 13, these words.

The one who despises the word will be in debt to it. You'll pay for it. You'll pay for it. I pray that we never come to the point where we despise what God has given to us. The next thing I want you to see, the seventh thing, is the examination of the manna. The examination of the man. The Bible says in verse number 4 of Exodus 16, the reason God rained bread from heaven is so that he may test them whether or not they will walk in my instruction.

God's manna in its supernatural provision was given to pro the man. To exam the man, to test the man, to see whether or not they would follow their God, to see whether or not their hearts were truly in line with their God. And is that not the way the word of the Lord is? God's word is given in order that it might examine the true character and nature of a man. In 2 Peter chapter 1, let a man examine himself. Let him know whether or not he truly is chosen and cared for by God. The only worthy exam is to match a man's life against the word of the Lord.

What does God say? In this manna, would examine the people of the day. God, in His wonderful provision for them, through the manna, would examine their lives. So they could see what was in their hearts. So they would know. See, God knew what was in their hearts already. The test was for them. And so when you preach the Word of God and you give the Word of God, what does it do to people's lives? It examines them and they have to conclude: either I'm going to walk with the Lord or I'm not going to walk with the Lord.

The next thing, I believe it's number eight. This is kind of neat: the delectation of the Word of God. The delectation of the Word of God. D-A-I-O-. For those of you who do not know how to spell that. The delight of God's holy word, the enjoyment of it. The Bible says in Exodus chapter 16: its taste was like wafers with honey, it was sweet to the taste.

Sweet. It wasn't bitter. It wasn't sour. It was sweet to the taste. And the Bible says this about the Word of God.

Psalm 19:10, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb is the word of God. Psalm 119, 103. How sweet are thy words unto my taste. Yes, sweeter than honey in my mouth. That's why the Bible says in Psalm thirty four, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

You see, there are times in our lives when we hear the word of God, It doesn't sound or taste sweet anymore. You know why that is? It's because of the sin in our lives. It's not because God's word isn't sweet to the taste, and it isn't because God's word isn't nourishment to the soul. It is. If God's word is not sweet, To the taste, then we need to understand, examine where our lives are and the filter by which the Word of God goes through. That's why Peter said. Over in 1 Peter chapter 1. Therefore, putting aside all malice, all guile, and hypocrisy, and envy, all slander.

Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect of salvation, if or since you have tasted the kindness of God. Because you've already tasted the kindness of God, make sure you lay aside all malice, all hypocrisy, all slander, all sin, all iniquity. Why? Because it will deter the taste. It will make it bitter in your mouth because of its confrontation of your sin. But next. Number nine, notice the word nation.

The word nation, the manna was given to a nation. It wasn't given to anybody else. It was given to the Jews. Right? It wasn't given to anybody else in the both of us. It was just given to the nation of Israel. That's it. Why? Because the nation of Israel had a responsibility to tell others about the word of God or the miracle provision of God. It was their responsibility. The Bible says over in Romans chapter 3, What advantage then has the Jew because that unto them were committed the oracles?

Of God, so too it's true of you and me that God has given us His word that we might be ministers of reconciliation. That we might be proper stewards of the gospel. And you know what? Israel, they failed in their mission. God designed them to be His rep to a lost world, and they didn't do so good. They rejected their Messiah. So God birthed the church. And now we, the church of Jesus Christ, are to be the representatives of God to the world, to speak the truth. But lastly and not least, the word revelation.

For man was a supreme revelation of God. Exodus chapter 16. Verse number 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel at evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. Down in verse number 12 At twilight you shall eat meat, in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. God. The manna given to Israel was a revelation of God Himself. You will know me by what I provide for you. You will come to understand me by what I give to you every single day.

And what we hold in our hands is a revelation of Jesus Christ our L. It reveals to us the character and nature of our God. And when we read His words, the words that He gave us to read, they tell us about Him. And the whole Bible is a revelation of Jesus Christ. There is a book of the Bible called The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Apocalypse. The unveiling, the unmasking, and the book of Revelation does it unlike the other 65 books do it. It reveals the Son of Man in all of his exaltation and glory.

And true blessing only comes when you are committed to doing what God has said in His Word. That's it. And that's the lesson of Exodus chapter 16. That's the lesson of the manna given from God. It's all about the grace of God. It's all about the Son of God, and it's all about the Word of God. That on this day, many years later, we would be able to value the truth of the revelation of Jesus Christ our Lord and hold it dear to our hearts. Listen, if you leave today and nothing in your life changes about the assimilation of God's Word in your life, there's a problem.

You didn't understand Exodus chapter 16. How do you know you understand Exodus chapter 16? You know you understand it when you realize that God's Word is the most valuable thing you possess and that God gave us His Word to test us. To see whether or not we will truly adhere to everything He says and believe what He says and live out what He says. And He gave us His word that we might get a composite picture of who He is. His plans and purposes for life, that we might be able to believe in Him and serve Him and follow Him.

He gave us His word that we, as a people of God, might go out into the utter part of the earth and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. To a lost world, that they in turn might understand who the God is we say we serve. May God give us the grace to uphold His Word without compromise. Let's pray together.