I hope you are thankful that we have the word of God in our own language and copies of it everywhere. We are a blessed people. Exodus 16 beginning in verse 31. Now hear the word of the Lord. 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 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. 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 for 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 10th part of an Ifa. This is the word of the Lord. This is the Word of God. The grass withers and the flowers of the field fade away, but this is the Word of God, and the Word of God stands forever. I encourage you to keep your Bibles open today. You may want to be referring back to other things in Exodus 16 that we've already covered. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you today and ask that you would help us. The things that we do not know that you would teach us. The things that we've never seen before that you would show us. The things that we need you would provide for us. the ways in which we would need to change that you would reveal to us. Oh Lord come and visit us here in this holy exercise that the world scoffs at and mocks and ridicules called the preaching of the word of God and that you would use this humble means to build up your people in the faith and to bring those who have yet to believe into the kingdom. Lord, you've revealed there's only two kingdoms, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. And until we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we remain in the kingdom of darkness. Oh Lord, come today, and if there's anyone here who has not yet come to believe in Christ, that you would today turn them and bring them to yourself. We pray for every family represented here. You know all the concerns and needs and sorrows and problems of each soul here. You are able to meet all of our needs out of the riches of your grace in Christ. We do thank you that you've not treated us like our sins deserve but in mercy you've poured out blessing upon blessing upon us. You've poured out so many good things. And we pray now that as the word of God is proclaimed, that you would give us tender and teachable hearts. Come and bless your people today and help me, your servant, to faithfully proclaim your word. We make our prayer in Jesus' name, amen. I said just a moment ago, I encourage you to keep your Bibles open because I want you to see how great is our God. He's given us a book that is written by the Spirit of God that all the parts of the Bible consent with each other. It's so obvious. with various authors of the books of the Bible, that there's one author behind it all, and that is the Holy Spirit, who carried along the authors to write exactly the word of God. I really pray that you'll be encouraged in your faith today as we look at this particular passage. I have three points. They're listed in an outline in your bulletin there on page eight. An extremely unpleasant situation, a sweet provision, and a taste of things to come. So first, we have a very unpleasant situation. In the desert, the whole community grumbled. You brought us into this wilderness to kill us and the whole assembly with hunger. You brought us out of Egypt into this desert to starve us all. It really was not a happy scene. We saw a couple weeks ago as we looked at this earlier in the book of Exodus, chapter 16, how the Israelites grumbled. An unhappy, ungrateful, murmuring, grumbling, miserable, grousing multitude. Two million of them. Can you imagine living in a city of two million people and everybody was grumbling? Imagine what that would be like. It's hard enough living around one person who grumbles or two. These are the very same people who had seen God's mighty hand in the plagues against Egypt, and they were spared. The very same people who had been miraculously delivered through the Red Sea and walked through on dry ground and saw the waters crash in around Pharaoh's army. These are the very same people now criticizing the Lord and his servants, Moses and Aaron, and not just a few of them complained. Just about all of them, the whole community, it's practically unanimous. The Lord knew their hearts. Though they verbally assaulted Moses and Aaron, the text says that their real complaint was against God. Verse seven, he has heard your grumbling against him. It's against the Lord that they grumbled. And they say, if only we had died, verse three, in Egypt. That implies they would have preferred death than the deliverance that God had given them. Now think about that for a minute. They're saying they wish they'd never been rescued. They're saying they wish they were still in slavery. You see, the going has gotten tough, unpleasant, and they're ready to go back. And the bottom line is, as I said last week, they're repudiating their relationship with God. They're wishing that Pharaoh and the Egyptians were still their masters. They compare life now with life before and say, back there in Egypt, we sat around pots of meat and we ate all the food we wanted. They actually say that. What in the world? They have a warped view of reality. They have selective memory, like we often do when we're unhappy, right? They're forgetting the whips and brutality of the Egyptians. They're forgetting the cruel treatment. They're forgetting life as slaves. And they make it sound like when they lived in Egypt that they went to the Ponderosa Steakhouse or the Country Buffet or the All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffet every night. We sat around the pots of meat and ate all the meat that we wanted. And besides having a selective memory exaggerating life in Egypt, they exaggerate the condition of the present. We're starving. We're gonna die. When really they're just impatient. The Lord had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, but they want it right now. And you know, as I said last week, what's going on here in Exodus is a snapshot of our lives. It's a picture of us, of our life in this present world. This is here in Exodus 16 in the Bible for a purpose, so you can see what life is all about. Their unpleasant situation is a picture of life in this present world for you and for me. We're in the wilderness right now. We were in bondage. We were in spiritual Egypt and we were rescued by one greater than Moses. The book of Hebrews says we were rescued by Christ. And now we are being led through the wilderness, through the desert, to the promised land. Not a land that's on earth, but a heavenly kingdom. So how is life in the desert for them like life for us here and now? Let's think about that. It's so important to understand your present life because so many people think, why is this happening to me? Well, it's because this isn't heaven yet. It's so important to understand your present life and what's going on around you and necessary to have a grasp of this so that you do not lose heart and become discouraged in the faith. So let me ask you this under this first point still. In what ways is their life in the desert a picture of life for us? In what way was their lives or is a picture of their lives like a picture of life for us? Well, they were traveling. Right? They were traveling. They were on a journey. They were pilgrims and strangers. Strangers and aliens in the desert. The wilderness was not their home. It was a foreign land. And as exciting as going somewhere can be, it gets old when the trip is long. How many of you have been on a trip when you say, oh, it's so good to be home? It gets old when the trip is long and when hardships become magnified. And when you're not in comfortable, familiar surroundings. Well, the word of God also says that we too, as believers, we are pilgrims here. We are travelers. We're journeying through here. This world is not our final home. This world is not our final destination. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13. Speaking of all the heroes of the faith in that chapter, they only saw off at a distance by faith where they were headed. Hebrews 11 says they admitted they were aliens and strangers on the earth and looking for a country of their own. That's our life here. Someone called me this week from Michigan asking me for help for a Bible verse to put on the tombstone of a mutual friend of ours who passed away a few years ago. They hadn't put the tombstone up yet. His son wanted some idea, and as I thought about this man and his longing for heaven, the one who died, I said, how about to live is Christ, to die is gain? My dear friend Tom has gained so much by being in heaven now. Peter writes the same thing to early Christians who were living in difficult times, unpleasant times. He says, you are a chosen people, a people belonging to God who are called out of darkness and into his wonderful light, a people who've received mercy, sojourners and exiles in this world. That's all of us. This wilderness experience is a picture for us in the scriptures that we're just passing through. We too are on our way to heaven. So how was their life in the desert like life for us? Well, they were traveling and they were promised an ultimate destination, like we are. But they didn't know the immediate future. They knew where they were going finally one day, but they didn't know what tomorrow would be about. They were clueless about what the next day would hold. They were commanded only to gather enough manna for one day. trusting God that he would bring manna the next day. They were totally dependent on the Lord's guidance. They had the pillar of cloud and fire to lead them. Believing that God knew best, they had to walk by faith, making plans, but leaving their steps in the hand of the Lord, not knowing what a day or week or month would bring. And you know that can be one of the hardest parts of life in this present world, right? We know our final destination. Our ultimate destination is to be with the Lord. We have a glorious future waiting for us. What a promise. But along the way, there are a lot of forks in the road. And we have to make decisions and seek wisdom and seek the leading, not of the cloud and pillar of fire, but the Holy Spirit. What should I do in this situation? Where should I send my children to school? Where should I go to college? What kind of job should I take? Should I take this job? Should I move? Should I retire now? or later. My older brother said the other day, oh, Rick, retirement's awesome. You need to retire. I said, I'm not there yet. Should we sell our home? Whom shall I marry? Who should I marry? Will I ever get married? We don't know. We know where we're going, but we don't know every step along the way. I remember before Donna and I were serious, she was a friend. Back when I was single, I really wanted to be married. I even had a dream one night that I was getting married. I had sent out invitations to my wedding. The only problem was I hadn't proposed to anybody yet in my dream. And the wedding date was coming up quick. And everybody was asking me who I was getting married to. And I said, I don't know yet. It was a nightmare. I woke up, and I was like, oh, shoot. I can't believe that happened. You know how some dreams you forget right away? I never forgotten that one. Their life in the wilderness is a picture of our life on this side of heaven. We don't know what's on the other side of the next hill. We can't see around the bend. We can't see around the corner of the road. We have the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We're to walk by faith. How was life in the desert like life for us? Well, The wilderness was a dangerous place. It was barren, it was often dry and a thirsty place and had thorns and thistles and snakes and wild beasts and enemies were all around and death was threatening them on a daily basis and the wilderness was a vast, huge place and seemed to go on forever. Well, so too is life for us, for the pilgrim on the way to heaven, for the Christian. on our way to glory. Life is often barren and sometimes really lonely. And things can get rather hot. And the journey can become oppressive. And it can drain the life out of you. This present world is full of evil. From without on the outside and within. There's evil people, spiritual enemies, Temptations all around. Quagmires that could swallow you up. There's sickness and suffering and hardships and trials and storms and theft. All kinds of all kinds of thorns and thistles. And death threatens you on a daily basis and it sometimes seems like there's no end in sight and that God is far away and then he doesn't care and you feel like you're gonna die. And you feel like the Israelites, we're gonna die. But point number two here, the Lord graciously gave them all that they needed. He rained bread from heaven, he poured it out. There was a sweet provision, verse 31. The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey, verse 31. Instead of God pouring out judgment or pouring out discipline upon them, he poured out grace. Every evening God provided quail. You children know what quail is? They're like little chickens, birds which people often hunt for food. In fact, in my house growing up in Iowa, we lived in the woods and sometimes you could see the covey of quail just by the rustling of all the leaves under the trees. Only they didn't have to go hunting for them like people do today. The quail came, verse 13, and covered the camp. Every morning then it rained down food from heaven, bread. God miraculously provided what the people called manna. Some of you may have a note in your margins of your Bible that the Hebrew phrase, what is it, is similar to the word manna. It covered the ground like little white flakes. They'd never seen this before. What is this? They called it manna. It was like frost. It could be baked like bread or boiled like dumplings or baked like bagels. Interesting little note, the Holy Spirit here gives us a glimpse of what each night was like in Psalm 78. It says, he rained down manna for the people to eat. He gave them the grain of heaven. Men ate the bread of angels. He sent them food in abundance, rather, all the food they could eat. He let loose the east wind from the heavens and led forth the south wind by his power. He rained meat down on them like dust, flying birds like sand on the seashore. The quail were everywhere, every night, and the manna everywhere, every morning. You know, you think of some of the good bread you've eaten. Maybe some of you pick the restaurant you go to because they have awesome bread right before the meal. This bread was awesome. And for you teenagers out there, or for Juwan who's not here, I would have said this in his presence, you wouldn't have to worry about not having enough bread, about not having enough food. There was plenty. And it was absolutely delicious. There was always enough to go around. This bread was not just ho-hum bread. This was outstanding bread. They were in a very unpleasant situation, but God sweetened it by His grace and love. In the midst of their distress and their complaining and their murmuring and their grumbling and their grousing, He generously met their needs in a way that He did not want them to forget. And so he commanded Moses to save some of it. The Israelites were to take some of the manna and put it in the temple for two reasons, as a reminder for generations to come of how the Lord provided for them, but also to remind them that there's something else coming. It pointed ahead to something for them. You see, just as the wilderness was a snapshot of our lives, Just as the wilderness was a snapshot of our lives, the manna was a picture of Christ. This was a taste of things to come, which is my third point. The manna was a taste of things to come. Remember one time in the Gospels the people were hungry and Jesus day in his ministry. He provided bread for them miraculously he fed them the loaves and the fishes multiplied the loaves and fishes and then he used that opportunity to show them that the bread he provided. was fulfilling a promise that God had given to his people generations before. The manna which God provided generations before pointed to him. Jesus makes the connection. John chapter six says, I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate manna in the desert and yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven which a man can eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he'll live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world, meaning this body will be given on the cross for the world, for people to believe. Well, let me ask you, how is the manna a picture of Christ? How is the manna a shadow or standing in the shadow of Christ? How is it a taste of things to come? I'm gonna give you a number of ways. I want you to go home and think of more ways. How is the manna a picture of Christ? How does it point us to the gospel? Well, first of all, where were the Israelites when the manna came to them? Well, they were in the wilderness, which is where we are right now. Christ comes to us while we're on this side of the Jordan River. While we're in the desert. And what appeared. What appeared to the Israelites when the manna came to them. Well you see there in verse 10. The glory of the Lord appeared. In the cloud. The glory of the Lord. That's the first time in the Bible that that phrase is used. And what happened when Jesus, the bread of life, came into the world? Do you remember at Bethlehem? I can still hear my grandmother's voice reciting that Luke's passage from Luke 2. And lo, the angel of the Lord came about them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were sore afraid. The glory of the Lord appeared as the manna was provided and as bread from heaven came the Lord Jesus, the glory of the Lord shone forth to the shepherds. And from what direction did the manna come? Look at verse four. I will rain bread from heaven, I'll rain it down from heaven. And where did Jesus come from? The bread of life. Well, he came from above. God gave his only begotten son. He left his heavenly throne to come to earth. First Corinthians 15 says the first Adam was of the earth. The second Adam is the Lord from heaven. Jesus said in John chapter eight to his enemies, I am from above. I'm not of this world. And how much did the Israelites have to pay for the manna? It was free. It was a gift. It was received without money. And what does the New Testament call Jesus? Well, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. In fact, the end of the book of Revelation, Revelation 22, the spirit and the bride say, come, let me who is, let he who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires to take of the water of life without price come. It's the free gift of God in Jesus Christ. And to whom was the manna given? Who received the manna? Was it only for the people who deserved it? They didn't deserve anything. Were they worthy of it? No, not at all. They were undeserving, rebellious, grumpy, grousey sinners. Just as the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ comes to us, we who were by nature children of wrath. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ came from heaven to give us life. And what did the manna do? Well, it saved them. Without it, they would have died. It satisfied their hunger. It met their needs. And so, too, Jesus came to save his people from their sins. The manna was what God used to save them. And Jesus came to save us from our sins. And where did they find the manna? See, all these connections to Christ. Where did they find the manna? As they traveled through the desert, day after day, where did they find it? Well, they found it everywhere they went. It was like the manna found them in the same way Jesus comes to you wherever you are, right where you are. And how often did they have manna to eat? Every day. Not a day went by that they would be hungry. And so it is with the grace of God in Christ. God has promised he will supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. Day by day. Give me this day my daily bread. Oh Lord give me Christ today. Oh, and there's a picture of Christ in that it was white like snow. It's a picture of the holiness of the Lord Jesus. It was placed on the altar in the tabernacle. It's a picture of Christ who ascended to heaven. In Hebrews chapter nine it says that he's there now in God's presence. And you think about this, who benefited from the manna? What kind of people benefited from the manna? Well, everyone. There was enough for all, no matter their economic or social status. There was manna for everyone. And so it is with Christ. Paul says in Galatians 3, here is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. It's for everyone. And you know what? Those who received the manna, they had to eat it. It would do them no good to just look at it. They had to apply it to their lives. So too with Christ. You must receive him as your own. You must believe upon the Lord Jesus as your savior. You can't just sit here and look at it and say, well, this is good enough for my mom or for my dad or for my grandparents. You can't rest on your mother's faith or your father's faith. Those who received the manna had to appropriate it for themselves. And lastly, how was it received? Well, Numbers chapter 11 tells us that there were some of the mixed multitude who grumbled against God and complained about what God had provided. And so too with Christ. There are a few who grumble against God's grace. There are some who grumble about serving the Lord. There are some who complain to the Lord in their hearts as if God were a hard master. But there are others who saw it as sweet like honey. as a taste of heaven, as a foretaste of the land flowing with milk and honey. Some found it delicious. In fact, they called it angel's food, Psalm 78, verse 25, which is probably where the angel food cake got its name. There were some who grumbled. There were some who saw it as sweet, as the Lord Jesus is seen to be the fairest of 10,000. Many, many have tasted the Lord's promise and reply and say, taste and see that the Lord is good. You see, in giving the manna, the Lord tested them. What would they do with it? He was testing them for them to see what they would do with it. And the same test that Israelites face What would you do with this manna? The same test is for us. What will you do with Christ? Jesus said, your forefathers ate manna in the desert and yet they died. I am the bread of life. I'm the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Forever. What will you do? with the bread of life? What will you do with the manna? What will you do with Christ, this sweet savior? Will you do as you please? Will you just watch others receive him and you go hungry? Will you decide for yourself what you'll do with Christ? This is the great test of your life, of everyone's life. What do you think of Christ? I call you today, simple call, to come in the midst of this sinful, fallen world, this wilderness, this desert. Come to the only provision that God has given for you, that you might make it through to heaven. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the bread of life. There's no other way. No one comes to the Father except through me. Come, I call you today, and cry out to the Lord. Lord, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. Come taste and see that the Lord is good, that Christ died for our sins on the cross according to the word of God and he rose again from the dead according to the word of God. Believe in him and you will have eternal life. Praise be to God for the indescribable gift of his son. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you and thank you for the living bread, the Lord Jesus himself. Thank you for every gift you've given to us in him. for his presence and his power and his washing and his blessing and his provision and his guidance and his daily mercies that have no end. Thank you that we have a Savior who is greater than our sins. You provided, Lord, for us every day, greater than our need. Our cup overflows with blessing. Oh, Lord, thank you. And as we give thanks to you, bless our worship with our tithes and offerings now. We bring them before you as an act of worship and pray you would use our gifts to bring others to taste and see that the Lord is good, that others might hear the gospel. Oh Lord, bless the giving and the use of these gifts. We pray that Christ would be glorified in Jesus' name, amen. In just a moment, we'll sing our closing