My soul bless the Lord, may his name be adored. Oh, sing hallelujah, give praise to the Lord. Amen. Let us turn now to Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16 as we come back to the narrative of Exodus here, having been in Isaiah for the last few weeks. And we'll read from verse 32 of chapter 16. It's page 75 in the Bibles under your seats. We'll read from verse 32. of chapter 16 through verse 7 of chapter 17. Let us hear the word of the Lord, Exodus chapter 16, beginning at verse 32. Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded. Let an omer of it, that is the manna, 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. Enomer is the 10th part of Anipha. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sinai 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 Massa 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? And so far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation, of our Lord Jesus Christ, miraculous bread, miraculous water from the hand of God who can perform any miracle that he so chooses. This should be clear from the fact of creation. This is God's universe. God can do whatever he wants. God can perform any miracle and we can never be surprised by what God can do. God can stop the sun and the moon. as he did in the days of Hezekiah. God can make the shadow of the sun to work backwards, as he did in the days of Hezekiah. He stopped it in the days of Joshua. God can enter into this world through a virgin birth. God can conquer death in the resurrection, never to die again. These are all part of the miracles of God. God can do whatever he so chooses. And what should we do when it comes to the miracles of God? What should our calling be? Well our calling is not to demand or expect specific miracles. God can do whatever he chooses but God does it in the time and in the way that God so chooses. Indeed, God's miracles were most concentrated in the time of the Exodus and then in the life of Jesus Christ when his written revelation was coming. So Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible and the New Testament was written around that time of miracles as Jesus Christ came. We have that full revelation. We shouldn't expect or demand visible miracles to be performed in all kinds of different ways. But we should remember the miracles of God. We should know of the great miracles that God has done, the ways that he has broken into this, which is his own creation, even as the very creation and sustaining of his creation. This is all part of the, we might call, the miraculous power of God, depending on how we define miracle, but what are we called to do, brothers and sisters? We're called to remember the miracles of God. As we come to the end of Exodus 16 and the beginning of Exodus 17, it's very much a text about these are some ways you should remember what I have done and also warnings against those who forget what God has done, who very quickly forget what God has done. So we look at this text with this theme. our call to remember the miracles of God, and miracles here which even teach us specific things about the character of God. Remember God's steadfastness, that's our first point, and then remember God's patience. Remembering God's steadfastness, God's faithfulness, that's our point here for the end of Exodus 16. And we have two time jumps in the narrative at the end of Exodus 16. First, in verses 32 to 34, we jump forward in time about one year. And then in verse 35, we'll jump forward 40 years. So we look at the first time jump, verses 32 to 34, We're going forward about a year, or maybe less, to when the special omer, which is a pretty big container. We're not talking about like a little leftover box or something. We're talking more like a big bowl, a big container. We're talking about an omer of mana, which is to be kept where? It is to be kept in front of the testimony. Verse 33, take a jar and put an omer of manna in it and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations. And as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. What is the testimony? Well, we're jumping ahead in time a little bit in terms of the rest of Exodus because the testimony is the Ten Commandments, which God is about to give soon. And then also, look at me turn forward a little bit to Exodus chapter 40. Exodus chapter 40 because the testimony can refer to the Ten Commandments but it can also refer to the ark in which the Ten Commandments are kept because these things are so closely linked together. Exodus chapter 40 verses 1 to 3. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, on the first day of the first month, this is the one year mark after they left Egypt. On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. So after one year being in the wilderness the whole tabernacle and all the articles are finished and now they're all going to be put up. You shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting and you shall put in it The Ark of the Testimony, and you shall screen the Ark with a veil. The Ark of the Testimony. Why is it called the Ark of the Testimony? Because the most important thing inside the Ark is the testimony, the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets, specifically the second set of stone tablets because Moses broke the first set. That's the testimony. And there are very few things in the Holy of Holies. There are very few things that you put in the Holy of Holies. But one of the things that the people of God were to put in the Holy of Holies, were to put by the testimony was this omer, this large jar of manna. Verse 34 again, And as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. If we read in Numbers chapter 17 we would have the account of one more thing which was placed in the Holy of Holies namely the staff of Aaron which budded and then it's actually the author of Hebrews who concisely pulls all these things together. It's not until the New Testament that we get a concise statement of all of this but if you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 9 And if you put a bookmark there, we'll come back to Hebrews 9. Hebrews chapter 9 kind of pulls all these things together, these special objects in the Holy of Holies. There is not much there, but what is there? Hebrews chapter 9, verses 3 and 4. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold. in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant." Three things in the ark. One of them being this jar of manna. The author of Hebrews tells us it was a golden jar for the manna. Why are they to do this? It's to remember. It's so that from generation to generation, even after the 40 years of the daily manna has ceased, from generation to generation they'll remember that manna that was given. Verse 32, let an omer be kept throughout your generations so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness. From generation to generation. Remember the manna that I gave. Remember that miracle of my daily provision. Day after day after day, the manna, the bread from heaven sustained you in the wilderness. Now you need to keep this one special omer, this one special big golden jar as one of the few things in the Holy of Holies to remember what I have done. This is our calling as the people of God. When we see the miracles of God recorded for us in the Holy Scriptures, we are to remember the miracles of God. Remember what God has done. And in the Old Testament, it was done in this special way with this special jar placed in the Holy of Holies. And there's also, brothers and sisters, a miracle within miracles there. Because how long does manna last? Well, usually it only lasted for that day, except on Friday. Then it lasted one night into the Sabbath after you took a double portion. But here we have a miracle of preservation, which from generation to generation was to be a reminder of that miraculous provision that God gave every single day. Because the text doesn't come back to this in the Old Testament, we don't get all the details, but it's likely that this Omer, this big jar of manna, was in the Ark, in the Holy of Holies, until Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. That's almost 1,000 years later. And so here God says, here's my manna. I'm going to give it to you. You're going to set it aside in this special place. It's going to be a reminder to you from generation to generation of what I have done for you. And this manna isn't going to rot and have maggots in it overnight. It's going to last for almost 1,000 years. Remember my miracles. Remember what I have done. Remember God's miracles. God's steadfast care. Probably 900 plus years that this special omer of manna is in the Holy of Holies until by the wickedness of Judah the temple is destroyed by the Babylonians. And so that's the miraculous preservation reminding us of the miraculous provision. And how long did that happen? Well, here's the second jump of our text. So verses 33 and 34, they jump forward a year probably to the day when the tabernacle was erected and Aaron placed this Omer in the Holy of Holies. Now we jump forward 40 years in verse 35. The people of Israel ate the manna 40 years till they came to the habitable land. How long is God going to feed a nation wandering around in the wilderness? Day after day? He's gonna do it for more than 14,000 days. He's gonna do it for 40 years until they come to the border of the land of Canaan. People of God, this was a powerful miracle. This was a steadfast miracle. which stands as a powerful picture of God's day by day care and provision for his people. Every day that you live is a gift from God. In God we live and move and have our being. is steadfast. He cares for this creation, this whole creation, day after day. And then there are times, such as this miraculous provision in the wilderness, where he gives us powerful pictures of that daily provision. But now I said we would come back to Hebrews 9. So go back to Hebrews 9 with me, or if you kept a bookmark there, Because even though it is a powerful miracle that God provided the manna and that special jar in the Holy of Holies, that was a powerful preservation for many centuries. The Bible doesn't say a lot about that. It comes back to the manna. The manna is referenced a number of times in the Psalms and everything. It's really only in Hebrews 9 verse 4 that we get another detail again. Oh, that's exactly where they kept it. They put it inside the ark and it was in a golden jar. And we really don't have that many details about it. One of the reasons for that, people of God, is because even though it's good for us to remember all of the miracles of God, they all teach us something from Genesis to Revelation as they're recorded, there are There are some miracles which are more important to remember. There are greater miracles, especially these, the miracles centering around the life of Jesus Christ, His miraculous conception, coming, born of the Virgin, His life and the miracles that He performed, demonstrating His power, that He not only had the power to heal, but the very power to forgive sins, His healing being a demonstration visibly of the power he has also over the soul. And then the miracle of his resurrection and the conquering of death. And so that's exactly where the author of Hebrews takes us. After mentioning the items that were there in the Holy of Holies and some other things about the Old Covenant, where does the author of Hebrews go? Well, then he takes us to the greater miracle. He takes us to the person of Jesus Christ himself. Hebrews chapter 9. And beginning at verse 11, But when Christ appeared as High Priest to the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and of cows, but by means of His own blood. thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling that defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." And that, brothers and sisters, is the miracle which God certainly still performs today. It is the miracle of salvation. Every single time a sinner is saved, it is a miracle. It's the divine power of God at work because we cannot save ourselves. And so it's good to remember miracles. have a deeper understanding of the steadfast love of God when we consider that miracle of manna provision and the miracle of manna preservation there in the Holy of Holies. But the even more important miracle is the miracles of Christ and then the miracle unseen of the salvation of your very soul. Do you remember that miracle? Do you give thanks to God for that miracle? Lord, I praise you and I remember day by day your salvation of my very soul. God is steadfast. God is steadfast and faithful. We are called to lean upon Him and to remember what He has done for us. Brothers and sisters, there is sadly a temptation to forget that God is there and who God is and what God does And that's really the warning of chapter 17. We should remember God's patience, even as we must be very careful in how we would test the patience of God, or think we can test the patience of God. This is our second point, chapter 17, verses 1-7. Now we've already considered the first miracle of the provision of water. the water that God provided at Marah, the end of Exodus 15. And now we come to the second miraculous provision. And we're back into the regular flow of the narrative. We're no longer jumping forward a year, jumping forward 40 years. We're back in the normal flow. And it's still very early in the Wilderness Wanderings. Chapter 19 verse 1 says, on the third new moon after the people had gone out of the land of Egypt. So what does that mean? in chapter 17 and 18, we're still in the first two months after the day of leaving Exodus. We're still somewhere in there. We haven't even made it to the third month yet, Exodus chapter 19. And still in these very early days, after maybe just days since the water was provided at Marah, or maybe some weeks, and they've had some days of having this miraculous provision of the daily manna, they just had that manna for them that morning because they had the manna every single morning so we know they had it this morning. But what do they do? What do they do when they come to Rephidim? Well, they have a situation of water shortage again and they... what do they do? They quarrel, protest against God. There's a couple of illustrations, brothers and sisters, which help us to see just how blind and ungrateful this protest from the Israelites is. The first illustration we could think of is this. Imagine that you're in high school or college where you more commonly have things like final exams. And on the day of your final exam, you walk into your classroom and you say to your teacher, well, I'm not going to take the test today. You're going to take it. And I'm going to grade you. I'm going to tell you how you did. And then I'm going to walk out of this class and never come back again. And by the way, you should give me an A. Well, how do you think that would go? Do you think that would go over very well? That's, brothers and sisters, a small picture of what's going on here. Who does the testing? Who is God? God does the testing. God has the right to test His people. And that's the language that the text has used in chapter 15 and 16 to describe what the Lord is doing in the pattern of his provision for the people. So at Marah, the first place God provided water, at the end of Exodus chapter 15, in Exodus 15 verses 25 and 26, we have the language of how there, the end of verse 25, He tested them. And then again in chapter 16 verse 4, we have language about how God is testing the Israelites. And God has every right to do this. God has every right to test us. God has every right to shape us by His testing, providential care and plan. But the wilderness generation, this rebellious generation, even though they have seen so much of the power of God in the last months of their lives, before and after the Day of Exodus. Even though they've had the miraculous manna that very morning, even though God's already provided miraculous water for them just probably a few weeks earlier, they think that they can test God. It's the same Hebrew phrasing, language of testing. Verse 7, 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? People of God, we must not think that we can test God. We must not. And again, how did they test the Lord? Saying, is the Lord among us or not? Okay, so without going through a full list of all the plagues demonstrating God's power over Egypt and then the parting of the Red Sea, Just think about the miracles they've seen that day. The miraculous provision of manna, the pillar of cloud, which is leading them by night and by day. And they say, is the Lord with us or not? Here we come to another illustration to help us see the depth of the obstinate sin at work here. Douglas Stewart, conservative commentator, He summarizes this question, is the Lord among us or not? And the sinfulness of this question, he summarizes it well. Quote, for the people actually to doubt God's presence among them was outrageously unfaithful. His presence was obviously manifest at all times. It was at that very time through the pillar of cloud and fire. So the people's question must be seen as nothing other than a contempt of the Lord's leadership over them. It would be like asking a runner in the midst of running a marathon, do you intend to run this race? Or asking a mother while she is in the kitchen working hard to get the family's meal ready, are we going to have any dinner tonight? It is an insult. It looks at the obvious and implies by snidely denying it that it is not good. People of God, God is with us. Yes, this is a sin-cursed world. And God has the right to test us. But we can never think that we have the right to turn the tables and say, Lord, I'm going to test you now. Are you really with me? We must not. Whether we are dying of thirst or anything else. Again, they are going to be thirsty. Where are they going to get water? Food is one thing, but you need water to live even before you need food. We do not have the right to test God. Question God. To say, God, are you really there? We do have the right to call out in prayer. We could have another sermon on the Psalms that call out in prayer. The people of God, even the Psalms, end on a note of praise. And finally, we must know that we do not have the right to test God. Now, God is patient. And so here also, God provided water. Moses takes a few elders with him as witnesses, goes to the Rock of God's choosing, Likely it was God's pillar of cloud descending over a certain rock showing visibly again this is God's choice. The staff is also a symbol of that. The staff strikes the rock and water is provided. The Lord is patient even with his ungrateful people. He provides water again. But we must not test the patience of God And with this I come back again to what's the miracle we need to remember? Well, the miracle of what Christ has done and then the miracle of the salvation of our souls as we repent of our sins and trust in Him. And so we must know what the patience of God is for. Romans chapter 2 verses 2 to 4. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? That is why God is patient with us. That we would come to repentance. And so the rock is both a rock of salvation but also a rock of judgment for anyone who will not repent. And so the Apostle Paul in another place in 1st Corinthians 10, he comes to this rock but then he follows it both with language of warning and encouragement. The difference being Have you repented? Have you trusted on the rock? Are you remembering, then, the salvation of your very soul? The miracle of God's power at work over your soul? And all drank, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4, the same spiritual drank, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them. And the rock was Christ. Verse 9. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12, "...let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall." No temptation is overtaking you that is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Christ is the rock, the rock of stumbling, for those who do not repent and believe, the rock of salvation and eternal inheritance for those who do repent and believe. So again, it comes back to those miracles. It's good for us to take the lessons from the miracles that God worked throughout time, but ultimately they must take us to Christ himself. and the miracle of His power of salvation, and the miracle of salvation in your soul. Do you remember that miracle? Were you called out of darkness? Was there a single day of turning point where you came to the Lord? Praise the Lord. Remember that day. Are you a covenant child who's never known a day that you do not call Jesus Christ your Savior? Praise the Lord. Remember all that He has done for you. Are you testing the patience of God? Have you not repented? Do you not have the salvation of your soul? to remember. Know that God is faithful, and know that His patience is meant to lead you to repentance. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, God Almighty, from generation to generation, may we remember your miracles, your miracles of old, your greatest miracles through Christ your Son.