Good morning, everybody. It's good to be together again as we continue our Advent series, A Thrill of Hope. My name is Pastor Chris. I'm one of the pastors on staff here at Pittsburgh Community Church. If you're new here, welcome. I'm glad that you're here this morning, and I'd love to meet you after the service if you're brave enough to come down and meet me. So just some review of where we've come from through our Advent series. Week one, Two weeks ago, we began in Genesis chapter 3, seeing Jesus as the promised one who would come to crush the head of the serpent, hope breaking into perhaps one of the darkest moments of human history. Last week, we looked at Genesis 49, where Jacob introduces the royal lineage of Judah and describes him as a lion's cub. And we looked at Jesus being the true lion of Judah, a king that would be strong enough and worthy enough to establish his eternal kingdom. This week, we turned to yet another picture of hope, one that God gives to his people in the wilderness, a picture of bread come down from heaven. to give life to God's people. And so if you have your Bibles this morning, please open to Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16, we're gonna read the story of God providing bread from heaven for all the people of Israel. And this story perhaps becomes one of the clearest signposts in all of scripture, pointing us to Jesus Christ. And so this morning we're gonna do something a little bit different. We're gonna read the entire chapter of Exodus 16. I know it's a little bit long, but I feel like it's important for the context that we'll be talking about. And so I just ask you to follow along with me as we read through the entire chapter, starting in verse 1, Exodus 16, 1. It says, They set out from Elam, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam 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've brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. And so Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, that 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?' 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 a cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, I've 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. And then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God. In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. And in the morning, dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded. Gather of it, each of you, as much as he can eat. You shall take an omer according to the number of persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. And 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 had gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it over until the morning. But they did not listen to Moses. Some left parts of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, this is what the Lord has 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. And so they laid it aside till the morning as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, eat it today for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place and let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. And so the people rested on the seventh day. Now the house of Israel called its name, Manna. And it was like coriander seed, white. And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And 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. And the people of Israel ate manna 40 years till they came to a habitable land. They ate manna until they came to the borderland of Canaan. And Omer is the 10th part of Ephah. Church, will you pray with me? Fathers, we talk about this concept of the bread come down from heaven this morning. I simply ask one thing, that your wisdom and your spirit would be in this place, moving our hearts and our minds to a place of faith and a place of exaltation of you in Jesus Christ. And so Father, I pray that you would speak to us according to the truth that you want us to learn this morning. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Do we have any parents in the room this morning who understand the plight of having growing hungry kids in the house? I know I was one of them, right? You know, I remember like, I don't even know how my parents like made it through, right? Because like, I ate through everything. I even remember my mom, she used to tell me when she made dinner, she's like, I made an entire five pound bag of potatoes just for you. I eat a lot. What can I say? And I remember the days, like, you know, walking out into the kitchen, probably just after eating something, because I was, like, eating the entire day, but you're, like, opening up the cupboards and you're looking for something, right? And there's just, there's nothing in there, right? And so now you're like, okay, well, what am I supposed to do? I'm dying here. And so you're, like, looking in the corners for, like, a loose potato chip or maybe a spilled gummy bear or something. I feel kind of like, you know, Buddy the Elf from, you know, Elf. In the Christmas story, when he finds the gum underneath the railing, he's like... It's a little bit like that as a teenage boy growing up. It's like, I found something. Well, it's not like I was starving and all of that. But I had a desire, I had a need. And as I was looking through those cupboards, sometimes when I wouldn't find anything, something would come out of my mouth like... Why is there no food in the house? Or hasn't anybody done groceries? And my mom would say, what? Yeah, I did it yesterday, right? You already ate everything that I bought, right? And so you're like, and you kind of go on grumbling about how hungry you are. Question, why do we do that? That feeling that hunger, that panic when there's nothing left. It's that I need something now or I'm not going to make it. That feeling points to a common human truth, that we're only temporarily satisfied. We are constantly in need of refilling. We are restless as a people. We have needs, insatiable needs. We are hungry for food, sure, but we are also hungry for many other things, aren't we? Now, my rummaging through the cupboards is not anything close to the same level of what the people of God are going through in the wilderness, but that feeling. that panic, that sense of I need something or I won't make it, all comes down to the same core truth, that our fleshly satisfaction doesn't last. We need a better satisfaction, and that is the mood of Exodus chapter 16. And it's into this wilderness of hunger that God reveals something essential about himself, something that Advent calls us to remember, that God does not simply give us the bread we need. God is the bread we need. And as we walk through the passage this morning, we're gonna see the progression from the hunger to the provision, to our advent hope. And so let's set the stage this morning, let's look at the hunger of the wilderness. So some context, up to this point in the story of Exodus, Israel had just been dramatically delivered from Egypt. If you know the Exodus story, you know that it's a amazing story of God's power and glory. God delivered them through mighty works. He brought them to the Red Sea. God then parted the Red Sea. God crushes Pharaoh's army. He liberates his people with power and glory. It's an amazing deliverance. If you turn back just a couple of chapters to Exodus chapter 14, verse 30, we see kind of a concluding statement from the end of that story. It says, thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. There was a finality there. God had won the victory. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. And so the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Happily ever after, the end. Amen. Question, is that the end of the story? No, we're in Exodus 16, the story goes on, right? Question, were they in the promised land? No. And beloved, it's not the end of our story either. You see, for many of us, we have points in our life where we can look back and God has shown up in powerful ways in our lives. and he has delivered us from things like slavery and bondage. Praise the Lord for that. But neither are we yet in the promised land. And between those pivotal moments and that moment, we need to understand that we, like the people of Israel, are on a journey. And the question becomes not who is the God of Egypt, or who is the God of the promised land, but who is the God of the wilderness? And how does that God intersect with my insatiable desires and my hunger and my ongoing need for sustenance and for satisfaction? And so look at this, after the deliverance of Exodus 14, in Exodus 15, there's this beautiful song of praise, right? Right after the moment, there's this song of praise to the Lord, great is the Lord, everything is awesome. And then verse 22, it says, then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea. Remember, they're not in the promised land. They can't stay there, but they're not yet there. And so they set out to get there. They went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Merah, they could not drink of the water of Merah because it was bitter, and therefore it was named Merah, which means bitter. And then look at this, verse 24. It says, and the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? Three days. That didn't take long, did it? Three days from when the people were full and satisfied and confident in the Lord, to when they were empty and in need. And it says that there in that place, that's where God tested them, the people. He gave them a sign of who he was. He healed the water of Merah so that they could drink it. He provided for them. He filled them. He met them in their need and he satisfied, but that's not all he did. He then from that place took them to Elam. All right, verse 27, it says, the Lord brought them to Elam where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. It sounds a little bit like paradise, doesn't it? And there they encamped by the water. See, the whole point is that God is showing his people, not only that he can meet them in their need, not only that he can satisfy, but then that he could and he wanted to provide his people with a better satisfaction, a taste, if you will, of the eternal, the way that it was intended to be, a complete, a whole, even a purifying blessing for the people of God. And the question that the story asks is would they understand? Do we understand? Now we've made it to our chapter this morning, chapter 16. Notice the first thing, verse one. It says, they set out from Elam. Well, I wanna pause there because the question becomes, why leave? Why leave that place? It sounds great, 12 springs of water, 70 palm trees, a little bit like paradise. Why leave from that place? And the answer is because Elam wasn't the destination. Elim was an oasis in the wilderness, not the destination of promise. Its purpose was refreshing, not residence. Listen, we'd all love to stay in the oasis, but that's not how the journey works. Anybody here love going on vacation? Anybody here need a vacation now? Amen. How many people have had this thought on vacation? Man, it would be nice if I never had to go back. Right? If this never ended, if I just left it all behind, wouldn't that be nice? But that's not how life works. See, we'd all love to stay on the hilltops and never deal with the rest of it. But remember, God is leading his people. He's leading them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. And the truth is that God has more for his people, more that he needs them to learn and grow in and know that they can only learn in the wilderness journey. And so they depart from Elam. And this is now one month and 15 days since their deliverance from Egypt, right? It's not a long way off. It's just 45 days, a month and a half ago. And it says again, Exodus 16 verse two, the whole congregation grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Why? Because they were unsatisfied again. Temporary satisfaction, in need. Now in our immediate context, they grumbled because they were hungry. But as we read our way through this part of Exodus, we see that this is actually a larger narrative of grumbling by God's people, right? We saw it in chapter 15. It's all over chapter 16. If you read on, you'd see it again in 17. It's a larger narrative of grumbling. And it's meant to point out that yes, Israel was grumbling because of their physical circumstances. But the truth is that Israel's grumbling is pointing to a deeper spiritual issue in God's people. Listen, need does something to us. It creates anxiety. It drives our behavior. It pushes us to think and act, not according to any sort of wisdom, but based on our own doubts and fears. We think things like, well, if I don't get this, then, or if I don't have that, then, or if I don't get my way here, then. And look at this. Need makes bondage look better than it is. How many times do we look to some sort of bondage as a good thing because of a need that we perceive in our own life? Verse three, the people start complaining and grumbling, and they say, would that we had died by the hands of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full. What? Like, no, they didn't. They were in slavery. That's not how slavery works. But hunger, need, it distorts, doesn't it? Hunger tests our faith. Hunger exposes what's really in our hearts. Listen, on this journey through the wilderness, God is leading his people not to starve them, but to teach them, to expose them, to expose their lack of faith, and to show them who he is. I heard this week, this might be worth writing down if you're taking notes this morning, wilderness hunger is never wasted. Wilderness hunger is never wasted. It is God's classroom of dependence. I've lived that in my own life. How about you? The people grumbled because they thought they had a Moses and Aaron problem. Text is clear, they didn't have a Moses and Aaron problem. They grumbled because they had a God problem. They had a faith problem. This might be a word for you this morning. Maybe you're in a season like that right now, in a wilderness of unanswered prayer, or of uncertainty, or of loneliness, or grumbling, or of need. Listen, the Lord's not bringing you through those things to punish you, but to teach you who He is and that He's enough. And that leads us to our second movement this morning, the provision. God provides bread from heaven. Verse four, it says, then the Lord said, behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you. That's weird, right? Don't miss that. Not bake bread, not grow bread, not harvest bread. I'm gonna rain bread from heaven every morning. a day's portion, every day, then don't miss this. Why does he do this? That I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. What is God testing? It's the same thing he was testing last chapter, their faith. God says, this is my provision for you, daily, dependable, enough, but only enough for today. Each morning I give you a day's worth. Not two days, not a week, not a storehouse. Every day. Dependency. But what happens? Immediately we see God's people take matters into their own hands. gathering too much, trying to hoard what they've been given, leaving faith, acting independently, taking God out of it, and trying to build themselves a security net. What happened to that effort? It's spoiled. It bred worms and it stank. It didn't work. Why? Well, because God is teaching His people. They need to understand. It is the Lord who provides our daily bread. We are stewards, not owners. It is God saying, I provide, will you trust? And don't miss the heart of God in this provision. Notice first his goodness. God provides even when his people complain. He gives grace, not punishment. God is a good God. He tolerates our lack of faith. He wants to provide. But then notice also his faithfulness. God provides just what they need. Not less, not more. Just enough. And anyone who tried to hoard that man have found it full of worms the next morning. And I also want you to notice his presence. God provides in such a way that His presence becomes their sustenance. On the seventh day, when God provides them nothing, He is still with them because He's provided for them already the day before. And on the seventh day, He then calls His people to faith by resting in Him. You see, God isn't just filling stomachs. God is forming hearts. And it says in verse 31, it says, the house of Israel called its name manna. Manna literally means what is it? In verse 15, the people wake up and they find the ground covered with this mysterious unknown substance. And they're like, what is that? It's kind of like the kid at the dinner table when the mom sets down the dish that they've never seen or eaten before. They're like, what is that? Right? God's setting before us a new dish. He says, I want you to depend on me. You're like, well, I'm not used to that. I don't know what that means. I go through my whole life, and I work, and I achieve, and I store up things for myself, and I try to own my life through hard effort, and God wants us to do something completely different than that as his people. He calls us to trust Him for His provision. We say, oh, this new God provision thing, this dependency on the Lord, that feels a little weird to me. What is that? You're telling me that it's good, but it's a little different way of living than I'm used to. And in that, God says, take and eat, and see if that way of living doesn't taste sweet. And for 40 years, the people were sustained by their God in the wilderness because he provided for them the bread that they needed. But here's the most important part of that. The manna was never meant to be their final meal. It was a signpost of something pointing forward. And that brings us to Jesus. So turn with me, if you got your Bibles, turn with me to John chapter six. We're gonna spend the rest of our time in John chapter six, looking at Jesus as the true bread of life. See, over 1400 years after the manna fell, Jesus feeds 5,000 men, plus women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fish. And the crowd is trying to figure out who Jesus is. He's teaching them all sorts of weird things that they're grappling with and trying to figure out, and they follow him across the lake, and they gather around him and they ask him a fascinating question. They say, what sign will you give us? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. In other words, hey Jesus, Moses made it rain bread, But what can you do? What can you offer to us? And then listen to Jesus's response, verse 32, John 6, 32. He says, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And then Jesus makes perhaps one of the most bold claims in all scripture. He says, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. Wow, that is a staggering statement. Jesus is saying, you know that manna that you've always known? You know that bread that your ancestors ate? You know that miracle in the wilderness that you teach your kids? All of that. is pointing to and fulfilled in me. Jesus is the bread that satisfies our hunger. See, every human heart has a hunger which drives every other hunger. Beneath the hunger for identity and for meaning and for rest and for forgiveness and belonging is the hunger for eternal life. And we try to fill that void with achievements, and successes, and relationships, and money, and work, and substances, and entertainment. But we're still never satisfied. It's never enough. It's an insatiable need. And Jesus says, I'm the bread of life. Come to me and you will be satisfied. Jesus says the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Here he's speaking of the cross, of the sacrifice that he needs to make. Listen, physical man has sustained physical life, but Jesus, the living bread, gives eternal life. And on the cross, Jesus, there was a divine exchange. Jesus absorbed our sin. He became broken so that we could be made whole. He died our death so that we could live in his life. This is the gospel in bread language. Will you eat it? Will you receive that? Will you believe in Him? Just like manna had to be gathered every morning, our relationship, our dependency on Jesus must be lived out continually. Not because He runs out, but because we run out. We forget, we wander, we hunger again. Jesus taught us to pray, Father, give us today our daily bread, daily, daily surrender, daily trust, daily feeding on the Word of God, because that's what fills us. But let me close with this thought. As there were rules for the people in Exodus 16, there are rules for those who would feed on the bread of life. The gospel is not come to Jesus and then all your problems go away. If that were the case, I think I'm missing something. I don't belong up here. Nor is the message simply come to Jesus and then when you die, you'll get to heaven. No, no, no. To lay hold of the bread of life in the wilderness, in life, means participation with Christ. It's the heart of every day until I die, God provides me with manna that I can gather and that I can eat. It's a life lived with the Lord. In Deuteronomy 29, verse 5, God says, I've led you 40 years in the wilderness, and guess what? I added the guess what, that's not in there. But He says, guess what? Your clothes have not worn out on you. Your sandals have not worn off your feet. Who do you think did that? I did. Are we daily attaching ourselves to the Lord and allowing Him to lead us, to sustain us, to keep us in His care, keep filling us with a river of life that never runs dry. See, this is our Advent hope. God with us in the wilderness. God does not wait for us at the end of the wilderness. He comes to us in it. The wilderness becomes the place where we are to encounter the Lord. In Exodus 16, 7, Moses tells the people, you shall see the glory of the Lord. Where were they? In the wilderness, in the hunger, in their moment of need, and in the daily provision of his bread. And this is why Advent to us is hope, because Christ has come into our wilderness.