Open your Bibles with me please this evening again to Joshua chapter 5. We'll be focusing in on Verses 11 and 12, I'll read 10 through 12. Again, we're looking for Christ. We're looking for him in the Old Testament because he tells us that it's all about him. And I've suggested we can look for him in 2Ps, progress and promises, 2Ts, types and themes, 2Cs, compare and contrast. The context, of course, as we looked at this morning is that they're preparing to conquer the promised land, fighting on Jesus' side, the one who is the commander of the Lord's armies. And a question as we come to the Word of God, do you ever run out of something that you weren't expecting to run out of? Nancy got home on Wednesday, went to the grocery Thursday or Friday, and poured half and half into her hot drink Friday morning, and that was the end of the half and half, and she didn't know we were out. Far more significant than that, sometimes at the end of, we're at the end of the money before at the end of the month. And Israel perhaps ran out of something they weren't expecting to run out of, as the day after they partook of Passover in Canaan, on that day, there was no more manna. For 40 years, they'd had manna. And on that day, there was no more. Let's read from God's word, Joshua chapter five, verses 10 through 12. While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. Having heard from God in his word, please join me as we seek him in prayer. Father, teach us from the short portion of your word about you and your care for us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Often as I choose a chapter, I have a fairly clear sense of why I'm choosing the chapter. But then when I think about where to zoom in, it's not always clear to me early in the process what and why. But as I read through Joshua chapter five, I was struck with this brief comment. They came in on the 10th day of the month. They were circumcised probably that day, three days to heal. They celebrated Passover on the 14th day of the month. Then they had food from the produce of the ground, and then the manna ended. The manna had lasted for 40 years. 40 years, longer than a good number of you have been alive. The Israelites were told in Exodus 16, ate manna for 40 years until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan. Manna lasted for 40 years until it was no longer needed. Until it was no longer needed. And there are many who examine the scripture and examine the miraculous and try to find a natural explanation for the miraculous. A man named Bodenheimer is a Jewish entomologist. He studied bugs. He was employed at Hebrew University Zionist Experimental Agricultural Station. He was born early in the, late in the 1800s, died about the middle of last century. And he suggested that manna was the honeydew secretion of two kinds of scale insects feeding on the sap of the tamarisk tree. These insects ingest large amounts of plant sap, which is rich in carbohydrates but poor in nitrogen. The excess carbohydrate ingested in order to obtain the needed nitrogen is then secreted as honeydew. This honeydew is rich in three basic sugars and pectin. In the dry desert air, it removes most of the moisture, leaving sticky droplets on the plants or ground. He studied the land, and he studied these bugs and their excretions, and he said, that must have been what the manna was. He says, particularly, he notes that the season of manna production by these bugs, so-called, begins in late May or early June, precisely the time that manna began to appear to the Israelites. But manna appeared to the Israelites for 40 years. Wasn't a seasonal event. It wasn't something that happened every May or June and lasted for a few months, and then they went without for the rest of that year until the bugs started eating and secreting again. There's no way that manna could be a natural phenomenon. It came six times a week for 40 years, and then it stopped. Stopped short, never to fall again, for the need was gone. The need was gone and the manna was gone. The need had been met. They'd entered a land flowing with milk and honey. They'd entered a land where the clusters of grapes were so large that it took two men to carry them on a pole. The manna lasted for 40 years until it was no longer needed. And as we looked in more detail a few weeks ago in Exodus, this manna pointed to the bread from heaven. Jesus tells us that, we don't have to wonder, was this somehow pointing them to Jesus? Jesus tells us, and it's always easier to find that Jesus in the Old Testament, when in the New Testament he tells us that that was pointing to him. And so we read in John chapter six, The Israelites said to Jesus, what sign will you do that we may see and believe in you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus then said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you 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. This manna pointed to Jesus. It pointed to the true bread from heaven. Those who ate manna in the wilderness, even if they ate it for 40 years, died. But Jesus said, those who eat from him will live forever. This bread was a type of Christ that pointed to someone greater. Now we ought to understand in the context of what we're reading in Deuteronomy 12, this doesn't mean that we only have Jesus until we no longer need Him. because we will always need Him and we will always have Him. Jesus went on to say in this same chapter, this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. This bread that was for a time pointed to a need that we have all of the time and receive by faith all of the time. The manna lasted until it was no longer needed. It pointed to one who is always needed. The other thing about manna is that it taught that there's something more important than food. God gave them food. to show them that there was something more important than food. Moses says to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8, he humbled you by letting you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Now I wanna grant it's not necessarily intuitive for us that God would give us something to show us that we don't need it, or that we need something more than what he gives us, more than we need that. We need food to live, but there's something more important than food to live, and that's the bread of heaven, in whom and by whom we will live forever. We live by the word of God. Bread only satisfies for so long, and it only satisfies so much. Although we had friends over yesterday that fed us bread, and it was pretty good. But I don't think it will satisfy us forever, for eternity. Jesus, of course, used this passage in Deuteronomy in his temptation by the devil. Turn these stones into bread, the devil said. And Jesus said, it is written, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. One writer said this about Jesus' interaction with the devil in that temptation. He said it this way, he said, it's as if Satan says, look, Jesus, you're hungry. The whole world is hungry. If you can turn these stones into bread, which I know you can, Because you're God's son, then feed yourself and feed the world. Use your power for what people most need and want, their bellies to be filled. And like sheep, grateful and obedient, they will run after you. You'll have the world literally eating out of your hand. Give people what they really want, not the word of God, but food from God. I know that's a fictitional expression of the devil's temptation, We know from Jesus' miracles that that's exactly the way people are. We want food. We want bread. He goes on to say that Jesus is not opposed to feeding the hungry. Twice in Matthew, he feeds the multitudes. He's not opposed to food. Jesus feasted on earth at a wedding with friends in sinners' houses, and because of this, he was called falsely a glutton and a wine-bibber. Moreover, this writer goes on to say, at the end of all history, the messianic banquet will be the feast of all feasts. Thought this next phrase was timely, given the events of this week. At the end of all history, the messianic banquet will be the feast of all feasts. It will make the presidential inaugural ball look like toddlers' birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese. There's more to life than what's visible and edible. what's tangible and collectible, what's bankable and ingestible. To die hungry with the gospel in your heart is to die with a hope of everlasting life. But to die with your mouth stuffed and your belly filled but your heart cold to the gospel is to die everlastingly. Jesus gave his people food so that they would learn they need him. the living word of God, more than food. And again, like with Jesus, we can't say we only have the word of God, which we need more than bread, until we no longer need it. For we always need it as well. We have Bibles galore. Make use of them, recognizing in them there is the bread of life, the eternal bread, which eating you will live forever. Read and study and know Christ, the living word of God, as he is revealed all throughout the written word of God. It's one of the reasons that we're looking for Christ in the Old Testament, so that we will know to look for him all through his word. The manna lasted for 40 years, and when the manna ceased, God still provided. Some Israelites might have been concerned the morning that they woke up, having done the same thing for 40 years, gone out and gathered manna for the day to make bread to live. And they went out that day, the day after Passover, and there was no more manna. God still provided. When there was a supernatural need, there was supernatural provision. Can even God provide a table in the wilderness? Yes, and they ate bread from heaven. Whenever there's a supernatural need, there is supernatural provision. The eyes of the blind open, the lame made to walk. 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah having a baby is written Romans tells us about Abraham, I've made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. When there's a supernatural need, Jesus God provides supernaturally. Does God work miracles today? I certainly believe that he can. And when it's according to his will, he does. But He alone has that authority. We can't command miracles, but we can ask for them. Sometimes we do when someone we love is sick, perhaps even sick with something from which in a natural progression they won't be healed unless God intervenes supernaturally. But we dare not think somehow we can control that. We were with some of Nancy's family over Christmas time and someone prayed for her brother Richard who, as you know, is battling a fairly severe cancer. We don't know the prognosis. But the one who prayed, about the first half of the prayer I was amen and right there. And then he said, Lord, we command this cancer to leave Richard. And it just made me sad. Jesus can command the cancer. if that's His will. He can do it supernaturally. And I've heard a few accounts and you've probably heard a few accounts of someone who was faced with sickness or disease and God seemed to heal it supernaturally. We ought to always be aware that when there's a supernatural need, if it's a real need, God will meet it supernaturally. Of course, the greatest supernatural need is that we're dead in our sin. We're dry bones. And Jesus gives life from the dead, forgiveness of sin, righteousness from God, faith to belief. When there's a supernatural need, there's a supernatural provision. And of course, when there's a natural need, there's a natural provision. It wasn't a supernatural provision from which the Israelites ate on the day after they partook of Passover. They picked some grain and roasted it and ate it. They ate of the produce of the ground, food from the land God had brought them to. And so we pray, even if we don't use the words of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray every day, we're to pray, give us today our daily bread. And our expectation when we pray that is that God will give that to us in natural ways. Though again you read stories, you read accounts of those who in serving the Lord have had a supernatural need and God has provided supernaturally but we expect that God will give us jobs in which we can work and income in which we can gather and we can go to the shop and we can buy food and we can bring it home and we can eat it. It's still God's provision but He does it in a natural way. Think of everything that you have, that you've received in natural ways. Food, clothes, shelter from the cold, family, job, the abilities that you've grown up with and you've honed and you've perhaps perfected, not perfectly perfected, but you've gotten better at them. You can walk, you can talk, you can see. And even at times when we have less ability to do those, what ability we do have comes from God in a natural way. Your every breath is a gift from God. Everything that you have is provided by God. Paul writes to the Corinthians and he said, what makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? If in fact you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? And so when God meets your needs in a natural way, don't walk around strutting as if somehow you provided for it. God provided in a natural way for your natural needs. And that will continue because we have a God who is known by one of his names, Yahweh Yirah. The Lord will provide. Yahweh, the personal covenant name of God, will provide. And what we're told in the New Testament and the Old Testament is that he will fill up your needs. We of course first get that phrase from Genesis 22. Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son, the son that was born to him at an old age. The son that he loved. And God tested Abraham. And he said, take your son, your only son whom you love, a picture of a greater father. who would take his only son, who he loved, and would sacrifice him for the sins of the world. But Abram took his son, he took the wood and put it on a donkey, and they headed up the mountain. And Isaac must have been aware of sacrifice, and so he said to his father, here's the wood, But where's the sacrifice? And Abraham answered, Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them walked on together. And Abraham. was ready to slay his son, believing that God could raise him from the dead and would raise him from the dead. But God stopped him, provided a ram caught by its horns in the thicket so it wasn't marred and could be offered as an unblemished sacrifice. And Abraham named the place, Yahweh-yerah. I don't pronounce Hebrew very well. Yahweh, Yireh, the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. How did he provide, how does he fill up our needs? Just as we take a quick survey of the scripture in Exodus 14, verse 13, Moses said to the people as they're at the Red Sea and they're afraid because the armies of Egypt are encroaching on them, Moses says, don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation that he will accomplish for you today, that he will provide for you today. For the Egyptians that you see today, you'll never see again. David at the end of his life went on to say this, blessed be the Lord God of Israel today he has provided one to sit on my throne. As he saw his son Solomon inaugurated, Solomon who pointed again to one who was greater than Solomon. What else does God do in providing to fill up all your needs? He gives you food and clothes and life as we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Jesus said don't worry about those things, God will provide them. Does that mean we never go shopping? Does that mean we just expect that they'll show up magically in our cupboards and in our drawers? No, but we believe that God will provide naturally the things that we need and He will fill up our needs. The elders from here and Black Forest were together for eggs, elders and edification on Friday morning as we do once a month and then we meet with you men in the congregation once a month as well. And we were in Hebrews chapter four that tells us at the end, therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in the time of need. You need help from temptation? I don't have to ask you to raise your hands, because we all do. And Jesus will fill up those needs. He might provide for the need supernaturally. He might provide for the need naturally. He might provide for the need through surprising means, and we all can probably tell stories about that. Not necessarily supernatural provision, but surprising provision. And sometimes, In the church of Jesus Christ, that's you providing for each other. That's what we saw as the church was being established in the book of Acts. They sold what they had, and they provided for those who had need. Jesus may give us what we need, God may give us what we need, or he may show us that we don't really need it. A lot of times we think we have needs and we go without and we find out we don't really need that. And other times he may give you the stamina and the means to go without what you do need. But he will fill up all your needs. And he does that from his heavenly storehouse. The sky gives rain from the heavenly storehouse. God answered Job at the end of Job. And he said this, have you entered the place where the snow is stored? God opened the storehouses of snow yesterday in Colorado Springs, and I love it. Or have you seen the storehouses of hail, which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of warfare and battle? What road leads to the place where light is dispersed, where the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth? Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain, or clears the way for lightning to bring rain on an uninhabited land, on a desert with no human life, and to satisfy the parched wasteland and cause the grasses to sprout? God was questioning Job, reminding Job who he was and who God was, but in that reminder, there's a reminder to us. God has those storehouses. God brings out the snow when he determines to bring the snow, and he brings out the rain when he determines to bring the rain. We were in Australia in the middle of a 12 year drought and the prime minister of the nation called on the nation to pray that God would bring rain. He was ridiculed for that because in Australia we're a proud secular people and we don't have such primitive ideas as a God who might or might not do something. But those of us who knew that God to whom he asked us to pray were encouraged that the leader of the nation said ask God. because we need rain, and God controls the storehouses of the rain. News reports say there's rain falling in Los Angeles. They're concerned that though they need rain to put out the fires, will it be so much that there are floods of toxic yuck from those fires, and God controls that. He sends snow and hail and light and wind and rain and lightning, and it's all in his storehouse. And he sends it out when it's needed. Psalm 50 tells us every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry, God says, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is mine. But the converse is not true. If we're hungry, we should tell God, God, we're hungry. We need the bread that you tell us to pray for. So would you give us today our daily bread? And would you forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us? God gives from his heavenly storehouse as he pleases, and he promises to meet all of our needs, all of our needs. Philippians 419, a familiar verse to many of us. My God will supply. Supply there is to fill up. My God will fill up all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. From His heavenly storehouse, that's how I rephrase that, His riches in glory. Yahweh will provide. He will fill up all your needs from His heavenly storehouse, having given us Jesus. having given us Jesus. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not even spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? God put Christ to death on the cross. and poured out his just wrath on him for all who would believe in him. If God did that for you, do you really think he'll withhold something you need? Ever run out of something you weren't expecting to run out of? And maybe that something was something that as best you could tell was something you need. If you run out, ask God. Having given us Jesus, our God will meet all of our needs. Having given us Jesus, our God will meet all of our needs. Pray with me that we would believe it and rejoice in it. Our Father in heaven, we sometimes have difficulty telling our wants and our needs apart. Sometimes our wants become idols and maybe even our needs can become idols. But you tell us to ask, and you will provide. You provided manna for 40 years in the wilderness, and then the need was met, and the manna stopped. Lord, we have needs, and often we're able to meet those through the natural means by which you give us, but even then, the needs are met by you. And so help us ask, and help us give thanks because everything that we have comes from you. Would you meet the needs of these, your people, and would you encourage them that having given them Jesus, you will give them whatever they need. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.