Join us now for the chapel hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Today's message was preached during a Sunday morning worship service held on the university campus. Following the reading of the scripture from Deuteronomy chapter 8, our speaker will be Dr. Jim Berg, Dean of Students at BJU. The title of his message is, What is a Wilderness Good For? I invite your attention again to Deuteronomy chapter 8, Dr. Jim Berg, Dean of Students is our preacher of the morning and he is asked that we read this entire chapter. Deuteronomy chapter eight. We find this. All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live and multiply and win and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no. And he humbled the and suffered the to hunger and fed the with manna which now knew it's not neither did I father's know that he might make the know that man does not live by bread only but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord of man live by Raymond wax not old upon the neither did I put well these forty years. I should also consider a nine heart that is a man chasing of his son so the Lord I God chasing the. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to fear him for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land the land of brooks of water of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills the land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates the land of oil olive and honey the land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness thou shalt not lack anything in it the land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When I eat in an artful, then I'll show bless the Lord by God for the good land which he has given me. Beware that I'll forget not the Lord by God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. Last one now has to eat in an artful and has built goodly houses and dwelt therein. And when I heard that my flocks multiply and my silver and my gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied, then nine hearts be lifted up and I'll forget the Lord I got. which brought the fourth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage who led the through that great and terrible wilderness were in were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought where there was no water who brought the fourth water out of the rock of Flint who fed the in the wilderness with manna which I fathers knew not that he might humble the and that he might prove the to do the good of the latter and and I'll say in my heart my power and the might of my hand that got me this well. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do it all, forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them. I testify against you this day, that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish. because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God. And the Lord will bless the reading and preaching of his word. Hope you'll turn to Deuteronomy chapter eight with me this morning as we meditate on what God has for us here. We hear much today about the need for Christ likeness and the formation of Christ likeness in the life of the believer is at the core of our mission here at BJU. And I want us to think once again, when you take the body of a human being and you put it entirely under the control of God, fill it with God, you come out with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be Christ. Take the body of a human, fill it full of God, and you have what we saw in the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Christlikeness, it is God's desire for us who have human bodies to come under such domination of the Spirit of God ourselves that we look like Him to those around us. And it's very interesting that when you take a human body and fill it under the control of God, the most dominant characteristic that comes out of that human body, out of that person, is humility. And it is for that characteristic, that quality that God the Father honored his son, Jesus Christ. And we see that in Philippians two passage that most of us have memorized that we're to let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus. And it says in being fine, goes on and says, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient. But it wasn't just A generic obedience, he became obedient even unto death. He sustained his obedience to the father in humility, even unto death. But it wasn't just a normal death. It was sustaining his obedience and his humility to the father unto death, even a cross like kind of death. And it is for that kind of humility that God has exalted him and given him a name above every name. It is a humility of Jesus Christ. Humility is the raw material out of which all of the other virtues are formed. It is a raw material out of which all of the fruit of the spirit are formed for without humility before God, he will not produce his spirit, his fruits of the spirit in our lives. I spoke to you some days, weeks back on a message I called a call to order. Order is the arrangement of things according to God's scheme. and humility as a willingness to order our lives according to God's scheme of things. The title here could be called a call to humility, but that's not what the title is. The title, in fact, is what is a wilderness good for? What is a wilderness good for? In this passage that we read this morning, God summarizes the entire wilderness wanderings experience of the Children of Israel and says that it is a prearranged test to humble them. to bring about this quality that God admires most in humanity under his control. So I want us to look here at Deuteronomy 8 and look at what an answer the question what is a wilderness good for. Well the first thing we have to ask is what is a wilderness. We know what it was for the children of Israel. It was 40 years of wandering about in some desert conditions. What are these experiences that we would have that would qualify to be called Wilderness is the things that God uses to humble us as he used the wilderness to humble the Children of Israel. And if you're taking notes, write down four words here that will describe what is a wilderness that will answer the question. What is a wilderness? A wilderness is a place of wandering. We know that the Children of Israel wandered for 40 years. This is any time you don't know where you are going or where you are going or where you are in this process. You are in a wilderness. And God does that to teach us humility. It is secondly, a place of waiting. Anytime you are not sure of how long this limitation, this deprivation, whatever you're under will last, you're in a wilderness and God designs it to teach us humility. Thirdly, a wilderness is a place of warring. Anytime that you are facing overwhelming opposition, whether it's coming from your own soul or from your family or from your friends or from the world outside of you and you feel like you just don't know what to do next and you're overwhelmed with this opposition, you're in a wilderness and God has designed those wilderness experiences to teach us humility. And fourthly, wilderness is a place of wanting. Anytime you don't seem to have what you need. You're in a wilderness that may be It may be a want that you have for your health, a desire for something different to come to pass in your health or in your finances or permission from your parents or from the government or from your school or your employer. You feel like you can't move forward because you're wanting something. You're in a wilderness experience and God designs it to teach us humility. So that's what a wilderness is. Now, what is a wilderness good for? I think it has two purposes, according to this passage. We'll only have time really to camp out on one of them. Two purposes. I'll give you both of them at the very beginning. We'll touch on the second one just briefly at the end. God uses the wilderness to test your present spiritual condition. God use it. What is the wilderness good for? It is good for it is a good way for God to test your present spiritual condition. And we'll spend most of our time on that. That's found in the first 10 verses here of this passage. And then the last part of the passage versus 11 to 20. God uses the wilderness to prepare you for future blessing. God uses the wilderness to prepare you for future blessing. Now, folks, how well you and I do in adversity is a good predictor of how well we will do in prosperity. If you don't use if you don't learn the humility and adversity, you will not have the humility to use prosperity well and your prosperity will destroy you as it did Israel. They did not learn humility in the wilderness and the prosperity of Canaan destroyed them. How well you do in adversity is a predictor of how well you will do in prosperity. So the first thing we want to look at is that God uses a wilderness to test your present spiritual condition, and I believe there are two tests. Of our present humility of our Christ likeness that are seen here. God arranges this test of our humility through for Israel through their manna. And we could call these lessons the manna principles humility test number one. Do you see God as the source of everything. Do you see God as the source of everything. And we're going to see that as we go through the examples here that the teaching of manna manna meant what is it is one of the translations of the word for manna. Or it could also mean a portion. This is our portion, our allotment, the thing God has given us today. Now, really, I'll tell you a little, I'll let you in on a little secret of what manna really was. Remember the scriptures in several passages describe it when you put all this together, you find out that manna was something that was small and round and it was made fresh daily and tasted like oil and honey. You know what that is? That's a Krispy Kreme donut hole. It is small and round, tastes like oil and honey, is made fresh daily. That is a Krispy Kreme donut hole. So now you know what they ate for 40 years. No wonder they got a little tired of it. But that's what man was. Actually, manna is our portion for the day. Give us this day our daily bread. Would you turn back to Exodus 16? I want us to look at this passage where God gave them the manna. Exodus 16 follow along as I read this and they took their journey from Elam and all the congregation of the children of Israel came under the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and the children of Israel said unto them would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to the full. For you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then said the Lord unto Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven to you. By the way, this is supernatural provision. Some Bible teachers try to make this into something that insects deposited every day on the leaves of the plants out there. It's very interesting. Insects that only do that six days out of seven. And it starts when God starts it and it ends when God ends it anyway. And in this twice as much on day six. Those are really smart insects. Verse four, then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them. This is the test we're going to see whether they will walk in my law or no. And it will come to pass that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said unto the children of Israel, And even then you shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt and in the morning when you shall see the glory of the Lord, for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord. And what are we that you murmur against us? And Moses said, This shall be when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat and in the morning bread to the full for that the Lord hear with your murmurings which you murmur against him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. Talk about this in a minute. But God takes complaining seriously and personally. And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel. that they look toward the wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud and the Lord spake unto Moses saying I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel speak unto them saying that even you shall eat flesh and in the morning you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass that even the quails came up and covered the camp and in the morning the dew lay round about the host and when the dew that lay was gone up behold upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing as small as a whore frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, it is manna for they wish not or knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them, this is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. A couple of things to learn here about manna, about our daily portion, everything God has given us. Remember, the first test of humility is that everything comes from God. He is the source of everything. Your portion today, your portion of health that you have today, your portion of money. Your opportunities of today, your academic opportunities, your extracurricular activities, opportunities, your employment opportunities, your social opportunities, your abilities and your gifts, your food and your shelter, your time, your authorities, your accountability. All of this comes from God. And the first test of humility is, do you and I recognize that everything we have, our portion today came from God? In fact, James 117 says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights. Now there are two indicators. That show us that we do not see God is the source of all things. The first one is you fail the test of humility when you complain about what God has provided. God is the source of all things. The first test of humility is that God is the source of all things and the first indicator whether you're passing that test or not is whether you complain about what he has provided because he is the source. God takes complaining personally because he has provided everything you and I have everything. Our opportunities, our health, our money, everything I've just mentioned to you. He provided all of it by his word. He is the one that spoke it into our lives. Even our affliction has to go by God, even if it comes directly from Satan, has to go by God as it did for Job to get God's word of approval to come to us. God is the source of everything that is in our life today. Israel thought the real issue was their taste buds. God wanted to show them that the real issue was their proud hearts. Every gripe, folks, about the food, about the weather, about our finances, about our relationships, about our employment, about the preaching in chapel, about our teachers, about our parents, about our car, about our clothes, about our computer not working. All of them reveals a heart that says, as we saw in the T-shirt this week, it's all about me. Because God is the one who has ordained and prearranged every one of those things to be exactly as they are for us today. It is our portion, our manna. Now the issue isn't whether something or this or that is exactly right, whether whether the preaching was exactly right or the food was cooked exactly right. That's not the issue. If there is something that needs to be made right, there is a humble way to do it. No, some people say, well, you know, I'm just concerned about the glory of Christ in all of this. Well, then you'll have the humility of Christ when you deal with it. You'll be dealing with it with it with humble prayer. You'll be dealing with it with humble appeal. You'll be dealing with it with humble rebuke if necessary, but it will have the humility of Christ in it. If truly you are concerned about the glory of Christ. Nothing reveals our pride more than our discontent and our griping. And nothing reveals godly humility more than gratitude and contentment. God has given us All things. Moses said, Your murmurings are not against us. But against the Lord. Now, why did he say that? Because God had given them everything they had. So, folks, we fail the test of humility. When we complain about what God has provided and secondly, we fail the test of humility when we boast about what God has provided as though we provided it. When he does provide us something, when we don't have it, do we complain about it? And when we do have it, do we boast about it? Both of those are the tests of humility that show whether or not we really have Christ's likeness. Look in Deuteronomy 8 there in front of you, look at verses 11 to 18. It begins in verse 11, Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God and not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, now you have what you wanted. This is a time of prosperity. And hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein. When thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart is lifted up. It's no longer humble. And thou forget the Lord thy God. which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. He is the one who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein was fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water. He is the one who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint. He is the one who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do thee good in thy latter end." Folks, all of the deprivation of the wilderness God has designed to do us good at our latter end. Not to crush us, but to purify us and expose to us our lack of humility under Him by our complaining and now by our boasting when He does give something. And look at v. 17, And thou say in thine heart, and we might say it to other people, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth. So how do you test your humility in the wilderness? Do you complain when you don't have what you want? And do you boast when you have something? 1 Corinthians 4, 7, Paul says, for who maketh thee to differ from another? Okay, so you have something more than other people. Who made that difference to exist? And the implication is of course God did. And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? What can you claim that God didn't give you? Now, if thou didst receive it, if it really, truly came from God and it did, why dost thou glory or boast as if thou hadst not received it and it came from you? I don't know if it still exists, but there used to be a sign over on the soundstage in the cinema department that said every good and perfect gift is from above, then why get conceited? It really does come from God, folks, all any prosperity that he gives us comes from God. Pride is a very comparative thing. In fact, a person is proud not because he's good looking, because if everybody in the world were equally good looking, he would have nothing to be proud of. Pride is a comparative thing. We're proud if we think we're good looking because we think we're better looking than other people. We're not proud because we have a car. We're proud because we think our car is better than someone else's. or our girlfriend is better than someone else's or our grades are better than someone else's or our positions are better than somewhere else's or family is better than someone else's. And which of those things did not come from God. Then why should we be proud about what we have. Humility acknowledges that God is the source of all things and therefore a humble person does not complain about anything. And secondly he does not boast about anything that he has. Do we see God as a source of everything? That's one of the tests of the wilderness. Humility test number two is. Will you let God regulate what he has given you? OK, we acknowledge God has given us all things. But he has not given us all things so that we can use all things however we want. He has given us all things and regulated all things. Why? Well, for one reason to keep us from destroying ourselves with those things, But more importantly, to show us whether or not we truly are humble. Manna was provided by God, but it was also regulated by God. Would you turn back to Exodus 16 again? I should have told you to keep your finger there. Exodus 16. God gave them wonderful provision, but he gave them regulation. And by the way, this is what Jesus is referring to in Matthew 4 four when Satan tried to tempt him to use things God had provided in a way God forbade. And Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, you can't just use the gift God has given you. You must use it by the words which God has given it that go along with that thing. The instruction manual that comes with a manna. Verse sixteen Exodus sixteen. This is the thing which the Lord have commanded. These are his words as commands. Gather of it every man according to his eating and over for every man according to the number of your persons. Take every man for them which are in his tent. The children of Israel did so and gathered some more and some less some gathered more because they had more people in their tent. Verse eighteen and when they did meet it with an omer he that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating and Moses said let no man leave of it till the morning. Here's another regulation for the manna. In other words God and gather only what you need. The second rule was use it all up today. Let no man leave of it till the morning. Verse 20 notwithstanding They hearkened not unto Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning and it bred worms and stank and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating, and when the sun waxed hot, it melted and it came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses and he said unto them, this is that which the Lord has said tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which he will bake today and see that you will see and that which remaineth overlay up for you may be kept until the morning and they laid it up to the morning as Moses bade and it did not stink. Neither was there any worm there and why? Because they were holding that according to the words of God, he said. Now on the Sabbath Sabbath is coming on the day before the Sabbath gather twice as much and it won't stink this time. Those are the words of God. That's the regulation of the manner. Verse 25 and Moses said eat that today for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath in it, there shall be none. And it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, how long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws said Moses. Tell these people how long do you refuse to keep? I gave you the manna. It came from me, but I also told you how to use it. This is the test of humility. Not only do you realize that God is the source of all things but are you willing to let God regulate all things he has given you. Verse 30 So the people rested on the seventh day in the house of Israel called the name there of manna and it was like a coriander seed white and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Test number one is do you see God as the source of all things and test number two of humility is will you let God regulate what he has given you. Folks, you and I have the use of our manna, the provision of our money. We'll call our money manna. It is God's portion for us today. Every dime you and I have came from God and every dime you and I have is regulated by God. And I don't have time to go through a lot of verses, but young people, your first fruits, your ties belong to God. He regulates your money. You are to have your hands open to the poor around you. He regulates your money. You are to promote the kingdom of God with your wealth. He regulates your money. You are never to trust in your wealth. He regulates your money. And there are many, many other passages of scripture that we could give on this matter of money. It is not yours and it is not mine. The source is God and He regulates how we use it. You have to use the manna, the God-given gift of your time according to God's Word. The time you and I have today is our portion. And God regulates our time. He says, do not waste your time. Those are His words. Go through Proverbs and see how much He talks about the slothful man who will not plow because it's too hard. Who will not go out because he thinks there's something too hard out there for him. And he wastes his time. God has given you and me our time, and He regulates our time. We must not waste our time. We must use our time and we must redeem it. We must buy up opportunity with our time. We must seek the lost with our time. We must use much time in the Word. God regulates, young people, how you and I use our time. You cannot just take your manna and eat it any way you want. without betraying that you do not have the humility of Christ likeness in your life. You have to use the manna, the God given gift of your technology, according to God's words. So God hasn't said anything about computers. He really hasn't. But he has said a lot about how we use our words. He regulates the use of our words, your text messaging, your emailing, your blogging, your instant messaging. All are extensions of your words. And God regulates the use of our words. Technology does not exempt us from his regulation of our words. Technology only extends our words. It allows us to say more things to more people. And that's a wonderful thing if what we're saying is under the regulation of the God of Heaven who gave us the gift of words. A lot of people who set up blogs and they're emailing and they're text messaging and all they do, it's kind of like a stream of consciousness. It's just a mind dump. Whatever's coming out of their mind flows through their words and comes out whether it's ridicule or complaint or contempt or whatever or vulgarity or profanity or sensuality. It's just a mind dump. Listen to what God says about our words. Proverbs 18 to. A fool has no delight in understanding or in learning. But only in discovering or revealing his own mind. I'm a little fearful about a person who sets up a blog and says and says in it, you know, I'm going to do here. I'll just kind of tell you all how my day went and just everything that's on my mind. You know what God calls that a fool. who just takes delight in revealing his mind. Young folks, technology is a wonderful thing. I'm a technology geek. I love my computer. I love my PDA. I love my Bluetooth phone. I like all of that stuff. But God regulates how I use my words and He regulates how you use your words. And just because we have technology does not mean we can use our words any way we please. They must advance the kingdom of God and come under His regulation. Here's another verse, Proverbs 10, 10. In the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin. In other words, when you have a lot of words, sin is unavoidable. The more words you put out, the more chances you're opening yourself up for violating the command of God. Now, folks, are we humble enough to regulate our words by His words? It's a test of humility. God has given us a wonderful gift, but we cannot use our mana any way we want. Our mana is regulated or it stinketh. It produces corruption. God says let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers. Let no communication that is an absolute statement. Let no communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use of edifying. That doesn't mean you can't have any fun, but you can't have any flesh in your fun. God has given us all things richly to enjoy. But is regulated even our enjoyment that it cannot be enjoyment at the expense of fleshliness ever, ever. God said that. And your manna will stink. If you don't use it according to God's laws, His word says that our words must never be destructive. Our words must never be profane. His word says that our words must not be backbiting. His word says that our words must never be dishonest. His words say that our words must never be sensual. His word says that our words must never be flippant, irresponsible or useless. That's what Matthew 12, 36 to 37 says. But I say unto you that every idol, that word idol means flippant, irresponsible, useless, worthless. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give their account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Technology, folks, is only a tool for extending our tongue. And the words regulating our tongues still apply in our technology. And the same is true for every gift God has given us. Oh, young people, What an impact we could make for Jesus Christ on this earth if we saw everything he gave us as coming from him and regulated by him and we had the humility to use it for him, we would turn this world upside down within one generation with this technology. But we're wearing T-shirts that say it's all about me. And our manna starts to stink. Don't turn there, but jot down numbers 11. Another passage about food and manna. Numbers 11. They were griping because they didn't like the manna anymore and they wanted some more meat. And God said, OK, you want meat? I'll give you meat. Verse 33, and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, Eret was chewed. The wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people of the Lord and smote the people with a great plague. Here's a very important principle. How good the food tastes in your mouth is determined by how good the words of God, the words from His mouth taste to you. When you and I ignore His words about how to use the quail, He turns the man a rancid in our teeth. And then we're disgusted with what he's given us. And then we start complaining all over again. How good the bread tastes in your mouth is determined by what you do with the words from his mouth. The single most important indicator of our present spiritual condition is what do we do with the words from the mouth of God? And the two tests in the wilderness were. Do you see God as a source of your manna? And do you follow his words regulating your manner today. There's a second thing in the wilderness I told you we'll just touch on in the end. God uses a wilderness to test our present spiritual condition. Are we complaining. Are we boasting. Are we ignoring his words about these things. And secondly God uses a wilderness to prepare you for future blessing. I mentioned already, the single most important predictor of your future spiritual success is what do you do now with the words of God. You will never be able to handle the prosperity of Canaan if you reject the words of God in the wilderness of adversity. Say, well, when I get on on my own, I can make up my own rules. I can have my own family. I can have my own business. Then I'll show folks what I'm really made of. No, folks, you and I show what we're really made of every day by how much we heed the words of God. Are we complaining about what His Word has provided? Are we complaining about how His Word regulates what we have? We're showing today in the test now what we will be like in the future. His words, words that say, I will provide. Maybe you're in an adversity today, situation of adversity today. God's words to you say, I will provide. And yet we worry and complain. His words say, I have a good plan for you. And yet, we are filled with fear about the future. His words say, you cannot do this without Me. And yet, it has been days since we've spent any time listening to His words. His words say, do not love this world. If you love this world, you do not love the Father. And yet we dress like Canaanites, we talk like Canaanites, and we live like Canaanites. His words say, do not indulge your flesh. And yet we sit in classes and in chapel and other times trying to think of ways we can indulge our flesh. What is a wilderness good for? It's good for testing us. Do we really believe His words? Do we believe that everything we have today came from Him? Did you know that everything in the dining common today came from God? And even your piece of chicken or roast or whatever we're having, I have no idea what we're having, even how it was prepared came from God. Someone gave us a gift certificate to go out to eat. We went out to a restaurant. I'll leave it unnamed. And I got some salmon. I ordered salmon. I didn't get salmon. And I just said, you know, I think I ordered salmon. He said, oh, yeah, that's right. He said, I'll go back and get it, you know, get the other thing. And so we waited. My wife had eaten everything by the time I got mine. And then when I opened mine, they had tried it when I opened when I started eating my salmon, it was it was kind of like jelly in the middle. A lot of it wasn't even cooked and they were giving me a double portion, I think, to make up for that time. So I ate around the edges and got all the flaky stuff. And that was fine. Did you know that even that situation came from God? You know, it was going through my heart. I wonder how I can show this fellow some Christ likeness. I'm sure a lot of people really fuss at him. And he's not the one who cooked it. He's not the one who prepared it. But, folks, everything we have, even the uncooked salmon, come from God as a test. How will you regulate your response according to my words? Now, with God's help, I passed that test. And I have to say, I haven't passed every test like that. Everything we have, that food in the dining common, this weather today, the roommate you have, the source of that roommate is God saying, I think he came from Satan. Well, that had to pass, that room assignment had to pass before God's throne for approval before it hits your room. Folks, I'm serious about that. Everything we have is from God. Do you believe that? Do you have the humility to see that everything I have comes from God and therefore I must not complain? And I must not boast. And everything I have must be regulated by what he said. He does that not folks to make us miserable down here. But to do is good at the latter end, he says. Do you believe that about him or do you think he's some kind of a mean fellow trying to make your life miserable. No, he's trying to make you good in your latter end. Here's what Jesus said about the words. In Matthew 7, 24, He said, Whosoever heareth these sayings, these words of mine, and doeth them is like unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock. The rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it stood, for it was founded on a rock. But whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, here's the instruction about how to use the manna and do with them not. He's like a foolish man building his house on the sand. And when the winds blow and the rains come and the floods come, his house will fall and great will be the fall of it because he foolishly ignored the words of the living God about how to use the manna for today. Do you pass the humility test? Do you see God as a source of your portion? Will you regulate your use of your portion by the words of God? Let's stand to our feet and bow our heads. Lord Jesus, there is nothing we can say that matters except what you have said. We have sat at your feet this morning as your disciples listening to your words about how we are to use our manner. And, Lord Jesus, I pray that you would work in our hearts, humble us to be truly like you. You listened to the words of your Father. You accepted your portion and came to this earth and accepted the manna, the portion of life for you on those 33 years down here on this planet. All of the limitations and all of the restrictions and all of the suffering and all of the afflictions And while you fulfill your manna time, you obey the words of your Father. May we be like you. Work in our hearts. Our Lord and our Master. Our King and our God. And our Creator. We can only show you our love and our devotion by our humility before you. As we praise you, as we obey you, as we listen to your words and do them. Oh God, raise up a generation of young people from this place who hear and do the words of you, the living God. And I pray that you'd work in our hearts as faculty and staff and administration and visitors that we might not fail the tests of the wilderness in our lives. Continue to humble us as you see fit. Bring to us each day the manna, which is our portion for today. and give us the grace to see you behind it. And we pray that you might be honored on this campus and in our lives by our response today to your words. And now unto you who is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before your throne with exceeding joy. You've been listening to the Chapel Hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University Our speaker was Dr. Jim Berg, Dean of Students at BJU. For a cassette copy of today's message, send a check for $6 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.