Amen and amen. I invite you to take your Bibles today and turn to Exodus chapter 15. You'll notice in your bulletin on page five at the end of the reading of the word of God, I will say this is the word of the Lord. And everyone is to reply, thanks be to God. It is a great privilege that we live in a free country. We have the Bible in our language. People have died to translate the Bible into English. People have died that we might worship freely here today. There are many places where it's not legal to read God's Word in a setting like this and to preach the gospel. We are truly a blessed people and we need to not be ungrateful, but thankful. Exodus chapter 15. If you're visiting with us today, we're working our way through the book of Exodus. We've gone through the ten plagues. God has brought his people through the Red Sea and they're on the other side of the sea now. Hear the word of the Lord. Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Mara, they could not drink the water of Mara because it was bitter. Therefore, it was named Mara. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? And he cried to the Lord. And the Lord showed him a log. And he threw it into the water. And the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer. Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Yes, the grass withers and the flowers of the field fade away, but this is the word of God, and the word of God stands forever. Praise the Lord. Join me as we pray and call on the name of the Lord. Oh, Lord, our God, you. See us here today with our heads bowed. And our hearts humbled before you, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. We cry out to you, we call on the name of the Lord as your people have done for centuries and even millennia. Oh, Lord, we need you. We need your grace and strength every single day. We do live in a fearful world. As we've witnessed this week with the power of the storm, Oh, Lord, how we are grateful that we were spared this time. And yet we know many people are suffering today. Many have lost loved ones. Many have lost everything they own. Oh, Lord, we we bow in trembling and in awe before the God of such power. So Lord, we pray that you would give us fresh courage today. Remind us that clouds and storms that make us tremble in fear are also big with mercy as we've just sung and bring blessings even behind the dark clouds. Forgive us when we do judge by feeble sense instead of trusting you. Forgive us for not seeing that behind a frowning providence. There's always your smiling face that you cause all things to work together for good for your people. Lord, give us patience that we might wait, wait upon the Lord, that the bud of a new bitter cup may taste bitter, but you are able to sweeten that bitterness. As we've also just sung, we know that blind unbelief is so prone to go wrong. As we scan the work of your hands in vain in Providence, you are your own interpreter, Lord. So we pray you'd make it plain, every challenging situation in our lives. Lord, draw near to your people today. For all who are gathered here and all who are listening online, we pray that your comfort would come by the presence and power of your Holy Spirit. Help me, your servant, to rightly divide your word and to preach it faithfully today. May Christ be exalted in this place and your people edified and built up and strengthened in the Lord and prepared for another week ahead. We don't know what tomorrow will bring, but we know that you hold tomorrow and you hold our lives in your hands and no one can snatch us out of it. We ask for your blessing now in Jesus' name, amen. So the message this morning is entitled, When Life Brings a Bitter Pill. I suppose I could have entitled this, When Life Brings You to Bitter Springs, the Bitter Waters of Life. We have three points to our sermon this morning, from merriment to misery, from agony to answers, and from Mara to my life, to our lives. When we last left the Israelites, they were in merriment. They were singing and praising God. They were on top of the highest mountain in the world. Well, not literally, but they were soaring. They were celebrating the Lord's victory. They were singing and dancing. They were truly worshiping the Lord. There was no lackluster, unenthusiastic, do I really got to be here kind of singing. No, theirs was great joy, great joy based on a very real knowledge of personal deliverance by the Lord. Look back at that song, the song of Moses. I will sing to the Lord for he is exalted, the horse and the rider he has cast or hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He is my God and I will praise him. Who among you or who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders for me? This was great joy based on a very real knowledge of personal deliverance by the living God. That's what true worship is all about. Singing from the heart. Because a sinless savior died, my sinful soul is set free. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. I stand amazed at the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene, who gave his life for me. How marvelous, how wonderful, how can it be, that'll be our last hymn today, that Christ died for me, for my soul. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. It is well with my soul. You know, those people there, the Israelites, they were just like you and me. They were standing there with their families just like yours and mine. They had nearly died before they went through the Red Sea. They saw death approaching fast. The Egyptians were in hot pursuit, weapons drawn, revenge in their eyes. But the Lord, the living God intervened and spared them. And then before they were about to be swallowed up, Death itself was swallowed up by the Lord's victory and the enemy was lying dead on the seashore. You can be sure that what happened to Pharaoh and his army was what everyone was talking about as they got up the next morning. From the children to the teenagers, from the oldest of the men and women down to the youngest. I'm sure many of them went out one more time to the seashore before they packed up their tents and their belongings. They went out one more time to see the Egyptians and their horses lying dead on the beach. I can just picture the teenagers, you know, recounting reliving that day in the little groups of their friends and their buddies. Wasn't that awesome? Afraid? I wasn't afraid. No, no, I wasn't scared. Remember when that wall of water came crashing down? Did you see that guy in the chariot in the front? Did you see the look on his face? They just got swallowed up right in front of us. Hey, look, here's another sword right over here. The parents come to fetch their sons and probably remind them of the song they just sang. See what love the Lord has for us. We were spared by the grace of God. He's going to lead us to a special land, a land overflowing with milk and honey. Yeah, mom, whatever. Hey, guys, come look at this chariot over here. So they all head out. They pack up. From merriment, as we'll see, to misery. They head out. This is just the beginning of the journey. Two to three million people with all their belongings, with the plunder they brought from Egypt, with food and water and livestock and horses, trusting in the God who saved them, who delivered them out of Pharaoh's hand, who delivered them from slavery, walking by faith, not knowing what tomorrow will bring, but basking in the Lord's victory over the enemy. Surely many of them were still singing that song from the day before as they begin their journey now. Sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted. The horse and the rider he has cast into the sea. Life was good. Oh life was sweet. They were celebrating. Smiles on their faces. They were on their way to the promised land. The slave days were long gone. The whips were now just a memory. The fear and dread of daily life was over. There was no threat ever again from Pharaoh and from Egypt. The Lord had worked a mighty miracle for them. They were singing. They were happy. Until the third day. When their leather skin bags or clay pots, jugs of water, were all but empty. I looked up, and according to the quartermaster general of the army who's in charge of provisions and supplies for the military, for two to three million people living in the desert, it would have taken about 11 million gallons of water each day to meet all the needs of that many people. By the third day of traveling into the desert, there wasn't any sign of water anywhere. Oh, there probably would have been a little oasis here and there, a clump of trees, some shrubs, maybe, but no water. Their merriment and their joy, their mountaintop spiritual experience had turned to misery. It was hot and dry. They were walking and they were thirsty. All you kids here know what that's like to be thirsty, to be playing outside on a hot day and all you can think about is getting a drink of water. Or what about when you wake up in the middle of the night and your mouth is so parched and it's like your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth and you cry out, Mom, I need some water. Boys and girls and teenagers and parents and grandparents, two to three million of them were walking through the desert heat for three days with Moses leading them. This man of God, this prophet, this deliverer. But still they had no water. And then finally the people out front see water off in the distance. Water! What did they say? There's water ahead. And the word trickled back through the multitude. There's water. There's water. There's water. So the ones up front go running. There would have been a wave of relief and excitement and their faces would have been alive and their eyes as big as plates. Finally, after three days, get out the water pots. Children, there's water ahead. Their eyes told their glands. Relief is here. Praise the Lord. I will sing unto the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider thrown into the sea and now he's provided water just for me. And all of a sudden their sense of relief has turned to confusion and everyone's shouting. Why do they sound upset? What's wrong? What did they say? The water's bad? Brackish what bitter water it can't be true Moses How could you we're all gonna die out here The Word of God here says plainly they grumbled Against Moses Knowing human nature that that must have been after they settled down a little bit. I Sure, they were doing more than grumbling at first. One day Moses is hailed as their deliverer, and three days later the people grumbled, verse 24, against Moses. And you know, before we judge their grumbling too critically, think about it for a minute. The Israelites were not grumbling because they didn't have satin sheets. They weren't grumbling because they didn't have a plush limousine to take them to the promised land. They just wanted water. And what did Moses promise them? Where was he taking them? He was taking them to a land overflowing with milk and honey. Exodus 13. Just as they were leaving Egypt and they consecrated their firstborn. But what in the world is this, Moses? We want answers. What are we going to drink? Nasty water? We didn't sign up for this, Moses. And in the next section of the account, we see how God in his mercy answered them in spite of their grumbling and complaining as they went from agony to answers, verses 25 to 27. What did Moses do? The people grumbled against Moses. Which, again, I think is probably an understatement. They were probably saying the very same things. We don't have details of what they said here, but what did they say back in chapter 14, verse 11, as Pharaoh's army was approaching them on the horizon and they were stuck there at the shore of the Red Sea? You remember what they said? They were kind of sassy. Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out to the desert to die? What have you done by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you while we were in Egypt, just leave us alone? Let us serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here in the desert. So the people grumbled against Moses. What are we gonna drink? And what does Moses do? Verse 25. Then Moses cried out to the Lord. The people complained to Moses and Moses prayed to God. Now let's think about that prayer. What did Moses say? Do you see there in the text? What did Moses say? Well, we don't actually have the text of Moses' prayer. But I think I can tell you something about that prayer. I'm sure it wasn't a rote prayer, some memorized little ditty. I'm sure he also didn't try to be flowery or showy. I'm sure he wasn't worried about sounding spiritual, using big theological words. And he didn't have rosary beads. He didn't pray to the saints. He cried out to the Lord. He took it to the Lord. He poured out his heart to God. In fact, he did what the people themselves should have done. He did what you should do in your distress, especially when you don't know what to do. I get a lot of people who ask me to pray for them, particularly in the jail where I serve in the chaplain's office. And I always say that's a good sign that you want prayer. But you know, you can pray too. You've got a direct pipeline too, I'm not the only one. God hears you when you cry out to him. So he cried out to the Lord, and do you see what happened? Moses cried out to God and God had a remedy. He had a supernatural remedy, a miraculous remedy. Just as he delivered them from the Egyptians, he now delivered them from their thirst. Two million people, two to three million people. Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a log. That's kind of funny. The Lord showed him a piece of wood, a tree. Hey, Moses, pick up that log and throw it in the water. And the water became sweet. Now, think about this. God had a remedy ready. Ready. It was already there. That log was already there. Days, weeks, maybe months before. Moses only had to open his eyes. See, the Lord knew that this day was coming. Think about that next time that you're in a bitter spot. The Lord knew this day was coming. God had prepared this day. He was testing them. He had all this in mind. He had been leading them by the pillar of cloud and fire. He had so much to teach them. They had life lessons to learn. And this bitter water thing here, this was just one of many tests to show them that he had all the answers. You know, if he could swallow up the whole Egyptian army, Couldn't he take care of something basic like water? Couldn't he? I mean, they should have turned to Romans chapter eight, only they didn't have Romans chapter eight then. They should have turned to Romans chapter eight where Paul says, if God has given us, if God has delivered up his own son, how will he not with him graciously give us all things? where the Apostle Paul argues for us from the greater to the lesser. If God did not spare his own son for you, if God gave his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for you on the cross, if he sent him into the world to die for your sins, to live a perfect life, to obey the law completely for you, and then gave his life on the cross to pay for your disobedience, and then raised him from the dead, conquering death, if God has done all that for you, will he not also take care of everything else? How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Paul argues from the greater to the lesser. If God has done the great thing, won't he take care of all the little trivial things? The rest is just little stuff. If he could swallow up the whole Egyptian army in one fell swoop, can't he give you water? The answer is in the tree. The answer was in that piece of wood, that log. Now, it wasn't magic in the wood. No, it was symbolic. It was just the instrument that God used to turn bitterness into sweetness. It was a demonstration of the power of God. It was to reveal the grace of God to them. And once they all had their fill of delicious sweet water, two more things happened. Number one, the Lord told them through Moses that this was a test. to show them what was in their hearts. That's why God tests us. He doesn't test us so that he can see what's in our hearts. He tests us so that we can see what's in our hearts. This was a test so that they could see with obedience comes blessings. If you act like the Egyptians you'll be disciplined like the Egyptians. If you do what is right there will be spiritual blessings. This was a test and secondly He provided them a place of sweet relief. Verse 27, then they came to Elim where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees and they camped there near the water. Both those numbers, 12 and 70, are biblical numbers you find all over the place to express God's fullness of blessing. The Lord provided them a taste of the promised land, an oasis in the desert, a huge oasis, a taste of their final destination. Well, thirdly today, how do we get from Mara to my life? How do we get from Mara to Florida? What do we do with this? What does this have to do with you and me? Well, I'd like to give you, as we answer that question, two principles for interpreting the Old Testament scriptures. I've said this before as we walk through the book of Exodus. There's a lot of people who today will say, oh, I don't read the Old Testament. I read the New Testament because I'm a Christian. Oh, the Old Testament is full of Christ. It's all God's word. It's profitable. That's what the Apostle Paul meant. He wrote to Timothy saying that the word of God is profitable, living and active and sharper than double-edged sword. He's talking about the Old Testament scriptures. They didn't have the New Testament yet. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11, the Apostle Paul tells us how to read these Old Testament stories. He says, these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So if you are standing firm, be careful you don't fall. These things happened as examples and were written down for you and for me to read. In other words, God was teaching them for your benefit today. So, what are some of the lessons God would have for his people down through the century? From Moses to Paul to us, what are some of the lessons here? Well, very first and obvious one is sometimes God gives us bitter water to drink, right? There will be days where you come to a bitter spring. on your way to the promised land. On your way to heaven, there'll be times where you will come to a season of bitterness. That is, a bitter pill or a bitter spring of water. Life seems to be going so well. God is good. He's on his throne. We're singing and dancing. Well, maybe in our hearts we're dancing, but we reach out for the basic necessities of life and we're hit with a ton of bricks. by a bitter cup or a bitter pill because we live in a fallen world. We live in a world full of sin. We live in a world under the curse of God and Mara's water comes in all kinds of, all styles of cups and goblets today. It might be hatred from the world. and bitter resentment that comes against believers. It might be a sudden economic downturn for you personally or for all of us. It might be a robbery or a home invasion. I have friends in Orlando who came home to find that their whole house had been ransacked and precious heirlooms. were stolen. Could be theft. I've had that. Where someone steals something from you. Someone you trusted. Could be a serious disappointment at work. It could be a doctor's appointment where you hear some really sad news for yourself. Mara's water comes in all kinds of goblets and cups. Could be a wayward child. Could be a prodigal son. It could be some personal failure of your own. Sudden death of a loved one or friend. Could be a sudden health change for a family member out of the blue. Could be a storm. Could be your house is flooded with a foot of water. Could be a broken appliance. Not now. Could be another car repair. There won't be cars in heaven, praise God. Could be a poor financial decision. You know, we're in the desert right now. We're in the desert. We're not in the promised land yet. We're wandering through terrain, through a landscape that is often bleak, trusting in God's leading, following his word, maybe even coming off a great spiritual mountaintop. And sometimes the trials that come to us concern very basic and vital matters like water. Sometimes the trials that come to us have to do with family. or work, or finances, or your health, or your friendships, or your car, or your air conditioner. So let me ask you, when given bitter water to drink, when you come to a bitter spring like Mara, what do you do? Things are going great, life is beautiful, life is good, the Egyptians are in the past, they're long gone. What do you do when you're given a bitter cup of water to drink? What do you do? We're wired just like the Israelites, you know? We are. Some people grumble. Some people, kind of a low, slow growl, grumbling against God, grumbling against the pastor, grumbling against others who seem so happy, grumbling against whoever seems to be close, your spouse. Some people grumble. Some people get downright mad and become angry and bitter and they lash out. Who's responsible for this? Somebody's gonna have to pay for this. I didn't ask for this. I didn't order a cup of bitter brackish water. I asked for the good stuff. Some people put on a stoic face, right? The stoic martyr, the stiff upper lip. This is my cup and I'll drink it no matter what it takes. And they swallow the pain. They swallow the bitter pill. They push down the agony. They hide the sorrow. They act on the surface as if everything's okay when it's not at all. When it's not at all. Some people put on a stoic face. Some people jump ship. I'm bailing out of this boat. I didn't sign up for this. This isn't the life I thought I was getting. I heard God's boat was a happy boat. I want my money back. I'm going back to Egypt. But you know, God has given you this story, this little passage here in Exodus 15 as an example. He knows this is a fallen world. He knows there are times of sorrow. Every step along the way, God is preparing us for the next leg of the journey. If you have a bitter cup in your hand right now, I tell you, take it to the Lord. Cry out to him. Like Moses, take your case to the one who can do something about it. Take your bitter water to the living God who says, call to me and I will answer you. Call to me. Remember, as soon as Moses cried out to God, God opened his eyes to show him he already had a remedy. And God has a remedy ready and waiting that will sweeten the most bitter water in your life. God has a remedy for the most bitter pill you've ever had to swallow. Remember, I told you a few minutes ago that there's two principles when coming to the Old Testament. The first was, these things have happened to them as examples and are written down for us as warnings. They're life lessons here. But there's another important principle to remember when reading the Old Testament. The second one is this, that the Old Testament is the story of God's grace coming to us in Jesus Christ. All of the Old Testament points ahead to Christ. Remember what Jesus said to those two downcast disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24? He showed them that the Old Testament scriptures from Moses to the prophets, that is the whole of the Old Testament, were all about him and his redemptive work. You see, that wood, that log, that tree which Moses threw in the water, The act of throwing the wood into the water was a supernatural work. It was a miracle. But that miracle was a picture for us. I don't think the Israelites made the connection. Which is why Jesus said, blessed are your eyes for the things that you see and your ears for the things that you hear. For many prophets and kings long to see the things that you see and long to hear the things that you see or hear. We're able to connect all the dots. They weren't able to right then. They did know this was an act of God's mercy and grace. They just didn't see how it connected to the great Redeemer. That tree, that wood you see was a picture of Christ. That log, that wood points ahead to the cross, to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The finished work of Christ, Christ's mighty work on the tree, on the cross is the most effective sweetener of all. It's the only sweetener that changes every bitter cup in life, right? It's the only thing. I mean, you think for a moment of the most bitter cup of water you've ever had, or that you have right now, or any bitter cup you could imagine in the future. How does Christ make that bitter water sweet? Well, maybe you're suffering some physical pain or some personal tribulation, some trouble. And now remember the cross. In all your suffering, is any of it God's divine retribution? Is any of it God's judgment? Not for the Christian. Not one ounce of your suffering comes from God's righteous anger. That's all placed on Christ. Instead, God has promised us that through every bitter cup, His perfect plan, He will use all that suffering and tribulation and trouble to teach us to trust in Him, to glorify His name, to teach you of His mercy, to point others to the Lord Jesus Christ as they see you looking to the Lord, to use you as a comfort to them in their suffering. and ultimately to work all of this out, this providential cup that he's brought into your life, to work it out for your good and to sanctify you and to prepare you for heaven. David said in Psalm 119 verse 71, it is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes, your commandments. We can all say that. If we look back in our lives and see when we had a bitter cup and we went through affliction that God was using it to teach us about himself. It is good for me that I was afflicted. Even if the Mara, even if the bitter cup, the bitter water, the bitter pill is your own making. God can make it sweet with the grace of God in Christ. Maybe you have a different cup to drink. Maybe it's the bitterness of seeing others suffer. Someone you love very much, that's a bitter cup for sure. Especially when someone is very dear to you and they have a very real bitter cup and it's breaking your heart. I've known that cup of bitterness and I know you've known it too. I know you've known it too. I remember sitting on the side of my mom's bed a week before she died. She was all swollen. Her skin was yellow. Her body was shutting down. I was a bucket of tears. She said, don't cry for me. I know where I'm going. I said, I'm just going to miss you so much, mom. That was a bitter cup because I knew she was suffering. What could make that cup of bitter water sweet? When we know that loved one is a believer, we have the sure and certain knowledge that your loved one is united by faith to your faithful savior, not a hair can fall from their head except by your father's will. And in the end, you know that they will be raised again, and so will you. And you will see their glorified body free of the diseases of this present world. That's what makes it sweet. But what if your loved one is not a believer? What if they're not a Christian and they have a bitter cup in their hands? Well, you know that your heavenly father does all things well and he uses great suffering to bring people in their distress to cry out to Christ, sometimes for the first time. Read through Psalm 107 again this week, Psalm 107. And you see there how God is bringing people from east and west and north and south. As they go through suffering, they cry out to the Lord and he delivers them. If someone says to you, I thought you believed in God and you told me that God was good. Why am I going through this? Oh, let me show you. Let's look at Psalm 107. You'll see. God's doing this to draw you to himself, that you might cry out for mercy. That he might rescue them and show them that they need Christ. As we close today, we need the Word of God. We need to reorient our thinking all the time. Our compass gets so out of whack during the week with false lies and with false advertising. We need the Word of God to remind us again, this world is not our home. This present wilderness, this desert is not the promised land. This is not heaven. Perhaps there's some here this morning who've been using artificial sweeteners. That's what everything is apart from Christ. You've been using artificial sweeteners. You don't think you need Christ. You don't think you need his forgiveness. You don't need his cross. You don't need that old piece of wood. Or maybe you know someone whose life is full of bitterness. They're bitter at God. They're bitter with others. Man-made sweeteners might be able to carry you a little while. But if you've been trusting in man-made sweeteners and not looking in faith to Christ, I need to warn you, someday your eyes will be open and you'll see that all the sweeteners you've had have been an imitation and you will end up forever in a place of unquenchable thirst where you'll never have relief. Jesus said, come to me. Everyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst and whoever believes in me will never go thirsty again. You see, with the Lord Jesus Christ, you can have true sweetness today and every day when you come to bitter springs in life. And one day, one day in the new heavens and the new earth, you'll know the day where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain or thirst. There is a tree that makes everyday sweet, the tree of life, the cross, the tree of the cross, where you find complete forgiveness and grace greater than all of your sins. Praise be to God. Oh, I encourage you today to cry out to the Lord, the God of all mercy and grace. Praise be to God for the indescribable gift of his son. Let us pray. O Lord, we do cry out to you today. We stand amazed that Christ would die for sinners like us. O Lord, draw near to those who are here. Draw them to yourself that they might cry out to you. Lord, we pray for your blessing on our response to you, that we truly would respond with our very lives. Use these tithes and gifts and offerings to build your church and to bring others to know the goodness of God when they come to the bitter springs of life, that they might come to know the gospel. So bless our offering today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.