Nothing Can Steal Our Joy
Pastor Tim Holt
Part of Exodus—God Calls. God Provides. God Fulfills.
August 27, 2023

Introduction

This story is our story. The story of salvation. Which is why the New Testament describes the work of Christ in terms of the exodus. Once we were enslaved in the Egypt of our sin, but then Jesus came to set us free. He is our Passover Lamb who shed his blood on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins. He has also brought us through the Red Sea. In his burial Jesus passed through the deep waters of death, but by his resurrection he landed safe on the other side. All of this is signified in Christian baptism. The exodus from Egypt was a forecast of an even greater exodus: deliverance from sin through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. —Exodus 15:2 CSB

I. Overview: Remembering where we are and what has happened.

A. Other side of Red Sea, Physical

They are in the wilderness.

Left in a hurry, unleavened bread.

Gifts from Egyptians, they were loaded. All the wealth of the greatest civilization known.

Egypt even today, produces an array of fruits, vegetables, cereals, cotton, sugar and livestock for both domestic consumption and export. And they do it on very little land. Just along the Nile and the Nile delta.

They had their herds with them.

33 When Pharaoh addresses you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you are to say, ‘Your servants, both we and our ancestors, have raised livestock from our youth until now.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to Egyptians.” —Genesis 46:33–34 CSB

B. Meta-Physical

The gods of Egypt have been dethroned! From Ra all the way to Pharoah. They have been conquered.

The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. —Exodus 15:3 CSB

God has sent signs and wonders!

The 10 strikes

The pillar of cloud and fire

The Angel of the God who stood with the pillar.

The Red Sea parting and closing on pharaoh.

Prophecy came true.

Everything God said would happen, happened just like he said.

Hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, He would cast you out not let you go, gifts would be given.

C. Instructions Given. Laws before the commandments.

Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.

Circumcision.

D. Leaders

Moses

Aaron

Miriam

As we move forward remember this distinction that Pastor Ryan made clear. God saved them before he gave the 10 commandments. He saved them before he taught them how to serve and worship Him. That is our experience too. God saves us and then leads us through our wilderness so we can learn to know Him and His ways. Who He is and What He is like.

These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. —1 Corinthians 10:11

What comes next? The answer is sanctification—the long, hard, difficult process of being conformed to the holiness of God.

II. Trusting in God to create a New Nation (Trusting Christ to create a New Person)

3 Ways God changes our reality.

1) Provision | Water and Quail

WATER | Sustainer

22 Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water. 23 They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter—that is why it was named Marah. 24 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there. 26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” —Exodus 15:22–26 CSB

Let’s give them a break, they were thirsty! Sure, God had delivered them from Pharaoh, but that was days ago. What had he done for them lately?

Their primary concern was what God could do for them. This is people to their core. The primary concern for most people is to be taken care of. Not freedom. Freedom means responsibility! Freedom means accountability!

The Israelites were ungrateful and immature in their relationship with God. We all are in the beginning of our walk. But their deepest spiritual problem was a lack of faith. The Israelites simply did not believe that God would take care of them. They did not trust in the faithfulness of God.

They see an oasis and think we are saved but the water is bitter. In His mercy, God uses a tree to make the bitter waters sweet. God used a tree to make our bitter life sweet. The cross.

God told them to “listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes … pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees. I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”

This promise is huge. If you will listen and obey “I” will not inflict this on you. I will not do this. It can come because we are in a fallen world or by unclean spirits, but I will not judge you like I judged them.

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water. —Exodus 15:27

The water was just down the road they should have never been worried.

1 The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?” —Exodus 17:1–2 CSB

With the backdrop of manna everyday this seems trite. The only way I can explain it is trust. They didn’t know God for who He is. The could only compare Him to what they have known.

They didn’t know a that God was good. All the time.

5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. 6 I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” —Exodus 17:5–7 CSB

The rock at Horeb, that is the mountain of the lord. Mt Sinai.

In writing to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul refers to the wilderness experience of the Israelites. In particular, he makes reference to them eating and drinking, alluding specifically to this passage in which they drink water from a rock (1 Cor. 10:1–4).

3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. —1 Corinthians 10:3–4 CSB

Paul is not claiming that Christ followed (or accompanied) them as they journeyed in the wilderness. Rather, he thinks of Christ following them chronologically.

Paul means that in the physical drinking and eating of the Israelites in the wilderness, they share spiritually with those who centuries later feast on Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 10:16–17).

There are many who believe that an actual rock followed them and it was Christ.

How ever you interpret that what is clear is this. Christ is our sustainer. The living water in John 4 that Jesus talks about not only sustains us so that we will never thirst again, but the water will become a well of water springing up to eternal life. He sustains us.

2) FOOD | Provider

1 The entire Israelite community departed from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt. 2 The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!” —Exodus 16:1–3 CSB

Before we judge, remember this. They had pockets full of money. They all were probably thinking, man if I was back in Egypt, I would be the man.

9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints.’” 10 As Aaron was speaking to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there in a cloud the Lord’s glory appeared. 11 The Lord spoke to Moses, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” 13 So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was. Moses told them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. —Exodus 16:9–15 CSB

So God is merciful. He provides Manna. “What is it” about the size of a coriander seed was white and taste like a wafer made of honey.

It was related to God’s glory. The bread of Heaven.

What did Jesus pray? Give us this day our daily bread! Yes it is food to eat but it is also a piece of God’s glory. The bread of the Lord.

He tested them again. Gather enough for today. On the 6th day gather enough for that day and the sabbath.

The greedy couldn’t gather more, they couldn’t store it, worms, It was the daily bread. Everyday you had to go back for more.

It is the same thing for us. A portion of the glory of God. Every day. You can’t save it. You can’t sell it. But you do have to keep coming back to Him for it.

35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan. —Exodus 16:35 CSB

Even the best tasting food, pecan pie, would get old. 40 years is a long time.

Our daily bread provides for us. That piece of God’s glory. That measure of grace for today. The renewed mercy is available every day. He always provides.

3) Battle | Partners between spiritual and physical

8 At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword. —Exodus 17:8–13 CSB

Amalek was a grandson of Esau. God was not pleased with them attacking and vows in V14 to blot them out.

There is something that changes with salvation. Our battles become as much spiritual as they are physical and emotional.

We need to understand this our struggle is to becomes more like Christ. No matter what it looks like on the outside.

The struggles at work and at home. God will be using them to make you more like himself. Transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

We cannot fight spiritual battles with physical weapons.

3 For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. —2 Corinthians 10:3–5 CSB

What we see here in this battle is a melding of the Spiritual fight and the physical.

We have Moses praying like Joshua wasn’t fighting and we have Joshua fighting like Moses wasn’t praying!

That is who we are be for one other. The Christian walk is a walk in community not isolation.

Aaron and Hur held Moses hands up in prayer as long as the were in the fight spiritually they were winning.

I know things happen quickly in life but don’t forget to pray. If you can’t seem to hold you arms up get some Godly friends to do it for you.

When we stop trusting God, we cease standing together.

We are all in this together. If Moses was alone, they would have been defeated. That is what the church is for. To come along side and hold our arms up as we fight with our adversary, our own minds, our emotions and even physical addictions. Transformation is hard. We need each other.

Benjamin Franklin. Upon signing the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin purportedly said, “We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

C. Administration

13 The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening. 14 When Moses’s father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?” 15 Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.” 17 “What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’s father-in-law said to him. 18 “You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone. 19 Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him. 20 Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do. 21 But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating dishonest profit. Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 22 They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load, and they will bear it with you. 23 If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.” —Exodus 18:13–23 CSB

This would seem simple to someone who was raised in Pharaoh’s court. For some reason Moses took it all on himself.

His father in law gave Him great advice. Get organized. Build some kind of administration in your life.

The more we do not engage with responsibility, the more depression grows.

Men and women. Organize your life so it is easy to administrate.

But everything is to be done decently and in order. —1 Corinthians 14:40 CSB

Think through it all. Organize it.

“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? —Luke 14:28 CSB

Simply put, Christ is the head of the body. Figure out where you belong and get busy. Do it well!

III. New reality

A. God provides.

New mercies every day.

Our daily bread a piece of His glory

47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” —John 6:47–51 CSB

B. God battles with us.

We are no longer alone in the struggle of life

5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. 6 Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? —Hebrews 13:5–6 CSB

We battle together. We are the same family.

C. God calls for order

God wants order in your life not chaos.

We need to be able to hear His voice. He is ready to send you a Jethro to help you get organized. So life is easier to manage.

Summary

This is the new reality of the people of Israel. They were saved out of the slavery of Egypt, but God didn’t leave them alone. He started a process to show himself to His people so they could know Him. That he was trustworthy. That he cared about them. That he would be with them and never leave them. He is teaching them how to be a New Nation. This is the new reality of you who have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior. You have been saved out of the slavery of sin and he has started to show Himself to you. He didn’t save you to leave you alone. Like Zach Williams song say. You have a revival spreading like a wildfire in your heart. Every section of your heart God wants to revive and make like His. From one section to the next. He is teaching you how to be a New Person. Sanctification. He has brought your daily bread and living water, He has become your battle buddy, He is ready to bring some order to your walk with Him. There should be nothing that can steal our joy!