God Will Provide

Intro

Getting “hangry”

Israel was “hangry” in the wilderness

Scripture

Exodus 15:22–27 (ESV)

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 Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 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 twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

God led Israel to a place of need so He could test them and show them that He was their provider.

Exodus 16:1–5 (ESV)

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”

It’s crazy what people will complain about. Rather than aseeing the miracles of God and discussing, “This is exciting! I’m so anxious to see how God will provide in this situation!”

What is it that we complain about?

Again God was testing Israel to see what they were made of and teach them.

John 4:10–14 ESV

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

2 basic needs, water and food, God provides it all.

John 7:37–39 ESV

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Are you thirsty? Come and drink

John 6:48–59 ESV

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 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.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

The Jews were offended that Jesus said we needed to eat his flesh. Rather than Jesus explaining away what He said, He doubled down, you have to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Also Jesus is putting Himself in a Godly position by pointing to the Father.

The Offense:

Eat my flesh

It was against the Law to eat people, we were made in the image of God

Drink my blood

It was against the Law to eat blood

Blood contained the life of the animal, the life of the flesh is in the blood

Jesus is saying you will sustain yourself by His life

Jesus claimed to be God

All the prophets and angels who spoke before pointed to God, here Jesus is putting Himself on the same level as the Father

Jesus is the way to the Father

Why the offense:

The Gospel is offensive

This doesn’t mean we should just go around offending people

“Your singing sounded like someone stepped on a frog.”

Light and darkness do not mix

If cars are going in opposite directions there will be a crash

Never be ashamed to shy away from truth

The Gospel has the power of God to save

Like in the wilderness, Jesus was testing them

John 6:66-69 “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.””

Jesus didn’t chase after the ones that left and provided the 12 with an invitation to leave

“You have the words of eternal life”

The response shouldn’t be, “This sounds crazy, I’m out of here.” The response should be, “Teach me your ways, O Lord.”

What say you? Will you eat of the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood?

Eat My Flesh, Drink My Blood

What does that mean!?

This should invoke ideas of Communion

The body of Christ broken for you

The blood of Christ shed for you

Communion is certainly a part of this equation, it is an illustration of the greater truth

However, we are not saved by simply eating and drinking

To eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood is to fully rely upon God and the work of Jesus Christ

God is our Sustainer, our Redeemer, our Joy, our Life

Money will not save you, power will not save you, popularity will not save you

What is your need today, this week, this year?

I’ll give you a hint, it’s not health and wealth

Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

What we need is a closer walk with Jesus, to know Him more

What we need is to get away from these fleshly desires and only desire Him

So What

I keep going back to that text at Ash Wednesday, God was walking through the garden and Adam and Eve hid themselves. Life is a contestant battle and war against the flesh, and I see the goodness of God, I know His goodness. More than anything I want to just be with Him walking through the garden. I love Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” I want it! But how many times do I continue to say no to Him? How many times do I turn away to do what I want to do? How many times do I grumble and complain like Israel in the wilderness, “You’re not meeting my needs, God!”

Here we have an invitation to receive all that life has to offer, to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, that is eternal life.

Are you hungry for more of Him? Are you hangry that what the world has to offer never fully satisfies? Will you abandon all else just to know God and know Him more, to trust that He will provide all you need?

Then let us eat of the body of Jesus and drink His blood which gives us the ability to boldly go to our Father in heaven, to that throne room of grace, to receive mercy and help in this time of need.