God's Provision of Leadership & Law

God’s Provision of Leadership & Law Exodus 16-20.

Introduction & Review

Here on Sunday mornings, we’ve been telling the story of the Bible, the big picture from Creation to Christ. Many mom’s for thousands of years have told their children these stories to help them have faith in Almighty God. Our purpose in telling these key Bible stories is to aid in the memory of them so they can be told from generation to generation. Also, to know that God is our faithful Redeemer who has been working out His plans of redemption from sin, even before time began.

It was just a few weeks ago we learned how God protected His chosen leader of the COI from certain death when he was born. God protected Moses by using a desperate & creative mama. Jochebed, Moses mother, who fashioned a floating crib out of bulrushes, waterproofed with tar for her beautiful baby boy and set him afloat in the Nile River. She had to do this because the king of Egypt, known as Pharaoh, had commanded all baby boys be murdered in an effort to control the population explosion of the COI.

By the Divine Providential care, grace and mercy of God, the Lord made sure it was Pharaoh’s own daughter who found Jochebed’s baby and she named him Moses b/c she drew him out of water. She even paid Jochebed to nurse Moses on her behalf and then at the appropriate time, she took Moses back to Pharaoh’s daughter who adopted him into the royal family.

Fast forward 80 years and God has delivered the COI out of 400 years of slavery by sending 10 devastating plagues on the land of Egypt including the death of every firstborn. God graciously provided a means for that last plague to be avoided by applying blood from a lamb to the doorposts of the homes of the COI and God instituted the Passover meal saying “When I see the blood, I will pass-over you.”

Last week we saw how the Lord miraculously delivered the COI when Pharaoh & his army tried to chase them down in the wilderness. God made a highway of sorts for the COI so they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. When the Egyptians gave chase, God caused the water to return over them & drowned them in the sea.

Today’s story comes from Exodus 15:22-20:17 and we’ll learn how God miraculously provided for the COI; but like petulant children, they complained no matter what God did for them. God provided both leadership and law, His “house rules” for His children to live by. All moms I know of have house rules and generally speaking you can trace mom’s house rules to God’s house rules. As always, listen to the story and focus on the important details so you can tell this story to someone else. At the end we’ll explain reasons why this is a key Bible story and some life applications we can make to our own lives today.

1. Tell the story - Setting

You would think after such an amazing and overwhelming victory the COI witnessed both by the display of God’s might & power with the 10 plagues & His devastating final victory over Pharaoh in the Red Sea, the COI would have no doubt as to God’s ability to take care of them. I’m sure every mom & dad can relate when it comes to your kids, they forget what you do all the time, they whine, they get cranky when they don’t get their way, they disobey, sometimes at bedtime they won’t go to bed. You’ll hear them crying “I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, or I need to go potty.”

Parents can relate to how the Lord must have felt & Moses their leader felt by their near constant whining and complaining.

God was leading through the desert by a pillar of cloud by day & a pillar of fire by night. They got to a place where there was no water and they had no food so they complained. The Bible tells us this was just a short 31 days after they left Egypt! All of them contended with Moses. Just like little kids, the drama & crocodile tears were on full display: “Oh that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat & ate bread to the full. You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

I can picture “hangry” kids standing there with the refrigerator door open: “Mom we don’t have anything to eat.” Well the Lord graciously whipped up a meal for them in no time. God filled the camp with quail to eat and something they called Manna - a little round wafer that covered the ground like dew, and it tasted like wafers & honey! The COI came out for breakfast in the morning and found the manna all over the ground asking “What’s this?” So Moses told them it was the bread God had provided for them to eat.

Moses gave them instructions to only gather what they needed for that day for each household because it would spoil - so some gathered more, some gathered less but each according to their need & they didn’t have too much with a lot of leftovers, neither did they have too little, everybody was satisfied. When the sun came up and got hot, all that manna covering the ground melted away.

However, many of them didn’t follow instructions and tried to keep more of that manna overnight & to their shock, it was full of worms the next morning & stunk to high Heaven. Moses was angry they didn’t listen!

Moses taught them by the instruction of God they were to gather what was needed for the day for 6 days but on the 6th day, they were to gather twice as much because there would be no manna on the Sabbath day, a day of worship and much needed day of rest. Of course some of them didn’t listen and they went out to gather on the 7th day & they learned the hard way they were going hungry that day b/c there was no manna to be found.

God made sure to include a pot of manna in the first canning operation to put up 2-4 pints of manna…okay maybe not canning, but He wanted them to keep it for His divine scrapbook of creative memories to remind the COI how He provided food for them in the wilderness. God kept that manna stored in the testimony cabinet, He would later call the Ark of the Covenant.

The incredible thing was that for 6 days, every week for 40 years, the Lord provided manna every day to give His kids the food they needed to eat! When they got to the border of the PL after 40 years, the manna stopped!

One day, they were in a particular place in the desert & it was bone dry, there was no water to drink. Can you imagine what the COI did? You guessed it, they complained! Again they demanded “Give us water to drink!” “Why did you bring us out into the wilderness to kill us, our children & our livestock with thirst? Is the Lord with us or not?”

Well Moses did what every parent who’s exasperated & frustrated with their kids should do. He cried out to the Lord: “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!” Moses was finding out that insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids…

God told Moses again exactly what to do, take the rod & strike the rock & Moses did so & fresh water came gushing out of solid rock!

It wasn’t long after that the Amalekites came & picked a fight with the COI like playground bullies. Moses summoned Joshua as his commanding general to take some men to fight against these Amalekites. God stepped in & did another miracle to protect His children. Moses went to the top of a hill overlooking the battle field & held up his hands. As long as Moses’ hands were raised, the COI were winning the battle! If Moses lowered his arms they began to lose.

So Moses’ brother Aaron & another man named Hur put up a large rock for Moses to sit on and they held up Moses’ arms till the sun went down & the COI won a great victory that day - just like God promised, He delivered on His promise to curse those who curse the family of Abraham.

The next thing that happened as recored in God’s scrapbook, was pictures of a family reunion. Moses had sent his wife & sons back home to live with his Father in-law Jethro while he was laboring for the Lord confronting Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Jethro heard through the Palestine grapevine how God rescued the COI & all the stuff God did to set them free and how He set them free from slavery in Egypt. He came to Moses out there in the middle of no-where and brought Mose’s wife Zipporah & his two sons out to meet him & the Lord gave them a sweet time of fellowship and family time.

They got caught up on all the stories of God’s deliverance & just had a great time together. Jethro even offered a sacrifice to the Lord as an offering of gratitude & confession of faith in Yahweh. Jethro went to work with Moses and saw how Moses was trying to hear and care for all the people in their problems. Jethro gave Moses some very wise counsel because it was going to wear Moses and the people all out. So Moses listened to his father in-law’s advice and he got a number of leaders involved and organized the people to make the work load much easier.

God led the COI to the mountain where He first met with Moses, a mount called Sinai or sometimes called Mt. Horeb. The Lord told Moses He wanted to have a “come to Jesus” meeting with the people and gave Moses instructions how the people needed to prepare for 3 days before the Lord met them. He planned to speak to them from the mountain & they were to prepare by making themselves holy and clean, washing their clothes and denying themselves intimacy with their spouses. God told the COI He was making them a Kingdom of priests and a holy or set apart nation for God to use.

God even told them what many a mom has told their kids in a store with expensive items on display, “look with your eyes and not with your hands” because the Lord warned His kids they better not come near or touch the mountain because they would be killed if they disobeyed.

Problem/Curve ball

When God spoke to His kids from Mount Sinai, it was a massive display of mighty power, there was an earthquake, the Lord descended onto the mountain in fire, thunderings, lighting, thick smoke like a furnace and a trumpet so loud the people were shaking in fear! God wanted them to fear Him so they knew they better obey first time w/ a good attitude.

Every mom has what we know to be “house rules.” Well God gave His children 10 rules that they needed to follow. These rules would come to be called “The big 10, or the 10 commandments.” These rules from God have become the basis of our own legal system here in the United States of what is right and wrong - sadly not many people follow them, obey them or even know what they are any more.

Climax

The first for rules God gave all dealt with how the COI were to relate to Him, in other words their vertical relationship with God. The next 6 rules were about relationships with other people, horizontal relationships with your family, your neighbor, your community & nation. One of the most incredible things if we prioritize our vertical relationship with God, the horizontal relationships are blessed by God when we operate within His guidelines. So what were the “house rules”? I’m glad you asked…

1. No other God’s b/f me. God is to be your #1 priority. (20:1-3)

2. No idols to represent God - 4-6

3. No swearing or taking the Lord’s name in vain - 7

4. Remember the Sabbath day & keep it holy, a day of rest & worship. 8-11

5. Honor your father & mother. 12 - Not just on mother’s day or father’s day, every day of your and their lives. With this rule in particular, it came with a promise from God: that your days will be long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. The NT explained further through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the Apostle Paul: “Which the first commandment with a promise, that it may be well with you & you may live long on the earth.” (Eph. 6:2-3)

6. You shall not murder. 13 - That includes character assassinations from gossip or slander or by assigning motives to people or jumping to conclusions without all the facts. Jesus expanded this by saying if you’re angry with your brother without cause is in danger of judgment.

7. You shall not commit adultery. 14 Jesus expanded this also to say if you look at someone with lust in your heart you’ve committed adultery in your heart.

8. You shall not steal. 15

9. You shall not bear false witness. No lying! 16 No such thing as a “white lie.”

10. You shall not covet. 17 Your neighbor’s house, wife, his servants, his truck (okay the donkey and ox where the original F150 & F250 respectively. I’ll let you figure out which is which…

Sadly, the people’s response leaves a lot to be desired. The Bible says at the display of God’s power and the thunder of His voice, they trembled and stood a far off. They basically told Moses, God was too fearful for them to talk to directly and they were afraid they were going to die.

Listen to what Moses said to them in 20:20: “And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear; for God has come to test you and that His fear may be before you that you may not sin.”

Peace returns to the Village

They didn’t listen to Moses because the Bible says “the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.” They missed out on close, intimate fellowship with God but Moses chose to draw near to God.

Set up for next time

Next time we’ll see learn more of what God had in mind to lead, guide, & direct them as He continued to care for them and lead them to the Promised Land. Sadly we’ll see how the people quickly resorted to breaking the house rules and the devastating consequences of rebellion against God.

2. Explain how this story matters to the big story of the Bible. (IE Why is this a key story?) Let us think about 4 reasons of critical importance…

This story is a key story because God wants us to understand He is Holy & He alone is be worshiped as the true God.

This is a key story because it demonstrates God must be revered & feared and is only to be approached in a prescribed way.

Reminder that God’s “house rules” are still non-negotiable.

God expects obedience from His children, first time with a good attitude.

God’s desire is to have an intimate relationship with His children and that we not sin.

3. Applications of the story to everyday living - (2-3 lessons from the story that apply to our lives today - including the gospel.

1. Nobody likes being taken for granted, so don’t take God for granted!

How do we do that? I’m so glad you asked…

By never saying thank you. When God gave the COI meat, manna, water, when He gave them victory over the Amalekites. Not one time did they say thank you! Mom, you don’t like it when your kids just assume you will do something. Dad, you don’t like it when your kids assume you’ll just pay for everything. So don’t treat God that way. Model & teach thanksgiving to your kid’s and g’kids. Write thank you notes, personal ones with a stamp on them. Have an “attitude of gratitude”, not “what have you done for me lately?”

When we act like we’re the center of the universe & not God. For a lot of people, their favorite deity is “Me, Myself & I.” The I is the first letter in idol - trying to kick God off His throne like Satan did and making ourselves out to be God. We do this when we put our agenda before His.

When we forsake His designated times of worship b/c we “had other plans.” So we come see Him every other, every 3rd, 4th, 6th week or only at Christmas & Easter. CF Heb. 10:24-25 “24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

When we refuse to accept God’s provision & offer of forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. The law reveals none of us can keep it perfectly. People think if we keep the law, do good deeds we’ll go to Heaven. Some people think if you’re sincere you will go to heaven. If all that were true, If everyone goes to Heaven when they die any old way they want to, then why did God kill His Son? Such arrogance to believe you can go your own way, you can some how sacrifice more than Jesus did that pleased God more. Really? Share the ABC’s.

2. Testing is designed by God to refine our character, make us Holy and teach us to depend on God. Three times in the chapters where this story is recored, God or Moses said God was testing the COI (15:25, 16:4, 20:20). CF James 1:2-5 & 12,

Job 23:10, “10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”

Ps. 66:10 “10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.”

Robert J. Morgan said: “Testing today builds faith & trust in God tomorrow. The same God who leads you in, will lead you out. BTW all of God’s testing, correction or discipline is rooted in love.

3.God’s “House Rules” are still non-negotiable. God’s Word is not a buffet where we get to pick and choose what we like and don’t like. It’s not subject to the shifting sands of popular opinion, political correctness or the woke crowd.

One of the last things God said in the OT to the COI: CF Mal. 3:6 “6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”