WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.600 Alright, you may be seated. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:02.479 Good to see you. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:03.279 Good morning. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:04.160 How are y'all? 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:05.360 Good Thanksgiving. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:06.160 Everybody? 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:06.639 Good? 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:07.040 Good? 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:07.519 Great. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.160 Okay, well, we're back in Exodus again. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:11.679 Exodus 16. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:15.839 We've been traveling, journeying through this book for the past, I don't know, 10 weeks or so. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:19.760 We're about halfway through the book, and so we continue, we pick up the story this morning. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:30.399 So our Thanksgiving we celebrated on Wednesday at my house with my sister, her two little girls, her husband, my mom, and my granny. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:33.119 Now, Granny is 93 years old. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:37.600 She doesn't leave the assisted living place in Decatur that often at this point. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:39.359 She's confined to a wheelchair. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:40.960 She has dementia. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:44.240 And so granny going somewhere is a big deal. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:45.759 It takes a lot of planning. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:48.320 I mean, even for my mom to take her out, it's very difficult. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:01:01.039 My mom will have to call down there and they have to get her ready and she gets all ready, and then my mom has to kind of strategically plan how to get her to the car and where are they going and if where they're going is okay for granny to be able to get around in a wheelchair. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.439 There's lots of planning that it requires. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:13.519 And so even on Tuesday, uh my mom and I we got together and we started talking about Granny coming to my house because it takes a lot of thought and a lot of time and care. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.079 So my mom and I we talk it through. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:21.040 Okay, how many hours do we think she can stay at our house before she's going to be exhausted? 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:22.719 Okay, so we kind of determine that. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:26.560 And then at what point and who's gonna pick her up, and so we determine that. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:30.799 And what wheelchair is gonna go, and once she gets here, how are we gonna get her in the house? 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.879 Because my house isn't built for handicap accessibility, and so how are we gonna get her in the house? 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:36.079 Okay, where can she sit? 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:37.680 Where do you think she would like to sit? 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:53.120 Well, all the girls will probably be playing uh over here, and maybe if she sits here, then she can see the girls playing, but then she can also see kind of what's going on in the kitchen, and so there's all this time and all this planning for her to come, right? 00:01:53.280 --> 00:02:05.519 Some of you did this just for like uh just like your you know a 30-year-old sister of yours or her daughter, and just that high maintenance, and we can counsel about that later because you're feeling the weight of it even this morning, you're exhausted. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:08.479 Um, hopefully they've already left your house and gone home. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:10.319 All right, so here's what we're doing. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:15.680 When we do this for an aging parent, or even you do it for a high maintenance relative, or you do it for a young child. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:16.560 Here's what we're doing. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:19.039 You're anticipating the care they will need, right? 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:20.879 You're going before them. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.280 Does anybody remember our term from last week? 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:25.199 Did anybody hold on to the term? 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:26.639 Anticipatory providence. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:29.120 Anticipatory providence. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:30.800 Can we say it together? 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:33.199 Anticipatory providence. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:44.240 Just put it in your pocket, just put that one in your pocket, and this week you're around some elitist intellectual and they think they're so smart, and you can just say, hey, can we take a few minutes and talk about anticipatory providence? 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:49.840 I'd like to discuss uh the ramifications of it coming out of the book of Exodus, particularly chapter 15 and 16. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.080 I mean, you've got something here, is what I'll tell you. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.240 You really have something here. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:59.680 So uh this is about anticipating the care they will need. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:07.759 So when the moment comes and it's easy or it's difficult, when the moment comes, the providential care is there. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.000 That's what my mom and I were doing, right? 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:11.039 On Tuesday. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:18.479 On Tuesday, we were going before Granny into Wednesday to consider what was going to happen. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:20.800 And it wasn't going to make it easy, mind you, right? 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:29.039 I mean, there there were five little girls of a volume level that is not natural inside of a house that you know that that's bothersome to granny. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:35.599 Granny's used to her routine, her food, how things work, that volume level, and all of that's shaken up. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.879 So it's not easy, but at least the providential care has gone in front of her. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:46.400 So now let's take this idea, anticipatory providence, let's take this idea into Hebrews 16. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:48.960 We learned about it last week in Hebrews 15. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.120 I mean, not Hebrews, the Hebrew people in Exodus, Exodus 15 and 16. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:57.039 So the Hebrew people, they've been rescued out of slavery. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.599 They were in slavery for 400 years. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:03.599 400 years making bricks in Egypt, oppressed. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:11.120 And God raises up this unlikely guy, Moses, and we have that whole story coming through these people being rescued. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.840 Now remember, they have they have no Bible. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:17.600 They have no churches, they have they have very limited teachings. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:23.360 They're just listening and they're going because God is moving through them and rescuing them. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:27.600 God is beginning something, and so they set out toward the Red Sea. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:32.480 Remember, they went the way of the wilderness, and so they headed down that way, and that's the more complicated way. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:38.079 And then the backs are against the Red Sea, and they think this is it, and then they get the great victory through the Red Sea. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:40.639 This is where we begin to see a little bit of the reality of life. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.360 We get the great victory, and they get through the sea. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:44.879 Do you remember what they did on the other side? 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.040 They just erupted in celebration. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:51.439 So you get the great victory, the great celebration, and then Exodus 15. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:55.199 Last week, we saw just despair, right? 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:01.120 They get they get a few days into the desert and they're out of water, and they get to Mara, and the water is bitter. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:03.920 And so it's you're don't we know that, right? 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:05.439 Like this is reality. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:16.160 The victory is reality, the celebration is reality, and then you're just like a few days off from like the best time of your life, and all of a sudden you're dying of thirst. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:24.560 And what we saw last week is gonna be the same thing we see this week, is that there's anticipatory providence for us, and there was for them. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.000 And God gave them water. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:29.439 That's what we saw. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:33.439 God had gone before these people to provide the water in the difficulty. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:38.079 We we said that the remedy had been there the entire time. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:44.639 The remedy has always been waiting for us because of anticipatory providence. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:56.000 So these people leave Elam, that's where they had been after the water, and they head into the wilderness of sin, and it's not a pleasant trip, it's another brutal trip in the desert. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:01.759 And if just a couple days in, a few days in, the grumbling begins because the food starts to run out. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.439 So first they run out of water, now they're running out of food. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.319 And the grumbling's about God, right? 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.600 But they're aiming it at Moses and Aaron because you know you can always just aim your grumbling to the leader, right? 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:14.720 Just aim it to the leader. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:15.199 Thank you. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.399 Just aim it this way, I'll take it whenever you get upset. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:22.720 Just aim, you can be angry at God, but just aim it at whoever's in charge. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:24.240 And that's what they do. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:30.240 Because they don't have any food, and they start to say in verse 3, they say, hey, you shouldn't have how many times have they said this at this point, right? 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:33.519 Like, you Moses, you shouldn't have taken us out of Egypt. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:35.120 Like, at least there we had food. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.240 Yeah, we were oppressed and we were enslaved, and it was horrible, and it was awful. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:40.160 We cannot forget how horrible it was. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:42.480 But at least we had food. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.920 And so then we get Exodus 16, verse 4. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:52.079 Then the Lord said to Moses. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:56.079 Okay, we can just stop there in those few words. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:58.480 Because this is the storyline. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:01.439 I mean, this is the storyline over and over again. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:05.839 Like after the hunger, the doubting, the grumbling, the difficulty. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:08.720 Not before it, mind you, right? 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:09.360 Right? 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:11.040 I mean, it's true in your storyline too. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:12.079 Not before it. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:18.879 Like after all that junk starts, then the Lord says, like, I'm like, why didn't you say it before? 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:20.079 That would have been really helpful. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.920 Just say it before, speak before, rescue before, but he doesn't. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:25.519 He doesn't do it that way. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:34.319 And we have this feeling, and it's the feeling we see these Hebrew Hebrew people. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:44.240 Uh we see it over and over again with them, we see it over and over again with our lives, and it's this feeling like we just aren't sure if we're gonna make it out of this. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:08:00.959 Like if this will ever work out, if this will ever end, if I will ever get any better, then the Lord said. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:08.639 I'm into Christian spiritual walk 20 years, right at about 20 years, 22 years, somewhere around there. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:12.319 And his timing just continues to baffle me. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:14.319 It just does. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:16.240 I just still don't understand it. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:17.519 I don't think I will. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.680 I mean, I look at my life, I don't understand his timing most of the time, I don't understand his timing. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:23.839 Uh most of the time when I look at your life, I don't understand it. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.360 I'll go to lunch with you, I'll talk to you, and I'm going, yeah, I don't understand that timing. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:32.080 Just like maybe you'll understand it in time, maybe you'll understand it, maybe we won't ever understand it. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:42.960 But here's the one thing I I am learning is that his timing always feels slow and definitely feels imperfect to me, but it's always perfect. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:50.799 Because here's what it does is it forces me into some honesty and desperation just enough to break me. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:54.799 And this is his point. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.080 And this is anticipatory providence. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:06.320 The brokenness is as much anticipatory providence for us as any gift of relief. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:11.679 The waiting and the brokenness is a gift as much as the relief. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:18.000 Because only, we said this last week, because only the broken cry out for redemption. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:22.000 And redemption is what you and I really need. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:31.679 And so the gift of waiting, the gift of desperation, the gift of brokenness, it is a it is a gift, it is providence to you. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:33.919 Because then you'll cry out. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:35.759 You won't cry out before. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.080 I mean, this story is never. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:57.679 I was in my uh I was in my new matte finished Tesla, and I was driving from my Sea Island cottage up to my Highland house, and I got a phone call from my stockbroker, and we had hit it big on some currency exchange, and everything was so wonderful, and um, and I just cried out to the Lord for rescue and redemption, right? 00:09:57.759 --> 00:09:59.360 I mean, it's never the storyline. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:04.480 And if you're on that drive in that car from those houses, I want to be with you, share, hello, share a little this way. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:05.519 I want to be with you. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:21.759 But the storyline would be like I'm in my new Matt finished Tesla from my Sea Island cottage to my Highlands house, and I get a phone call from my stockbroker, and we hit it big on a currency exchange, and I realized I'm still broken. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.320 I'm still hungry. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:31.679 I still need an outside savior. 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:34.159 Verses four and five. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:48.480 Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I'm 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. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:49.360 Right? 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:50.320 He's gonna test them. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:50.960 We talked about this. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:55.200 He'll test you because he wants to teach you, and he wants to teach you because he loves you. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.480 Whether they will walk in my law or not. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:04.639 On the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:07.039 So God's showing us two things here. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:09.279 We get two points, two point sermon, two things. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.440 Number one, we can trust them. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:13.919 Pretty basic point. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:15.440 You've heard that before. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:20.399 Number two, often we do not trust them. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.120 We see it in this story, it's real simple. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:27.200 Number one, we can trust them, and number two, often we do not trust them. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.080 And you think, okay, good news, bad news, but here's the deal. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:47.840 The deal is that the good news and then the bad news, it leads us to something, and what it leads us to is it leads us to realize this story has a deeper level than what we think the story is about, because it is about the bread, and yet it is about something much more than the bread. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:50.240 So, first, we can trust him. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:51.519 He provides for them. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:12:07.360 These complaining, grumbling, miserable, faithless people that have over and over and over again received providence and care right when they are desperate and needy, and yet again, same situation, different setting. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.759 They are again complaining and grumbling. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:10.720 And what is God doing? 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:11.759 He's not going, you know what? 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:14.559 I did it like four times for you, and I'm out. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:15.759 I'm done. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:19.519 Like you kind of the reservoir's tapped on grace for you. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:20.240 No, no, no. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:27.360 He he they are complaining and grumbling, they don't deserve it, and he goes, I will rain down bread. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:30.399 It sounds familiar. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:41.919 We offer apathy and greed and lust and self-righteousness and hard-heartedness and selfishness and pride and pity. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:50.720 And then he says to you, Oh, you frail, little, beautiful sinner. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:52.879 I love you. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.440 And you are my beloved. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.279 Not because of what you do, but because of what I've done for you. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.159 And so we pick the story back up in verse six. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:17.679 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.120 For what are we that you grumble against us? 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:34.720 And Moses said, When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling, that you grumble against him, what are we? 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.480 Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:41.679 Now we can take a little tangent here about displacement. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:42.240 Right? 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:46.799 Like you're angry against the Lord and you take it out on your spouse. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:52.559 Like you're angry about the Lord's timing in your life and you take it out on your children. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:58.960 You're angry about your job, you're angry about your children, and you take it out on your spouse, you're angry about your spouse, you take it out on your children, right? 00:13:59.039 --> 00:13:59.200 Right? 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:01.519 There's something here about displacement. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:07.679 They're angry toward the Lord, but they take it out on Moses and Aaron. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:11.279 And Moses, they're saying, hey, hey, none of this. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:14.480 If you're angry at the Lord, you take it to the Lord. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:16.799 Don't grumble against us. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:24.480 And if I could just be pastoral for a moment, I think the book of Psalms reveals to us that he can handle it. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:32.399 Like here's a whole book we get in the middle of the Bible of just people upset with God. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:34.080 He can handle it. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.320 At least if you're grumbling with him, you're in relationship with him. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:41.519 He's a big God. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:44.559 He can handle your grumbling. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:53.200 So evening comes, and sure enough, quail covers the ground, and then in the morning after the dew, there's there's something it's fine as frost, is what it says. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:54.320 It's fine as frost. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:57.200 It's like a flake-like thing, and they've never seen this. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:58.320 What is it? 00:14:58.399 --> 00:14:58.879 Is what they say. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:00.080 What is this? 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:07.200 So they gather it, they get as much as they need for that day, they have none left over, they just have enough for the day. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:09.440 And God's showing them something, right? 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:11.840 He's showing them, live in the day. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:17.039 Life is rough, but live in the day, live in this moment. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:19.279 There's enough for today. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:22.240 Learn from the past, plan for the future. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:50.639 But but my addict friends who've been to all this counseling for addictions, here's what they've learned, and they've helped me learn is that living and living in those places, the past and the future, living there, not learning from them, but living in those places is incredibly dangerous because those places can be filled with shame and regret over what has been done, or can be filled with anxiety and fear of what might or might not ever happen. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:54.960 But then the question comes like, okay, but what about right now? 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:59.600 You go, well, I've got this like flake-like bread. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:02.480 It's feeding me right now. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.279 I guess I'm okay right now. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:10.159 If you're okay right now, maybe you'll be okay right now, like the next moment. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:20.480 Well, at least you have this job, this friend, this family, this home, this day, this sunshine, this acceptance, this forgiveness. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:28.879 Jumping back in at verse 19, and Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it over till the morning. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.039 They did not listen to Moses, of course they didn't. 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:38.159 Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms, and it stank. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.600 Like that word, stank, good biblical word. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:44.080 And Moses was angry with them. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:50.320 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:56.159 So this manna, there's so much that they feel compelled to get as much as they can, right? 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:01.519 It would be like you walk out the door, and while you've been in here, and we haven't, mind you, because so don't like hit the exits. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:05.039 Uh we have covered the parking lot with Chick-fil-A sandwiches. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:07.119 They're all individually wrapped. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:09.759 And you know what you would do, same thing as me. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:14.880 Once we tell you they're safe, you know, like you can, like they're they're healthy, safe sandwiches. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.440 You would try to grab as many as you can, right? 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:23.599 Like the natural, the natural thing to do is get as much as I can while I can get it. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:31.039 So many of you know I've taken maybe seven trips to Guatemala over the course of maybe the last 10 years or so. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:35.920 And so we go to this lake up in the mountains, and a lot of times we'll take suitcases full of shoes. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:40.640 And we'll do this big shoe giveaway about halfway through the week at one of the little local churches. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:45.839 And so one evening, one week, we were doing this at this town called Santa Clara. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.160 It's this little church, this little village. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.039 We have enough shoes for everyone, okay? 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:53.359 We've made sure that we know this. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:18:04.559 And so we have different sizes and different suitcases, and we're getting set up inside the church, and doors are shut, doors are locked, and people are showing up outside. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:08.880 More and more people, there's a little church, probably the size of this. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:17.440 This church, the whole building is just the size of this room, and outside there's a little outside courtyard, and that's walled off and locked also, so doors are locked. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:23.200 More and more people are showing up in the street and they're gathering, and they're just they're starting to push against the doors. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:27.279 And so now the locks no longer are sufficient, and so now we're still setting up. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:28.240 We're not ready yet. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:35.680 We're still setting up to give away the shoes, and so now we have to have guys hold the doors while the crowd's pushing against them. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:40.480 And in the courtyard, a couple of that guys could kind of see through the fence and see what was going on out there. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:47.359 And a couple times uh one of our Spanish speakers has to get up, stand up and just say, Hey, we have enough for you. 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:48.960 There's enough for you. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:51.440 You don't have to rush, you don't have to push. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:52.880 There's enough for you. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:56.319 We promise there is enough for you. 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:10.559 But slowly what happened is a few of the little kids they start to squiggle their way toward the front, like up to the door, and they start getting smooshed, crushed in between like the weight of the crowd and the doors, and so we just have to let the doors go, and this just rush. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:20.000 It's just like just a rush of water, just people flood in, and we sort of like guard the stage that doesn't turn them into hysteria, and finally they all sit down. 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:24.079 And it was just this feeling, a natural feeling for them. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:26.319 I'd probably be in the same situation. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:29.279 This feeling like surely this abundance. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.240 No way this lasts. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:35.359 No way they really have enough for all of us. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:39.920 I I think I really need to take something into my own hands. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:42.960 I think I really need to work a little here. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:56.160 So we get the sixth day, and they're they're told to gather twice as much as they need so that on the seventh day they could rest, they could know rest, they could know what it was like to not work for something. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:05.839 And remember, God's showing them something because some of the people on that seventh day, sure enough, they go out to collect because they're thinking, you know what, just get some more. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:06.559 Right? 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.720 Like just get some, it's it's it's gonna be out of there. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:14.880 I know he said not to collect, and we have enough for today, but we might as well just try to get some more. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:19.680 And this is the dilemma we live in, sort of like this seventh-day dilemma. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:25.359 Will we rest or we go back out to collect some more? 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:27.440 Let me be clear on that. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:29.039 That could be a metaphorical question. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:30.079 Let me be clear. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:35.599 Will we revert to self-justification and the inevitable condemnation it brings? 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:36.720 Because it will. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:44.319 If you try to justify your life and your identity by your work, you will bring condemnation on yourself. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:46.319 You will feel that. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:50.799 Or will you trust the work God has already done for you and Jesus? 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.079 That's what this story is about. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:54.400 It's a picture foreshadowing for us. 00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:00.880 Will you use religiosity as merit on a day-to-day basis and be exhausted and condemned by it? 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:04.480 Or will you live spiritually in gratitude? 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:07.039 Will it be your work or will it be his work? 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.119 Is the work of Jesus really enough? 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:18.480 His substitutionary death for your sin and your shame and the imputation, those are big words, but they're good words. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:22.799 Put those in your pocket too when you meet that elitist intellectual this week. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:28.559 You got anticipatory providence, substitutionary death, and imputation of righteousness. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:37.200 That Jesus, in Jesus, you are given all the righteousness you ever need and transferred to him is all of your mess. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:43.519 All of your doubt and lust and greed and self-righteousness and self-centeredness, all of that's put upon him. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.559 And that's why the cross is a big deal. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:54.559 And it just goes against all human reason to stop fighting to justify yourself with your own merit. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:58.480 I mean, all of human reason says, go collect some more on the seventh day. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.000 God says to that urge, why don't you just rest from the endless toil? 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.480 Why don't you stop all the self-justification, all the pretending, the performing? 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:14.000 Why don't you quit all that ridiculous self-righteousness reporting that you're doing? 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:24.319 Don't spend your life pushing against those doors and rushing into a place when there's always been enough for you. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:28.400 So point number one, we can trust him. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:29.039 Number one. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:35.599 But number two, what we've seen in this story with these Hebrews out on the seventh day, often we don't trust him. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.720 It's our nature to be provident. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:41.359 And in general, this is good. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:46.240 Like you're in Proverbs for us to be provident for ourselves, to think about the future, to save. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:49.440 I mean, this is wisdom, but this isn't about that. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:52.640 This is about your identity. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:54.319 This is about your redemption. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:56.960 This is about relationship with God. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:01.200 This is about anticipatory providence to us. 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:09.599 So we see that it's about the bread, but it's more than the bread because the bread shows us our brokenness. 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:17.039 Because where will we find our strength when we realize that we were actually never that strong to start with? 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:19.359 Where are you going to go? 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:58.799 When you feel ashamed and you have that urge to try to redeem yourself with something, and it could be your work, it could be another person, it could be just another Instagram fix for the moment, and not for entertainment and not for productivity, not, but out of a shame drive, or out of a fear drive, or out of an anxiety drive, when that moment comes, can you trust that his work for you to be beloved and loved and accepted and forgiven and whole, even if you don't feel like it? 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:00.319 Could you trust that? 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:04.799 Could you live in that rest, that Sabbath? 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:13.599 So when we see that we can trust him, point number one, and then often we don't trust him, point number two, right? 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:15.519 Anybody with me on that point? 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:16.880 I'm good at that. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:24.400 Then we see that this story has another layer because the thing in the story is the manna, like the bread falling from heaven. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:26.079 That's kind of the big point here. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:28.240 That's the thing in the story, right? 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.759 But the manna is also about something else. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:39.519 And Jesus says in John 6, 31 and 35, our fathers, he's talking about these people, these Hebrew people. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:43.119 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:46.640 As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:59.759 Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.960 They said to him, Sir, give us this bread also. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.359 And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:14.480 Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:17.839 You're going, man, he's just thinking about Exodus 15 and 16. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:20.160 Exodus 15, you're not going to thirst. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:23.279 Exodus 16, you're not going to hunger. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:25.519 And it's just a great picture for us. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:26.559 That's what Exodus is. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:34.480 So what we're seeing, picture after picture, and the manna is another picture of what God is like and what we are like. 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:40.319 And Jesus pulls from this picture and he says, I am that bread. 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:42.880 I am what you need. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:44.880 I am your Sabbath. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.119 I'm your seventh day. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:53.200 So, brothers and sisters, may you know God's great anticipatory providence for you. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:58.559 May you see the moments your heart and your hands go out on that seventh day to collect manna. 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:05.359 And may you rest again in Christ Jesus, the Redeemer, your Sabbath rest. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:06.400 Amen. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:07.920 Let's pray together. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:11.920 God, thank you that we can trust you. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:21.200 And in the same moment, we confess that we have some hard, stubborn, self-justifying hearts. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:25.759 We still love to trust ourselves. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:30.720 And we like to do it with our secular ways and our religious ways. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:42.640 And yet we know that those paths continue to exhaust us and condemn us. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:47.680 Because we need you. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:50.720 We need your work. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:27:16.240 We need to trust this story that you provide enough for this day, enough for us, and that Jesus is enough, and that your work for us is enough for our salvation, our redemption, our identities, while we lack faith, would you help us? 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.400 Would you help us to trust you in greater ways? 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:26.480 Thank you that you love us in all of our sin and mess. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:29.839 Thank you that you are love incarnate. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:54.880 And as we head into this season of Advent, a season of a celebration of your coming, and that we remember that this first Sunday in Advent is a Sunday remembering hope, would you give us hope in our mess because you came into this world to live and to die. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:59.519 That while we're still sinners, you died for us. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:01.200 Such love is this. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:02.400 In Jesus' name. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:03.119 Amen.