WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:02.160 Morning, church. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:10.640 Today's text is from the book of Exodus, chapter 15, verses 22 through 27. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.039 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:20.079 They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.640 When they came to Mara, they could not drink the water of Mara, because it was bitter. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:26.239 Therefore it was named Mara. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.519 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:35.840 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. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:53.840 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. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:00.640 Then they came to Elam, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:02.000 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:03.520 Thanks be to God. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:12.319 It's great to see you all this morning. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:13.040 Thanks for joining us. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:14.319 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:17.040 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:19.280 It is a pleasure to gather together with you. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:23.359 I missed last week as I was on vacation with Zach. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.799 We were at Disney World, and that place is fun. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:32.799 So we just got back on uh Friday, and it's a joy to be together with you all again. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.120 I always miss gathering together with our church. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:45.439 Uh so we'll continue in Exodus and uh just a couple more times in Exodus, and then Advent season is upon us, and we'll begin moving through our Advent series. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:49.680 Um let's pray and then we'll move into our text for the day. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:57.519 Holy Father, we praise you for your loving kindness and for your watchful eye upon us. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:03.120 Lord, you are the God who sees us and you look after us. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.680 Father, we praise you for your care and attention. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:24.159 Lord, we know that we have a loving Father in the heavens who guides our steps, who gives us his word as a lamp unto our feet, who atones for us by his son, who enlivens us by his Holy Spirit. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:28.319 Father, we praise you for your continued work in our lives. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:41.759 We pray that by your word you would raise us up and grow us up into maturity, that we might be able to more and more die to the flesh and rise to new life in your spirit. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:49.599 Father, we we praise you for your work in our hearts to accomplish this, that this has all been done by grace alone. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:54.479 We pray that we would receive it and grow an understanding of your work in our lives more this morning. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:56.080 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:56.960 Amen. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:05.199 So I'm in a group text, not to brag. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:14.960 And uh it's one of those group texts with uh high school friends, you know, that if it ever leaked, none of us could ever run for political office. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:22.080 It's uh uh so it's uh it's mutually assured destruction, is the way that we handle the policy of the group text. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:28.960 And um one of my friends from high school, uh his wife's pregnant and he's having his first baby, and he's always been a geek. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:36.719 He had a computer uh in high school, like his own, very early, not like a family computer, like his own computer. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:37.840 It was very cool. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:41.680 And he would go to, you know, all he could do things on it. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.639 Anyway, he's always he's been a he's been into that stuff his whole life. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:50.240 And so with this new baby, he's buying all the tech products for the baby. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.879 There's all these baby tech products that you can buy now. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:08.960 One of them is a uh, and he he said, should I he was so he's texting to the group all the things that he's looking at buying, and one of them is a sock that monitors to your phone like the the biometrics of your baby. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:12.719 And he was like, look how cool this is, should I buy this? 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:23.519 And I said, if you want your wife to be perpetually stressed and fixated on something, then yes, you should for sure buy that. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:25.519 And then you could then you could have that. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:35.439 Because here's what happens: you look forward to the baby being born, and you're you're so focused on this moment of birth, and and you foolishly think it will be like the end of something, and then it's the beginning. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:05:00.000 And then right when the baby is born, you start monitoring, and you're looking for for uh uh milestones and and checkpoints and these these markers, and and you you're just you didn't expect this to happen in you, but you're you're monitoring uh this baby and and how much they're sleeping, how much they're eating, uh what are the results of their eating? 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:01.040 Are they consistent? 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:14.000 Is the, you know, I don't know if we can make it because you've been eating, but there hasn't been a result of that in a couple of, and so we don't know if there's and uh and you start paying attention to all these little things that you never thought you would be concerned about. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.560 And what you're monitoring is health. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:21.519 Because you want your baby to be healthy, and you want to know that your baby is healthy. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:28.160 And in and the reason that you're monitoring the health of your baby is because you desire maturity for them. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:38.319 Because you understand that that their health, they're meeting these milestones, they're meeting these markers, is evidence that they're on a path towards maturity. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.920 And you desire to see them grow up and be mature. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:52.480 You were focused at first on the birth, and then immediately, right after the birth, you you switch to this focus on health for the sake of maturity. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:57.759 And that's exactly the same thing that the Lord does for his people. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:07.839 The people of God, the Israelites, have been born into a nation on the other side of their crossing of the Red Sea. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:15.040 They have been born through the blood at the Passover and through the water at the crossing of the Red Sea. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:17.519 And so they're a newborn nation. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:27.519 And that means as a newborn nation, what the Lord as a good father immediately starts pursuing for his people is their health. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:30.319 He wants them to be a healthy nation. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:37.120 He wants them to, as a nation, have a health which would support their growth in maturity. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:39.279 This is the way our Christian lives work. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:48.480 You are born again, and then the Lord immediately begins pursuing not just uh your your continued rebirth, that's already happened. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:56.480 He starts pursuing your growth and health, because that is the path towards your maturity, which is a good father, that's what he desires for you. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.680 And the way that the Lord cultivates maturity in us is through discipline. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:06.959 It's the same way that we cultivate, hopefully, maturity in our own children. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:10.560 He cultivates this in his people, in us, by disciplining them. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:16.560 In Hebrews 12, verses 7 through 8, it says, It is for discipline that you have to endure. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.680 God is treating you as sons. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:24.720 For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:33.199 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:37.279 The Lord does not treat us like illegitimate children. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:43.199 The Lord treats us as a father, would treat his true sons. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:45.120 He disciplines them. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:50.879 The discipline of the Father is evidence of his love towards us. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:08:07.360 And so, right after this birth of a new nation, after the crossing of the Red Sea and the glorious song of their rescue from Egypt, this birth of a new nation, he immediately begins disciplining them. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:11.600 It is his love towards them which causes him to do this. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:19.680 Because the discipline of the Lord is meant to cultivate the health of the nation, and the health of the nation is meant to lead to maturity. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:28.000 And that maturity is like for children, they grow up and become mature to the point where they could multiply themselves. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:33.279 And in their multiplying themselves, the story continues and the glory is passed on. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:38.879 Now, the problem with discipline is it's uncomfortable for a time. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.120 Discipline is never comfortable. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.559 You never like it. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:46.000 You never like the discipline of the Lord. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:53.840 But when you endure under the discipline of the Lord, then it bears the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:09:07.279 So this week, the people of God are led away from the Red Sea from this glorious new birth into a place of their first testing and the first cultivation of their maturity as a people. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.440 He does not leave them as newborns. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:12.559 Instead, he grows them by cultivating their health as a people. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:18.240 So we'll see their resistance to discipline, which we will recognize in ourselves. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:29.200 And then we'll see that the Lord is giving them the law, his instruction, which is meant to be a guide, a tutor that will grow them in maturity. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:32.159 It will produce health in them. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:42.159 And then we'll see that the health that he produces in them has a purpose which is meant to bless the whole world. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.159 This is true for us as well. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:54.799 That the health that the Lord produces in the church is a purpose, has a purpose to it, a maturity that is meant to multiply itself and therefore become a blessing to the whole world. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:03.840 So let's look at this story and where the Lord leads his people right after rescuing them out of Egypt. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:07.600 Exodus 15, verses 22 through 23. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:14.960 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:19.360 They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:25.600 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Mara, because it was bitter. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.440 Therefore it was named Mara, which means bitter. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:34.399 So it's finally time to set out and strike out on their own. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:45.600 And they head out towards they head out east of the Red Sea, and they go into the wilderness of Shur, and they encounter a problem after three days' journey. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:46.960 There's no water. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:50.799 Now it's bad to not have water. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:54.720 This is you can this exposition. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:58.320 If you read through the Bible, you'll recognize that not having water is bad. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:02.879 It's an insight into Bible interpretation. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:08.399 Three days in the wilderness and they find no water. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:12.159 He leads them right to the point of death. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:16.399 Three days in no water. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.159 A million people, nothing to drink. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:27.679 And then there's this glimmer of hope because the place that they settle in the wilderness of Shur, Marah, there's water there. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:33.039 But the water that they encounter in Mara that they're pressed up against is bitter. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:34.799 It's not potable. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:37.120 You can't drink the water in Mara. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:39.360 And so they name it bitter. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:46.480 Now, I want you to notice, first of all, the shape of the Lord's discipline. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:12:02.559 Right after this grand rescue out of Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea, the mercy that they had been shown in the Passover, they are brought into a place of great need. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:11.759 Once again, they are brought into a place of physical discomfort, of pain, of discouragement, three days' journey and there's no water. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:26.000 Now that's quite a trap because you, you know, if if you're three days away from the last place that you had water and you don't have water here, then you're you're pinned at a point of death. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:40.799 But what I also want you to notice is the shape of the Lord's discipline is such that he is putting them in a position where it would be very plausible for them to trust the Lord. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:49.919 Because the position that they're in is something that only days ago they had experienced and felt the deliverance of. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:59.039 Only days before they were pressed up against the waters, and when they looked at those waters, they thought this was certain death. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:06.480 And they could not escape from being pressed up against those waters because the Egyptian army was pursuing them. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:10.639 So the three days' journey through the wilderness is like the Egyptian army. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:18.000 Three days' journey after three days of no water, where you know there is no water on the return journey, is certain death. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:26.159 And so once again, they are pressed up against the waters, and encroaching upon them is certain death. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:38.879 So the type of discipline that the Lord is giving is not, he's not asking them to trust him in a circumstance which is completely unrecognizable or completely bizarre and completely strange. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:46.080 Instead, he is asking them to draw on their recent memory of the Lord's deliverance. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:50.080 It is a gentle discipline. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:54.399 It is a fatherly type of discipline. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:06.799 You know, when I when I discipline my son and I'm I'm asking him to uh help me with things, or or do I want to train him and how to, you know, do stuff like humans act. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:07.279 Right? 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:08.960 JT, this is about you. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.679 I heard that, he said. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.679 Yesterday we were hanging Christmas lights. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:21.840 And uh I'm I don't walk out and say, JT, hang the Christmas lights. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.639 I'll be back in two hours to check your progress. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:27.200 Because he's eight. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:30.720 And he's never done that sort of thing before. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:34.399 And that would be an implausible type of thing to ask him to do. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.679 This is not the way that you cultivate maturity in a in a child. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.000 Instead, it's hey, come with me. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:47.759 We're gonna climb up on the roof here, and if you hop up over here and walk over this way, then our roof is a it's an easy roof to walk on. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:48.879 You know, relax, everybody. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:15:00.159 It's uh and we uh uh then if you you know take these clips and you put them here and here, look uh you do it kind of like this, and you put it like this, and we kind of go one after another. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:06.240 And then it it's it's it's more than he's done before, but it's it's plausible. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:13.840 It's within range of something that he could trust me with, and this is how we cultivate maturity in our children as fathers. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.440 We give them challenges, but they're they're not implausible challenges. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.320 And do you see that the Lord treats his people the same way? 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:28.159 He he puts them in this is of course a very difficult circumstance, but there's no Egyptian army coming. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:34.559 And they've been pressed against waters of death before. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:42.320 And they have learned, they they must at least think of their Lord, oh well, he can handle water problems. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:45.440 The the it was just a couple of days before. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:50.159 Remember, we had that last water issue, and he seems good at that. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:58.559 And so he puts them in exactly that type of position where it's it's utterly plausible that they ought to trust him here. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.000 This is the kindness of the discipline of the Lord. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:06.720 The discipline of the Lord is not, he is not desiring to crush you. 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:12.720 The discipline of the Lord, his cultivating of maturity in you, is not designed to humiliate you. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:14.799 That is not his intention. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.919 His intention is to grow you in maturity. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:33.840 And so you ought to expect, perhaps if you've just become a Christian, and right at the moment of your conversion, you're placed in this situation which seems far worse than any situation you had faced before, before coming to Christ. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:39.919 You should look for the kindness of the Lord in the shape of the problem that he has given you. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:53.759 Understand that he is not seeking to crush you or destroy you, but he is putting you in a position where if you were to think and if you were to consider, you might recognize it is utterly plausible for me to trust him here. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:00.240 After seeing what he is like, it is plausible for me to trust him in a circumstance like this. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.600 And that is the very circumstance that he has placed them in. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:16.240 And there's another kindness that he gives to them, but it's evidence of how the Israelites had forgotten who they were in their time in Egypt because they had forgotten their own stories. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:19.279 They are in the wilderness of Shur. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:26.079 And the wilderness of Shur is a place that they ought to have recognized. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:34.240 When they had entered into that place, and they and Moses says, you know, he checks his map and he's like, yeah, it's wilderness, it looks like the wilderness of Shur. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:36.480 And that news goes throughout the camp. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.599 They should have said, Sure, sure, we've got a story. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:44.720 There's a story about Shur here that it that's our story, it's our people's story. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:49.519 It's uh uh story of the the Israelites, the people of Abraham, like us. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:52.400 In fact, it happened to Abraham and Sarah. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:18:02.319 Uh Abraham and Sarah were promised a child, and they were unable to conceive because of their old age. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:07.039 And although the Lord had promised them, their faith wavered. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:21.680 And in the wavering of their faith, they decided to, instead of waiting patiently for the Lord to provide, they decided to, by their own means, create a child for themselves by going outside of the covenant of their marriage. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:43.440 And the idea was that Sarah would give to Abraham, Sarah's servant, her name was Hagar, would give to Abraham, Hagar, and that Hagar would conceive a child by Abraham, and then perhaps this child, who is conceived outside of the covenant of marriage, would be the promised child, and that would be sufficient. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:45.599 We wouldn't have to wait on the Lord anymore. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:50.079 We would just be able to grab for ourselves what the Lord had promised us. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:52.079 And so that's the plan that they do. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:19:03.279 And Hagar lies with Abraham, she conceives by Abraham and gives birth to a son, and they name the son Ishmael, the firstborn of Abraham. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:11.519 Now, because of this, you know, uh, I think they used the word toxic back then. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:27.519 Because of this toxic family dynamic that they had now established among the household of Abraham, Hagar begins to grow in pride over her master, who is Sarah. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:31.519 And Hagar begins to look with contempt upon Sarah. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:36.240 You know, I'm the one who gave birth to the promised child. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:42.559 I am, I must be the one who ought to be the true wife of Abraham. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.359 I am the one through whom the promise is coming through. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:54.400 And so Hagar grows in pride over against the real family of promise, who is Abraham and Sarah. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:57.440 And so she begins to look with contempt upon Sarah. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:04.400 Now Sarah is frustrated by this, and so she casts out Hagar from their presence. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:17.680 And in casting out Hagar from their presence, Hagar leaves and she flees the punishment of Sarah, and she seeks to return to her homeland. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:22.160 Hagar is seeking to return to her home with her son. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:25.519 Now Hagar's home is Egypt. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:27.359 Hagar is an Egyptian. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:50.559 Now Hagar in her sin is fleeing from the family of promise. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:56.880 The only hope of salvation for Hagar is just like us. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.000 It is within the family of promise. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:04.880 We look to the offspring of the family of promise for the hope of our salvation. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.279 It was true for Hagar as well. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:21.440 And so she's fleeing from the family of promise, turning her back on the salvation which she had looked forward to and become acquainted with in hope, fleeing in sin from this family, having treated them cruelly, although she was treated cruelly as well. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:27.839 And she's alone in the wilderness without water. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:31.839 And her son Ishmael. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:45.440 Who would see this woman fleeing in sin in the wilderness of Shur that has turned her back on the family of promise? 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:55.359 Well, in Genesis 16 7, it says, The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:58.640 Finds her by a spring. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.759 She's found the water. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:02.720 And who seeks and who finds her? 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:04.880 It is the angel of the Lord. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:28.000 The angel of the Lord is the one, the very angel of the Lord, who had rescued the people across the waters, the very angel of the Lord who had positioned himself between the Israelites and the army of the Egyptians, and told the Israelites that if the Egyptians will get you, they will have to come through me. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:49.599 The angel of the Lord, God made manifest in physical form the second person of the Trinity, the Son, this angel of the Lord, looks and finds Hagar when she is lost in the wilderness of Shur. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:23:01.759 He comforts her, he calls her to return to the family of promise, ensures that she will be received by the family of promise. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:05.200 She is being restored to the hope of her salvation. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:13.920 And he even promises wonder and greatness for her son Ishmael, as he will return to the family of promise as well. 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:17.519 And so she names this place. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:26.640 In Genesis 16, 13 through 14, so she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You are a God of seeing. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:33.200 For she said, Truly here I have seen him who looks after me. 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.640 Therefore the well was called Birlahi Roy. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:39.039 It lies between Kadesh and Bared. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:50.720 You know, if they had remembered their own story and they recognized where they were, they might think, Surely God sees our struggle here. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:56.240 Surely we know He is a God of seeing. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:00.880 And that the God of seeing looks after me. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:05.599 This is something that you can know about God towards you. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:08.480 He sees you. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:13.920 He sees you in the pain and the problems that you are pressed up against. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.160 They're not invisible to him. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:19.359 Many of your problems are just yours. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:20.720 They can't be delegated. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:22.960 They can't be handed to anyone else. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:24.880 They're just yours. 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:31.359 Sometimes it's like the world is collaborating to heap a bunch of separate problems just upon you. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:37.279 And you think, well, it's all these people are talking, you know, it's all these different things and it's all this different stuff. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:38.640 Nobody's trying to do this. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:40.559 But you feel cornered. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:43.759 Who can see that? 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:45.440 These are just yours. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.000 The Lord sees. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:53.519 And the Lord in that place looks after you. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.880 You can know that. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:03.759 They could have known that in the wilderness of Shur if they had only known their own story. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:05.680 If they had only remembered. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:10.160 So they could have remembered back just a couple of days ago and thought this is another water problem. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.319 We know we can trust the Lord here. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:14.480 They could have thought back to the place where they were. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:19.359 We're wandering in the wilderness, feeling unseen by the Lord. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:22.480 But our God is a God who sees. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:26.960 Our God is a God who looks after me. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.839 So certainly we can call upon him for help. 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:36.799 But they do not cry out for help to the Lord, because they do not remember. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:45.200 And instead they begin this pattern, which they will perpetuate throughout their time in the wilderness. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:52.240 In verse 24, it says, And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:54.880 The people grumble against Moses. 00:25:55.200 --> 00:26:02.720 Now, this grumbling is not just like a, you know, how you're thirsty and you get a little edgy when you're thirsty. 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:03.839 It's not that type of grumbling. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.200 We shouldn't think that for this word. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:06.799 This is rebellion. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:10.880 This is rebellion against God. 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:16.160 And this will be their pattern throughout time throughout their time in the wilderness. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:25.440 And it is a rebellion against their God, which takes this particular shape of tearing down the man that God has placed to be over them, who is Moses. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:30.880 And so they will continually tear down Moses throughout this time in the wilderness. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:34.160 We'll see this same word for grumbling come up in Exodus. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:35.759 It's here in Exodus 15. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:43.359 It'll be in Exodus 16 and 17, it's in Numbers 14, 16, and 17, and Joshua 9. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:53.759 This same generation will make a habit of basically perpetual rebellion against God any time they encounter something which prods their discomfort. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:13.839 Whenever they encounter that, they will, instead of remembering the deliverance of the Lord in the challenge of the circumstances that they find themselves in, they will consider that the Lord has written them off, and that they are just to do the same by writing the Lord off. 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:20.160 They will turn against him, abandon the Lord, and grumble against him. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:26.720 And so, in the midst of their grumbling, the Lord disciplines them like sons. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:28.799 Excuse me. 00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:37.920 So in Exodus 15, verse 25, it says, And he cried to the Lord, that is Moses. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:48.160 And the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:54.079 There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and he tested them. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:28:02.640 So Moses cries out to the Lord, this is the right thing to do in the circumstance. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:06.799 To turn to the Lord in the circumstance and say, There's no water. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:09.839 Lord, will you please provide water for this? 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:11.599 That's the move. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.599 That's a great thing to do. 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:24.559 When you're pressed up against the waters, when you are thirsty and you have no water to drink, to turn to the Lord and say, Lord, would you provide water for me? 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:25.759 That is good. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.440 That is honoring to God. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:30.319 That is remembering what God is like. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:32.960 It's remembering the stories of your people. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:41.839 Because one of the stories of your people is the woman who was lost and abandoned, and the Lord who saw him, saw her. 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:52.799 One of the stories of your people is you come from the people who were pressed up against the waters, and the Lord rescued them through the waters, making a way that you couldn't even imagine. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:59.119 And so it is good to depend on the Lord and ask him for his provision. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:03.039 It is evidence of faith that he will make a way. 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:05.440 And that's what Moses does. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:13.920 He cries out to the Lord, and the Lord responds by this strange miracle. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:22.079 The Lord shows him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:23.759 You could drink it. 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:25.839 No longer bitter, but sweet. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:28.799 Now what is going on here? 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.200 First of all, the language is stranger than showed him a log. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:36.720 It's taught him a tree. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:44.240 You can see why they translated it showed him a log. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:48.400 It's much more feels easier to grasp. 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:50.640 The Lord taught him a tree. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:57.759 The word for taught is from the word for Torah, which is law. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:04.640 And what we're being shown here is the Lord is going to be giving them the law. 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:11.519 And in giving them the law, he is showing them the path of life. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:18.000 So the Lord, at this moment of their rebellion, he is disciplining them. 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:19.920 But how is he disciplining them? 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:33.680 It is by relieving them of their troubles, showing them once again that he is their all-powerful deliverer, and he is giving them the life-giving water that they know that they need, that he knows that they need. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:50.160 And so, in this strange move of taking the tree and throwing it into the water, and the water becoming sweet, he gives that he shows them this sort of object lesson of what's being shown by their receiving of the sweet water. 00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:56.480 And then he offers them this instruction to receive the law. 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:22.160 Verse 26, saying, The Lord says, 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. 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:27.039 Here's the instruction that comes with the sweetening of the water. 00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:31.119 Diligently listen to the Lord your God. 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:33.440 Listen to his word. 00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:38.880 Diligently listen to the word of the Lord your God. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:42.480 This is an incredible privilege that we have. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:45.920 You you many of you own Bibles. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.039 Some of you own several. 00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:56.240 And just by reading it, you can hear the word of God. 00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:00.799 You can know what He requires of you. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:08.880 You can know the path of life that He shows to you just by reading the Word. 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:17.279 You can be, you can keep fresh in your mind the stories of the Israelites and know that those are the stories of your people. 00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:20.720 So they apply to you in Jesus Christ. 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:27.519 So you can know when you're pressed up in the wilderness and it feels like the Lord doesn't see you, you can remember Hagar. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:35.119 And you can remember, but he is a God who sees, and the God who sees looks after me. 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:36.799 You can know that. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:40.000 You can keep it fresh in your mind just by reading. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:51.119 Listen to the word and then give ear to his commandments, keep all his statutes, do that which is right in his eyes. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:54.319 This is the path of life. 00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:58.400 Listen to the word of the Lord and do it. 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:03.039 Listen to the word of the Lord and then seek to obey it. 00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:05.599 This is the path of life. 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:15.359 This is the promise on the other side of making the bitter water sweet, is that if they will listen to the Lord their God, they will be healed. 00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:23.599 And the Lord will ensure that the diseases that they saw heaped upon the Egyptians, they will not receive, but instead they will be healed. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:25.920 Because what is the word of God? 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:32.000 It is our sustenance, and it grows us up into maturity. 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:40.960 The Lord is creating a path of health for his newborn nation so that they might grow up into maturity. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:46.640 And the path of maturity is hearing and obeying the word of God. 00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:48.799 There is no shortcut to it. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:51.759 It is in hearing and obeying the word of God. 00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:55.519 Now consider, they are on the way to Mount Sinai. 00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:01.519 And at Mount Sinai, they will receive the Word of God most explicitly. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:08.480 And so what God is doing here is He is preparing their hearts to be able to receive the Word of God. 00:34:09.360 --> 00:34:13.199 So that they might be able to receive the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:19.360 And in receiving that, they would know that what they are receiving is the path of life. 00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:22.000 It is the path that leads to life. 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:25.840 Here's the way to think about the morality of God. 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:31.519 Obedience to God's law is life. 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:34.800 That's what leads to life. 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:39.760 Disobedience to the law of God is death. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:42.239 It is this simple. 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:44.320 It's that simple. 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:47.679 The morality, what is Christian morality? 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:52.079 It is the celebration of those things which lead to life. 00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:55.440 What is non-Christian morality? 00:34:55.760 --> 00:35:00.079 It is the celebration of those things which lead to death. 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:04.000 I like life stuff. 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:05.760 You know? 00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:09.599 I like the things that lead to life. 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:11.840 I want life for me. 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:14.159 I want life for my children. 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:16.719 I want life for our church. 00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:19.119 And so why would I love the law of God? 00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:21.679 Why would I want to seek obedience? 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:25.760 It's because the promise of it is health. 00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:35.119 In this neighborhood, 50% of the neighborhood at any given time is on a run. 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:43.039 And the reason that they're on a run is because they love health stuff. 00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:47.760 You know, we're we're we're optimizing. 00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:51.519 You know, we're not ch it's not just health, any it's not just like a baseline. 00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:54.000 Now we're uh we're optimizing. 00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:55.679 You know, we've got trackers. 00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:56.880 I'm not a baby. 00:35:57.119 --> 00:36:05.199 But I but I'll but but I uh when I wear my Apple Watch to sleep, I wake up and I'm like, did I sleep good? 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:06.880 Let's find out. 00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:10.320 And I'm like it did last night I got a 98. 00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:12.400 Yeah. 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:20.159 This the strange thing is I feel about the same as I did yesterday. 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:29.199 But this is it, this I I'm what I'm trying to communicate is like I don't have to convince you to like life. 00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:31.679 I don't have to convince you to like health. 00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:32.880 These are self-evident. 00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:36.960 This is the way, this is this is what it means to be you. 00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:44.960 So if you do, if you do love those things, and I know you do, then pursue obedience to the law of God. 00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:52.480 This is real health, mental health, spiritual health, physical health. 00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:54.639 Where is that finally found? 00:36:54.719 --> 00:36:56.400 Where is that ultimately found? 00:36:56.559 --> 00:36:58.639 It is in the law of God. 00:36:59.119 --> 00:37:01.280 That is the purpose of it for you. 00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:04.159 And the Lord is seeking to cultivate that for his people. 00:37:04.239 --> 00:37:08.719 That's why, what should you think when you hear the law of God given to you? 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:11.840 You should think the Lord is my healer. 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:16.880 Why is he calling me into his law to heal me? 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:20.719 In his law, there is fullness of life. 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:26.719 In the command, in hearing the commands of God and obeying them, there is fullness of life. 00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:30.559 So here is the lesson that he has taught his people. 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:36.400 The Israelites, left to their own devices, are bitter water. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:39.440 They are the bitter water. 00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:45.599 Because when pressed up against the bitter water, they became just like it towards the Lord and they grumbled towards him. 00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:47.760 They become death. 00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:55.599 This is the unhealth of the nation. 00:37:56.239 --> 00:37:58.400 It's their grumbling against God. 00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:00.960 It's manifest in their grumbling against God. 00:38:01.199 --> 00:38:18.079 And if their nation becomes centered on grumbling against God, if this becomes the culture of their nation that is not guided by the law of God, but if it becomes the culture of their nation to be grumbling against God in rebellion against the law of God, what is the result? 00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:19.440