Wilderness Warning (Part 1)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrock.

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Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

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We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, working through the passage verse by verse. Who said this?

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I don't know much about history, and I wouldn't give a nickel for all the history in the world.

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History is more or less bunk. It is a tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth anything is the history we make today.

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Henry Ford, Mark Twain said, it is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.

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Hegel said, history is indeed little more than the register of crimes, follies, misfortunes of mankind.

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But what experience and history teach us is this, that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history.

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Paul is going to want you to learn from the history of Israel in the wilderness.

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What happened to Israel in the wilderness, Paul applies to the church of Corinth, and then now the

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Spirit of God applies to us. You want a good history lesson? What happened to Israel in the wilderness?

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Sadly, it's a bad lesson. Chapter 9, Paul says, watch me

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Corinth. Remember chapter 11 verse 1? Imitate me. I'm running well by the grace of God.

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I'm striving. I'm straining. This is an athletic event. God has graced me by the substitutionary atonement of Christ Jesus, my

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Lord and Savior. He's my prophet, priest, and king, and I'm going to run with endurance till the end so I don't get

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DQ'd, so I'm not kicked out. And then he said, you know what?

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I'm a good example, and Israel is a horrible example. Don't do what they have done.

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And the interesting thing to me is when you study the history of Israel, modern Israel, it's a pretty impressive thing.

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You like the politics, you don't like the politics of modern Israel, but it is an impressive thing that they're even a nation.

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And all the wars and issues and this small little slab of land, I'm impressed.

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But when you see Israel come through the Red Sea and wander in the wilderness for 40 years,

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Paul says, take a good look because it's not impressive at all. Don't do what they did.

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Chapter 8, Paul says, you are free in Christ Jesus. You can't be more justified.

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As long as you love other people, enjoy your liberties. Chapter 9,

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Paul says, but it's good to say no to your liberties for the sake of other people.

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Paul said, I do that in my own ministry. And then chapter 10, Paul comes along and says, let me show you how your liberty affects your own life.

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People are always saying, I have a liberty. I have liberty to drink and to smoke and I have liberty to go to these kind of movies.

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I have liberties to do this and I have liberties to do that. Whatever you say you have liberties to do and you really push the envelope,

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Paul is now saying to those who really love to flaunt their liberties, to say they're so free in Christ to do whatever, watch out because Israel was blessed and they fell off the ledge.

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Remember when I was a kid, we went from Omaha driving due west on I -80 and we got to Colorado to Pikes Peak.

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How many people here have been up to the top of Pikes Peak? A lot and you live to tell about it. Back in the 60s, it was pretty scary and they didn't have all the regulations and bridges and embankments and embargoes and all kinds of other things.

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And they were pretty scary to look over those cliffs and so you know what my dad did?

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My dad said, I'm going to see how far I can go over to the edge without falling off. I think we have shows like this now,

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The Dangerous Roads or something. I don't know. I don't watch it. No, my dad didn't do that. He said,

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I'm going to try to drive as safely as I can. I'm not going to try to flaunt this. This is kind of like, you know, teenagers when they'll say in dating or courting, how far can

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I go before it's sin? That's always the wrong question. The right question is, or the right determination is, it's just a statement.

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I'd like to stay away from the edge of the cliff and honor God. So here Paul says, using

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Israel as an example, they were blessed by God more than any other nation, but they wanted to go to the very edge and just because you're blessed, it doesn't mean

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God won't chase in you. Every person that's here today who is a Christian can never go to hell.

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As it were, hell was condensed into three hours and poured out on the sinless, innocent

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Christ Jesus in our place. No double jeopardy. Jesus paid for our sins.

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We don't have to pay for our sins. We can't go to hell. If we can as Christians, Jesus is a liar.

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Sure. God is not just, but that doesn't mean just because we're going to heaven, signed, sealed and delivered that we don't have to run the race.

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So Paul's saying, I want you to run the race and Israel got disqualified. Israel stumbled.

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One of the surest ways to be treading on temptation's door is to be overconfident in who you are in Christ.

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Let me read the passage chapter 10 verses one to six. I want you to find the five all's all, all, all, all, all, all.

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And then you'll see the understatement most first Corinthians 10 one for I do not want you to be unaware brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.

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They drank from the spiritual rock that followed them in the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most one understatement, that is to adults,

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Caleb and Joshua with most, most of them, God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

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Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did.

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Here's the scoop in evangelical Bible interpretation. How do we look at the

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Old Testament? One group will say, well, the

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Old Testament speaks to Christ. The Old Testament, we can see

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Jesus everywhere, and I'll talk about that in a minute. And I think to some degree, to a great degree, that is absolutely true.

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And they'll say, you know what? The Old Testament is about Christ. And so let's not have any kind of moralistic examples, flee like Joseph, be determined like Daniel.

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Well, I don't want any moralistic preaching, that's for sure. But if we're too focused on who Christ is in the

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Old Testament and never say to ourselves, there are examples to follow, are not following the

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Old Testament, we're wrong. There are examples not to follow. Jesus is the center of the

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Old Testament. Jesus did open the eyes up of the people on the Damascus Road, Emmaus Road, easy for me to say.

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On the Emmaus Road. What do you call that when you say Damascus and Emmaus? Is that conflating them?

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Eric Johanson, what's that called? On the Emmaus Road, these things in Moses and the prophets and the

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Psalms and the writings spoke of Christ. That is true. And yet we can still look at the

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Old Testament and say, look what Israel did and don't do what they did. So I think both are true.

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How does this fit to BBC? How does this apply to BBC? We've been blessed. Just think about, rehearse the blessings you have in Christ Jesus.

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I'm adopted. I'm a child of the King. I'm justified. I'm not condemned. I'm reconciled to God.

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I've been redeemed by God. The list could go on and on and on, the blessings that you have in Christ Jesus.

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He's blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. I have it all. God's chosen me.

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His son's died for me. The spirit of God has sealed me. We have all these benefits. So why don't we just coast?

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Why don't we just ease up this year? Paul said, no,

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I want you to run. I want you to sweat. I want you to discipline your body to run the race well.

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Gracious blessings from God should motivate you to honor your King. What does he say in chapter 10 verse 1?

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Just a little review. He wants these people to know this. I do not want you to be unaware.

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Brothers, you've got a new identity in Christ. You weren't brothers before. Now you're brothers. Cowardly soldier appeared before Alexander the

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Great. Sometimes Alexander the Great would call men out for either honor or for dishonor.

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And this man was guilty of a lot of offenses. The King said, what was the charge against him?

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At 18 or 19 years old, this man ran in the face of the enemy.

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Alexander became livid with rage. He got off his chair, walked over to the young man and said, what is your name?

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Alexander, sir. Alexander the Great got even madder. Either change your name or change your actions.

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And so here Paul says, brothers, you're a brother in Christ Jesus. You're part of the family of God.

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You're a Christian. So run well for Christ. Having liberty is not enough.

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Having liberty and running well is what Paul is after. I can't wait to meet people in the next 20 years of my life who tell me how much liberty they have in Christ Jesus that I'm going to say, then you must be exhausted by running the race for Christ Jesus.

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You must be exhausted because the more liberty you have, the more you ought to run for the grace of God. So our outline today is five.

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Now you know what? Let's do four. What did I say last time? I think

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I said several. So let me give you four today. Four total spiritual warnings learned at Israel's expense so that we're not overconfident with our liberty.

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There are five alls, but we'll condense the last two. We'll conflate the last two for Eric's sake. Alarm number one, like Israel, God has given you supernatural guidance, so finish well.

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Like Israel, God has given you supernatural guidance, so finish well. Take a look at verse one, that our fathers were all under the cloud.

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Can you imagine the fathers, Israel, they were under the cloud and that personal

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Shekinah glory would stop Israel, start Israel, protect Israel. Can you imagine the tender and loving hands -on approach that this glory cloud was to Israel?

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They all followed, not one exception. They were all following, all blessed.

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Of course, we learned last time that we have the Spirit of God and the Word of God to guide us, so we want to run well in light of that.

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Number two in review as well, alarm two, like Israel, God has supernaturally delivered you, so run to win.

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See it in verse one, and all passed through the sea. How many Israelites were left on the shore and didn't make it over?

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Zero. They all made it, but Paul says just because they all made it, they didn't all survive the wilderness.

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Matter of fact, they all died in there except two, those under 20. So Paul says, I want you to run well, even though you say you've been delivered,

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Colossians 1 for the Christian, run well. Now we pick up some new information, alarm three found in verse two.

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Now is when it starts getting fun. These next two verses are wild. This is going to be a lot of fun.

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Number three, the third spiritual warning, like Israel, God has given you divine leadership, so honor the

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Lord with your entire life. God has given you leadership, so honor the Lord, run well.

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Verse two, this is so classic today with the water baptism in the back.

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I'm going to read this, and everybody's going to think of water. Don't think of water. It's like when you tell a kid, don't think of green.

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Whatever you do, don't think of green right now. So whatever you do, don't think of water baptism when I read this. You're going to think of water baptism,

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I know, but don't think of water baptism. And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

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What does he mean all baptized into Moses? Do you know in the Bible there are waterless baptisms?

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There are dry baptisms. I know what's happening. The Baptist are sitting here thinking immersion.

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They went into the sea, dunking a lot of water. I know the Presbyterians are thinking sprinkling.

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There was a lot of wind there in the Red Sea, and some of the particles came down and sprinkled them, fell on the babies too.

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Some baptisms have nothing to do with water. Romans 6, baptized into Christ. Galatians chapter 3, baptized into Christ.

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And this one has nothing to do with water. Charles Hodge, the Presbyterian said,

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This is the only point of analogy between the cases. One class of commentators says that they were immersed in the sea and therefore it was baptism.

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That is immersion. They went in, the waters were around them. What a perfect picture of going down into the water and coming up out of the water.

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Another says the cloud rained upon them. And on that account they were said to be baptized. It was like sprinkling.

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Now listen to Hodge. Both suggestions are forced for the people were baptized as much in the cloud as in the sea.

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But they were not immersed in the cloud nor sprinkled by the sea. There is no allusion to the mode of baptism here.

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Read the text again. What does the text say? And all were baptized into Moses.

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Baptized into Moses. Immersed into Moses. Baptized into his leadership.

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That is the idea. This has to do with identity. Dan was baptized today. I have a new identity.

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Of course positionally it happened years ago when God first saved him, regenerated him, redeemed him.

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Publicly now he is making the proclamation that I am being identified with Christ.

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Group identification. Moses is the leader. Baptized into Moses just means that you are baptized by John Calvin into his leadership.

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One commentator says Israel's deliverance through the sea marked the beginning of their separation from Egypt. And their new identity is

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God's covenant community. And the term baptism fittingly represents that experience.

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Separated from Egypt. Immersed in the divine leadership given to them. And his name was

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Moses. Baptism means to be identified with someone.

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Under the leadership of Moses. All were baptized into Moses.

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But not all made it because of their sin. And I can say the same thing for us.

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As Israel was baptized into Moses, we are baptized into Christ Jesus.

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Galatians chapter 3. Romans chapter 6. We are identified with Christ Jesus.

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His death, burial and resurrection. Pictured in water. We are under his leadership.

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We want to follow and run. Just because we are under his leadership, some could be slacking. Some could be coasting.

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Paul says don't do that. Number 4. Fourth alarm. Like Israel, God has given you everything you'll ever need.

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So run until the end. Run until the end. Paul is using these exhortations to make sure that saints persevere until the end.

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Verse 3. Let's do the food first, then the drink. By the way, this has nothing to do with a wafer and with a cup.

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This is going to be a little piece of bread for communion. And then a little piece of wine or juice.

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It's going to have nothing to do with that. Although you might think so. And all ate the same spiritual food.

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All Israel ate the same spiritual food. What were they doing? They were out in the middle of the wilderness.

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And what kind of food were they eating? Spiritual food? Food that doesn't exist?

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Food with no calories? Food with no nutrition? It's just spiritual food? From the divine source,

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God. God gives them something to eat. What was it called in the middle of the wilderness? It came down and you didn't know what it was.

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What is this? Manna. An easy way to remember it is when you are from New England and you go down to the manor.

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And they serve you really funny food and you don't really know what it is. And you say, what is this at the manor?

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And then you pronounce things like a New Englander. It's the manna. What is this at the manna? That's why

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I don't go that often. But when I do, I like to say, what is this? This is the manna. So anyway.

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That's a good way to remember it, isn't it? This has nothing to do with the substance of the food.

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Spiritual. This has everything to do with who gave it. The Father, Son, and the

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Spirit gave this food. They are divine. Therefore, it's a spiritual gift that came supernaturally from heaven every day.

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Except on the Sabbath for 40 years. And they all ate it. Who didn't eat?

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They all ate it. And Paul is saying, even though they all ate it, not all of them ran into the promised land.

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The origin of the manna was God. Psalm 78 calls it angel's food.

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Why don't you turn your Bibles to Exodus 16 for a second. Let's take a look at this. Your homework assignment, by the way, this week is to read

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Exodus. Now, when Paul says, food that they ate, spiritual food, everybody knew

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Exodus. Well, we don't know it that well. So this week, next week, and the following week, we're going to be in Exodus and Numbers a lot.

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And it's not because I don't think you're stupid. That's not why we're doing it. But I want you to think like these people did and understand the

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Old Testament. Exodus 16. Let's just take a look at the passage to which

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Paul alludes. Exodus 16. By the way, if you're a father and you want to start doing

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Bible studies this year for your family worship time, Exodus is a great chapter to read. Chapter 16, verse 1, they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.

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It's a different Sinai, by the way, on the 15th day of the second month, after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

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And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses. I wonder how loud that must have been.

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And Aaron in the wilderness and the people of Israel said, Would we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full?

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For you brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. What were they doing in chapter 15?

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Singing. They were singing about being delivered through the

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Red Sea. We left

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Egypt, and you know what? Egypt was an all -you -could -eat buffet. You ever go to some of those buffets?

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It's all -you -could -eat, and you feel bad if you don't overeat, didn't get your money's worth. That's what

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Egypt was like, Moses. We're going to die out here. You brought us out here. Here comes the test, verse 4.

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Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

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On the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, At evening you shall know that it was the

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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

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Lord. Notice how when you grumble against the leader, Moses, you're grumbling against the Lord, sovereignly instituting those leaders.

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For what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said,

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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?

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Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. Skip down to verse 14.

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And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake -like thing, fine as frost on the ground.

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When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, Manna, what is it?

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For they did not know what it was. And Moses said, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. Now I love what the liberals do, not because I like what they say, but because they're so kooky.

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The second you say there's no supernatural God, he doesn't do supernatural things, you know what you end up doing?

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How do you explain this? Bodenheimer says this was honeydew excretion from two types of insects that are like aphids, and that they live in the tamarisk trees in the region.

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A sweet, sugary substance, he said. Bad news for Bodenheimer. How do you account for this food stinking if you got too much of it?

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Another weasel approach, did I just say that? Sorry.

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Another liberal approach is that these are leechins, leechin fruits that grow on the rocks about the size of a pea, and they're light enough to be blown around by the wind coming from heaven.

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That fed the Israelites, up to two million of them for 40 years. Bodenheimer forgot that only three to six weeks in July do these things yield their fruit.

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Verse 16, this is what the Lord has commanded, gather of it, each of you, as much as he can eat.

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You'll take an omer each, according to the number of persons that you have in your tent, or his tent.

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And the people did so, they gathered some more, some less. What size of a supermarket does it take to feed two million people in the desert?

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This is miraculously provided, that's why it's called spiritual. And what's more, there's water.

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Verse 4, and all the people drank the same spiritual drink. I'm reading to you what's in 1

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Corinthians 4. Let's go back, in 1 Corinthians 10, let's go back there. And all drank the same spiritual drink.

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What do you do with these people out in the wilderness for 40 years? What did they eat? They ate manna, it came from God, it was spiritual food.

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Real food with calories and nutrients, but from God, divine source, therefore called spiritual. What are they going to drink?

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They've got to drink water. How do you get all these people to drink water? That's a lot of water in the wilderness. They all drank the water.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

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We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org

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or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.