Are You Oblivious To God's Mercies? - [Psalm 106]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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August 10, 2008

00:01: Well, in that hymn that we just sang, it had a little phrase in there that says, you know, we want to hear the old, old story because we soon forget.
00:10: And tonight's message, we're going to end up there as far as memory and memorials and why it is that we should put something in place so that we remember certain things.
00:25: I mean, I don't know what you do, but if you ever came to my cubicle at work, you would find that I make 3M quite happy because I have post -it notes everywhere.
00:35: I have a note for the things I need to do for church. I have notes for things I need to do at work, and I have notes for things
00:41: I have to do at the house because I'm a creature of forgetful habit.
00:49: So I need to be reminded. Some people tie something on their fingers. I used to have a little
00:54: Volkswagen. I drove to work, and I used to use a grease pencil, and I used to write on the inside of the windshield the things
00:59: I needed to do for that day so I could see them while I'm driving. I knew I'd make sure or if I had to pick something up on the way home from work because I was soon to forget.
01:10: And we're going to see how that brought great trouble on the children of Israel when we go back and look there.
01:17: I'd like to first begin, though, by taking a look in the book of 1 Corinthians 10 because it'll set the stage of where we're going to go take a look in the
01:25: Old Testament. 1 Corinthians, this is a summer in the Psalms message, and yes,
01:31: I believe that we will end up in the Psalms. But I first would like to go to 1 Corinthians, set the stage in 1
01:36: Corinthians chapter 10. And rather than this being a point -by -point message,
01:48: I'm just going to give you some observations, and there will be like three points that I would like for you to see in the
01:54: Psalm that we end up in. But I'm just going to give you some observations, reflections upon the study that I've had as I've looked into these texts.
02:01: But here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, notice what Paul wrote to this church, who he wanted to, in so many ways, warn and point out their error and point them in the right direction.
02:13: And he said this in 1 Corinthians 10, 1, Moreover, brethren, I would not that you would be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea.
02:22: He is recounting and looking back upon Israel's experiences. And they were all baptized unto
02:28: Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was
02:39: Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
02:47: Now these things were our examples. This is where it comes to us today. These things that we're going to look at in the
02:54: Old Testament, these experiences of Israel and what they did and the consequences of their sin and what it was that God did as a result of the inclinations of their heart and the poor inclinations of their heart, these things are for our example.
03:09: So we look back there and we say, what we're being warned about, we need to take heed today so that we do not follow in the same footsteps and the same things will not happen to us.
03:18: Again, now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
03:28: Verse 7, neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
03:37: Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
03:43: Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and was destroyed of serpents.
03:50: Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things, and Paul says it again, is the reason why we look back on these things and we consider these.
04:01: Here we see four major sins that characterize that generation who was so wicked and so steeped in their unbelief that God would not allow them to enter into the promised land.
04:15: We see idolatry in verse 7. We see in verse 8 sexual immorality. We see in verse 9 this testing, this pushing of God and in verse 10 the constant complaining, the murmuring against God, against Moses, against Aaron over and over again.
04:33: You can probably, as you read these, you can see the different examples when they were idolaters, when the people sat down and they ate and they drank and they rose up to play.
04:43: I mean, we have that when Aaron was pushed to make the golden calf, you remember, and they did just that.
04:50: And some of them committed fornication and they pushed God and tempted God. In verse 9 it says that they tempted
04:57: Christ and they were destroyed of the serpents. And you remember the account in Numbers chapter 21 where those fiery serpents came and bit them and they died.
05:06: They were dying and the people pleaded to Moses, Moses goes to God, God says lift up the brass or the bronze serpent on a pole and whoever looks will live.
05:15: And then in verse 10, I mean, that is just a constant characterization, something that always took place in this generation who died in the wilderness that were not allowed to enter into the promised land.
05:26: Over and over again you would see God bless them, God prove himself faithful, God saying that he would keep his promise,
05:33: God even sending the spies into the land and they come back two of them out of the twelve with a good word and the people just are complaining.
05:41: We're going to see that tonight even as we look of how they continually did this and it says that they were destroyed of the destroyer.
05:48: Verse 11 it says, now all these things happened unto them for examples. Notice the word examples in verse 11 and you go back to verse 6, now these things were for our example.
06:00: The word example in verse 6 is the Greek word tupos which is like a die or a stamp.
06:07: It's a model for imitation or it can be also a model for warning.
06:13: Here we have a model, a pattern of living, a behavior that we ought not to model our lives after and we see that all in the sins that they committed.
06:25: In verse 11 he says these things again as he reiterates this, this happened unto them for our examples and they are written for our admonition.
06:34: For us today a calling attention to our minds. It is a warning that comes, it's the trumpet sound coming to us that we be admonished.
06:46: It says upon whom the ends of the world are come that we ought not to do these things. Verse 12, wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
06:56: Don't ever be lifted up in pride to think that could never happen to us, it could never happen to me, I would never do that, I would never do any of these things and we see that these things is when we look at the contemporary modern day church, don't we see that these things are taking places in the churches around us.
07:10: We see it over and over again in the news. We hear of the sin and the things that are taking place that are destroying ministries.
07:17: Verse 13, there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful, will not suffer you to be or allow you to be tempted above that which you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it, wherefore my dearly beloved flee from idolatry.
07:35: So just to set the stage we're going to look back on the Old Testament and we're going to see something that took place in the life and the history of the children of Israel so that we might be encouraged, so that we might be warned not to go in the same way, so that we would just be careful, so that we would watch our steps.
07:51: This morning in Sunday school I taught a class on we ought to guard our tongues because if we guard or keep our tongues we will keep our souls or we will keep our lives.
08:01: We will keep ourselves from ruin, we will not ruin relationships, we will control as James said if we control the tongue we control the whole body and it's all about making sure that we have the right balance in our lives.
08:14: It's all about making sure that when we take one step after another as a believer our desire ought to be that we grow in our knowledge and in the grace and knowledge of the
08:27: Lord Jesus Christ so that he might be honored because what we are saying to the world is that we are
08:32: Christians. When I say that I'm an American, I'm from America, when you say that you're something with an
08:41: IAN on the end of it, that means that you are like the thing that's at the beginning, the group part of that verse or you are associated with that or you're from that and we say that we're
08:52: Christians, we're saying that we're people of Christ, that we are modeling our life after the life of Christ, that we are desiring to please him, we want to live like he lived as John wrote in 1
09:04: John chapter 2 and in verse 6 where John said that we ought to walk even as Jesus Christ walked.
09:12: In Colossians chapter 2 it says that we are rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith and it says there that we are complete in Christ and everything about us should be
09:23: Jesus Christ. Paul said in Philippians chapter 1 verse 21, for to me to live is
09:28: Christ and to die is gain and what I would desire to do as we look at this, we're not just going to look back at a historical account and say man that historical account, that was a long time ago and that has nothing to do with me, according to the 1
09:42: Corinthians chapter 10 when we look back, we're looking back with an I and saying may it never be so, may it be that I take the warning,
09:52: I take heed, I take the admonition and I think and I ponder and I consider me a person who says
09:59: I've been saved by the grace of God, a person who as the New Testament says that our lives should be fitting of the gospel, our lives and our speech, our behavior ought to be that which matches or fits the gospel.
10:15: We say that we've been saved by the powerful gospel of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel whereby we have been made new creatures in Jesus Christ or new creations, the old things have passed away and the old is gone and the new has come in 2
10:34: Corinthians 5 .17 then there ought to be a different pattern of established behavior, there ought to be a change, there ought to be a desire to change and one way that we do that or one way that God does that, he sanctifies us through the word of God as we hear it preached, as we read it ourselves and so let's take a delve back in here and look in Psalm 106 if you would with me.
10:58: Psalm 106, we certainly can't go through all of the Psalm because it's got about 48 verses but there are three particular verses that I'd like to look at and you'll see a progression as we consider these and as we look at these also
11:16: I'm going to take a look back even further to the actual books that have the recording of what took place that the
11:26: Psalmist in Psalm 106 spoke of. I'd like to read just the first few verses of here and then begin to make comments.
11:36: Psalm 106 verse 1, praise you the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.
11:43: Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all his praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doeth righteousness at all times.
11:54: Remember me O Lord with the favor that thou barest unto thy people. O visit me with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.
12:10: We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
12:15: Now this is a Psalm that speaks of Israel's rebellion and it lays it out very clearly and it shows the sin and it shows the propensities of their heart to wander.
12:30: It reminds me of that song prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the
12:35: God I love. And our prayer like the Psalmist, you know, take my heart
12:41: O Lord and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. And he cries out in the beginning, Lord remember me.
12:46: And we're going to see that through this Psalm. This Psalmist is recounting the history of Israel and the things that they did where they showed how so far from the
12:56: Lord that they were and where their hearts were not right. But we're going to see the everlasting faithfulness of the
13:03: Lord and that is going to be what is going to be a great encouragement to us tonight. Not only as we think of the things that we need to do practically in our
13:10: Christian walk as we desire to please the Lord, but we're going to see the unchangeableness of the
13:15: Lord, the immutability of the Lord when it comes to his steadfast love, his mercies that are renewed to us every morning and great being his faithfulness.
13:23: Now I want you to see the very next, this very next verse in verse 7 because this is kind of like the first point of the message so to speak if there is a, if there are three points to this message.
13:37: It says, our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies but provoked him at the sea even at the
13:50: Red Sea. We see in this verse 7 that what it says that they were guilty of and remember
13:58: I began the message by saying it has to do with memory. It has to do with what we remember, what we forget.
14:06: It has to do with what we hold on to, whatever we mark as being significant. And we see here in verse 7 that the people of Israel did not remember the multitude of the mercies of the
14:21: Lord. And that word remember in verse 7 means to mark out, to mark something so as it's recognized.
14:30: It kind of reminded me when I was thinking, thinking of this is I remember when we were kids and we used to play in the woods.
14:37: A lot of times we would mark trees because we'd build a tree house way back in the woods and sometimes we would not know how to get back there where it was because you could get totally lost, turned around in acres and acres of property.
14:50: So we used to mark trees or put some type of markers out so that we knew how to get back there and then eventually we knew how to be able to get back home.
14:59: And eventually we'd get it because it would be just so clear we'd know exactly where to go. But at first we needed to mark it out so that it was obvious to us, we would remember by the marks that we put.
15:10: I thought of people that may be hiking do the same type of things. And if your biblical juices of your mind are flowing, you're going to be thinking in the
15:22: Old Testament, oh yeah that's right. They did do things, didn't they, to remind themselves of the mercies of the
15:30: Lord. And we'll get into that at the end of the message, but look here what it says. Here we have the people of God.
15:37: God has always been faithful to them. Here we have the people of God come to the place where they do not remember the multitude of God's mercies.
15:48: Or your text, some of the text might say that they didn't remember the
15:54: Lord's steadfast love toward them. And we think how could they possibly have done that?
16:01: The hand of God was so strong on their behalf over and over and over again. And they go back and when they would recount the history of the
16:09: Lord amongst the people of God, when they would go back and look and consider the patriarchs and what
16:18: God had done, how faithful he was to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob. How could they possibly forget the mercies of the
16:26: Lord? And yet we sing songs like prone to wander, Lord I feel it. We sing songs like count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the
16:37: Lord. Why is that? Because we are forgetful creatures, aren't we? We just forget things and sometimes we can just let the machine just kind of roll and we just go from day to day and we don't really sit down and consider the mercies of the
16:55: Lord, the tender mercies of God, the way that God has been so compassionate to us and been so kind to us.
17:01: And we come to a place where we think how could this ever happen to me? It goes through some trial as Pastor Steve has been preaching out of the book of 1
17:12: Peter. And yet it's so foolish of us because God has never done anything to prove himself unfaithful to us.
17:20: There isn't anything the Lord has ever shown us really in our lives to where we would look and we would say the
17:26: Lord has just slipped. He's just not remembered us. I mean, you know, the little piece of thread fell off his finger or something.
17:33: You know, he can't possibly have put me in this predicament that I'm in on purpose.
17:41: And yet we read the scriptures and we see that God puts us through those trials and God puts us in the situations that he puts us in because that's his classroom.
17:50: That's the way that we learn character. That's the way that we learn to trust him. That's the way that we learn dependence upon him.
17:56: And Israel was guilty of this over and over again. I mean, sometimes you read the Old Testament and you think, what were those people on?
18:04: I mean, what was going through their minds? I mean, here we have God splitting open the sea and then the next thing you see, they're just complaining over and over and over again.
18:15: And yet, if we would be honest with ourselves, we see God's, as it were, split the
18:21: Red Sea for us. And then the next day something happens financially, physically, relationship -wise, work -wise, boss -wise, phone call, email.
18:33: And what do we do? We do the same thing. And we need to be careful not to fall into this trap.
18:40: They did not make sure that they marked us out in their lives and kept it ever before them what
18:49: God had done on their behalf. They just let it slip. They would just count so lightly the mighty works of the
18:58: Lord. You read the Psalms. I mean, the one that I read this morning, in particular,
19:05: I had read Psalm 86 because I like these verses. For thou art great, Psalm 86, 10, for thou art great, and God does wondrous things.
19:15: You are God alone. I mean, it says in that Psalm that God is, thou art good, verse 5.
19:23: God is great, verse 10. God is God alone, verse 10. And then in verse 15, the
19:30: Lord, God is full of compassion and gracious, long -suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth.
19:36: God doesn't change and God is still compassionate towards us and God acts towards us as he did to the children of Israel in the
19:43: Old Testament. And we can get into the trap of taking for granted what
19:48: God does for us. I mean, as parents, I mean, our children look at us at times and we do for them and we want to.
19:56: We want to take care of them and we love them. But there are times it seems like they don't get it. It's like they just think that it's supposed to happen that way, you know, that they have the right to have that or it's just something that ought to come because, hey, they're my parents and I'm the child and it ought just to be done.
20:16: And I'm not saying that a parent shouldn't care for and love their child and provide for them and do for them.
20:23: It's the right thing to do if they truly love them. But on the perspective of the child toward the parent, it ought not to be something that they look at and say, oh yeah, it just happens and it's,
20:34: I mean, for, you know, 10 years, for 20 years or five, let's start real young for four years, for five years, for 10 years, 12, 15, 20 years, my parents have taken care of me and I guess they're just always going to do it.
20:45: And there's no appreciation. You remember one of the signs in the, of the last times, the latter times in the, in the
20:53: New Testament, it says there's an ingratitude in the hearts of people. There's an unthankfulness. And that certainly is prevalent in the day in which we live, but we ought not to, we ought not to creep into or crawl, come into the church where we take what the
21:08: Lord does for us for granted. Or we just think that because we're the children of God, God is going to always make the sky blue.
21:15: He's always going to make the grass green and he's always going to roll out the green, the red carpet. It isn't going to happen.
21:22: It won't always happen. Sometimes it's going to be murky. Sometimes it's going to be tearful and it's going to be painful.
21:28: And sometimes, and then on the other hand, sometimes it is going to be absolutely incredible. We're not going to, we just can't believe what the
21:36: Lord does. I mean, Deb and I have rehearsed over the past six months, some of the things that the Lord has done on our behalf.
21:43: And we have, we have come to the place where like what a friend of ours would say when something like that happens is it just blows your mind.
21:51: You know, it's just absolutely incredible, the goodness and the mercy and the faithfulness of the
21:57: Lord for us in the past, in the past couple of years. And we just look back on some of the things that have taken place.
22:04: And what I'm, what I'm going to get to tonight is that we as the people of God need to do something so that we don't fall into this trap.
22:12: And in some way, shape or form, we need to put something before us visibly, or we need to put something before us intentionally that we can remember what
22:22: God has done. I'm going to give you some examples at the end, but you'll notice this downward progression, this slide downward at Israel, because here it says in verse eight, it says in verse seven, it says that they did not remember the multitude of the mercies of God.
22:40: And this, uh, if you would turn with me, hold your place there and turn with me back to Exodus chapter 14, because it says here that they provoke
22:47: God at the sea, even at the Red Sea. And I want to take a look at an account back there. How is it that they provoke
22:53: God? What is it that they did? Um, when, when this took place in Exodus chapter 14, and if you don't want to turn there, that's fine.
23:01: I'll do my best. I can to make it make sense without you actually seeing the, the pages, the scripture, but it is good to take a look at the scripture and to consider what the word of God says.
23:12: When we, when we look back on these things that back in, in Psalm 106, it says that they did not remember the multitude of God's mercies and they provoked him at the sea, even at the
23:24: Red Sea. Now it says, it says in, um,
23:29: I want to just read a few verses in, in Exodus chapter 14. It says the Lord spake to Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp, uh, at this location.
23:40: I'm not going to read the names for the sake of time. Verse three, for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land.
23:47: The wilderness have shut them in. What's, what's happening here is that the Lord is going to harden Pharaoh's heart one last time.
23:54: And he's going to think that the children of Israel who he has already let go are in a bad way and they can go get them and they're going to bring him back.
24:02: And it says verse four, I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he shall follow after them. And I will be honored on upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the
24:10: Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so, of course, that's the purpose of everything.
24:16: Verse four in verse four there for B when God hardens Pharaoh's heart and God is going to receive honor from him, it's that everybody will know that he is
24:26: Lord. He alone is God. Verse five and it was told the King of Egypt and so on. You know, why have we done this?
24:33: Why did we let them go? And he made his chariots ready in verse six and he took 600 chosen chariots in verse seven, the captain of the, of them and they go after them.
24:41: And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, verse eight, King of Egypt. And he pursued after the children of Israel and the children of Israel went out with a, with a high hand.
24:49: Now what had taken place? And I'm going to ask your help here. They're out of Egypt. Okay. That gives you a little bit of a clue.
24:55: What had taken place prior to this in the history of Israel? Somebody tell me what went on in the land of Egypt, the what the plagues, right?
25:08: I mean, that was just a, that was Moses and Aaron and they had a little erector set and a little chemical set, right?
25:14: And some smoke and glass and mirrors, right? That's what that was all about, right? I mean, they really, they really hoodwinked
25:20: Pharaoh, right? Wasn't that what that took place? People look at me and say, I hope it's not what you're thinking took place back there brother
25:27: Dave. No. Do you remember that when the magicians of Pharaoh threw the 10 plagues as it's all happening, the frogs and the flies and the lice and the hail and all, all of fire and all of that.
25:40: Do you remember when the magicians could not replicate the wonder that God had done?
25:48: They said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. You remember that? It was, it was the power of God.
25:56: It was a, it was a, it was something that the transcendent God who is, who is outside of the universe, outside of creation coming in a miraculous way, coming in in a powerful way and doing something that was against the law of nature or the laws of nature.
26:14: And God was, God was showing that and doing this so that he could get his people out of Egypt.
26:21: And so he, he moves in a most powerful way and through the 10 plagues and of course the last one being the, the death of the firstborn son.
26:30: And just remember what does that, that go back to? That goes back to the Passover. That goes back to the, the shedding of the blood of that lamb and putting the blood upon the lintel and the doorposts.
26:40: And when God passed over those houses with the blood, God was redeeming. God was going to, to have his people come out of Egypt through the blood of this innocent sacrifice, of course a picture of Jesus Christ.
26:54: And that alone too was the powerful hand of God. And Egypt says, and then
26:59: Pharaoh finally says, out with you, go. And when they went, what did they take with them?
27:08: A bunch of gold and stuff, right? I mean, the people just heaped it upon him, leave, go. And here we find them in, in Exodus chapter 14 and, and they've already left
27:18: Egypt. They've come to the Red Sea. Pharaoh is getting charged up here for one last time.
27:23: And it says in verse nine, Exodus 14, nine, but the Egyptians pursued after them all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and all his horsemen and his army and overtook them in camping by the sea in this area where they are.
27:35: And when Pharaoh drew nigh the children of Israel, listen to this. Now, when Pharaoh comes close, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold, the
27:45: Egyptians marched after them and they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried out unto the
27:51: Lord. And they said, verse 11 under Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, you have taken us out into this wilderness to die.
28:00: Wherefore has thou dealt with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we did tell you in Egypt saying, leave us alone that we may serve the
28:10: Egyptians for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.
28:19: There it is, right? The murmuring, they're complaining. And I think, I can't remember if I'm going to get into it in this verse and if I, I mean, or in one of the other places, but and I probably am, and I'm getting, stepping all over myself here, but it was like, well,
28:36: I'll wait. And if I don't get there, I'll try to, to repeat, to, to go where I was, what
28:41: I was just thinking about. But here they said, look, why didn't you just leave us alone? Why didn't we just stay there just complaining and moaning and groaning?
28:50: And of course they're going against and they're bucking God's authority in Moses. And of course, speaking against Moses, the same thing as speaking against God, because God is the one who's telling
28:58: Moses what to do with the children of Israel. And Moses said unto the people, verse 13, fear you not stand still and see the salvation of the
29:09: Lord. Now, wouldn't it been so nice if when they were there and they're thinking, okay, there we were in Egypt for 400 years,
29:18: God raises up Moses, Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh, the 10 plagues, the marvelous hand of God.
29:26: I mean, do you realize that they would have known what was going on in Egypt? They, they would, when it, when it was light in their land of Goshen and it was complete pitch darkness for three days in Egypt, they would have been able to see this and they would have heard of it.
29:43: I mean, when, when they're, when these plagues were taking place, they were understanding that it wasn't of human effort.
29:51: It wasn't, it wasn't some manipulation by Moses and Aaron. They had heard the accounts of what
29:57: God had done in times past. And now the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
30:04: God of Jacob was acting on their behalf. God, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
30:09: He is, he is powerful. Their God, the God they have always heard about is acting strongly on their behalf.
30:15: And here they come to the red sea. They know that they've left Egypt and wouldn't have been nice for them at that time to say, you know,
30:21: God has always saved his people. He's surely going to save us now. He is going to take care of us.
30:27: He's always proven himself so strong and faithful and he loves his people and we're his people and he's going to take care of us.
30:34: But no, it was, it was moaning and groaning. It was, why didn't we just stay back there? Why didn't you, why didn't you just leave us alone?
30:41: Yeah, leave us alone so that we could be in Egypt and die as slaves. Not able to serve
30:47: God freely, not able to, not able to be in the land which God would had has given unto
30:52: Abraham, not to be in that, in that place that God spoke of where, um, with the people of God ought to be in the, in the place where, where God no doubt has been told him he wanted his people to come out so that they could worship him.
31:06: But they tempted, they tested, they pushed here, they murmur and, um, and they're doubting.
31:13: They want to go, I mean, they want to go back to Egypt and not only are they telling him right here at the Red Sea, but you notice in verse 12 it says, is not this the word that we told you in Egypt?
31:23: I mean, they were, they were dead weight back in Egypt. They were unbelievers back in Egypt.
31:29: They were back in Egypt. They were, before they even left from the last plague with the firstborn was killed.
31:35: I mean, they weren't even on board. No doubt it must have been painful to Moses and Aaron, but, but they stayed faithful.
31:45: And Moses said, as I read in verse 13, look, don't fear, stand still and see the salvation of the
31:50: Lord, which he will show unto you this day for the Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see them again ever forever.
31:58: Evermore. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. You will keep silent.
32:05: God's going to fight for you. And the Lord said unto Moses, verse 15, wherefore cryest thou unto me, speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.
32:13: So where they should be going, that's direction that they ought to be to be going with. For me, I've taken you out, go forward, lift up your rod,
32:20: Moses and stretch out thine hand over the sea, verse 16 and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go over on dry gown through the midst of the sea.
32:28: God will make that way for them as he always has for his people. When there seems to be no way,
32:34: God will always do that. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and they will follow after you.
32:41: And I'll get honor upon Pharaoh and upon his chariots, horsemen and so on. And the Egyptian shall know that I am the
32:47: Lord when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh. And you know, and we know the rest of the story as we read, read this in verse 21,
32:53: Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong East wind all night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided.
33:02: The children of Israel in verse 22 went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground and the waters were a wall under them on the right hand and on the left and so on.
33:12: And God brought them over safely. And when Pharaoh's army gets in the middle of that, he closes the water upon them and not one of them survives.
33:21: And God does exactly what he said he would do as he promised there through Moses, just go forward, do what
33:26: I said. But these people is this group of people. And you know, and you see it sometimes when you're, when you're, you're plotting along,
33:37: I'm thinking of, you know, Pilgrim's Progress, just going forward, just trying to stay on, stay on the narrow path that leads to the, to the celestial city.
33:46: And you will see the scoffers, you'll see the people who doubt and see the people who just won't believe and, and they murmur and they complain.
33:55: And one of the things that they do back in Psalm 106, now in verse seven, it says that they didn't mark out what
34:02: God had done. And I want us to be careful and I'm hopefully going to give you some practical examples later that we'd be a people who mark out what
34:09: God has done in our lives. I do not know if the tape exists, but I remember preaching in West Brookfield at the church there one time.
34:18: And it was just a, we used to at times just give testimonies, what the Lord has done in our lives.
34:23: And I remember during one of the messages, I just recounted what the Lord had done. And I'm hoping that someday
34:29: I may find that tape because it, I had remembered things that I had not remembered in a very, very long time.
34:37: I did, I am not one who has kept good journals all my life. I've scratched down things in my
34:42: Bible and I've had a couple of very short journals. I've picked it up, I've tried it, and then I put it down.
34:48: I don't, I don't do very well. I would love to be able to do more of that. But in this message, I just remember recounting times when the
34:55: Lord, when we had, when Deb and I had no children, we had no money. Basically, I didn't have much of a job. We had bills that were due and we were just praying, cry out to God for, for our needs to be met because we were serving in the church.
35:07: We were serving in a Christian school making, you know, very, very little money and food would appear.
35:13: I mean, I'm not saying, you know, like manna out of heaven, but food would appear in grocery bags in our car.
35:19: Checks would come in the mail for the right amount of money that, that we needed. And God taught us that we could trust him, that he would always take care.
35:27: I mean, if we as, if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our little children, I was sharing this with someone this morning, or they were sharing it with me.
35:34: I mean, certainly we, we as parents take care of our children. God takes care of his and God was always faithful to Israel and yet they didn't mark it out.
35:43: They weren't careful. I got to proceed here so that I don't make this a very super duper long sermon tonight.
35:50: The second thing that I want you to see says, even when they did this, nevertheless, what happened?
35:55: I mean, God, when they murmured and complained at the Red Sea and they said, we should have just been back in Israel and Egypt, we should have just died.
36:02: That God says, okay, you want that food? No departing of the sea. And there they are. Pharaoh's chariots come on them.
36:09: They're consumed. It's all over. Close the book. No, it says in verse eight, nevertheless, he saved them for his name sake, not for their sake, but he did it for his own name sake.
36:21: He did it because he promised to do it. He promised to have a people. He desired to have a people. You remember, uh, there were times when
36:28: Moses would, would go to God and he would say, you know, these people that are complaining and moaning and groaning, he says,
36:33: I didn't make these people. You did. And he said, go God, please. If you, if, if you don't save us, the heathen, the pagans are going to look at this and they're going, and it's not going to bring you honor and glory.
36:45: And God would be merciful and God would save them. And he did in this case here, and he split the sea and he brought them over.
36:50: I want you to see the next progression of what they did in this first year in verse seven, it said they did not remember the multitude of God's mercies.
37:00: And then in verse 12, I can't read all of this just for the sake of time, but it says in verse 12, um, no verse 13, notice verse 13.
37:11: It says after the red sea and after they're into the, into the wilderness, it says they soon forget his works.
37:20: They waited not for God's counsel. That word forget in that verse has, um, a root from the root form from the word, a word that means to mislay or to misplace something.
37:34: The first one was when they didn't remember, they didn't Mark out something so they could recognize it. So they didn't
37:40: Mark out the mercies of God so that they could recognize it and call upon that in the future. And in verse 13, it says they soon forget his works.
37:48: They, it, this means to be oblivious to something as a result of a lack of memory.
37:54: Um, this brings to mind just by way of illustration, a boss that I used to have in San Antonio, Texas.
38:01: Um, this person, my boss in the it department, uh, she needed a
38:08: GPS for her purse because she always was misplacing her purse.
38:13: I always used to kid her, you know, those elastic or things that you have on your waist and it's got a extension cord on it.
38:18: I used to say she, she needed to hook one of those onto the purse and hook it onto her body so that she knew where it was because anytime we need to go someplace or we were going out for lunch or whatever, she could not find her purse.
38:29: It was mislaid. Uh, or car keys. I mean, that ever happened to you? I mean, you ever, where did I, where did
38:35: I put that piece of paper? Um, we forget because we've mislaid it. It's, it's, we're oblivious because it's a result of a lack of memory or lack of attention.
38:45: And what happened here with Israel first, it says that they, they did not remember his mercies and that's
38:52: God's disposition towards them. That's God's attitude towards them.
38:58: That's, um, that's what, how God showed himself to him, his mercies or his steadfast love toward them.
39:05: But now it's getting a little bit more tangible. We're seeing this downhill slide because here it says they forgot
39:12: God's works. The first one is the why. I mean, why God does this because he loves them because he wants to be merciful to them.
39:21: They forgot the why about what God is doing in their lives and in their history. And here in verse 13 they're forgetting the what, what it is that God did for them.
39:31: It says they soon forget his works. They waited not for his counsel.
39:37: It says in verse 14 they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert and he gave them their request but sent leanness unto their soul.
39:48: Let's take a look at this in Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11.
40:03: In Numbers chapter 11 we have the account where the manna which is coming down from heaven, the people begin to loathe it.
40:12: It says that when the people complained, Numbers 11 one, it displeased the Lord and the
40:17: Lord heard it and his anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burned against them, among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
40:25: And the people cried unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord a fire was quenched. And he called the name of that place
40:31: Tibera because the fire of the Lord burned among them. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting.
40:37: And the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat?
40:43: We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons.
40:53: What's the name of that hamburger place in Blackstone? Red Robin. We remember the Red Robin, thick double juicy avocado burger back in Egypt.
41:03: We remember the Starbucks. We remember the leeks and the onions and the cucumbers and the garlic.
41:13: But now our soul is dried away and there is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes.
41:21: Here they are, manna, manna, manna, complaining. I mean, not the fact that this was...
41:26: Here they are out in the wilderness, I mean, and there isn't a 7 -Eleven, there isn't a grocery store, there isn't a water cooler anywhere to be found.
41:34: And yet daily God rains down this miraculous food to them, supernatural power of God.
41:42: For years, God does this. And God also gives them water that comes out of the rock.
41:49: And all they can do is think about Egypt and how good it was, the stuff that they had, the salads.
41:58: But what are they forgetting about Egypt? We remember all that good stuff. They forgot the bad stuff.
42:04: They forgot the fact that they were slaves. They forgot the fact that they were not set free. They forgot the fact that they were not in the
42:10: Promised Land. And there they are just complaining about it and so they want meat. And it kind of describes what this manna was and what they did with it.
42:21: In verse 10, Moses heard that the people wept throughout the families, they're crying because they want burgers, they want meat.
42:29: Every man at the door of his tent, the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. And it says, Moses was also displeased as Moses said unto the
42:36: Lord, verse 11, wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?
42:44: Moses is feeling the weight of it all. He says, I can't do this. He says, where am
42:49: I going to get food for all of these people? Flesh? Can I give them flesh to eat? I'm not able to bear all these people, verse 14 alone, because it's too heavy for me.
42:57: Verse 16, and the Lord said unto Moses, gather unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand before, can stand there with thee.
43:11: And I will come down, and I will talk with thee, and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and put it upon them, and they shall bear.
43:17: And of course, this is the raising up of some men that would be helpful, and sanctify yourself. And then he says in verse 18, at the end of verse 18,
43:24: I'm going to give you flesh, and you will eat it. You shall not eat one day, verse 19, nor two days, nor five days, neither 10 days or 20, but even a whole month, until it comes out your nostrils.
43:39: And it shall be loathsome unto you, because you have despised the Lord, which is among you, and have wept before him, saying,
43:45: Why came we forth out of Egypt? Now, look over in verse 31, and there went forth a wind from the
43:51: Lord, and brought quails from the sea, that they fell on the camp, as it were a day's journey in this side, and it was a day's journey on that side, round about the camp, and it was about three, 36 inches high, upon the face of the earth.
44:02: And the people stood all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails, these birds, this meat, this flesh.
44:10: He that gathered least gathered 10 homers, and they spread them all abroad, and they had a bunch of meat, verse 33, and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the
44:20: Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people, a very great plague. He called the name of the place,
44:28: Kerbrothatehava, because there they buried the people that lusted.
44:33: They buried, people died, the people that lusted. Now, a couple of things that we can learn from this.
44:41: Be careful what you ask for, because you might get it.
44:49: And I guess even before that, be careful what we ask for, because what we're asking for might not be what the
44:55: Lord would desire for us to have, and it might not be what we really need. God knows what we need, and He'll give it to us.
45:02: And they despise God, and they're pushing, they're tempting God. They're lusting in the wilderness.
45:10: Back in Psalm 106, verse 15, it says that He gave them their request, but sent leanness unto their soul.
45:17: You know, we might want something that we think is so important to us, and then we're getting ahead of the
45:23: Lord, we're getting where we ought not to be, and we're thinking that we're going to get contentment in that thing, and God might give it to us, and yet it might taste like sweet honey going down, but end up as gravel in our stomach, and gravel in our teeth, because it's not what the
45:38: Lord had desired to give us. So you notice, they remember not the mercies of the Lord, and then it says in verse 13, they forgot the works of the
45:46: Lord, and let's see the final progression. Notice what it says in verse 21. They forgot
45:53: God, their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt. Did you see the slide?
46:00: They forgot the mercies of the Lord, the steadfast love of the Lord, the why. This is what God just acts in this way toward them.
46:06: Then they forgot the what of the Lord, the works of the Lord. This is what God had done. And then it got to the place, not only did they forget why
46:13: God does this, and how God has always acted towards them, and what God did in the multitude of His merciful works,
46:20: His mighty, powerful hand amongst them. And then it says, they forgot God Himself.
46:27: And what a horrible place for anybody to get to. The people of God here, of course, they did the same thing.
46:32: I mean, let me just go back, because I now remember the thing. Remember I told you I was going to go back to something I was going to try to get ahead of?
46:39: Do you remember even when they pushed, and they tempted, and they complained, and they murmured, and they said this thing, they said this to Moses, would to God that we had died, where?
46:56: Would to God that we had died in the wilderness? And God answered that, gave them exactly what they had asked for.
47:07: That generation that did not believe, they said it would have been better for us to die. And what happened?
47:14: That generation was killed off. And only their children, they said, would to God that it would have been better for us to have died, and you've brought us to this place, and our children are going to die.
47:25: And just the opposite happened. They died in the wilderness, and their children were allowed to go in to the promised land.
47:30: And again, that reinforces we ought to be really careful what we ask for, because there are times when it just might come our way, but it's not going to be the thing that we really need.
47:40: Okay, how am I going to finish this up? We have seen that these are things that we should learn from. We have seen that it has to do with memory.
47:47: It has to do with taking note of. It has to do with not being oblivious to the things of God, marking out the things of God.
47:54: And in conclusion, I just want to share with you some, if you look back historically in the scriptures, you'll see that even the
48:00: Passover, do you remember that they were reminded that that Passover was something that was to be perpetual, that they were to keep that day so that they could look back upon it.
48:11: Do you remember in Joshua chapter four, when again, the Lord came as after they went into the to the promised land, or as they're going into the promised land before Jericho, that God opened up Jordan so that they could, again, go over on dry land.
48:27: And do you remember what they were instructed to do when they went over? You remember one of the things anybody remember?
48:32: Tell me. Yeah. What was the altar from? Twelve men go where?
48:41: The riverbed. Right. And get twelve stones and put them on their shoulders and take them out and set up a memorial.
48:50: And so that when their children asks them, what do these stones mean, mommy? Daddy, what do these stones mean?
48:57: They could say, when you see those stones, you will remember the faithfulness of God in that he powerfully stopped the
49:05: Jordan River in the height of season where where it was at its most powerful and widest.
49:11: And God powerfully allowed kept us allowed us to go over on dry ground, setting up a memorial.
49:18: Do you remember in first Samuel chapter seven, when the Philistines were coming after the people of God and they go to Samuel and they say, pray that God would would spare us and God rises up and and he discomforts the
49:35: Philistines. Do you remember what Samuel and the people did?
49:41: They raised the what who remembers they raised in Ebenezer, the stone of help or hitherto as the
49:49: Lord helped us. And so it was a physical marker was displayed so they could look at that and they could say, we remember what the
49:56: Lord has done for us. And I want to encourage you to rehearse what God has done for you and for your children and for your family and rehearse them with with your children, rehearse them with friends, rehearse them with other believers, and particularly rehearse them with yourself.
50:15: Constantly remind yourself so that you don't get defeated. So you don't get to the place where nothing's happening.
50:20: Nothing's right. Nothing. Look back and see that to this point, God has brought me here by his powerful hand.
50:28: He has saved me. I'm his child and he loves me and he cares for me and he's fed me every day just like he fed the children of Israel manner.
50:35: He's showed himself so faithful on my behalf and speak to yourself and remind yourself what the
50:41: Lord has done and raise memorials. Now, again, I'm saying I'm not good at this as far as like writing a journal, but maybe it might be a journal.
50:49: Maybe it's a bulletin board in your house and you just put things up on there when God answers prayer. Some way, in some shape or form, it could be writing.
51:01: Do you understand that if you open your Bibles, most Bibles, they have blank pages in them and I think it's okay to write on those.
51:10: And if the Lord were to give you some reason for raising an Ebenezer, that God had helped you, it's okay.
51:17: Write the date and write what it was that the Lord did and keep a list there. And then you can go back in that and you can share that with others and you can share it with your children five years, ten years down the road and you can say,
51:27: God has been so good to us and God has been so faithful to us. And maybe it would be good to go back now and just kind of look back and begin to journal some of those things and write them down.
51:38: Something visible. Put a stone in your yard. I don't, you know, if God miraculously provided the home that you have, you know, put a stone in the yard and put a
51:46: Bible verse on it. Get it etched on there or something that, so that you can look at that back on that and give
51:51: God the glory for it and be reminded of the good works of God on your behalf. So rehearse what
51:57: God has done, raise memorials and then repeat the process throughout your life over and over and over again.
52:04: Rehearsing your salvation, rehearsing the mercies of God, how they are new to you every morning, rehearsing the wonderful works of God and always being amazed and always being in awe and wonder of how good the
52:17: Lord is to you and counting your blessings and naming them one by one. And it will surprise you what the
52:22: Lord has done. And you think back, Passover, the stones out of the middle of the, of the, um, the river
52:30: Jordan, Samuel's Ebenezer that they raised. And you think, what other thing that we have that, what else do we do by way of memory that we all partook of those that were here last weekend?
52:46: What is that? We have the Lord's table, right? And isn't it good that the Lord gives us that ordinance continually?
52:52: As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do show forth the Lord's death.
52:57: It's so that we're not forgetting what Christ has done. His marvelous, finished substitutionary work on our behalf.
53:05: It is, it is intended by God. The Lord Jesus instituted that. He said, you're going to do this.
53:11: Luke 22, 19, as he was teaching the disciples, he said that you do this in remembrance of me.
53:19: And we get to do that once a month. And isn't it a blessing because we know that we are prone to forget.
53:27: We are, we know that it slips our mind. And sometimes we can just get going through the motions and serving the
53:33: Lord and yet forgetting how near and dear he ought to be and how kind and merciful to us he is.
53:42: And I want to conclude tonight, honestly, last verse. If you read Psalm 106 and you see how they forget it, forgot his, they didn't remember his mercies.
53:50: They didn't remember his works and they did not, uh, they forgot the Lord God, their savior, though they continually forgot
54:00: God. If you look in verse 45, it says he remembered them for his covenant and he remembered for them, his covenant repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
54:13: And he made them to be pitied and he saved them though they continually forgot God and did not remember him.
54:20: He remained faithful to his covenant people, and he will never forget it. He will never fail us.
54:26: And he will always remember us. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, how grateful we are
54:38: Lord for the, the stirring of our hearts tonight and the stirring of our memories.
54:45: I think of, of the writings of Peter and of Paul, where he said that they needed to constantly have their, their memories stirred or to put them in remembrance of certain things.
55:02: And we needed that encouragement tonight. And we thank you for it from your word, from the example of the old
55:09: Testament where they forgot, may we never forget. And may we raise our
55:14: Ebeneezer's so to speak today, help us to be so mindful, help us to mark out your wonderful works so that we don't forget them and help us rather than to be oblivious by mislaying and, and carelessly misplacing in our memory, the things that you've done, but to put them in a certain spot so that we're ever mindful of your good hand upon us.
55:40: We praise you and we thank you for your great care for us. We thank you that, that you are so kind to us and that your mercies truly are renewed day by day and great is your faithfulness.
55:53: You are full of compassion and of kindness. Your mercy reaches onto the clouds.
55:59: We cannot be separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And in your word over and over again, you have promised that you will never leave us nor forsake us, that you will provide everything that we need for this life and for the next.
56:15: And so we give you grateful praise. Help us, Lord, to, to raise the memorials, help us to remember to rehearse them.
56:25: And, Lord, may we never be a people who fall into this characteristic of being people who are forgetful and misplace and soon forget.
56:37: Lord, how great you are and we know that and we give you the praise in the name that is above every name, name by which every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
56:50: Lord to the glory of God the Father, the name of our blessed Savior, who is worthy of all our praise and adoration and love and service this week.