Exodus: From Bondage to Liberty

Sunday, June 4th 2023

Exodus 15:22-17:7
Introduction
God tests his people to see if their hearts rely, obey, and trust in Him
God does not tempt us but God does test us. What's the difference? Temptation is being enticed or allured to sin. God will not tempt us with sin because He is good and no evil is found in Him (James 1:13). Testing, on the other hand, is God teaching us to trust him and grow in our faith.

I. God Tests His People
Test #1 – Bitter water made sweet (15:22-27)
v.23 – “When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water because it was
bitter…”
v.24 – “And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’
v.25 – “Moses cries out to God and the Lord showed him a log, throws it in and the
water becomes sweet.”
v.26 – “…for I am the LORD, you healer.” Jehovah Raphi
God is revealing who He is to the people. They only know Him a Yahweh or I AM
Now He is revealing another beautiful aspect of His character and attributes!

Test #2 – Manna from heaven (16:1-36)
16:2,3 – The people grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat b the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
v. - daily provision of manna and quail take extra portion for the Sabbath day
16:19-21 – No one is to keep any of it until morning.
Those who store mana overnight do not believe God will provide fresh mana each day.
Their actions show a lack of trust and obedience in God.

Test #3 – Water from the rock (17:1-7)
Think of the compassion of God toward the people. He does not rebuke them for their
attitudes or bitter words in the midst of tough situations, but remains patience because He knows us.
They demanded God’s provision, They question God’s protection, They doubted God’s
presence
II. Hearts Rely, Obey and Trust in Him
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that
perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and
honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6,7
Just like the Israelites, you and I are on a journey that takes us closer to God. We are to rely on, obey him and trust him through our journey. The exodus was for our benefit as well.
“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.
For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the
wilderness.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-5
III. Conclusion