How to Get Through the Wilderness, Part 1

Guest (Male): With the steady decline of traditional values and the rising intolerance toward Christianity, many would say that we are living in a moral wilderness. Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah shows us how God delivered another nation in the wilderness and can do the same for us. From the series Making Sense of All of It, here's David to introduce today's message, "How to Get Through the Wilderness."
Dr. David Jeremiah: You know, this is a wonderful message for those of you who are struggling, feeling kind of lost, a malaise about your spiritual life. I have a little saying that I developed during my recovery from this dread disease that I've had, and it goes like this: you cannot help what happens to you, but you can make happen what helps you. One of the things you can make happen is to open the word of God and let it speak to your life. You can sit around and mope and complain about what's happened, or you can make happen the things that help you. The thing that we love to do here on Turning Point is bring you information, instruction, motivation, and teaching from the Bible that encourages you in the midst of your situation. Today we are going to talk about how to get through the wilderness. Our text is Exodus chapter 16—that's right, the Old Testament—and we'll study it together for two days and find great hope and great help. Before we do that, let me just remind you again that our magazine is available to you if you're not receiving it. It's a beautiful monthly publication that comes into your home with devotional content for every day, Monday through Friday, and one special one for the weekend. All kinds of articles to help you grow in your faith. It is coordinated with what's on the air during the week as you listen to the radio, and so there's a synergism there that's really helpful to you as you follow along. If you're not getting the magazine, all you have to do is ask for it. We'd be happy to put your name on the list and you'll get the next issue as it comes off the press. We're so excited to make this available to you. It's promising for your life. It will add value to you as a person. Here now is part one of "How to Get Through the Wilderness."
Dr. David Jeremiah: Before his death, Francis Schaeffer, the greatest theologian of our generation, made a statement quite often to the effect that someday we would wake up and find out that the America we once knew was gone. Erwin Lutzer makes this bold statement: he says, "The day Francis Schaeffer told us about is here." In his book entitled Where Do We Go From Here?, Erwin Lutzer says we have crossed an invisible line and there are no signs that we are capable of turning back. Like a boat caught in the mighty torrent of the Niagara River, we are being swept along in a powerful cultural current that just might put us over the brink. When should we have first noticed that our ship was headed for dangerous waters? Perhaps it's as far back as 1963 when the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to pray in our public schools. Or maybe it was ten years later in 1973 when the infamous Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion for any reason. These two unmistakable signs, said Erwin Lutzer, tell us that our ship of state was veering off course. Now the precarious stream we have chosen has become a river and the river has become a flood. Never before in American history has it been more important for the church of Jesus Christ to be all that it can be than in this particular day as we live in a society that is becoming increasingly hostile to every value that you and I cherish. It's interesting to ponder and ask ourselves this question: if the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom could see us today, would they believe it was a worthwhile sacrifice? I cannot help but ponder where we are as a people as I read words written by social students like Erwin Lutzer and even some of our secular writers, and realize that most of the moral failure and the erosion of the fabric of our culture has happened during the time that most of us in this room have been alive. It has happened in our lifetime. If we are able to survive all of this and they write a history of this period, they will not be kind to us. While we have watched and have been busy about our own things, we have seen systematically our religious freedom, little by little attacked and step by step being paired back. We can't put a manger scene in the front yard of a public building anymore. Can't say prayers in our public schools. Most of us have watched over the demise of the public school system, and I say that carefully because I know we have many who teach in the public schools, but they would be here to add evidence upon evidence if we gave them the opportunity. There is some question now as to the value of an education that is being received in some sectors of public education simply because there are so many problems on the campus that there's very little time for education to take place. The media has gone to hell in a handbasket. You can't turn on the TV anymore without being overwhelmed by the filth that comes through, and it's not just on protected channels anymore; it's just about anywhere you might want to see it. It's getting to the place where you're really not sure sometimes whether having a television in your house is perhaps injurious to your own spiritual growth. I'm not here to talk about all these political things. I'm here to tell you that it's kind of scary to see how we have been such poor stewards of that which was given to us by our forefathers. We are in many ways in a wilderness. Sometimes it's hard to know what to do. I mentioned Erwin Lutzer's little book Where Do We Go From Here? At the end of the book, he has some very encouraging words I just need to lay in here right now so you won't be depressed. He says we need to remember that in the midst of all of this, there are five things that are still pillars that we can build our lives on: God still reigns, the church is still precious, our mission is still clear, our focus is still heaven, and our victory is still certain. Amen! In spite of all the rest of it. If I could add one, it would be this: God's word is still true. Amen! That's why when we come to church, we bring our Bibles and we don't have any fear to be identified as Bible Christians. We're men and women who are simple enough to believe that what God said is true. We believe that His word is given to us in written form in this book and that it is inerrant, and that it is inspired, and that it is ours to study, but most of all it is ours to pattern our life after. In the uncertain days of this wilderness experience, it is the one sure thing. We have a sure word from God. That's why I don't want to tell you anything else when you come here. I want to tell you what God says, because my opinion is not any better than anybody else's. But God—oh, when God speaks, He's taken His people through the wilderness every time there's been one. Exodus chapter 16 is the story of another wilderness. It's the story of a wilderness into which God allowed His people Israel to wander. They had been freed miraculously from the Egyptian bondage. God had marvelously undertaken for them through Moses, His leader. Through a series of plagues and confrontations, God brought His people out with a high hand, the scripture says, in victory. They marched across the barrier that God opened up, and all those who pursued were drowned in the same river over which they had momentarily before crossed. They're on their way. Of course, you know the story, because they did not believe that they were able to go into the land and they believed the spies from Kadesh-Barnea. They were consigned to a 40-year detour in the wilderness. What most people don't understand about that wilderness, I need to explain to you. It may sound rather similar as you view what's going on in our country today. They had no plan, they had no map, they had absolutely no destiny, they had no purpose. When you talk about them wandering in the wilderness, that's exactly what they did. In fact, I took the time one time to take a map of the wilderness and, based on the geographical locations mentioned in the Old Testament, plot their course. You know what they did? They went around in circles. They wandered in the wilderness. Why? Because the only purpose for them being in the wilderness was not so that they could get somewhere. The wilderness was a detour. They were already on their way to Canaan. The wilderness was a place where they had to go and wait for that generation to die. What you did in the wilderness was you wandered around in circles and you went to funerals. That's all there was to do. It was a terrible experience for the people of God. A lot of them who experienced it weren't guilty; they were the children of those who had disobeyed. They didn't understand. During that time they faced a lot of problems. One of the problems they faced in the wilderness is recorded for us in the 16th chapter of the book of Exodus. It says they sojourned from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. Would you please make note of this time reference? Two months and 16 days after they were freed from Egypt. Two and a half months after they got out of Egypt—Egypt with all of the slave drivers, with all of the hot brick ovens, with a gathering of the straw, with the beatings and the put-downs by the Egyptians. Two and a half months after God miraculously had set them free, says the scripture, they are now in the wilderness. The whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. We don't remember our victories very long, do we? You get a brand new building up and you are so joyous over what happened, and you would think nobody would want to open their mouth and complain about anything for at least two or three years. I'm sure that's the way it is. But in the Old Testament, they were two and a half months out of the greatest victory they'd ever known and they were bellyaching to Moses and Aaron. This is what they said: "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." They remembered only the couple of things about Egypt that were worth remembering, and that is that they did get something to eat every day. They forgot all the rest of it. All they remembered was the little thing that was almost worthwhile. So they're in the wilderness and they don't know what to do. What we're going to learn by way of a parable is that what God did for them is what God wants to do for us. When you're in a wilderness experience like we are as a country and like some of you are personally, there are certain things that God does. There are certain ways that God functions. It's good to know how to make it through the wilderness. How many of you here can give a witness today to say that in my life, both before and after as a Christian, I've had a few little wilderness experiences? Anybody beside me been in the wilderness before? What do you do when you're in the wilderness? I want to give you some principles right from this portion of God's word. Number one, the help you need in the wilderness is not available from man. Isn't that true? What in the world could these people do who were in the wilderness? They didn't have anything to eat. Not too much food grows in the wilderness, not any stores out there. There was no way for them to find the answer apart from an intervention from God. The scripture says this is what happened. Verse 4: "The Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.'" "And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, 'At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we that you should complain against us?'" "Also Moses said, 'This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and in the morning bread to the full, for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.' And Moses spoke to Aaron and said, 'Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, "Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints."'" Now this is the story. There wasn't food available from any other source. Their problem was unanswerable as far as man goes. It took a divine intervention. It took God doing something that only God could do, for which only God could get the credit, for them to survive. Could I just stop for a moment before we go on and interpret this passage to tell you that that's really where we are right now as a people, isn't it? I hear all of the stories about what we need to do to right the course of our nation. But every time I hear the supposed formulas, I see the emptiness in all of them. There is really no hope that this country can ever avoid disaster in the direction we're heading unless there is a divine intervention, unless God's people begin to turn back to Him as the only source of help, unless there is what we used to call a revival in America. The only potential answer for our problem lies in some kind of a spiritual movement throughout this land that would turn us back to God. Not in a superficial way, but in a very deep and abiding and life-changing manner. Everybody's got their ideas how to get through the wilderness. I want to tell you something: the answer that we need for getting through the wilderness is not available from man. It's got to be something that comes from God. What did God do? He did a miracle. There were two million people wandering around out there. 600,000 men were told in Numbers 1:45 and 46. God, according to the scripture, made sure that every one of them had what they needed every day. I read a commentary that says the manna came from above, but it didn't really come from God; it grew on trees and then fell on the ground. Yes, in the winter and in the summer, in every single part of the wilderness there was a tree by everybody and it fed two million souls for 40 years and there never was a bad year. You know what? It takes more faith to believe the commentary interpretation than it does just to believe God's word, doesn't it? Amen! It wasn't growing on trees. The Bible says it came from God. He rained it down. After the dew was gone, the manna was on the ground. Now listen to me. Let me see if I can make this real for you. Two million people. The scripture says that an omer was to be gathered for every one of those two million people every day. An omer of that bread is equal to about six pints, I am told. So two million times six pints equals 12 million pints per day. How much is 12 million pints of manna? Most of us don't have any way to measure that in our finite minds. Let me give you an illustration. Listen up. It would take ten trains having 30 cars, and each car carrying 15 tons, for one single day's supply to make sure everybody got what they needed to eat. It grew on trees. Over one million tons of manna were gathered annually by the Israelites during that 40-year sojourn. Where'd it come from? Let me hear you say this with me out loud. It's good for us to say this out loud. Let's say out loud: "God did it." God did it. Amen! That's how it happened. The answer wasn't available from man. The second thing you learn about how to negotiate your way through the wilderness is that the help you need in the wilderness is not attainable without your cooperation. Now, it is true that God did it. And it is true that what we need from God is a divine intervention in our wilderness experience, but it is also true that God wants us to be involved in the process. God delivered the manna to the ground, but the people who were in the family of God had to make a choice either to stoop down and pick it up and eat it or walk on it. You couldn't get nourishment from manna on the ground. You had to take it and eat it so that its worth could value your soul, your body. And so it is with what God wants to do in the life of this people and in our life. God is wanting to do a miracle in your life, but He does not come uninvited. He will not force His way upon you. There was not one single Israelite who was forced to eat the manna. They voluntarily, willingly went out and collected it and they made the application of God's miracle to their own life. I cannot help but wonder if God did intervene in our culture, if we are so desensitized to God if we would really even see what was going on. Would we see God at work if He were at work? Would we understand that He had intervened, that a miracle was happening so we could do the part we need to do? I can tell you for sure that when you walk through the wilderness, the help you need is not available from man, but it is not attainable without your cooperation. In fact, they had to cooperate in a very specific way, didn't they? Verse 4 says that every day they had to go out and gather their food. And an interesting thing is, some of them didn't listen carefully when Moses explained this. Moses said you have to go get what you need for the day, then you have to use what you have for that day, and it can't be carried over into the next day. If you look down at verse 19, you'll see what happened. And Moses said, "Let no one leave any of this manna until morning." Notwithstanding, they did not heed Moses and some of them left part of it until the morning, and it bred worms and it stank. Boy, the Bible is specific, isn't it? And Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need, and when the sun became hot, it melted. The interesting thing is—now watch this—you want to know how miraculous was God's intervention? The Old Testament Sabbath laws were still in place and so every Friday they would go out and they would collect enough manna for Friday and enough manna for Saturday. Though every other day any manna that was kept over for 24 hours went sour, on that particular day the extra manna that was gathered for Saturday for the Sabbath was kept intact in all of its nourishment value. Then on Sunday they started the day-by-day gathering again. God did it. Say it again: God did it. I need to stop just long enough to tell you that whatever you think the meaning of the manna is—and I'm going to tell you what it means in just a minute—one of the applications is certainly to our own spiritual life, isn't it? I think maybe what God would have me to say to you here right now is that if you think you can come to church on Sunday and get all the manna you need for the week and live off of it from Sunday to Sunday, which some of you do, you're going to have some stinking manna about Wednesday. I'm not being facetious when I say that. What happens to people who just gorge themselves with information and fill up their notebooks and get all the stuff they need to know about who God is and what He does, but then they don't use any of it? You see, the interesting thing about this story is everything they gathered in the morning they had to eat during the day. Whatever they took, they had to take in. In essence, what the principle is is this: we're not only to gather from God in the morning, but we're to apply it throughout the day and come back the next day for fresh manna to keep us going. God doesn't operate a reservoir; God's into relationship. And He wants us to be a daily thing where we walk with Him. Amen! Amen! Well, we'll have part two of this tomorrow. I hope you'll join us then. In between now and then, don't forget to ask for your copy of the book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America. This beautiful volume from Rob Morgan is a special book commemorating our 250th anniversary as a nation and the importance of the Bible in the midst of that history. These short chapters will tell the story of an incident in the past when the Bible made a big difference. If you look through the table of contents, you can't wait to read what's in the book. And I hope you will take the opportunity today to get your copy. All you have to do is send a gift of any size to Turning Point during the month of July and say, "Please send me the book on the Bible verses," and we'll do it. Thank you so much for helping us. We can't do this without you and we want to make sure you know we're grateful for your investment. We'll see you tomorrow on this good station. I'm David Jeremiah. Thank you for joining us as we teach the Bible together.
Guest (Male): For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, Making Sense of All of It, please visit our website, where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected: our monthly magazine, Turning Points, and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at DavidJeremiah.org/radio. That's DavidJeremiah.org/radio. Or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of Robert J. Morgan's inspiring book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New King James versions, available in your choice of handsome and durable cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website, DavidJeremiah.org/radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series, Making Sense of All of It, on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.