There, He Proved Them

The Purposes and Places of God’s Tests

Exodus 15:22-27

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

8 August, 2010   AM

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

www.biblebc.com

 

I.       Introduction (Jeremiah 17:10)

 

A.     The hardest thing we will ever face is NOT the devil. It is not the world. It will be GOD!

B.     For some of you, that is a very hard fact to accept.

C.     But the issue is that GOD is a trier of our hearts – a prover of our thoughts. And an exposer of the real us! And we don’t like it! We prefer to ACT out our Christianity!

D.     And we usually fail the tests that the Lord has for us!

E.      But that is okay, because, it is IN the failures that we find just how much we need God, and we discover just how much we live in our own strength, and not in the power of the Holy Spirit!

 

II.    Background (Psalm 81:7)

 

A.     Exodus Chapter 15 is just after a great victory

 

1.      The deliverance from Egypt. Israel as a nation has just been freed from 400 years of bondage in Egypt

2.      They have just miraculously crossed the Red Sea

3.      They have just watched as the entire Egyptian army drowned and would never haunt them again

4.      I’d say that that was a pretty good day, wouldn’t you?

 

B.     Everybody is singing and praising God – Moses, then Miriam, then the whole nation!

C.     Now comes a test, a proving, a stretching, a testing of their resolve and their faith (Ex 15:22-24)

 

1.      Even though they were headed for the Promised Land, Canaan, they would first have to go through some valleys, and some obstacles, and some testings. God called them “times of proving”

2.      The question to answer: If God is the God of the mountain (of the victories, of the easy days), will He be the God of the valleys as well? Will we LET Him be?

3.      They did not believe that God could provide for them in the bad times (the wilderness)

 

a.       He had just rescued them from the strongest nation on earth.

b.      But it wasn’t good enough for them!

 

4.      Can God handle any valley, any trouble, any disaster that we face?

 

a.       Daniel faced a test at the Lion’s den – God allowed him to be thrown in there

b.      Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faced a test at the fiery furnace

c.       Abraham faced a test in the famine of Canaan – God allowed the famine to come

d.      So many others walked through such dark and long valleys

 

D.     To prove something is to test it to see if it works (1Sam 17:39)

E.      God leads us into troubles and testings (Dt 8:2) to do the following things

 

1.      Humble you – you already don’t like this message do you?

2.      Prove you – to the devil, and to yourself!

3.      And to know you – God sees your heart, but He likes to expose it, because He, above all people hates hypocrites!

4.      God seeks to expose our true desires (Ex 20:20; Heb 4:12) – we are such fakers and superficial people!!! And God wants to change us!

 

III. Message

 

It was in that place called Marah…

A.     They Went Forward (Ex 15:22)

 

1.      They couldn’t settle down at the edge of the Red Sea.

 

a.       That was certainly a great success story in their lives – a great victory

b.      But, to settle here would mean that God only wanted them OUT of Egypt, but not IN the Will of God!

c.       They were just a few weeks from the Promised Land!

d.      THAT was the perfect will of God for them.

e.       The will of God for them was greater than just their salvation from bondage in Egypt

 

2.      You are going to have to get used to going forward

 

a.       Christians have a great goal to reach for (Philp 3:13) – the will of God

b.      You Can’t live in past victories

 

3.      To go forward, you will have to FOLLOW God’s leadership as He compels you and presses you, and pulls you even when you don’t want to go forward (2Tim 4:2-5). Remember to NOT follow your heart!

 

a.       They were pulled forward by the cloud by day, and the fire by night – no matter when it moved, they had to move too!

b.      The Holy Spirit led Jesus into a time of testing – as our example! He DROVE Him into the desert

c.       The Lord Jesus will move you when you do not feel like moving, and press you when you don’t want to respond! He will especially humble you when you don’t WANT to be!

 

4.      The people of God MUST always go and do as the Holy Spirit leads, not as the heart feels!

                                                                      

B.     They Encountered Obstacles (Ex 15:22,23) – impossible obstacles

 

1.      What else would you expect?

 

a.       Egypt was a tough situation for the Israelites to trust God through

b.      At the Red Sea, the nation had a tough time believing God would get them through

c.       And NOW, when the people had no water, it was hard to trust the Lord to supply

 

2.      It has never been easy to trust in the Lord with all your heart (Prov 3:5,6)

3.      There are always going to be obstacles, and resistance to you moving forward by obedient faith

4.      Just because you are a child of God does NOT mean life got any easier for you!

 

a.       As a matter of fact it usually means it get harder

b.      There is the false gospel of the “Prosperity Promise”

c.       Paul (rough life), Jesus (crucified), Peter (crucified upside down, John 21, etc)

 

5.      By-the-way, this was a new form of trial to them.

 

a.       They never lacked for water in Egypt—there were plenty of rivers and canals there—and they could drink as much as they chose. This was an experience to which they were quite unaccustomed and I should not wonder if they were greatly surprised at it, for they knew that they were the people of God.

b.      They had just seen the Lord divide the Red Sea and drown their enemies—and now He has brought them out of Egypt to let them perish of thirst in the wilderness?

c.       They believed that they were going to have one long triumphant march right into the Promised Land, and be indulged in every way, like spoiled children.

d.      They must have stood aghast at seeing such vast amounts of water and finding absolutely NONE that they could drink!

 

6.      This kind of surprise happens to many who have set out on the way to Heaven.

 

a.       God has been very gracious to them—their sins are washed away and they think that the great joy which they have lately experienced will never be taken away from them and will never be even diminished.

b.      They look forward to a long day without a cloud. That they cannot imagine that they shall have any trial or any bitterness.

c.       But it is not so! A new Christian is seldom long at ease!

d.      No sooner does he start out on journey toward Heaven than he meets with difficulty and, as he goes on, he finds out that the way to Heaven is not a level pathway—it is through the mire and through the slime, over mountain and through the sea!

e.       But, it is by trials and afflictions that the people of God are proved to be God’s children!

 

C.     They came to the End of Themselves (Ex 15:24)

 

1.      We say, at the end of our rope – ever been there? Most of you LIVE there it seems!

 

a.       They are without water – can only go up to 4 days without water

b.      They have walked for days in a DESERT

c.       When they do find water, the water is undrinkable – it is bitter, poisoned, contaminated

d.      How do they head off and try and find more water? It was a hopeless situation

 

2.      They start with frustration at the situation…

 

a.       Builds to murmuring

b.      Then on to out right complaining

c.       Then to anger

 

1)      Against Moses

2)      But more so against God!!!

3)      Your anger against someone is USUALLY an expression of your disappointment with God

 

d.      They end up angry and bitter like the waters!

e.       This was a picture of where they were spiritually – unable to trust God, quick to get bitter at their situation!

 

3.      All of the previous three things were GOOD things in their lives

 

a.       The Pressing forward – never backsliding

b.      Encountering and dealing with obstacles – strengthens us

c.       Coming to the end of themselves – learning just how little strength they had, and how carnal they were!!!

 

4.      But while Moses saw the Lord, they only saw disaster!

5.      You and I had better get our eyes fixed on Jesus – the Master of the raging seas, the raiser of the dead, and the Almighty God!

 

D.     The Lord Shows the Answer (Ex 15:25) – this is awesome!

 

1.      A tree – a single, solitary tree! What can a tree do?

 

a.       God could have used a stone, or a banana! God didn’t have to use anything to remedy the situation! But a TREE was best!

b.      God uses simple things

 

1)      Sometimes a mustard seed

2)      Five loaves and two fishes

3)      Sometimes just a touch

4)      Here, it was a tree

 

2.      God tries to open their eyes to His supply

 

a.       The tree was already there at the place of testing

 

1)      God didn’t have to drop in a special miracle – it was already provided!

2)      In your life, in your trial that you are going through, God is already there, and has already supplied the answer to your need

 

b.      You just need to let the Lord open your eyes to THAT supply

 

1)      Most people don’t realise that Jesus has already been provided!

2)      They don’t realise that their marriage partner IS the supply to their need

3)      That this church is what they need!

 

3.      God commands Moses to cut down that tree and cast it into the bitter waters

                                                                     

a.       Not only does it neutralise the bitterness – that would be great. They could drink the water then. That would have been just fine!

b.      But God went further with that tree! So much further

c.       Notice… that tree made the bitter waters SWEET!

 

4.      That TREE is just like the cross (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 1Peter 2:24) It even takes away the bitterness and sting of death (1Cor 15:55-57) and makes the final journey SWEET!

 

E.     God Teaches Them and US a Great Lesson (Ex 15:25,26)

                                                                    

1.      THERE, He proved them! Exposed them! Humbled them!

 

a.       It was in the TRIAL, in the TROUBLE, in the STRUGGLE, when it was dark and impossible!

b.      He proved to them that they were weak, thin skinned, rebellious, proud, unspiritual, carnal

c.       He also proved to them that He was all sufficient, and that He will always be all sufficient – there will never be a day when they would not need Him and His care!

d.      God cannot expose us and all our flaws without pressure and heat

e.       THIS is where bitterness is born! When GOD is trying to show you just who you really are

 

2.      THERE, He made a memory – a memorial

 

a.       It is just as important to remember your failures as your victories

b.      Not to get you depressed, but to keep you humble and absolutely dependent on prayer, and on obeying God, no matter how you FEEL

 

3.      THERE, He required Commitment and Trust

 

a.       No more rebellion – which was going to be hard for them to live up to

b.      The challenge was to confidently trust in God NO MATTER the circumstances

 

4.      It was THERE that they learned that the Tree/Cross will make all the difference you need

 

a.       Not a change in your enemy, or your spouse, or your boss

b.      Not a change in your circumstances, or your valley

c.       The cross will make your trial, SWEET! (Romans 5:1-5)

d.      BUT! If you stay bitter through a trial,

 

1)      Then there is no simply cross in your life – only fun, pleasure, easy living

2)      And you will have to face the trial again, and again, and again

 

F.      Just Beyond the Trial was some Rest (Ex 15:27)

 

1.      Don’t stay in your failure, or live in your past!

2.      God lays out steps for us (like the nation of Israel) to follow, and those steps lead somewhere – to a place of rest (Heb 3:7-19; 4:9)

3.      So, stay the course, stay trusting in the Lord, and stay near the Cross!!!

 

IV.  Conclusion

 

A.     GOD must try our hearts – prove our thoughts. And expose the real us!

B.     None of us like it! We are just like Israel

 

1.      Israel has gone through a test, a proving, a stretching, a testing of their resolve and their faith (Ex 15:22-24)

2.      They did not believe that God could provide for them in the bad times (the wilderness)

 

a.       He had just rescued them from the strongest nation on earth.

b.      But it wasn’t good enough for them!

 

3.      Can God handle any valley, any trouble, any disaster that we face?

 

C.     God leads us into troubles and testings (Dt 8:2) to do the following things

 

1.      Humble you

2.      Prove you – to the devil

3.      And to know you

4.      God seeks to expose our true desires – we are such fakers and superficial people!!!

5.      Let Him lead you, no matter where!

 

D.     It was in that place called Marah

 

1.      They Went Forward - The people of God MUST always go as the Holy Spirit leads, not as the heart feels!

2.      They Encountered Obstacles (Ex 15:22,23)

3.      They came to the End of Themselves (Ex 15:24)

4.      The Lord Showed the Answer (Ex 15:25)

a.       A single, solitary tree

b.      That TREE is just like the cross (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 1Peter 2:24)

 

5.      God Teaches Them and US a Great Lesson (Ex 15:25,26)

 

a.       THERE, He proved them! Exposed them! Humbled them!

b.      THERE, He made a memory – a memorial

c.       THERE, He required Commitment and Trust

d.      It was THERE that they learned that the Tree/Cross will make all the difference you need

 

E.     Marah is better than Elim

 

1.      Elim had loads of water, and plenty of fruit trees… but were no miracles at Elim

2.      Elim had shade from the sun… but there were no memories at Elim

3.      At Elim… there was no need for God

4.      But at Marah, and at the place of trouble in your life, all three were there!

5.      We all surely need times of rest, and supply

6.      But we all need our Marah’s where GOD shows up and turns the bitterness to sweetness

7.      I believe many of you are at a Marah in your life, and you have overlooked the tree that God has provided as being too little, too simple, too powerless – when it is really the power of God for your life

8.      Has God brought you to a place of troubles, and even bitterness? Then let Him bless you there as He shows you just how much you need Him

 

a.       First by getting saved

b.      Secondly, by getting totally dependent upon Him

 

F.      A Challenge

 

1.      Stop running back to what you are used to (your Egypt, your old bondage)

2.      Let God humble you

3.      Let Him prove to you just how frail you are, and how much you need Him

4.      Let Him supply all your needs through the cross of Jesus Christ – the crucified life

5.      There is a rest, just wait for it