Please remain standing and take your Bible together with me, and I would like to direct your attention tonight to Exodus chapter 15. We're back to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 15, beginning from verse 22 to 27. This is the final part of Exodus chapter 15, beginning from verse 22 to 27. The word of the Lord. Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. Therefore, it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses saying, what shall we drink? And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water. and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them. saying, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord your healer. Then they came to Elam, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. Amen, let's pray. Our Father and our God, as we just sang together, we now ask you to feed all of us by the bread of life, Jesus Christ, your son, who came from above, from heaven, to become the bread of our life. In his name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Tonight we come to the portion in the book of Exodus, chapter 15, where God tried and tested the faith and the obedience of his people in the wilderness. What we see happening in our text this evening will help us to make a contrast between the conditional promise of the law and the gracious provision of the gospel. These two, when we contrast them in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, gives us a life lesson. They give us a very important lesson about the sovereign grace of God in the salvation of his people? How are people saved? How are people reconciled with God who is holy, perfect, and righteous? Is it by the keeping of the law? Or is it merely by His sovereign and saving grace? Or both? Works plus faith. How are people saved? How are we saved? In our text tonight, we see these two in contrast. Moses, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wants to teach us that the sovereign grace of God in salvation is above and over the work of righteousness of anyone. Because in our text, we see God testing his people in the wilderness right after he delivered them from Egypt. Remember the salvation that came to the people of Israel from the beginning to the end was the work of God. God did it all The Israelites didn't contribute anything toward their deliverance. It was done. The entire work of deliverance from Egypt was the work of God. But we need to ask, okay, God delivered them. by his mighty hand, from the hand of the Egyptians. They are now free. They are now liberated by the mighty hand of God. They have salvation. God has become their salvation. Why is God now testing his people in the wilderness? We see God doing two things. We see him testing their faith first, And then we see him testing their obedience to his word. And then I also want us to consider his gracious provision, provision of salvation. So two things. First, God testing the faith, his people, the trial of faith. and then the trial of obedience, and then the gracious provision of the gospel. Remember what went on before what we are considering tonight. God brought them out of Egypt. Moses tells us in verse one, I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. So that was the final manifestation of God's deliverance, Pharaoh, and all his troops are now in the depths of the waters of the Red Sea. They are now gone. And the people of God now are free. Moses also tells us in verse two that God has become the salvation of his people. So Moses was already singing the song of salvation. They were in a different place in their life. They were singing to the glory of God. They were offering songs of praise for their salvation. Then God put them into a trial. that Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water." You know, immediately after their deliverance, immediately after they all came together to praise God for His mighty work of deliverance. There was no water for the people of Israel. There was no water for them. They traveled for three days, and there was no water for them. Shur is in the northern part of the wilderness between Egypt and Israel. And they already traveled for three days, it is in the wilderness, and there was no water for them. then they came to uh tomara a hebrew word for bitter not sweet not pure they they couldn't drink this water and the word bitter here is equivalent to what noami said one time in a book of ruth chapter 1 verse 20 when she came back to Israel, people were saying, here is Noami, Noami is back. And Noami said to them, do not call me Noami, which means sweetness, but call me bitter, for the Almighty has caused me great grief and bitterness. That's what Noami said. The word bitter here is equivalent to that. There was water, but they couldn't drink it because it was not pure. It didn't fit for them to drink this water. Then why is God testing them? with this bitterness of water. He already delivered them. They are saved. They saw the mighty hand of God delivering them from Egypt. God is teaching them to trust in Him, to rely on Him, to have confidence in their God. Now, let me ask you this. after they face this trial, no other for drink, for drinking. Do you see the people of Israel praying? Do you see them asking Moses to pray for them to intercede on their behalf? No, we don't see them doing that. Instead, we see them doing this in verse 25, and the people grumbled. against Moses saying, what shall we drink? As if it was Moses' fault. As if it was God's fault. They immediately started grumbling. We don't see them praying. We don't see them trusting the Lord. You don't hear the people of Israel saying, His hand delivered us from Egypt. What is drinking water for God? He will provide. We don't see them saying that. This has been the pattern of the behavior of the people of Israel. Murmuring, grumbling. Is murmuring a sin? Yes, it is sin. In Philippians 2.14, Paul said, do all things without grumbling. Do all things without grumbling. In fact, the reason why God punished the people of Israel in the wilderness was because they grumbled, they murmured against God and his servant Moses. Then in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 9 to 11. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Then listen to Paul, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. What happened here, the Israelites grumbling, murmuring, is for our instruction. Even in the wilderness, Even in the face of trials, God always calls His people to have faith in Him, to trust Him. But the lesson you see, the Israelites are taken here, and all of us, together with the Israelites, is if it was from obedience, the obedience of the people of Israel to God. Deliverance would never come to them, but it was because of God's grace. It was because of God's mercy, God's kindness. That's what we see here. The more He shows His mercy to them, the more they rebel, the more they disobey. That's the nature of man's heart. And God is teaching them, you see, it is not by works. It is not by obedience. Yes, those who are saved, those who have been delivered by God, must obey God. But we obey Him because He first loved us. We obey Him because He delivered us from the hand of the evil one. But you see, their faith was tested and they failed. They grumbled against God. But listen to what God has done here. We don't see God saying, enough is enough. I will destroy you, replace you with other people. But this is what we read. And Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. Amazing grace of God. Amazing love of God. They disobeyed him. They grumbled against him. And Moses prayed. He cried to God. And God provided. He showed him a wood to throw him into the water. And the water became sweet. You see, we are contrasting the conditional promise of the law. If you obey me perfectly, if you do everything that I have commanded you perfectly, then you will be blessed. But if you don't do them, you will be cursed. Conditional promise. If that was the way of salvation, no one would be saved. No one would be reconciled with God. But we see God's grace here. We see God's mercy here. Isn't that what the scripture tells us in Psalm 103, verse 8? The Lord is merciful and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. That's who God is. Slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. That's the heart of God. That's the nature of God. Does God hate sin? Yes, absolutely. He hates sin. Does He punish sin? Yes, He punishes sin. But at the same time, He is a very merciful God to those who repent. to those who remorse over their own sinfulness. God is merciful. He is full of compassion. He is slow to anger. Psalm 111 verse 4, He has caused His wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. How is it that God caused people to remember his wondrous works by manifesting his mercy and his grace? Secondly, we see the test of obedience. The first trial was the trial of faith. Are they going to trust me? I will send them through Moses to the wilderness and they will taste the water. It will be bitter. They cannot drink it. Are they going to trust me? How are you all doing tonight? Are you struggling financially? Are you in need? Let me ask you this. Do you trust God for provision? Are you trusting Him? Are you in the wilderness right now? Your faith being tested by God, and God is waiting to see if you really trust Him or not. If you are going to grumble and murmur, forgetting everything that He has done for you in the past. as if he has never been good to you, as if he has never provided before. Are you in a place in your life where you are grumbling, murmuring? That's what they did. And that's what sometimes you and I do when we face with the trial of faith. It was not the question of salvation. It was not the question of deliverance. He did it all. They are delivered. They are his people. They are his own possession. Now he's trying them. He's testing their faith. Then comes the test of obedience. First was the trial of faith. And then obedience, listen. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule and there he tested them saying, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians." First of all, what we see here, what we see here is that in time of disobedience, in times of disobedience, at times that people grumble against God, murmur against God, who is good, who is gracious, who is merciful, it's possible for God to punish those who grumble, those who murmur. That's what he did here. The Israelites were punished because they grumbled against God. But now, this is another test. This is a test to obedience. You see, God gave them a statute, a rule. Now you need to remember here, the law was not given yet. So this is the seed form of the law. The meat and the bone of You know, what the law means is listening to God, listening to His voice. Listening also means obeying His word, obeying His voice. That's why you see God is saying here, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord, you're God. Now, you see the lesson for you and I tonight is, listening to God requires diligence. Listening to the voice of God, like tonight you come to church and you listen to the voice of your God, requires diligence. Because you put aside everything and you came here. You make this evening worship service the priority of your life. Providence didn't hinder you. You could have done some other things, but you say to yourself, it's time to worship the Lord. It's time to sit under the preaching of His Word and listen to His voice, the legions. You are being the legion tonight. It requires diligence. It requires sacrifice. That's what God is saying here. If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that is right in His eyes. You remember in the parable of the sower, at the end of that parable, Jesus in Mark 4, 24, said, pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And still more will be added to you. Pay your full attention with diligence to the hearing of the Word of God. Hebrews 2.1. Now the writer of the Hebrews is speaking here. He's exhorting the people and all of us from experience. He's remembering what happened in the wilderness because the Israelites refused to hear the voice of God. They were in trouble. God disciplined them. God punished them. Hebrews 2.1. Therefore, we must pay much attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Like the Israelites. Like the Israelites. So instead we drift away from his voice, from his word, we are called to pay much attention to what we hear. Now, let me ask you this. Are they going to obey now? You know, in the first test, they failed. What about in the second test? You would imagine, oh, by now, they should learn by now. By now, they should trust. By now, they should obey. That's what you and I would say. Are they foolish, that much foolish? They should obey. They had their lesson with the first trial. We'll talk more about this next Sunday, Lord willing, but listen to what they did. They saw God turning the bitter water into a sweet water. They drank from it. And then listen to what they did in chapter 16, verse 1 to 3. which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel say to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. There was no water. God provided water. Now they are saying, we don't have anything to eat. Why did you even brought us out of Egypt? We wish we could have dead in Egypt. Now you brought us out to the wilderness to kill the whole congregation. What is the lesson here? It's not by obedience. Salvation is not through obedience. Justification is not by obedience. It's by grace. It's by grace. Every time we come to John 3.16, what do we see in John 3.16? God's provision for salvation. Paul in Titus 2, 11 said, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, all people being Jews and Gentiles. But listen to Paul, what he's saying. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. Think about that. How was the grace of God revealed to bring salvation to all people? How? John 3 16. God loved, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that anyone who would believe in Him would not be perished but have eternal life. Now I say this to the singles at the conference yesterday, this is the tendency with many people. In John 3, 16, people, they only see the Father giving the Son as a gift for eternal life. We don't really see the Father giving over the Son to death. given us as a gift for eternal life, but the eternal life will be obtained through His death on the cross. That's why you see Paul in Romans 5, 6, he said, for while we were still sinners at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. So Jesus, you see, he didn't die for good people. There is no one who is good. There is no one who deserves God's salvation by his own good work. So listen to Paul carefully. Christ died when? Christ died Under what circumstances? Well, two things. While we were still sinners, which means while we were still guilty, while we were still wicked, dead in our sins and trespasses, but also at the right time. At the right time means as the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament. It also means Jesus died on the cross after all men in the world understood that it will not happen. Salvation will never happen by keeping the law. Before Jesus died on the cross, God gave the people of Israel 1400 years. to try to justify themselves by keeping the law. They failed. Not only that, they killed his own son, Jesus Christ. They killed all the prophets, and then finally they killed the son. Greek philosophers came, and they tried to find God by their own wisdom. They couldn't do it. All failed. And at the time that everyone was shouting, crucify him, crucify him. Caesar is our king. This man is not our king. We don't want him as our king. At that time, at the time that everyone was rebelling, Jesus died on the cross. Grace. It's by God's grace. Paul in Ephesians 2, 8-10, he said, So brothers and sisters in Christ, what we learn from our text tonight is God delivered us. God saved us. completely by His own grace, mercy, and finished work of His Son on the cross. Salvation is not by works. It is by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Now does this mean we don't need to obey God? Does this mean we don't need to be concerned about our obedience to God? No. Because God saved us to obey Him. God saved us to please Him. God saved us to glorify Him through how we live our life here on earth. You all remember what Jesus told his disciples in John chapter 14. If you love me, obey my commandments. Prove it. Show me that you love me. Show me that you belong to me. How? By obeying me. By obeying me. So the question to all of us tonight, including myself, is are we obeying God? The God who saved us. The God who showed his mercy to each and every one of us through the work of his son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Are you obeying him? Or are you murmuring, are you grumbling? as the Israelites did in the wilderness. And nothing good came to them after they grumbled. So He saved us. He demonstrated His great love for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Let us love Him and also listen to His voice diligently. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, Lord, we bless your name for the gift of your word, for the provision of salvation. Indeed, salvation from the beginning to the end is your work. And help us to embrace that, to, Lord, accept that as the truth of the scripture. And knowing that, understanding that, Lord help us to obey you, to hear your voice diligently, to make you are God and your Holy Word the priority of our Christian life, and worship in you the priority of our life. Lord, grant Your grace to each and every one of us, so that we not only be hearers of Your Word, but also doers of Your Word. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.