Ron Dunn Podcast - Wilderness Wisdom

Episode Date: April 24, 2019

From the sermon series on Exodus

Would you open your Bibles now to the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, chapter 15. The book of Exodus, chapter 15. is almost completely taken up with a song that Moses and the Israelites sang celebrating the destruction of Pharaoh's army and the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt. Chapter 14 describes the experience of crossing the Red Sea, which was the great event in the history of Israel. Just as you and I look back to Calvary, the Israelites looked back to the Red Sea.

Their Calvary was the Red Sea. That was the work of redemption that God did in their life. The greatest thing God had ever done. The greatest display of God's power they had ever seen. And if you had been there and had seen that marvelous thing, you would have wanted to sing too. They even did a little dancing. Over there in verse 20 it says, And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. I don't think that's the kind of, we relate to, but they were ecstatic with what God had done.

I wish we had the time to read that 15th chapter. It's marvelous. You would think you were listening to the greatest Christians in all the world as they tell about how great God is. Just two or three verses we'll pick out and read because they're so great. Verse 6, for instance, they said, Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power.

Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Verse 11, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Verse 13. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy strength under thy holy habitation. Tremendous song of praise and thanksgiving to God. And then verse 18, The Lord shall reign forever and ever.

And most of that 15th chapter is taken up with that song of jubilation and victory that Moses and the Israelites sang after their deliverance in the Red Sea. Now we're going to begin reading with the 22nd verse and read through verse 27. And I've mentioned what goes before because we will not really understand

and get the full picture of this particular incident unless we understand what preceded it. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah, or the word means in the Hebrew bitterness, a place of bitterness. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had

cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam, where were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.

There are two things that God never wastes. One is time and the other is experience. Now you may not realize it, but I have just said a profound thing And because you don't realize it I've told you that it's a profound thing It is a deep saying And I promise you one thing If you will come to the place where you realize and believe that God never wastes time and experience,

it will transform whatever situation you're in right now. There have been times in my own Christian life when I have looked back on what I thought to be wasted time and wasted years wandering in the wilderness and have lamented to myself, why did I waste so much time? I have never saided to myself, why did I waste so much time? I have never said that to myself, but that still small voice has whispered back to me, we're right on time, brother. Right on schedule.

God never wastes time. He never wastes time. He never wastes experiences. I'm talking about those experiences even when you're out of the Lord's will. When you're wandering in the wilderness murmuring and complaining against the Lord. God uses every second of my time to perfect in me his purpose. God uses every experience of my life to perfect in me his purpose. And one of the greatest things that I ever came to realize in my own Christian life was that you cannot frustrate nor defeat the will of God and the plan of God.

That God is sovereign over all things. And what I think to be wasted time and wasted experiences, God has been using as the hammer and chisel to carve out of my life His picture, His plan. God never wastes time. He never wastes experiences. Now, you'll all realize that. We'll all realize that someday as we have the 2020 vision that looks back and see how like a jigsaw puzzle, God was spitting our life, his divine blueprint into place. But God takes us through some experiences. He takes us down some roads because

it is down that road and only down that road that he can teach us some things he wants us to learn. When we receive someone into our church, I often say God has brought you to our church because God wants to do something in your life in this church that he could not do anywhere else. And I believe that. I honestly believe that. I am convinced that God has done some things in my life right here that he could not have done anywhere else. There are some places that God has to take us because it is there and only there that he can accomplish his purpose in our life. The Christian's response then to every time and every experience ought to be, I'm here, number one, by God's appointment, number two, for God's time, number three, in God's keeping. And every Christian who approaches time and experience this way will

emerge on the other side victorious. I'm here by God's appointment, not by accident, not by coincidence. I'm here by God's appointment. I'm here in God's time for as long as God wants me to be here. And praise the Lord, I am here in God's keeping. I am here in God's keeping. There are some things that God wants to teach us. The message tonight I've entitled Wilderness Wisdom. Wilderness Wisdom. Why did God take the Israelites through the wilderness? That's really not the best road. That really was not the best course. There was an easier way. Sometime when you have the leisure, you study the route that God led them. And by the way, God led them all the way through the wilderness. Even though they were living in unbelief and rebellion, God was still leading them, the pillar of fire and the pillar in the cloud.

God led them in the wilderness and through the wilderness because it was only there that he could teach them some things. If God had immediately transported them from Egypt over into Canaan, there were some valuable lessons they would never have learned. I don't know about you, but I get impatient. I want to take shortcuts to spirituality. I want to get it over with, get it done. I want to take shortcuts to spirituality. I want to get it over with, get it done. I want to arrive.

And one of the things that I've had to learn is that God has to take his time to teach me some things along the way. There is some wisdom that I can only gain as I go through the wilderness. What this experience that the Israelites had at Marah is really an unusual experience. There seems to be no obvious explanation for it. It's a strange incident. It's difficult to see any rational and logical reason that God would bring them through this. But I think that as we go through this incident tonight that we're going to learn some things

that God wants to teach us. Some wilderness wisdom. And the reason I particularly want to share this with you tonight is because these are things that I have learned. And so that makes it special for me. These are some things that God taught me in the wilderness and even in the promised land.

Three things that I want to share with you that God wants to teach us. That's the reason he leads us sometimes to some places like Mara where everything is bitter. Maybe that's where you are tonight. They came to the place of Mara. They could not drink because the water was bitter. And it may be that some of you are right there tonight in a place where everything is bitter and life's gone sour. You're there by God's appointment, friend, because God has something he wants to teach you there

that he cannot teach anywhere else. And while you're there, you might as well learn these three things. Number one, God has taught us and has taught the Israelites that the greatest successes of life are often followed by failures. The greatest successes of life are often followed by failures. Now, to me, it's beautiful where God places this in the book.

What a place, what a contrast. The first 21 verses are verses of victory, of jubilation, of ecstatic thrill. The people are jumping up and down, they're dancing. They're shouting. They're singing. They're offering their praises to God because of what he's done. They have just seen the most marvelous thing they've ever seen. Right before their eyes, they have seen God not only deliver his people, but absolutely destroy the enemies. They have learned that the devil can never outrun anybody who walks by faith. And they simply walked across the Red Sea as God parted those waters and the enemies pursued them and God destroyed them.

They've seen God deliver them. They've seen God keep His promise. And they're jumping up and down. And I want you to notice what happens. Three days later, just three days later, the glow of that experience is still on their faces.

They come to a place in the wilderness and they find no water. What was their reaction? What was their response? Look at what it says in the 23rd verse. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters, for they were bitter. Verse 24. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

Absolute failure. I want to take those words and those first 21 verses and just cram them down the throats of those Israelites. I get so impatient with those people. They've just said, Who is a God like thee that delivereth his people? They've just said, You have redeemed us. They've just said,

You're going to lead us to our destination. They've just said that. You know what they discovered? They discovered that it's one thing to sing a hymn and it's another thing to live a life. Right after that tremendous experience, they meet with absolute failure. And friends, that is a lesson that God wants to teach every one of us,

that the greatest successes of life are often followed by the greatest failures of life. You remember when Simon Peter in Matthew chapter 16 made that great confession? As Jesus was visiting there with his disciples and he said, whom do men say that I am? And somebody said, well, some say you're Elijah, some say you're Jeremiah, some even think that you're John the Baptist come back from the dead. And Jesus said, I know what they think, but what do you think?

Who do you think I am? And Simon Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, because you didn't figure this out by yourself. You didn't reach this by intellectual knowledge. God the Father hath revealed this to you. Imagine. Can you imagine how Simon Peter must have felt?

I think he just stood about six inches taller then. And out of the whole twelve, God favors one with divine revelation. All these other fellows saying, well, some say you're Jeremiah, some say you're Elijah. And Simon Peter steps into the spotlight and says, thou art the Christ. Jesus singles him out and says, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. The Father has revealed that to you. You know, God sure knows how to demote you, though. Because a few verses later, Jesus turns to that same man and says,

Get thee behind me, Satan. Can you imagine how Simon Peter must have felt at that moment? I'm sure that if he could have found a place to run and hide, he would have done it. One minute, he's in the spotlight of divine revelation, exuberant with what God has shown him and with the blessing of Jesus upon him, the very next minute Jesus is calling in the devil. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou savorest, now get this, thou savorest not the things of God. You know, it seems in my Christian life that at one minute I have had the whole of revelation opened up to me,

and the very next minute it seems that I savor us not the things of God. Now, they met with failure, and this is the thing that really bothers you. There is no obvious explanation for their failure. It doesn't say that they rebelled or they sinned. I could understand this incident, and I could understand their failure if the record were to read something like this. And after that experience,

they begin to rebel against the Lord, or they committed a trespass in the sight of God, or they committed sin in the sight of God, or they committed sin in the sight of God, or they turned to idols, but there's nothing like that at all. Now I want you to get this, they were just as close to God in this place of failure

as they were previously in the place of success. There's no indication that they had sinned or that there had been disobedience they continued to go the way God was leading them everything was right between them and God and immediately they plunge into failure sometimes we could understand failure better if we could understand that there had been sin in our lives

but many times we're just as close to God when we're going through failure and difficulty as we were when we were going through success and victory. And if you don't understand and learn this lesson, you're going to be knocked for a loss time and time again in your Christian life. After God gives you a great victory in your Christian life, understand that coming fast on its heels most of the time is failure.

Now why does God do this? And God does it, by the way. They didn't stumble onto this place. They were going exactly the way God led them. And I want you to notice God led them right into failure and say, hey, you don't have to be afraid of failure if you're following the Lord. I don't mind being a failure if God led me into this place of failure. And it's all right to be beside the waters of Marlow where everything is bitter

if you follow the Lord there. And that's exactly what they had done. Now, why does God bring us to a place of failure? Why would God give us one experience of tremendous victory and immediately follow that experience with dismal defeat? You have the answer found in verse 25, the last phrase Proved them. There he proved them. You underline that. Proved them at the Red Sea. When they were standing on the shores.

Watching the waters wash up the dead bodies of the Egyptians. They began to sing and rejoice. That's not where God proved them. There's one important lesson in the Christian life you have to learn, and that's it. God never proves his people in times of victory. He always proves his people in times of defeat. You know what?

They fail the test. Because when they moved into this time of failure, immediately the Bible says they begin to complain and murmur against Moses and begin to cry out, what are we going to do? What are we going to drink? And the reason that God leads you to some of these bitter places, and you may be there tonight, and the reason you're there is because God wants to prove you to see really what kind of person you are so that you will know what kind of person you are.

God doesn't prove me on Sunday morning when I'm standing up here preaching. That's no proof of how spiritual I am. It's no proof of how spiritual you are when you're teaching your Sunday school class or you're in a prayer meeting somewhere. That is no proof of your spirituality. The only place that God can prove his people is when they come to the place of bitterness and see their reaction and their response. That is the place of testing. That is the place of proving. Lesson number one, the greatest successes of life are often followed by the greatest failures of life. Lesson number two, the greatest services of life are often followed by forgetfulness. The greatest services of life are often followed by forgetfulness.

Notice verse 22. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. Now notice it doesn't say God brought them from the Red Sea. He did, but he did it through Moses. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. Everybody join with Moses in that song of victory, that jubilation song. Man, isn't Moses a great leader. Man he's the greatest.

He put the enemies to flight. He led us safely through the Red Sea. They were singing with Moses. Now notice. Unbelief has a short memory. Notice. Verse 24. And the people murmured against Moses.

What a switch. What a switch. One minute, they're singing his praises. One minute, they're jumping up and down in jubilation. The very next minute, they're griping and complaining and murmuring against Moses. The greatest services of life are often followed by forgetfulness. They just forgot. They just forgot.

The truth of the matter is, they were not murmuring against Moses. They were murmuring against the Lord. I hope that you will believe what I'm going to say. Because I believe it's the truth. I believe the Word of God bears it out and teaches it. Anytime that you murmur against your circumstances, anytime you murmur against people, you are really murmuring against God.

Did you know that? Because, you see, they were murmuring against Moses, but it was God who gave them Moses. They were complaining and griping and grumbling about their situation, but it was God who led them there. Sometimes young people murmur against their parents. Man, I wish I had so-and-so's parents you know I remember doing that I guess every kid does that sooner or later the grass always looks greener on the other side everybody else's folks always look better you know and I had a good friend when I was about nine or ten years old, and boy, his folks let him do everything under the sun. And I used to, when I'd get mad and my folks and I'd have a little fight,

I'd always try to hurt them and get even by saying, well, I wish I had so-and-so's mom and dad. If the truth were known, they were probably thinking the same thing. I wish you were his son, too. It's like the young fellow was having an argument with his dad one day and said, well, I didn't ask to be born. The dad said, well, if you had,

the answer would have been no. But who gave you those parents anyway? God did. And to murmur against the parents, to murmur against God. What about your circumstances in life? What about your physical makeup? Your appearance? Murmuring, complaining, unhappy about it.

All murmuring is really murmuring against God because He is the sovereign Lord of all circumstances. Forgetfulness. Forgetfulness. Are these people so dense to believe that God delivered them from the Israelites just so He could let them die of thirst in the wilderness. You would think

that when they observed that great deliverance that that would be etched on their minds and the rest of their lives they would never get upset, get uptight, hit the panic button because everything

else they encountered would be determined and ruled by that one great event of life. You'd think that, wouldn't you? No matter what they encountered along the way, they'd say, hey, 11th commandment, thou shall not sweat it. Let's don't get worried. Let's don't get upset. Let's don't punch the panic button. Remember the Red Sea.

Remember what God did. Don't worry about it. He delivered us once. You'd think that, wouldn't you? But you know, they acted just exactly as though the only reason God got them out of Egypt was so he could watch them starve to death in the wilderness. Forgetfulness. Forgetfulness.

You'd think that one great demonstration of God's love and power and deliverance would convince them. You'd think that the cross would convince some of us too. You know what? Some of you in this place keep asking God to somehow prove His love to you. Forgetfulness. You would think that Christians, having once stood at the foot of the cross

and seen the mighty power and love of God displayed in Calvary, you could never doubt His love and care for them. Sure, I'm going through a tough time now, but listen, God didn't give His Son to die for me just so He could let me perish here in this spot. Why, I know now that God will never abandon me because look what he paid to purchase me. His son, the blood of his son was the price it took to purchase me.

I'm so valuable. He won't abandon me now. Isn't that right? Oh, then why in the world do you and I fret, worry, doubt, and wallow in unbelief? That's what Paul is saying in Romans chapter 5. If God has delivered us, and if he gave his Son when we were enemies to die for us, much more now he's going to take care of us. You see, if God has done the most, he'll always take care of the least.

If he has done the greatest thing, he can be trusted to do the smaller thing. Why in the world should I ever come to the place of unbelief and failure to trust God implicitly once I've seen Calvary. And yet some of us live day by day as though God just saved us and gave his son to die for us just so he could watch us perish right now. God's greatest services to us are often followed by forgetfulness. Last thing you need to learn is this. The greatest shortages of life are always followed by fullness.

The greatest shortages of life are followed by fullness. They came to the place and they could not drink of the waters of Marah for they were bitter. People murmured against Moses saying, What shall we drink? Now notice the people complained to Moses,

which is always the wrong thing to do. Notice what Moses did, and he cried unto the Lord. And I can divide everybody in this place tonight up into two categories, the complainers and the criers to the Lord. Complainers never get anything done. They never bring down the blessings of God.

Between a million and three million Israelites standing out there in the bitterness, in the wilderness, wringing their hands, complaining, complaining, complaining. One man got off to himself. Instead of complaining, he cried unto the Lord. Notice it says, And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

Now look at verse 27. And they came to Elam, where were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters. Praise the Lord. I tell you, there's always 12 wells of water, friend, after that shortage. Oh, I wish you could see that. I know some of you right now going through a bitter place. I know some of you right now

going through a time of shortage and it seems as though God has abandoned you and he just got you out of Egypt so he could watch you starve to death in this place. But I want you to know, friend, over the hill, there's 12 wells of water. Shortages are always followed by fullness. Now, I made a few little notes here

in the margin of my Bible about how God supplied their need. Number one, He did it in an irregular way. Boy, I don't know if it was the MacArthur Boulevard bunch out there in the wilderness and it's Ron Dunn instead of Moses. I'd probably been complaining along with the rest of you, but let's just suppose that I had enough spiritual sense to cry unto the Lord. I said, Lord, you've got to save me and this bunch of people. They're complaining and no telling what they're liable to do to me.

And Lord, help us. These waters are bitter and we've been traveling for three days. We need water. And the Lord said, well, see that tree over there? Right. Well, pluck up that tree and throw it in the water. Now, what would have been your reaction to that? I would have said, now, Lord, I've got a better idea.

I would have probably prayed for rain. The Lord said, get that tree, cast it into the waters. God, I have found, is true to the word. He meets the shortage in the most irregular and unusual ways. And you'll miss it, folks, if you think God has to come regularly programmed. That's the reason some of you are missing it tonight. Because God just hasn't fitted into your own little plan. And this isn't the way you missing it tonight because God just hasn't fitted into your own little plan. And this isn't the way you expected it. Listen, he fed them with manna which none of their

fathers knew. Nobody had ever been fed this way. That's the way my God works. He's original. If two people have the same experience, one of those experiences is false. God's original. Nobody ever has the same experience. God doesn't duplicate. And the reason some of us are hung up on some of these things and really can't enter into fullness is because we want God to do it in our life the way he did it in sister so-and-so's life or brother so-and-so's life. God doesn't operate that way. He comes to you and says, I want you to pluck up that tree and throw it in the water. Well, the Lord, people think I'm crazy. He said, I don't care. You pluck it up and throw it in the water. There's a very great Baptist preacher who wrote

a little track. I've not read it yet, but the name of the track is how to be filled with the Holy Spirit without acting like a nut. I haven't read the track and I'm not criticizing the track but I'm not too certain that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit if you're worrying about acting like a nun I mean there may have been some of the folks in that camp that thought here we are dying of thirst and Moses over there is throwing trees into water

as if And Moses over there is throwing trees in the water. Now listen, as if the water wasn't bad enough as it is. You know, I'm glad he operates that way. I tell you, God has done some of the most illogical and unreasonable things in my life. I just pray that the Lord help me trust him more. To walk by faith. God never let me get to the place where I have to see the plan before I build. Lord never let me get to the place where I have to see the map before I take my first step. Not only that, but usually he meets the need with something right under your eyes.

Oh, this is beautiful. You know, that tree had been there all the time. All the time those people were complaining. All the time those people were complaining, all the time those people were fretting, griping, wallowing in unbelief, there was a tree all the time, just waiting, waiting for some man to stop complaining and start crying unto the Lord.

God did not create that tree on the spot to meet that need. That tree was there before the Israelites were there. God has the provision long before the problem ever arises, friend. So there's no need to really get frantic, is there? The need's there. Something else about this, God had to show it to him. God had to show it to him.

Comes by divine revelation. God showed it to him. God showed it to him. Now, when you get desperate enough and you get thirsty enough and you get tired of the bitterness and you come to the place where you cry out unto the Lord I want to tell you something eventually God will show you a tree and you'll say well Lord I've seen that tree there all the time but I never knew that was how you wanted to meet my need. The shortages of life are followed by fullness.

And the most beautiful thing of all is that 27th verse. When it says, and they came to Elam. I just a while ago made a little note out the side of that word came. I wrote this. They kept going. You say, well, I'm in a mighty bitter place tonight. Listen, friend, you keep following Jesus

and you'll come to Elam. You'll come to Elam. And notice there were 12 wells of water, more than they needed. And God threw in something a little bit extra. He even gave them some shade trees. Isn't that nice? Boy, I tell you, if that doesn't excite you, there's something wrong. You know, the Lord gives me what I need and he throws in a little bit extra. I don't know about you, but brother, I've had a lot of palm trees in my life. And I've cried out for the water and God showed me the wells.

And just kind of the way he is, he says, now here's something extra, just a bunch of palm trees. That's the way the Lord is. They'd never found that though if they hadn't kept going. I wonder if they left anybody tomorrow. It doesn't say they did. I wonder if there's anybody that turned back and went back to Egypt.

You reckon? Don't have any record of anybody doing that. Can you imagine what might have happened if they'd gotten discouraged and despondent and they said,

there's no use in going on. And they turned turn back. They would never have found Elam. They'd have missed the greatest blessing. On the one hand is the Red Sea. Marvelous victory. On the other hand is Elam. Marvelous provision.

In the middle is Mara. That's where it always is in your Christian life, friend. But you keep going. I love the 23rd Psalm because it says, I walk through the valley of death. I walk through the valley of death. I don't walk and sit down in it and stay there. I walk through the valley of death.

They came tomorrow. God met their need. They kept going and they came to Elam. And they had more than enough. And extra thrown in. I'm sure that there are some of you tonight that have been a little bit tempted to just sit down and say, well, this is as far as I can get. And hey, let me tell you something else. Aren't you glad they didn't just settle for that one little spot of water that had been made sweet? What would have happened if the Israelites had have said,

this is great. He threw a tree in the water and the bitter waters became sweet. Let's just stay here now because we have water that is made sweet. God said, folks, don't get wrapped up in one little blessing. Don't pitch a tent and worship a past experience. He said, I've got something even better.

You think this is good? Wait until you see what I've got for you at Elam. You think this water is sweet. If you'll just keep on going. And not get hung up on worshiping one little blessing. Or one little experience. And you'll keep on going. Knowing that the best is yet to come.

And the Lord always keeps moving in the direction of better. And little ways you'll come to. More water than you've ever seen. And more shade than you've ever experienced. And them's my sentiments. Lord. I don't want to. Sit down and count beside one experience.

Or one blessing. Lord's got. Even greater things for me. I can't believe that it could get any better. I can't believe that Jesus could get any more precious. I can't believe that God could get any more real. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web,

or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.