This Week's Sunday School Lesson, "The Lord Provides The Sweetness Of Life", 1/29/2012

THE LORD PROVIDES THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE

Exodus 15:1-3, 19,22-25

PRAISE AND WORSHIP
V.1. "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spoke,
saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his
rider hath he thrown into the sea."
A. The leader ought to be the motivator for praise and worship.
1. When the leader gets excited about praise and worship, the congregation will get
excited.
2. Parents have to lead their children in praise and worship.
a. Our children are affected by our excitement.
B. Leaders ought to be the first to give God the Glory for victory.
1. Leaders ought to voice their confidence to the congregation, that the enemy
can't win when God is on your side.
2. The battle is not yours, but the Lords. 2 Ch 20:15
3. Parents need to be quick to give God the glory in the mist of their children.

V:2. "The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him."
A. Strength = aaziy= praise, security, majesty
1. Song=Zimrath= praise, instrumental music, power
2. Lord = Yahh= proper name for Diety
3. The Lord is the glory of my praise.
a. The Lord is the strength of my praise.
b. He who has God as his strength will have God as his song.
c. Believers ought to have their favorite song of praise.
B. Salvation=yeshuw'ah=deliverance, health
(same word used for Jesus)
1. Jesus is our deliverance.
2. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. Heb. 12:2
C. God= El= Almighty
1. Jesus is the Almighty God.
a. We need to be quick to claim Jesus as our own. 2 Cor 6:17-18
D. We need to prepare a place in our heart for Jesus.
1. Habitation=navah= abide, keep at home
2. If we abide in the Word of Jesus, He will abide in us. Jn 15:7
E. "My father's God."
1. Father= abiy= father of an individual
2. God=Elohiym=One true God, divine one.
3. We are sons of the true and living God by adoption through the blood
of Jesus.
F. Exalt= ruwm=lift up, promote
1. When Elohiym is your God you will lift Him up.

V:3. "The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name."
A. Lord=Yahweh, Jehovah= self existing one.
1. Jehovah is the hero of the battle.
a. Man has no part in the victories of life.
b. Jehovah is complete in His promises.
2. When you abide in the Lord, He has no problem fighting your battles.
3. The Lord is my Lord. He has shown Himself to be who He is.
B. The noun "Yahweh" implies that He is God all by Himself.
1. He is the only thing that we know that does not have a "cause".
2. God always was
a. We are here because Adam and Eve got together and produced an offspring.
b. Nothing produced Yahweh. He is self existent.
3. Thank Yahweh for Yahweh.

REFECTION ON GOD’S VICTORIES
V:19. "For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the
sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of
Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea."
A. An army of the best warriors is no match for God.
1. God sets a trap for your enemies and lures them into it.
2. What is a trap for the enemy is salvation for God's people.
3. God can make a way through the toughest situation.
B. God blesses His people through their trials.
1. God blesses His people in their trials.
2. We must learn to praise God throughout our trials and tribulations.
3. Our closeness to God is developed through our praise (Psalm 22:3, 25).
4. If you want God close to you, just start praising Him.

GOD WILL TEST OUR FAITH
V:22. "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."
A. Some times God leads you into a place of testing.
1. God's tests have a specific time and specific purpose.
2. God's tests are designed to see if we trust Him with our lives.
B. God gives us a Red Sea experience to get us ready for the wilderness experience.
1. If we learn the lesson of the Red Sea, we might not have to go through the
wilderness.
2. A lesson learned does not have to be repeated
3. The wilderness is a time of testing.
4. God uses the wilderness to get our attention.
5. To get our attention, God has to take us through something to make us realize that we
can't do this by ourselves.
a. They were led to a place in the desert where there was no water.
b. Without water there is no life.
c. It is our trials and tribulations that causes us to seek God.
d. It's our murmuring that causes us to seek God and develop a closer relationship
with him.
C. There is a parallel in this verse to the life of Jesus and our conversion to a life with
Jesus.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River then led into the desert by the Spirit to be
tested for forty days.
2. After His crucifixion Jesus was resurrected on the third day.
3. The transition for Israel was at the Red Sea.
a. On one side of the Red Sea was slavery. On the other side of the Red Sea was
new life and freedom.
b. The Red Sea was Israel's baptism.
c. For a Christian, we are baptized in Jesus' death into new life.
d. On one side is death, on the other side is life.

V:23. "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."
A. In every believer’s life, there will be a place and a time of testing.
1. There will be a time when you have what you need but you will be unable to use it.
2. Israel needed water and there was water, but they could not drink it because it was
bitter.
a. They needed water and there was plenty of water, but they didn't know how
to use what they had.
b. The problem was not the water, but their thinking about the water.

3. There will come a time when your situation will be bitter.
a. How do you handle the situation when life becomes bitter?
b. How do you handle you situation when people around you are making trouble?
c. Sometimes the bitterness of life is no fault of your own.
B. When you come to this place called "Marah", it's prayer time.
1. When you come to this place called "Marah", it's time to think on the goodness of
God.
2. In the place called "Marah", you need to find the source of your joy.

V:24. "And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?"
A. Murmured=luwn= to be obstinated, remain
To question God's abilities and motives
1. They were in the mist of the Almighty God who blessed them with freedom, yet
they complained about their circumstance.
a. God had delivered them through the Red Sea.
b. God's presence was known by a cloud that moved before them and stood behind
them and gave them light at night.
2. Israel couldn't see the solution because they were focused on the problem.
a. They needed water and they had plenty of water, but they didn't know what to do
with what God had blessed them with.
B. We ought to expect God to perform a miracle when we need it.
1. We should never complain to God, but bless Him in our situation.
2. If God blessed us through yesterday, He can bless us through today.

SWEETNESS OF LIFE COMES FROM THE "TREE"
V:25. "And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed 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."
Shewed=yarah= point out, direct, teach
A. When bitterness shows up in your life, you ought to look to the "Tree".
1. The "Tree" is Jesus Christ.
2. The Tree has the power to make life sweet.
3. Notice, the Lord pointed out the "Tree" to Moses.
a. Moses had the faith to follow God's directions.
b. When God gives you direction, you have to step out on faith to be blessed.
B. They needed water and there was plenty of water, but they didn't know what to do.
The Lord pointed them to the "Tree".
1. You need a job and there are plenty of jobs, but you can't get the job.
The Lord point out the "Tree".
2. You need some financing, and there is plenty of financing, but you can't get the
financing. The Lord points you to the "Tree".
3. You have a troubling family problem and you don't know what to do.
The Lord points you to the "Tree".
C. " There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them."
1. In order to stay in the sweetness of life, commit yourself to the commands of God.
2. When bitterness comes into your life, you can always go to the "Tree" for
sweetness.

















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