Exodus 17:1–7Scripture
Well, that is the image this morning that we are seeing in Exodus chapter 17, and you can turn there with me. We see that there are many things in this life that jockey for our attention and that we seem to prioritize, but there is something that is more important than anything that our heart desires, and our life possesses, and our flesh longs for. There is a level of provision that goes beyond the temporal and most satisfies us in the spiritual. Even in the midst of our need, we fail to realize there is a greater need in our lives. And it is not just that you are fed, and it is not just that you have water to drink, and it is not just that you have a roof over your head, but there is a spiritual need that each of us has that is much greater than any temporal need you will experience. And so today, that is the heart of the message in chapter 17. And the reality is, if I were to summarize it is:
Is God your ultimate treasure? Is he your ultimate treasure?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:22
Oh, that changes really the way we come in on Sunday morning then, doesn't it? Because there are some of us that come in today out of duty or penance for the things we've done wrong in our lives, but there are some that are here today because he is their greatest treasure. Which, what is he to you? What is he to you? Exodus 17, and I'm only going to do verses 1–7. There's plenty more to talk about
Introduction
Here, but I just want to zero in on this, because there's plenty to talk about. It says, "All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD." So the Lord took them on a journey by stages, according to his leading. That's important. I'll just pause here for a second and say this: the same applies for you. If you think that God is not leading you through your life by stages, you got it convoluted. And just like them, he's leading you in your life by stages. And some of you have questions about what's happened in your life. How could a good God lead you through such stages as this? The reality is God is in control, and you may not like the way he's in control of your life, but he's doing something. You may grumble about it. You may have problems with it. You may beseech him and offer up prayers and tell him you have a better way. But at the end of the day, he's in control, and he has a plan. And so it's the duty, it's really my duty this morning to help you understand that although you may not like the plan, he's good, and he's doing something in your life. My hope is that you will be encouraged today by this truth. And he led them by stages, "according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, 'Give us water to drink.' And Moses said to them, 'Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?' But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?'" It's funny, because just moments before, he was going to kill them with hunger. God provided. Now he's going to kill them with thirst. God's kind of murderous to them in their eyes, isn't he? He's a murderous God. Yet he provides over and over again. "But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children with thirst?' So Moses cried to the LORD,"
"What am I supposed to do with these people you gave me? They're almost ready to stone me." "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold,'" I love this part, don't miss this part, "'I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb.'" Now you have a Rock on the rock. It's interesting. "'And you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.' And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah," I like that. I like that name because it has "bah" in it, "because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'" Is the Lord among us or
Point 1God leads his people to waterless places
Not? Notice here that the Lord leads them to the campsite with no water. God leads them there, and that was the plan all along.
See, God's not surprised by your lack. He led you there.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:07
God was not surprised by their lack of water. He led them to a waterless place. He led them there. You can see this in the middle of verse 1: they moved by stages, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim. "By stages" means that there were two other stages between the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim. Moses makes no mention of them here, because he has one point to make, and the point is, God is commanding the movements of Israel. Pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night. And his command brings them to a waterless place, which is significant for one reason in this story: there's no water there. There's no water there. If you're a Christian this morning, this is your life. God works all things according to the counsel of his will. Ephesians 1 says this, let me give you a few verses: if you're a Christian, God works all things according to the counsel of his will. All things, not just some of the things. There's no provisional space there for anything you don't like, or that you would like to attribute to the devil. He works all things according to the counsel of his will. James 4:15 says, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." But if he doesn't, you won't. Job 1:21: "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Psalm 115:3: "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." There might be some of you that came here this morning, and you feel like your life is camped at Rephidim, just like the Israelites. And there's no water, and as far as you can see, it's wilderness in every direction. And from a merely human standpoint, your circumstances are going to end badly. There doesn't seem to be any human way out. And this text says you're not there by accident. Your ways are ordered by the Lord. And one of the purposes of these verses and this sermon, I believe, is to help you see and feel that in spite of all of this, the Lord is good. God has led his people to the campsite with no water.
Listen, you cannot see God as a provider in your life if your entire life is a life without lack.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:18
The simple fact that God provides is evidence that there's need for him to provide. And oftentimes the way that he teaches us that he is a provider, and that he offers provision, is by leading us into places of lack, so we can learn to depend on him as the provider. This is part of the way that he teaches us. He teaches, listen to me, dependency on him. Sometimes he will lead you to a place where you can no longer provide for yourself, so that you can learn that he's the provider. That you can't trust in you. You can't depend on your parents. You can't depend on anybody else. Have you ever had a time in your life where he led you to a place where you can no longer depend on the things you used to depend on, and he became the thing that provided for you? Listen, this is good. Oh, it's painful. Come on now. It's painful. It don't feel good. It didn't seem good. Can I get an amen? It wasn't fun. And when you look back, it felt painful. It even feels painful to look back and remember. But I came here to tell you that's good, because you got to learn about another level of provision that comes from the Father. Let me tell you, it's a different kind of provision. It's good.
Sometimes he'll lead you to a waterless place, because it is in the midst of lack that we learn that he is our provider.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 11:09
He's teaching us something. If you're here this morning and you're in a waterless place, I want you to understand this is a beautiful place to be, because you're about to learn about a provider that you have not heard about yet, and he will provide in ways that nothing else has ever provided.
There is hope in the midst of your wilderness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 11:33
There is hope. Let me tell you, sometimes essential things can become our treasure. I think it's okay to thirst when you're thirsty. I think God wired that in you so that you'll drink something so you don't die. But at the end of the day, if you die in the flesh and live in the Spirit, you live.
There is another water.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:19
Let me tell you, there's another water that you should know about this morning that's much better than the glass you fill, that gives you eternal life. And that's the water he's trying to show you about today. Oh, it's important to have a cup of water. You should have one at least every three days. You should really do that. I want to encourage you to do that. But if you live your whole life having all the water in the world for the flesh, but you forsake the water of eternal life, you will regret it one day when you stand before the Father. It said that the people quarreled. This is a pretty combative word. It's like a mutiny word. The people were about to kill somebody. They were mad. There was an upheaval. They were, listen, they were coming to kill Moses with stones. This wasn't like, "Well, I don't agree with what you did," you know, and they put a message into an email to the leader of the church. It's not an email. A group of hundreds of thousands of men showed up with stones to kill Moses. That's next level. "We don't like our leader." I mean, right? "Therefore the people quarreled with Moses," and were about to stone him, "and said to Moses, 'Give us water to drink,'" or this here stone is going through your head. "And Moses said to them, 'Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?' but the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our
Point 2God's people did not trust his good providence
Livestock with thirst?'" Main point: God's people did not trust that God's providence is good. And I think this could apply to us today. But they accused Moses, and they accused God of harmful purposes. And in verse 2 the people take issue with Moses. Whatever is happening here, whatever it is not happening fast enough, and so they demand water: "Give us water to drink. Now. I want it now. Give it now." In essence, Moses responds, "Your quarreling is out of place. You're not even quarreling with me. When you quarrel with me, you're testing God's patience. Why do you quarrel with me, and why do you test the Lord? Why are you doing this?" Story after story in the Bible, including this one, is God's roar from heaven. And this is what he's saying to us, and it's all through the Bible, and I don't want you to miss it: "Trust me. Trust me." I mean, if you could ever trust somebody in your life, you can trust God. Isn't it amazing how easily we give trust to people today, and at the same time, we give trust to people that are not worthy of trust, but we have a difficult time trusting God? Why is that? Then in verse 3 we hear the heart of the incident. They don't ask, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt?" They asked, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children?"
They aren't questioning God's timing. They're questioning his goodness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:58
And this is a problem. They aren't saying that God is incapable of giving them water. They're saying he never intends to. In other words, his purposes aren't saving. They're murderous. That's crazy. His whole purpose is to save. He sent his Son to die for you, to save you. He ain't going to give you a little water? If a father knows how to give a good gift to his kid, how much more does our heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to his children? What kind of craziness is this? The same kind of craziness that's in you. Is it truthful? I mean, me too. Not just you. Not just you people. When Moses says in verse 2, "Why do you test the LORD?" There's a warning in those words, and don't let that warning be lost on you this morning. There's a warning to the people of Israel, and there's a warning to you: don't test God's patience. Because here's the facts. Here's the facts, and you may not like this: his patience does run out for people who don't trust him in time, who despise his ways. You know how the story ends, right? His patience runs out a little bit, and there is a result for that. Don't test him. That's why the warning in the Bible: don't test the Lord. Numbers 14:22–23 says this, "None of the men who have seen my glory and my signs," this is what happens when you test him too long, Numbers 14:22–23, "None of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it." So Moses is warning them, "You're not just testing me. You're testing the LORD." We may not understand all the reasons why God chooses a waterless encampment for us, but story after story in the Bible, including this one, is God's roar from heaven: "Trust me.
Point 3God's presence goes ahead and gives life
Just trust me." And can we talk a little bit about God's presence going ahead of the people, ahead of Moses, and ahead of the elders, and standing on the rock? We have a Rock on the rock. I love this. I love it. "So Moses cried to the LORD, 'What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.' And the LORD said to Moses, 'Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.' And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders." God's life-giving presence toward absolutely undeserving people goes on. His patience has not run out. Not yet. Not yet. This miracle of life-giving grace will come about by the Lord's presence. This is the best part of this whole story for me. This is the most wonderful part: "behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." Of that water, man, there's so much Christological, beautiful imagery here. Beautiful. And not to meander off too much in here, but we know that Christ was stricken. He was stabbed and pierced, and water came out. And it's a symbol of his death, and what his death accomplished for all those who thirst for something that can only be satisfied and quenched by the death of our Savior. It's a beautiful imagery. And God's presence is there. Why they slay Christ, you know. Okay, I'm going to meander a little bit. Did you know, whenever you were guilty of something, whenever you would stand in court, you would stand there? You wouldn't sit there. You would stand as people came and brought judgment against you. You would stand and you would give a defense. When you're on trial in that day, you would stand and you would give a defense. I think it's interesting, because we have God on trial, standing. It is crazy, right? That we put God on trial for the way that he walks, the way that he lives, the decisions he makes, and what he does. We put him on trial. We make him give a defense for the way he moves. He's standing. They put God on trial, and look what God does. He gives them water anyway. An undeserving, ungrateful, unloving, sinful, ungodly people put God on trial. The insanity of it all. I mean, whenever you have a problem with God, you should probably take a good long look in the mirror at self, and you should ask yourself the question: Are you worthy of putting him on trial? I mean, this is insane. Do you see the imagery here? It's insane. And God is, in other words, saying, "My presence is your life. My very presence gives you life. I brought you out of Egypt myself. You think you need water, but," I think the imagery here is, "you need me. You need me." This is getting harder and harder to do in a sermon, but I'm going to do it anyway, because maybe this will affect a few people in here today. But those who are faithful to read their Word every day, and they go a week without doing it feels like you're dying. You're dying. It hurts. It's worse than hunger pains when you haven't eaten for four days. It hurts. Nothing makes sense. Now, that's lost on a lot of us today, because some of us make a life out of starvation. So that imagery is lost on you. You're used to being anorexic.
You've made a life out of it. His presence is your life. I know you want water. Brook went to Sam's Club yesterday. I was like, "Get a brother some cake. I need some cake. I need some sustenance in this house. I need some cake. I've had enough vegetables, and I've had enough chicken. I need something that will kill me. I need cake." She brought home cake, and I was so excited. And some ridiculous person in the bakery made this cake but turned it into a giant cupcake. That thing was this big. And they put a wrapper around that cake that I had to pull off first. That'll make you wonder if you're saved. You have to pull the wrapper off. It was like half cardboard or whatever. I was like, "What person does this?" It's like when you get a gift and you have to get the jaws of life to get the gift out at Christmas. You know what I mean? It's like, I just want the cake.
Just want the cake. And so we pull it all out, and there's whipped cream in the middle, and I was like, there is a devil. There is a devil in this world. I'm telling you, man, it was bad. It was bad. It was bad news. I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. I did not eat any of it, and it was very sad. Oh, so, but as much as I long for that, it's nothing compared to the longing I have for Christ. It's nothing. When was the last time you had a craving for something? Just raise your hand. You had a craving for something. Now, don't raise your hand: when was the last time you had a craving for Christ? When was that last time? That's the point of the story. Not that they got water, not that they got their craving satisfied with water, but that his presence was there.
And the satisfying nature of his presence was so much greater than the water they drank from that rock.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:48
"You yourselves have seen what I did to the egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples." Exodus 19. He's saying this: "I am taking a stand on the rock that I will give you, because my presence is your life. I brought you out of Egypt to myself.
You think you need water, but you need me."
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:21
Notice that God does all of this in
Point 4Memorials of failure magnify God's goodness
The presence of their moral failings. And Moses "called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'" He made a memorial, and the memorial is not this positive memorial of all that God did. We know that when they crossed the Red Sea, they made a memorial giving glory to God for all that God had done. He is a deliverer, and they made a memorial to remember the goodness of God. Notice here that the memorial is different. It's not "God is merciful,"
"God is a provider." It's none of that. That's not the memorial. The memorial is that we tested the Lord and we quarreled. That's what those words mean. Massah: tested the Lord. Meribah: quarreled. In other words, we tested the Lord and we quarreled. "Because of the quarreling of the people, and because they tested the LORD by saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'" Moses memorialized their failure rather than God's goodness. "Well, I just don't like it when we just get so down about ourselves, and we're so negative." Well then, can you imagine making memorials about it? Notice the distinction between your lack and his greatness.
And notice that his greatness is most easily seen in your lack.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:58
Romans was hard. Amen. But isn't it beautiful that now we begin to see God's goodness in the light of our badness? Oh, it was tough to see the badness for so long, but how beautiful is his goodness. And it is most rightly seen in the midst of you being truthful about you. Can I get an amen?
And so we find joy in making memorials of our brokenness, because it is then that we can glory in his goodness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:27
The memorial was their badness, because his goodness is most easily seen in being honest about us. Moses doesn't name the place "Grace abounding," or "Water from the Rock," or "God Is Faithful." He names it Massah and Meribah. Massah means testing. Meribah means quarreling. And then he makes the meaning explicit: "because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD."
He means for us to see the greatest failure in the light of the greatest gift.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 30:06
So verse 7 ends, they tested the Lord by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" Exodus 17:7. God had said, "I will stand before you there on the rock," Exodus 17:6. And the people said, "We know he is here, and we believe he intends to kill us." And he memorializes that heart. Did you know that you can have confidence in places that don't have water? Confidence in the Lord. For many of us, the greatest obstacle to joyful confidence in a waterless wilderness is not that God can't save us, but the question, will he? And the great obstacle to believing that he will is our sin. How can God be a just and holy God and do what he did here in Exodus 17? How can God be righteous and act as though the despising of his name had little or no consequence? And our very hearts cry out, "I have scorned the name of the Lord in all my doubting, and all my unbelief, and all my despairing in the wilderness.
Will God not simply join me in the belittling of his name by sweeping my sins under the rug of the universe? How can I ever be saved?" According to one commentator, how could they ever be saved by a righteous and holy God? If he doesn't punish them, then he despises his name in a response of mercy.
It's crazy, right? And in the mind of the apostle Paul, there was no greater problem faced by humankind. If God puts up with this, then he endorses it. So how is it that we see a God that's merciful in the presence of ungrateful people, and God doesn't punish that ungratefulness? But, ladies and gentlemen, he does. He does punish it, abundantly.
He saves you from it, but he punishes his Son because of you. And that's the gospel.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:22
You know how he puts up with the Israelites over and over again? By what he rolls out on his Son because of them. Are you with me today? This doesn't go unpunished. Everything you've done, everything you're doing, and everything you will do again against his goodness, he punishes. That's why you should not take lightly what you're doing. "Well, it's just a little sin." Somebody pays. "Well, God's merciful. It won't affect anybody." Yes, it will. Yes, it did. Listen, you don't get a pass.
Your sin doesn't get a pass. That's the point of the gospel. Someone took a hit for you. His name is Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 33:31
In the mind of the apostle Paul, this was the troubling thing: How can God uphold righteousness, and his name, and the goodness of his name, while showing mercy to God-belittling, God- despising, God-unloving, God-ungrateful people? How is it that this scene rolls out in Exodus? This passage is unbelievable. God offers himself as our life while surrounded by outrage, the outrage of people indicting him as being evil, when they are evil. This is insane. Paul has an answer to this greatest of all moral problems, and I'm going to read it to you, and it's in Romans. Shocker. And here's how he answers how is it that God puts up with this and gives people a pass. He's like, he don't give people a pass. He's righteous, and people will pay.
Somebody pays. "God put forward Christ as a propitiation," a satisfaction of God's justice, "by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins." Because of Christ.
In other words, the death of Jesus is a thunderclap of this
Pastor Shawn Gray · 35:09
Point 5Every undeserved blessing is owed to Christ
Truth: no sin is ever passed over, ever. Every undeserved blessing shown to God's elect in the Old Testament was bought by the blood of Jesus. When Paul made the strange statement in 1 Corinthians 10:4 about Israel in the wilderness, "They drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ,"
1 Corinthians 10:4, this is what I think he meant: the undeserved blessing of water from the rock, the undeserved blessing of manna from heaven, the undeserved blessing of deliverance through the Red Sea, the undeserved blessing of guidance by day and night in the wilderness, the undeserved blessing of quail, the undeserved blessing of provision, is owing to the cross of Christ. How right it is, then, to say the Rock was Christ, the manna was Christ, the deliverance was Christ, the pillar of guidance was Christ. Because God's guilty people could enjoy none of that if not for Christ, because justice must be served, and people must pay for this behavior. Somebody will get theirs.
Thank God it was Christ. That's the good news.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:46
Every good thing God does in the old Testament in the midst of people's stupidity is thanks to Christ. It's thanks to Christ. It's so funny, because we get hung up on why these people would grumble after all of these wonderful things God did. Have you looked in the mirror? They're not the only ungrateful people on the planet. A little intense today. Sorry for yelling. It's Christ. When he leads you into the wilderness, encamped at Rephidim, and there's no human hope, trust him. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32. Everything you need has been purchased, above all himself, for your enjoyment now and forever. 1 Peter 3:18.
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