I invite you to turn in the Bible this morning to the second book of the Bible, Genesis, and then there's Exodus. We are working through this book of Exodus, and the reason, as I prayed, we're seeing the whole story unfold right in front of us, and Exodus chapter 17 this morning puts that on display very beautifully as we see Christ here, as Paul pointed out with this event, but also the numbers event that Christ was present with them and they drank from that rock who is Christ. Let's consider together just the first seven verses and then we'll come to the table this morning. Let's hear the word of the Lord. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin 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, 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 so moses cried to the lord what shall i do with this people 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 will stand before you there on the rock at horeb and you shall strike the rock and the water 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 Massa 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? May the Lord bless the hearing of his word this morning. Well, this morning the Lord has set before us a table, his table where we get to come and feast and hear of his kindness and grace to us in our struggles in the wilderness because we are too a wilderness people traveling somewhere. But I wonder if we really do understand the privilege this is to come and partake of this table as we should. I think of Peter's words to our Lord when the Lord asked him if he would rather be somewhere else. People were leaving Jesus. People were walking away from Jesus. They didn't like his message very much. And Peter said to him, he said, Lord, you have the words of life. to whom shall we go? We're not going anywhere. You've got the words of life. Peter would confess, you are the son of the living God. There's no place we'd rather be. They understood something, didn't they? They grasped something that has been lost today. We learn this from Israel. We learn something very powerful from Israel this morning in Exodus chapter 17. Here is this wonderful God, the God of all creation of heaven and earth, who had done everything for Israel. What had he not done for Israel? He had delivered them. He had redeemed them. He had pulled them out from being in bondage. He fought for them himself. He delivered them and saved them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and he bore them. He's been bearing them on eagle's wings, if you will, the whole way. Did Israel understand what all of this caused? Did Israel understand what a special privilege it was that the Lord was with them and that the Lord had treated them this way? Could they even see it? That's the question. All we have seen from Israel in the wilderness is what? They're complainers. They're miserable and complaining incessantly, non-stop in the wilderness as they continue to go forward. And today it sort of hits a climax in all of the complaining. If this is the holy God of Israel, I'm struggling with this question, and you should be struggling with this question why is the lord putting up with this i mean it's really remarkable he continues to be so long suffering and so patient with this people why is he so determined to do good to these rebels in the wilderness who really show in their lives that they're not very grateful for too much who show little response and who are really never content. Any of that sound familiar, by the way? And now in the heart of this this morning, before the Lord gives the law on Mount Sinai, the Lord makes it clear to them what they deserve. And yet instead of wrath, Psalm 103, we have the clearest presentation of the gospel so far in Exodus this morning. I think one of the clearest presentations. In other words, God gives them a visual of the cross. God gives them a visual of the cross. And all of this sort of functioned to explain to them and say to them, listen, you need to stop being unbelieving but believing. You need to believe. You need to trust me. You need to know that I'm with you and I've never left you nor forsook you. That's a wonderful promise that he made in the covenant of grace. I'm not going to leave you and I'm not going to forsake you. And now you see how shocking it is at the end of this where it said twice, is the Lord with us or not? That's a shot. That's a shot at the covenant of grace so the lord is saying uh to them this morning look at what i'm doing and enjoy peace understand my promises understand what i've given to you and what it's secured for you god instead of striking them strikes something else in front of them this morning instead of giving them judgment he gives them water if you won't come to the gracious merciful Lord today, we are the most pitiable of all people. We have turned away from the one who all day long, all throughout history, has stretched out his hands and showed us him stretching out his hands to a disobedient and a contrary people, Paul says in Romans 10. And so this should make us today drop in thankfulness and in praise that he gives us a place here and that this declares to you today, I am not against you, but I'm for you. Do you know what that means? As you open up chapter 17 in Exodus this morning, you read in verse 1 that then all the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages according to the commandment of the Lord and they camped at Rephidim, which means a station or a place of rest. He's continuing to supply this. Now this is directly playing off of the last event in chapter 16 where the Lord had given them rest and called them to Sabbath, called them to rest, called them to enjoy him and to not work for their food, trusting him that he would provide for them in the wilderness. Well, all these events, since they've come out of Egypt, are all tied together and they're all viewed as one major event. You remember in chapter 15, they went three days into the wilderness and they found no water. And that started them on a long sort of problem of complaining against the Lord for His provisions and for the way that He was leading them. Well, now we come to chapter 17, and as they set out again, the Lord wants us to see how connected all these events are because He wants us to see that this whole time, leading and climaxing to the giving of the law on Sinai, was a test for them. It was a test. you'll notice the emphasis he's leading them he's guiding them his commandment is guiding them he's telling them where to go where to turn how to go where to move and up front he tells us this and and it's it's a major encouragement as we're able to look at this and look back at israel and see everything that went on that the lord was leading them every bit of the way he had never left them. That's so important up front. He had never left them. He was guiding them, which tells us that every rock we cross, every stream, every valley we enter in his providence, the Lord is with us. The Lord is guiding his people. The Lord is protecting his people. If we believe that and we understand that, that's going to make the valleys that we go through, it's going to make the hardships that we face a lot more endurable because we know the Lord has promised to bless us and be with us in that. And so it should cause us to deeply lean on him and trust in him that he will provide and to surrender knowing that he knows best in the way that he's guiding me and leading me even though I may not understand all the turns. I may not understand all the way it's going. I may not understand the whys and the way it's happening. I can trust the Lord that his way is good for me and that his way is leading me and he's telling you that this morning as we open up exodus chapter 17 and all of you can apply that in many ways well what happens here what essentially happens is israel shows us the absolute wrong response to the test israel had enough they had enough of god's wilderness leading you'll really see that climax at sinai where they said we're done with this lord and we're going to create our own god to take us and they made a golden calf remember what we read is that they come to rephedim and there's no water to drink and you kind of get the sense of israel saying are you kidding we're going through this again we've just been through this we've just been through this This is the same old story. Nowhere. We're going nowhere in the wilderness. They will say that later. We're going nowhere. It's fascinating because what we have here is that they lacked water at Mara. And in a short time, here, they're going through it again. And it will designate it. And we'll look at this as Massa and Meribah. But I pause to say, how many times have you felt this? How many times have you experienced things like this? It just seems to be one thing after another. It seems to be one problem after another. It seems to be one test after another. And it becomes wearisome. There have been many circumstances in the Bible where the Lord inspired psalms and the psalmists will cry out and they will describe their real struggle with their frustrations in their wilderness ways. There are frustrations in this pilgrim life, going home. They describe this stuff. They describe the agony of it. The Psalms pick it up all the time, and they ask the question, Why, O Lord? Why this? Why that? They ask these kind of questions. I think of Psalm 77. I cry aloud to God. Aloud to God, and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord. In the night, my hand is stretched out without wearing my soul. Listen to this. refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan. I'm struggling here. Why this? Why is He putting me through this? When I meditate, my spirit faints. You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled, I cannot speak. I'm amazed that the Lord inspires stuff like that. Which tells you he has a lot of compassion on that struggle, doesn't he? A lot of compassion. That's not the struggle of Israel right now. There's a difference. All I'm getting from Israel is an incredibly bitter and angry spirit rejecting and contending and not even really wanting an answer to this. That's the difference. Not even really wanting an answer to why they're going through what they're going through. You read there that they contended with Moses, and notice the way that they say it to Moses. Therefore the people quarreled, verse 2, with Moses and said, give us water to drink. That doesn't sound like, you know, give me this day my daily bread, Lord, right? Give it to me. Give us water. We're done with this. And Moses appropriately responds and says, why are you contending with me? It says the people, verse 3, thirsted there for water and they complained. People grumbled against Moses and said, why do you bring us out of Egypt to kill us with thirst? You're killing us and our children and our livestock. What a charge, isn't it? I mean, you're killing us. You want to put an end to us. Now, Moses had already made it clear before that they were not complaining against him. Ultimately, their complaints were going up against the Lord. And I want you to notice the spirit that's in them. Do you see the spirit here? The spirit that's coming out? It's bitter. It's angry. It's unsatisfied. I liken it to this. It's like a man who has a wife, and this woman has loved her husband. She has always been there. She has always encouraged him. She has always cared for him. She's prepared meals for him. She's made the home wonderful for him. She's worked hard. She has, after everything that she's done and all of her loyalties and all of her care and all of her love, after year and year and year and year and year, that's her treatment to him. He says to her, you don't satisfy me. See the difference? You don't satisfy me. he trashes her and he runs out and does whatever he wants to do in the late hours of the night it's cruel isn't it it gets worse here in our text and you see how glorious as as the lord's response is to all of this it really makes his gospel just shine in verse seven the climax comes when they ask an awful question. Is the Lord with us or not? That is the first time they have directly lashed out against Him. Notice that it's progressed. It's gotten to Moses and now it's just gone right to the source. They throw a dart right up at Him. Is He with us or not? That's not really a question of asking where is the Lord? it's a shot at saying he's a failure. He's a failure. If you were to go through the Psalms, which describe this event, the Psalms will explain it in certain ways what was going on. 1 Corinthians 10 captures the numbers event, but those events are put together in such a way. But listen to Psalm 106. He rebuked the Red Sea and dried it up. So he led them through the depths as through the wilderness. He saved them from the hand of him who hated them. Think of how wonderful when the Lord delivered them from Pharaoh, the oppression. He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their enemies. There was not one of them left. Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. But they soon forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel. They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tested God. in the desert. And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. The judgment was they're never satisfied. They're never satisfied. It's leanness. It's like Haggai describing that people, all they were worried about was making money and it went into a bag with holes. No matter how much they made, they never had enough. So this is the crucial point. He had overturned Egypt. He had reversed creation for them. That's how powerful our Lord is. He has at his command all of creation to help us. He killed the Passover lamb, and remember what happened. The angel of death passed over them so that they were not judged. He parted the Red Sea. He destroyed the Egyptians. He brings them out. He saves them from 400 years of absolute misery and bondage, and they get out in the wilderness as if the Lord doesn't have the power to help them. But it's even worse saying now the Lord has abandoned them and is not even with them. What a thing to say, isn't it? It's a really shocking thing to say. And in the wilderness, what have they witnessed so far? He's dropped bread from heaven on their doorsteps. He's dropped quail on their doorsteps. At that sort of basis, on that basis and power, this is what Jesus was teaching us not to worry because when we ask the Father, If a son asks for bread, the father's not hurling down on him stones. They have forgotten all of that. Isn't that something? Did he not care for them? The answer, of course, is to always think about in the past what the Lord has done for you. What has he done for you? Well, Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all His benefits. Forget, you see, we struggle with that. Forget not. What has He done? He's forgiven all your sins. What a burden that takes off you knowing that and believing that, right? You're not going to hell. You're saved. He's forgiven you. He heals your diseases. He helps you when you cry out to Him. And if he chooses not to, immediately, if you die, you go to be with him in glory. He redeems your life from the pit. How many times have you fallen? How many times have you been hurt? How many times have you made choices that could have wrecked your life and he stopped it? He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. Haven't you known that all your life? He satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. He's satisfying you here today with this table. and you get to go home and He's going to satisfy your bodies. He feeds you. Are you getting a sense of what we're like to Him? This is what this is showing. Are we grumblers? Do you grumble about wilderness life? Do you grumble about Him? Don't we live life when we're frustrated and discouraged because it says that Israel was discouraged in the wilderness? Don't we live life in our discouragements wondering, is God even really care? Does he even there? Does he even really care about me? Isn't that a thought? Which translates to, he's not really, he doesn't care about me, he's not with me. Has that ever been a thought? When I'm discouraged and I'm tested, it's the littlest of things and I act as if God has failed. I act as if he did it. And all the evidence has been, my whole life he's sustained me because here I am today. your whole life, your existence, your breath, your food, and then the sending of His Son. He has been so committed, your Heavenly Father, to tell you about Him giving you the Holy Spirit, and that's how you act. That's how I act. Is the Lord among us or not? That's held out as the worst thing Israel's done. That right there. It may not seem to be a great charge, I've already said that's challenging him, calling him a failure. But you have to understand that this was the essence of the great promise to Abraham. What did the Lord say to Abraham he was going to do? The Lord said to Abraham, I'm going to bring them out and I'm going to give them the land. And he told Abraham, and I will be with them. He told Moses from the beginning, I will go with you. What does the Lord, how does the Lord view all of this? Moses raises it. why do you test the Lord? You stop and you say, whoa, who's testing who here? He had been testing them. And now Moses says, now you have put him to the test. In fact, in verse 7, the two words throughout Israel's history that were used to describe this are given to us here. The place of the place is called Massa and Meribah. Meribah means to argue, Massah means to tempt, which was later, there's roots here. It had the sense of even the covenant lawsuits that would come out. And you stop and you say, whoa, this has turned. Now the Lord's test, in that test, they have turned around and tested him. This has always been held out as one of the darker moments of Israel's history because of their absolute challenging of his covenant of grace. that's what this is it was a big moment uh the scriptures present this that israel that day filed now stay with me on this and you'll see the whole picture this morning israel that day filed a covenant lawsuit against the lord what were the nature with the nature of these charges they've leveled this what were covenant lawsuits covenant lawsuits throughout history were when when god's prophets would be sent and they would confront israel and say listen you you've broken you have you become covenant breakers and this is found all throughout archaeological digs where they would have these treaties that they had at that time and susan's and vassal treaties and in these if a covenant was broken between the susan and the vassals a grand court case would be established there would be a court case and you would have a scene of judgment and they would render the verdict so you the plaintiff the one bringing the lawsuit would make the speech and bring the charges judges would then be appointed accusations would be made and the defendant would respond and then a judgment would be rendered this is this is what we find throughout history in these digs and in fact the structure of the book of amos is just this by the way uh in amos he goes on behalf of the lord to prosecute the the lawsuit and uh he's like a lawyer speaking on behalf of the lord so in amos 2 the lord gives one israel's oppressing the poor they're committing sexual morality they're profaning god's worship through breaking of the law witnesses are called god names a bunch of nations as witnesses and then in amos chapters Verse 3 and 4, God declares the judgment. So think of the scene here. Before the giving of that Sinai arrangement, Israel has laid charges against the Lord. Is the Lord among us or not? Testing Him, putting Him to the test. That's a way of saying, you've not made good on your promise. The things we struggle with. Is the Lord going to bring us home? Is the Lord going to bring us to heaven? Israel is brought to trial and the terms here are laid out. Notice this. Think about the scene now presented to you for a moment. Think of the scene. The charge is raised. Yahweh is not fulfilling his terms, what he promised. He just wants to kill us. Moses comes to the Lord. Lord, what do I do? They're ready to stone me. They're ready to put it. I'm your mouthpiece. they're ready to put an end to me, which means they put an end to you. So what does the Lord say? Go on before the people. Notice this. You can see this here in verse 5. 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. Notice the whole scene that's now presented. Take in your hand the rod that struck the Nile and turned it to blood and take some witnesses, take the elders. The rod was the symbol of God's authority and it was the rod that, remember, was used to implement the judgments of God in Egypt with the plagues. So the rod would be raised up before whoever's guilty and they'd be struck. The wrath of God would be represented in full in this strike. On the guilty party. Are you ready for this? Moses, my prophet, go. Take the elders, take the witnesses. Go to Horeb. Now, Horeb should have some meaning for us by now. We're real close to Sinai. In fact, this is where the burning bush incident happened. This is where Moses first met Yahweh. This is where Moses got a real strong understanding of the holiness of God. got a real strong understanding where he had to take off his shoes on holy ground before the Lord and he was not consumed. Go to the rock at Horeb, take the staff, put some elders there and gather all of Israel around the rock. Two million people. And then comes an overwhelming statement in verse six. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. To which everyone should say, uh-oh. Right? Not a good moment. It's devastating. If they're found guilty, it's over. It's over. What happens? Israel gathers around the rock. Elders standing there. The rod is lifted by Moses. The Lord appears and stands on the rock. I'm not sure how the Lord descended that day on that rock. I know there was no way they could see the glory of God and live. So how did he do it? Who came out that day to meet them? Paul told you. That rock was Christ. Israel should have fallen to their faces. For when the rod was raised, who was going to be struck? But you read in verse 6 that the Lord tells Moses, you strike that rock. Now remember, this was the rod, the giant rod in front of Pharaoh. And we looked at the word at this when the first plague happened. He didn't just touch the Nile. He took the rod and slammed the Nile, struck it, beat it. Christ, right then and there, took the judgment, gave a visual of what he came to do. This, dear Christians, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, is the gospel. This is how you're saved. the summary of the law says to you that you all should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Those are the terms. How have you done? You've got a lot of bitterness in there. You've got a lot of bitterness against your brothers and sisters, and you've got a lot of bitterness against Him. And this was so important because He puts on display before Sinai what he wanted Israel to know, what he's told us to show us and what was the basis of Galatians telling us that whatever happened at Sinai could not annul the covenant that God gave in Christ beforehand to make it of no effect. That could not happen. This was in operation. What does that mean? When he promised Abraham him he would do the work you've got the visual of Genesis 15 right here the Lord took the beating all the painful blows all of his wrath all that God demands all that he demands perfect obedience Moses stood there and he represented all that the law demanded we know that about Moses this is why Paul would say the law came through Moses but grace came through Jesus all that the law demanded He stood there and he took the rod and he struck Christ with it. The righteous requirement of the law, having been broken, that it might be fulfilled in him. And what happened? Immediately water gushes out of the rock to two million people. That was a river that came out. What did the Lord do? Their charge was he was not being faithful. They put him to the test. And since they were guilty sinners, the only way for that covenant promise to be fulfilled was that atonement had to be made for sin. And think about this in Psalm 105. He opened the rock and water gushed out. It ran in the dry places like a river. For, here it is, He remembered His holy promise and Abraham, His servant. There it is, right there. Remembered. They forgot He remembered. They were all wrong in their charge. Not only was he among them, but declared that day that he would come among them and he would take all their sins. He would take all of our sins upon himself so that he would fulfill what Genesis 15 showed us. And you know this story, you see. In the fullness of time, what happened? Jesus Christ came. And he came into this world. And what was his life like? he came in poverty he came in hunger he came and was tested in the wilderness and did he ever complain never once he never murmured he never complained to his father and what did he do didn't we read last week what did we do to him didn't we read that when when he was here we wanted to throw him off the brow of the cliff what was peter's message the lord of glory first message in Acts after the resurrection the Lord of glory you took and crucified we stripped him we beat him here's where it all comes together this morning what are the gospels so careful to show you about him going to the cross a trial a great trial happened witnesses were there they were false witnesses of course remember we watched a criminal get released and him put in our place we're the criminal and at that hour darkness fell on him and god raised the rod of his judgment against him and god struck his son the father struck the son and the rock who was christ was struck and remember what john said happened when a soldier went up after he was dead after he was struck water came out of his side but when they came to jesus and saw that he was already dead they didn't break his legs but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out and he who has seen has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he's telling the truth so that you may believe but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes by that rod you are healed that's why paul said we all drink the same spiritual drink who is christ he freely gives you today waters to drink freely isn't that wonderful even though you've been like this to Him. What did Jesus say in His gospel ministry? Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. And the water that I shall give him shall become a fountain of water springing up to everlasting life. That's what He gives you. He is the rock. So remember today when the Lord tries and tests you in the wilderness. You're going to be tried. You're going to be tested. He loves you. And I want you to think of the scene that's before you this morning because we don't see these scenes much in the church today. The scenes are gone. Everything's lost, it feels like. I want you to think of the scene. God has set elders who are going to come up here in a minute. I want you to look at these men. What are they going to do? They're going to testify. And they're going to testify by handing you something. What are they going to hand you? Bread and wine. To declare to you that the penalty of your sins and all of your failings, to declare to you that God struck with his rod his son for you. And he calls us now to a life of faith and trust in him as the Lord of our lives. That's what he desires of us. You're going to see that tonight in Mark. If that's not true for you, that's why I give a warning. I have to. Because if someone doesn't believe this, if someone doesn't have Christ, that rod comes down on them. And we don't want that. That's what Judgment Day is. But that's why all of this says today, it doesn't have to be that way. If you have Christ, you have peace. He Himself is our peace. And for the weary sinner in the wilderness, for all of your hardship and all of your struggles. He knows your weakness. He knows that. He understands your frailty. He knows your dust. And He wants you to know that by looking to the rock who is Christ and believing, you are given today rivers of living water. You're given what you need to be satisfied. And He is able to nourish and to satisfy your souls to everlasting life. That's the gospel the Lord has announced to you. And with that, we come to His table. with believing hearts let's thank him gracious heavenly father we're so thankful for this passage it's a glorious passage and you are so faithful and we today praise you for your loving kindness and for not giving us what our sins deserve would this deeply affect the hearts and lives of all of your people to motivate us to never test you now in the wilderness but to come with softened, not bitter, not complaining, believing hearts since we've been set free and since you've loved us with an everlasting love in Christ Jesus, the rock who has struck for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.