This exposition of Exodus 17:1-7 by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, December 2, 2018.
Intro:
The first time it happened I was shocked. We were driving down the road. The kids were small, riding in the back seat and we were coming to Tulsa from Ponca City. Rheadon and I were trying to keep the kids occupied by pointing out various sites along the road. That’s when it happened.
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I actually said, “Kids, this used to all be open out here. When I was a boy none of this was here.” I looked in the mirror to make sure it was me and not my dad driving! I was shocked but I noticed it happening more and more. I found myself saying things like, “You want something to cry about? I’ll give you something to cry about.” I couldn’t stop it. I was turning into my father. The final blow was the morning I went into the bathroom to shave. I looked in the mirror and said, “Dad?” I bring this up because I had a similar awakening this week. I was reading through Exodus preparing for this morning when it dawned on me…I’m just like Israel! The realization hit me in mid rant as I was saying, “What’s wrong with you people? It’s just been a few weeks since you were slaves begging God to deliver you. He did so in dramatic fashion. Great signs and wonders were performed right before your very eyes. You walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, the waters piled like walls on either side of you. He transformed bitter water into sweet water. He provided quail and manna. Yet at every turn you are whining and acting as if it is the end of the world. What’s wrong with…” that is when it hit me, I’m no different. I have, by the grace of God passed from death to life. I’ve been set free from the bondage of sin and death and been made the object of God’s love and grace and yet how often do I whine, complain and murmur when things do not go according to my plan? It seems no matter how far I’ve gotten down the road of sanctification the depravity of my father Adam keeps showing up.
God led his people to Rephidim a “place of rest,” that’s what the name means, but there was no water! So, the people of Israel did what they normally did, they whined, murmured, and complained. The place of rest became the place of test. But just who is testing who? Our text this morning is found in Exodus chapter 17.
Text: Exodus 17:1-7
Israel is moving further south into the wilderness.
Moving away from rather than toward the Land of Promise.
Why?
Because they are not ready to enter the Land.
God is working in them, shaping, molding them into a holy people.
They are on the Pilgrim Path, the road to sanctification. It is a long and at times, difficult path mined with physical dangers and spiritual doubts. It is not necessary for their salvation but it is essential to their sanctification. The LORD has already noted several times this is for the purposes of “testing” Israel. Proving the genuineness of their faith, their willingness to trust and obey.
As we work our way through this text we are reminded that…
Thesis: It is in our wilderness wanderings, between the bondage of Egypt and the hope of the Promised Land, our faith is tested, refined and made to reflect the wonder of God’s gracious work in us.
We must never lose sight of the fact that the goal of God’s working in us is not to make us happy but to make us holy. Happiness is a byproduct of holiness. As we comfort to the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus, as we become more and more what we were created to be we find greater happiness and fulfillment but the goal of God’s great work in us is to make us more and more like him.
Thus our faith is never untested.
God is always at work in all things.
There are three things I want us to note in our text.
- Along the Pilgrim Path difficulties often spark a crisis of faith. (17:1-7)
- Along the Pilgrim Path you must guard against assuming the role of judge determining truth for yourself. (17:2, 7)
- Along the Pilgrim Path the LORD graciously accommodates our struggling faith and shows himself as our provider, protector and constant companion. (17:5-6)
Conclusion:
But there is something else I want you to see. God took the blow. He was on the rock when Moses struck it. Listen to the apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians 10:4 - and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. John 19:34
…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John 4:14
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