Perhaps you know the great children's literature book,
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good.
Very bad day.
Yes?
I went to sleep with gum in my mouth,
and now there's gum in my hair.
And when I got out of bed this morning,
I tripped on the skateboard,
and by mistake, I dropped my sweater in the sink
while the water was running,
and I could tell it was going to be
a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
We all have days like this, don't we?
You lock yourself out of your dorm room.
You lose your cell phone.
You leave your groceries on top of the car and drive away.
You sneeze in your lab experiment and ruin six weeks of research.
Or a host of other things that go wrong in our everyday life.
They're inconvenient.
They're troublesome.
Sometimes they're relatively costly.
But sometimes, of course,
our days really do begin to get terrible, horrible,
very bad, and no good.
Sometimes,
the things that go wrong start to cut deep in our lives.
They begin to cut to the very core of how we live.
We don't have food.
We don't have water.
We don't have a place to live.
There are times when we are pushed by our circumstances,
and they seem harder than we can bear,
and our very life is being threatened.
The Bible describes this as a wilderness.
Think about what a wilderness is,
particularly in the ancient Near East.
To go out into the wilderness in Palestine
is to be a place where there is no water.
There is no food.
It is very hot during the day.
It is very cold during the night.
The animals that are there are threatening,
not helpful.
It is a place where your life is in danger
if you stay there.
Now, look, the Bible doesn't say
that going out into the wilderness
is always a bad thing.
Once, there was a garden,
and the garden was a beautiful place,
and everyone lived there,
and it provided everything we needed.
But for most of the time in the Bible,
when it talks about a wilderness,
it's going into a place
where you are facing circumstances
that threaten your very life.
They are truly hard.
How does God want us to face the wilderness?
This brings us to our text this morning.
We're continuing in a series
in the book of Exodus.
If you want to turn in the pew Bibles
in front of you, page 57,
if you're following along,
we're going to actually look at
two sections of Exodus.
We're going to look at the end of chapter 15,
and then we're going to look
at the beginning of chapter 17.
If you remember where we are in the story,
God has brought the people of Israel
out of Egypt,
delivering them from slavery,
and he is now in these chapters
from 13 to 18,
or 13 to 19,
God is bringing them
from the deliverance of Egypt
to the foot of Mount Sinai,
where God will reveal himself
in the giving of the Ten Commandments
and the law.
In the meantime,
in this travel through the wilderness,
God is using this time
to teach his people about who he is.
He has brought them into the wilderness
so that they will see
what kind of God he is.
If you were here last week,
Pastor Greg preached on chapter 16
and the giving of the manna,
how God gave them food
that they did not know of
so that they would know
that man does not live alone,
but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God.
And next week,
Pastor Nick will preach
on the internal and external threats
to the people of God
in the wilderness
and how God meets them in that.
But today,
these two stories are about water
and about thirsty people
in the wilderness
and how God meets them there.
So we're going to read.
We're going to start in chapter 15
with verse 22.
We'll read to the end
and then we'll skip
to the beginning of chapter 17.
So if you would want
to read along with me,
this is God's word.
Then Moses made Israel
set out from the Red Sea
and they went into
the wilderness of Shur.
They went three days
in the wilderness
and found no water.
And when they came to Marah,
they could not drink
the water of Marah
because it was bitter
and therefore it was named Marah.
And the people grumbled
against Moses saying,
what should we drink?
And he cried to the Lord
and the Lord showed him a log
and he threw it into the water
and the water became sweet.
And there the Lord made for them
a statute and a rule.
And there he tested them
saying,
if you will diligently listen
to the voice of the Lord your God
and do that which is right
in his eyes
and give ear to his commandments
and keep all his statutes,
I will put none of the diseases
on you
that I put on the Egyptians
for I am the Lord
your healer.
Then they came to Elam
where there were
12 springs of water
and 70 palm trees
and they encamped there
by the water.
And then chapter 17,
verse 1.
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,
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
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 are 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 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
because of the quarreling
of the people
of Israel
and because
they tested the Lord
by saying,
is the Lord
among us
or not?
Let's pray.
Lord,
we come to you
this morning.
Thank you
for this word.
Thanking you
for the way
that you have
recorded throughout
history
your actions
so that we might know
what kind of God
you are.
Lord,
I pray you would
give us,
Lord,
attentive minds
and soft hearts.
Lord,
help us to hear
from your word
from you
this morning
by your spirit.
Help me,
Lord,
to speak your word
or that we may know
what kind of God
you are.
We pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
How does God
want us
to face the wilderness?
I think there are
two major things
in these passages,
these accounts
that I want to focus
on this morning
and then we'll talk
a little bit
about the implications
for us.
The two things
are the heart
of God
and the heart
of the people.
We want to see
what is it
that we see
in these stories
about the heart
of people
and then we want
to see what it is
about how God's heart
meets those people
in the wilderness.
So first,
let's look at the heart
of the people.
Obviously,
in both of these stories,
the very clear situation
is they were thirsty.
But they were not
only thirsty,
they were afraid.
We need to recognize
and be sympathetic
to them.
It's easy for us
sometimes to read
the Old Testament stories
and to think,
gosh,
Israel just didn't
get it very well.
They just didn't.
How could they forget
so quickly?
Right?
How could they forget
so quickly?
Because think about
what had happened
right before
both of these stories.
In chapter 15,
what had come
right before?
God had parted
the Red Sea
to deliver his people
through them
and then brought
a triumph over
the Egyptian army
that was trying
to chase after them.
So God had delivered
his people powerfully.
And then before the story
in chapter 17,
in chapter 16,
what did we see?
God gave manna
to his people,
food in the desert
that they didn't
know anything about.
And it's very easy
for us to sit back
and think,
golly,
these Israelites,
they really didn't
get it,
did they?
How could they
be so obtuse?
But friends,
recognize what it
means to be
truly thirsty.
Have you ever
been truly thirsty
and not had access
to water?
Maybe for an hour
or two,
maybe for a half
a day,
rarely for longer
than that
in this modern world.
Thankfully,
that's true
in many places.
However,
real thirst
is a scary thing.
It is frightening
to face
no water
as your body
cries out for it
more and more.
Look,
the Israelites
were not asking
for a new iPod.
They weren't asking
for a BMW.
They weren't asking
for a new wardrobe.
They weren't asking
for luxuries
and accessories.
They longed
for something
that was real
and necessary
for them.
And think about
what happens
in the story
in chapter 15,
too.
They're traveling,
they're thirsty,
there's no water,
and then they get
to Mara,
and there's water,
there's a pool,
and suddenly they think,
finally,
we're delivered.
And then they go
and taste it.
And instead,
it's bitterness,
not sweetness.
bitterness.
Probably it was
full of minerals.
If you've ever had
mineral-filled water,
it's really undrinkable.
It's like being
a thirsty man
in the middle
of the ocean
where you can't
drink the water.
And so,
their thirst,
augmented by fear,
is now tainted
by disappointment.
False hope
was dashed.
Like climbing a mountain.
If you've ever been
hiking and you
come around the corner
and you think,
hey, there it is,
there's the top.
And you go a little
bit further.
No, it's not.
It's a false summit.
There's another one
yet to come.
How disappointing
that is.
Friends recognize
living in the wilderness
is hard.
When you face
a need like thirst
and you don't know
how to solve it
and you don't know
where to go
and there's no,
you begin to feel trapped
and you begin
to feel desperate.
It's very easy
for us
in that time
to then
see what our heart
is really made of.
And so,
we see
that in these stories,
God gives names.
It's always fascinating
that whenever God
gives something a name,
you want to pay attention
to it in the Old Testament.
And God gives names
to these places
because they reflect
the heart of the people.
The first name
is bitter.
The people become
bitter towards God.
We thought
there was a pool there
but then we couldn't
drink it.
The second one
is called masa
which means testing.
They doubted
God's presence
with them.
They demanded,
God,
give us water now.
And they asked,
God,
is your plan
really good for us?
Because it seems like
you've just let us
out here in the wilderness
to die.
It's not the first time
they thought that.
They thought that back
in chapter 16
but again in chapter 17
they say it.
Why did you lead us
out here just to die?
What's the point?
They doubted that God
was good
and that God had a plan
and that God was with them
and that God would care
for them.
They wondered,
has God abandoned us
and has He left us?
We are going to die.
Not only were their
hearts bitter,
not only did they
doubt God's presence
but also meribah.
Quarreling is the way
our Bible translates it.
I'm not sure that's
a good thing
because if I had a fight
with Greg,
we'd be going at it.
A quarrel would be
going back and forth.
Thankfully Greg and I
don't fight.
But I think that
the word here is not,
there's not like
there's a back and forth
between Moses and the people
or between the people
and God.
In fact,
it's more probably
of a protest.
God,
you've got to be kidding me.
God,
this is too much.
God,
you have to change this.
God,
you couldn't really
want this for me,
could you?
That's the cry
that comes out
of the people.
God,
deliver us.
It's the same cry
that you heard back
in chapter 3
when they were crying out
to be freed from slavery.
God,
deliver us.
Help us.
It's not very hopeful though.
It's more accusatory.
How could you do this?
That's what quarreling means.
Friends,
when we're in the wilderness
and we face these times
where we become desperate,
where we feel like
something we absolutely need
is beyond our control
and unattainable,
let me ask you this question.
What name would God
give to that place
in your heart
and in your life?
Would he call it bitter?
Would he call it doubtful?
Would he call it protest?
How much we need
to see the heart of God
in those moments.
And that's what this passage does.
It shows us the heart of God
towards his people.
What we see fundamentally
in this passage
is that as God's people
are facing the wilderness
and these things
are coming out of their hearts
as they come out of our hearts,
God comes
and God comes with grace.
In chapter 15,
that grace looks like healing.
God instructs Moses,
take a log,
probably better translated
a tree,
take this thing
and throw it in the water.
Doesn't make any sense to us,
but God used that symbol
and that action
to turn
the bitter water
into sweet water.
The people drank
and they were satisfied.
God met them
in their need
and in meeting them
he provided for them
exactly what they longed for.
And do you see
that he didn't just do it
in that way
but then he sort of,
he went over the top.
Look with me
in chapter 15,
verse 27.
Then they came to Elam.
Now that God
gave them
the water
that was bitter
made sweet
and then he said,
oh and now I'm going to take you
to Oasis Resort.
Welcome to Hyatt Oasis Resort
at Elam
where you have
not only 12 pools of water
with all that you could drink
but you have shade
which is really nice
in the desert.
70 palm trees
for you to encamp.
Everything you long for
are needed.
God graciously
gave it to them.
Then in chapter 17,
they're in the wilderness again
facing the same thing,
having seen God provide
just before
in the same ways
and yet they still grumble
and doubt.
God, are you really with us?
They ask.
And friends,
don't forget
they're asking that question
when before them
there is a pillar
of cloud and fire
that has gone before them
during the day
and during the night.
There is a visible manifestation
of God's presence
with them
and in the middle of that
their hunger and thirst
was so great.
Their desire
and their need for water
so filled their screens.
They could not see
the very physical manifestation
that God was with them
and so they questioned.
And God meets them
and says,
I am with you.
He tells Moses,
take your staff,
the same staff
that I used
down in Egypt.
Take that staff
and take the elders
so that there will be witnesses
to what you will do
and go
and I will stand before you
and you will strike a rock
and from that rock
will flow water.
The same staff
that made the Nile River
undrinkable
in judgment upon
the Egyptians
will come to you
and that staff
will bring water
out of a rock.
I don't know
if any of you
are geologists
but there is not much
water in rocks.
God miraculously
brings water
to provide for them.
And friends,
I want you to see
something important here.
God meets them
in their complaining,
doubting,
questioning hearts
and in that
what he does
is he shows them grace.
He doesn't rebuke them
for unbelief.
He doesn't berate them.
He doesn't punish them.
He will do that
at one point, right?
Go ahead and read
the book of Numbers.
As they've seen God more
and as they continue
in their unbelief,
there will be a point
where God will bring
a corrective response
but not here.
Here,
what they show,
what this passage shows
is God's grace
to his people.
You don't deserve this.
Anyone who's a parent
knows this.
Your kids having
a whiny day.
Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
Disobedient,
slow,
complaining
over and over again.
And there are times
when we as parents
have the joy
of just showing them grace.
And it's a beautiful thing.
You've experienced it
from your parents,
most likely.
And this is what God
does with his people.
These places are named
Mas and Meribah
to remind them
of their heart condition,
to warn them
in the future,
do not harden your heart
in the same way.
But here,
the first time,
God responds
is that of grace.
To give them something
that they didn't need
or didn't deserve
and to meet
their deepest need.
He wants them to know
that grace
is the shape
of his heart.
He wants them to know
that he will not leave them
but he will be with them.
He wants them to know
that he will provide
what they really need.
and he wants them
to know
that they will be satisfied
as they trust in him
and wait for him.
He will satisfy their hearts.
The heart of God
meets the heart
of his people
in the wilderness.
Friend,
what might happen to us
if we saw God's heart clearly,
if God met us?
We would find ourselves
satisfied.
We would find ourselves
knowing that God
will meet the deepest needs
of our heart.
We would find contentment.
We would find freedom
from being controlled
by our appetites.
We would know
that he will slake our thirst
and feed our hunger
and he will meet our soul
with love.
What might happen to us,
we would become
more trusting.
Having seen God
be faithful
over and over
and over again,
the next time
there was uncertainty,
the next time
we felt desperate,
we could turn to him
and trust him.
Say,
God,
I don't know
how you're going to do this.
This looks impossible to me
but I trust you.
And the third thing
is that
I think we become
more obedient.
This is really interesting.
Look with me in chapter 15.
It struck me
as a very odd part
of the passage
and it took me a while
to see this
but chapter 15,
verse 25,
God brings this
miraculous provision
of making the bitter water sweet.
And then he turns around
and he starts talking about
if you will obey me
and my commands
and my statutes
and my laws.
And I think what he's
describing here is
when God's grace
meets us
and frees us
from our desperate desire
to provide for ourselves,
our desperate drivenness
that comes from appetites
within us
that we think
it is up to us
to solve,
God meets us in that
and he frees us
from those things
so that we can instead
submit to God
to believe that God's ways
are good for us,
to trust him
when we don't understand
why he would say,
don't do this,
this is a path
that leads to death,
not life,
that we would trust him
in those things.
Grace doesn't actually provide,
give us license
to do what we want.
what grace does
is it rescues us
from our desperate hearts
so that we can actually
trust and obey
God.
This is what 1 Corinthians 10
reminds us of,
reminds us that
having experienced
this grace of God
in our lives,
we can pursue then
lives that please him
and are good for us,
that we are never
beyond help
no matter how hard
it gets.
But of course,
the 1 Corinthians passage
also reminds us
of the most important thing
and that is that
how God meets us
in our wilderness
when we are desperate
for our need
is he reminds us
of the greatest need
that every human being
has
for he says
that the rock
that was struck
is the Christ,
Jesus Christ
and that what God
has given us
in Christ
is the thing
that we most need
for water
and manna
are simply signposts
looking at our
physical desires
and meeting those
physical desires
to remind us
that the greatest need
for humanity
is actually
a knowledge of God
and a relationship
with him.
What we were made for
is not food
and water
and sex
and success
and career
and companionship
or all the things
that we tend to think of
are necessary
for being human
and being alive.
What we were made for
first and foremost
is to know God
and to be rightly
related to him.
and yet we know
how often
our hearts
are like the hearts
of the Israelites.
How we grumble
and complain.
How we doubt.
How we question.
How we are bitter
towards him.
How we don't believe
in his goodness.
How we refuse
to submit to his ways.
And Christ comes
as God's greatest
expression of grace
to us.
While we were still sinners
Christ died
for us.
Christ uses
these Old Testament
stories to prepare
or God uses
these Old Testament
stories to prepare us
for the coming
of Christ.
That Jesus
is the rock
that is struck
and from which
streams
of living water
flow.
At the cross
Jesus tasted
the bitter water
for us
so that we might
by faith
receive from him
not bitterness
and judgment
but sweetness
and the life
giving power
of the Holy Spirit
that will well up
to eternal life
in our hearts
and from us
to those around us.
Jesus Christ
is the rock
who is broken
from his broken
body
that died
that died for us
would flow
life-giving power
forgiveness
and eternal life.
This is the greatest
gift of God
that he has given
to us.
Grace
because we don't
deserve it.
Grace
because we don't
think we need it.
Grace
because we
don't believe
that God
is the one
that we were
made for.
and he comes
and he meets
us
and he says
come
come ye
sinners
poor and
needy
bruised and
broken by the
fall
come
to him
believe
and trust
in him
and find
in him
in the midst
of your wilderness
grace
grace that is
greater
than all of our
sin
grace that meets
us in the worst
of your wilderness
grace that speaks
words
of assurance
of provision
of presence
and of hope.
At the end of the day
that's what this passage
invites us to
is to come to the rock
that is Christ.
Let's pray.
Lord thank you
for this word.
We do pray
that you would
Lord bring us
lead us
Lord show us
how great your grace
is to us
in Christ.
Lord help us
to come
knowing that we
have nothing
to bring
except our need
and yet that is
enough for us.
Lord we pray
this morning
that you would
remind us
of your satisfying
grace
for us.
We pray this
in Jesus name.
Amen.
Well friends
as we
continue
in our service
we have a baptism.
that we
ourvi
church
has been
bearing us
and the
we have a
presence.
Father
make us
see you
we have a
well find
as we
acknowledge
this country
and
that we
we have a
photograph
of
the
stage
and
as we
can
you
see you
know