Chico Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
"Quenching Thirsty Souls” Exodus 17:1-7
REVIEW
What God attempted to teach Israel about pursuing His promise through the wilderness of a fallen world, we need to learn. The experiences that Israel faced on their walk through the wilderness toward the promise, we also will face in the wilderness of this whacked-out world on our way toward the realization of God’s promise of abundant life.
I. God provided deliverance from Egypt 1-15
II. God prepared for the development of trust 15-18
A. Bitter water made sweet by the “tree” (The Cross) 15:22-27
After the salvation experience many lessons remain to be learned along the way. We can only manage the bitter experiences encountered in a fallen world without developing a bitter heart by understanding the power of the Cross of Christ in our daily life. Learning to die to the pull of our sinful passions enables us to avoid the bitterness caused by a temporal perspective on life’s disappointments and disasters. The test is simple. If our mouth is complaining, our sinful passions are controlling. If we are griping, we are not trusting. The presence of frustration reveals the absence of faith. You cannot trust God with your heart and test God with your attitude and mouth. First we must learn to die to our own passions and submit to His.
We must deny our flesh life in order to fully realize our spiritual life. The refreshing wells of Elim represent the spiritual refreshment that comes from relinquishing our agenda and embracing His plan for our life.
B. Hunger Satisfied by manna (The Word) 16
The second major lesson we must all master has to do with daily nourishment of the soul through interaction with the Word of God. Manna represents daily interaction with the Word of God (both written and living). Two defining passages focus on this critical element to our spiritual health and development.
"He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3
Jesus quoted this passage when Satan tempted Him to elevate the physical over the spiritual.
Jesus made clear spiritual connections regarding hunger, manna, His words and spiritual life in a benchmark sermon to his followers John 6.
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John 6:63
Physical hunger and thirst indicate the absence of some critical element the body needs to sustain life. Spiritual hunger and thirst indicate the absence of some critical spiritual element the soul needs to sustain spiritual life. The words of God and the words of Jesus are spiritual and they impart life to the soul.
Spiritual life cannot survive without spiritual nourishment from interaction with the Word. The Word of God sustains life on the spiritual level of life.
Jesus boldly declared…
"I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." John 6:48-51
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:53-54
This call to complete surrender and absolute daily dependence on Jesus to satisfy spiritual hunger was too much for the crowd only following Jesus for selfish reasons. Fill their stomach.
Put on a good show. Make life more comfortable. We need this daily interaction with God’s truth because it is so easy to lose eternal perspective in the face temporal problems. The experiences of life can quench thirst when we apply the principles of the cross. Daily interaction with the truth of God will provide nourishment needed to continue our walk. The next wilderness lesson once again addressed thirst. Here we discover another crucial element necessary to sustain spiritual life and quench the thirst that burns in every believer’s soul.
C. Thirst quenched by water from the Rock (The Spirit) 17:1-7
Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.
1. The crises of the desert
God instructed the people to move again. He moved them closer to the promise; teaching them trust along the way. No water in a hot desert is a major crisis. Did God know there was no water? Of course! Does God lead us to places that will accentuate our thirst? You can count on it. The events of life in a fallen world intensify the longing for a world in which righteousness reigns and the curse no longer dominates the world of men. Here they faced another opportunity to trust God to provide their needs. God allows us to face no water in dry places to draw attention to our need for Him.
2. The complaint of the people
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may 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 they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"
They “quarreled” with Moses.
To strive, contend, argue, complain, find fault, dispute.
They demanded Moses do something; as if he could manufacture water out the desert sand.
Moses channeled the “argument” in the right direction. “Your quarrel isn’t with me, it is with the Lord.” “You are testing Him by your continued unbelief evidenced by your contention and grumbling.” They had no interest in facing their blatant unbelief and hard heart. They were only concerned about their immediate thirst. They focused only on their present personal discomfort.
They lost sight again of what God was doing in their life. “Just relive my misery.” How often do we get so obsessed with our personal discomfort that we refuse to even consider how our attitudes and actions affect God? Not only that, but they again questioned both God’s promise and God’s person. “Why did you bring us out here to kill us?” This time they added a feigned concern for their children and livestock. First they accused God of dispatching the Egyptians to kill them in the desert because there weren’t’ enough graves in Egypt. Then they accused God of trying to kill them with bitter water. Then they accused God of trying to starve them to death.
Here they accused God of trying to kill them with dehydration. Notice a theme? There was a complete disregard of past monumental manifestations of God’s compassion and care.
They exhibited complete amnesia of God’s promise to bring them to a great place of their own.
Another notable lapse is found in the verse summarizing this pit stop.
He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"
Not only did they doubt his person (He is a killer) and His promise (You brought us out here to kill us not bless us) but they dared question His very presence (Is the Lord among us?)
Let’s see, explain away the night torch. (Illumination and direction) Question the day cloud (shade and direction). Ignore that morning’s drop of 1.5 million gallons of food just for the people. There could have been as much or more needed for the animals. (3 million gallons)
Forget the water at Marah and the quail in the desert. Stop singing the song of Moses celebrating the fact that God hurled the horse and riders of Egypt into the sea. They figured that because things were not going the way they thought they should go and they felt a bit uncomfortable and thirsty, God must not even be among them. “He has abandoned us.” “We are on our own.” “Moses, do something or we will stone you!” How about us? Do we doubt God’s presence? Do we demand someone fix it for us?
3. The cry of Moses
Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me."
4. The compassion of God
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your 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 will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
God put Moses and the elders on the spot here. Get out in front of the angry mob. I will stand before you! Because Moses obeyed God’s word…God graciously (in spite of their grumbling) provided enough water for 3 million people and their animals out of a rock in the middle of the desert. Some estimate that it would take about 10,800,000 gallons per day to properly water all the people and livestock. (1,080 rail tank cars)
Note: Moses and the Israelites would return again to this same rock again where he will loose his cool and as a consequence loose the privilege of leading the people into the land.
The next time will be an even more devastating test for them and Moses.
APPLICATION
ISRAEL’S SINFUL RESPONSE
Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit urged the Corinthian believers to recall this incident and editorialized on the spiritual significance behind it. It is always safer to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture.
For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses (identified with) in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food(Manna); and all drank the same spiritual drink (water form the rock), for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
They were never alone in this arduous journey. We are never alone in our wilderness walk.
The tree in the bitter water represented the Cross of Christ. The daily manna represented the life and words of Christ. The rock struck by Moses represented the suffering, continual presence and refreshment of Jesus applied to our struggle and thirsty souls. Those people enjoyed every spiritual advantage and opportunity to really trust God. God did not demand a blind trust based on insufficient experience. He provided overwhelming evidence of His person, His presence and His promise all along. In the face of their immediate discomfort, they choose to ignore the overwhelming data and express their outrageous distain for God.
Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 1 Corinthians 10:1-5
Paul went on to list a number of other examples that we will eventually add to our list of desert snapshots of unbelief. Paul recorded the reason why God included these stories in the divine record.
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Why wasn’t God pleased with most of them? What are we to learn from their example?
They considered personal comfort more important than humble trust in God.
They questioned His unquestionable character, ignored His promise, forgot His previous provision and denied His presence in the midst of difficulty.
Paul urges us to learn from their example.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 1 Cor 10:11-13
Don’t think that we are above committing the same sin. Don’t think that we are incapable of falling to the temptation to question God’s character, ignore His promise, forget His previous provision and deny His presence. Everyone runs into or is run into or over by life’s tragedies and difficulties. God is faithful (He is not out to destroy you but develop you). God will provide (enable us to endure the temptation to reject God). Notice the way of escape does not always get us out of the difficulty or even remove the difficulty. He enables us to “endure” it. (To bear under the weight) Where does the ability to endure life in this fallen world come from?
I believe that this incident in the Egyptian desert thousands of years ago spotlights the source of refreshment for our thirsty souls and power to live a life of complete trust in God today.
GOD’S SUPERNATURAL REFRESHMENT
Water from the Rock! Refreshment from Jesus! In Jesus we find all the necessary refreshment to quench our thirsty soul. Just as His words satisfy our hunger, Jesus sent His Spirit to quench our thirst and enable us to move closer to the promised rest. Jesus revealed the source of refreshment in a discussion on how God seeks for those who will bow down and worship Him in Spirit and in truth. (The Word and the Spirit are the bread and water of life).
John 4:10-14
Jesus later specifically identified the “living water”.
John 7:37-39
This was not a foreign concept. God promised it centuries pervious.
'For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants. Isaiah 44:3
Here are the essential elements for forward progress toward the promised rest.
• The blood of the Lamb applied.
• The cross of Christ embraced.
• The Word of God implanted.
• The Spirit of God indwelling and filling (controlling).
The living water of the Holy Spirit springs up within us.
The living water of the Holy Spirit floods us and flows out of us.
When we learn to walk by the enabling power of the Spirit, not only are we energized and refreshed but we become a source of refreshment to others. The Holy Spirit is to our spiritual well-being as water is to our physical well-being. Medical research confirms the overwhelming benefits of water at every level of our physical health. (Bones, respiratory, brain, organs) Most people function with some level of dehydration which causes any number of physical ailments and prevents the body from functioning as God designed it. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is equally essential to our spiritual health. Spiritual thirst signals a disconnection with the Holy Spirit. Jesus announced the coming of this promised “Fountain” to His disciples. Acts 1:7-8
From that time on, the Holy Spirit indwells every believer at the moment of their salvation and becomes a continual source of spiritual refreshment and power for life and ministry. Since Pentecost, Christians no longer need wait for the promised “Fountain”. (He came as promised)
We need not ask for the “Fountain”. (He now waits for us to give Him space) The Spirit whom Jesus promised to send came and is here.
The issue then is whether we choose to draw from His “Fountain” or ours. It all has to do with the areas of our life we will allow the “Water” to saturate. There is a stark difference between the one drawing from this inexhaustible source and the one who still tries to find spiritual energy from any other source. It is the difference between operating the car off the battery alone or a battery continually connected to and charged by the alternator. It is the difference between genuine movement and a vehicle that no longer functions.
Acts 4:29-31 Ephesians 5:15-21 Romans 8:9-17 Galatians 5:16, 22-23, 25
How do we access this fabulous fountain?
Gal 3:1-5
The Word (hearing) and faith! The Israelites “were not able to enter because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:19
For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they (Israelites in the wilderness) also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. Hebrews 4:2
Willing surrender to the truth of God allows the “Fountain of God” to saturate that area of our life; refreshing our spirit and providing the spiritual power that transforms our soul. Wherever we find mention of power working in the believer, it is a reference to the energizing ministry of the Holy Spirit for life and ministry.
Just a few examples…
Ephesians 3:16 Ephesians 3:20-21 Colossians 1:11-12 2 Cor 12:9 Isaiah 40:28-31
It is a matter of faith. Will we believe God or not? Will we bend to His will? Will we drink from His fountain or find our own?
The fountain of refreshment and power can be blocked
• We block the ministry of the Holy Spirit by our unbelief (we simply refuse to drink).
• We resist the Holy Spirit by our stubbornness.
"You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Acts 7:51
• We grieve the Holy Spirit by our sin especial in regard to relationships.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
This comes in the middle of an extended discussion of good relationships.
Don’t lie but speak the truth in love
Don’t let godly anger turn to ungodly anger.
Don’t give the devil a foothold in your life.
Don’t let worthless words even come out of your mouth but only words that build other up and energize them in their time of need.
Get rid of all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Be imitators God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
• We quench the Holy Spirit by our direct disobedience.
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
The characteristics of the one not drawing from God’s fountain…
…immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19-21
Confess your rebellion and unbelief.
Cry for His renewal.
Confess your trust in Him.
