"The trouble with being double minded."

INTRODUCTION

A. Since the Passover

1. Pharaoh’s change of mind
2. Israel’s change of mind

a. At the Red Sea
b. At the Waters of Marah

1. People complain: God patiently supplies & gives a promise (15:26 "none of these diseases)

c. At the Waters of Elim: 12 springs & 70 palm trees
d. In the Wilderness of Sinai: complained against Moses and Aaron

1. About 6 weeks after the Exodus
2. Constant complaints: note the "and" at the beginning of chapters 16 & 17

The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron" (16:3)
"in Egypt, we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted..." (16:3)
"spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" Psalms 78:19

B. Manna "What is it?" and quail

I. THE COMPLAINT OF ISRAEL

A. They were thirsty for water

1. Surprising reaction in light of The Waters of Marah
2. The tendency of the unbelieving heart to rely on "a cobweb of human effort over the strong arm of the Lord"

B. They blamed Moses for their lack

"Child" "Quarreled" "Contend" i.e. they were angry
"Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" (3)

II. THE COMPLAINT OF MOSES

A. To the People

1. Why are you complaining to me? (2)

a. They forgot Who led them to Rephedim
b. Israel was used to trusting in what they could see

2. Why are you testing God? (2)

B. To God

1. "Cried unto the Lord"
" What am going to do with this people? They are ready to stone me." (4)
2. Note the difference between the people and Moses

III. THE ANSWER OF GOD

A. Take the Elders with you
B. Take your staff with you

1. Symbol of authority
2. Symbol of judgment

C. Stand by the Rock of Horeb
D. Strike the Rock with your staff (1 Cor. 10:1-4)
"For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

IV. TWO OBSERVATIONS

A. God, our Rock

"He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior." Deuteronomy 32:15
"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer..." 2 Samuel 22:2-3
"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation." Psalm 95:1

1. The Rock’s strength and stability

"Shall the rock be removed out of his place?" Job 18:4
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." Matthew 7:25
2. The Rock’s durability

"He’s the same yesterday, today and forever." Hebrews 13:8

3. The Rock was struck

a. the rod: a symbol of judgment
b. the rod turned to a serpent: a symbol of the curse
c. God, himself, stood upon the Rock that was struck

"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb..." Exodus 17:6

Jesus Christ was "smitten of God... by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:4, 5

4. Water came out of the Rock that was struck

a. A Type of the Holy Spirit who was "poured out" after the crucifixion & ascension

"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." John 7:37-39

B. God’s grace

1. Note Moses’ name for the place: Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarreling)

"But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.." Romans 5:20

2. Rejecting God’s grace does not leave you the same

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.

That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." Hebrews 3:8-15

"Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 1 Cor 10:5-6

"He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Psa 103:7-8