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Exodus 17:1-7 ESV

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.  2 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?”  3 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?”  4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”  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.  6 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.  7 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?”

I. THE PEOPLE’S COURT
A. In our sin, man seeks to put God on trial.
B. God is not the one who is tried in the courtroom of eternity. (Revelation 15:2-4, 5:5-14)
C. God alone has the authority to judge because of His supremacy.

II. THE SUPREME COURT OF THE SUPREME GOD
A. God derives His authority over all things by virtue of His position as Creator. (Colossians 1:16-20)
B. God’s authority to judge from His purity when compared to the rest of creation.
C. God alone is only ever fair and just in all His judgments.

III. THE CRIMES OF ISRAEL
A. They demanded God’s provision. (v2)
B. They degraded God’s purposes. (v3)
C. They doubted God’s presence. (v7)

IV. CHRIST, OUR SOLID ROCK AND REDEEMER
A. The rock was our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)
B. God strikes the Son the way the people wanted to strike Moses. (Isaiah 53:4-5, 10a, Hebrews 9:24-28)
C. In striking Jesus, God causes the waters of everlasting life to flow out to us. (John 4:13-14, 19:34)

NEXT STEP (28-30)
1. God plays allroles in His courtroom. We stand condemned but through Christ hear a verdict of not guilty for all of eternity.

NEXT WEEK: THE EXODUS PART IX: “THE ENEMY” EXODUS 17