Message Notes

YOUTH WORSHIP 3 February 2024
Text: Exodus 17:1-7
Title: “You shall strike the rock”

INTRODUCTION

1. The Problem of Complaining

a) Water issue

b) Food issue

c) Complaining was the resort of the children of Israel

2. The Presence of the LORD

a) A special manifestation of His glory was given

b) The Cloud of Glory was manifested

3. The Provision of the LORD

a) Manna was given

b) Quails were given

But what had the children of Israel learned?

THE WATER PROBLEM AGAIN

1 Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.

2 Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”

So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?”

3 And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Exodus 17:1-3

1. The Congregation of the children of Israel

a) They were now at Rephidim

b) They camped there

2. The Contention

a) The demand for water

b) A dispute arose

i) Children of Israel

ii) Moses and Aaron

c) A wild and spurious accusation

“Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Exodus 17:3

CRYING OUT TO THE LORD

So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

Exodus 17:4

1. A crisis had arisen

2. The complaining spirit had escalated

3. Moses was in danger of being stoned!

THE COMMAND OF THE LORD

5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go.

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in 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.

Exodus 17:5-6

1. The LORD’s answer

a) Instructions for Moses

i) Moses

ii) To take his rod

iii) Elders of the people

b) Instructions for the people

i) They are to be gathered together

ii) The people must see what God can and would do

2. The LORD’s Personal Presence

a) He will be there

b) The Rock in Horeb

c) Moses will strike the Rock

d) Water will be provided

AN IMPORTANT REFERENCE

1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,

2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

3 all ate the same spiritual food,

4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 10:1-5

1. The spiritual lesson was not learned

2. The LORD wanted Israel to learn these vital lessons

CALLING OF THE PLACE

So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Exodus 17:7

1. Massah and Meribah

a) Massah means “Testing”

b) Meribah means “Contending/ Quarrelling”

2. The issue:

a) Was the LORD really with the children of Israel?

b) That seems to be a spurious question

c) The LORD’s presence had never left them

3. The Underlying Problem

a) Unbelief

b) A quarrelsome personality

c) A rebellious heart

d) Stubbornness and more!