Sun, Jul 23, 2023 – “They Tested the Lord” (Exodus 17:1-7)
Part of Exodus: Freed to Worship and Serve—Jan 2023
To take notes, click into the square to the right of the blue “comment box” (see example immediately below.) If you are logged into the FCC app, it should automatically save them until the next Sermon Guide is published (i.e., it changes each Sun morning.) To save a copy, email your notes to yourself (scroll to the bottom.)
1. Oppression in Egypt and an Unlikely Savior (Exodus 1:1-7:7)
Memory Verses: Exodus 6:7-8 – 7 “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”
2. The Exodus: 12 Miracles/10 Plagues (Exodus 7:8-15:21)
Memory Verse(s): Exodus 15:2-3 – 2 The LORD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
3. The Journey to God: Grumbling in the Desert & Preparing for Sinai
(Exodus 15:22-18:27)
Memory Verse(s): Exodus 16:4 – Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
4. The Sinai Covenant (Exodus 19:1-24:11)
6. The Worship of God (Exodus 24:12-31:18)
7. Sin and Restoration (Exodus 32:1-40:38)
Follow Along with Today’s Sermon Manuscript (sort of, mostly, kind of)
- Our preachers don’t always follow word for word, (especially Scott, Lead Pastor), but it will help you follow the train of thought and prepare for your study below.
- Tyson
- Sun – Psalm 95:8-9; Exodus 1-6
- Mon – Deuteronomy 6:16;Exodus 7-13
- Tue – Psalm 78:16; Exodus 14-20
- Wed – Psalm 78:35; Exodus 21-27
- Thu – Psalm 95:1; Exodus 28-34
- Fri – 1 Corinthians 10:4; Exodus 35-40
- Sat – Exodus 17:8-16
- Read the passage at least once, preferably multiple times.
- Answer the 4 Ws: Where? When? Who? What? (Ex: author, location, original audience, cultural setting, etc.)
- Are there any literary cues worthy of note? (Ex: key words/phrases, transition, repetition, parallel, comparison, contrast, etc.)
- It’s helpful at this point to consult a few resources: Study Bible notes, commentaries, Bible dictionaries/encyclopedias, etc.
- How does the wider context help inform our understanding of this passage?
- Are there any other passages that help provide a framework for understanding?
- What are the passage’s main points?
- What is the one main principle God intends to communicate to the original audience?
- What doctrinal or theological truths does this text teach or reinforce?
- What questions does it elicit for you?
- Which of FCC’s 7 Habits (or a spiritual habit/practice) does the principle in “Interpret” #4 highlight most?
- What is the most important application of this passage to… the original audience? Our world? Our church? Your relationships, family, marriage, parenting, etc.? Your plans, career, schooling, etc.?
- What is God trying to tell you?
- What is your Next Step of “everyday boring faithfulness”? Or, when it comes to the 7 Habits (or the aforementioned spiritual habit/practice), what do you need to stop doing, keep doing, start doing?
- ESV Study Bible – Our #1 recommendation. The English Standard Version, which we use for preaching, has *really good* Study Notes, maps, introductions, mini-systematic theology, etc. Available in hardcopy at cost in *The Hub* at every campus (or for Logos Bible Software below.) The ESV Bible text is free on our app under “Bible” or at ESV.org, where the Global Study Bible Notes are also free.
- NETbible.org – Free Bible (various versions, incl ESV with lots of helpful textual notes and a few decent resources and commentaries.
- IVP New Bible Commentary – Good basic one-volume commentary. Available in The Hub at any campus.
- Logos Bible Software – Download 40+ free resources here to get started, incl 6 Bible versions, ESV Audio Bible, Faithlife Study Notes, Lexham Bible Dictionary, and Easton’s Bible Dictionary, as well as some classics like Charles Hodge’s *Systematic Theology*, JFB Commentary (Critical/Explanatory on Whole Bible), Matthew Henry Concise Commentary, Spurgeon’s *Morning and Evening* Devotions, Bunyan’s *Pilgrim’s Progress*, Augustine’s *Confessions*. ESV Bible and Study Notes available for purchase at logos.com, along with basically any other important biblical and theological resource you could possibly imagine. (Scott’s favorite resource. He says, “I’m in and out of Logos dozens of times a day.”)
- *Systematic Theology* by Wayne Grudem – Good overall and highly readable introduction to Christian doctrine. Available at cost in *The Hub* and also for Logos Bible Software. This is what Scott and Mark Liebert often use as a guide on our biweekly *Brown Bags & Bibles* podcast.
- Free Online Whole Bible Commentaries (By Dead People) – Albert Barnes, John Calvin (missing some books), Adam Clarke, Matthew Henry (Concise), Matthew Henry (Complete), Alexander MacLaren, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- Free Online Dictionaries/Encyclopedias – Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Holman Bible Dictionary, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Daily Bible Readings On Sun-Fri, the first passages listed (before the semicolon) are related to this sermon, while the second passages listed help you read through the whole book of Exodus each week. The Sat reading is for the next day’s sermon, to help you prepare.
Memory Verse – Exodus 16:4 – Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
Exodus 17:1-7 – 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?”
Exodus 17:1 – 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.
17:2 – 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?”
17:7 – Is the LORD among us or not?”
Psalm 95:8-9 – Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers pume to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
Deutronomy 6:16 –“You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
Exodus 17:3-4 – 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.”
17:5 – 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.
17:6 – 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.
Psalm 78:16 – He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
Psalm 78:35 – They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
Psalm 95:1 – Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
1 Corinthians 10:4 – and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Exodus 17:7 – 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?”
Deutronomy 6:16 –“You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
Luke 22:42 – “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
God wants us to remember His works.
2. Are you testing the Lord? If you are, stop it.
2. Are you testing the Lord?
Inductive Bible study is about going from particulars to principles by prayerfully studying the details—both in the text and the larger Scriptural context of a passage—and allowing them to determine meaning and application.
Observe: What does the text say?
Interpret: What does the text mean?
Apply: What is the text saying to us?