Exodus: How to Make It in the Wilderness

Following the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the Israelites find themselves in the wilderness—a place of disorientation, testing, and revelation. This sermon explores the "Wilderness" as an evergreen metaphor for the Christian life. It is the mandatory field trip between deliverance and the Promised Land, where our fickle hearts are exposed, and our faith is refined. As we enter the season of Lent and prepare for a congregational digital fast, we examine how the desert serves as a paradox: a place of intense danger and lack, but also the "God country" where miracles and spiritual power are found.

Scripture References
Exodus 15:22–27: The waters of Mara and the transformation of bitterness.

Exodus 16: The grumbling of the community and the provision of manna.

Exodus 17:1–7: The striking of the rock at Horeb.

1 Corinthians 10:4: Paul’s identification of the Rock as Christ.

Key Points
The Paradox of the Desert: The wilderness is both a place of exposure and a place of divine intimacy. It is where visibility is low, familiar markers are gone, and we are forced to put one foot in front of the other.

The Necessity of Testing: You cannot trust what has not been tested. The wilderness reveals the true contents of the heart. It is a place of "wrestling" with God, learning to navigate relationship without causing harm.

The Teacher is Quiet: In the wilderness, the silence of God during the "test" is a primary challenge. However, promotion and spiritual clarity often lie on the other side of this silence.

Fickleness and Unholy Nostalgia: We are prone to wander. Within days of a miracle, we resort to grumbling and "unholy nostalgia"—selectively remembering the "meat pots" of our past captivity while forgetting the chains.

The Cross in the Wilderness: * The Tree at Mara: Just as the log made bitter water sweet, the Cross of Christ makes the bitter experiences of life drinkable.

The Struck Rock: In a divine reversal, God stands upon the rock to receive the blow of judgment deserved by the grumbling Israelites. Christ is the spiritual Rock who was struck so that we might receive the water of everlasting life.

Conclusion
There is no making it through the wilderness by trying harder or merely following rules. We must cling to the Cross. In the desert, pain is not the greatest danger; rather, the danger lies in where we turn for relief. If we turn to Christ, the one who was struck for us, we find that even the most desolate place is filled with His presence.

Calls to Action
Participate in the Digital Fast: Join the church-wide digital fast starting March 1st. Use the provided guide to redirect your focus from screens to God’s voice.

Identify Your Wilderness: Acknowledge where you are experiencing disorientation or testing. Stop "trying harder" and start clinging to the Cross.

Resist Grumbling: Be mindful of the urge to complain or romanticize past sins. Practice gratitude for God’s present provision, even when it is "manna" rather than "meat pots."

Transcript

Hey, we've, entered a season on the church calendar called lent. And lent is a season where we go without in order to really, engage in what God's doing in our lives for the 40 days leading up to Easter. And so we've decided as a church that we want to do a digital fast during the month of March.

So that'll start on March 1st, and it'll go till the end of the month. On average, the average person here touches their phone 2617 times a day. Those with heavy use, it's double that. So it's over 5000 times a day you're touching your phone. And the bigger question is, what should we be putting our hands to? What what is possible?

When our daughters do get our attention and our focus and, we really want to press into that. What are we missing out on? Because we're so tuned in to our phones? What are we tuned out of? So we we want to, as an extension of the series that we started the year with, as we talked about our job, depending on again and how change happens in the Christian life, we want to press into that by doing a digital fast.

Now, you're probably thinking, I don't know how I would go without that. I don't know how I would do that. So we created a guide for you. This has questions you should be asking and things you should be thinking through, and even ways to think through it with your kids because they too may need some distance from their screens.

And so grab this on your way out today. We'll start next Sunday or Monday. And we'll go for the month. It's it's much easier to do when we do it together. Yeah. So we're hoping to engage this more than setting our phones down. We're wanting to receive something from God. We're wanting to hear what he has to say.

So grab this on your, way out. My name is Travis, and I'll be teaching from the book of Exodus. It's the second book in your Bible if you want to open your Bible. If you didn't bring a Bible, we'll be able to put the verses, on the screen. I want to do two more things before I teach one.

Just say like, I can't think of a weekend that I'm more proud of our church than at these father daughter dances. Like, it's just such a beautiful picture of what we're trying to do outside of Sunday. And, I love that. I also want to say thanks to this worship team that has led us this month, so.

Well, it's such a joy, to be led by the youth and then Kurt and Landon, who are having, like, a midlife crisis up here. This is like their excuse to tuck their wives into another guitar pedal. Babe, I got to stay relevant with the kids. I got to get another guitar. Anyway. It just it's a real joy to be led.

It's really easy to be led by you guys, and, we're super thankful for your leadership and your voices in our lives. So, David Jansen, he preached, last week, and I think he did a great job, on a number of fronts. One. He was reminding us last week that the Exodus story is not just something that happened back then.

It's something that's happening right now. And it's not just the Nation of Israel story. We've been grafted in, and it's it's our story. And he did a great job reminding us of that last week. This story is kind of evergreen. It never gets old. The story that I think is your story goes a little something like this. Pursuing safety in Egypt.

That place of safety becomes a place of captivity. You experience slavery and bondage. Then you're delivered by the mighty hand of God. But you're not delivered right into heaven. You're delivered into a time of wandering in the wilderness only in time to inherit the promised Land. Does that story sound familiar? If I gave the mic over to you.

You could probably tell a very similar story. So this is our story. The second thing he did a great job of is really helping us realize that the Exodus story is everywhere. In your Bible. In fact, there's a it's not just Exodus, it's there's not a single book in your Bible that doesn't refer to or allude to the Exodus story.

It is everywhere. So David preached from the Psalms, the songbook in the center of your Bible that refers to the Exodus over and over again. Right? Third, I think that the Exodus story, the reason we're in it, and the reason it's so helpful, is it gives us language for really disorienting times. And sometimes language is so helpful when you feel like you've walked off your map and you don't know where you're at.

Sometimes language is so good. Think of slaves singing spirituals that state were bound for the promised land. They're borrowing language from this story to try to make sense of their suffering in the moment. So where we left off in this story, is the crossing of the Red sea. If the cross of Jesus Christ is the distinguishing or defining act of the New Testament, I would say the crossing of the red sea is the defining act of the Old Testament.

It is the picture of salvation. If the cross is the picture of salvation in the New Testament, it's the parting and the crossing of the Red sea. That is the picture of how God saves and how God delivers in the Old Testament. And so we left off in Exodus 15 and its glory. They've just come through the waters and they've burst into song.

Someone packed a tambourine. They're running from the Egyptians, but they're like, don't forget my tambourine. She grabs it. They get to the other side and it's a dance party. But again, I'll remind you that this group of people that was promised a land is not delivered immediately into that. In fact, they're delivered from the Egyptians, not right into the Promised Land, but they're delivered into a wilderness where they're tested.

So they come through the heights of just like I mean, the song that is in Exodus 15. I mean, just read it because your heart to swell with praise. Three days later, they're complaining. I've always been struck by, like, the fickleness of the Israelites in the Old Testament where you're like, you just walked through an ocean that was parted on your behalf, and three days later they're like, where is this God?

I don't even know if he's God. And we can mock that. But aren't we are we're all prone to the same wandering, aren't we? Our hearts are fickle. Not just in our relationship with God. Even in relationship with my own wife. How quick I can go from your God's greatest gift to me. To. I can't believe God put you in my life.

This is so difficult. That happens so quickly. It's like a matter of hours. Not even days, right? With our own kids, you put them to bed and you're like. These are the best things in my life. And then they wake up and you're like, this is the worst things in my life. We're all prone to this. So please, when you read the Old Testament, don't look down your nose at these fickle folks.

Please see yourself in this story and go, yeah, I can't believe I go from, you know, we're just like, mumbling. I don't even know if God exists. And then you turn right on 328 and you just see those mountains and you're just like, stopped. You're like, God, you're so great. But if you keep driving far enough, you're like, yeah, but I don't even think you hear me.

You know, it's just, this is our lives. So please don't think you're above this. Please see yourself in this, because it's certainly this story. This morning. So I want to let you guys know that as we talk about the wilderness and we talk about the desert, we're talking about the same thing. Those words are used interchangeably. In fact, wilderness, desert, deserted place, desolate place, solitary place, quiet place, lonely place.

Same place. Okay. So throughout your entire Bible, if you're reading that word, you're reading about this place. And obviously this morning, you know, we've had some some we've been in a drought, but we're talking about a metaphor. We're talking about an analogy. And so I want to help you try to get your head around what it feels like and what it is to be in a wilderness.

What is a desert place? I've commonly heard that language in my Christian walk. People say to me like, I'm just in a desert. And then you have to ask, well, what do you mean by that? What is the desert? And I think the big idea of the desert and what you'll see today, as we read from Exodus, the big idea of the desert is there is a season of testing.

Really? That's the word that's used over and over again in the verses that we'll read today. It's a place of testing. God is testing the people to see what's in their heart, and the people are testing God. And this goes back and forth, and I think the big idea of the desert is that you can't trust anything that's not been tested.

You can't you don't know if that's really the one for you until you get in a real big fight with them. You don't know if that's a real close friend until you have to walk through something difficult. You really can't put weight on and trust what's not been tested. And so a season of testing is coming, for the people.

The name Israel means those who wrestle with God. I just want you to remember that those who wrestle. I don't even know if you're here. On my word. Look at those mountains. You're majestic. But I probably can't trust you with that. No, I do, Lord, I trust you with that. Those that wrestle with God. Anybody who's still in a relationship with anyone is learning to wrestle.

Well, to wrestle without hurting each other.

If I ask two people to wrestle right now, they would probably know where the line is at. They would know how to wrestle with one another without hurting each other. And then when someone crosses that line and punches someone, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not how we wrestle. We wrestle well, we wrestle without hurting one another. If you're still in a relationship with your spouse, it's because you've learned how to wrestle without hurting one another.

You know how far is too far, right? When you're like that. So, like your mom and it's like, oh.

That's like something your dad would do. And it's like, oh, man, I saw wrestling. Well. You got to learn how to wrestle without hurting one another. And this is the idea of what we see with Israel, the wrestling with God, learning how to do so in a way that doesn't hurt one another. The wrestling. Well, it's a lover's quarrel.

Let's put it that way. So the first thing I want you to know about the wilderness, as we jump into four weeks of discussing it, is. It's a place where an education happens. It's a place of discovery. Lessons are taught. Lessons are given. One of the most difficult parts of the testing that takes place in the wilderness is that when tests are given, the teacher is quiet.

So there is even silence that you're having to deal with in the wilderness. It's a place of revelation, right? Students, when you're given a test, it's revealing and sometimes the results are less than flattering. You're like, I wish someone would not have shown me how much I know about this subject. I'd rather not look at that right. People do emerge from the wilderness having gotten an education and having graduated.

That's the good news of a test is on the other side of it is usually promotion. So the pain produces a sort of clarity. The challenges produce a sort of power. Even in the life of Christ. You see him coming from the desert full of the Spirit's power. There are things that you can only learn in pain. And I wish I was telling you a lie.

When things go really well in life. You learn nothing except for how to forget God. Pain produces something. We learn loads when we suffer. And by the way, pain is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Pain is not the worst thing. Where you go when you're in pain is the worst thing.

That's the thing you should be scared of. Pain can be an incredible teacher, and it seems to me that a journey into the wilderness is like the ultimate field trip. Everyone has to take it. And even Jesus went to second number two. The desert is a paradox. The desert is presented in Scripture as a paradox. On one hand, it's this gnarly place of danger, exposure.

You're subjected to the elements rebellion, difficulty, trials. Lack. It is that. And then on the other hand, the desert is God's country, where miracles take place, where God reveals himself, where people are filled with the power and presence of God. They meet God, right? Thirdly, the desert is disorienting. So this is the thing you might be right now in a desert or wilderness season when there are no familiar markers.

You don't know where you're at. There's nothing familiar about where you're at right now. You might be in a wilderness. This pattern emerges in Scripture over and over again, where someone has an orientation, and then they step into disorientation before they make it to a reorientation. Or there's a location and it leads to dislocation in order to have a relocation.

Right. This pattern emerges over and over again, but something has to be, dest right, in order to be relocated. So the Israelites, they go to Egypt for shelter, and this place of safety becomes a stronghold. Or to say, like this womb becomes a tomb, right? This is what happens for them. And then God delivers them. But they have a location.

And before they're relocated, there is a dislocation. And this is probably the most difficult part of a wilderness season is nothing feels terribly familiar for us. I think we think, or you can tell me if you think this, but when I've heard desert my whole life, I think of a scene where you can see 30 or 40 miles in every direction.

But the wilderness in Israel was not like that. In fact, the people of God left Goshen and Goshen, where they could see 30 or 40 miles in every direction. But the wilderness is a rocky hill country, and you don't know what's around the corner. You can't actually see you're putting one foot in front of the other and getting lost as you weave your way through hills, there's no visibility, and if you're here and you're like, Travis, there is no visibility right now, I would say you might be in a wilderness season.

And then one of the other markers of a wilderness is that it's full of temptation.

Some of you come from an addiction background, and you know this. There are times where you go looking for temptation, and there are times when temptation comes looking for you. And in the desert, temptation comes looking for you. Because in the desert, there's nothing in it that appeals to our senses. And so your senses are craving some sense of relief, some escape, some get me out from under this right.

So two of the two of the things that you see crop up repeatedly for the people of God is this massive temptation towards complaint and an unholy nostalgia. So complaint and nostalgia are taken very seriously in Scripture. How many of you have ever read your Bible and been like Jesus? They just complained. Everybody complains. What's the big deal?

How come the earth swallowed them? It's like God can't handle a bad review, can't handle a bad Yelp score. He loses it. So the issue with complaint in the scriptures is most of the time it's just justifying your resignation. And the issue with complaint is what lies under it, which is unbelief and accusation. Those are the two things that God takes so seriously.

The other thing that happens for them is a sort of unholy nostalgia, like thinking of their past life of sin with a smile on their face. And that's pretty serious. Well, that would be pretty serious in relationship with your spouse, right? Where you're like, I wonder where they're at. And I might look them up on Facebook, and then you begin to think of them with a smile on your face.

That's pretty serious, isn't it? This is the way God treats this. Look at these. Look at Exodus 16. The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the desert of sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, and doesn't mean what you think it means. All the commentators remind us of this because it's hard not to play into that, is it not?

That's that's like. Every every preacher wants a piece of that. Right? So which is between Elim and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they'd come out of Egypt and the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the Israelites said to them, if we only had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt, there we sat around meat pots.

We sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. But you've brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. I love that we've been starved to death. You starved us to death. When you start thinking back on your life of sin and selectively remembering the good parts and forgetting that you're back was laid open from 400 years of slavery, and you start reminiscing about meat pots.

You're. You're in trouble. So the big question becomes, why? Why the wilderness? Why this mandatory field trip? Why this walk? And for the next four weeks, we're going to help guide you through and and and by guide in some ways we're going to help you get get perspective and like tips and tricks for making it through the wilderness.

But we wanted to start here. You can't you can't make it through the wilderness. We wanted to start here and just tell you right up front that without the cross of Christ, there is no passing the test. So I don't want you to set out from here going like, okay, do this. Don't do that. Complaining. That's a no go.

Cross that off. Unholy nostalgia. Quit that. I'll try harder, please. For the next four weeks. Don't hear us say try harder. Hear us say you best cling to the cross of Christ. There is no making it through the wilderness without him.

Exodus 15 and 17. Because next week we're going to talk about Exodus 16 and the test that takes place here. But these are both tests. Exodus 1522 Then Moses led Israel from the Red sea. They went into the desert of sure. For three days they traveled in the. I just want to I want to stop here for a second and say, I went to seminary and basically just wanted to know that I would come out being able to pronounce these words.

And I still can't. And it's frustrating to me. I wish that would have been one of my classes. How to stand up in front of your church and read these names and sound like you know what you're talking about. So they went to sure. And then for three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. And then they came to Mara and they they could not drink its water because it was bitter.

That's why the place is called Mara. That's what it means. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what are we to drink? And then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood, and he threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

And there the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them, and put them to the test. And he said, if you listen carefully to the Lord your God, and do what is right in his eyes. If you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.

And then they came to Elam. Where they were. Where? Where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees, and they camped there near the water. Glenn, as we are studying, this text, brought to my mind the toilet paper crisis of 2020.

And I think it's pretty funny. What's not funny? If you've ever thought about it, and some of you who are building bunkers have.

It sometimes said that most Western societies are three days of empty shelves from civil disorder.

A commentator wrote that long before 2020.

And we didn't go three days without water. We went three days without toilet paper. And things got weird. I had a neighbor. I saw his whole garage was full. I saw I drove past and his door was open and I looked in and I'm like that guy, you know? He became my enemy real quick, you know, what are you doing, man?

Can't have all that. I wanted to go like a vigilante, knock on his door and be like, I saw what you got here. Garage. During that time, everyone was so bored and our house is being, like, toilet papered and what I remember happening was chasing some boys until they threw rolls of toilet paper out of their hands. And then being like, thanks, I have.

I have five daughters like, I know you know that. That's why you're keeping us. But thanks. And we would collect instead of throw it away. It's like, we're going to need this.

This is what happened in the text today. But to their credit, they went three days without water, not three days without toilet paper, which is right on the border of all. You can take. And there's this really cool picture here. Moses finds a log, some of your Bible, say a tree. Some of your Bible, say a piece of wood.

And it's highlighted to him, and he takes it and he throws it in bitter water, and that water becomes sweet. And we believe that this log, this tree is a picture of the cross of Christ, the reality that even the bitter things in our life can be made sweet when the tree of Christ is applied to them, that it becomes a cup that you can drink.

Because Jesus drank what we could not drink right? And that's what we believe we have here. The cross teaches us this, that a Roman torture device ultimately can turn out for our good. In God's glory. And if he can redeem what happened on the cross, he can redeem anything that's going on in our lives. Suffering now can be for our good and for God's glory now, because of the cross of Christ.

At the cross, we see a God who looked defeated, who's actually winning. It's like that, you know, like the early days in the UFC when the jiu jitsu guy would go to his back and you're like, he's getting wailed on and you're like, oh, just wait. When he's out of gas, this is over and we know it now.

Early days we were like, this isn't going good for you, buddy. You on your back. That's exactly what's going on. Jesus is just absorbing blow after blow, and he's getting ready to flip the whole thing.

At the cross, we know that a God who seems distant and silent is actually very active and working. You're just not aware of it. Here's the second test, which is just as cool. Exodus 17. Starting in verse one, the whole Israelite community set out from the desert of sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at ref Edem, but there was no water for the people to drink.

So here we go again. They quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. And Moses replied, why am I fielding all these calls? Why do you put the Lord to the test? But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. And they said, why did you bring us out to Egypt? To make us and your children and livestock die of thirst?

And then Moses cried out to the Lord, what am I supposed to do with these people? They're almost ready to stone me. And the Lord answered Moses, go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go, and I will stand there before you buy the rock at Horeb.

Strike the rock, and the water will come out of it for the people to drink. So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Maza and Maraba, because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord, saying, is the Lord even among us?

This story feels kind of familiar. The end of it is that people get water again, but they get water from a rock that's been struck. But there's actually something really more, much more significant going on here. You may you may look at this and just think, well, good. This seems like a repeat of what we just read there.

Just getting water in a different way. But this text says that God standing by the rock. But the more accurate way to say it in Hebrew is that God is standing on the rock. So God associates himself with this rock that's being struck. And Tim Chester says, why this matters for us. Here's the quote. The Israelites have put God on trial through their grumbling.

And so the courtroom is arranged. The representatives of Israel are on one side, and God says, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. So God is on the other side. And this is the case of Israel versus God. We know that Israel, we know that Israel are guilty and deserve to be condemned. We know that God is innocent and deserves to be vindicated.

But God tells Moses, strike the rock, the rock where God is standing. It's the most dramatic and surprising moment. Moses brings down the rod of judgment on God. God takes the judgment that his people deserve, and as a result, blessing flows to the people and water comes out of the rock to quench the peoples thirst. If part of you is like I in my pack, I got in this great conversation with my pack and, some of the guys were like, man, I'm reading the same verses you are.

But I would have never got that, you know, like, are we reading the same book? Because I read that and this did not jump out to me. The reason that this jumps out to us is because Paul in the New Testament refers to it. So if you think this is a stretch to think that God was struck with judgment so that we could be refreshed with life, this is what Paul says, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

That rock was Christ, the innocent one, the Holy One, the perfect one. He takes the rod of judgment. And what do we get? Water. Everlasting life. Because God took the rod. God was struck so that we could be only disciplined as sons and daughters.