Delivered by the Water and the Blood :: Exodus 17:1-7

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you don’t deserve God’s grace. We never did deserve it, and we never will. In the wilderness ... left to ourselves ... we are lost ... and here ... left to ourselves, we deserve to die. But thanks be to God, by grace, his grace ... he has given his son to live for you, and die for you, and rise as the firstborn of the resurrection. And now He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah! Eternal life awaits us all by God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. This salvation by no other name than our Lord Jesus is a gift of God on account of the blood of Christ so that no one can boast (Acts 4:12, Eph 2:9). 

But boast we will, and boast we do. We boast about our past. We boast about our future. God’s people did it in our Old Testament reading. And we are still doing it today. Though the moaning, groaning, grumbling, and complaining of God’s people indicates a lack of trust in God and his Word, God nevertheless promises to be with his people. He promises to deliver his people. He graciously hears their cries for salvation. He graciously comes to his people. He shows us over and over again that he will not desert us. He will not abandon us to our sin. 

He comes to us in his Word, announcing absolution. He comes to us in the waters of Baptism, making us holy just as he is holy (Lv 19:2). He comes to us daily to break bread with us, opening our eyes to know him, nourishing the saving faith that comes by the blood shed by Jesus, the blood that saves. Those who have faith in these words: given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins have exactly what they say. Though we grumble and complain ... calling this worthless food ... he continues to pour out life and salvation upon us, the life and salvation earned by his dear son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was stricken, smitten, and afflicted on our behalf ... one Lord standing in the place of many. 

4.

Our Old Testament reading is part of a series of amazing and recurring events during the Exodus of Israel ... an Exodus out of the bondage ... an Exodus out of sin and death. 

For months the Israelites had been witnessing the powerful hand of God at work in their daily lives. Though they were smitten, stricken, and afflicted by their oppressors in Egypt, the Lord graciously protected them. He sent them a man to lead them into the land of milk and honey. He stayed with them constantly in a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21). The Israelites witnessed his presence with them as he led them through the Red Sea on dry ground with walls of water towering on their right and left hands (Ex 14:19). They witnessed the Lord use those same walls of water to drown their oppressors once for all (Ex 14:28). And they sang their jubilant song of praise for the first time: The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation (Ex 15:2). 

Though they had all passed through the sea and were baptized into Moses, they were still stricken, smitten, and afflicted (1 Cor 10:1). They were still determined to do things their way. They still longed to maintain their tradition ... a tradition forged in bondage. They still thought it was a more comfortable way of life. They didn’t appreciate God’s means of grace.

Let’s face it: they didn’t know why they should trust God’s Word. They didn’t understand why they should trust the shepherd named Moses. They didn’t understand where the Lord was leading them. They didn’t recognize that the daily means of grace proved all the more that ... Behold, I am with you always ... Behold, I am still nourishing you with means of grace. 

Even after God turned bitter water sweet (Ex 15:25) ... even when God gave them their fill of manna in the morning (Ex 16:4), and quail in the evening (Ex 16:13) ... even when the manna kept appearing and the quail kept returning ... even when they kept eating and kept drinking ... even when God did this day after day after day ... for a million people ... in the desert of clay ... in the midst of thorns ... they didn’t like it one bit ... as Moses recorded ... 

Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel set out from the wilderness of (Sen) for their journey, [being led by the Word of the Lord] ... And they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 

So the people contended with Moses and said, Give us water and drink. 

And Moses said to them, Why do you contend with me? Why do you test YHWH? 

But the people thirsted there for water, and it caused the people to grumble against Moses. And they said, Why have you caused us to arise from Egypt for the purpose of killing me, my son, and my cattle with thirst? (vv. 1-3) 

3.

Brothers and sisters in Christ ... we are God’s people now ... and we have been stricken, smitten, and afflicted (v 7). Intellectually, we know wherever two or three are gathered, the Lord is in our midst ... even though we don’t see pillars of cloud and fire. 

But too often we look for God in what we think and feel. Too often we look for his presence by virtue of our health, our wealth, and our prosperity. Too often we look for him in our tradition and our way of life. We look for him within ourselves. We look at our bank account and say that isn’t enough. We look at our freezer and say we want something better to eat. We actually think life is good the way it used to be. 

So we grumble and complain. 

We grumble and complain to the Lord, thinking man can live on bread alone. We grumble and complain to our shepherd, thinking that God doesn’t know what’s best for us. ... We grumble and complain that his means of grace aren’t enough for us ... and that he will actually use these mysteries of faith to sustain us in the wilderness as we walk toward the Promised Land.

Then Moses cried to the Lord, What will I do with these people? They are ready to stone me! (v 4).

In the name of Jesus, repent every one of you. That is, turn away from yourselves, turn away from your self-imposed bondage to the affliction of your sinful nature. And then turn and listen to the Gospel.

Christ the rock continues to follow you (1 Cor 10:4) ... Christ the rock continues calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying the whole Christian church on earth ... through his means of grace that proclaim God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.

And YHWH said to Moses, pass before the people, and take with you the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come from it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so for the eyes of the elders of Israel. (vv 5-6)

2.

Please now turn to page 322 in your [Lutheran Service Book] and join me in confessing our faithful doctrine from the Apostles’ Creed. As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household ... 

What is the First Article? ... 

What does this mean? ...

1.

Yes, it is most certainly true that God is with us always ... always protecting us ... always cleansing us ... always nurturing us. He longs to give you daily bread. It is one of his means of grace that proclaim that 

WHEN CHRIST WAS STRICKEN, SMITTEN, AND AFFLICTED, IT WAS FOR YOUR DELIVERANCE.

Though stricken with your sin, he does not complain and grumble about it (Is 53:7). As Isaiah prophesied: He gave his back to those who strike ... Nor did he hide his face from disgrace and spitting (Is 50:6). He took our sickness and carried our pain, and we esteemed him stricken, smitten, and afflicted (Is 53:4). He was oppressed and afflicted yet did not open his mouth (53:7).

There on the cross, God poured out his wrath for your sin ... even your grumbling and complaining ... upon the body of Jesus. And now ... you have no sin left to be punished. It is finished (Jn 19:30). His pierced side now yields water and blood (Jn 19:34). And that water and the blood are still flowing today as means of grace! 

The water flows in Baptism. Christ uses the washing of water in word for the purpose of presenting the church to himself in splendor (Eph 5:26-27). 

More than that, the blood of Jesus now covers all your sins. And this is the blood that flows in the feast of forgiveness that has no end. When you eat and drink the bread and the wine in the Lord’s Supper, God bestows his gift of forgiveness upon you. His forgiveness cleans up the mess of our sinful lives ... lives that are full of grumbling and complaining. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the blood and water together quench your thirst for deliverance from this ... they unite us. This is why the early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 

So come let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation (Ps 95:1). Just as the Lord delivered his people in the wilderness, so also he delivers you by the water and the blood of his Divine Service into the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting ... in Jesus’ name.