Thru the Bible

Steve: The Israelites are moaning and groaning. They're out of water again and they're fed up. What's poor Moses going to do? Will he give up? What will God do next? Welcome to Through the Bible with our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I'm Steve Schwetz, your host.

Steve: And we're in the Old Testament book of Exodus, this time in chapter 17. It's a great study in God's word and so relevant to our lives today.

Steve: So grab a seat on the Bible bus, and while you do that, Greg Harrison and I have got a letter from a fellow passenger using our app.

Greg Harrison: Yes, we love it when you write to us through the feedback section of the app. It's really easy. It's as easy as sending a text or an email. And here's what we heard from Marnie. She said,

Greg Harrison: When I was a preteen, my mother learned about you from a precious Christian friend as we were departing a mainstream cult.

Greg Harrison: Once I became an adult, I didn't listen as regularly and found myself easily distracted.

Greg Harrison: I got married and periodically attended church with my husband. Eventually, my husband asked for a divorce. I was very hurt and remember needing to hear something comforting during the first night my husband left.

Greg Harrison: I looked online and found Through the Bible and listened to that comforting southern drawl of Dr. McGee for several hours.

Greg Harrison: I got saved a month later and have been grateful for Through the Bible, still being available to me and others.

Greg Harrison: I'm a member of the World Prayer Team, and I often find myself convicted and encouraged when I read the testimonies of the brethren. I've been a Christian for 10 years now and enjoy this program in a way that makes me share with others who are searching for good Bible teaching and resources.

Steve: Marnie, thank you for that encouraging letter and sharing how the Lord saw you through that difficult time of the divorce.

Steve: And I want you guys to realize that Marnie wrote this through the app, through the feedback section of our app.

Steve: And if you haven't, if you listen to the program using some podcast or some other way, I'd encourage you to try downloading the app.

Steve: The reason I like doing it is because yes, you can hear the daily program just like you would on a podcast, but what you can't do on a podcast that you can do with our app is if you just scroll down a little bit from the play button, you will see read the Bible passage. You can do one of two things.

Steve: I like to go in and read the Bible passage and then have it read to me for the entire chapter, and it does cover often times more than what Dr. McGee is covering. But you can listen to it or you can simply follow along as he's teaching, and that's a real benefit.

Steve: If you have the ability to listen to Dr. McGee teach, when he's teaching through the Bible, he's got his Bible open, so maybe you should have your Bible open too. That's a good point. You do get more out of it when you're actually reading the scripture along with him.

Steve: So I'd encourage you, if you don't already have the app, to download that app today and give it a shot. If there's something that you want to have changed, you got some feedback for us, then use the feedback section in our app to tell us how we can get better.

Greg Harrison: That's a really great point, Steve, and it is important that we read the scriptures or hear them before the study. Dr. McGee says that, and so does Steve Schwetz. Let me pray to open our study.

Greg Harrison: Father, we're so grateful that you've given us your word, and you've given us this great systematic teaching from Dr. McGee. I pray that everyone who listens today will have their hearts and minds transformed in Jesus name. Amen.

Steve: Here's our study of Exodus 17 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We are on the wilderness march. The children of Israel have left the land of Egypt now. They're on the way to Sinai, and on the way they had seven experiences that are reminders of us that we find the corollary in Christian experience. That is, these things did happen under them for examples unto us. And you and I do well to read and to heed these lessons.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: They're given to us actually in a picture form, so that we can't miss them at all. Now we come in this 17th chapter to the experience of the children of Israel thirsting and then of the way that God provided water for them.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I'll begin reading now at chapter 17, verse one.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord and pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Wherefore, the people did chide with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Moses said unto them, "Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the people thirsted there for water and the people murmured against Moses and said, "Wherefore is this that thou has brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You see, the children of Israel were complaining everlastingly. They start murmuring again.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: God graciously meets their needs and then something else comes up and they begin to cry out, complain, find fault.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Moses is getting a little impatient, I think with them. I'm reading now verse 4. And Moses cried unto the Lord saying, "What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Moses was, I think, willing at this time to turn his job over to somebody else.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He was pretty much put out with them, complaining and whining and finding fault.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Today, there are many churches just in this same spiritual condition.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And they generally think they're in an excellent condition.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, will you notice God's provision now for them?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the Lord said unto Moses, "Go on before the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take it in thy hand and go."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Remember now that rod at the very beginning was to be a badge and seal of the authority and power of Moses.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now notice, "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb. And thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And he called the name of the place Massah or Meribah because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, this is the first experience here of the rock and the water that came from the rock.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And I think that probably here at the very beginning we need to ascertain what we're talking about. What does the rock represent?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And we're not left here to guess work or our own speculation or our own wisdom. But we are now not only dependent upon the Spirit of God, but he steps in and gives us the answer.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now you'll recall that we turned before to the First Corinthians, the 10th chapter, and that there we saw the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And after that experience, we're told verse 4, "And did all drink," and by the way, it says, "and did all eat the same spiritual meat," that's verse 3.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That's manna.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, that manna was Christ, as we've seen, and John makes that clear.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But notice verse 4, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now remember, all these things happened unto them for examples unto us.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the bread they ate, manna, is a picture of Christ. He's the bread of life.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But he's also the water of life.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And this rock, I think, is a beautiful picture of Christ, and it reveals here in contrast to the unbelief of the people.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You see, they doubted God here, and the rock is a good solid foundation.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But they were building on a butter foundation. They doubted God, they were leaning on cobwebs and broken reeds, and that small cloud of doubt was hiding the face of God from them.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, that rock's a beautiful picture of Christ.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You remember the Psalmist said, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." That's Christ.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And again the Psalmist said in Psalm 78:35, "And they remembered that God was their rock." And then the Lord Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my church," and that rock is Christ.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Peter says, "The stone the builders rejected, the same is become the headstone of the corner." And no other foundation, Paul says, "can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the Lord Jesus is, the hymn has it, is a rock in a weary land. And though this is a marvelous picture of him as the foundation, the one we rest upon, the church is built on him.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But it's the last place to go to drink, to get a drink of water. And I don't mean to be facetious, but you couldn't even get hard water from granite, from a rock, it's like getting blood from a turnip or orange juice from a doorknob.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But look upon that rock and you can admire its sterling quality, its durability, and the great lessons from it. Christ is the rock, you can test it, analyze it, but you can't drink it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Jesus is a rock, but listen, friends, his beautiful life and all of his durability will not save you.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: His teaching will not redeem your soul.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: His life and teaches are like polished marble engraved and you can apply them to your life with carborundum or opticians rouge, but, my friend, it won't really save you, may polish you a little.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And he spoke of the fact that you could dash your foot against a stone, that he was that kind of rock. But that you can fall on that stone for salvation.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, there's no human effort to get water from the rock. The rock was smitten, that riven rock brought forth life giving waters.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Jesus was crucified, and nothing short of that would save us, not his life, but his death.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And he came and then he left and he said, "I'm not going to leave you orphans, I'm coming to you." And he says, "If I go, I'll send the Holy Spirit to you."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that flood was released on the day of Pentecost.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But this didn't end Israel's experience with the rock. When we get over to the book of Numbers, we're going to find out they came back again and began to complain about no water.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Moses at that time, he, you remember, smote the rock twice.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: There are those that say he should just have smitten it once. No, that's not it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If you turn over to the 20th chapter of the book of Numbers, read it verse 8, it says, "Speak to the rock." The rock had already been smitten.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And after Christ was crucified 1900 years ago, it's not necessary for him to be crucified.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: When he said, "It's finished," as he hung on the cross, it was finished, and God is satisfied with what Jesus did for you.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the question is, are you satisfied?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He died to save us, and that is all that God is asking.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, that comes from that rock, spiritual blessings today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the fullness of blessings and the waters are gushing forth to parch lips. He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The rock is smitten once and there's flowing an abundance of water.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The fountain is brimful, the stream is bankfull, the world is not able to contain it, but in spite of that, there are many men's souls that today are shriveled up.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And their tongues are parched, millions are dying for want of spiritual drink.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The channel is blocked, it's log jammed by doubts, it's corroded by sin, it's insulated by indifference, and it's damned by those today who profess to know him but do not know him.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I'm disturbed today, I'm disturbed today as I look about me.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But friends, I ask you the question, personally, in particular, "Have you been to that smitten rock and if you had a drink there?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Have you taken the living waters? He says that if you drink of that water, you'll never thirst again."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This is the picture that's given to us here. Now we come to another incident here in the 17th chapter.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And it's another experience on this wilderness march that these people are taking.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And it is the experience with Amalek, the Amalekites, and the Amalekites represent the flesh, and you're going to find where the victory was won.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now will you notice verse 8.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Moses said unto Joshua, "Choose us out men and go out and fight with Amalek."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "Tomorrow, I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I perhaps we should stop there at verse 10 for just a moment.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: To notice several things that are quite unusual here. First of all, why we find that this man Amalek is a grandson of Esau.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that's the flesh, you'll recall. We saw that Esau represents that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the Amalekites became an enemy, enemy that never ceased to be an enemy of the children of Israel.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And you find here that you can't overcome the flesh just by your own effort.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And it's quite interesting to note that here for the first time the children of Israel engage in a warfare.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that's the picture of the flesh warreth against the Spirit and the Spirit warreth against the flesh, and these are contrary. Remember, that's what Paul wrote.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that is the picture here. That is a conflict that goes on, and Israel now for the first time engaged in a conflict, but they went to the top of the mountain, Moses, and Aaron and Hur.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Verse 11, "It came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But Moses' hands were heavy. They took a stone, put it under him, and he sat thereon, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, you'll note here that the battle actually was fought upon top of the mountain. It was fought by prayer.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It was fought by and won by Moses. It was not won by the fighting of these people. They were not adept at warfare yet.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: They were not experienced soldiers, and they didn't do very well. The very minute that Moses' hands came down and he wasn't able to hold him up, why the children of Israel began to lose, and they would have lost.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the important thing is that the Holy Spirit is the only one that can give us a victory over the flesh.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The victory is only as the believer walks in the Spirit.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: When you and I act independently, why Amalek or the flesh gains an easy victory.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And we are apt, of course, to spare the flesh.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Notice, though, what God has to say here, and it's a remarkable thing that he has to say.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And when Moses' hands were held up, they won.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You and I will never be able to overcome the flesh. It's only the Spirit of God that can do that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now verse 13, "And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the Lord said unto Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "And rehearse it in the ears of Joshua."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And I think we ought to stop there to have our attention called to this man Joshua for the first time, because this is the man who's going to succeed Moses, and you can see already that he's being prepared for this position. God was preparing him.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He was an ordinary man, as we shall see, but God prepared him for the task. Now God says here that I want you to let Joshua know this.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now God's going to get rid of the flesh, friends. And thank God for that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If the Lord took all of the church right now into heaven as it is, and they were not changed, we're told that the dead are to be raised incorruptible, and the living are to be changed, they're to be transformed.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: They are to have the same thing happen to them that happened to the Lord, the Mount of Transfiguration.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And if that didn't take place and the church was taken to heaven like it is right now, it wouldn't be heaven, friends. It'd be just like it is where you are and where I am.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Because you and I'd wreck the place with this old nature we got. God's going to get rid of it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: God has made the statement here, "I'll utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." And I say today, thank God, he's going to get rid of this old nature of Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I've been dragging it around like a corpse for years, and I'd like to get rid of it. But I find out that that old nature, I don't get rid of it, and it reasserts itself again and again.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we are told here in verse 15 of chapter 17 of Exodus.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Moses built an altar, called the name of it, Jehovah Nissi.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: For he said, "Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now there are three things that are here that are very important. The first thing that God mentioned is this, that he's going to ultimately get rid of Amalek.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I'll utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek. God's going to get rid of the old nature.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And then the second thing is this, that the Lord will never compromise with this old nature that I've got and that you've got.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Never will he. He'll have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You're not going to reach the place, friends, that you're going to get rid of the old nature in this life. God'll have war from generation to generation.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the important thing is, therefore, the second thing is, God'll never compromise with it. And that means that there will be the third thing, this constant conflict will go on as long as you and I are in this body and in this life.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The Spirit warreth against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit, and these are contrary. This is the thing that you and I need to recognize today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And here was this battle with Amalek, and it represents the flesh. Now when we come to chapter 18, we come to a rather unusual experience, and it's the last experience, by the way.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We have here Moses turning to worldly wisdom rather than to revelation. God has been leading him by revelation directly, and now Moses is turning, and he's going to listen to his father-in-law.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: His father-in-law is going to come visit him, and Moses is going to listen to him, which, of course, he should not. And I think we'll just get our foot in the door here.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It says, "When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he'd sent her back, and her two sons."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "Of which the name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I've been an alien in a strange land." Now, this is all quite interesting here and rather important too.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: To begin with, Moses has come into the land of Midian now with the children of Israel. They're going by Mount Sinai.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And now the father-in-law of Moses brings his wife to him. Now apparently, when they went down to Egypt, and we saw that experience where she called him a bloody husband, that apparently he sent her back either then or shortly after that. And she was apparently not down there for the Exodus that took place out of the land of Egypt.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And now that they're out of the land and she'd been sent back to her father, why Jethro, the father-in-law, brings her to Moses.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And while he's there, why Jethro has a nice little visit with Moses. And by the way, I must call your attention to this again because there'll be some people listening today that were not listening before.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The name of Moses' wife was Zipporah. And it means spara, or it means "birdie," a young bird.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: In other words, this is the first instance of a wife named Ladybird, and that's exactly what Moses' wife's name was, Ladybird.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, now we're going to have to wait until next time to see this family gathering, this reunion of Moses and his wife and also the father-in-law is there at this time.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve: Join us next time for the family reunion. And in the meantime, you can listen to this message again for free with our app or at ttb.org or call us at 1-800-65 bible if we can help you find it.

Steve: I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll save a seat on the Bible bus just for you.

Steve: Through the Bible is a five-year study of God's entire word, and together we discover God's purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?