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“CHRIST IS OUR ROCK”
Text: Exodus 17:1-7
Sunday March 8, 2026 – Lent 3
Trinity – Creston
Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Our text for this Third Sunday in Lent is the OT lesson from Exodus 17 that was just proclaimed.
Let Us Pray: Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind us that you are our hope, security, OUR ROCK in all circumstances. Amen.
Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:
Life is a journey. These days, many of us will move several times during our lives—maybe across the country, maybe to a different country. You aren’t all from around here.
But even if you are, even if you’ve never moved and never will move, life is a journey through ages and stages—from single to married to kids to grandkids—
Through job changes and changes in our own perspectives and opinions, adjusting to new technologies, making new friends and getting on without some of our oldest and best ones.
1. Life is a journey, but it’s not an easy journey.
a. In our text, the children of Israel are on their journey through the wilderness, and guess what? They find the journey hard. They’ve got no water, and they quarrel with Moses; they test God (vv 1–3).
b. Our journey through life is a trudge through the wilderness, and the wilderness is a place of testing.
(1) A new home doesn’t always feel like home.
(2) New stages mean aging; we miss loved ones and friends and good old days.
(3) New technology—can’t live with it; can’t live without it.
(4) New experiences bring us to question things we used to be so sure of.
2. We’re quick to judge Israel for their grumbling against the Lord, but we know we’re seeing ourselves.
a. God had done so much to deliver Israel: ten miraculous plagues against Egypt, parting of the Red Sea, manna every day, quail, even water once already.
b. But think of what he’s done for you:
(1) His earthly gifts for you: life, spouse, children, home, job.
(2) His heavenly gifts for you: Baptism, his holy Word, the Lord’s Supper, your church, pastor, Christian friends.
(3) All those times you were frightened or worried but the Lord brought you through: sickness, loss, grief.
c. Obviously, the Lord has done great things for us in our lives, delivering us from sin, death, and Satan.
d. But then, when the time of testing comes, don’t we still grumble and doubt as Israel did?
(1) How much of our conversation is complaining? That this town can’t compare with the old place, that work is a pain, that the kids never call.
(2) I’ve heard tell of a gent who’s known to be calm, laid back, never upset, never swearing—but is pushed to the very edge by his computer, new passwords, websites that don’t work.
(3) Each complaint we make tells anyone in earshot we’re not content with life as the Lord has given.
(4) Repent! Take Israel as a warning! Do not put the Lord to the test as they did. And . . .
3. Come to where there’s water for the journey.
a. Moses, the servant of the Lord, went up the mountain of the Lord, and with his staff struck the rock, and water came out (vv 4–6).
b. Jesus, the greater Servant of the Lord, went up Mount Calvary and died for you.
c. Then, as he hung dead on the cross, his side was struck with a spear, and water and blood came out—eternal life itself for you.
d. His water and blood pour down from the cross, through all the ages, and right into the font where you were baptized, right into the chalice where you are given his blood to drink.
Christ Is Our Rock, and He Gives the Water of Life.
4. Come to Christ, our Rock, and get the water of life.
a. When you listen to the sermon and stand by the font and hear the absolution and kneel for Holy Communion, imagine yourself standing by the Rock that was struck, for your heart is being filled with the water of life.
b. This fountain from the Rock forgives all your sins, all your grumbling, all your complaining, every discontent for the Lord’s providing, every time you boil to the very edge—or boil over.
c. “Is the Lord among us or not?” (v 7). The water of life that Christ gives you in his holy means of grace assures you that he is still with you, even in all of those testing moments!
5. And don’t think you have to earn this gift.
a. You could never get it on your own.
b. It’s all given by God’s grace alone.
Conclusion: This world is a wilderness, and we are on a journey through it. We could never make it on our own.
We are tested and tempted every step of the way. But the Lord is present with us and for us.
Come to Calv’ry’s holy mountain,
Sinners, ruined by the fall;
Here a pure and healing fountain
Flows for you, for me, for all,
In a full, perpetual tide,
Opened when our Savior died. . . .
Come in sorrow and contrition,
Wounded, impotent, and blind;
Here the guilty, free remission,
Here the troubled, peace may find.
Health this fountain will restore;
They that drink shall thirst no more. (LSB 435:1, 3)
Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.
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