Alright, if you will, let's turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. We looked Wednesday at that brazen
serpent that was made like what was killing the people. It was
lifted up. And to look at that was life. Christ is our brazen serpent.
We're bitten with sin. The look to Him is to live. He said in John 3.14, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. This morning we looked at that
manna from heaven. He's our bread. He's our manna. He's all we need for life. And
He's freely given to an undeserving people, a hungry people. The ones that eat are the ones
that are hungry. He said, I am the living bread which came down
from heaven. That's Him. Tonight we're going to look at
the water from that rock. Israel were sent those serpents
because they complained there was no bread. Except that white
bread they hated. They complained there was no
water. It says here in verse 1, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant, how that our fathers were under the
cloud and passed through the sea. All were baptized unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea, and they did all eat the same
spiritual meat. They ate that manna, and all
did drink of that same spiritual drink. For they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them, that rock that followed
them through the wilderness. And that rock, that's a capital
R, that rock was Christ. All throughout the Old Testament,
it was just so full and so rich of the Lord Jesus Christ over
and over again. And it's my honor, it's our privilege
to be able to read His Word and see Him, have eyes to see Christ
in these. And it's in part. It's definitely. We don't see Him fully. But to
be able to read through these and see that, that rock was Christ.
That manna was Christ. That's Him. Our firmament's Christ.
He's our covering. to see Him. He's our rainbow.
Turn over to Exodus 17. We'll see what Paul was writing
about. Hopefully we'll see in our text
tonight that there was a rock with Israel in that wilderness
of sin. There was a smitten rock with
them and it was their rock. That rock followed Him. That
rock stayed with Him. At capital R, Rock was Christ. It was smitten. They lived and
He was with them. It says there in verse 1 of Exodus
17, 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 and riffed them and there
was no water for the people to drink. A.W. Pink said, whenever you see and,
that links it to the previous text. That links it to the previous
context, doesn't it? Chapter 16, verse 1, we read
this morning, and they left Elam. That's where there was 12 wells,
one for each tribe, 70 palm trees, perfect shade, perfect place
to rest, good water. And they went to the wilderness
of sin. But it says and they went there. Back in chapter 15,
They were in Mara. Naomi told us, she said, you
call me Mara, because I'm bitter water. The Lord has dealt bitterly
with me. That's where they cast the wood
into those bitter waters and they were made sweet. Those bitter
waters of God's wrath, the cross of Christ was cast into. That's
how it's made sweet to us. Over and over again, chapter
15, chapter 16, now we're in chapter 17, where Sean Christ
Him. Him saving His people. And it
says there, they journeyed. That's our life in this world.
It's a journey. That's all it is. And time after time in that
journey, we're brought to see our sin. We're brought to see
our need. We're brought to be hungry. We're
brought to be thirsty for Christ. If we're His. For His children. We're brought over and over again.
And our weakness to His strength. Why? Why does that happen that
way? Is that just the way the cards
fell and the Lord's doing the best He can? Of course not. It
says there, He commanded it. According to the commandment
of the Lord. And they pitched in Riffidim. And there was no water there
for the people to drink. You just picture that. There's over
a million people there. I don't know how many there was,
but it was a bunch. Over a million people. And they had all their
cattle with them. And there was nothing to drink. And that was
on the commandment of the Lord. That's exactly where it pleased
Him to bring them. Right to the place there was
no water. He was bringing them back to desperation. He was bringing
them back to hunger and thirst once again. And He did it on
purpose. And when this trial was on them, they knew where
it was. Riftim means railing. That's probably what they're
going to do. Here's what they did when the trial was on them.
Verse 2, Wherefore the people did chide, That means they wrestled. They grappled. That's a wrestling
term. They got a hold of his shirt.
Moses! They meant business, didn't they? That ain't school ground stuff.
They meant it. They chided with Moses and said, give us water
that we may drink. They kept going to Moses, didn't
they? They went after Moses. They went after him about food.
They went after him about drink. They kept doing that over and
over again. They didn't go after him about their clothes, did
they? The Lord gave them clothes, gave them sandals, didn't wear
out. Clothes didn't wear out that whole 40 years in the wilderness.
There wasn't a need, they didn't bring that up. Our Lord said
in Matthew 6, Therefore take no thoughts, saying, What shall
we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gentiles sing, That your
heavenly Father, he knoweth ye have need of all these things.
Who provided them that manna? Who gave them their life? Who
gave them that blood and Egypt? Who parted that seed? The Lord
did. He provided every bit of that. And they turned to Moses
and got a hold of him. Said, You give us water. It says
there at the end of verse 2, And Moses said unto them, Why
chide ye me? What am I going to do about it?
Think I can make water for a couple million people? Why chide ye
with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
That's what they were really doing. They were taking it all
out on Moses as grappling with him, but the complaint and the
anger was to the Lord. That's just who they could take
it out on. It says in verse 3, And the people thirsted there
for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore
is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us
and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried
unto the Lord. saying, What shall I do unto
this people? They be almost ready to stone
me." They're going to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go on before the people, and take with thee the elders of
Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river. Take
it in thy hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock in Horeb. And thou shalt smite, you shall
give stripes, you shall wound, you shall slaughter, you shall
stricken. Now shalt smite the rock, and
there shalt come water out of it that the people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And
he called the name of this place Massah and Meribah because of
the chiding of the children of Israel and because they tempted
the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? They chided
Moses. They got a hold of him and said,
Is God with us or not? Is he here? Well, I learned a
lot from this. We can learn something, too.
What would my flesh have done? Thankfully, y'all are pretty
easy with me. If one of y'all got a hold of my collar and says,
Lord, with us or not, I'd say, what'd you eat for breakfast?
That's what I'd ask. What'd you have for dinner? What'd
you eat for supper? You ate mayonnaise, didn't you?
Did you come out of Egypt? How do you think you got here?
Of course the Lord's with us. You breathing? He gave that breath,
didn't He? Even with all their murmuring, all their wickedness, they had
manna. They had shoes and clothes that did not wear out. All their
sin in this, charging God, charging His servant, God was faithful
to provide to them. He still blesses His children
in Christ. He's faithful to what He's promised. People say, I'll make you want
to go commit sin. Are you crazy? No, that breaks
the heart. The Lord provides for us. Nothing
can be more ungrateful than this world that we're in right now,
this world and that day. Children of Adam. I'm ungrateful. And I don't know what I don't
know. I'm not thankful for what I'm unconscious of. But every
day, the sun shines. People's walking up down the
street, making a mockery of God, using his name in vain, just
so flippant, putting bumper stickers and tags all over their grocery
bags and just nonsense. And every day, the rain falls
somewhere. The crops grow. The Lord provides
to a world full of unbelief. Here we see another picture of
our Lord. He showed us these things. He showed Israel these
things time and time again, and He's going to preach to them
one more time. So keep coming to Him. We see another picture
of our Lord here. He's not only our rock, He's
our smitten rock. And out of that smitten rock
comes water. That's what comes out of it. He's the water of
life. We read that, don't we? He's everything we need. Everything
needed in the child of God is found in one place, and that's
in Christ. Everything we need's in Him.
He's our bread from heaven. He's our clothes, our covering,
our atonement, our firmament. He's our robe of righteousness.
He's our rock. He's our foundation, our sure
place we stand on, and He's the water of life. That's what comes
out of it. Notice, too, that manna was given before the rock
was smitten. My pastor said one time, he goes,
I don't know much about the Scriptures because I know Exodus 16 comes
after or before Exodus 17. That manna came first, didn't
it? That bread came first. Christ must come to this earth
first. He must walk this earth and this wilderness of sin. He
must obey that law, honor His Father, and then He must be stricken. He must be lifted up, just like
that brazen serpent on a pole. He must die. That hour must needs
be. That's the hour He came for.
The Lord brought this great number of people to the middle of the
desert once again to prove Him. To prove Him. To prove they still
did not believe Him. To prove they still did not trust
Him. And we need proven. If someone will prove my faith,
you don't want that to happen. That's going to be a trial coming.
That's how it's going to happen. We need to be proven over and
over though, don't we? Of our weakness, our inability,
and proven of His strength and His faithfulness. That needs
reaffirmed in us, and it needs to be heeded often. There in
1 Corinthians 10, if you read on, Paul says, Wherefore let
him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. We got
this all sorted out. Boy, I mean, I got a good handle
on it now. I can stand up and walk a little
bit. You might want to sit down and beg. You might want to stoop
down for that manna. Take heed lest you fall. The
Lord must show us we can't stand apart from His power, and we
need that heeding often. I need it every day. I need to
be reminded. My head just swells up so big
and I get so proud. It's puffed up and thinking I'm
strong. I ain't nothing but weakness.
That's all I am. Hundreds of thousands of people
of physical Israel did not enter into the promised land because
they did not believe God. They ate manna every day. They
had clothes that didn't wear out. They had a cloud that led
them by the day and a pillow of fire that led them by night.
They had those waters sweetened when that wood was cast into
it. They had that rock that followed them. But even with all those
miracles, day in and day out, a perfect sign of Christ in everything,
they did not believe God and they didn't put their trust in
Him. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 4. It's a somber thing. I love preaching
to the Lord's people. I like going to see your faces
three times a week. I like going to conferences.
I like preaching to people that rejoice in Christ and Him crucified. They don't take no glory in the
flesh. They love to hear Him. I preach
to a lot of people that it's in one ear, not the other, or
they get mad, or they're indifferent, and that hurts. That hurts. There's a lot of people, a lot
of people, that sat underneath the gospel for a long time. Some
of these people in the wilderness, they was born there and they
died there. Spent their whole life just having pictures of
Christ showed to them, having Moses preach to them, having
the elders explain these things. They didn't enter into the promised
land. They don't believe. Something's necessary with that.
It says there in Hebrews 4 verse 1, Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was this gospel preached,
as well unto them, as well as unto them. It was preached that
they were going to go into Cana. God told them, He said, I'm going
to take you out of Egypt, and I'm going to take you into Cana.
What more do we need to hear? That's like Abraham, wasn't it?
He told Sarah, he said, boy, you're beautiful. He divorced
his wife for a season of time there. He said, you're beautiful
and they're going to kill me. You tell them you're my sister.
Didn't the Lord say his seed was going to come through them
too? It's unbelief that they didn't believe God. For unto
us was the gospel preached as well unto them, but the word
preached did not profit them. not being mixed with faith in
them that had heard it. God did not give them the gift
of faith to be mixed with the preaching. He has to give that.
That's His faith that He gives. It says in verse 3, for we which
have believed do enter into rest. If somebody hasn't entered into
the rest of Christ, they're working. They're striving. They're doing
something. They've not been preaching the
gospel and they've not been saving faith of God in them. They're
doing something. They're looking for others to
do something. They're whipping and correcting or something.
They're backbiting and mauling. Working. For we which have believed
do enter into rest. Lay down. Rest, not work. As he said, as I have sworn in
my wrath that they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world, for he spake in
a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did
rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place
again, if they shall enter into my rest. seeing therefore it
remaineth that some must enter therein. And they to whom it
was first preached enter not because of unbelief." Some must
believe. Some must enter into that rest.
There's a people that must be saved. He must save his people. He shall save his people. Isn't
that good news? That's the hardest thing I've
ever had to do is nothing. Kevin, don't do nothing. I start
quivering and shaking. My muscles tense up. Gotta do
something. Gotta take the trash out. But they entered not because
of unbelief. Of that original group that left Egypt, a majority
of them did not enter into the Promised Land. Those that are
born in the wilderness, 20 and under, entered in. But except for those under over
20, except for Joshua and Caleb, the rest did not enter into Christ.
They didn't enter into that rest. They missed Him. They had all
this preaching, all these signs and wonders in front of them,
these miracles. And they did not believe the good news. They
wanted nothing to do with it. At every hardship that the Lord
sent them, they murmured and they complained against God.
Didn't He make them His nation? Isn't He the one guiding them?
Isn't He providing all things for them? He told them that,
didn't He? We can't pick and choose what
is of God and what's not of God. We like to judge providence,
don't we? I've heard people say a lot throughout my life, God
didn't let that happen. Lord wasn't doing that. Lord
didn't kill your child. Lord didn't send that tsunami.
That's not a hymn. That doesn't give peace. That
gives fear. If a holy God didn't do it, who
did? If it wasn't his permissive will
that allowed these things to happen, for his good pleasure
and his purpose to save his people, to bring them to know Christ,
I'm in a mess of trouble. That's who did it. He brings
all things. It says in 2 Corinthians 5, and
all things are of God. That means all. All means all. All trials, all blessings, all
things are of Him. One of Job's comforters told
him in truth, Affliction cometh not forth from the dust, neither
doth trouble spring out of the ground. Where did these bad things
happen? It wasn't random. This wasn't
some chance. These trials that was given to
Israel over and over again, it wasn't by mistake. The Lord did
it on purpose. Why did he do that? He tells
us in Hebrews 12, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and
scourges every son whom he receiveth. This is necessary. Back in our
text, there in Exodus 17. It says in verse 1, "...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." On purpose, He commanded it. He brought a trial
upon them once again to give them another message, to show
them another miracle, to give them another picture, to show
them the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. It says in verse 2, "...wherefore
the people did chide with Moses and said, Give us water that
we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with
me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted
there for water. And the people murmured against
Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us
up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with
thirst? They kept saying that over, didn't
they? Over and over. God brought us out here to kill
us. God brought us out here to kill us. And you know what he
ended up doing? He killed them, didn't he? Same people led from
Egypt, same people walked through that Red Sea, the same people
giving manna, giving quail. They said, this manna ain't good
enough. We need some meat with it. You know what we do? This
white bread is too simple. I need something meaty. And he
said, I'm going to give you quail for a month until it comes out
your nose. You're going to quit asking me for quail. And he did,
didn't he? Read that in Numbers 11. Be careful
what you murmur about. Be careful what you ask for.
You just might get it. They kept saying the Lord is going to kill
them, and eventually He did. But though they complained often,
they complained about the food and water, the most glaring sin
of all was that they doubted God. They doubted His tender
care, His mercies for His people. And we have the same tendency.
I have the same tendency. I'm made of that same red dirt
that Israel was. I have the same Father as Adam. Kevin, I was talking this morning.
You can get the witness of one man. I mean a foolish source
that makes no sense. Somebody give you some information
and you're like, and boy, we'll take that and run with it. It's
truth. Publish it on the hilltops. Something
crazy. But we doubt God's promises,
don't we? Not to provide for this human body. how quick we
are to do that. I need to get this. I don't need
to get this just on Wednesday and twice on Sunday. I need to
trust the Lord at 922 a.m. on a Thursday. All day, every
day. I believe, and you do too. Everybody
in here does. Christ is the only mediator between
God and man. I believe His blood is sufficient.
I believe He died for particular people. And they're plumb safe,
no matter what. And I believe He's risen. He
is seated on His throne in glory. He lives to make intercession
for His people. And we're going to be like Him.
We're going to be conformed, predestinated to His image. Conformed
to His image. Made just like Him. And I'm going
to see Him in glory. And I know that. And you know
that. How quick do we just trust all
spiritual things to Him and then I worry just like these Israelites
about material things? Happens to me all the time. I
need to believe Him not only when my belly is full, not only
when my lips are wet, but when I need to pay my lot bill. There
ain't no difference. He's provided all things for
His people. All things in the richness of
His mercy. If we believe Him, we have a
good end. Physically and spiritually, we have a good end. Cast all
your care on Him, for He careth for you. Take your burden to
the Lord and leave it there. And Moses gives us a wonderful
example right here of just what to do. Look here in verse 4.
And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto
this people? They be almost ready to stone
me. I had it written down that this was what I needed to hear.
And then I deleted it, and I thought, no, that's what everybody needs
to hear. He's made us kings and priests, hasn't he? When the
world comes after you, when your loved ones come after you, those
you care for, you tell them about Christ and Him crucified, and
they take you by the collar. They want to stone you. They
chide you. Don't whip them. You ain't going to talk Him into
nothing. Turn from them and pray the Lord. Cry to the Lord. That's
a good example. If somebody comes after me, I
don't need to take it out on him. I don't need to argue with
them and debate with them. Turn to the Lord. Take it to Him.
In verse 5 and 6, we see a very special rock. It's special because
as we read there in 1 Corinthians 10, that rock is Christ. Where
sin abounds, all this sin, grace does much more abound. It says
in verse 5, And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the
people, and take with thee the elders of Israel, and thy rod,
wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go. This
rod is what was used to park the Red Sea and drown Pharaoh's
army. This rod was what turned that
Jordan River into blood. This rod brought those plagues
on Egypt. It's a symbol of God's judgment, God's justice, and
His wrath. And it says there in verse 7,
Behold, I will stand before thee thereon upon the rock and whore,
and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shalt come out of it
water that the people may drink. And Moses did so in sight of
the elders of Israel. How did he know which rock? That
rock was the same as all the other rocks, wasn't it? There's
a bunch of rocks out there. Christ was blending right in with everybody
else, wasn't He? He was made a man, just like
any other man. He wasn't no taller or no shorter.
Blended right in. Moses was given eyes to see.
The Lord anointed his eyes to see him standing on that rock.
Just as Peter was given eyes. He anointed Peter's eyes. And
he said, who do men say that I am? And they said all kinds
of things. Oh, you're a prophet, you're a good man. good preacher
and things, and he said, who do you say I am? And Peter said,
you're the Christ. You're the Son of the living
God. He gave him eyes to see that, didn't he? The Lord was
standing on that rock, and he said, you smite it, Moses. You
go up that rock, and you hit it hard. You smite. You don't tap it. You hit it
hard. I'd think, how can I do that? How could I smite God? And now what God did? God smoked
God. He afflicted Him. He bruised
Him. He gave Him the stripes. Martin Luther said that, God
forsaking God, who can understand these things? But that's what
the scripture said. It says that please God to bruise
Him. Christ cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And he said, no man taketh my
life from me, I lay it down to myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it up again. He did that. But he used means, didn't he?
The Lord used Moses to smite that rock. And the Lord used
men and women to smite Christ. He was the one doing it. He said
in Acts 2.23, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
the foreknowledge of God. This was the Lord's purpose.
The Lord commanded it. It was His forelove. His love
for His people. His determinate counsel. Ye have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. My sin is why He went to that
cross. My wicked hands is what slowed
Him. God killed Him, but I'm the one
that He hung up there for. That's what they go on and Acts
2.37 says, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men
and brethren, what shall we do? When we see that, you smite that
rock. Oh, what must we do? Bow to Him,
believe on Him, don't we? Christ died under the rod of
the Father's justice. He was smitten for the sins of
His people that were laid on Him. What do you think will come
out of that rock? What came out of His side when
He hung on the cross? It was blood and water, wasn't it? Moses,
you take that rock and you smite Him. You bruise Him because with
His stripes we are healed. That's what He's saying to them.
That's what's being preached to them. The full wrath of God
for the sins of His elect was taken out on our Redeemer. Every
stripe we earned, earned as our wage. We earned it. It was laid on Him and He smote
Him without interruption, without any holding back, not taking
it easy. There was no mercy given. No
quarter was given. The full wrath of God put on
Him that we might have the water of life. That rock was smitten
because we're thirsty and needy. You need water to live. We need
Him to live. He was smitten for us. He said
in Isaiah 50, for the Lord God will help me, therefore shall
I not be confounded. Therefore has I set my face like
a flint, and I know I shall not be ashamed. His face was set
like a flint. That word means rock. He's our
strong, steady rock. And out of this rock flowed pure
water. That water that come out, you didn't have to run it through
a filter. You didn't have to put some of them little flavoring
drops in it so it was palatable. It was pure crystal. Crystal
water. It was the right temperature.
And that was the best water you ever tasted. Best water you ever
tasted. It's like when Christ turned
that water into wine, that governor said, you've given us the best
first. Everything he touches, everything about Christ is the
best. It's pure and it's clean. Everything is. Clean as crystal.
Those people, they were dying of thirst. Have you ever been
thirsty? I needed a cold drink of water
and you got it. Oh, it just goes down like silk. Oh, it's delicious. You can't stop drinking. You
ever seen them guys in a boat, a life raft, and they've just
got one little bottle of water? They're supposed to take little sips
and they get it and they can't stop. It's instinct. You've got
to keep going with it, don't you? It's precious. It's precious. There was one time I was in the
desert and we went black on water. They said, you got water? And
you ain't getting no more water until we can get it. When's that?
I don't know. The order went out. You don't
brush your teeth. You don't wash your clothes.
You don't shower. You don't shave. Grow a beard. You've saved that
water. But when it showed up, it was
precious. We drank it. God brought this murmuring people
into the wilderness. He gave them a gospel message.
He smoked the rock right in front of them. And that water flowed
freely. It flowed in abundance. And for
40 years, it did not go dry. It didn't run out. And all the
people, all the cattle, everything they needed was watered. That
was for a particular people. That rock was smitten for Israel.
It wasn't popping water up to Germany and Spain and everywhere
else. It was for those people. And
it followed them. Christ was smitten for a multitude
of sinners, more than the sands of the sea given to Him by the
Father. And He says, Lo, I am with you always. He says, Fear
not, I am with thee. I am with thee. That smitten
rock is with us. He follows His people. He stays with them. And
he says to them, are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Turn over to John chapter 7 and
we'll close. John chapter 7 verse 37. In the last day, the great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. He said, come unto me and drink.
If you thirst, come unto him and drink. You'll have all the
water you need and living waters will come out of your belly.
It'll flow out of you. How does something come out of
your belly? It comes out of your mouth, doesn't it? He gave me water. It'll flow out
of you. Some people aren't thirsty. God
has to make us thirsty. He has to make His people willing
in the day of His power. What if it comes to a physical
example of thirst and water? He has to make us thirsty. How
can He do that? from His commandment, on His
will and His purpose, He might take you out in the middle of
the desert for two months, three months, good and thirsty. For
there's only water from Christ our Rock. That's where He'll
bring us. And the thirsty people drink. We'll cleave a hold of
Him and keep drinking, won't we? That's proof of physical
life, is thirst and hunger. You have a surgery they want
you to When you eat something and drink something, that's good.
Oh, they're eating again. Oh, they're drinking again. That's physical
life, isn't it? Same thing with spiritual life.
We eat every day. We drink every day for our bodies.
Dead people don't need food. They don't need water. But the
living do, don't they? Those that He's given life to,
they thirst. They hunger. Those made alive
in Christ need Him just the same as we need our bread and water.
the mercy of God, the faithfulness of God, in spite of ourselves,
in spite of me, He feeds us and waters us. My
whole life I heard my dad say that. He goes, Lord, bless me
in spite of myself. And I thought, oh, I mean, I
kind of understand philosophically what that means. Then I was blessed
in spite of myself. And I want to keep drinking that
water. I want to keep eating that bread. Don't you? That's
pretty good.