Well, as you can see, the title
of the message is That Rock Was Christ. And let's just read the
first three verses of Exodus 17. It says, in all the congregation
of the children of Israel, they journeyed from the wilderness
of sin, and after their journeys, according to the commandment
of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the
people to drink. And verse two says, wherefore
the people, for this reason, because there was no water, the
people did chide with Moses. That means they complained, they
criticized, as we're apt to do. And it says, they said, give
us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, why
chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
Why do you tempt the Lord? Now to tempt the Lord means to
put him to the test and it's an act of unbelief. Because think
about it now, the people of Israel, they journeyed from this wilderness
into this place. There was no water to drink.
They had been murmurers. They've already established their
character. In Egypt they murmured and at
the edge of the Red Sea they murmured and they crossed the
Red Sea and they murmured. And so it just keeps on going.
And so what he shows us here by illustration through the people
of Israel is the natural condition of the sinful human heart. Moses said to them, why chide
you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
And verse three says, the people thirsted there for water and
the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore or why is
this that thou has brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and
our children and our cattle with thirst? So think about this. If we really, you know, one of
the things that the Lord shows us in what we call Holy Spirit
conviction is that we are a sinful people, all of us. I've often
said there's only two types of people on the face of this earth. There's sinners lost in their
sins and there's sinners saved by grace. And when we see these
illustrations of Israel, how are we to think of these? Well,
we can think of it several ways. Number one, we know that if it
weren't for the grace of God, there we go, right there. That's
us. The natural heart's deceptive.
I've got it cited in your lesson, Jeremiah 17, nine. You know,
the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know it? That's
why in salvation, the Lord has to give us a new heart. What
is the heart in this? It's the mind, the affections,
the will, the conscience. All of these, I'm gonna talk
about the conscience today in the main message. And so we know
this from God's word, what we are by nature. And we know that
as sinners saved by grace, that if it weren't for his continual
grace and mercy, that we would forsake him. Just like the children,
we'd be total murmurers, unbelievers. But God has given us a heart
of faith and he's brought us to himself and he keeps us. But
even as sinners saved by grace, we know that we're no better
than this group right here. I love it where Paul in Romans
chapter three in verse nine, after he brings Gentile and Jew
in guilty before God because of sin, he asked this question
in verse nine. He said, are we better than they? And he says, no and no wise.
You think if you were, I've heard people say this too, in false
religion. Oh, if I'd have been there, I
would have believed. After seeing the Red Sea part,
after seeing the waters of Mara turn sweet, I would have, no
you wouldn't. No you wouldn't, this is us.
And it would remain to be us were it not for the grace of
God. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. And by the grace of God, I will
be what I will be. And so, don't think that just
because you see some great miracle, that that would change our hearts.
They saw great miracles and it didn't change their hearts. An
evil heart of unbelief, he said. You know, he talked about the
people in the wilderness in Hebrews chapter three, about how they
perished in the wilderness because of an evil heart of unbelief. And he says the gospel was preached
to them, and it was through Moses in different ways, but they didn't,
it wasn't mixed with faith. They didn't have God-given faith.
So here's what we see here, the natural tendency of the human
heart to doubt God, to disbelieve God. And so we'd rather trust
in ourselves, we'd rather lean to our own understanding, we'd
rather figure this out for ourselves. than just simply depend on God.
Brother Mahan said one time, he said the most difficult thing
for a human being to do is just simply to trust the Lord. Trust
in the Lord and lead not to your own understanding. But again
now, understand it's even as sinners saved by grace who have
a new heart and a new mind, we're still plagued with the heart
of flesh. There's a warfare within us. So these Israelites, they
were anxious. You know, the Bible speaks of
anxious care. You get into a problem and you
go into anxious care and they ask the questions, what are we
going to eat? What are we going to drink? Those questions are
natural to us. I mean, you know, we have plenty
to eat, but yet we do a menu every weekend. What are we going
to have next week? You know, all that. So, I mean, those are
natural questions. It's not above the human, even
the new heart to say, what am I gonna eat? But they were anxious. They said to Moses, did you just
bring us here to die? What are we gonna do? Well, God had cared for him up
to this point, hadn't he? What made them think he's gonna
stop? Because he said, I'm gonna bring you into the promised land.
And that was a promise given before they were even born, given
to Abraham. It was unconditional towards
them. But these questions about what we're gonna eat, what we're
gonna wear, where we're gonna live, here's the point. They
shouldn't make us anxious to the point that we disbelieve
and doubt God. And the Lord, he had a lot to
say about this in the Sermon on the Mount, didn't he? It's
in Matthew chapter six, you don't have to turn there. But in Matthew
6 and 25 and 34, most people's lives are wrapped up in these
things. What are we gonna eat? What are
we gonna wear? Where are we gonna live? How
much money am I gonna make? That's most people's lives. And
that's all it is. I think about these shows that
Debbie watches on HGTV. And these people, when they come
into the new house, they're so overwhelmed. And the first thing
they say is, my God. Well, they're taking God's name
in vain. You know that, don't you? Oh, my God. And I think, I guess their life
is fulfilled now. They got wood floors. They got
a new kitchen with white cabinets. Wow. Oh, that's going to burn
up. Now, don't get me wrong. It's
not wrong for us to want nice things. I understand that. But,
and I'm not, I don't know these people, you know, when they come
in. I don't know what they believe or anything. You know, you can be
overwhelmed for the moment. I understand that. You get a
new place and all that. Okay, I can do that too. But
what I'm saying is that that kind of encapsulates the natural
man in his whole life. You know, this is all he is.
And Christ said it this way. In Matthew 6, verses 25 through
34, He said, take no thought of what you're gonna eat and
what you're gonna wear. And here's his conclusion in verse 33. He said, but seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be
added unto you. God will take care of you. What should be first and foremost
on our minds and our hearts as far as that settles us, that
fulfills us? Not the home we live in, not
the job we have. No, Christ and His righteousness. We're righteous in God's sight
because He's freely and fully given us all that He requires
and all we need for eternal life and salvation. And that's the
point, I believe, that needs to be made here. They were all
the time worrying what they're gonna eat, what they're gonna
wear, all of this. And so that's again, that's the wickedness
of the human heart. And of course we know the only
thing that can overcome that is the power and grace of God
in Christ. We'll look at verse four of Exodus
17. It says, and Moses cried unto
the Lord. Now that's the place, there's
where we need to go. That's where the children of
Israel should have gone. They came up on Moses. They went
against Moses. What are you going to do? Well,
Moses did what we all should do. He cried unto the Lord, turned
to the Lord saying, what shall I do unto this people? They'd
be almost ready to stone me. They're almost ready to kill
me because they don't have any water to drink. And the Lord
said unto Moses, go on before the people, take with thee of
the elders of Israel, And thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the
river," that's the river Nile. Remember when Moses handed that
rod to Aaron and he put it in the, he smoked the waters of
the Nile and it turned red with blood? That's Aaron's rod. Later on you see Aaron's rod
was put into the Holy of Holies, Aaron's rod that budded, that
actually grew buds on it. A dead rod that grew buds, what's
that signify? Dead sinners being saved by the
grace of God and given life. And he said, take that rod wherewith
thou smotest the river, and take in thy hand, and go. And verse
six, he says, behold, I will stand before thee there upon
the rock in Horeb. God said, I'll stand there before
thee. That's another pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. Christ is right here in his pre-incarnate
visitation. And he says, thou shalt smite
the rock. There's a rock there. He said,
I'm standing upon that rock and you'll smite, you'll hit that
rock with that rod. 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. So he smote the rock. Go out,
take these elders with you, take that rod, I'll be there. I'll
stand there on the rock. You hit that rock, strike it
one time now. And he said, water will flow
out of it. How was Christ in appearance here? He may have
been in the pillar of the cloud, you know, the pillar of cloud
that guided them by day and the pillar of fire that guided them
by night. That's a pre-incarnate visitation of Christ. That may
have been it. The apostle Paul spoke of this
rock as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's over in 1
Corinthians. Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter
10. This is one of the, when you
think about the rock, think about Christ. That's what he's saying.
Christ is the rock of our salvation. He is the foundation stone. That's a rock upon which we stand. He is the cornerstone, the chief
cornerstone by which all things are measured. And he is the rock
from which the water flows, the river of waters, the water of
life. And in verse one of 1 Corinthians
10, Paul writes, moreover brethren, I would not that you should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all
passed through the sea. So what's he talking about? Obviously
the children of Israel coming out of Egypt crossing the Red
Sea, being protected by the cloud. Verse two, and we're all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. That means they were
united to Moses. They were with Moses. Just like
believers are united to Christ. We're with Christ. He's not talking
about water baptism here. He's talking about the word baptized
means placed into, literally. Some say it means immersed. Well,
they were immersed into Moses. They were with Moses. They followed
Moses. Moses was a type of Christ. And
that's the way it is with spiritual Israel, with believers. We're
immersed into Christ. We're united with him. He was
made our surety before the foundation of the world. And as our substitute,
he came and took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh,
without sin, and substituted himself in our place so that
when he died, we died. Not personally, but representatively
through him. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose again, we arose again. And Romans 6 speaks of
that as a baptism, but not water baptism like back here in the
baptistry. That's another matter, I'm gonna talk a little bit about
that today, too, in the main message. And we are to be baptized
in water, but that's a confession that we've already been spiritually
and eternally baptized into Christ. And so we're baptized into him,
and then we're united to him by faith, God-given faith in
the new birth. And so all were baptized, verse
two, unto Moses, and in the cloud and in the sea, they were all
together. Verse three, all did eat the same spiritual meat. Now what is that spiritual meat?
Well, it's the manna that was sent from heaven. Now hold on
to that idea. Verse four, and did all drink
of the same spiritual rock. Now he's talking about the rock
that typified Christ. And it says, for they drank of
that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. Now notice in these verses that
Paul called the manna spiritual meat, spiritual meals, what that
means, spiritual bread. And he calls the rock spiritual
rock. Now think about it, the manna
that fell, that fell from heaven was made by God, not by man. It was a literal physical food. a bread that they could eat in
their physical bodies and it would sustain them physically.
It wasn't just some spiritual mystical clump or something like
that. It was physical. Well this rock
was physical too. It was a real rock. It wasn't
just some dream rock or some phantom or anything like that
or illusion. It was a real rock. So why does
Paul, and here's another thing. The manna that Paul calls spiritual,
the manna in and of itself could not give spiritual life to dead
sinners. It was physical and it worked
under physical life. And the water that poured from
this rock was physical water. It could not give spiritual life.
but it can maintain physical life, drinking water. So why
does Paul call it a spiritual meat and spiritual rod? Paul
is talking within the context as these things typify Christ. He's making a spiritual application
as he's inspired by the Holy Spirit. In other words, this
manna, this physical manna, if you want to see the real significance
of it, It's a type of Christ. Spiritually, that's what that
manna was. Because Christ is the bread of life. That's what
he's talking about. He's our salvation, he's our
sustenance. And the same thing about this
rock. This rock was a physical rock that brought forth physical
water when Moses struck it that one time. But Paul is talking
about it in 1 Corinthians 10 as a type, a spiritual representation
of something else Our rock is Christ. And out of Christ we
have the water of life. He is the water of life. So understand
that. He's not denying that these things
were physical. They were. And then we see that when they
ate of the manna and when they drank of this rock, their hearts
still were not changed. But it takes the spirit of God
to do that. So he calls them spiritual because he's making
a spiritual application in 1 Corinthians 10, not because they weren't
real. But let's look, for example, this rock. Now Moses, it says
that he struck the rock, and there shall come out of it that
the people may drink, and that's what Moses did, and That water
that came out, this rock was Christ. Let's look at several
of the ways that it represented Christ. Number one, first of
all, the people were thirsty. They thought they were gonna
perish. All hope was gone in their eyes
because there was no water to drink. They couldn't see any
water. Somebody said, well, why didn't they think back on the
waters of Mer? There wasn't any water there. And then God made
them, well, that's the natural human heart. Sinful. And this
typifies, as I said, our natural state and condition as fallen
in Adam, as we're born into this world spiritually dead and trespasses
in sin, spiritually depraved. We're sinners by the fall, we're
sinners because of our own sin. We have no spiritual water, no
spirit, and we don't even, listen, we don't even have a spiritual
thirst for spiritual water because there's no spiritual life in
us, you see. But then as the people of Israel
realized their physical thirst and the fact there was no water
to drink, God the Holy Spirit, you know that's where he brings
us? In conviction? You know, man has a natural thirst
for religion. A natural hunger for religion. Nobody wants to perish. So they have a thirst for eternal
life, but how do they seek to fulfill that thirst, fulfill
that hunger? Well, they go to false religion,
don't they? The broad road that leads to destruction. But there's
no water there, and you may feel like your thirst is quenched
for a while, but it doesn't last. I can remember being in false
religion, and I'd have times when I felt like I was full,
and then times I was empty, and it was never enough. And that's
the way false religion is, salvation conditioned on the sinner. It's
a continual, continual dry land. But when the Holy Spirit comes
in conviction, what does he do? He makes us thirsty with a thirst
that can only be fulfilled in one person and one work. He makes
us hungry. hunger that can only be filled
by one person in one work and that's Christ and his righteousness
alone. Remember Matthew 5 and verse 6, blessed are they who
hunger and thirst after what? Righteousness. They'll be filled
and let me tell you how do you know if the Holy Spirit is the
one who did this work and it's just not natural conscience or
Just feeling bad some way. How do you know if it's the Holy
Spirit who does that work? Who makes you thirsty and hungry?
I'll tell you how you know. If the only way your hunger and
your thirst can be filled is through Christ, by the grace
of God, based on his righteousness imputed, that's the Holy Spirit. Somebody asked me one time, said,
how do you know if the Spirit's working with him? We'll see where
he ends up. Where do you find, you know,
you may be burdened down with your sins, you may have a guilty
conscience, you may be in sorrow and depression, you may be, here's
the point, where do you find relief? Where do you find satisfaction? Where do you find fulfillment?
If it's anywhere but in Christ crucified and risen from the
dead, his blood, his righteousness, it's not the Holy Spirit making,
giving you this thing. If religion can do it, It's not
the Holy Spirit. If finding a good job, making
a lot of money, if that can fill your thirst, it's not the Holy
Spirit. If climbing into the baptistry
and getting baptized several times, rededicating, if anything
but Christ crucified and risen from the dead, His blood and
His righteousness, that's the only thing that will fill a sinner
who's been convicted by the Spirit. So that's where he brings us
to. Just like the people of Israel here, there's no water in this
earth. There's no water in man's religion. There's only water
in Christ. And here's the second thing.
God provided a physical rock from which he gave the people
physical water to quench their physical thirst. Well, what has
God done for us? He's provided a spiritual rock
who is Christ. and for his spiritual people
and spiritual water. It's like Christ told the woman
at the well. If you only knew the gift of
God, you'd ask me for water and I'd give you water from within
a fountain of living waters that would spring up unto eternal
life. That's what he's done for us. And that rock, I'm sure,
I know if Hollywood made a movie of this, They would probably
fashion some brilliant, shiny, protruding rock. Maybe have a picture of Jesus
on it or something. I don't know. They think it's
Jesus. But this rock didn't appear any
different than any other rock in the desert there. And that's
a picture of our Lord because the Bible says that Christ, he
grew up as a tender plant out of a dry ground, having no form
nor comeliness, no beauty that we desire him. I think about
these paintings that they say portrays Christ. And let me tell
you something, there's no painting, there's no picture that portrays
the Lord Jesus in his humanity. And we're not to make any of
that. He's God manifest in the flesh. but always thou have him
with some glow around him or halo around him and all. Isaiah
said he hath no form nor comeliness nor beauty that we should desire
him. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. So don't believe all these religious
icons and ideas that people have, they're just idolatry. Without
spiritual eyes, We can never see the glory and beauty of Christ. But as John said, we beheld his
glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father. How do
you behold his glory? By the spirit giving us eyes
to see and ears to hear. And then number three, Moses
had to strike this rock with his rod. Because if he didn't
strike it, no water was coming out. And what a picture that
is of Christ. He had to be struck one time
with the rod of God's wrath and justice. That's what that picture's
here. And this is, he was smitten once,
producing life-giving waters for the salvation and righteousness
of the people whom God had given him before the foundation of
the world. This rock was struck for Israel in the desert. Wasn't struck for the Amalekites,
and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the whoeverites. It was struck
for Israel. And that's a picture of Christ
being struck down, the just for the unjust, for God's elect,
given to him before the foundation of the world. And so think about
Christ, all that he went through, he was smitten, scourged, crucified,
that his precious blood might flow forth for the redemption
of our souls. Just like that water coming from
the rock. He was smitten of God and afflicted
by the just wrath of God for the sins of his people that had
been imputed to him. He was our substitute. And by
his death, came forth the water of righteousness. What do I need
to be saved? What do I need to go to heaven,
as people say? I need a righteousness that I
can't produce. Well, what's gonna have to happen?
He had to be struck down. He had to die, give himself. He had to suffer in his very
soul unto death to quench that thirst for righteousness. And
then number four. This rock, we've already mentioned
this mainly in number one, but it's good to emphasize. This
rock was smitten not for people who deserved it. It was smitten
for a rebellious people. These people deserve nothing
but death and hell. Well, you wanna know something?
That's what we deserve. Isn't that right? Somebody said, well, what about
now? Well, right now, if God gave me what I deserved, it would
be death and hell. Because you see, my salvation
is not a matter of what I deserve. It's a matter of G-R-A-C-E, grace. God's righteousness at Christ's
expense. You ever heard that little acrostic?
God's righteousness at Christ's expense. This rock, came forth,
or this rock, the water came forth from this rock and provided
all of their physical needs for water. And we're given spiritual
and eternal, spiritual water and eternal life from Christ
who is our rock. And that rock did that water
and that, think about it, in the desert, Moses had to strike
the rock once, the water came forth. It did not require any
help or any aid from the Israelites. Moses, the type of Christ, the
rock was the type of Christ, the water of life, it was all
a matter of God's doing. He didn't say, now call the people
and have them dance around the rock three or four times, or
have them bow down and pray to the rock. And if they do, maybe
water will come out, if they're sincere enough, or if they make
the right decision, or if they really believe. No, he said,
Moses, take the rock, hit the rock, water, and I'll feed the
people. That's the way our salvation
is. God doesn't save people who deserve it or do anything for
it. We didn't do anything for it. What was the Apostle Paul
doing on his way to Damascus? He wasn't going to a prayer meeting.
He wasn't seeking the Lord. He wasn't on his knees praying
for mercy. He was going to kill Christians. And God stopped him and gave
him the water of life, made him spiritually thirsty. It's the
way he does all of us. And then number five, the rock
followed them. Now Paul said that in 1 Corinthians
10. The rock followed them. Now think
about that. What that is, it's a picture
of Christ who is with his people from the beginning all the way
to the end. He never leaves us. He never
forsakes us. He said, I'll never leave you
or forsake you. He's the same today, yesterday, today, and
forever. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. That rock followed them, and
he won't leave us alone. We begin with, I put in here,
we begin with him at the cross. That's as we see it. That's what
I meant by that. We actually begin with him before
the foundation of the world, don't we? Because God chose us
and put us in Christ legally, and we continue with him through
life. We travel with him right into heaven. Christ is our rock,
sure and steadfast. Now, but what about this rock
following him? You know, there's some people
who actually believe that this rock rolled behind the people
as they walked through the desert. I don't believe that's what it's
saying, and of course, I don't believe that's what Paul says
when he's talking about the rock following them. I think what
Paul is talking about is the spiritual application that Christ
was with them all the way. And he was. He providentially
kept these people together even throughout their journeys through
the wilderness for the 40 years, and we'll see how that came about
after we get to Sinai and all of that. Some writers believe
that the water that came from the rock provided a stream of
water that followed them throughout the wilderness, but there's no
biblical proof of that. I don't believe this rock, this
physical rock, rolled behind them or actually followed them.
And if you go over to the book of Numbers, look over at Numbers
chapter 20. In Numbers chapter 20, this is
where they come to almost the end. of their journeys through
the wilderness. You know how they started out
here, over here in Exodus, and they forsook God. You know, when
Moses went up on the mount, they had the golden calf incident.
And God brought them to the brink of the promised land, and they
wouldn't go over because they were looking to themselves rather
than to God. And God said, well, this generation is going to wander
40 years through the wilderness, and the next generation will
go in, led by Joshua. Well, when they came to the end
of their journey of that 40 years, there was another rock. And I
believe it was another rock, but it typified the same thing,
Christ. But it was another rock. It doesn't
matter, though, the physical rock. But here, Moses, and what
happened, the people, when they came to the end of their journey,
they got thirsty again. And so what did they do? They
jumped on their knees and turned, no, They complained again, they
murmured again. Human nature. And listen to verse
eight of Numbers 20. The Lord spoke to Moses, take
the rod and gather thou the assembly together thou and Aaron thy brother
and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes. Now notice that he
said speak to the rock. Now what's the difference? Well
over in Exodus 17 he says strike the rock. Smite the rock that's
a picture of Christ being smitten on the cross by the wrath of
God in our place for our sins imputed to him one time by one
offering He hath perfected for he didn't have to die twice.
He didn't have to be smitten more than once He was his one
time by one offering he hath perfected completed forever them
that are sanctified So here's another rock. They're thirsty.
God's going to give them water. And what does he tell Moses?
He says, speak to the rock before their eyes. Verse 28, and it shall give forth his water
and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So
thou shalt give the congregation and their beast drink. And Moses
took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded. Verse 10,
Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation to gather before
the rock. And he said unto them, here now
ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? Moses
is angry. You see it? And verse 11, Moses
lifted up his hand and with his rod, he smote the rock twice. He didn't do what God told him
to do. And the water came out abundantly, and the congregation
drank, and their beasts. But look at verse 12. And the
Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, because you believe
me not. Now how did Moses act in unbelief?
He struck the rock again. He struck it twice. When God
said, speak to it, the rock had already been smitten. That's
a picture of Christ at the cross. The rock at the end of the journey
here is picturing Christ in his resurrected glory, already having
done the work, doesn't need to be smitten again. But Moses in
his anger did this, and he said, because you believe me not, to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, to represent
God aright. Just God and a savior who by
the one offering of his son on the cross brought forth water
everlasting righteousness Therefore you shall not bring this congregation
into the land which I've given and that's why Moses couldn't
Bring the children of Israel into the promised land He had
to hang back Now, of course that was God's intention from the
very beginning. Did you know that? God didn't
Didn't say, well, it wasn't like God saying, well, Moses, I intended
you to bring them over into the promised land, but now you can't.
No, God never intended Moses to bring the children of Israel
into the promised land. Now, why is that? It's because
Moses, even though he himself personally was a sinner saved
by grace, but Moses represents what? The law. And the law can't
bring you into salvation. It takes Christ who was represented
by Joshua, Yeshua, which means salvation. And so this was God's
intention all along. But I hope that's clear to you.
That rock was Christ. Okay.