Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's first epistle to the
Corinthians, page 1065 in the Bible Box Bibles. 1 Corinthians
chapter 10, and reading through our text part of verse four. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, And
verse four, they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. The whole verse reads, and did
all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and
verse 4. The apostle is bringing before
the Corinthians the lessons of the children of Israel. The children
of Israel who came out of Egypt, formed into a nation, brought
through the wilderness and 40 years later brought into Canaan,
the promised land. The children of Israel were a
typical people. They were God's special chosen
people, descendants from Abraham, and through whom the Lord Jesus
Christ would come. And yet they are a people that
are typical of all of God's spiritual people in a gospel day. those that are brought from the
bondage of the Egypt of this world and loosed from that captivity
to the love of sin and the bondage of earthly things and are brought
to go on a spiritual pilgrimage, brought to see and feel that
this world is a wilderness, that there is no food that shall satisfy
their now living soul here below, but they must feed upon the word
of God. Our Lord said, and quoting from
Deuteronomy, that man shall not live by bread only, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And the children
of Israel then, in the wilderness, did not feed or drink upon that
which was naturally there, but had the manna sent down from
heaven for them for forty years, and they drank of the water that
God provided for them. And it is to this that we have
alluded to here. We read that they were all, in
verse 2, baptised unto Moses in the cloud and the sea, that
is, when they were brought through the Red Sea. They did all eat
the same spiritual meat, that is, the manna and what the manna
signified, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. The
literal waters that came out of the rock but that which is
clearly set before us here is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
we can view the children of Israel and we can picture what we are
to expect as believers, as Christians, in this wilderness journey, going
to a heavenly Canaan, and what we also are to live upon. And what it is that is upon my
spirit this morning is that there was four times, and we read of
those in our readings, that God specifically provided for Israel
water. And here we are told in our text
they drink. they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. And I want,
with the Lord's help, to point us, point us to Christ as shown
to us in these four occasions, that we also might drink of Christ
in that way, that we might see Christ through the times through
the way that Israel drank and that we also might drink into
Christ in this same way. As there are four points and
four occasions, I will introduce them as we go and take them in
the order that the children of Israel came upon them. One thing that is quite common
in nearly every one of these cases, the blessing of water
was given in spite of the murmuring and complaining of the children
of Israel. And even in spite of the disobedience
of Moses to the express command of the Lord in numbers. We are
reminded that the blessings then that God gives his children are
blessings of grace. The provision in Christ is not
given because we are a holy people, a people that do not sin, a people
that deserve the blessings of God. We are strongly reminded
and pointed to in these times that the children of Israel were
given water, although they were murmuring and complaining and
limiting the Holy One of Israel. And if we know our own hearts,
not that we should sin or excuse our murmuring and complaining,
but we do, we do murmur. We do complain. We do limit God. And so it should be an encouragement
to us and a help to us to see that the children of Israel were
like this. And yet God still did bless them. He still favoured them. He still
gave them that water. And we're told with the manna
as well. He withheld not the manna from
their mouths right through their wilderness journey. Yes, he chastened
them, he corrected them, but he still fed them. And there
is another aspect to this. We should never say, well because
the Lord is blessing us, because he's giving us these living waters,
because he is favouring us in this way, then there is nothing
in our lives that we are doing wrong. That we are doing those
things that are right and therefore the Lord is feeding us. Because
the Lord makes it very clear that they were doing things wrong. They were doing things that he
chastened them for and reproved them for. But he still fed them
and he still gave them those living waters. May we judge as
to what we are doing is right or wrong by the word of God and
not by the blessings and favours that he gives us. A child in
a family, and I know sometimes in time past, some parents have
actually used, and I think my own father and grandfather used
to do that with his children, that if they were done wrong,
one of the punishments was that they did without their dinner.
Now, I never use that punishment because the children of Israel,
the Lord did not withhold the manna. He did not withhold the
food from them. And yet, we wouldn't think, well,
the child is saying, well, my parents are still feeding me,
they're still giving me water, and therefore they can't be displeased
with me, all the things that I'm doing wrong, because they're
chastened and corrected in other ways, whether with the rod or
whether with banishment or something like that. And so we need to
be careful like this. I mentioned this as applying
to three of the cases here, that it is expressly said that in
the context of this provision, is a murmuring and a complaining
people, people that were reproved, although the water was still
given. So the first one that we come
to is the tree that is cast in and the bitter waters that are
made sweet. Exodus chapter 15. And we read
of this account from verse 23 to 25, or we can include 26 as
well, for the application the Lord applies to him. Now remember,
the children of Israel have not yet come to Mount Sinai. They've just come through the
Red Sea. It's very early in their wilderness
journeys. They had seen the Lord wonderfully
appear for them, miraculously bring them safely through the
Red Sea, dividing it, and yet bringing the water upon the Egyptians
who were pursuing after them to bring them again into bondage
and destroy the Egyptians. Most of this chapter 15 is given
to this song of Moses, a song of deliverance, when the Lord
had so wonderfully appeared for them. But then we come to three
days that they go and they find no water. In verse 22, they went
three days in the wilderness and found no water. Sometimes
it can be a big shock when we've had a blessing and then suddenly
we have a trial hard upon the back of it. Then this was aggravated
by they came to the waters of Mara and here was an expectancy
of a relief from those three days with no water. Their hopes
were raised up and they go to drink the water and they find
that the water is bitter, they cannot drink it. and really so
aggravated. How many times we may have been
like that, where we have been in a trial, we have seen what
we hoped would be a wonderful relief from it, may also have
given thanks that we've had this provision, and then suddenly
it's taken away. Suddenly it's made bitter. Suddenly
it's made in such a way that we couldn't partake of it, and
instead of it being a blessing, it's been something that's really
even rubbed more deeper in the plight that we are in. Here is
the children of Israel standing by water. They can see it, but
they can't drink of it. If they drink of it, it is bitter. And you say it's no wonder the
people murmured against Moses saying, what? Shall we drink? Here is this, but we cannot drink
it." Now, the Lord's people are said to be chosen in the furnace
of affliction. And when we think of bitter waters,
we could think of it as the curse of God, which is a very bitter
thing. And especially as the remedy
here and of what is shown to make these waters to be able
to be drunk is the casting in of a tree. And the Word of God
says that, Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. And
our Lord Jesus Christ was made a curse for us hanging upon the
accursed tree, the cross, and he bore the curse, taking that
away. So we have in the remedy that
is here, the tree which was shown to Moses, which was then cast
into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. We have a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ, cast into those bitter waters of the
curse of a broken law and making it then sweet. For Christ has
fulfilled the law and made it honourable. He has taken away
the curse so that then instead of viewing the law against us,
we see it as that which is fulfilled. But we said about the affliction,
Our Lord himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,
more afflicted than any man. And yet God's people are chosen
in the furnace of affliction. This place here was called Mara. And if you look in the book of
Ruth, we see the story of Elimelech and Ruth. and going from Bethlehem
into Moab because of a time of famine. And when they were there,
and they'd gone with their two sons, the two sons married two
women, Orpah and Ruth, from Moab. And then Elimelech, he died,
leaving Naomi a widow, and Marlon and Cylon, the two sons, they
also died, leaving the two Moabitish women widows as well. We read
in that account how that Naomi went back to Bethlehem and Ruth
claimed to her she wouldn't go back, as Orpah did, to her own
people and her own gods. But when she came back, then
the people said, is this Naomi? And she said, call me not Naomi,
that is pleasant, but call me Mara, for the Lord hath dealt
very bitterly with me. Now, she still claimed to the
Lord, honoured him, sought him, but acknowledged the Lord's hand. She was a widow. Her children
had died, and she got a widow, Ruth, with her. And yet, in this
way, the Lord brought her back to Israel, and she is, Ruth,
is in the line to our Lord Jesus Christ. It turned out, through
Ruth's marriage, eventually to Boaz, to be a blessing. But before that blessing, there
is great bitterness and great sorrow. Our Lord says, in me
you shall have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. Manasseh, he walked
the same way, a very wicked king of Judah. And yet the Lord brought
him into great trial to be in captivity by the enemy. And when
he was in his affliction, then he called unto the Lord. The
Lord delivered him, he brought him back to Judah again, and
he then cast out his idols and turned to the Lord again. And it is in these times of bitter
sorrows, trials and afflictions, that there has been blessing
for the people of God, not in the actual thing itself, but
in the tree that has been cast in, in the Lord Jesus Christ
that has made those bitter trials sweet and able to be partaken
of. Sometimes it is the thing itself
doesn't change, The apostle Paul had the thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan, to buffet him, which he besought the Lord
three times, that it might depart. But the Lord said, my grace is
sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. And so the apostle still had
the thorn, the trial, the affliction, whatever it was. but he had grace,
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, to sustain him in it. And many,
many of the people of God have had to prove this, that in tribulation,
he must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom. It's in those
times that Christ has been precious. He has been as the tree cast
into those waters, that have enabled them to be drunk, walk
through, and that they've been proved to be a blessing. Now
this time is said to be specifically two things. One, it was that
their God made a statute unto Israel. And he says it is in
verse 25, There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and
there he proved them a statute. What was it? It was a proving
that where they obeyed the Lord, where they hearkened to his voice,
and this is based on verse 26, and that they did that which
was right in his sight, kept his commandments, I'll put none
of these diseases upon thee which I brought upon the Egyptians,
for I am the Lord that healeth thee." What if Moses had said,
well, how can a tree help? I'm not throwing that in. What
if he'd rebelled against the Lord, murmured like the people
did? But God showed him. He answered
his prayer. He cried unto the Lord and the
Lord showed him a tree. And may the Lord help us in our
bitter trials and places to cry unto the Lord and that the Lord
show us himself. The Lord show us a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. The Lord show us the way that
those bitter waters can be made sweet and drinkable. And this
is a statute This was early in their journey. And happy is a
child of God that early learns, because it won't just be one
trial, it'll be many trials through our life, that we learn this,
that in whatever bitterness, trials, and afflictions we have,
that if we obey the Lord, if we look to him, that he will
change those bitter waters to sweet, that it is at those times
that we are to look to Christ, to look to Calvary, to look to
Him that was made a curse for us. It was there that He proved
them, proved them in trial, in obedience, how to act in disappointments. Those things that the Lord brings
upon us are proving times, proving whether we will really obey and
serve the Lord, whether we will be with Him in good times, like
when the Lord brought them through the Red Sea, or in trial times,
when they come like here to the waters of Mara. So this is where
The Lord is first shown to the children of Israel, where they
first drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and
that rock was Christ, where Paul speaks specifically to these
waters of the wilderness. Four waters of the wilderness,
and this first one, Mara. The second one is in the next
verse, verse 27, Exodus chapter 15 and verse 27. And here we have the twelve wells
of water of Elim. We read, And they came to Elim,
where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees,
and they camped there by the waters. What a contrast here. Here we do not have the murmuring,
but we have a wonderful provision, and a provision for each of the
12 tribes of Israel. We think of Abraham and Isaac. They needed wells of water. They
dug many wells. But if you ever read the accounts
there, we find many conflicts for those wells. The Philistines
strove for them. A well was something that was
very precious. And many times Isaac dug wells
and then had them taken away from him and he had to dig another
one. But here it was not so. There
was not to be a falling out or a striving over the provision
of water as one for each of the tribes. And really pointing again
to gospel days, there were 12 apostles, 12 apostles of the
Lamb. And we are told in the prophets
that in those gospel days, every man shall sit under his vine
and under his fig tree. And there they've not only got
the water here, but also the palm trees and the shelter from
the heat of the desert. You remember the woman at the
well of Samaria, she coming with her water pot and the Lord asking
of her water. And she says, sir, the well is
deep. There's nothing to draw with.
But he says, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is
that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked
of him of living water. He would have given thee living
water that endureth to eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
giver of that water, the giver of the spirit, the giver of grace,
the giver of the gospel, the giver of his own precious blood. Every gift and every favour comes
to us through Jesus' precious blood. And we are reminded in
this of what the children of Israel here drank of. Here is a great supply. You know, those wells, they went
right down to the water table of a provision that was out of
sight and yet was drawn up and bubbled up for them. And this is how the Gospel is. The Gospel is exhaustless. It is a deep that knows no sounding. It is a living waters that flow
from Christ. It has a depth from eternity,
a provision for a people that have been loved and known, We're
in love with an everlasting love. And that provision is in the
land that is slain from the foundation of the world. And it is from
this provision. I often think in these New Testament
times, if you look at the division of our Bibles, the greater part
of them is the Old Testament. The smaller part is the New Testament. New Testament is very clear. It is the Scriptures fulfilled.
It is Christ clearly preached and set forth. But in the Old
Testament, as we preach this morning from it, or we preach
from a text in the New Testament that points right back to the
Old, we cannot help thinking of how Christ preached from the
Old on the way to Emmaus in all the Scriptures concerning Himself
to those two. or not Christ who suffered these
things and entered into his glory, read it in Luke chapter 24. And then we have Philip and the
eunuch as well, preaching from Isaiah 53, a suffering Christ,
the lamb that is led to the slaughter, a sheep before her shearers is
done. And so we have a rich provision
to preach from, to learn, to see, to feed upon the Lord Jesus
Christ in all the scriptures. And so we have this beautiful
type here at Elim. When we think of Elim, where
we think of the provisions of the gospel, when we come and
hear the word preached and gather together In the Lord's name may
we look for the deep that couches beneath and that be brought up
those precious truths of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Well then we have the third provision
of water which again these Three first ones, they are very early
in the wilderness journeys within the first 50 days. And this one is at Rephidim. And we have Christ set forth
in the smitten rock. Exodus chapter 17 and verse 6. Again it is, the people were
ready to stone Moses because there was no water, they were
thirsting for water to drink. And the Lord said to Moses, verse
5, Go on before the people, take with thee of the elders of Israel
and my rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand
and go. 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. And there it was called Massah,
that is, temptation, and Meribah, that is, chiding or strife, and
this is spoken of specifically in the place of Rephidim or Horem
and Massa. So we have Christ as the smitten
rock, the picture, the rock, and we're told that the rock
still exists today in a literal rock, but there the Lord said
that he would stand upon that rock. stand before thee there
upon the rock in Horeb. And Moses was then to smite that
rock, smiting God himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Smite the
shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the smitten rock. And how vital it is that the
children of Israel should have this set before them, And this
set before them, really, before they came to Mount Sinai, before
they came to the law, because right through the scriptures
we are told that Christ is before the law. The promises were given
to Abraham before Moses. The blessings that were given
in the promises of Christ came first. He is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. The law was given that sin might
abound. The law was given that men might
be brought in guilty. But when men are brought in guilty,
they're to know immediately that Christ has died. There is a provision,
there is a way of escape. for guilty, hell-deserving sinners. And may we each know that this
morning, that where we know sin and guilt, that Christ has already
died on Calvary. And so here, the smitten rock
is what they were to drink those waters from, those waters that
flow from Calvary. That's what it points to. The
Lord Jesus Christ, his death, his sufferings, that the water
and the blood from thy riven side which flowed, be of sin
the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and its power. The hymn of Toplady. So here is the third provision. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. If you
and I thirst, and there is a blessing on those that hunger and thirst
after righteousness, then we are appointed to Calvary. That is what shall satisfy a
living soul. And again, This is in the context
of murmuring and complaining. And think when our Lord died
on Calvary, what were those doing round about him? Away with him,
away with him, crucify him. What did our Lord say? Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. What happened at
Pentecost, which is equivalent the days after the Passover or
after Christ suffered to when the children of Israel here came
to Horeb 50 days after. The Holy Spirit was given and Peter
preached. They were pricked in their hearts.
They were charged with the crucifixion of the Lord and they were blessed
with repentance and forgiveness. They knew what it was to drink.
of that spiritual rock, to drink into the smitten rock that had
been delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of
God, which you have crucified and slain. Well, there is the
last occasion then, and this time we're going 40 years onwards
to just before they come into the promised land. And again, the children of Israel,
they are murmuring and they are complaining. This is in Kadesh. The place was also called Meribah,
but distinguished from that which is at Rephidim, Kadesh, Meribah,
Numbers 20 and verse 8. Moses, this time, was commanded
not to smite the rock, but to speak unto it. Take the rod,
and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy
brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes. 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 beasts drink. Again, living waters, the waters
of the Spirit of God, the grace of God, eternal life, those living
waters that flow forth from Calvary. Our Lord had clearly said in
John chapter 10, except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood
of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you. The blessing is
on those that hunger and thirst after righteousness. If we are
spiritually alive, then we have a spiritual appetite. We need
spiritual food and spiritual water and drink, and that is
provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that satisfies
a hungering and a thirsting soul. He is the one who has made a
way into the holiness of all, who has satisfied the wrath of
God, who has endured the wrath of God for us, put away our sins
by the sacrifice of himself, and brought in eternal life and
righteousness. But hear Moses, the people are
murmuring, they've stirred him up, he has a wrong spirit, No
doubt he remembers the first time when he was commanded to
smite the rock, and he smites it again this time. And he says
in an angry way, must we now fetch water, you water out of
this rock? And he smote the rock twice.
The Lord still gave thee water abundantly, and they all drank
of that water, But because the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, they
did not sanctify him before the congregation. That is, they did
not obey the Lord. And they spoke in a way as if
the Lord would have his servants preach the gospel and say, must
we preach Christ to you? Must we present the gospel before
you? Must we give you blessings, your
rebellion, Rebellious people, you're not deserving of it. The
Lord does not give the gospel and the grace in a harsh, unkind,
ungracious way. The gospel is given in sweet,
blessed tones. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. The rock only was to be smitten
once. We are to really remember this.
When we gather together to hear the word preached, we are to
ask the Lord's blessing. We are to ask his presence. We are to expect it. He is to
be spoken to. And then the people of God are
to be spoken to with his word. We are not to offer Christ up
again. The blasphemous sacrifice of
the mass of the Roman Catholic Church is really doing what Moses
did. Christ is being offered as if
in a sacrifice again. But he was only, Christ was only
to be sacrificed once, smitten once. The ordinance of the Lord's
Supper is a remembrance service. You do show forth the Lord's
death till he come. What Christ has done in the gospel,
he is lifted up on the pole of the everlasting gospel. He is
preached, but he is not smitten again. And so they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them. They drank it at the beginning
of their journey. They drank it at the end of their
journey. As for the people, they were
still murmuring at the end as they were at the beginning. Are
you surprised sometimes? What a heart, murmuring heart
you have. I can look back 40 years in my
wilderness journey. Yes, it is this year, since the
Lord called me by grace. And I've still got the same murmuring,
complaining heart, still that which causes me grief and sorrow. And when I read this, it is a comfort that there is
still blessings, there is still the gospel, there is still those
heavenly waters for souls such as mine. We would not excuse
our sins. but we would magnify the grace,
the unmerited favour of God, the gift of God, the provision
in the face of provocation of the wonderful waters of life,
the river of life flowing forth from Calvary, half toward the
former sea to the Jews and half toward the hinder sea to the
Gentiles. And still we meet, and still
we have Christ preached. And may we bless the Lord for
those waters of that spiritual rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we gather in expectancy
of, and this is what the Lord promises to provide for his people. I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And may we believe and may we
be given that sweet provision in the Lord Jesus Christ all
our journey through. And then see him and be with
him forever. So we have these four occasions,
these four provisions of water in the wilderness. May the Lord
bless us in a spiritual way as viewing them in our pilgrimage
journey as well. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.