Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Exodus chapter 17. Both the messages this morning
will be from Exodus 17. I'm a little bit under the weather,
so bear with me. Exodus 17, we'll read verses
1 through 7. It says, 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 Riphodim. And there was no water for the
people to drink. 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? And Moses cried unto the Lord,
saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready
to stone me. 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
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
he called the name of the 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? Now, the children
of Israel journeying through the wilderness on their way to
Canaan is a picture of God's Israel. It's a picture of you
and I who are the church of God as we journey through this world
on our way to Heaven's Canaan. That's the picture here. And
the thing that we learn first of all, and we need to remember
this, is every step of the way, it's God that is leading us.
Every step of the way. He said there in verse 1, all
the congregation of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin according
to the commandment of the Lord or according to the mouth of
the Lord. Now God leads His people by Christ. He's the head of the church and
He's leading His people. We see that in the pillar of
cloud and fire. Christ was in that pillar of
cloud and fire that led them. And Christ uses His servant as
His under-shepherd to lead His church. That's what we see in
Moses. And it's by God's sovereign,
irresistible hand, by His hand alone that we move or that we
stand still. We can do nothing except what
the Lord causes us to do. opening the door for us to do
and providing for us to do. And if He hasn't moved us, He
makes it so that He makes us stand still. Go over to Numbers
9, just a moment, a few pages over. Numbers 9, and look at
this verse, this passage. Numbers 9, and look at verse 18. It says, At the commandment of
the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment
of the Lord they pitched. As long as the cloud abode upon
the tabernacle, they rested in their tents. And when the cloud
tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children
of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and journeyed not. And
so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle,
According to the commandment of the Lord, they abode in their
tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord, they journeyed.
And so it was, when the cloud abode from evening until the
morning, and the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they
journeyed. Whether it was day by day or by night, that the
cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days or
a month or a year that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle,
remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents
and journeyed not. But when it was taken up, they
journeyed. At the commandment of the Lord,
they rested in their tents. At the commandment of the Lord,
they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord
at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. Look at
that last verse. They kept the charge of the Lord.
There's God. And they did it at the commandment
of the Lord. There's the Son of God, Christ
Jesus. And they did it by the hand of
Moses. There He is using His servant. And it wasn't just that
they were obeying the Lord and keeping His commandment. The
Lord made them stop. The Lord was making them stay
in those tents. And when He moved, they moved.
But not until So understand now, when it comes to trouble, when
you and I come into trials, we come into trouble. It's God our
Savior who's leading us. He's the one that's leading us
into that trouble. It says there that it was according
to the commandment of the Lord that they pitched in Rephidim.
And what happened? There was no water to drink.
He took them right to a place where there was no water. God
knew there was no water there. He took them there on purpose.
We've seen a pattern of this in the whole way that they've
been journeying through this wilderness. Well, even before
they got into the wilderness, it was the Lord who led them
down into Egypt where they became bondmen in Egypt. And it was
the Lord who delivered them out. At the very day, He said He would.
It was the Lord who who made them camp between Mignolet and
the Red Sea. It was the Lord that led them
to that place where they were trapped. You know, remember that,
how they were trapped? And here comes Pharaoh's army
pursuing them, and they had no way out. And the Lord led them
there. And it was the Lord who parted
the sea and led them across on dry ground and destroyed their
enemies and put a song on their lips. It was the Lord who led
them into the bitter waters of Moriah. It was the Lord who led
them right there. And it was the Lord who showed
them the tree, which when it was cast in the water, made the
water sweet. It was the Lord that led them
to the wilderness of sin, the wilderness of thorns. He led
them there where they hungered, where they had nothing to eat.
And it was the same hand of the Lord that gave them manna from
heaven and gave them Sabbath rest. So it's the Lord who's
leading us. When we come into the trial,
it's the Lord who's leading us. And He's going to be the one
that leads us through it. Arthur Pink said, The first thing to
realize in every circumstance and situation where faith is
tested is that the Lord Himself has brought us there. And if
this be apprehended, it will not be so difficult for us to
trust Him to sustain us while we remain there. He brought us
there. He brought us there on purpose.
You see that pattern brethren, there's going to be night and
then the day is going to come. And then the night is going to
come again. The Lord said, in this world you shall have tribulation. That's just how it's going to
be. We're living in sinful flesh and we're living in a sin-cursed
earth. And our Lord said, there's going to be trouble. But the
same gracious hand is leading us to that trouble, and that's the same hand that's
going to lead us out. Never despise the chastening hand of the Lord.
He's teaching us when He brings us to trials that this wilderness
is not our home. He's teaching us this place here
is not our home. We're pilgrims. We're just passing
through. We're just like tourists in a
strange land, just passing through and seeing the sights. We're
headed to our home. And leading us to all these different
troubles, He leads us to troubles we can't overcome. Have you noticed
that? He leads us into trials and troubles
that we can't overcome ourselves. And it's to teach us we can't
overcome them. but it's to teach us what Christ said, I have overcome
the world. Be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. So that's the first thing, we're
being led every step of the way by the hand of the Lord. Now
secondly, again we see here that it's our sinful self that we
need to be saved from. It's our sinful self we need
to be saved from. Verse 2 says, The people did
chide, they did strive with Moses and said, give us water that
we may drink. Give us water that we may drink.
After all this time, brethren, after all they had seen Moses
do for them and all the suffering Moses had endured for their sakes,
they showed a total distrust of Moses. Even suspicious of
him. They acted as if Moses was hiding
water from them. Give us some water to drink. They accused Him of bringing
them out there just to kill them. But their murmuring against Moses
was murmuring against the Lord. They were tempting the Lord.
Look down at verse 7. He called it Masa because of
the chiding of the children of Israel. He called it Meribah
because they tempted the Lord. Saying, is the Lord among us
or not? Now understand. Think about this. That morning they ate manna from
heaven that He gave them. That very morning. And now they're
a little thirsty and they're crying out, is He here or not?
Can He provide a table in the wilderness or not? Now you think
about what they had seen. They saw Him provide a Passover
lamb for them and ransomed them from Egyptian bondage. They saw
Him provide deliverance for them at the Red Sea where He destroyed
the whole Egyptian army. He provided that tree at the
bitter waters where it made the water sweet so they could drink.
He provided them the manna from heaven and the Sabbath rest. And now here they are saying,
can He provide us anything? Can He do anything for us? That's
you and me, brethren. Is it not? Is that not you and
me? That's us. That's our sin. That's our unbelief
that we're so prone to. Will a believer do that? Will
a believer do that? Tell me if I'm telling the truth.
This morning we're hearing Christ the bread. We're feasting on
Christ the bread. And sometimes we don't hardly
get out that door and we're acting like you would think we never
ever even tasted of the Lord's grace. Isn't that right? God put in every true believer,
He's put a new spirit. And in that new spirit, Christ
abideth. Christ is there. That new man
is created by Christ in righteousness and true holiness. It's the creation
of Christ Jesus the Lord and Christ abides in that new man.
And all the good fruit that we produce, whatever good fruit
we produce, faith, mercy, long-suffering, forgiveness, whatever good fruit
that comes from us, Christ produced it. and He'll always abide in His
people. But there is an old man of sin,
of flesh, still with us, which is the product of Adam. And all
it is is sin, and all it produces is dead, sinful works. That's all. Dead fruit. Dead
fruit. I know that in me, that is, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's not just a doctrine for
you and not just a scripture that you have memorized if you
know what you are. You that know what you are, you
know that's true. In my flesh, there's nothing
good. Oh wretched man that I am. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. J.C. Philpott said, Temptation is
to the corruptions of the heart what fire is to stubble. And
that's so. If God left us to ourselves,
left us to our flesh. When He does leave us to our
flesh temporarily to show us what we are, it's just like fire
put to stubble. But brethren, let me ask you
this. For you and I that profess to be born of God, let's ask
this about ourselves. Do I put on the new man only
when I come here and then put on the old man as
soon as I walk out the door. Is that what we do? Look over to Ephesians chapter
4. Do we put on the new man when
we come in here and we are humble and we put on our best face before
our brethren and then do we just go out of here Take the new man
off and put the old man back on and just act like our religion
is just confined to these four walls. Listen to this, Ephesians
4.20. You've not so learned Christ,
if so be that you've heard Him and have been taught by Him as
the truth is in Jesus. What does Christ teach us? That
you put off concerning the former conduct, the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lust." Put him off, he said. Put him off and be renewed in
the spirit of your mind. See how that's passive? I can't
make myself be renewed in the spirit of my mind. He does that. But he does that. He does do
it. He renews his people. in the
spirit of our mind and he says, and that you put on the new man
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
What does he mean by put off the old man with his conduct?
Look at verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice. Let all that be put away. but
they'd be put off. What does he mean by put on the
new man? Verse 32, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. and walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. For a true child
of God, this gospel is not just something we hear preached. It's
just not something that we just simply hear preached. Christ
is not just a system of doctrine that we debate with men about. Christ is our life. This Word
is living. It's the living Word. And this
Word is abiding with us. And it never leaves us. When
we leave this place, it doesn't matter where we are, what the
location is. There's nothing any different
about this place than there is any other place
as far as the place is concerned. We have Christ abiding in us
wherever we are, wherever we go. He said there in Ephesians,
grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby you're sealed. You're sealed
to the day of redemption. He's not going to take the Spirit
from us. Christ is not going to leave us. He's redeemed us.
He's paid the debt. He's bought us. We're His. We're
His purchased possession. But He said we grieve the Holy
Spirit. Can you imagine? I just think
of it this way. None of y'all would want to be
around me right now. I'm sick as a dog. You wouldn't
want to be near me right now. I'm sick. That's what it's like
for the Holy Spirit to be in us. Especially when we're putting
on the old man. Anger and malice and bitterness
would grieve the Holy Spirit. That's what we see here in the
children of Israel. Do we receive admonitions and
warnings from brethren like Moses gave them? Do we receive them
as what they are? As a loving word from a brother
who loves us, who wants what's best for us? Do we receive them
that way? What Moses did for them, was
the most loving thing He could do. They treated Him with utter
contempt. They treated Him like they despised
Him. But God's love brought Him to
this end. We saw this Thursday night. And
it was God's love working in Moses that brought Him to this
end. In spite of all of that, He showed
them true God-given love. He warned them. He told them
the truth. He said, Why are you chiding
with Me? He said, you're tempting the
Lord is what you're doing. That was the most loving thing
Moses could do. Do we receive admonition like
that or even rebuke like that? That was not Moses speaking of
himself to them. That wasn't Moses just speaking
of himself. That was God speaking to them
through Moses. He had some elect in that group
there. They weren't all His, but He
had some elect in that group. And God was speaking to them. Brethren, don't ever forget that
God speaks to us through our brethren. He uses His people
to speak to His people. So we ought never refuse personal
exhortation or personal rebuke even from a brother. If I get
too high-minded for that, then I'm in darkness. I'm really in
darkness because now I think I'm too high minded to hear God
speak to me. Do we forget that? That it's
really God speaking to us. You know there are times when
God, we'll be on our way to do something or we have our mind
made up that this is a decision we've been thinking about a long
time. and a brother across our path and to say something that
is a warning or is an exhortation or an admonition and we so often
just put it off and ignore it and go on with what we're going
to do. That was God speaking. That was God to send a word to
us. You know, we pray and we pray, Lord, what would you have
me to do? What would you have me to do? And He sends a brother
telling us. And I'm just going to ignore
that. Lord, what would you have me to do? A believer proves he's taught
of God and needs not that any man teach him when he's content
for God to teach him through a man. That's right. A believer proves that he's taught
of God in spirit and in truth, and he doesn't need a man to
teach him when he's content for God to use a man to teach him. That's how you know he's taught
of God. God recorded this about the children of Israel to teach
us today. That's why he's recording this.
The Spirit of God, look over at 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. Look
what the Spirit of God tells us here. Now all these things, verse 11,
1 Corinthians 10, 11. Now all these things happen unto
them for examples and they're written for our admonition. Upon
whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There is no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man. Hold your place right
there just a minute. You know the devil would love
for us to think that. The devil would love for us to
think that, you know, this trial I'm in is so severe that I'm
not going to listen to my brother try to give me a word of admonition
because this trial is so severe that none of my brethren has
ever suffered what I've suffered. The devil would love for us to
think that. Peter, he fell into that trap. If anybody knows about that trap,
it's Peter. And after he went through his
trial, let me tell you what Peter said. Listen to this. He said,
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil has
a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom
resist steadfast in the faith, knowing, listen now, knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. They're going through the same
temptations you are. And He's accomplishing the same,
God's accomplishing His work in them using these trials just
like He's doing it in you. There's nothing, there's no temptation
that we face that's some rare thing that none of our brethren
are facing. He said, but the God of all grace
who's called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
you've suffered a while... Oh, Peter knew what he was talking
about. After you've suffered a while,
He'll make you perfect. He'll bring you to the end. He'll
establish you. He'll strengthen you. He'll settle
you. That's what Paul's saying right here in 1 Corinthians 10.
Look at verse 12. Wherefore, let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There is no temptation
taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able,
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that
you may be able to bear it. He will. With every one of these
tests that He's brought them to, He's not given them too much
that they could bear. And with every one of them, He's
provided a way to escape it. Every one of them. And I'll tell
you two things about that way of escape. In every case, He
used His servant, a man, an earthen vessel, a sinner just like the
rest of them, He used their brother, to turn them from themselves
to that way of escape. Everyone, in every case. Doing
it in our text today. And the way of escape, in every
instance, the way of escape was Christ. Each time it pointed
to Christ, it glorified Christ, it showed us a picture of Christ
every time. Because He's the way. He's the way. And I'll tell
you this, And if we think our trial is uncommon, remember Christ
was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. There's
nothing that He hasn't faced. Now lastly, this is the way of
escape. Moses cried, verse X to 17, Moses
cried and verse 5 says, and the Lord said unto Moses, go on before
the people, take the elders of Israel with you, take your rod,
that you smoke the river with, take it in your hand and go,
and 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. Now that rock is Christ, Back
there in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul said, they did all eat the same
spiritual meat, they did all drink the same spiritual drink,
for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that
rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. Now next
hour, we're gonna look at the smitten rock more fully. That's
gonna be our focus. But for now, I want you to get
this. In every trial, God's purpose It's not only to show us our
sin and our weakness and to turn us from self, it's also to show
us again Christ our Lord and bring us to Christ the Rock who
is our salvation. That's the purpose of every single
trial we face. I don't care how small or how
large, every single one of them for the believer is God turning
His child to Christ. and making us behold Christ.
And the Hebrew writer said, it's that we might be partakers of
His holiness. And what that means is, if God
left us alone, we would start partaking with this world
and its darkness and the sins of our flesh and just be totally
consumed in it. sanctifications of the Lord,
brethren. Christ is our sanctification.
And what He does, how He practically, truly sanctifies us is He'll
bring us into a trial and reveal to us what's there, what's in
our heart. That darkness we're in. When
they got there and started murmuring against Moses, they didn't just
have that all of a sudden come up out of the blue. That was
in their heart the whole time. It just took a little trouble
to bring it out. And God brings us into that trouble to sanctify
us from the darkness that we're in and from the sin and from
our sinful self and to bring us out of that Keep us in Christ's
light. Keep us looking only to Him and
keep us looking away from ourselves. And that's what true sanctification
is. I think it's ironic that men in churches preach sanctification
and keep pointing sinners to themselves and point sinners
to themselves when in reality true sanctification is God separating
us from that into Christ and making us look away from us to
Christ only. That's true sanctification. And that was the case in every
one of these trials. That first trial was Egyptian
bondage. Adam's fall in the garden, which
is what that Egyptian bondage pictured, Adam's fall in the
garden brought us all into bondage. But you know what it was for?
It was for one purpose. So Christ could redeem us and
we could be turned to Christ and behold the glory of God in
the face of Christ Jesus. And that's why He brought them
into Egyptian bondage. To show them the Passover lamb
and show us a picture of redemption and deliver them out. Now, if
the fall of mankind was for that purpose of turning God's elect
from ourselves to Christ, you know every other trial is for
that. If the very first sin that entered
in and caused us all to die and perish in sin, if that was overruled
by God for the purpose of bringing Christ into this world to redeem
us and turn His people to Christ to see the glory of God in our
salvation, then you know every other lesser trial is for the
same purpose. And that's what they are, brethren.
Their second trial was at the Red Sea. What was God doing there? They went out with a high hand.
They went out thinking, boy, we're somebody special. The Lord
did this for us. He came and did all this for
us. Aren't we special? And the Lord brought them that
hymn to men in there where they couldn't get out and couldn't
go forward and couldn't go backwards. And then sent Pharaoh's army
rushing headlong at them. And they were trembling and weak
and crying out, oh, we're going to die. He brought him down,
he showed him, no you're not that high handed. And then he
showed him a picture of Christ when he brought him through that
Red Sea and he left him on the other side singing praises to
God and saying, you're the one who delivered us, you're the
one who delivered us and destroyed our enemy. And that's what He
does in every trial, brethren. They came to that bitter water
and He's showing us ourselves and showing us that we're the
dry desert. We have no water in us. And they come to that
bitter water and it's bitter. He's showing them their bitterness,
showing us our bitterness. That's what He shows us in the
trial, our bitterness. We're the bitter waters, the
bitter fountains. And then Christ enters in, just
like that tree, and the waters are made sweet. This is the trial. He even said, He said the manna
and the Sabbath day. He said this is to prove them
whether they, who will obey me and who won't. That's this gospel,
brethren. This gospel is the number one
trial. This is the trial that determines
who are His and who are not His by their reaction to Christ.
He declares in this message, Christ is the bread from heaven.
He is the life. This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom He hath sent. That's it. Believe on the
Lord. Believe on the Lord. And some
won't obey Him. Some say there's got to be more
to it than that. We don't trust that. We don't trust Him alone.
Just like those that didn't trust Him and they saved up some of
the bread and God made it to breed worms and stink. And then
He told them, and now I'm giving you rest. I'm giving you rest. I'm giving you this to rest.
I'm not giving you this to turn into a work. I'm giving you to
you to rest, so all your servants can rest. Everybody in your house,
your animals, everybody can rest. And He makes us see Christ is
that rest. Cease from your works, cease
from trying to make yourself righteous and holy before God.
Cease trying to make yourself better than Christ has made His
people. And some rest in Christ and He's
our Sabbath every day of the week. We don't worship a day,
we worship a Redeemer. And others say, oh no, you're
a heretic, we're going to worship the day. And that's what the
Pharisees did. We don't want Christ, we want
everything that pictured Him. We don't want Him. What kind
of freak would it be that his wife came home after a long trip
and he said, I don't want you, I want your picture. And here he is again showing
us Christ is the rock. Every trial, brethren, that's
what they're for, every one of them. So he tells us, harden
not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness when your fathers tempted me and proved me, saw
my works forty years. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God, but exhort one another daily. He tells us to
do that. If you love your brother, if
you love your children, what do you do? You ask my son. I'm all the time telling him
what to do and what not to do. If you love somebody, that's
what you do. And we love one another. And if you see a brother
in danger, you're going to warn him. Exhort one another daily
and receive that exhortation daily. While it's called a day,
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, for
we're made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. Let's stand together. Father, we thank You for this
Word. We thank You for Your grace in bringing us here today. Lord,
we pray that You would plant this Word, plant it deep, plant
it so it can't get out of our hearts. Make us think on it,
feed upon it when we go into the next trial. Whatever it is,
Lord, make us think on these things. When we would find fault
with a brother, make us to remember that that's a brother that you've
given us opportunity to minister to. When we would become angry
at your providence, Lord, remind us that this is providence You've
given us to turn us from ourselves and turn us to Christ. Lord,
when a brother or sister speaks to us, give us the grace to receive
it and to know that that's You speaking to us. These are things,
Lord, that we need You to make us wise to understand. Don't
let us reject Your Word or don't let us reject these things that
You do for us. Make us to see everything that's
taking place in our life every single second of every day is
of Your hand and it's You teaching us, Lord. Make us see Christ. Make us behold Him. Keep us in
Him. Keep us at His feet. Keep us
humbled there and resting in Him, Lord. We thank You for free
redemption. We thank You for free righteousness
and free holiness and free salvation accomplished by Christ. Forgive
us, Lord, our murmuring and our chiding and our unbelief. Oh,
what a gracious God that You do forgive us. For Christ's sake,
Lord. It's in His precious name we
ask these things. Amen.