Alright, let's read our text
in Exodus chapter 17, beginning in verse 1. Now 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 Rephidim. 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 ye 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 God does
everything according to purpose, His eternal purpose. He does
everything by His promise. And just as God promised, just
as He purposed, and just as He promised before the world began,
He sent forth His Son. And His Son has come. He was
made just like the elect children of God He came to save, made
of a woman. He was made under the law. And
he has successfully accomplished the work of redeeming his elect
from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. And now Christ is risen. He's
at the right hand of the Father. The God-man, mediator, is risen. He's our king. He's our prophet. He's our priest. He's risen.
He's the head of the church. And he right now is bringing
the good news of his accomplished work through the gospel to each
and every child that he has redeemed and he is sending forth the spirit
of his son into their hearts into their hearts to make them
alive to make them to give them faith and repentance call out
in faith and call him our father. God is my father. He is my father. And when we
were dead, when we were dead in trespasses and sins, we were
servants. We were in bondage. And that
whole time that we were in bondage, we served them that are no gods. That's what we did. But now we
haven't received the spirit of bondage again to fear like we
did when we were in bondage. but we've received the Spirit
of God. The Holy Spirit bears witness
within us, with our spirit, that we're sons, children of God,
joint heirs with Christ, so that we walk by faith, led of the
Spirit, trusting the Lord on this journey as we go through
this life, and we're sure to end where God has promised and
that is in heaven's glory with Christ Jesus where we will live
with God for all eternity. Now that's the picture, that's
the picture of grace that God set forth in his work that he
worked with the children of Israel. That's what he's showing through
what he did with the children of Israel, bringing them out
of Egyptian bondage, carrying them through the wilderness on
their journeys, and carrying them all the way into the promised
land. God used a whole nation to teach
his children. This is how I say. Now, as we
go through this journey, you and I as believers, as we go
through this journey, the Lord teaches us more and more to trust
that our salvation is completely in His hands. Now, since the
Lord brought Israel out of bondage, we've seen a lot of patterns
take place, come about. And we're going to look at these
patterns tonight and see what we can learn from them. I've
titled this message, Patterns in the Journey. There's four
things I want to show you. I want to show you the pattern
of leadership. I want to show you the pattern
of trial. Then thirdly, the pattern of
provision. And then fourthly, the pattern
in the congregation amongst the children. Let's see first this
pattern of leadership. Look at 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. And they pitched in Riphodom.
Turn over to Numbers chapter 9. Hold your place right there.
Turn over a few pages to Numbers chapter 9. The way in which the
children of Israel went as they journeyed was the way the Lord
led them. The Lord led them in all the
way that they were to go. He led them. Now, that's a great
comfort to us, brethren. The Lord leads us. The Lord is
leading His dear children. He's leading us. Now, I want
you to look at this in Numbers 9.18. 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 even unto the morning,
and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they
journeyed. Whether it was day or whether it was 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 their own, 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 the tents, and 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. The Lord
is able to lead His children. He's able to lead His children
just like He led Israel through that wilderness. It may be day,
it may be night, it may not make sense to us to go in the middle
of the night. but we're following Him. We're
following Him. It may not make sense to us where
He leads us. If you look at the path that
He led them in, it looks like just a squiggly bunch of lines
back and forth and up and down and all around. But we follow
Him, trust in Him, where He leads. He's able to lead His children.
In conversion, He leads us. He leads us out of darkness into
the light of Christ. He leads us. We may be like Saul
of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was... He thought
he had religion. He thought he had true religion.
He thought he had kept the law. He thought he had done all these
things whereby he was a righteous man. And he's on his way with
letters from the chief ones in religion. And he's going to take
these ones that call themselves Christians, and he's going to
take them and put them to death. And on the way, Christ stopped
him. Christ stopped him and told him,
it's hard for you to kick against the pricks, Paul. It's hard to
kick against what I'm doing. And he put him in the dust. And
from that day forward, Christ led him. Christ led him. We may
be like Jonah. The Lord came to Jonah and the
Lord told him to go to Nineveh and preach the gospel. And Jonah
didn't think that was the best way to go. So Jonah went down
and he got a ship and he paid the fare thereof and he got in
the ship and he was headed away. He was going to set sail on the
high seas and not look back. You know what happened? God sent
forth a strong storm so that that ship was almost broken completely
in two. God's able to lead us. Able to
lead us. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. I read the 23rd Psalm to you. The Lord's my shepherd. That
means we will not want anything, brethren. If the Lord is our
shepherd, we will not want, we will not lack. He will lead us. He makes us to lie down in green
pastures. And He makes us, He leads us,
He leads us beside still waters. He restores our soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness. He's doing this for His namesake.
He's leading us. Now, if He's doing something
for His namesake, we got disassurance. He's going to do what's right.
Because His name's right. His name is righteousness. His
name is holy God. He's going to do what's right
and what's holy. So that's the first thing that we see. A plain
pattern, and everywhere they went, it's declared to us, the
Lord led them. Everywhere they went, the Lord
led them. That's what we see. The songwriter wrote, in shady
green pastures, so rich and so sweet, God leads His dear children
along. Where the water's cool flow bathes
the weary one's feet, God leads His dear children along. Now,
secondly, there's another pattern we see. It's the pattern of trial. Look at Exodus 17.1. It says
there, He led them in their journeys
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 there." Do you think
that took God by surprise that there was no water to drink there?
He's leading them. He's leading them. And He leads
them to a place where there's not any water to drink. Not any
water to drink. Go back to Numbers chapter 33.
Numbers 33. This is the second thing we see.
Not only does God lead His children, but He even leads His children
to the trial. He leads them to the trial. Numbers
33. This gives us an account of their
journeys, and we're not going to look at every bit of it. We're
going to look at it up to the point where we are right now.
But go to Numbers 33 and look at verse 1. These are the journeys
of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of
Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron."
God does use means. He used Moses and Aaron to lead
them, but God was doing the leading. God was doing the leading. They
just looked at Moses whenever something didn't go right, but
God was doing the leading. And Moses wrote their goings
out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord.
The Lord commanded Moses to write this down, write it down, keep
the record of everything I'm doing here. And Moses wrote it
down. And these are their journeys
according to their goings out. They departed from Ramses in
the first month. That's in Egypt where they were.
On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after the
Passover, the children of Israel went out with a high hand in
the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians buried all
their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them. Upon
their gods also the Lord executed judgments. Now, right there,
we talked about the Lord leads you out in conversion. Conversion
is a trial. It's a great delight when God
leads us out of darkness, when He leads us out of bondage, when
He brings us to behold Christ Jesus and leads us out of our
sin and our rebellion. It's a great delight, but it's
a great trial when He first brings us to it. It's a great trial.
You think about them going out that night before all of those
firstborn in Egypt died. And here they are going out before
all of those that are burying their firstborn in Egypt, and
they've got all their firstborn with them. And they're going
right out. This is a picture of the trial
of God leading us out in conversion. He leads us to that trial. Verse
5, the children of Israel were moved from Ramses and pitched
in Succoth, and they departed from Succoth and pitched in Etham,
which is in the edge of the wilderness. And they were moved from Etham.
I mean, they were right there on the edge, on the border of
the wilderness. And they were moved from Etham.
God told Moses, take them down not into wilderness, but down
to the place I'm going to tell you. And he took them down to
Piahiroth, which is before Belzevan, and they pitched before Migdal.
These were those idol gods of Egypt. Belzevan, and then this
rock Migdal, and there's the Red Sea in the front. So they're
hemmed in on all sides right there. And then when the Lord
brought them right there, the Lord Himself hardened Pharaoh's
heart. And Pharaoh ordered all his army
and he came out charging after them. So that they look up and
they're sitting there hemmed in on all sides with no way out
but the way they just came in. And that gap is filled up with
Pharaoh and all his army coming at them full speed ahead. You
know who led them there? God led them there. He led them
right to that spot. Look at verse 8, And they departed
from before Piahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea
into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness
of Etham, and pitched in Marah. Remember those bitter wells in
Marah? You know who led them right to those bitter wells?
God did. He led them right there. Verse
9 says, And they removed from Marah, came unto Elam. And in
Elam were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten
palm trees, and they pitched there. And they removed from
Elam, and encamped by the Red Sea. God led them to that place
where they didn't have anything to eat, nothing to eat. Remember
that? And they murmured for bread.
You know who led them right there to that spot where they had absolutely
no bread? God led them there. God does
the leading and God even leads to the trial. He led them right
to that spot. Look at verse 33. And they removed
from the Red Sea and encamped in the wilderness of sin. And
they took their journey out of the wilderness of sin and encamped
in Dophka. And they departed from Dophka
and encamped in Elush. And they removed from Elush and
encamped in Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to
drink. Now that's where we are in our
text. That's where God brought them to. He led them right there
to that spot. Now hold your place right there
in Numbers 33. Let me just point something out
to you. God is able to teach His children
by leading us and able to teach us that He overcomes all things
for us by leading us to the trials that we cannot overcome. that
we absolutely cannot overcome. In Egypt, God overcame their
bondage. God did that. He overcame their
bondage. At Etham, where they were sitting
there before the Red Sea and Pharaoh and his army came down
upon them, God overcame their enemies. At Marah, God overcame
their bitterness. God brought them back to the
Red Sea where they hungered. God overcame their hunger. God
brought them right here to Rephidim, where they didn't have anything
to drink. And God overcame their thirst. What's your need? What is your need? What is our
need? God is bigger than our need. God's bigger than our need. But
we don't learn that until God leads us and leads us right to
the trial so that he brings us to see our need. And then he
brings us to see that we can't provide our need. And then he
overcomes that need himself. And so God teaches us that he
is able to overcome our need. So God leads us to the trial
to teach us just that, to teach us our complete inability and
to teach us His ability. As that songwriter said, sometimes
on the mount where the sun shines so bright, God leads His dear
children along. Sometimes in the valley, in the
darkest of night, God leads His dear children along. Though sorrows
befall us and evil oppose, God leads his dear children along.
Through grace, we can conquer, defeat all our foes, because
God's leading his dear children along. That's what he's teaching
us. He's doing this work. So we see
the pattern, first of all, in everywhere they went, God led
them. We see the pattern in everywhere, every trial they came to, God
led them to that trial. And then thirdly, we see the
pattern of God's provision. Now you got your place there
in Numbers 33? This is what I want you to see now. Every step of
the way, God not only overcame their need, but He teaches us
that Christ is the provision and He is the provider. In every
one of these situations, it all is a picture of Christ. Numbers
33.3, it says they went out on the from Ramses on the morrow after
the Passover. After the Passover. They went
out with a high hand. That arm of the Lord, that power
and wisdom of God, that Passover lamb that delivers his children
is Christ Jesus the Lord. He's the power and the wisdom
of God. Christ has overcome our sin by
being made sin for us. You see, justice is the matter
here. Justice has got to be satisfied.
God is righteous and He's going to do things righteously. He's
going to satisfy His justice, that He might show mercy in a
just manner. So He did that through the Lamb.
God providing Himself a Lamb. God did that. And then look,
verse 7 tells us, they removed from Etham and turned again to
Pi-hi-aroth, which is before Beelzebon, and they pitched before
Migdal. And you know how they got through
that trial? You know how God delivered them
through that trial? He told Moses, you take that
rod and you put it up on that Red Sea, and God opened the Red
Sea. Completely opened that sea. And
Moses and the children of Israel went across in that Red Sea. and dry ground went across on
the other side and God destroyed Pharaoh and all their enemies
right there in that sea of judgment. Christ Jesus went into the sea
of judgment. He was immersed in it. He was
immersed in it, in the place of his people, so that justice
is satisfied in his people. When he came out of that sea
of judgment to the right hand of God, his children came out
of that sea with him. Cheryl, you're going to be baptized
Sunday. When you're baptized Sunday,
you're going to be declaring before all that you're being
baptized unto the Lord Jesus Christ because you were baptized
unto Him by the faithful operation of God when Christ came forth
and worked this work of grace on your behalf. That's what you
confess. That's what that picture is there at the Red Sea. You
see, God not only led them there, God not only overcame their enemies,
God showed them when He overcame their enemies that their full
provision of salvation is Christ Jesus the Lord, and He's the
one doing the providing. Then in verse 8, it says, they
left there and they passed through the wilderness and they came
tomorrow. They came to Mara, and they got there, and there's
that trial, and all the water's bitter. And they have no way
they can drink. They have no way that they can
drink because the water's bitter. Sometimes we get very sick. We were sick in sin. We were
lost, dead in trespasses and sins, unable to quicken ourselves,
unable to give ourselves life. We have to be born again. We
have to be born of the Spirit of God. We get sick spiritually. We get sick physically. We get
sick mentally. We get sick. He said there, he
took that branch. There was a branch. And he told
Moses, take this branch, cut down this tree and throw it into
those waters. And that's how God overcame that
bitterness that was within him. That bitterness, that bitter
water. It was a picture of Christ and Him crucified. It's a picture
of Christ who is the Lord that healeth thee. That's what the
Lord said to him there. I'm the Lord that healeth thee.
And he heals. Christ is the Lord that healeth
thee. So he not only let them out,
he led them to that trial, and he not only led them to that
trial and overcame their bitterness, their sickness, he showed them
Christ, the Lord that healeth thee. Do you see this? Verse
9, And they were moved from Marah, and they came to Elam. And in
Elam were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten
palm trees, and they pitched there. You notice this, in every
one of these cases, he always, when he leads them to the trial,
and he shows them Christ, he leads them to refreshing. He
leads them to restoration. He leads them to Christ, who
is like these twelve fountains of water, the well of salvation. where we drink of His fullness
and drink of His fullness. He leads us to Christ who's like
these palm trees that is the shadow in this dry and thirsty
land from the heat and the scorching of Satan and sin and of all the
trial. And He makes us to pitch there.
You see, He brings us to see Christ in all of these trials.
Verse 10, they came from Elam and they camped by the Red Sea.
They got there, they didn't have anything to eat. They couldn't
feed themselves. They had nothing to feed themselves.
And God told Moses, I'm going to rain down bread from heaven. That manna, that picture of Christ
our bread, the living bread that's come down, that's accomplished
the salvation of His people and is leading us through this journey
and is leading us to the trial to overcome all our enemies for
us and show us once again in these daily journeys of providence
to show us again and again that He is Christ Jesus our Lord who
has accomplished our salvation, accomplished our redemption,
put away our sin so that we are secure in Him. And then look,
verse 14, And they were moved from Elush and encamped at Rephidim,
where no water was for the people to drink. Go back now to our
text, Exodus 17. So here they come. God's led
them. He's led them to this trial.
and they can't feel themselves. They're thirsty. They can't do
anything for themselves. They're thirsty. How do you think
God's going to overcome that thirst? And what do you think
that thirst, when He overcomes it, what do you think we're going
to see? We're going to see Christ. We're going to see Christ. Look
at verse 5. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the
people, Take with thee of the elders of Israel, so that each
one can go back and declare this word to all those twelve tribes. And thy rod, he said, take that
with you wherewith thou smotest the river. Take in thine hand
and go. Behold, I will stand before thee 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 in Israel. Now Paul tells us over in Corinthians
that that rock is Christ. Plain and simple. Now you think
about it. A rock is about the most unlikely
source that you would expect to get any water from. A rock? A rock? You're going to give
us water from a rock? Christ came into this earth.
He is despised and rejected of men. You know why? He's the least
appealing. There's no form. There's no comeliness
about Him. There's nothing about Him that
makes any sinner desire Him at all. None at all. Nothing at
all. We want to hold on to death and
we won't turn to Christ. There's nothing appealing in
Him. This past week, Peanut got a chicken bone, and he took that
chicken bone off, and he was not on that chicken bone. You
know, chicken bones holler, you know, and if a dog breaks a chicken
bone, it can choke him, you know, and he'll die. But he's sitting
there and just chewing on that chicken bone, and if you try
to get next to him and get that chicken bone, he's not giving
that chicken bone up. He would not give it up. He loved
that chicken bone. He would not give that chicken
bone up. It didn't have any meat on it. Just an old, dead, dry
bone. You try to get that bone from
Him, and He's going to lay into you, buddy, because He wants
that bone. That's just like a sinner. That's just like a sinner. You
start telling them about Christ, start telling them about the
rock, They holding on to bones, and they said, we like these
bones. They're choking us, and they're
gonna make you die, and they're gonna make you perish in hell
forever, but you won't let go of that bone, just like peanut
would. You know what it took to get
rid of that bone? I took a piece of the meat. I took a piece of
the chicken. I went over there, and I took
that chicken, and I put it down there in front of him, and he
dropped the bone like that and grabbed the meat. It's gonna
take God showing us, Christ Jesus, which is far better than that
bone of death that you are on, to make us let go of it and lay
hold to Him. There's nothing appealing in
this rock, yet God stood on that rock. He said, I'm going to go
before you and I'm going to stand on that rock. Before God ever
created this world, before He made heavens and earth, God stood
on a rock. He stood on the rock. Let's see
that Ephesians. Go over to Ephesians. Ephesians
chapter 1. Scripture tells us here in Ephesians
chapter 1, it says in verse 3, It says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. And He predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in that rock. in
Christ that Beloved, and in whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His
grace. Christ came and did the work God gave Him to do. And
then he says in verse 8, God's abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, and He's made known unto us the mystery of this will.
He sent forth His Spirit. He's taught us what God has done
in Christ. according to the good pleasure
which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation he might
gather together all things in one. He's going to bring all
in Christ. Christ is the preeminent one. He's the one who's made
reconciliation to God. He's the one who's brought his
children to God. He's the one who's bringing us together to
God. He's the one who makes men stop arguing about whether they're
black and white, red, yellow, or whatever. He's the one that
makes them stop arguing over who's got the lead, the woman
or the man. He's the one that makes us makes
us start arguing about whether you learn or unlearn, whether
you're rich or you're poor. He's the one who brings his people
together in one. That's who he is. Now all of
this We've obtained an inheritance, verse 11, but look at this, verse
12, and all of this was done that we should be to the praise
of God's glory, God the Father's glory, who was the very first
one to trust Christ. He's the very first one that
stood on that rock. He's the first one that stood
on that rock. He stood on that rock and entrusted the whole
work of glorifying His name into the hand of His Son. And so that
when Moses stood there, you get this picture, when Moses stood
there, here you have a picture of the Lord, God, standing on
top of that rock, and here you got the rock in the middle. Here
you got the rock in the middle. So Christ, with the sin of all
of His people, made to be His, goes to that cross, and He stands
there on that cross, hung between earth and heaven, hung between
God and His people. He's there on that cross. He's
that rock right there, hanging there between the two. God was
in Christ, reconciling all of His children to Himself right
there on that cross, not imputing their trespassage to them. to
the children, but taking them all and imputing them to His
Son, and making His Son to be sin for us, this One who knew
no sin, that we might be made to righteousness of God in Him.
He's doing that. And so there standing with all
the sin of His people upon Him, He told Moses there, He said,
you take that rod, Moses, and you go there and you take that
rod and you wear back and you smite that rock with that rod.
with all the sin of His people upon Him, Christ is the one who
deserves the wrath of God. He deserves the punishment of
God because he's standing there now, he's become that only one
in the room instead of his people who is the guilty one deserving
of all God's just wrath. And that rod of Moses, and Moses
pictures the law, it pictures that justice of God smiting Christ,
smiting Christ in the place of his people, smiting Christ. Isaiah 53 tells us, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. It made satisfaction to all the
offended law that we broke. All his children broke this law
in one man, in Adam. When Adam sinned, we sinned,
and death passed upon all men. Romans 5, it passed upon all
men for all have sinned, but God chose just like he showed
us a pattern in that one man. He was a picture in many ways
of the last Adam, of Christ to come. We're either going to be
found in Adam or we're going to be found in Christ. We either
got Adam who sinned and plunged us into sin and we're going to
be lost in him or we're going to be saved in Christ who is
that one who represented all of those that Father gave to
him, that he chose and gave to him. And so he's smitten, smitten
for a rebellious sinful people. You see all of them sitting there.
God's doing this for these folks who are murmuring and complaining
and rebellious and sinful and deserve nothing but His wrath.
That's who God did this for. He did this for rebellious sinners. He did this for sinners who were
thirsting of all righteousness and couldn't do any. Thirsting
of all good and had none in us. Thirsty of that holy, right,
goodness that God demands. I'm not talking about now looking
at somebody else that you see on the street and saying, you
can't tell me there aren't good men in this world. I'm not as
bad as that fella. Well, yeah, you're not as bad
as that fella. And that fella may not be as
bad as somebody else. But this is the case with all
of us who died in Adam. We have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And that's what we've got to
have to enter into God's presence. The glory of God. The very righteousness
of God. Holiness to enter in. He's too
pure to receive us. You understand that? He's too
pure to receive us. We've got to be made holy to
enter into God's presence. And he smelt this rock. and had
mercy upon that people and bruised this rock in their place. That's
what he did when he bruised Christ. And thereby, thereby, he said
there in verse 6, he said that the people may drink. He said
there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.
You know what water is in a desert? Life. It's life. You go without
it, you're going to die. This water in this desert was
life to them. And that's what Christ is. He
is our water. He's our life. He's our rock. That's who Christ is. With His
stripes, with the stripes that He endured, we are healed. Healed. Healed. When God says
healed, He means healed. He means nothing else can be
done. Healed. Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our sanctification.
Christ is our peace with God. Accepted in the beloved. That's what God said. And that
rock followed them. That rock followed them. 1 Corinthians
10 verse 4 says that rock followed them. Wherever they went, that
rock followed them. That's what we see here. I'm
trying to show you in this full provision. This full provision.
Christ is our salvation. He's seated in glory with the
Father. But He said, I'll never leave them. Christ is the one
who was leading them through the wilderness. And He's leading
us through this wilderness. And He leads us right to every
trial. He's taught us. He's shown us
the Passover lamb. He showed us the Red Sea. He
showed us what He's done to us. And we're following Him. But
we need to be taught this over and over and over. And He's teaching
us through His Word, through His Gospel. And He's leading
us in every trial, to that trial, and showing us we can't overcome
ourselves. And then again, He's showing us, I've overcome on
your behalf. And again, He reminds us. that
He's our rock, that He's our salvation. Not only the full
provision of salvation, the full provider of everything we need
as we go through this journey, as we walk through this journey.
Do you thirst after righteousness? Don't you want to be completely,
thoroughly done with sin? Don't you want to be completely,
thoroughly done with sin so you can worship God without any interference
whatsoever? Worship Him. Do you have fears
as you walk through this world? Do you want assurance that God's
able to furnish a table for us in this wilderness? God's able
to overcome, and He's able to furnish a table in the wilderness,
and that full provision, that provider, is Christ Jesus the
rock smitten, our fountain of life, our provider. You want
to see the provision? It's Christ. Look at the cross.
Look at Christ crucified. And then look at Christ seated
in glory. And you know, God's going to provide. God is going
to provide. He already has. None can be lost. None can be plucked out of His
hand. So He's going to provide. That songwriter said, some through
the waters, some through the flood, some through the fire,
but all through the blood. All through the blood. Some through
great sorrow. But even in that sorrow, God
gives a song in the night season. In the night season when it's
bitter and it's dark and all the day long. He continually
leads us. He's leading us. Well, we've
seen He leads us. We've seen He leads us to trial
to show us we can't overcome these things. We've seen that
He leads us to trial and overcomes to show us Christ Jesus, our
full salvation. Christ Jesus, our provider and
our full provision of all grace. And now let's see the fourth
pattern we see develop through these journeys through the wilderness.
It's a pattern in the congregation, amongst those in the congregation.
First, there was a pattern of rebellion, verse 2, Exodus 17,
2. Wherefore the people did chide
with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. Then
we see a pattern of faith. Verse 2, And Moses said unto
them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?
That's faith talking. That's faith talking. We see
a pattern of rebellion. Verse 3, 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? We see
a pattern of faith, verse 4. And Moses cried unto the Lord,
saying, What shall I do unto this people if they be almost
ready to stone me? Over and over, all of them together
saw the faithfulness of God. Over and over and over, they
saw the faithfulness of the Lord. And yet over and over and over,
this pattern developed more and more and more. Many among them
rebelled and murmured. and provoked God. That's what
they're provoking God. Look at verse 7. He called the
name of the place Massah. Massah, which means chiding. And He calls the name of it Meribah,
because of the chiding of the children of Israel and because
they tempted the Lord. They said, is the Lord among
us or not? You see, God does the trying. God does the trying. We don't try God. We don't tempt
Him and say, can God provide for us a table in the wilderness
or not? We don't do that. But we see a pattern of faith
in Moses. Moses. Now, I want you to remember this
as I show you, talk to you about this faith in Moses. Moses wasn't
without unbelief. Moses wasn't without sin. You
know that. He's a picture of a believer.
Moses wasn't without sin. He wasn't without unbelief. When
God came to Moses, on the back side of the desert, and told
him, repeatedly told him what he was going to do, how he was
going to deliver the children, told him he was going to send
him forth. And every time he brought up these things, Moses
objected, and God answered him. Then God would tell him what
else he was going to do, and Moses would object, and God answered
him. Repeatedly, three or four times. And finally, at the very
end, Moses basically said, Lord, just send somebody else. Don't
send me. And it says, and the anger of
the Lord was kindled against Moses. And yet, God dealt with
him in mercy. He was a child of God. He dealt
with him in mercy. And he said, I'm going to send
Aaron for you. Aaron will do all the talking. And he sent
Aaron with him. Because Moses had a speech impediment.
Well, Moses came down out of the mount one time. Got down
and the children of Israel was in rebellion. They didn't even
wait like Moses said wait. He came down and Moses took the
tablets of the law that God had just written and he took those
tablets and just threw them down and broke them. And then again,
many years later, many years later, they did the same thing
again and began to chide. And Moses said this, here now
ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses
lift up his hand with his rod and he hit that rock twice. He
was angry. I was supposed to hit that rock
for once. That rock's only smitten once.
Because when God smote His Son, God satisfied justice toward
all those for whom Christ died. That means there is no more smiting
of justice to anybody for whom Christ died. God's not an unjust
judge. He's not going to punish our
sin in Christ and then turn around and punish our sin in us. He's
not happening. He's just. That's why every one
of them must be called to this good news and see it, because
it's done. It's accomplished. But even then, God had mercy
on Mo. He corrected him. He didn't get
to go into the land of Canaan with them. But he had mercy on
him. You know who Peter saw in the
Mount of Transfiguration with God? He saw Moses. Moses went into the real land
of Canaan. the real land of Canaan. So what I'm saying is Moses was
a sinner too, but God sustained him in this pattern the whole
time he walked, so that he walked in the Spirit, led of the Spirit,
guided by the Spirit, taught by the Spirit, trusting God by
His grace. That's the pattern of faith we
see in him. This was faith when he said, why chide you with me?
Why are you tempting the Lord? That was faith to tell the children,
turn to the Lord, look to the Lord, don't look at these problems,
look at the Lord. And it was faith for him then
to go himself and cry unto the Lord and say, Lord, save us,
save us. The Spirit of God gives us a
word on this and I'm going to give you this briefly over in
Hebrews 3. Turn there with me. I've got
something I want to tell you. Hebrews 3, Hebrews 3 verse 8. Here's the Spirit of God has
given us this word of warning and He's given us a word of encouragement.
Hebrews 3.8, 3.8, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. In the day of temptation in the
wilderness, when your fathers tempted me and proved me and
saw my works forty years, wherefore I was grieved with that generation
and said they do always err in their heart, they've not known
my ways, so I swear in my wrath that they shall not enter into
my rest. Paul says, 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 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 to the end. While it's said today, if you'll
hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation.
For some, when they heard, did provoke. Howbeit not all that
came out of Egypt by Moses provoked, but with whom was he grieved
forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses
fell in the wilderness, and to whom he swore he that they should
not enter into his rest? But to them that believed not,
that's who it was to. So we see that they could not
enter because of unbelief. 1 Corinthians 10. Let's bear
real quick. 1 Corinthians 10.11. Paul says
to us, he gives us the example of these things, And Paul says
to us there in these things, 1 Corinthians 10, 11, all these
things happen to 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. You see, when
we look away from God to ourselves, that's what's happening. We're
thinking we can actually stand without God. There hath 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 are able, but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you
may be able to bury." Now let me give you just a couple of
words here before we go. What's the purpose of all this
trial and all this deliverance that God was doing with Israel
after He brought them out? What was He going to do? What
was He bringing them to? God was preparing Israel to build
His house. That's what He was preparing
them to do. They're going to build God's house. We're seeing
the same thing in Isaiah. God's going to deliver him out
to build his temple. God calls his child to use us to build
his house. More than a house of sticks and
stones. Natural buildings are just furniture whereby God is
teaching us to trust Christ. But His house of living stones,
this house of His children that He caused by His grace, that's
what He's using us to build through His gospel. Now I can't begin
to explain this in words, but I see something of the manifold
wisdom of God in this. I just, I don't know how to put
it, but in choosing us nobodies, that can't overcome anything
by ourself. Not only does God call out His
sheep thereby, but God teaches us who He's already called in
His family. When He brings a family of believers
together, God first teaches us that God can build His house
without us. That's what he teaches us first.
That's what all these trials are about. He's teaching them,
I can do all this without you. I do not need you to do any of
this. And when He's made us to see that, and He's magnified
this glory to us in the process of these trials and teaching
us this, we're taught the power and wisdom of God. We're taught
Christ the Lord. We see that God alone is able,
that He has, that He is, and that He shall overcome everyone
and everything that you and I have absolutely no ability to overcome. And then when He showed us that,
and shown us that Christ is our full provision, Then He uses
us. He begins to use us to call out
His sheep. To call out His sheep to the
gospel. And that's building His house. You notice here when God
brought him out, He didn't tell them as soon as He brought him
out, go build the house now. Go build my house. They had to go
through all these trials to get to the point where they could
build His house. We've been together, meeting together, seven years,
about seven years, and we've been through some trials together.
They might not appear as great trials to those that are our
older brethren in the faith, but they're great trials to us,
great trials to us. And whenever you've been, anyone
here that's been touched with those trials, every other person
that wasn't in the trial has been taught by the trial, including
the person in the trial. Moses was touched with every
trial they came to. Every one of them, because he's
the one leading them. He's the one that has close contact with every
tribe, and he's dealing with every one of them, and he's touched
with every trial they're going through. I've been touched by
every trial that you have gone through. But you know what God's
done through it? God's taught me the same thing
He's teaching us all together. He's taught me He's able, the
only one who's able, And that He is doing the work so that
I can come forth. I've grown in faith and can come
forth and preach this gospel to you in faith trusting. I know
God is able. I know He is. You see that? And so He's teaching us, brethren.
He's teaching us. That's just wisdom to me. That's
just wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, and all of that. How
He does that. He's calling out his sheep, but
at the same time he's teaching the sheep he's already called.
He does it through a family. Usain Bolt's coach this week
told him, it's not how you start the race, it's how you end the
race. Well, there's some truth to that. Paul just said, it's
not hold steadfast to the end. It's who ends the race that wins
it, not who just starts it. But brethren, it does matter
how we run the race. It does matter. Hebrews 12, he
said this, he said, run this race laying aside every weight
and the sin which does so easily beset us. And that mainly is
our unbelief. Mainly. That besets us. And then he says, run with patience
the race that is set before you. God has set the race. He set
the course. He's put every hurdle in the
way. on this course that we're running. And patience is waiting
on God. Waiting on God sometimes means
sitting still, and waiting on God sometimes means moving. But
waiting on God is always believing God, whether we're sitting still
or whether we're moving. That's what this patience is.
Waiting on God to show you He's going to do just what He said
He'd do. That's how we run it. We run looking to Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. Not to the waves, not to the
lack of bread, not to the lack of water, not to the force of
the enemy, not to any of those things. It doesn't say run the
race looking to all the obstacles. Run the race looking to Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. And it says, and run reminded
of the victory. who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who
endured all this contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest
you become weary and faint in your mind. That's what He teaches
us. God's leading. He's leading. He says, though
the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more,
but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall
hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it,
when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left."
I'm standing right here before you, and I'm declaring the word
to you. Are you hearing the word? Hearing it? Are you hearing the
voice behind you? Saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. Are
you hearing it? It won't do any good if If you
hear my voice only, but do you hear the voice say, this is the
way walk you in it. The Lord leads his children.
He leads them and the Lord, the journey. Sure. Right there. And
he said, 40 years, this thou sustain them in the wilderness
so that they lack nothing. Their clothes, wax, not old and
their feats. Well, not the journey. Sure. And the end is sure. at the end
of the year, the songwriter said, away from the mire, away from
the clay, God leads his dear children along. Away up in glory,
eternity's day, God leads his dear children along. When we
come into God's presence, we're gonna be able to say, from the
very first hour, every single step, up every hill, every valley,
every curve, everything. God led me. God led me. The desert was dry, but it wasn't
so dry as to ever dry up the water from that rock, ever. And we're going to get there
and say, in the very last step I took to cross that River of
Jordan, to cross that river of death and enter into his presence
was just like the very first step I took, all by the power
and wisdom of his grace. He's going to get all the glory,
all of it. That's what he's teaching us. Amen.