All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn back with me to Exodus chapter 17. Exodus chapter 17. Entitled this message, Christ
the Smitten Rock. Christ the Smitten Rock. Now we have before us here the
history of the nation of Israel as they journeyed through the
wilderness. It says, And the congregation
of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys, listen, according to the commandment of the Lord.
Now they were not here by accident. They were here by purpose. You
remember God at this time led the children of Israel by a pillar
of cloud. There was no doubt that this
was the place God would have them to be. And wherever that
cloud rested, that's where they stopped. They stopped wherever
God said to stop. And at night they had a pillar
of fire to lead them. So they knew that this place
was not just an accidental coincidence, but this is where God commanded
them to be. And notice where He commanded
them to pitch. They pitched in a place called
Rephidim. Now, Rephidim, its meaning is
this, a resting place. Oh, that sounds good, doesn't
it? Doesn't that just sound like God sending you to a resting
place? Oh, this was a place of rest.
No, something was wrong with that. The name did not match
the circumstance. This place was a place without
water. Look at that. There was no water. It was a desert place. Imagine pitching your tent in
the middle of a desert and saying, ah, I found a resting place.
It was against what it seemed to be. There was no water there. Now, you remember this, and I
want you to keep this in mind always, when you speak of the
children of Israel, God always meant for them to be a type of
His church. Israel, the nation of Israel,
at this time, always represents the spiritual church and elect
of God. Therefore, we all, like Israel,
You remember before God in mercy came to us and quickened
us to life and faith, we resided in a desert place. You that believe,
you understand that. You and I resided in a desert
place. This desert is the abode of all
men by nature. All men abide in spiritual death. That's what a desert is, isn't
it? It's death. There's no life in
a desert. You don't see any green thing
in a desert. Why? There's no life there. This
is where we all reside from birth, in spiritual death. Therefore, all we do All we think,
all that we feel is like this desert place full of sin and
death. Consider what God said of man
in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. When God looked upon the world
of man, what did he find? Scripture says, And God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth. and that every imagination of
the thought, now that's before it becomes a thought, the imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This is who we are. We are as this desert place full
of sin and death. Again, it's strange that this
desert place should be called a place of resting, isn't it? A resting place. But consider
this. Even so, consider the foolishness
of a natural man to rest in his sin. To find comfort, refreshment,
and encouragement in the pleasures of his flesh and the things of
the world. Have you considered the fleetingness
of the things of this world? Have you considered how fast
they are fleeting? They're vain trinkets, toys that
vastly vanish away. Consider how fast the lust and
pleasures of the flesh vanish away. Solomon said this, a man
that hath silver is not content with silver. You found that out
about yourself? That you're not content with
what you have? There's a reason why you're not content with what
you have, because it cannot satisfy the soul. And you can try, but you'll find
out that none of these things can satisfy. Solomon said this.
Now Solomon, next to the Lord Jesus Christ, was given the greatest
wisdom. And he said this, he said, to be wise is better than
to be foolish. You scratch your head, that's
pretty simple. Wouldn't it be better to be wise than foolish?
He said, look, it's better to work than it is to be lazy. But you know what he said at
the end of this? He says, the wise man, the man who labors,
they all come to the same end. You got that? No matter how wise
you are, or how industrious you are, or how much you accumulate
in this world, and you look over at that fool, you look at him,
he's unwise, he's in poverty. But you know what? You're gonna
end the same way he's gonna end. You're gonna die. And so then
he comes to the conclusion, what's the purpose of all you got? He says this, then all is vanity
and vexation of spirit. Seeing I'm gonna end the same
way as everybody else, that's vanity, that's vexation of spirit.
Doesn't that vex you? Working hard, there's that guy
over there, lazy, you know what? I'm gonna end in the same place
he is. I'm gonna have as much as he has, nothing. It's vanity
and vexation of spirit that we all must die. Oh, sons of Adam, may God open
your eyes to see that this world that you so much
long for, the pleasures and lusts of the flesh you so much desire
are nothing but empty. They are as barren as a desert
and they cannot satisfy. They cannot satisfy. And just like Israel, men by
nature pitch their tents in these wilderness that cannot satisfy
and cannot sustain, cannot give them satisfaction. There isn't any lasting joy or
peace, and yet lost men call this world refahdi, a resting
place. They're content. They're content. Believer in Jesus Christ, is
this not so with us? Is this not true of our nature
that we were enticed, that we had our affections in the things
of this world? It is. It is true of us. We were
once dead in trespasses and sins. We all walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
We all had that. We were all by nature, listen,
children of wrath. That's not God's wrath. The apostle
is talking about our wrath. We were haters of God, that's
what he was saying. We were children, haters of God,
even as others. And I like these two words the
apostle uses next, but God, but God. Blessed conjunction. But God, for if God had not come
to us, surely we never would have come to Him. We would have
died in a wilderness with no righteousness, no water, no satisfaction
had God not come to us. We were haters of God. Preacher,
I'm not a hater of God. Yes, you are. That's our nature. That's who we are. Listen to
what God says, ìFor the carnal mind, the carnal mind is enmity
against God.î You want to know the evidence of that? Whatís
the evidence I hate God? ìFor we are not subject to His
law, neither indeed can be.î Youíve not been subject to His
law, that means youíre a treasonous rebel. And listen, neither indeed
can be. I don't care how hard you try,
you still can't subject yourself to that law. Why? You are a hater
of God. That's what we are. Notice that Israel, Israel was
fine as long as they had supplies of water. Now, they'd been at
Marah, remember? That was another place they were
without water. Moses commanded to cast that tree in the water
and the water was made sweet. You know what they did? They
drank out of that water and they filled their canteens. They filled
all their, they could, all they carried. Probably had big tubs
of water they filled up. This is two million people, friends,
marching through the desert. This ain't no small group of
people. Two million people. And they get to this place and
they're alright for a minute. Until when? Until their water
supply runs out. And look what happens. Wherefore,
the people did chide with Moses. That's what they said. Give us
water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why in
the world are you chiding with me? I'm just as thirsty as you
are. Look, do I have any water in
my tent? My tent, look over here, ain't no water in there. Even
if I had water in my tent, could I supply two million people with
water? No. Why are you chiding with
me? Why are you coming to me? And he realizes the reason. He
said, wherefore do you test the Lord your God? That's what you're
doing. You're really chiding with him. 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 the land of Egypt
to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses,
he cried, Lord, he said, man, what am I going to do? These
people are ready to kill me. They're ready to stone me. You see how God had shown these
people his great power over and over again, didn't he? I mean,
He delivered them from the strongest army known to man. He parted the Red Sea for them
to walk through. And then right before their very
eyes, He crushed Pharaoh and all his army in a minute, in
a second, they were all destroyed. That's power, friends. They had been hungry and yet
every day God fed them with manna that came down like to do. They
went to bed at night, there was nothing on the ground, they woke
up in the morning and there was bread all over the place. Power. God had displayed His
power again and again and again and again and here they are a
minute without water and what are they doing? They complain. They complain. God led them by a pillar of cloud
and by a pillar of fire, and yet they had no water. Instead
of, listen, instead of going to God, they did what? Went to
Moses. They went to Moses. Instead of
asking God to provide for their need, they said to Moses, give
us water. John Gill says this, he said
the word give here means it in the plural, which shows their
anger in that they demanded of Moses what only God could give. You got that? They demanded of
Moses what only God could give. Only God could provide water
for two million people, Moses couldn't. Even so, did we by
nature, when our sin could no longer satisfy us, when God brought
us to a place where we found our sin was a desert, when we saw the barrenness of
this world, when man is faced with the reality
of his own sin and mortality, instead of turning to God, what
do we do? We turn to religion. We turn
to religion. When a man can't find satisfaction
in the world, what does he do? He turns to religion. He turns
to, and Moses, I want you to always see this in the Old Testament.
Moses is a picture of the law. He's always a picture of the
law. So what do these people do in the barrenness of their
condition? They turn to the law. And this
is what men do all the time. They see that they're exposed
before God, that they have no righteousness of their own. What
do they do? They say, Oh man, let's see. Oh, God says I shouldn't
lie. Okay, I'm going to do that. How's that working out for you? Moses is a picture of the law. And what can the law do for you? The same thing that Moses could
do for these people, nothing, nothing. Dear friends, the law
of God was never meant to give life. It was never intended of
God for man to give them righteousness and peace with God. In fact,
the law of God was intended only to magnify their guilt. That's it. Go to Galatians chapter
3. Look with me in Galatians chapter
3. This church, they wanted to go
back to the law. They said, well, we believe in Jesus Christ who
died for our sins. We believe salvation's by grace,
but, you know, but you have to be circumcised. That was the
law, part of the law they wanted to cut out, and they wanted to
paste that in on top of Jesus Christ. Now, people today, they
don't do circumcision. They just take other parts of
the law, but it's the same principle. Listen to what Paul says in Galatians
3 in verse 10. He says, for as many as, I don't care who you
are. It covers everybody that wants
to do this. As many as are of the works of
the law. Anybody want to turn to the law
for satisfaction? Anybody want to turn to the law
for righteousness? Turn to the law for peace with
God? Listen, you are under the curse of the law, not blessing.
You're under its curse. Why? For it is written. I like
those words. That settles all debate. That
settles all debate here. It is written. I don't care.
Well, I don't, I feel, I don't care how you feel. It's what
God said. This is what God said. It is written. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in what? Next two words. All things. written in the book of the law
to, listen, do them. Don't just tip your hat to them.
It's not what he says. Curses everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
You know what it means? It means you need to find a high
priest. You need to find an offering. You need to go over there. In
Jerusalem right now, the temple would have to be rebuilt. You
would have to have a veil. You would have to have the Ark
of the Covenant. You would have to obey every part of the law. Well, we can't do that. That's
what God's telling you. Why do you think He put a mosque
right over the top where the temple was? Why do you think
there's a mosque there now? Islamic mosque sitting right
on top of it. Why? Because you can't. It's an exclamation point
here, friends. There is no life in the law. How foolish is it for men to
seek the water of life from the law, which only points to sin
and death. Paul says this in Romans, he
says, no man is justified by the law, and the sight of God
is evident. Well, that's just clear. That's just plain. It's evident because the scripture
has concluded this, all under sin. He said, therefore, by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For
by the law is what? The knowledge of sin. I had not
known sin, except the law said, thou shalt not. That's how I
know sin. And because there is no peace
and satisfaction found within the law, men murmur at God's
men. for man to give them what only
God can provide. I like this hymn. Enwrapped in
thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness more than light,
madly I ran the sinful race, secure without a hiding place.
Ah, but thus the eternal counsel ran, almighty love, arrest that
man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Indignant, justice stood in view. To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But justice cried with frowning
face, this mountain is no hiding place. There is no hiding place
in the law. Just as these people, when they
came to Moses, they found no water, they found no life. When
you come to God by the law, you will find no life but death.
You will find no life but death. Sinner, God owes you nothing
but eternal damnation. That's what God owes you, nothing
else. I know people in this entitled
generation especially believe God owes them something. Well,
he made me. He owes me. Nope. He owes you
nothing but hail. That's what we deserve. And if
you continue to seek righteousness by the works of the law, friends,
you will die with no life and no righteousness. So then is
there hope? Of course there is. I wouldn't be standing here.
If that was it, I wouldn't come to you. I wouldn't have nothing
to say to you. There is hope. God displays hope by mercy, by
the mercy of giving these wicked people water. That gives me hope. That gives me hope. Look at verse
4. Go back to your text. Look at verse 4. And Moses cried
to the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They are
about ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go before the people. and take with you two things,
you're gonna take the elders with you, and you're gonna take
the rod, the rod wherewith you smote the river, take it in thine
hand and go. And behold, I will stand before
thee upon the rock in Horeb. There's gonna be a rock there
when you take these elders, you go, you're gonna go over to Horeb
and there's gonna be a big rock there. When you get there, know this,
I'm standing on this rock. It's what you're gonna do when
thou shalt smite the rock, there shall come water out of it and
the people may drink. And Moses did in the sight of
the elders of Israel. And Moses, he cries unto God,
which, what they should have done. They should have sued God
for mercy instead of turning to Moses. But God sends Moses to the most
unlikely source you would ever think to find water, a rock.
You ever seen a rock in a desert just pour out water spontaneously? Is that where you would go to
find water? Inside of a rock? No. The most unlikely source.
And God says, I'm going to stand there on that rock and when you
hit it, when you strike it with your rod, Out will flow water
sufficient enough for two million people out of a rock. That's
exactly what happened. And he took those elders there
and they all witnessed it, every one of them. They witnessed this.
Behold then the great picture here, because the rock always
in scripture is Christ. The rock is Christ. How do I know this? Well, I'm
just gonna give you a cheat sheet. Go to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look
at this, God gives us little cliff notes, cheats. We get to
figure out what that rock means. Just so you know, I'm not pulling
this out of thin air. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and
verse four. And did all drank the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was who? Christ. So as you see this rock,
I want you to see it is Christ. It is Christ Jesus. Jesus is
the rock. And I want you to see this, that
rock was there before Israel was. Isn't that right? That rock was always there. When
they were being delivered in Egypt, where was that rock? It
was there. When they were crossing the Red Sea, where was that rock?
It was there. Where was it when they were in
Moriah? Where was it in the wilderness of Sinai? It was always there.
I want you to know this. Christ was always the rock of
His people. Always the foundation of the
elect. God says in Isaiah 28 verse 16,
Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a rock. But what? A foundation. A foundation. A tried stone. This rock is tested. This rock is going to be tested
rock. a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation, a sure foundation. Jesus said of himself, upon this
rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. He's not talking about Peter.
What a weak, you know what he called Peter just after that? He said, get thee behind me,
Satan. He's not the rock. Christ said,
I'm the rock. Upon this massive rock, I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. And then in our text, God says that this rock in the wilderness,
he says, I'm going to be on it. This is why this rock is going
to be so special, because I'm on it. Isn't this what God promised
of Jesus Christ when he came into the world, that his spirit
would be upon him? The scripture says this in Isaiah
42, he said, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in
whom my soul delighted. I will put my spirit upon him,
and he shall bring judgment unto the Gentiles. You see, Christ,
when he came into the world, he had the Spirit of God without
measure given to him. John witnessed it when he baptized
Him. He said, I saw the Spirit descending and remaining on Him. Descending like a dove and it
remained on Him. Why? To testify that this was
the rock. The Spirit of God was upon Him.
God stood on the rock to testify. It's not that rock over there.
It's not that rock over there. It's this one, the one I'm standing
on. How do we know Christ is the Savior? Because God's Spirit
was upon Him and God testified that this is the One. You know
there are over 300 prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
in the Old Testament. Every one of them Jesus Christ
fulfilled. Every one. Every one of them. What are the
odds of that? 100% because God says that's the one.
This is my rock. This is my rock. And why was the spirit of God
given to him? Because he is the God man that shall fulfill the
will of God. Christ came to the world. He
had a purpose for being here. Just as that rock had a purpose
to fulfill its purpose in giving water to Israel, Jesus Christ,
upon whom the Spirit of God rested, had a purpose. And that was one
purpose, to save His people from their sins. That's what He came
to do. Jesus Christ, who condescended
to be made a man. did not come to make salvation
possible for everyone, He came to accomplish salvation for His
people. This is the lie of the generation
in which we live, that Christ is a failure. And Christ died
for all men without exception. That's not so. He came to save
His people from their sins. That's what the angel said, isn't
it? We're fixing to go through Christmas. Everybody's going
to read this story. Everybody's going to come to this part where
the angel comes down. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. And they're
going to just fly right by it. What does Jesus mean? Jehovah
saves. It doesn't mean Jehovah makes
salvation possible. It means Jehovah does something.
Jehovah saves. And they said, why are you going
to call him this? Because he shall do something. He shall
save his people from their sins. And that is exactly what he did.
He saved his people from their sins. Now how shall he do this? This is pictured in Moses hitting
the rock. The water would not flow from
the rock except it be smitten by Moses. Now a bunch of people
could have went up there and pounded on that rock and hit
it and hit it and hit it, nothing come out. It needed to be Moses
and it had to be smitten by him. Why? Remember Moses again is
a picture of the law. The law. In order for God's people
to be saved, listen, the law had to be satisfied. The righteousness
of the law had to be fulfilled by obedience. And the justice
of the law had to be satisfied by the death of the sinner. Without
those two things, there would be no salvation. And so Jesus
Christ, Moses, picturing the law, truly, In that picture in
our text, who deserved to be hit? The rock or the people? Who deserved the justice of God?
It was the people. They deserved to be smitten.
They were the ones cursing God for what He had done. Yet in mercy God commands Moses
to strike someone else. The rock. The rock. even because this was a picture
of the death of Jesus Christ under the divine justice of God
as he stood as our surety, as our representative. Behold, he who was righteous
and knew no sin, who could do no sin. Notice how the law How should
then the law strike him who had no sin? When Jesus Christ came
into this world, he was hated of men because he was sinless.
You know, we all look for good people, don't we? We like to
be around good men. Not really. We just like to be...
I like to be a little better than people I hang around. No, you don't want a righteous
man. because a righteous man will only condemn your sin. You
hang around him long enough and he's gonna, you're gonna start
feeling uncomfortable. How much more when the son of
God came into this world, he was a man without sin, and he
said to those people, which of you convinces me of sin? Somebody,
somebody point out a sin that I've done. They couldn't. They
tried. Oh, they tried. They tried every
single day to find something, and they could find nothing.
Jesus even said, Satan, the prince of this world, hath found nothing
in me. He was a righteous man. He was
a holy man. He was a just man, because he
was the Son of God that could not sin. So how then could the
law justly condemn him? Even in this, 2 Corinthians 5,
21, for God did something. God hath made him to be sin for
us. Who knew no sin? This was a divine transaction,
friends, is that God took all of the sins of his people, gathered
them together, and made them to rest on Christ. So much so,
this is a mystery, isn't it? How could God make him to be
sin who knew no sin? Now, he did know sin. Still,
when he was made sin, there was still no sin. He still trusted
God in every way. And yet, this is a mystery. He
did make him to bear the guilt of our sin. And friends, this wasn't done
in a corner, this was done in the elders. When Moses hit that
rock, it was done in the open. When God smote his son because
of our sins, it was not done in a corner. This was done openly for everyone
to see. And all the law and the prophets
testify of it. You know, before I think it was
about 700 to 900 years before crucifixion was invented. You
know what he said? They've pierced my hands and my feet. God purposed that he should die
that way. They should die that way. This was not done in the
corner. The prophets had spoken of these
things. In Psalm 22, if you read Psalm
chapter 22, the very words of Christ upon the cross, My God,
My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? You couldn't have written a play
and had people acted out, those Roman soldiers who knew nothing
about the Gospel. You know what they were doing?
They were casting lots for His vesture, just as the Word of
God testified they would. And yet they said there was this
one coat, they weren't going to rip it. They didn't rip it. Why? Because all of the scriptures
testify of this one's death. I was talking to a preacher just
yesterday, we were discussing the cross and the significance
of the cross. Don't you see that all of time
and eternity hinge upon the cross of Jesus Christ? That everything
before pointed toward it and everything after points back
to it. Even our time and our dates,
they want to change that, don't they? We've said this A.D., B.C. and A.D., for how long? Why? Because the very time hinges
on it. The significance of the cross
cannot be overstated. This is where God dealt with
my sin. Behold, God hath made Christ
to bear our reproach and the shame of our sins, for God imputed
our sins to Christ as he bore the guilt of them under the holy
judgment of God. Zechariah 13, verse 7 says, Awake,
O sword, and smite the shepherd, the man that is my fellow. Even so did God, by the law,
smite Christ upon the cross. And what flowed out of Christ
when He was struck with the spear? Significance here is important.
Blood and water. Blood and water flowed out from
His side. Is there any who thirst for righteousness? Cleansing of sin. What source
will you go to for the cleansing of your soul? Out of where proceeds
the water of life? Out of Christ and him crucified. Is there any thirst for cleansing,
atonement? Who needs atonement? Who needs
a sacrifice? Out of his side flowed blood.
Why? Because without the shedding
of blood is no remission of sins. You see the necessity? Blood
for atonement. water for cleansing. Both flowed
from Christ's side. In Zechariah 13, verse 1, it
says, In that day there shall be a fountain open. A fountain for what? Sin and
uncleanness. This is not just a regular fountain.
This is a fountain. Now, that water that flowed out
to those Israelites, listen, they were thirsty again after
they had that water. Didn't they? Didn't they need
water after that? This water I'm talking about is spiritual
water. This water I'm talking about is water that gives eternal
life. Water that gives perpetual cleansing. Because that's what I need. I
need something that cleanses me. I need something constantly
cleansing me. And that's what? The water of
life. The water of life. Acts 13, it
says, Be ye known, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you forgiveness of sins. You know that's only good to
one group of people? Sinners. Forgiveness of sin is only good
for sinners. And by him all that believe are
justified. Oh, that's good. You need to
be justified. You know what that means? We
used to say it, just as if I never sinned. That's one way somebody
used to say it. No, it means this, you never
sinned. If you are justified, you realize this, that in Christ
you never sinned. That's what it is to be justified.
From all things which the law could not justify, Christ did. Therefore, I confess to you,
I was one that was pitched in refugee. I was one pitched in
the desert seeking to be content with the sins of my flesh. And
when God exposed the impossibility of my sins ever satisfying me,
what did I do? I looked to works. I looked to
doing something. You know what I found there?
I couldn't find any hope. No water from works. No refreshment
from my works. Only when the Holy Spirit came
to me and gave me life did I look to the smitten rock, Jesus Christ. You know, it's always my hope
that God the Spirit would quicken sinners to life. And that's just
the work of God. It's just the work of God. The
wind bloweth where it listeth. You can hear the sound thereof,
but you can't tell where it's coming and where it's going.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God. I can't give
you birth, I can't give you life. I know He can. It is my desire
that He does. And when He does, you will look
to only one source for life and hope. You will look to Jesus
Christ alone. You will stop looking to yourself. And you will look to Him. And
what will you find? You'll find life. You'll find
peace with God that transcends time and eternity. You'll find
joy. Not this happy hee-hee-hee joy. That's not what this is about.
You'll find real contentment no matter what takes place in
life. You find hope, real hope, real confidence. Why? Because he who was smitten
is now risen and seated on the throne of God, where he now rules
all things after the counsel of his own will for this purpose,
to save his people. Are you confused about what's
going on? I don't have a clue. But I do know this, that everything
is happening according to the will of Jesus Christ. Everything. Shouldn't that just give you
a sigh of relief? Just take a deep breath. There's nothing going
on outside of His will. And you know what His will is? That all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called. The
called according to whose purpose. His purpose. Eric, why are you called? Is
that your purpose? It's His purpose. It's His purpose. Church says, ho, everyone that
thirsts, come ye to the waters, come, buy wine and milk without
money, without price. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread and for that which doesn't satisfy? Behold, there is mercy and peace
and joy and contentment, where? In the rock. In the rock. And I'm going to give you this. I've
got, I've got some more, but I'll close with this. Look what
immediately happened after they drank. Look at verse 8. Then Elimelech fought with Israel
in revenge. Now Rephidim at that point became
a real resting place. When they had water, they had
a real resting place. But it was not, but immediately
they were attacked. You know what happens when a
man comes to faith in Christ? You think that I did. Now this is silly. I know that
you that are older understand this, but when we're newly converted,
we surely think the water's apart now. That somehow the sky will
open up, blessings from heaven will come down, and everything
will be smooth. Is that what happened to you? When I believed, Immediately
there began a warfare. A limeleck is a picture of the
flesh. It's a picture of Satan and the
world. He's a picture of our enemies.
And once we drink of Christ, what comes next? Warfare. Suffering. And we know this, that the Lord
defeated them, and I don't have time to go into this illustration,
but God gives a promise in verse 16, and he said, because the
Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Elimelech from
generation to generation. Until when? Until he eradicates
them. You're going to have war until
when? Until Elimelech is in the ground. You're looking, this
is limeleck. This is limeleck. My own flesh
is not my friend, it is my enemy. And the only time this warfare
is going to cease is when this body goes to the ground and my
spirit that God made, created, is going to be with Him. But
until then, what are we to expect? You that believe, warfare. War within, and war without. But what's the refreshing during
the warfare? What's our hope? It's the rock. When Moses lift up his hands,
that's when they won, right? When Moses' hands were lifted
up and they put rocks, they put rocks underneath. Isn't that
something? Put rocks underneath. What's our hope to keep our faith? It's the rock, isn't it? It's
Jesus Christ, our rock. And from him we receive all the
joy and refreshment we need for the day. I pray God give you
grace to look to Christ to rock. And when he comes to you, he'll
pour out water and your soul will be cleansed, refreshed. I tell you what, let's be dismissed.
We'll sing that hymn, Rock of Ages. We'll sing that together
and we'll be dismissed with this hymn.