Let's open our Bible to begin
with to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And what I want to do is
continue just for a moment with the passage that Gabe read. And that is not the passage from
which our message tonight or our lesson tonight will be from.
But it's about Christ and about that rock And I see that we need to read
this before we begin. 1 Corinthians 10, beginning in
verse 1, and we'll read down through verse 4. Moreover, brethren,
I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers
were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and were
all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did
all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. What Gabe just read to us back
in Exodus 17 was not a story about a rock. It was a story
about our Lord Jesus Christ. And it was a story about a bunch
of rebels who did not believe God, who would not trust God,
and who in rebellion stood up against Moses, and God was still
yet merciful to them. Two things I want to look at
from this Exodus chapter 17, and then we're gonna be turning
to Numbers chapter 20. But two things I want us to take note.
Exodus chapter 17 and verse five, and the Lord said unto Moses,
go on before the people and take with thee the elders of Israel
and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take it in thy hand
and go. The first thing I want us to
notice that the Lord told Moses, take thy rod that you used in
judgment in Israel and you smoked the river and you turned it into
blood. You see the rod of Moses represents
to us the law and judgment of God. And the Lord told Moses,
you take that rod that you smoked the river with and you smote
that rock. Verse six, behold, I will stand
before thee there and see where the Lord will be standing upon
the rock in Horeb. And thou shalt smite the rock,
and there shall come out water of it, and the people may drink."
So where was our Lord when Moses smote that rock? He was upon
that rock. So when Moses smote that rock,
the Lord smote our Lord Jesus Christ in judgment. Turn with
me over to Numbers chapter 20. Now this is the second account. And can you imagine, can you
believe that there must be a second account? That these people, having
seen Moses before, having been thirst dying of thirst and in
the wilderness. They eat manna from heaven. They
drunk water from the rock. They walked across on dry land
when the Lord called them out of Egypt. And then now, here
again, they're thirsty. And we would imagine, we would
think, that all they'd have to do is go to Moses and say, Moses,
we're thirsty again, but let's read this account. Numbers chapter
20, beginning in verse one. Then came the children of Israel,
even the whole congregation in the desert of Zin in the first
month. And the people abode in Kadesh and in Miriam died there
and was buried there. And there was no water for the
congregation. And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron. Here we go again. And
the people chose with Moses and spake saying, Would God that
we would have died with our brethren died before the Lord. And why
have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness
that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have
you made us to come out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place?
It is no place of seed or figs or vines or of pomegranates,
neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went
from the presence of the assembly into the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces, and the
glory of the Lord appeared unto them. And the Lord spake unto
Moses saying, take the rod and gather thou the assembly together,
thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye into the rock. Speak
ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth
his water. And thou shalt bring forth to
them water out of the rock, so that thou shalt give the congregation
unto their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before
the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered
the congregation together before the rock, And he said unto them,
here now ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And
Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod, he smoked the rock
twice and the water come out abundantly. And the congregation
drank and the beast also. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, because ye believe me not to sanctify me in the
eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you should not bring
this congregation into the land which I have given them. And
as I said, this is now the second account. You would think that past mercies
for sin would have effect on us. And you would think that
past judgments would have effect on us. But our hearts are so
depraved and so wicked that it doesn't. And I would
say this, this evening, that any man who would look at these
people right here, and say, if that would have been me, I would
not have murmured. If I would have seen water come
from the rock the first time, then I would have believed the
second time, especially since I seen manna come from heaven
and I seen the sea divide. Anybody who might think for one
second that you would have done otherwise, you have learned nothing,
nothing about your own heart. If I would have been there, I
would have murmured against God. That is what the law has taught
me about me. Now, the first thing I want us
to see here, let us look again at verse number five. Numbers
chapter 20, verse five. Now notice what the people, here
in Bursa and where have, wherefore have you made us to come up out
of Egypt and to bring us unto this evil place?" Notice what
they said. It is no place of seed. Who are they talking to? They're
talking to Moses. Who is Moses? Moses is the law
giver. So we say that the law giver,
the law has brought these people into a place where it is no place
for seed. In other words, it does not matter
how much they labor and toil in the ground. The law has brought
them to a place where none of their works will do them of any
good, of any value. The law, Moses, with his rod
has led them into the desert, has led them into a place where
there is nothing that they can do. And now they look at the
law and they say, the law, law, you've brought me here and there's
nothing I can do for myself. Now let's look at verse eight.
So what does Moses, what does the Lord, verse seven, the Lord
spake unto Moses saying, take the rod And gather thou the assembly
together, thou and Aaron thy brother, speak ye unto the rock
before their eyes. Now verse eight, take the rod. And I got to study in this rod.
And did you know that this is not the rod of Moses that the
Lord told him to take? That rod of Moses that smoked
that rock back in Exodus, and that rod that he smoked that
river with is not the same rod here that the Lord says to him,
take the rod and speak to the rock. And if the Lord will enable
me, if the Lord will help me tonight, I'm gonna try to go
from number 16 and 17 and show you this rod. This is the rod of Aaron. Take
the rod, take the rod of Aaron, take the rod of the mediator,
because you're gonna speak to the rock. And to speak to that
rock, you need a mediator. Turn with me to numbers 16. And our story begins here. I
had to go all the way back to chapter 16, which begins with Korah. Let
me turn over to Jude myself. I want to read you something.
This passage has reference to it from Jude. And first, let
me read you verse four of Jude. For there are certain men crept
unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And
speaking of them, verse 11, woe unto them, for they have gone
in the way of Cain, and then greedily after the heir of Balaam
for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. So we're
gonna hook up. We're gonna go from Korah to
this rod, okay? So we begin. in chapter 16 in
verse one. Now Korah the son of Ishar, the
son of Kahath, the son of Levi, and Dathan, and Abram, the son
of Elab, and on the son of Pelath, sons of Reuben, took men. Verse
two, and they rose up before Moses. They rose up before Moses
with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the
assembly, famous in the congregation of renown. So what we have here
is Korah. He is a Levite. He's of the tribe
of Levi. And what they have done is they
have raised up against Moses. The Lord has given the responsibility
of the children of Israel to Moses. Now look at verses three
and four. And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, take
you too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy.
You see how religious they're speaking? Every one of them and
the Lord is among them. These false prophets are speaking.
Wherefore then lift up yourselves above the congregation of the
Lord. In other words, what they're saying is, oh, these people are
holy. Who are you to make yourself
rule over these people? You see what they're, they, are
jealous of the power of the authority, rather, that God has given Moses
to lead these people, and they're lifting their self, men of Ramat
Naam, Korah, and 250 others, okay? Now, verse eight. This is Moses' response to these
men. And Moses said unto Korah, Here I pray you, you sons of
Levi. Remember, we just said they were
sons of Levi. These, the Levites are the servants of the Lord
in the temple or rather in the tabernacle. Seemeth it but a
small thing unto you that the God of Israel has separated you
from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself
to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord. In other words,
the Lord has blessed you in that he's already put you in the service
of the tabernacle. Is that a small thing to you?
And see what else he says, is that a small thing to you? And
to stand before the congregation to minister unto them. And he
hath brought thee near to him and all the brethren of the sons
of Levi with thee and seek ye the priesthood also. You see,
they were not content. They were not content simply
being. in the service of the Lord. They sought the priesthood. They sought the office of mediator. They sought the stand in the
place of Aaron, the high priest who represents our Lord Jesus
Christ. They sought his office. Now,
let's continue. In, In verses 16 and 17, what Moses
says here, it's okay, let's read the verses. And Moses said unto
Korah, be thou and all thy company before the Lord, thou and they
and Aaron and tomorrow, and take every man his censer and put
incense in it and bring you before the Lord every man his censer,
250 censers, thou also and Aaron, each of you his censer. So what? Moses has said to these men,
you come together with censors and we'll bring Aaron together
and we'll see which one of you, we'll see which one of you can
stand in the office of priesthood. We'll let the Lord prove this
matter. So what Moses has done is said,
okay, we're gonna prove this matter. Let's see who stands
before the Lord and is accepted. Verse 18, and they took every
man his censer and put fire in them and laid incense thereon
and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
with Moses and Aaron. Verse 19, and Korah gathered
all the congregation against them under the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. Korah, turned the congregation
against Moses. He wasn't content that simply
that the Lord would choose Aaron. He turned the congregation against
Moses and see what happens. Verse 19, and the glory of the
Lord appeared until all the congregation And the Lord spake unto Moses
and said unto Aaron, verse 20, saying, 21, separate yourselves
from among this congregation that I might consume them in
a moment. In other words, God said, Moses,
Aaron, get away from these people. I'm going to kill them. I'm going
to kill every one of them. My judgment is going to fall
on this people for their rebellion, and I'm going to kill them. Now
look at verse 22, and they, speaking of Moses and Aaron, fell upon
their faces and said, Oh God, the God of the spirits of all
flesh, shall one man sin and without be wroth with all the
congregation? Verse 23, and the Lord said,
spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the congregation saying,
get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abram. And Moses rose up and went into
Dathan and Abram and the elders of the Israel and followed him.
Verse 26, and he spake unto the congregation saying, depart I
pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing
that is theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins. In other words,
Moses, Went to the Lord and pleaded with the Lord. And the Lord said,
okay, you send the congregation away. You send every man to his
tent. You send every man to his tent.
And then verse 28 and 29, Moses tells these people, If these men live, if these men,
if Korah, these 250 and Dathan, if these men live and die of
old age, then I'm a liar. But if they die, then the Lord
has put me in this place. And immediately the ground opens
up with these wicked men standing at their tent doors. And it consumes
these men and their families, their children, their wives,
and it sucks them into the ground. And they're dead. Every one of
them, without exception. What do you imagine the reaction
of these people might be? They've just seen the Lord kill
three men, three leaders, and 250 of their followers. They seen the ground open up,
swallow these men in, and close the ground. So what's the reaction? Look at verse 41. But on the
morrow, on this next day, on the morrow, All the congregation
of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron
saying, ye have killed the people of the Lord. How wicked, how
wicked is man. This is the seat of Adam, the
first Adam right here. They'd just seen the Lord open
up the ground and swallow 253 men and their families. And the
very next day, he says, Moses, you've killed God's prophets. The reaction, verse 44. And the
Lord spake unto Moses saying, get you up from among the congregation
that I might consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon
their faces. The Lord said, Moses, get away
from these people. I'm going to kill every one of
them. Moses said unto Aaron, verse
46, take the censer and put farther in from off the altar and put
it on incense and go quickly into the congregation and make
atonement for them. For there is wrath gone from
the Lord and the plague has begun. In other words, Moses looks at
Aaron and say, Aaron, grab the censer and run through the people
as fast as you can, hurry. God's wrath is falling. And you
remember back in first Corinthians chapter 10 when it spoke of that
rock being crossed? This incense here, this censer,
this toothpicks of Christ, Moses is saying, Aaron, run through
the camp with that incense, with the fire. In other words, that
incense represents Christ that he might smell and sense the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ that he might know that sin has been put away. These people are going to die
unless they have a mediator. These people are going to die
unless there's a sacrifice. Aaron, run through the congregation
and stop the wrath of God and look what happens. Verse 27,
and Moses took as And Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into
the midst of the congregation. And behold, the plague was begun
among the people. And he put on incense and made
an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead
and the living and the plague was stayed. Now they that died
in the plague were 14,700 beside them that died about the matter
of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses
unto the door of the tabernacle with the congregation, and the
plague was stayed. Now this continues from chapter
16 in the verse 17. But verse 17 begins with mercy and grace. Let's first read beginning in verse one. And the
Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel
and take of every one of them a rod. according to the house
of the fathers. Of all their princes, according
to the house of their fathers, 12 rods, and write thou every
man's name upon his rod. And thou shalt write Aaron's
name, write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi. For one rod
shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. And thou
shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the
testimony where I will meet with you. And it shall come to pass
that the man's rod whom I shall choose shall blossom. And I will
make a cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby
they murmur against you. In other words, what the Lord
has said, you take a rod out of each tribe. And you write
the name of every tribe on every, each of those 12 rods. When you
come to the rod of Levi, you write Aaron's name on that rod. And the next time that these
people murmur against me, that rod is going to prevent, that
rod is going to stop my wrath. I just killed 14,700. I just
opened the ground from Cora and devoured 253 men and their families. Mercy and grace. These rebels. There's mercy and grace for these
rebels. Verse six, and Moses spake unto
the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him
a rod apiece. For each prince won, according
to their father's houses, even 12 rods, and the rod of Aaron
was among their rods. And Moses laid up the rods before
the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass
that on the morrow, Moses went in the tabernacle of witness.
And behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded,
and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. And Moses brought out all the
rods from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel, and
they looked and took every man his rod. Verse 10, and the Lord
said unto Moses, bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony
to be kept for a token against the rebels. And thou shalt quiet
take away their murmurings from me that they die not. Now let's turn back to Numbers
chapter 20. And we're gonna look at this
rod again in just a second. But first, I want us to read
verse six again. And Moses and Aaron went from
the presence in the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces. And notice
the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. Now, if you look back
in verse 16, when the glory of the Lord appeared, verse 19, Number 16, verse 19, and Korah
gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation. And the glory of the Lord appeared
unto all of the congregation. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and said unto Aaron, separate yourselves from among the congregation
that I may consume them in a minute. Here in chapter 20, when the
presence of the Lord appears, the glory of the Lord appears.
There's no judgment. In 16, when the glory of the
Lord appeared, there was judgment and the children of Korah and
Korah and his families, they were all destroyed. And then
again, when the glory of Lord appeared there in chapter 16,
the latter part, there was 14,600 that died, but now Here in verse six and Moses and
Aaron went from the presence of the assembly into the door
of the tabernacle and the glory of the Lord appeared into them.
And what takes place now, verse eight, take the rod. This is
the rod of Aaron. This is the rod that the Lord
had provided back in 17, that the people not die. This rod
is a rod of Sovereign Mercy. It's a rod of Sovereign Grace.
Take that rod and speak to that rock that you smoke with your
rod. Remember Moses' rod? Moses' rod
was a rod of wrath. But take the rod of mediation.
Take the rod of Aaron and just speak to that rock. I'm not going
to kill these people. There's not a one I'm going to
die. I'm going to give water to every single one of them.
They murmured before and I killed 14,700. They murmured before
and I killed 253 families and all their men. But this time
they murmur, I'm going to give them water. And that water is
Christ. Turn with me to Isaiah 41. Let's read verses 17 and 18. Verse 17. When the poor and needy
seek water, and there is none, and their tongue felleth for
thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will
not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places
and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. Our Lord is so merciful to sinners. And that's our message. Our Lord
is merciful to ruin sinners. Brother Gay.