and all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin."
Now, I know that doesn't mean sin as we know it, but it sure
is an appropriate name, isn't it? Because that's exactly what
we journey through. We're going through this world,
this life. It's just a world of wilderness
of sin. After their journeys, according
to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Riphidim, 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. Take them for witnesses, what
he's taking them for. And thy rod with thee, there
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 out of it, and 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? Let's pray. Our Father, we come unto Thy
presence this morning begging for thy mercy. Enable us this
morning to worship you in spirit and in truth. Give us ears to
hear, eyes to see. Let us see Christ in this portion
of Scripture. Let us see Christ, the smitten
rock. Thank you for your many mercies,
Father. Thank you for all your temporal blessings. but especially
thank you for all the spiritual blessings that you've given us
in Jesus Christ before the world began. Everything we need to
stand in your presence, you've given to us in Christ. I pray,
Father, that you'd enable me to rightly divide the word of
truth, that you would enable me to preach the gospel and the
power of your Spirit, and that our hearts would rejoice that
our hearts would be like those men on the road to Emmaus and
say, did not our hearts burn within us this morning? In Christ's
name we pray, and amen. The title of the lesson is obvious. It's the smitten rock. The smitten
rock. We are going to see this morning
another title that God has given in the Old Testament A clear
picture of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. A clear picture of
the Son of God. Who would have thought of water
coming out of a rock? I'm not talking about digging
underneath the rock and there's a spring. But here is a miracle. That there is literally water
going to come out of this rock And there's a few million people
here. And they're all gonna drink of
this same water. They're all gonna drink. Their
thirst is gonna be quenched from this water that's coming out
of... I tried to picture in my mind
that this water flowing out of that rock. In that desert. A desert where it says no water. Try to picture in your mind actually
water coming out of this Solid rock. This actually happened. This actually happened. This
is not a fairy tale. This is something. God did this
for Israel. So here we're given another picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to have it out
of this rock. And this rock is not just any other rock. It tells
us in 1 Corinthians 10, that rock, I'm gonna show you at the
end of the lesson, that rock was Christ. And what he's saying,
that rock was Christ in picture and in type, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just like the manna, that bread
from heaven is a picture and a type of Jesus Christ, the bread
of life. And the water out of the rock
is Christ, the water of life. Now we have here, it says, the
people, all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed
from the wilderness of sin. Now listen, God is leading this
congregation. They're going to chide against
Moses. They're going to argue and fuss with Moses. But in reality,
their complaining is against God. That's something I want
to be very sensitive to. My complaining. My murmuring. I want to be very sensitive to
this. Not be murmuring against the second causes. God's a God
of means. But God's the first cause of
all things. And it says here that they journeyed
from the wilderness of sin, and after their journeys, according
to the commandment of the Lord, God commanded Moses to lead them
to where they are. They were led by the cloud by
day and the fire at night. And then they pitched their tent
in Riphidim and there was no water for the people there to
drink. Dry, barren, nothing to drink. Absolutely nothing to drink.
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses." They started complaining
against Moses. And they said, give us water.
Here they are, thirsty again. Look back over in chapter 15. It says in chapter 15, verse 22,
So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. And they went out
into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the
wilderness and found no water. No water. God keeps testing them
with this. And when they came to Marah,
they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.
Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people
murmured against Moses. I have to say, I feel sorry for
Moses. It would be extremely difficult
leading a stiff-necked, rebellious people. And he's not a young
man either. He's in his 80s. And he cried unto the Lord, and
the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters,
the water made sweet. There he made for them a statute
and an ordinance, and there, listen, He proved them. He tried
them. And they failed. They failed. They had just came across on
dry ground the Red Sea. Water standing however high on
both sides. And they walked across on dry
ground. And in three days, they turned on him. You mad? Three
days, they turned on him. And God brings them to trial
again. The trial of their faith. To prove them, as I just read
to you. He proved them. And He proves that they don't
believe Him. They don't believe Him. The Scriptures
tells us in Hebrews 4, this is why they could not enter the
Promised Land. Because of unbelief. You know that only two, only
two went into the Promised Land out of that original group? He's the one guiding them. Are
they not His people? They're His people. Are not all
things of God? Are not all trials of God? Job
said, trouble does not spring from the ground. God said, is
there evil in a city and I have not done it? That's what He says. Is there trouble is what He's
talking about. Is there trouble in a city and I have not done
it? Look back here in, let me see
if I can find the verse. I believe it's verse, or chapter
16. Let me see. Okay, here it is, verse
eight. And Moses said, this shall be
when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat,
and in the morning bread to eat, or bread to the full, for that
the Lord heareth your murmurings. He heareth my murmurings. Oh, that God would give us the
grace to take everything as from our Father's hand. Whatever He
brings us into. He says here, the Lord heareth your
murmurings which you murmur against Him. And what are we? Your murmurings, listen, are
not against us. They're not against Aaron and
Moses. He said they're not against me and Aaron. but against the
Lord. Against the Lord. You know, Moses
is saying, I didn't, I'm not the one who's designed this trip.
I didn't plan this trip, he did. I'm not the one guiding, he's
the one guiding. I'm just following his guidance
is what I do. God has ordained all, all our steps. Does it not
say in the scriptures that he hath ordained that the steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord? He's ordered all my
steps. The steps that I think, well,
that was a good decision. And then the steps where I say,
well, boy, that was a bad decision. Whatever steps it is, if I'm
in Christ, I'm His. He's ordered all my steps. Nothing's
left to chance at all, nothing. But then we come to this rock.
They complain there was no water. And that's a good picture of
this life. There's no water in this life. There's no water in
religion. There's no satisfaction in religion.
There's none in education. It doesn't satisfy. The only
thing that can really satisfy a thirsty soul, and let's not lose
the spiritual implication here. The only thing that can satisfy
a thirsty soul is Jesus Christ Himself. Nothing else. Nothing else. He said in one
place, he that drinks of this water shall thirst again. I take a drink of this water
in just a short time, I'm gonna thirst again. By the time I get
home tonight, I will have drank probably two bottles of water.
Thirsty. It can't quench my thirst. There's nothing in this life
can quench my thirst. I watch people. I watch family
members doing a lot of different things, trying to quench that
thirst they have, that thirst of the flesh. And it's just one
thing after another. It's just going after one thing
after another. And it never gets quenched. The only thing that can quench
A thirsty soul is Jesus Christ Himself. He's
the water of life. He said He's the water of life.
And here, this rock, it says, that rock was Christ. And Moses
cried, verse 4, Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall
I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone
me. They're ready to kill me. They're blaming me for their
thirst. And the Lord said unto Moses, go on before the people. You go ahead of the people. And
you take with thee of the elders of Israel as a witness. In the scriptures, everything
was to be done by witnesses. And the elders were to watch
this. And they were to see this and to be a witness to what Moses
is about to do. And thy rod, thy rod, wherewith
thou smotest the river, it's that rod that God used in Egypt. It was like a rod, it was a rod
of judgment. He said, you take that rod, that rod of judgment
that I used and brought all these plagues on Egypt, you use that
rod and you strike that rock. You strike that rock. He said,
you take it in your hand and you go, and I'm going to stand,
listen here, this is good, because God was in Christ reconciling
the world to Himself. Behold, I will stand before thee
upon the rock. And I want you to take that rod,
that rod of judgment, and I want you to, let's not tap it, don't
just go over there and just tap the rock, I think he wanted Moses
to draw back and swing and strike that rock. And when he did this, when he struck the rock, water, water gushed out of that rock. I mean, just to try to imagine
watching that happen. Water gushing out of that rock.
And the people who were about to die of thirst began to drink. And you know it says that that
rock followed them. That rock followed them wherever
they went. From that time forth, wherever
they went, that rock followed them. And they drank of that
rock. They didn't work for that water. They did not work for
the manna that God gave them from heaven. They didn't work
for it, but it was given to them every morning. That manna was
given every morning, and they have water out of that rock continually. God gave it to them. What's the spiritual implication
here? The spiritual implication is this. Jesus Christ is that
rock. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 10. Moreover, brethren, 1 Corinthians
10, moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers were under the cloud, that's the cloud
that followed them, 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, they all ate the manna, when he calls
it spiritual meat, it's because it's a type of Christ. That man
is a type of Christ. So all of them ate that manna
and did all drink the same spiritual drink out of that water that
came out of that rock which represented Christ. For they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ. And the fulfillment of the tithe
is at Calvary. When God's rod of judgment fell
on Jesus Christ, when that soldier took a spear and rammed it into
his side, what does it say came out? Water and blood. Water and blood. His blood for
cleansing. And that water is the water of
life. You can't live very long without
water. Not at all. You can live a little longer
without food, but water? You've got to have water. And
He's the water of life. Look in John chapter 7. Look in John chapter 7. In John chapter 7, Look in verse 37. I want you
to read these things with me in the Word of God. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts... And this is not a natural thirst.
Israel being a type of the church, they're in the wilderness, They
had a natural thirst. And they knew, they knew if they
did not get water, they were going to die. But for the most part, that whole
congregation was lost and perished because they didn't believe God.
But here he speaks of a thirst that's not natural. This thirst
is a thirst after God. It's a thirst after righteousness.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
If you have that kind of thirst, God gave it to you. God brought
you into the point and the place where you're thirsty for Him. You're thirsting after Him. If
any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Don't go to religion or a religious
service and think you're gonna get this field. Not if this thirst
is of God. If this thirst is of God that
he's speaking of here, Christ said, come to me and drink. He
that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. Living, not wet. Living water Christ in you Paul
said is the hope of glory Christ in you now turn over to Revelation
chapter 21 In Revelation chapter 21 look
in verse 6 verse 6 And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Freely. I will give it. It's
in his hands to give. And he's that water of life.
Now look in Revelation 22. Revelation 22, look in verse
1. And He showed me a pure river of water of life. This keeps coming up as water
of life, doesn't it? There's a difference in water
that helps sustain life. See, this water in this cup right
here sustains, helps sustain my fleshly life that I have. Without it, I die. As long as
I'm drinking it, I can live. But this water does not give
me life. There is no life in this water. That's why He said if you drink
the water of this life, you'll thirst again because there's
no life in it. There's no life in it. But Christ,
He calls Himself the water of life because He gives life. It's water that gives life. And
He showed me a pure river of water of life. Clear as crystal.
Proceeding out of the throne of God. And where does it proceed
out of? The Lamb. It's proceeding out
of the throne. And He said it's also proceeding
out of the Lamb. The water of life. Any man thirsty,
he said, come to me. Come to me and drink. Come and
drink of the water of life. That's what he said to that woman
at the well. If you knew, if you knew who was talking to you,
let's go over there and look at it. John chapter 4. I want
you to read it. It's good to read these things
so you'll know where to look them up at the next time. John chapter 4. Listen to this. Listen to this
conversation. This is all about water. Drawing water. Drinking
water. Verse 9, Then said the woman of Samaria unto him, How
is it that thou, being a Jew, askest a drink of me, which am
a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said, unto
her, if thou knewest the gift of God." The gift of God. You know what the gift of God
is? Jesus Christ Himself. If you knew the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, that's talking to you, give me
to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given
thee Living water. Living water. Now notice this. The woman said unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep, and whence
then hast thou that living water? Where do you have it from? He
has it from His person. Who He is. He is God, the fountain
of life. He's the source of life. The
giver of life. The sustainer of life. She said, you don't have a, you
don't, and this is the way we naturally think now, isn't it?
Unless God reveals the gospel to us, unless God reveals to
us who Jesus Christ is, as Paul said, when God revealed his son
in me, not just to me, but in me. This is how we think. We think, well, that well's deep
and you don't have a bucket in your hand, you don't even have
a rope. She's thinking of the water of life as something that's
of this earth. She's thinking it's something
that's in that well that Jacob dug. They put a lot of emphasis. You know, Jacob dug this well. He may have dug the well, but
he didn't put the water in it. He didn't put any water in that
well. Whatever water's on this earth is of God. Winston, how do you have this
living water that you're talking about? He has it because of who he is.
He's God. He's the living God. Art thou
greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank
thereof himself and his cattle? And Jesus answered and said to
her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. Whoever drinks
of this well, you come back here every day, lady, Every day, you
come back here and you drink water. You think you've done
all this. There's something not working
here. You know, the priest had to offer the sacrifice over and
over and over. You know why? Because the scripture
says in Hebrews, they could not put away sin. They offered that
lamb every year, that Passover lamb. They would offer the sacrifice
every day. And then day after day, you know
all the blood that was shed? Do you have any idea of all the
blood that was shed for those few thousand years? And the reason
they kept offering them is because they couldn't put away sin. But
Jesus Christ, by one offering, it says, forever perfected them. He's perfected us. perfected
them who are sanctified, set apart, chosen of God. If you, lady, you drink of this,
I'm not talking about this water. I'm not talking about this water.
Whosoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whosoever
drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. Never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. That's the kind of water he gives.
And that's the kind of water I want to drink of this morning.
I want us to drink of this water. This water of life that flows
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the smitten rock. I know when you, You look at
that rock and you think, there's a rock, there's a rock, there's
a rock. What's so special about this
rock? This rock is Christ. What's so
special about this man? What manner of man is this? What's
so special about this Galilean? I'll tell you what's special
about him. He's our God. He's our God manifested in the
flesh. He's our God. He's our Redeemer. He's our righteousness. He's our wisdom or sanctification.
He's our redemption. He's our high priest. He's our
advocate. He's our brother. He's everything
I need to stand in God's presence complete. Complete. Now go back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. I want to read these first 12
verses and I want us to take a word of warning here. Moreover, brethren, I want you
to listen to this closely. I would not that you should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all
passed through the sea, were all baptized unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea, they followed Moses. And did all eat the same
spiritual meat, they all ate the manna, and did all drink
the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual
rock, and you notice that's capitalized, that means Christ, that followed
them. And that rock was Christ, but
with many of them God was not well pleased. Here's the word
of warning. And I just really want to read
this and pray that God gives us ears to hear what's being
said. For they were overthrown in the wilderness. God killed
most of them in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples. You know what? God led them through
this wilderness. God brought them to this place
of being thirsty. God proved them they didn't believe. God brought water out of that
rock miraculously. And you know why He did that?
For us. And we can sit here this morning,
open His book, and read and see that rock was Christ. and what not to do. They didn't
believe God. These things were our examples
to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also
lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were
some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and
drink and rose up to play. That describes them. And I know
this, I know this, that's in me. I have a tendency to complain.
I have a tendency to murmur at second causes. I have a tendency
to do that. And God has to remind me that
He's the first cause. Shut up. Basically, just shut
up. He's the first cause. And then there's a tendency in
us to do just what they did. The people sat down to eat, drink,
rose up to play. Take care of this flesh, the
appetite. You know what the hardest thing is to control? Your appetite. Your appetite. I could probably
be 25 pounds less if I just control my appetite. That's the hardest
thing in the world to control. Now whether it's for food or
whether it's for fleshly pleasures. Neither let us commit fornication,
as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty
thousand." God killed 23,000 of them. Neither let us tempt
Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of
the serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of
them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now
all these things happened. This story, this event, which
is a real event, happened unto them for examples. to us. And they are written for our
admonition, our learning. He's saying here, learn something
from this. Don't just look at this as a
story. Learn something from it. Upon whom the ends of the world
are come, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed
lest he fall. Let me show you one other scripture
over in Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. This was one of their greatest
problems, but our Lord directs us what to do. He says in verse 31, to make
this short, Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we
eat, or what shall we drink? Just go back and read that event.
Go back and read their journey. How many times they were ready
to shoot Moses because they didn't have enough to eat or a drink. It's evident that their belly
was their God. This was their greatest problem,
was what are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? What
are we going to do? Taking care of this flesh. Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Now, they didn't have that problem. You know that their clothes and
their shoes did not wear out for 40 years. For 40 years, they wore the same
clothes and shoes. They didn't wear out. You'd think
you'd get up after about 20 years and say, wow, those things haven't
wore out yet. They didn't pay a bit of attention.
How many things does God do for us day after day after day and
it goes unrecognized. Absolutely goes unrecognized.
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, the nations
seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of
these things. He knows what we have need of.
He knows I need this water and He knows I need the water of
life too. My Heavenly Father knows that. Now you tell me which
is the most important. Which is the most important?
This cup of water or Christ? Christ. Here's the direction. If you
and I could learn to do this, it would make life easier. But
seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you. They'll be thrown on
you on the way. If you'll seek Him first. If
you'll seek the water of life first, not the water that quenches
this fleshly thirst. If you'll seek Him first. He knows what He said. Your Father
knows what you have need of. Here's what you do. You seek
the Kingdom of God first and His righteousness. You put your
effort in that. You put your heart into that.
And these other things will be added to you. Take therefore
no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for
the things of itself. Sufficient until the day is the
evil era. But you and I, you and I, believe the Gospel. And He said,
if any man's thirsty, let him drink. If there's anyone thirsty,
drink. Come to the water of life. But let's put that first. Let
that be first. Christ. I need Him. I need Him. I'm going to show
you in the 11 o'clock service, there in Matthew 8, of a leper
I'll show you that Christ is our greatest need. My greatest
need is Jesus Christ.