for that. Let's go to the book
of Numbers this evening, Numbers chapter 20. I endeavored this morning to
speak to you on the subject of to smite the rock. That's what God told Moses. This evening I want to speak
to you on this subject, to speak to the rock. That's also what
God told Moses. The wand began or happened toward
the beginning of their wilderness journey. God said to Moses, smite
the rock. That was in their first year.
Here in Numbers chapter 20, God says to speak to the rock. They needed water once again. And he says, now speak to the
rock. This is in the 40th year, the
beginning of the 40th year of their wilderness journey. And they were again in need of
water. Well, permit me to read this
to you, Numbers chapter 20. Then came the children of Israel,
even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the
first month. That is the first month of the
last year. And the people abode in Kadesh. And Miriam, that's the older
sister of Aaron and Moses, 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. And the people chode with
Moses and spake saying, would God that we had died when 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 wherewith have you made us
to come up out of Egypt to bring us in unto this evil place Is
it no place, it is no place of seed, or figs, or of vines, or
of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from
the presence of the assembly unto 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 unto the rock. Before their
eyes, speak ye unto the rock. before their eyes. Now you'll remember this morning
when God said for Moses to hit the rock, he was to take with
him the elders of Israel. Those were the ones who were
eyewitnesses of him actually smiting the rock. But on this occasion, he's to
speak to the rock before the eyes of all the congregation
of Israel. And he says, as I continue, and
it shall give forth his water. It shall give forth his water. And thou shall bring forth to
them water out of the rock. And so thou shalt give the congregation
and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before
the Lord. He's there at the tabernacle. He took the rod from before the
Lord as God had 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 smote the rock twice. And the water, well, it came
out abundantly. and the congregation drank in
their beasts also. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, this is what he said, because ye believed me not to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore
ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given
them. This is the water of Meribah
because the children of Israel strove with the Lord and he was
sanctified in them. Let's ask God to give us a little
understanding of this portion of scripture. Lord, we bow before
you again as people who need to be instructed by the Spirit
of grace. Lord, the Savior said that he
would send the comforter, another comforter, one likened to himself,
who would speak to your people regarding the Son of God. And
so we ask the Spirit of truth who gave Moses these words to
write. May that same Spirit give us
an understanding that we may enter into the spiritual lessons
that we should learn from this, things that we ought to take
away from it, Lord, we know our Lord Jesus
has already been smitten. He's been smitten by the rod
of justice. And now we speak to him. We speak to him for mercy and
for grace and for salvation. Lord, help us to believe and
forgive our unbelief. Let us not be like Moses and
Aaron who defrauded God of that glory which was and is God's
due. Here were a bunch of people,
no question about them being rebels, but you purposed to show
them mercy by your servant speaking to the rock. And he would have,
Lord, deprived you of that which is rightfully yours, the glory
of giving water to a bunch of undeserving people. Oh God, forgive us for our lack
of faith Help us to believe. Help us to honor you. And bless
us with a saving knowledge of the God of glory. Be pleased to meet with us this
evening, we ask for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, in the very first month
of the beginning of the 40th year, the last year of Israel's
wandering, we bid goodbye to Miriam, the sister of Aaron and
Moses. She was a sinner saved by grace. The Lord used her in a mighty
way back in Exodus chapter 15, She led the women in singing
the song of redemption. They picked up their timbrels
and she led them as they honored God for his redeeming grace to
the Israelites. God had brought them through
the Red Sea. One way, one way of safety. One way to the other side. One
way to the land of promise. one way to the glory side of
the Red Sea. And having gone through the sea
herself and having witnessed the goodness and the grace and
the mercy of God to a bunch of people who were ill deserving
of anything good from God, she began to sing. And she led the
women in the praise of God. As I read this about Miriam's
death, certainly a blow to Moses over
whose little body she had watched as her mom put Moses, an infant,
into that little basket or ark of bulrushes. and Miriam hid
and watched over him. She had been with her brother
all these years, and now she dies, and Moses, he's got a heavy
heart, and Aaron's got a heavy heart. These three were believers,
faithful to the gospel, As I read about her death, as I read about
her death, I couldn't help but think of some very pertinent
passages. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Miriam's death was precious to
God. It was a heartbreaking thing
to Moses and to Aaron. God saw it as a precious time. He called one of his children
home to glory. Revelation 14 says, I heard a
voice from heaven saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, said the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. And
Miriam entered in. to everlasting rest in glory. And I think of that passage in
Hebrews 11. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and
embraced them And Miriam and all the Old Testament saints
of God, they confess they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. She confessed that. Her pilgrimage
now has ended. Her race has been run. She is no longer a stranger in
the wilderness. She's gone home to God. She was
a prophetess and she was an instrument of much good in Israel. In fact, Micah has this to say, quoting God. Micah chapter six
and verse four, God says, for I brought thee up out of the
land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants.
and I sent before thee Moses and Aaron and Miriam." She was greatly used of God. Learn, however, that though a child of God dies,
even one who has been a blessing to so many people as Miriam was,
even one who has been useful in the kingdom of God as Miriam
was, yet there is no interruption to the work of God. No one is necessary to the kingdom
of God but the king himself. And all of us, we're just servants
who serve his purpose, whatever that purpose is. And then, when
we leave this world according to His will, we enter into His
presence. You see, He who began the work
of salvation for us in divine election will someday finish
it in everlasting glory. when all the ransomed of the
Lord shall gather together in heaven's everlasting glory. And the Savior shall present
us to the Father, a blood-washed, perfect people, and say, Behold
I and the children that thou hast given me. And amongst the
millions of the children who are there, there will be Miriam. And by God's grace, you'll be
me too. And by God's grace, you as well. And though the voice of Miriam
in this world is silent, though she sang no more with the congregation
of Israel, She entered in the glory, and she took up the chorus
of redemption in heaven. That's what the people of God
do. We sing of the blood on earth, and we enter into the presence
of the Savior, and we just sing there, and we just sing better
and perfectly. And then we get to a very crucial
passage here, verses two through 13. It is a crucial passage. In fact, I think in some ways
as I read this and as I studied this, it's one of the most crucial
moments in the life of Moses and Aaron and the children of
Israel. But especially for Moses and
Aaron, For in one brief rebellious moment, Moses, one of the most
important figures in all of the Old Testament, he forfeited his
opportunity to lead Israel into the land of promise. Oh, the joy that flooded his
soul. If he could have walked across
the Jordan River, which divided as the priest carried the Ark
of the Covenant across, don't you know Moses would have been
so elated, having begun this journey back in Egypt, and then
entering into the land of promise with the children of God. But
it was not to be. He has led Israel these 40 years
and ever so close to the land of milk and the honey, but a lapse of obedience, it
cost him dearly and God chastised him for it. Scripture says, if
you be without chastisement, you're bastards and not sons.
He loses salvation. The salvation Moses had is the
same salvation that God gives to all of his people. It's God's
salvation. It's thy salvation, is what the
psalmist says. We're saved by grace. And no
matter what the child of God does, and I'm certainly not... encouraging anybody to just go
out and do anything. But I'll tell you, no matter
what the child of God does, the chosen, redeemed, regenerated
believer, he's saved forever now. This is according to the
purpose of God. No sheep of the shepherd could
ever be lost because then the shepherd would lose the glory.
The shepherd, the Lord Jesus, He was entrusted with the safety
and with the rescue and with the salvation of all the people
of God before the world began. God laid that responsibility
on Him. And if any of those given to
Him in covenant grace was to ever perish, oh, it'd be bad
for the perishing one indeed, but it'd be worse. for the Son
of God, because he'd lose his glory. That can't ever happen. Can't ever happen. Moses did
lose his salvation. Aaron, who was complicit with
him in this, though Aaron didn't strike the rock, is right there
with Moses when he did it, as if in agreement. But God had saved them by His
grace. You're not saved by grace and
then preserved by your works. You're saved by grace and kept
by grace. And you'll be perfected by grace. You'll be always... In the end,
the glory will go to grace. Grace will lay the top stone
in the city of God. Nothing can ever interfere with
that salvation that God has given His people. But Moses and Aaron,
they're not going into the land of promise. You see, Moses represented
the law. And Aaron, he represented the
old covenant. And neither the law of God, and
I know the law of God is one law. When we think of Moses,
we think more of the moral law. When we think of Aaron, we think
more of the ceremonial law. Neither Moses nor Aaron, that
is the law of God, the law of God cannot take anybody into
the land of promise. It just can't happen. The law
can't save. The law is not the ministration
of life. It's the ministration of death.
You're foolish to go to the law. Some people say, well, you're
saved by the gospel, but then the law teaches you how to live. If you go back to the law, you've
forsaken grace. Neither the moral law, living
according to God's commandments, or the ceremonial law with all
of its offerings and rituals and ceremonies, the law of God
cannot save it, can't take anybody over into the land flowing in
milk and honey. Moses can't go in. You see, all
things are of God. Aaron can't go in. All things
are of God. Even our blunders he uses to
fulfill his purpose. And I know that's way beyond
our ability to understand. But that's the truth. You look
at the sins of the people that were committed in arranging and
leading up to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ungodly men,
wicked men, doing what they wanted to do and then eventually, finally
turning the Savior over to the Roman authorities. And here Pilate
said, what shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ? And
all the crowd says, crucify Him, crucify Him. What an awful, awful
thing to crucify the Son of God. After all, Pilate said, I find
no fault in this man. Here's a faultless man. Here's
a perfect man. And here's an unruly mob that
says, kill Him. Let him die the most excruciating
death that there is, crucify him. And they killed him. And it all worked out according
to God's purpose. Figure that one out. They're
still responsible. I'd say Pilate is still trying
to wash his hands of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. After
all these hundreds and hundreds of years in hell. They all did
what they wanted to do, but back behind the scenes is the first
cause of all things. God. And though Moses and Aaron here
were disobedient, Gonna hit the rock. I'm gonna
hit it two times for you rebels. And God is faithful. God still
gave the water. They had to have the water. God's
gonna show mercy. He's gonna show mercy notwithstanding
our blunders and our faults and our failures and our transgressions
where God is pleased to show mercy. Nobody can frustrate his
purpose. Not even the disobedience of
his servants. Well, the scripture says, though
we believe not, yet he abideth faithful. Moses didn't believe
God. Moses, you can't lead a man.
That's going to be left for Joshua. Jehovah who saves. Jesus, our Lord and Savior. He's the only one who can take
us in. Not Moses. Not Moses. Not the moral side of the law. Not Aaron. Not the ceremonial
side of the law. Because the blood of bulls and
goats can't take away sin. Well, who's going to take them
in? Don't you worry about that. God's got a man reserved for
this job. He's been in training all these
years. In fact, we'll go back next Lord's
Day morning, God willing, to Exodus chapter 17, and we'll
find out there's a man who's bold and daring. to lead Israel
into the fight, into the war against her enemies. His name
is Joshua. Joshua. And God said, that's
my man. Not the law, but the Savior. The Savior will lead the man. So here in Numbers chapter 20,
We learned why it was that Aaron and Moses would die and not enter
into Canaan. Moses because of his action and
Aaron because he is with Moses and apparently agreeable in the
act. Now let me give you four or five
things here. Number one, the need and the
reaction. There was no water for the congregation,
it says in verse two. The water out of the rock at
Rephendim had followed them as long as they had need of it. Most likely there were, in the
wilderness, areas where it was an oasis, and they wouldn't need
that water to follow them. They'd have an abundant supply
of water. And water came to them, therefore,
in an ordinary way. And common providence, if I could
put it that way, common providence provided it for them so that
the miracle of the water coming out of the smitten rock of Rephidim
wasn't needed any longer. But here the need arises again. A shortage of water. A new generation has risen up
now, and therefore a new generation is gonna be tested. Will this
group of Israelites be any better than the previous group? Here
we are about 40 years later, 40 years down the road. By the
grandmas and grandpas, they've died. Even moms and dads. Here's a new generation. You
folks gonna believe God? Well, we'll see. We'll see. In Exodus chapter 17, they were
thirsty and they murmured against God. Let's see what you'll do.
They did the same thing. Here's a repeat of the test that
God sent to Israel some 39 years before this. Surely, after all
these years in the wilderness, beholding the faithfulness of
God, every morning giving manna, every evening giving quail, except
for Saturday, of course, except for the Sabbath day. and partaking
of a multitude of blessings that God gave them throughout their
journey, surely this group will be different. After all, now
they've got the tabernacle in the wilderness. They've witnessed the day of
atonement. They've seen the ongoing mercies
of God. Oh yes, there've been sins along
the way, but God has shown them that disobedience is not acceptable. Not only have there been mercies
from God that came to them, there've been judgments of God that also
struck the congregation of Israel. Well, surely, A combination of
the mercies of God, and the faithfulness of God, and the chastisement
of God, and the wrath of God falling upon many of the unfaithful. Surely a combination of these
two things will cause the next generation to be better. And in addition, now they're
within sight of the promised land. They're at Kadish, sometimes
referred to as Kadish Barnea. It's just over yonder. It's not far now. We're nearly
there, folks. But it's the same old reaction. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
1.9, the thing that hath been is that which shall be. And that
which is done is that which shall be done. And there's no new thing
under the sun. And we read there's no difference
between these people in Numbers chapter 20, as there was from
the people in Exodus chapter 17. You see human nature, is
always wrong. It's always wretched. It's always
corrupt. We're not getting better. You
think the generations are getting better? Well, you know better
than that, and so do I. We make advancements in many
areas of life, but no advancement in our depravity. In fact, it's
just more open than it used to be. It's more obvious than it
used to be. The seed of corruption is passed
on from one generation to another generation. No wonder it's called,
once again, Meribah, strife or contention. And they say this, look here
in verse, look at verse three. Would God, would God, we had
died when our brethren died before the Lord, exclamation mark. Either at Taborah, where God
killed many who murmured, he killed them with fire. I wish
we'd have died like that. Least it'd been quick and over
with. Now we're dying of thirst. This
is long and drawn out and painful. Been better to die by fire. Or as Korah and his company died. Wish we'd have died. Wish the
earth would just open up and swallow us up like it did Korah
and Dathom and Abiram. Or maybe the other 250, they
died when God sent down fire. There'd been a better way to
die than this. What'd you bring us out here for? You notice that they say this.
Look at verse three. Would God that we had died when
our brethren, our brethren died. They're brethren, all right. They're brethren in Adam, just as ungodly, just as corrupt
as those who die by the wrath of God. And they say in verses
four and five, basically they're saying four and five, this is
no land of promise. This is no land of promise. The
seed, the figs, the vines, the pomegranates, all those things
you promised us, you lied to us. God lied to us. We don't even have any water
to drink out here. See, this is what frustrated
Moses. Here's a bunch of rebellious
people. really God haters. And the Lord
says, speak to the rock and I'll give them water. And Moses, he
didn't believe that they were worthy of the mercy of God. He
and Aaron, they would deprive God of the glory of showing mercy
to these rebels. They wanted, kind of like Jonah. It reminds me of Jonah. He won't
God show him mercy to none of them. Just send them all to hell.
Send them right now. That's kind of his attitude and
that's the way it was with Aaron and Moses. So here's the second thing. They
make their appeal to the Lord, verse 6. They went from the presence of
the assembly, and I kind of imagined it this way. Here's Moses and
Aaron, and they're at their tent. And here's these people crowding
around them with a mob-like mentality. And they're not a happy people
either. They're mad. They're hot. They're hot under
the collar. And they're coming after Moses
and Aaron. And Moses and Aaron said, we're
going to the tabernacle. And that's what they did. They
went to the tabernacle. And they fell on their faces.
And the glory of God appeared under them. God said, that's
where I'll meet with you. I'll meet with you at the tabernacle."
So that's where they go, to meet with God. Of course, this tabernacle
is a picture of our Savior. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, John 1.14. Dwelt is literally tabernacled. The tabernacle in the wilderness,
every bit of the tabernacle pictured either our Lord Jesus or some
facet of the ministry that he would accomplish. God said, it's where I'll meet
with you. And that's still where he meets with us. He meets with
us in Christ Jesus. God will meet with you and you'll
meet with God only at the tabernacle. Anywhere else he'll meet you
at. All over this world, back here
in these days, there's only one location where God would meet
with men. You think of that. That's a great
big world, isn't it? All kind of belief. Well, I think
sincerity is enough. No, sincerity is not enough.
You better come to God the right place. And the only place in
all of the world was at the tabernacle. You're not going to meet with
God anywhere else. Sincerity, they ain't going to
get you to glory. I'm not saying insincerity is
in any way beneficial. But being sincere to Aaron, it'll
get you nowhere except to hell. That's all it'll get you. We
come to God with sincere hearts, but we come to him in Christ
Jesus. That's who you come to. God says, that's where I'll meet
you. So Moses and Aaron, they know. It's just where God reveals
His glory. Where does God reveal His glory?
In His Son. The rest of that verse of scripture
there in John 1 14, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among
us and we beheld His glory. The glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And so they fall on
their faces. And you know, it doesn't even
say that they prayed. This morning, you remember Moses
cried to the Lord. It doesn't even say that they
prayed. They just fell on their faces.
Sometimes, and you who are believers, you'll know exactly what I'm
talking about. Sometimes you don't even know what to say. You just fall on your face before
God and he reads your heart. Now, he knows your thoughts.
Even though you can't put it into words, you come before him
with a broken heart. He knows. That's good to have
that knowledge in it. He knows when you can't even
express how you feel and you can't tell anybody else how you
feel. You just come to God through
Christ Jesus and sometimes you just cry. And he hears you sobs and he saves you tears like the
Egyptians used to do that they had a bottle. And when somebody had a funeral,
people are weeping. They'd take some kind of rag
or whatever and they'd blot the tears and then squeeze them into
a bottle. And God says, I save you tears. I know you broken heart. God
knows how you feel. Our brother Bob Dishman passed
away. God knows how Cindy feels. He
knows that grief. And He cares. He cares. We have a sympathizing high priest. That's what the Scripture says. Well, here's the command. They
appealed to the Lord in verse 6. In verse 7 and 8, here's the
command. Take the rod. Now, verse 8. Take the rod. Now, which rod
is it? That's been a lot of debate about
that. But I think, look at verse nine,
Moses took the rod from before the Lord. This is the rod that
was in the tabernacle. This is actually Aaron's rod
that budded and blossomed and brought forth fruit. You remember
earlier in the book of Numbers, God said, I'll show you who the
priests are, who my priest is, who the high priest is. And a
representative of each of the tribes of Israel, they brought
the rod of the tribe. Every tribe had a rod, and God
said, write the man's name. The representative of your tribe
wants you to take and write his name, write his name on the rod. And he wrote Aaron's name. on
the rod of Levi. And God said, we'll know who
the priesthood belongs to. And the next day, he put it in
the tabernacle, laid it up before the Lord. And the next day, here's
these 12 rods in there. The night before, it was just
12 sticks. And now it's 11 sticks, and now
one of them turned into a tree. It's full of life. God said,
that's my high priest right there. You see Moses' rod with which
he smote the rock, that's the rod of justice. Remember, Moses
is the law. The rod of Moses is justice. God said, you take the rod that
you smote the river with in judgment. See, that's what happened at
the cross of Calvary. God took the rod of judgment
and he smoked his son. That's the substitutionary death
of our Lord Jesus Christ. But Aaron's rod that budded,
that's the rod of the high priest. That's the rod of blessing. That's
the rod of mercy. That's the rod of grace. That's
our Lord Jesus in his high priestly work, because he is the one from
whom all fruit comes forth, fruit like us. God says, take the rod, not the
rod of judgment, but Aaron's rod. And this is why Aaron's
got to die. He's in, it's his rod. his rod. And God says, furthermore, in
verse eight, he says, take the rod, gather thou the assembly
together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock
before all the eyes of the congregation of Israel. And this rock is again
a picture of our Lord Jesus. First Corinthians chapter 10,
verse four, that rock was Christ. And God says, now speak to the
rock. Speak to the rock. God didn't
say smite the rock. He said that before back in Exodus
chapter 19. How many times is Christ gonna
be smitten? One time. Once in the end of
the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Once is enough. once for all
time. Christ died. He suffered, he
bled, he died once. Now, speak to the rock. Speak to the rock. Lord, show
me mercy for Christ's sake. We're not gonna have a mass and
kill him all over again. He's not going to be hit again.
He's not going to be struck again. He's not going to be smitten
again. He was smitten once and He put away the sins of His people.
He was smitten once. He satisfied divine justice. He was smitten once and brought
in everlasting righteousness for all of His people. He was
smitten once and He saved us. One time, He was smitten. Now, speak to the Rock. Like top lady, in my hands no
price I bring. He's talking to the rock. In
my hands no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked,
come to thee for dress. Helpless, look to thee for rest. Foul, foul, I to the fountain
fly. Watch me, Savior. Watch me. Or I die. Speak to the rock.
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be propitious to me, a sinner. Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. That's what us blind Bartimaeuses
cry. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. So speak to the rock. But here's
the fourth thing. Here's an act of frustration. In verse 9, he gets the rod of
Aaron. from before the Lord. The rod
of mediation. Not the rod of justice that's
already been used. Justice has been satisfied. Our
Lord's work is the offering for sin and the sacrifice for guilt. It's already been offered and
accepted. Resurrection and ascension and
exaltation is evidence of that. He's gone back to glory. And
in his hand, the purpose of God buds and blossoms and brings
forth fruit in the hands of our great high priest. But Moses is angry. Watch this, stay with me. Verse
10, and Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before
the rock And he didn't speak to the rock. He spoke to them. Now that's significant. He said unto them, he didn't
say anything to the rock. He had something to say to them. Now remember, Moses represents
the law. The law's purpose was never to
secure grace or mercy or the water of life for you. The law
can't do that. The law can't do that. The law
was given that to pronounce you as guilty, and that's it. It was never given as a means
of life. It was never given as a rule
of life. I said again, Paul said in 2
Corinthians, it's a ministration of death. The law's not gonna speak to
the rock to show you mercy. The law doesn't know anything
about mercy. The law doesn't know anything
about grace. The law doesn't know anything
about leniency. The law says this do perfectly
and live but if you break me, you're a dead man. That's all
the law does. It can't show you mercy, it can't
give you water. I don't care how thirsty you
are, the law cannot give you the water of life. You see all the law can do, watch
it carefully, All the law can do is say, you're rebels. That's what the law does. The
law says, you're rebels. It doesn't say, you're rebels,
but God's going to be merciful to you. No, it doesn't. It just
says, you're rebels. You're rebels. You see, the law's
business is to condemn. Whatsoever things the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
The law's not going to speak to the Lord for grace and mercy
to sinners. Neither Moses nor Aaron can take
these people into the land of promise. Neither one of them. Neither one of them. The law
speaks to us. Well, then Moses smites the rock
two times. That's a serious offense. Might
not seem such a big deal to the natural man, but this is a gigantic
error. This is big time here. He messes up the gospel picture. He hits the rock twice. And people say, well, I don't
know why God is so hard on him. Well, I do. I see. Good. God said, that's going to cost
you now. You won't get that joy of leading these people. You've
put up with all their bickering and murmuring all these 39 years,
and you think you're going to take them over yonder? You deprived me of my glory because
you didn't believe me. You didn't believe that I should
show them mercy. Therefore, God, he deprived them of going
into the promised land. But you know something? Before
I go to the next thing, look at verse 11. Moses lipped up
his hand with his rod, he smoked the rock twice, and the water
came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their
beasts also. Man's disobedience cannot frustrate
the purpose of God. Moses, you're a fool. But I'm
gonna give him water anyhow. That's what God purposed to do
all along. and even the blunders of the
preachers. Boy, and preachers make a lot
of blunders, and I am one, so I can speak. I'd speak on behalf
of all preachers. We make a lot of blunders, but
we're not gonna frustrate the purpose of God, not even gonna
touch it. I'm thankful for that. I think
about my days in false religion. when I lied to people, and I
feel bad about that, but then I'm reminded, hey, I'm just a
little peon. I can't affect the purpose of
God. I can't ruin it. I can't frustrate anything. Well, they ruined the picture,
the once for all sacrifice of Christ, and therefore, here's
the fifth thing. Here's the price of disobedience. It's a serious offense. And I
know people tend to be lenient. You remember when Aaron's two
sons, they burned incense using strange fire? Fire that didn't come up, hot
coals that didn't come off the brazen altar. They decided they'd
use strange fire, fire from somewhere else. The fire of God killed
them. Boy, why'd God so tough on that? because they ruined the picture
too. Priestly ministry, mediation,
it's all based upon the successful offering, the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus. Everything we do is based upon
what he did. His sacrifice. They used strange
fire. They didn't use coals from off
the brazen altar. Might not seem like a big thing
to you, but a big thing to God. God killed him. Boom, they just
did, just like that. I think about Uzzah. David should have never, should
have never had that Ark of the Covenant put on a newly made
cart. Oh, it's nice and shiny. I bet
a craftsman really polished it up, you know, and it looked good,
carrying that Ark of the Covenant. There's Uzzah walk alongside
of it, and the oxen must have stepped in a hole or something,
and that wagon shifted, and Uzzah just reached, he's afraid the
Ark of the Covenant's gonna fall. Hey, I appreciate that, I understand,
I understand. I don't want the Ark of the Covenant
to fall. God killed him right on the spot. Oh, that's too tough.
Well, now wait a minute. He wasn't supposed to touch it. Don't mess with the sacred things
of God. He'll kill you for it. That's
the truth. Don't you mess with his gospel.
You'll pay dearly for that. And here's Moses and Aaron. This
is a serious breach of the picture of redemption. They'll die and go to glory. But God says, you didn't sanctify
me. Verse 12, because you believe
me not. Oh, unbelief's in here. You didn't
believe me that I'd show mercy to these rebels. Yes, they are
rebels, but they're my rebels. And I'm gonna give them water.
They don't deserve water. I know they don't deserve water,
but I'm gonna give it to them. to speak to the rock, but you
lost your temper, you got hot-headed, and you grew impatient, and you
were angry, and you hit that rock two times. I'm going to
give him water to drink, but you didn't honor me in this.
You honored yourself. In fact, you said, here now,
you rebels, must we fetch you water? Must we fetch you water? Are you going to fetch them water,
Moses? How are you going to get water
out of a rock? You tried to steal my glory,
Moses. Well, I'm going to have to take you up on the mountain.
I'll just snuff your life out. And I'll bury you where nobody
will ever find you. You can look over there and see
that land of promise, but you're not going in. They would have defrauded God
of showing undeserved mercy to the Israelites. But you know
what? God sanctified them. Look at
the end of verse 13. This is the water of Meribah
because the children of Israel strove with the Lord and he was
sanctified in them. He was sanctified in them. He
set them apart and said, I'm gonna kill both of you. I'm gonna
kill both of you. Tell you what, who was it? Barnard
I think said, God will kill you if he's finished with you or
if you get in his way. Get in his way. Moses and Aaron
got in his way. Lord said, well, I got somebody
else over here. Moses, you think you're irreplaceable? I got a man all lined up. He'd
been in training all these years. Joshua, thank God for Jesus,
our savior, our great Joshua, who is the rock. in a weary land
who was smitten by the rod of God's justice and who in his
mediatorial capacity shows mercy and grace to the vilest of rebels even for you and even for me. Lord bless the word and glorify
yourself. We thank you for the honesty
of the scriptures. We remember that this is Moses
writing about his own failure. This must be a divine book. This
is a divinely inspired book. No other book, in no other book
would a man lay out his own transgression in such a fashion. Moses was
just a man. He's a man of God, a man greatly
used, Lord, by you, but he's just a man. He's not the Savior. No preacher's the Savior. No
prophet was the Savior. We have one Savior. He's the
Lord of glory, Christ Jesus. We come to you, O Father, through
Him, and we say, O God, show us mercy for Christ's sake. We
speak to you, and we thank you that our rock has been smitten,
the justice of God is fully satisfied, and now our Lord Jesus is fulfilling
your purpose of salvation, and He's by your Spirit, He's calling
all of your children into the fold of salvation. For in His
hands, our great high priest, His rod buds and blossoms and
bears fruit. Thank you, Father, for an understanding
of your gospel. For Christ's sake, I pray. Amen.