Alleluia, praise the everlasting
King. Praise him for his grace and
favor to our Father King. Alleluia! Alleluia! For your sake we're safe for
this. Alleluia, Alleluia, His mercy
flows. To Joseph was full of glory,
He behold Him face to face. Saints by all would bow before
Him, Thank you. May be seated as we take our
bulletin hymn. Jesus only and it's sung to the
tune of after each verse as you see the
chorus there in the middle. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the world. And the dew has come to stay,
And the dew has slowly gone away. Jesus. ? Jesus only be my Lord ? ? Born
with fear of His redeeming blood ? ? Give back to us this gift
of love ? ? Jesus only, Jesus only ? ? Jesus only, unselfishly
? ? Christ the new beginning to see ? Jesus only, Jesus only, Jesus
only is our plea. In the place of all our troubles,
in the state of Satan's woe, in the valley of our dying, Jesus
only is our plea. Good morning, good morning. We're thankful that the Lord
has once again brought us into this place. Some of us have been
coming here a long time, but if we spent all eternity worshiping
and praising and singing the glory to God, it wouldn't near
be enough to what he deserves. And we're thankful for his mercies
to us. Pray for my wife this morning,
if you would. She's down, back knee. And Steph has asked us to remember
her in prayer. I'm gonna pray for her. Peggy's
mom, and I think just about everybody has a sniffle, a cold, a COVID,
a something. So we need to pray for all those. I'm glad this morning that we
have two that can really sit side by side this morning. I
guess it's all right. I think that Ian and Kayla have
plans for marriage, and it makes me really happy, really happy. Pray the Lord's blessings on
them especially. And I know that His grace will
be sufficient for them in all things. Let's bow for a prayer
this morning. Let me read you first part of
our text in Exodus chapter 17. Exodus chapter 17. And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord,
and pitched in Rephidim. And there was no water for the
people to drink. Wherefore, the people did chide
with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why
chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there
for water. And the people murmured against
Moses and said, Wherefore is it 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 the elders of
Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou slowest the river, take
in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock,
and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place
Massa 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? May the Lord give
us understanding and his truth from his word. Our Father, we pray this morning that you would hear us. that you would be with us in
your great presence and spirit, that you would receive us in that one mediator and priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all so unworthy of the
least of your blessings. so totally helpless of anything,
and so in need in every sense, every way, every second of Christ
and Him crucified. Lord, we rest in your promise
this morning that you have made yes and amen in Christ. That you'll never leave us or
forsake us. You'll never change in your everlasting
love toward us. That you will rest in that work
that you have accomplished on our behalf. Father, we asked
this morning. Being always in need. Having
always the sick, the poor among us. And we ask, Lord, this morning
that you would help us as we seek to pray for them, that you
would bless each one of them that we have mentioned, that
you would raise them up according to your will. Roger and Vicki
and these that we mentioned, Sheila and Peggy's mom and all
of these that are sick, Stephanie and Many more, I'm sure, that
are upon our hearts, especially, Lord, those that do not know
you. In the grace that is greater
than our sin, we pray that you would help them, not only those
that are sick, but those that are lost and undone without Christ,
especially so many that are religious and moral. but yet know not the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus. So many who, like Paul prayed
for, had a heart for, of his own people that were going about
to establish their own righteousness, and they had not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God in Christ, who knew not that the
Christ is the end of the law for everyone that truly believes. We pray, Lord, this morning that
you would be in our midst to reveal Christ, to teach us and
give us understanding and that life that is in Christ Jesus. We pray that you would help me
this morning as I seek to preach Christ and Him crucified, that
I might rightly divide the word of truth, and that I might surely,
Lord, for your glory and honor, and for the comfort of your true
people, speak right things about him. We pray you'd forgive us
of our multitude of sins. We know you have forgiven us,
but we pray that you would make known to us and reveal to us
that experience of forgiveness. that we might rest and find hope
and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for your people wherever
they are in this world and for your true preachers who labor
and face opposition and persecution for preaching the truth as it
is in Christ Jesus. Keep us, Lord, from idols and
deliver us in your presence in that appointed time. And may
all the glory and honor be yours. We pray in Christ's name, amen. In your hymnals, once again,
122. Then, Brother Tim, if you'll wait on the congregation. ? As fathom, sir, and son ? ? Sainest
name unknown to none ? ? Sweetest breath ever sung ? ? Jesus, blessed
Jesus ? ? We raise him for evermore ? ? The little voice of Jesus
? Sweetest Word in serene song,
Sweetest Name in wonderful tongue, Sweetest Prayer for ever sung,
Jesus, blessed Jesus. I have the name of Jesus. See His throne in Sarasota. See His name all over town. See His power all around town. Jesus, blessed Jesus. and Sarah's son. Jesus came, the Lord came. Jesus came, the Lord came. Jesus came, the Lord came. Jesus came, the Lord came. Jesus came, the Lord came. so so you Brother Richard said we didn't
have a special this morning. So I thought I would sing. But then I thought better. I
thought I'd make it really special for you and not sing. Turn back with me this morning
where we read in Exodus 17. Exodus 17. And hold your place there and
I want to read another portion found in the New Testament in
1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians 10. And I'll begin reading with Verse
1. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye 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. There is no doubt that this rock that we have read
of in the book of Exodus, of whom Moses writes, is a figure, we might say a type,
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul tells us there. That rock
was Christ. And not just Christ in some mystical
way, but in this typical way, Christ crucified. I don't know if you noticed it
where we read there, but they were at the wilderness of sin. They were in the wilderness of
sin. And that's where every one of
us is in by nature, by birth. That's what this world is, the
wilderness of sin. There was no water. There was no life. There was
nothing to sustain. And that's a picture of man spiritually
and morally like a well that's dry. Nothing to commend ourselves
to God. No goodness, no righteousness,
no faith, no good works. And that is made worse by religion
as it is in this world. False religion, just wells having
no water. As the scriptures say, and men
heap to themselves broken cisterns that will hold no water. And if you notice in this text,
it's as everywhere in the Bible. It singles out one rock. Look down with me in Exodus 17
and verse six. He says, behold, I will stand
before thee there upon the rock in Horeb. Most believe that this Horeb
was in the mountains of Sinai, where God gave the law to Moses. But he said, there's just one
rock. You go and you stand on this one rock. I'm sure that place was full
of rocks. just like this world has been
full of men. But there's only one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. One Lord, one faith,
one Baptist, the man. There was just one rock. Stand upon the rock, and Christ
is himself called also a stone. the stone of stumbling, the rock
of offense. And evidently it was just an
ordinary looking plain rock. Wasn't a temple, wasn't a castle,
wasn't anything that had been shaped from the rock by the hands
of man. It was just a rock, just like
the Bible says of Christ. no form of comeliness. In other words, there's nothing
about the Lord Jesus Christ that the natural man can see beauty
in, or need for, or worth in. It's just a rock. Here's this one rock in that
wilderness place. And yet, a rock signifies strength. A rock is often used as the basis
and the foundation of a building. I'll never forget walking out
of Waverley Station in Edinburgh, Scotland and seeing Edinburgh
Castle because it looked like it was just coming up out of
the rock. There was a rock, big rock formation
And here was this castle that had been built so that it looked
like it was one with the rock. This is Christ, the rock. And he's described as the rock
of Israel. The rock of Israel. In 2 Samuel,
the rock of Israel. And I thought about it. How many
treasures are found in rocks? gold, precious stones, silver. Isn't it amazing that the things
that men value most naturally and physically, they're found
in the rock. It's as if God was telling us
in this way that all these treasures the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
they're found in this precious rock, this one single rock. There was an old preacher. He
had this to say about this rock. He said, for firmness, solidity,
and strength, which are seen in his upholding all things by
the word of his power, in bearing the sins of his people, and the
punishment due them, in his support of his church, and bearing up
his people under all afflictions and temptations, and in preserving
them from a total and final falling away, and a rock he appears to
be, as he is the foundation of his church. And every believer
against which hell and earth can never prevail, and to it
he may be likened for duration, his love being immovable his
righteousness everlasting, his salvation eternal, and he as
the foundation of his church, abiding forever. What a rock is Christ. But if you notice here, the command
to Moses was given by God himself in a particular, and I might
say peculiar way, that water was to come from this rock. He said, in that place where
you find that rock, you do this to the rock. He said, smite the
rock. In other words, in order for
God to cause water to flow out of that rock. The command to
Moses was to take the rod that God had given him, the rod that
represented not only Moses and the law, this rod that was to
be used. And the rock was to be stricken. It was to be smitten. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 53. In Isaiah chapter 53, which no
doubt is talking about the Messiah, which everyone almost absolutely
and thoroughly agrees that he's talking about Christ who would
come here. He says in verse four, surely
he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God. Afflicted. The rock was to be smitten. It was to be struck because it
was to picture the Lord Jesus Christ, what would happen to
him and the way that God would provide the living water of life
through him. Look down here at verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It wasn't the Roman soldiers
who had the first idea about smiting or crucifying Christ
or anybody else. The first one and the primary
one is God himself. He ordered Moses to smite the
rock. He's the first cause of this
salvation. He says, yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grieve. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hands. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. There's something that satisfies,
that honors God in this salvation that's in Christ crucified. And
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. Not by the knowledge of them,
but by his knowledge My righteous servant shall justify many, for
he shall bear their iniquities. He's going to bear that wound
and that smiting and that killing that they deserve. He shall bear
their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bared the sin of many, and he made intercession
for the transgressors. He said, smite the wrong. And Christ crucified, smitten
by men, but more so by God's judgment and God's justice and
God's wrath, just as everything else was smitten. To picture
this, Moses' rod was used of God to smite the river, strike
the river. Moses' rod was used to bring
the dust on the land and the borders, all representing how
that God would inflict judgment that was due his people as Christ
hung there on the cross in his place. In the book of Exodus,
he says, for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night
and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man
and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt will I execute
judgment. I am the Lord. And of course, there's that well-known
passage in the book of Zechariah, when God says concerning his
Messiah, concerning his coming Son, the Son of God, awake, O
sword, against my shepherd. That's the sword of his judgment.
Awake against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow. saith the Lord of hosts, smite
the shepherd. That's what is happening on the
cross. That's what was pictured in Moses
taking that rod and bringing upon Christ the Lord in the place
of his people all the judgment, all the punishment, all the wrath,
everything that was required to satisfy the holiness and the
righteousness of God, all in Christ crucified. But there's something else. Not only was Moses to smite this
rock, he was to only do it one time. Turn over to the book of Numbers,
Numbers chapter 20. They came down to this same situation. And in Numbers chapter 20, it
says, then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation,
into the desert of Zion, in the first month, and the people abode
in Kadesh. And 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 here? And wherefore have you made us
to come up out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place It is
no place of seed, or of 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,
thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye. Is that a mistake there? You take the rod, but you speak unto the rock. before their eyes,
and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to
them water out of the rocks, so thou shalt give the congregation
and their beasts to 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 the rod he smote the rock twice, and the water came
out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. Well, I guess, you know. I guess everything's all right.
The water flowed down. The people drank. But all things weren't right. Because Christ, who is this figure,
was to be smitten only once. His sacrifice, his death, is
so sufficient, so precious, so God satisfying, so fulfilling
of the purpose of God's grace to his people. He was but to
suffer it once. And that work, that death, that
sacrifice would forever accomplish the salvation, the bringing in
of that everlasting righteousness the performance of all that God
required in one death. Because of who died? Moses in somewhat of an anger. He struck the rock twice. And I thought about it. The anger
of Moses, the disobedience of Moses, the condition of those people, it did not hinder the fact that
that one striking of the rock was sufficient forever and the
rock only now had to be spoken to, but that they did could not
nullify what the rock did. They came back, they murmured.
They were still murmuring. They were in the same place going
round and round in the wilderness of sin. They were still in their
disobedience. They were still acting like everything
but God's people. But that did not stop, that did
not nullify the Word of Christ. And Moses lifted up his hand,
and with his rod he smote the rock twice, and the water came
out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
But listen to this. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, because you believe 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 thee. He said, you didn't believe me.
You didn't obey me. You really don't know what it
was that I commanded you to do and what it signified. But because
you've done this, you'll never lead this people into the land
which I have given you. And God killed Moses and buried
him. You know, people that say, well,
it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe. Or it
doesn't matter if someone's a little off or they're a little off. They believe that the death of
Christ is efficient for all God's elect, but it's sufficient for
everybody. They have all these different
kind of theories and ideas and doctrines of their own about
the death of Christ. But this is so serious that God
said to Moses, because you've stricken this rock twice in disobedience
to me, it's not just a disobedience, it's now you've done wrong concerning
this type. Christ's death is to be once
forever. That's what the scripture says.
It's a mockery of God's purpose. It's a mockery of Christ's sufficiency. It's a mockery of Christ's success. Because Hebrews tells us again
and again of him who needeth not daily as those priests to
offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, then for the people. For this he did once when he
offered up himself. Do we understand that? Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Maybe again. For then must he
often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but
now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself." One sacrifice. One work of righteousness. One death. of God incarnate,
one suffering of the cross. And to say that a man can be
saved and lost, to say that every time we get together we We actually take the body and
blood of Christ again and again and again? God's people rest in the finished
work of Christ. He died, put away their sins
forever. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And I'm sure you must have noticed
that this rock was smitten for a rebellious people. They'd been delivered. They'd
been preserved in the wilderness. They'd seen miracles that in
their blindness they could not comprehend at all. And there's
just this thirsty, murmuring, undeserving, helpless People,
which is the way every sinner is in himself, know righteousness,
rebels, and enemies against God, all the time thinking that they're
pleasing God. Or maybe that they got to make
the water better. Do something for God. But this water required no purification, no piping, no filter, no digging. Just drink. God provided. For the Lord's portion is his
people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. So the Lord alone did lead him,
and there was no strange God with him. He made him ride on
the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase
of the fields, and he made him to suck honey out of the rock
and oil out of the plenty rock. There's those people, Israel,
who have this name also of Jacob, connivers, sinners. But it says
that he's the Lord. They're the Lord's portion. And
these people represent that, his true spiritual people, because
he has taken them, he says, for his inheritance, and he alone
did lead them. And there wasn't any strange
God with it. And he made him, Jacob, to ride
high in the high places of the earth and to increase the fields. And he made him to suck honey
out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock. And he was smitten. This rock
was smitten for a particular people. Wasn't for the Egyptians. Wasn't for any of the people. They never, in the land of Canaan,
they never drank of this rock. It's amazing to me how that in
all these things that God tells us about Israel, that He still,
in all their disobedience and their murmuring and their idolatrous
ways sometimes. He always never fails to identify
with them. They're always my people, the people called by my name. And they were spitting, the rock
was spitting for them. The water came out to them. They
drank of that water. He says in Isaiah, he was taken
from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off out of the land of the living and for the
transgression of my people was he stricken. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32. Look down about
verse 31. Or verse 30. How should one chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight? Now that's what Israel did as
a nation when God blessed them. They oftentimes defeated superior
enemies, superior numerically, superior in strength, because
God was with them. He said, how should one chase
1,000 or two put 10,000 to flight except they're robbed? had sold
them, and the Lord had shut them up. Now look at that next verse. But their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being
judges. In other words, this is it. Everybody
talks about a rock, or everybody talks about a God. Everybody
talks about a Jesus. But he says here, their rock,
the one that they rest on, the one that they trust in, the one
that they preach, the one that they teach about, the one they
talk about, the one they say they love, the one they say has
saved them, their rock is not like our rock. He just isn't. And if you notice
here, the first rock is not capital house, the second rock is in
capitals. A rock. You tell them the gospel, they
say, ooh, that's not my Jesus. Or they say something like, my
God's not like that. And he says, as they themselves
judge. Their God is not like that. But our God is. For their vine is the vine of
Sodom, and of the grapes of Gomorrah. Their grapes are the grapes of
Gaul, and their clusters are bitter. The wine is the poison
of dragons, and the cruel venom of ass, is not this laid up in
store with me and sealed up among my treasures. To me belongeth
vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due
time, and for the day of their calamity is hand, and the things
that come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his
people and repent himself for his servants when he seeth that
their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left. And he shall say, where are their
gods, the rock in whom they trusted? And that rock followed them all
their journey, wilderness, desert. Paul said, And they did all drink
of the same spiritual drink. In other words, everybody in the nation of Israel
at that time, when that water flowed out of that rock, they
all drank. They were all thirsty. They feel
their natural need. They all drank of that spiritual. but they didn't discern. As a
matter of fact, most of them did not discern what that really
represented. Because most of them died in
that wilderness. And that's what Paul is warning
about in 1 Corinthians. They drank the physical water,
but they missed to rock Christ Jesus. And they died, it says,
in unbelief. Every one of that first generation
that came out of Egypt, they died in unbelief except Joshua
and Caleb. But there were some. Some that are described as the
church in the wilderness, which does not mean all that nation
of Israel, but it means those that truly entered into the meaning,
the person, the work. It was always their salvation. Let me let me say this. They didn't know where the rock
was. The rock had to be revealed to
me. We don't know where the rock
is. We come in our lives oftentimes
and there's a religious rock here and a religious rock there.
experience or whatever. We'll cling to this rock, but
it's not the one. We'll trust in this rock, we'll
make it our foundation, but it's not the one. They only knew this
rock, where it was, what to do, because God revealed it to them. They weren't looking for it.
All they were doing was murmuring, blaming Moses. They couldn't
see the rock just because they were spiritually blind. As a
matter of fact, the picture here is that God does two things for
his people when he saves them. He creates the thirst. He'll bring us to that spiritual
thirst. He'll cause all those things
that we've trusted in and rested in and boasted in. He'll dry
our throats so bad that he'll never satisfy us. Most of us have come the way
of morality and the way of religion. But the Lord chose us that these
things do not satisfy. They're not this living water.
They're not Christ and Him crucified. They're not this finished work,
this salvation by grace, this mercy from God. He created the earth and He gave
the water. And they drank. Was it an act
of their free will? They couldn't do anything else. When you get so thirsty, and there's just one thing that'll
satisfy you, this water. You can call it an act of your
will if you want to, but it's a God-wrought necessity. When the Spirit of Christ takes
the things of Christ and shows to us, when all the mirages have
been made to fade away, and that one oasis in this desert That
one rock that flows with living water. The one place, the one
person, the one work that a real sinner, who's now been made by
the Spirit of God to thirst after righteousness. There's just one
righteousness, just one that'll satisfy God, one that is the
gift of God, and it's Christ. Only Christ. Christ says, but whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the
water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water
springing up into eternal life. That woman didn't see the rock
in Christ. He had to reveal himself. And that last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried, saying, If any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. John said, he said unto me, it
is done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the water, fountain of water of life freely. And the psalmist called upon all the people of
God. He said, oh, come. Let us sing unto the Lord and make a joyful noise to the
rock of our salvation. Oh, top lady, pin down the words.
Rock of ages, cleft for me. broken, cleft for me, let me
hide myself in thee. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. God's command to Moses was, spite
the rock, this one rock, I'll show you the rock. It's the rock
in a particular place. Smite it once, and that's the
all-sufficient sacrifice for sin. That's the water flows out
of the rock. What was that song, stricken,
smitten, and afflicted? That's Christ. But that's the rock from whence
the living water flows. I hope he gives us a real thirst. Our Father, we thank you in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ and for our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the rock once smitten from which flows that fountain of
living water. has for all eternity and shall
for all eternity. We thank you in his name. Amen. I got you.