Numbers chapter 20. In all honesty, I had begun at least
making some mental preparations to bring a lesson on Caleb from
Numbers in our study of the different books of the Bible. But last
weekend at the conference in Crossville, Brother Gabe Stoniker
used an illustration that just so gripped my heart. I thought
sitting right there in the pew, the next time I preach, I'm going
to preach on this from that. It was just such a blessing to
me. Well, this was the next chance. So the title of our lesson is
that rock was Christ. Numbers chapter 20. Let's begin
reading in verse one. Then came the children of Israel,
even the whole congregation into the desert of Zin 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 there? And wherefore have you made us
to come up out of Egypt, like He made them come against their
will, you know, 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. Now look back in Exodus chapter
17, you may wanna mark this because we'll refer to it a few times.
This exact same thing, exact situation had happened one time
before. In Exodus chapter 17 verse 1,
and all the congregation 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 this that thou hast brought
us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle
with thirst? The flesh never changes, does
it? Now, what is recorded in Exodus happened right after the
children of Israel left Egypt. This is just, they crossed the
Red Sea, God so miraculously delivered them, and they just
thought, well, God just, you know, done all these miracles,
brought us out into the wilderness to die. You know what happened,
the people could not enter into the promised land because of
unbelief. Now this event in Numbers chapter 20 happened 39 years
later. This is the 40th and last year
that Israel will wander in the wilderness before they go into
the promised land. Most all the adults who were
over the age of 20 who left Egypt have died in the wilderness.
These people in numbers, these ones who are speaking, are their
children. Their children are just like
their parents, aren't they? Because the flesh never changes. God
has miraculously provided for the children of Israel in the
wilderness for 39 years. And they still can't trust him.
They ate manna for breakfast every morning. God's still providing
for them and it's the same old, same old. The problem is still
after 39 years, the sin of unbelief. What shall we eat? What shall
we drink? What shall we wear? God's not gonna provide for me.
God's gonna quit providing for me. God's gonna quit caring for
me. Now I want us to see that unbelief is a lie. Unbelief is
a lie. The only reason we don't believe
God is either we don't think God's telling the truth, and
that's a lie, or we don't think God's able to do what he said,
that's a lie. It has to be one or the other.
And the reasons that we give for not believing God, every
one of them is a lie. The people said, we don't have
anything to drink. God isn't able to continue to
give us water. God must not love us enough to
keep giving us water. Now that's a lie. God's not gonna
quit loving his people. God's always able. And people
today say the same thing, just, you know, in different issues.
You know, they say, oh, God couldn't save someone as sinful as me.
Now, anytime somebody says that, it's false humility. They don't
think they're that sinful. They really don't think they
need God to save them. They don't think, and if they
really do think that, oh, I'm so sinful, God couldn't save
me. Well, they don't think God's able, or they don't think God's
willing. That's a lie. They say, well, I still feel
so sinful. Christ couldn't have removed
all my sin. That's a lie. He's able. Well, I just feel
like I should contribute something to my own. I gotta contribute
something, you know, to make myself worthy. Now that's a lie. Somebody says that they already
think they're worthy. They already think that they
can do something to help save themselves. They already think
Christ is not worthy to save them by himself. See these things,
this is the lie of unbelief. And we understand this wicked
heart of unbelief that we see in the children of Israel because
every one of us has this exact same heart by nature. Human nature
didn't change in the 40 years that Israel was in the wilderness,
and it hasn't changed in the roughly 4,000 years since. This
is still the heart, the natural heart that's in us. Our flesh
is just as wicked. By nature, we're just as lost.
We're just as filled with unbelief as the children of Israel were.
And I want you to see something else here in Numbers chapter
20. Unbelief is a lie, and I want to see what unbelief chooses
rather than Christ. Verse three, the people chose
with Moses and spake saying, would God we died when our brethren
died before the Lord. And what they're referring to
is what happened just immediately before this, the rebellion of
Korah. God swallowed, opened up the
earth and swallowed them up. And they're saying, I wish we
died like Korah died. I wish we had died like a rebel
in unbelief and just incurred God's wrath. I wish we were like
Korah and it appeared before God without a high priest. What
an awful thing to choose. But that's what unbelief chooses
rather than choosing faith in Christ. People say I'd rather
die in my sins than have Christ made sin for me. People say,
and I've heard this, I love Christ too much to see him made sin
for me. Really? You love the son more
than the father does? Father made him sin. If Christ
had not made sin, you will in fact die in your sins and you
spend eternity in hell for it. Brethren, trust God. Don't ever
trust man's logic because man's logic is controlled by unbelief.
And unbelief would choose death rather than choose life in Christ
every time. Look what unbelief says in verse
five. Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring
us to this evil place? It's a place of no seed or figs
or vines or pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink.
Why did you make us come up out of Egypt? I'd rather be a slave
in Egypt than be God's free man. I wish I was still a slave to
the law rather than be found in Christ. That's unbelievable,
evil, evil desires. And Moses and Aaron did the right
thing. When they're faced with this unbelief, when they're faced
with this persecution, they didn't fight back. They sought the Lord.
Look here in verse six of Numbers chapter 20. And Moses and Aaron
went from the presence of the assembly under 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, and it shall give forth his water. And
thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So shalt
thou give the congregation and 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 you 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 came
out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts 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 ye shall not bring this congregation into the land
which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah. This is the water of strife because
the children of Israel strove with the Lord and he was sanctified
in them. Now that's very harsh, isn't
it? Moses struck the rock twice and God told him, you're not
gonna enter the promised land. Why is striking the rock a second
time such a big deal? This is so important. God will
not let Moses enter into the promised land because of it.
We'll go back to Exodus chapter 17. What happened here when the people
complained and they had no water? Exodus 17 verse four. And Moses
cried unto the Lord saying, what shall I do unto this people?
They'd 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
and thy rod, 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. See, now this time
God told him smite the rock, didn't he? 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 no? Now here in Exodus,
Moses struck the rock, and water gushed out of that rock. Out
flowed, when he struck that rock, out flowed life-giving water.
There was plenty of water to quench the thirst of everyone.
You know, they say there were 3,000 Israelites came out of
Egypt, plus all their animals. Out of that one rock flowed enough
to quench the thirst of three million people and their animals.
There was enough water came out of that rock for everyone to
wash and be clean. You know how you've been sweating
and working like they would have been sweating in the desert.
How good it feels to be washed. There was enough water for all
of them to bathe in. But now that's impossible. To get water from a rock? The
nature of a rock and the nature of water are opposites. And we'll
see this in a minute. I'll tell you why it was possible
to get water from that rock. That rock was Christ. And the
Lord Jesus Christ did what seems impossible to men. God became
a man. God became a real man so that
he could be the representative of his people. But now man says,
God becoming a man, that's impossible. God becoming flesh, that's impossible. But he did. And as a man, the
Lord Jesus did what no son of Adam could ever do. He obeyed
God perfectly. He was a perfectly righteous
man. He established righteousness
that he freely gives to his people. With men, that's impossible,
but not with God, not with our Lord Jesus. And then Christ our
Savior did something else that was impossible. He cleansed his
people from their sin. Now with man, that's impossible.
To cleanse ourself from our sin, it's impossible. But Christ did
it with his blood. When Christ was smitten by his
father, that Roman soldier pierced his side, what flowed out? There
was our smitten rock, out flowed blood and water. Blood to justify,
water to sanctify. When Christ, our substitute,
was smitten by his father, out gushed the waters of salvation. Christ was smitten and He died
and outflowed the water of life for His people who were born
dead in sin. Christ was made sin and the Father
smote Him and outflowed the water of forgiveness of sin for His
people. Christ bore the curse of the sin of His people and
the Father smote Him and outflowed the water of cleansing from our
sin. Christ suffered under the justice of His Father. The Father
smote Him in justice and outflowed the water of grace and mercy
for his people. And Christ bore the sin of his
people away from them forever. Christ cried from the cross,
I thirst. He is saying a whole lot more
than my mouth is dry. He wasn't saying his mouth is
dry at all. Now we only thirst when we recognize
there's a lack of water in our body. Christ said, I thirst,
not because there's a lack of water He thirsted because he
thirsted for righteousness. He thirsted because he thirsted
for what he did not have, the presence of his father. The father
turned his back on the son and Christ thirsted like that so
his people will never thirst. He thirsted like that and was
smitten by his fathers so his people could drink the water
of life freely. When Moses struck that rock,
water gushed out. Plenty of water for everyone
because God's plenteous in mercy because of the sacrifice of his
son. Now look at first Corinthians chapter 10. The story of the smitten rock
is not finished. The apostle Paul gives us some
more information here. First Corinthians 10 verse one. 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. That rock was Christ. Not only
did Christ stand on the rock, that rock was Christ. That rock
was Christ our substitute, smitten for his people. And that's the
way we drink the water of life freely. Now this was a gigantic
rock. This wasn't just, you know, a
little old stone. I mean, this was a gigantic rock. Some of the old writers say it
was prodigious in its size and its thickness. There was no way
any man could move that rock. It can't be done. But yet that
rock followed him. all through their wanderings
in the wilderness. They meandered all through and everywhere they
went, there was that rock giving them water. Now believe that
rock was Christ. They couldn't go anywhere without
that rock already being there. I say to every child of God,
you can't go anywhere that Christ doesn't go with you. Everywhere
you go, he goes with you. Well, then why wasn't the water
giving them rock? Well, why wasn't the rock giving them water? Why
wasn't the rock still gushing out water? They said we don't
have water to drink. Well, I don't know exactly. I
do know this is immediately after the rebellion of Korah. Maybe
this is a trial of their faith. The water wasn't giving them,
or the rock wasn't giving them water. I don't know. But I do
know how the water would start flowing from the rock again.
Look back in our text, Numbers chapter 20. This is how the water
is going to start flowing again. In verse seven, the Lord spake
unto Moses saying, take the rod and gather thou the assembly
together. Thou and Aaron, my brother, and 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 shalt
thou give the congregation and their beast drink. Now the rod,
the Lord said, take this rod. Now, this is not the rod that
Moses struck the rock with. This is not the same rod that
Moses used in Egypt. That rod is the rod of judgment.
This is the rod God said, this water that you struck the waters
in Egypt. This is the rod Moses took with
him and he struck the water in Egypt. And what happened? All
the water turned to blood. This is the rod of judgment.
Moses used that same rod and he struck the ground and it turned
to lice. This is the rod of judgment.
One day Moses, he held that rod up to heaven and fire and hail
rained down on Egypt, everywhere except where the children of
Israel were. This is the rod of judgment. He held up another
time and locusts came, just devoured the land. Then he held it up
over the Red Sea and the Red Sea parted. The children of Israel
walked through on dry ground. Everybody crossed and Moses held
that rod up again. and the water came crashing back
down. Drowned Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. Moses rod
is the rod of justice because Moses represents the law. But
when Moses went to speak to the rock, he took the rod from before
the Lord. That rod that was before the
Lord is Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod that budded. Part
of this rebellion of Korah, God told Moses, He said, you pick
a man from each tribe of Israel. Aaron, he'll be the representative
of the tribe of Levi. You have them put their rod down
and you leave them. In the morning you come back,
whoever's rod, a dead walking stick now, whoever's rod buds,
that's the high priest. They came back the next day,
Aaron's rod had budded. He even had fruit growing, almonds
growing on it. That was proof Aaron's God's
high priest. And they took that rod and put
it in the Ark of the Covenant. Scripture calls it before the
Lord. That was the rod from before the Lord Moses took. It was the
rod of the high priest. Moses didn't need his rod. He
didn't need the rod of judgment because he's not going to smite
the rock again. He's going to act as the high priest and speak
to the rock. That rock was Christ. Now look
over in Hebrews chapter nine. And this is why Moses didn't
take his rod, the rod of judgment, to smite the rock again, because
that rock was Christ. And Christ is not smitten many
times. Christ's not even smitten twice. He just smote once, one
time. Hebrews 9, verse 24. For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands which
are figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. 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. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, And unto them that look for him,
he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Christ
was offered once. Look over in chapter 10, verse
nine. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For every priest standeth daily
ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. He sat down because the work's finished, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. All
it took to put away the sin of God's elect was the one sacrifice
of God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how sufficient,
how wonderful the Lord Jesus Christ is. One sacrifice for
sin, atoned for the sin of all of God's elect for all of eternity. Moses is to go out and speak
to the rock. But Moses is angry. He shouldn't have been, but we
can understand Moses being angry. He had dealt with this stiff-necked,
murmuring people for 39 years. How often has they said, we're
gonna stone you, or they're complaining about everything God's provided
for him. Moses is angry, he's fed up with this murmuring. So
verse 10 in our text, Numbers chapter 20. Moses and Aaron gathered
the congregation together before the rock, and Moses said unto
them, hear now ye rebels, Must we fetch you water out of this
rock? We, Moses? It's not something
a man can do. Now water's gonna come out of
this rock, this is what God does for his people. Only God can
do this for his people. Verse 11, in his anger, Moses
lifted up his hand and with his rod, he smoked the rock twice. And the water came out abundantly
and the congregation drank and their beasts also. Now Moses
smote the rock twice and this is such serious business because
Christ is only smitten once. Christ is only smitten one time
because one sacrifice finished the work of redemption forever.
Now salvation is complete. There's no reason for Christ
to be smitten and his blood be shed again because he got the
job done right the first time. Christ was sacrificed for the
sin of his people once. and he put their sin away. And
now all that's left to the people of God is to cry, to speak and
beg God for mercy. Christ makes intercession for
his people, not by being sacrificed again, not by offering more blood.
Christ, our intercessor, makes intercession for his people by
speaking to the father. He speaks to his father on the
behalf of his people. And when he speaks, the waters
of forgiveness The waters of grace and mercy come gushing
out. See, the high priest speaks. He doesn't smite the rock. He
only has to speak because the one sacrifice of Christ was enough. The first time the rock was smitten,
it was smitten with the rod of judgment. But when Moses struck
it the second time, not only did he strike Christ twice, but
he struck him with the rod of the high priest. And God's not
gonna have that. And I tell you what this is teaching
us. The one sacrifice of Christ is
enough. Is anybody thirsty? Do you thirst? Because you realize in yourself,
there's a lack of righteousness. There's a lack of everything
that God requires. Are you thirsty? Then come drink
of the water of life. The hell it's free. It's free. Christ already paid the debt.
He's smitten. The water is free. Just call
on God and beg for it. Just call on him and ask for
it. But that's not what Moses did,
is it? He smoked the rock the second time. Verse 12, and this
is the result of that. The Lord spake unto Moses and
Aaron, because you 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've given them." Now,
Moses never could have entered the promised land in the first
place. Moses never could have led the children of Israel into
the promised land because Moses is a type of the law. The law
was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Moses couldn't get anybody into the promised land, could
he? He couldn't get his own self into the promised land, much
less anybody else. That's the law. The law can't get anybody
into heaven. But Christ can. And he did that,
that's what he's done for all of his people. And that's what's
being pictured here in Numbers 20. Moses can't lead the children
of Israel into the promised land. But there's another man there.
His name's Joshua. Joshua can lead the people. into
the promised land because Joshua is a type of Christ. The name
given to our Savior, his human name, is Jesus. The New Testament
name for Joshua. Joshua is a type of Christ who's
gonna lead his people into the promised land. Moses struck the
rock twice, he can't enter the promised land. Well, here's a
question. Have you ever wondered this?
When Moses struck the rock the second time, he did what God
told him not to do, didn't he? Moses didn't do it right. Then
why did water still come out? You ever wondered that? I've
got an answer. The answer is grace. Grace in
Christ Jesus. The sacrifice of Christ, that
first smiting of Christ at Calvary is so sufficient that even when
we don't do it right, this is such good news. Get a hold of
this. Even when we don't do it right,
the blood and the water that came from our Savior when he
was crucified at Calvary is enough. It's enough to cleanse us. It's
enough to justify us when we don't do it right. When's the
time you do it right? In all those times, the blood
of the Savior is enough. The blessing is never dependent
on us. God hasn't blessed us because
we've done it right. God blessed us because He's gracious and
merciful to His people. The blessing is always dependent
on Christ, what He's done for us. Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Now I want to give you this quickly
in verse 12. In verse 12, God told Moses, you're not going
to the promised land because you believe me not to sanctify
me in the eyes of the people. That word sanctify has many meanings. One of them is to proclaim. Moses,
you didn't proclaim me as I am to my people. It also means to
purify me. You didn't proclaim me as pure
and holy before the people. It also means to hello or holy. Moses, you didn't proclaim me
as holy before my people. Well, how do we not sanctify
the Lord in the eyes of the people? Probably there's many ways. I
want to give you two. First, we don't sanctify the Lord in
the eyes of the people when we preach universal atonement. Universal
atonement is saying Christ died for everyone to give everyone
a chance to be saved if they'll just accepting. That message
does not sanctify the Lord, doesn't declare the Lord, proclaim the
Lord as who he is. It doesn't make him holy, doesn't
set him up to be believed and worshiped before the eyes of
the people. Universal atonement means there can be two smitings,
doesn't it? Christ could be smitten for your
sin, but then you could be smitten for your sin by spending eternity
in hell if you don't believe him. That's two smitings. That makes God unholy. It doesn't
sanctify God, does it? No one can be saved by that message
of universal atonement because it's a lie. But here's a second,
I don't think probably anybody here has an issue with that,
but here's a second way we can not sanctify the Lord in the
eyes of the people. When we lose the assurance of
our salvation because of something we did or something we didn't
do. When I think, oh, I can't believe
I did that. I must not be saved. I can't
be saved because I did that. When that happens, you know what
I'm saying? I'm saying I would be saved if I didn't do it, whatever
it is. I think Christ is not enough. Christ couldn't have
saved me if I did that. That's not sanctifying God in
the eyes of the people. Putting all the weight of my
salvation on Christ is not something that I do. There's no excuse for committing
the sin we commit. I'm not making an excuse, you
know, for us to open the door to sin. But the comfort for a
believer is found in God's grace. Not what we do or don't do. Our
comfort's always in God's grace. Look at Psalm 103. The death
of Christ is so sufficient that we can't lose our salvation because
of something we've done wrong. the water still flowing because
of Christ. Not because of us, because of
Christ. Psalm 103, verse 10. He has not
dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgression
from us. The reason the water still flows,
we don't do it right, is he's not dealt with us after our sins,
nor rewarding us according to our iniquities. So let's keep
speaking to Christ. Speaking to Christ the rock and
begging him for mercy. Because I promise you, on the
authority of his word, he'll answer that call. Speak to the
rock. One smiting was enough. All right,
I hope the Lord will bless that.