Morning, everybody. Turn to Exodus
chapter 17. Exodus 17. We'll read the first seven verses
of your text this morning. Exodus 17, and pick up in verse
1. 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 for water.
And the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore is
this that thou has brought us up out of the land 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, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take
in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock, and whore, 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 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. I do not envy the trial that
these people endured. I don't envy anybody's trial,
but I certainly don't envy this trial. I'm sure it was very,
very hard. And I try to put myself in their position. I don't know
how long they had been in Revedon before they start murmuring and
complaining and chiding with the Lord. But I know this, that
you can last about three to four days without water before you
die. So it would have been pretty soon. And before you die, you
start experiencing symptoms. They come on pretty quick. You
start getting cramps. Your whole body cramps up. Then
you start getting a headache, and your heartbeat starts to
increase. Confusion sets in. Eventually, you just faint, right?
You're just down there. You can't move. You're fatigued.
Eventually, you just die. And it comes on pretty quick.
And this was very exigent. They had just days. And that would
have been hard. That personal physical hardship
would have been very tough, especially knowing that if the Lord didn't
intervene, if something didn't happen soon, you were gone. That
was it. The worst part would have been watching your children
suffer. Watching them come up, Daddy, I need some water. I don't
feel well. I got none. Mommy, I don't feel good. I really
don't feel good. I got to lay down. And you see
them start going through the confusion. You know they're more
susceptible than you are, so you're going to watch them die. And
you're going to do it knowing two things. The Lord doesn't
intervene soon. If they don't get some water soon, they're
going to go. And there's nothing you can do about it. You can't
provide what they need. That would have been very, very hard
to endure. I don't envy them in this. But
look back at verse one. I want to show you something. 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. It's
not as if the Lord was leading them along, and he said, hey,
go over here. And they were like, nah, I don't
think there's any water over there. We're going to go rest
them. We're going to deviate. This was not a judgment on these people
for disobedience. The Lord had led these people
into this trial. Every trial that the Lord puts
us through, He leads us into. It is His will coming upon us.
He comes upon us, He leads us into these trials for wise and
holy purposes. If you'd like a general overview
of what those wise and holy purposes are, turn over to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5, and you can
pick up in verse 1. Paul says, therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me clear that up real quick.
Whose faith am I justified by? Is it mine? Is it my faith that
justifies me before God? Certainly not. It is the faith,
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, and doing everything God commanded
him to do. That's what justifies me before God. My faith believes
that. Read again. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulations, trials also. Knowing the tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us." Now, three words are mentioned
here. The Lord's general purpose in leading his people through
trials. And the first word is this. It's patience. Patience. What does it mean? What do we
mean, patience? It is the ability to wait on the Lord. Isaiah 55.8
says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your
ways my ways, saith the Lord. And you could just as easily
tack on to that. My appointed times are not your appointed
times, saith the Lord. The Lord does everything in his
own appointed time. He brings his people into trial
at his own appointed time. But more importantly, he delivers
them. in His own appointed time. And at that appointed time is
the time where He will maximize His glory. He will get the greater
glory in delivering His people from their trials. But also,
He will teach us some ability, some patience to wait and trust
the Lord. Now let me give you an example
of this. Back in Genesis chapter 18, the Lord's speaking with
Abraham. Tells Abraham, Sarah's going to have a child, right?
And Sarah's behind him in the tent, right? But she hears this
and she laughs inside her. She says, listen, I'm an old
woman. I've already been through menopause. Abraham's an old man. He's lost
his virility. There's no way. There's no way
we could possibly have a child. In her mind, the time had passed. The time was over with. Here's
how the Lord responded to her. He said, is anything too hard
for the Lord? At the time appointed, I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son, but at the time appointed. Why at this particular time?
If he had given them Isaac, a child, when they were young, their 20s,
their 30s, and things like that, would there be much glory for
God in that? Would there be much to marvel at in all that? The
Lord does that all the time. People in their 20s and 30s have
children all the time. Where was the glory for God? Wait till
after Sarah's past menopause. Wait till Abraham's an old man.
Wait all past that, then give him a son. Is there glory for
God in that? Can you see the glory of God in that? Is it manifest
in that? Absolutely it is. And who learned a lesson along
the way in patience? Sarah did. She said there's no possible
way. There was a way. Nothing's too hard for the Lord. I was
trying to think of a scriptural character who would have learned
this lesson real well, like better than anybody else. And here's
who I immediately thought of. It was Jairus. Y'all remember
Jairus? So Jairus is a leader in the
synagogue, right? And Jairus comes to the Lord, and he says,
Lord, my daughter is sick. She's so sick that any moment
now she's going to die. And I want you to come with me. You lay
your hands on her, and you can heal her. Now, how do you think Jairus
felt at that point, right? Time is of the essence. We've
got to go, right? Jairus is thinking, Lord, I want
you to run with me if we can. Let's get you a horse. Let's
do something. We've got to get there as fast as we possibly can. He wanted
the Lord to move as fast as he could. And I'm sure he wanted
him not to stop along the way at all. But the Lord does. See,
it was someone else's appointed time first. There was a woman
with an issue of blood. She had had that for 12 years.
And the Lord stopped there. And he caused that woman to crawl
on her hands and knees through a thronging crowd just to touch
the edge of his garment, that the virtue would come out of
him, and she would be healed. This was a beautiful miracle. But
how do you think Jairus felt during all this? Lord, couldn't you come back
and help her later on? I mean, my daughter's at the
point of death. I mean, couldn't we have come
back and healed this woman? It wasn't the appointed time.
And while Jairus is experiencing all this, one of the servants
from the temple comes to him and says, listen, don't trouble
the master anymore, your daughter's dead. And as soon as, as soon
as that man said that, the Lord looked at Jairus and said, fear
not, just believe. Instantly. And then he left there,
he went down to Jairus' house, and he did much greater than
heal that girl, he raised that girl from the dead. Now, God
would have gotten some glory if he would have simply healed
that girl on her deathbed. Wouldn't he have? But he got
the greater glory when he raised her from the dead. And you know
what? I bet Jairus, from that point on, when things got a little
crazy and things seemed pretty exigent, I bet he was a pretty
cool customer. You know what? I've been through
this before. Nothing's too hard for the Lord. Second word the Romans 5 uses
is experience. What is the call of the gospel?
It is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to abandon
any hope in yourself, abandon any hope you have in your works,
your will, anything like that, and to believe and you trust
the Lord Jesus Christ alone for every aspect of your salvation
up to including the faith, that very faith to cling to Him. Trust
Him for everything. That is the call. I want to be
clear about this. Trial does not produce faith.
is not the trial that creates faith in a man. Faith is the
gift of God, and it accompanies regeneration. When the Lord gives
a new man a new birth, it's full of life and full of faith. It
clings to the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's this thing. I had a point. I'm going to find
it, I promise. All right. So if you have true faith, if
you really are a believer, this is what you believe, that every
demand God the Father had against you, the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied.
He satisfied every single demand that God the Father had against
you, and He did it for no reason in you. He found the reason in
Himself, and you had absolutely no ability to fulfill those demands.
He did it all. Now, if you have faith, that's
what you believe. Now, what type of experience could the Lord
give me that would strengthen that faith, that would hammer
that home, that would expose that faith? What kind of experience
might I have? I want to preface this with saying,
I want to get out of every trial I possibly can. My pastor has
said that for years. I want to get out of every trial
I possibly can, and I'm with him. I don't want to experience trial if I
don't have to. I want to be meek and teachable to where the Lord
doesn't have to destroy me just to teach me something. But they're
necessary. But here's what might have to
happen. The Lord might have to take my job, wipe out my bank
account, have a bunch of past due bills pile up on my desk,
put an eviction notice on my front door, and lead me into
a place I don't even know how I'm going to put food on the
table the next day. I might have to be brought to that place,
that place where there's no help, there's no hope in sight. And
in his time, through whatever means he deems necessary, he
comes in and he provides. A job opens up, a check comes
in the mail, however he may do it, but he provides. He provides
for everything. What would I have then? I'd have
some experience. I'd have some maturity and some
understanding of how the Lord provides everything in salvation.
It would expose to me the reality of the gospel, that the Lord
Jesus Christ provided everything in my own desperation. The last
word that's used is hope. This is the word that ties everything
together here. And here's how this works. We
have this hope. The Lord thinks on us. that he
remembers us and he regards those daily needs we have for clothing,
for food, for our daily lives. If he thinks on us, his people,
and he remembers us and he provides for those seemingly small things,
those lesser things, how much more faithful is he in providing
the great thing, the needs of salvation, more abundantly? And we have that great hope.
Now there's a general overview of the Lord's purposes in bringing
us through these trials, but turn back to Exodus 17. I want to look at this trial
again that they, the children of Israel, went through. Like
I said, I don't envy these people, but I'm thankful the Lord put
them through this because we can learn something about ourselves
by looking at these folks. When I say ourselves, I'm talking
about blood-bought, regenerate believers. We can learn something
about ourselves by looking at these people. Here's the first
thing I want you to notice is how incredibly rebellious these
people were. Look at verse 2. Wherefore the people did chide
with Moses, It said, give us water that we may drink. And
Moses said unto them, why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you
tempt the Lord? Now you see the lack of reverence
and the over-familiarity these people had? This is the creature,
the sinful creature, making a demand of his holy and his sovereign
God. Give us water that we may drink, the over-familiarity.
the lack of reverence here. And these words, this tempt and
chide, what that means is these people were rising up. Literally,
they were rising up with their fists held up, picking a fight.
They wanted to fight. They put themselves in contention
against the Lord. Folks, this is the old man right
here. This is that rebellious nature we're born in, born with.
And that nature is going to be with us until the day we die.
And he's not going to get any better. He rises up. It's easy to trust God when everything's
going our way. When we got everything coming our way and everything's
going the way we want it to, it's easy. But all of a sudden, change our
circumstances just such, all of a sudden that old man kicks
up and he starts bucking and he starts kicking. And if you
want to see the extent of that old man, how terrible he really
is, look in verse four. And Moses cried unto the Lord,
saying, what shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready
to stone me. Folks, it wasn't Moses they wanted
to stone, it was the Lord. They just couldn't get to him.
Moses was the next best thing. That nature, that way we're born
into this world, that old man, he's still there. Folks, he doesn't
get any better. He's the same God-hater he's always been. And
he's not going to get any better. Always there. And the only reason
he doesn't buck and kick more and he doesn't rear his ugly
head is simply by the restraining grace of God. That's it. What I think is most interesting
about these people is their unbelief. And I say most interesting is
because I can identify with it very, very much. Look at verse
7. Look at what they said. 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? Now, they have a very particular
brand of unbelief right here. And like I said, I identify with
it. It's my brand of unbelief. I want you to notice a few things.
Number one, they're not questioning the existence of their Lord.
Their sinful question here, is the Lord among us or not, it
presupposes they believe Jehovah was. They believed that God was
real, and why wouldn't they? All they had to do was look up.
They had a physical manifestation of God right there in their midst.
It was the pillar of the cloud. It led them everywhere they went,
and at night, it was the pillar of fire that lit their way. They
had a physical manifestation of God with them right there.
They were not denying. They did not struggle with, did
not doubt the existence of their God. Two, not questioning the
Lord's ability to provide for them. I don't read them going
to Moses and saying, well, Moses, we had the same problem at Marah. The bitter water's there, and
we couldn't drink. And the Lord provided a tree, and you threw
the tree in, and the bitter waters were made sweet. And has the
Lord lost his power? Is he unable to provide for us
this time? I don't read that. What I do
read is they barge up to Moses, who is a representative of God,
and says, give us water that we may drink. You don't want
to make demands of somebody if you believe they can satisfy
the demand. That wasn't their struggle. Thirdly, I don't notice
that they have any self-confidence. I don't hear them getting together
and saying, OK, guys, the Lord's not going to provide this time,
or he can't. So you fellas go dig a well, all right, at least
try. The rest of you, we're going to put a search party together.
We're going to go start looking for water out here. You don't read about
that, not at all. These people seem relatively
convinced the only way they're going to get the water is if
the Lord provides it for them. Somebody says, where do they
err? Where then is their unbelief? It's right here. They did not
believe, they doubted the Lord would do what he had promised
to do. What did he promise? Turn over
to Genesis 28. Genesis 28, you guys will be
familiar with this, I think you will be. This involves Jacob. Jacob is traveling, he's making
a journey, and when he does, he lays down to go to sleep,
puts his head on a bed of rocks. Unbeknownst to him, that land
that he is laying down in, that would 430 years later be known
as the Promised Land. It was Canaan. And it's in this
event right here, when Jacob goes to sleep, that the Lord
appears to him, and he has a dream. He dreams of his ladder. That
ladder was Christ, the angels ascending and descending. And
in that dream, the Lord makes a prophecy to him. He prophesied
to him about how his posterity, his children, how they would
be delivered from Egypt, from bondage, and how he would lead
them and he would give them this promised land and he would provide
for them. And in that prophecy he is making promises. He's making
promises not just to Jacob, he's making it to his posterity, to
the children of Israel. They had promises. Let's read
them, look at verse 13. And behold, the Lord stood above
it, speaking the latter, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham,
thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. He's promising his
seed here. And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and
to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Now listen to verse 15. He's speaking to his posterity.
And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land,
for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have
spoken thee of. Now what was their sinful question? What were
they questioning? Is the Lord among us or not? That was their
question. What promise did they have? I'll
keep you. I'll keep you at the Red Sea
when Pharaoh's army is about to overcome you. I'll keep you
there. I'll keep you at Mara when there's bitter water. I'll
turn sweet. I'll keep you there. I'll keep you in the wilderness
of sin when you don't have anything to eat. I'll make bread actually rain
down from heaven for you. I will even keep you at Rephidim
when the same old trouble comes up again, where they're at right
now. I'll keep you in all those places, and I will not leave
you until I have done this thing, this thing that I have promised.
I won't leave you until then. They had the promise, but they
doubted the Lord would make good on His word. There's my particular
brand of unbelief right there. We have promises. Promises like
Matthew 11, 28 says this. Come unto me, all ye who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will, notice the certainty, I will
give you rest. You know what that means? If
you're a sinner in need of mercy, you come. You are commanded to
come. You come to the Lord Jesus Christ. and you believe upon
him and you will find rest, you will find peace with God. That
is a guarantee, that's a promise. Isaiah chapter 55 verse 7. We
looked at this last time I was there. It says, let the wicked
forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him
return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our
God for he will abundantly pardon. What's that wicked way, do you
remember? It's the way of salvation by works. trying to bring something
to God that you've done, saying you should accept me because
I. He says forsake that way and return to Christ. Believe upon
Him. And here's the promise, I will
have mercy and I will abundantly pardon. And you know what? My
new man believes that. My new man wants nothing to do
with that wicked way. He wants nothing to do with standing
before God based on something I do. It does. It clings to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it does believe God that
he will be good to his word, that he will show mercy, and
he will abundantly pardon. And there is still an old man
inside here. In those deep crevices of his
heart, this little voice speaks up and says, are you sure? That's the journey of the new
man and the old man, constantly at war. That's me right there.
Here's the beauty of all this. This thing of unbelief, this
is a great evil. It's a great evil because it
is the equivalent of looking God in the eye and saying, you are
a liar. Folks, those are fighting words. Wars have started over
words like that. But this is the beauty of the
graciousness of our God. In the midst of all their unbelief,
in the midst of all their rebellion, these people were just terrible.
He still provided for them. He still provided the rock, the
water still flowed, he still took care of these people. Why?
Because he had promised to. Before time began, God the Father
entered to a covenant with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
every member of the elect were involved in this covenant. God
the Father said, if you'll live for them and you'll die for them,
I'll receive them. And because the Lord Jesus Christ
is a successful Savior, He cannot fail. And because God cannot
go back on His promises, He cannot change. He would cease to be
God if He did. The elect must be saved. I'll give you the scripture
that backs this up. I swear, folks, I had one. My notes
are out of order today. Ah, here it is. It's 2 Timothy
2.13. If we believe not, Yet he abided faithful. He cannot
deny himself." It's him. It's all based on him. All right. Let's look at how the Lord provided
for him. Look at verse 5 of your text. And the Lord said unto Moses,
go on before the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel
a nigh rod wherewith thou smotest the river. Take in thine hand
and go. Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock and horb. 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." Now,
what's going on here? What is the type? What is the
picture here? More importantly, what does this rock, this rock
and horb, represent? Let me read you this. This is
Paul speaking from 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1. It says, 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, the quails
that fell down, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, the
water. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ." You know, there's several Old
Testament examples, illustrations of the Lord Jesus Christ, Noah's
Ark being one of them. No one in the New Testament ever comes
out and says that. But right here, Paul tells us,
this rock, this rock and orb, this is Christ. And in fact,
the entire illustration here, it's the cross. I want to give
you five things to notice about this. Number one, based on what
we've read here, God stood upon this rock. So he tells Moses,
he says, you come out to Horeb. He goes, and I'm going to stand
on the rock. You'll know which rock it is. I'm going to stand on
the rock. God stood on that rock, governing, ruling, and sovereignly
presiding over the smiting of that rock. It was absolutely
no different on the cross. The day the Lord Jesus Christ
was crucified, the Lord sovereignly ruled over that day as much as
he does completely every other day. Acts 2.23 says this, Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
It was a man that nailed the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross,
but he did it according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. This was the day that every other day was purposed
for. This was the event that every other event was purposed
for. Even the fall, the fall of man was purposed for this
day, for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because this would
be the day that God would achieve his chief glory. Where he would
single-handedly save all his people to the substitutionary
death of his son, God himself, Jesus Christ. It was all about
God's glory. God stood on this rock. God presided
sovereignly over this event. Secondly, notice it was Moses
that smote this rock. Now what does Moses represent
for the most part in the scripture? The law. The law of Moses, right? It was Moses that smote this
rock. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ suffer under the wrath
of God? Because when the law looked at him, he was guilty.
The law said, you're guilty, and the only reason the law would
say a man is guilty is because of a man is guilty. Second Corinthians
521, for he, the father, hath made him, the son, sin for us,
the elect, who knew no sin, that we might be made the very righteousness
of God in him. Lord Jesus Christ suffered under
the wrath of God because he was made the sins of his people.
And that staff, Moses' staff, which represents judgment, that's
what that staff always did, it brought judgment. It came and
it smote him. He smote him because he was guilty before the law
of God. That's why he died. Notice third, that a life-giving
fluid came from this rock. When the rock was smote, life
came out of that water, that water they desperately needed.
Now on the cross, there wasn't just one life-giving fluid that
flowed. There was water, but there was also blood. Blood flowed,
complete justification. When the Lord Jesus cried, every
member of the elect was justified, was not guilty before God, but
also complete sanctification. Said, those are neat words. Excellent. What do you mean by that? You
go back to the ark. The Lord tells Noah, he goes,
you take this tar-like substance, it's a waterproofing substance,
it's called pitch. You take that pitch and you put it out on the
outside of the boat. You take that same pitch and
you put it on the inside of the boat. You smear it on the inside.
That water, that water that surrounded Noah's Ark, that is the wrath
of God. What kept the wrath of God from getting inside that
boat? The pitch. What keeps the wrath of God from
reaching the very elect? The death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His blood. But also this, it was pitched on the inside. What
is the reason that the Holy Spirit comes and gives the elect life,
that washes them and cleanses them, and gives them that holy
new man, is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, all
things, folks, flow from the cross. If you want to ask this
question, why does God do this for his people, the answer is
always the cross. Everything flowed from the cross. Number four. Two places in the
scripture we read that this rock was made of flint. I give you
Psalm 114, verse 8. It says, which turned the rock
into a standing water and the flint into a fountain of waters.
Now, have you ever taken a piece of flint, flint rock, and a knife
and scraped on there to create sparks to try to start a fire?
Because some of you have, right? You take the knife, you take
the flint rock, and you scrape and these sparks come off. You
try to light your kindling with that. I always used to think
that when you take that knife, you were actually scratching
off pieces of the flint. And the friction is igniting
the flint, and that's what's sparking the fire. It's actually untrue.
It turns out that the flint is harder than the steel. See, the
flint remains unchanged. When you drag the knife along
that flint rock, it's little pieces of steel are being shaved
off the knife, and that's what's igniting, that's what's actually
starting the fire. This is a hard, sturdy, dependable rock, just
like the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that hard, sturdy, dependable
rock, that rock that can't be eroded, that rock that can't
be worn down. The wrath of God fell upon him, and it couldn't
touch him. He swallowed up the wrath. It didn't destroy him.
This is the rock that you can depend on. This is the rock that
you can build your house on. This is the rock you can hide
in the cleft of this rock, and nothing will get to you. This
is the rock that you can lay down in the shadow of this rock,
and you can find peace and rest. This is the reliable rock, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who cannot fail. He is the one you can utterly
depend on at all times. Number five, the rock followed
him from that point on. That's what Paul tells us in
1 Corinthians 10. I think this is beautiful. The
Lord Jesus Christ preceded all his people in eternity. He preceded
them as being the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
God has never been angry with his people. because the Lord
Jesus Christ has always been the atonement for that people.
We have always had peace with God because our Lord Jesus Christ
preceded us as the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. He will also be the one who will receive us after this
life is over. When you shut your eyes in death, it will be him
who will receive you into his kingdom. And the entire time
you're here, he follows you. Psalm 23, 6, David said, surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. How does he
follow us? With goodness and with mercy.
Now, I want to deal honestly with this. Sometimes goodness
and mercy does not appear and does not feel like goodness and
mercy. Sometimes it takes the form of trial and tribulation.
But here's the point. It always is goodness and mercy.
And it's always leading us to our expected end. We're going
to be with the Lord, and he's going to receive us into that kingdom. Last thing I notice is that the
elders are mentioned here. The Lord tells Moses, he goes, you
don't just come by yourself. You bring the elders of Israel
with you. These elders, they resemble the elect. They're pictures
and types of the elect of God. What role do they play in this
whole thing? God stands on the rock. Moses stands there with
the staff. He smites the rock. The water
flows out. What did they do during all this? They do nothing. Absolutely nothing. What did
I do to contribute to my salvation? I brought the sin that made it
necessary. That was it. You know what they did? They
looked. They watched. They were witnesses. I think
this is an applicable scripture. Psalm 22, 17 says, I may tell
all my bones. They look and they stare upon
me. That's us. We're the bones. We are the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everywhere he's been, we've been.
Everything he's done, we've done. And what did we do? How did we
contribute to that in any way? We didn't. We simply look to
him. We trust him. We believe upon
him. I want to give you the last component
of this story. Turn over to Numbers chapter 20. In the story, the children of
Israel find themselves in the desert of Zin. For whatever reason,
the rock has stopped giving them water. Now, how do you imagine
they react to this? They're in the same predicament
again. They don't have any water. How do you think they react to
this? The exact same way they did before. Rebellion and unbelief. They hadn't got any better. Same
old story with them. But the Lord's going to provide.
Look here and look at verse 7. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou
and Aaron thy brother, and listen to this, 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
thou shalt give the congregation their beast drink. And Moses
took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. Now,
as a point here, this is not the rod that he had before. This
is not the rod of judgment. This is actually Aaron's rod
that budded. This is the rod of life. Verse 10, and Moses
and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. And
he said unto them, hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you
water out of this rock? And Moses lift 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 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 them." Question here, why was it so wrong for
Moses to smite this rock twice? The Lord said, don't smite it,
speak to it. What was wrong with this? Because there was a severe
penalty for this. For this singular act, he will
not let Moses and Aaron into the promised land. We got a big
problem here. Why was this so wrong? For this
reason, Hebrews 9.28, so Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed
himself once. The wrath of God fell on him
once. He said, it is finished, once. And he left absolutely
nothing left undone. Everybody he died for, he single-handedly,
on that cross, accomplished their salvation. And to smite that
rock again is to say there is something he left undone. That
there is something you need to do to make his work effectual
for you. That's what that says. That's
why it's such a big deal, because it defies the very nature of
the gospel. He was smitten once. He offered himself once. And
in that single offering of himself, he made satisfaction with God
on behalf of everyone he died for. Notice this, though. in all this rebellion. And the
rebellion had gotten worse, mind you, right? So now, the children
of Israel are back to the same way they were before, full on
rebellion, full on unbelief, but now it's seeped into Moses,
right? He talks to Moses and Aaron and he says, you guys don't
believe either. And Moses was the one who outwardly just defied
the Lord. He hit the rock. The Lord had just told him, don't
smite it, talk to it. And he gets up there and he gets
mad and he hits the rock all over again. Everybody's disobedient. Everybody's
useless. And you would think at this point
the Lord would have enough of them and just said, that's it. I'm wiping you
all out and I'm starting over. And you know what happened? Water
flowed from the rock just like it had every other day. In all
our rebellion, in all our unbelief, In all our worthlessness, what
happens? Every single time, he cannot deny himself. And the
water flows, the life flows, the life flows. Now finally,
notice that the commandment was to speak to the rock, not to
smite it. You speak to the rock. Now, for
everyone in here, do not smite the rock. Do not try to bring
something to God on your own, saying, you should accept me
because I... Don't try to help him. Don't do anything like that.
Don't smoke the rock. You speak to it. You speak to the rock.
You confess your sins to the rock. You ask the rock for forgiveness. You ask the rock for mercy. Beg
for it. You ask the rock that he would give you faith in him
because he is the giver of that faith. You speak to that rock
and you let nothing stand in your way. Don't let your sins
hold you off. This man, this rock, Jesus Christ, is the friend
of sinners. He came into this world to save sinners. That's
what he said in his word. Now believe him. Believe Him. I'm talking to me. Believe Him.
Believe God is good to His Word because He always is. Don't let
your sins hold you off. Do not let the sovereignty of
God and salvation hold you off. I've used the word elect over
and over and over. Elect His people. Who are those
people? They are sinners in need of Jesus Christ who have done
everything in their salvation. And if you meet that category,
if that's you, you're elect. And it's the very sovereignty
of God that is drawing you in even right now. Do not smoke the rock. Speak
to the rock. Beg the rock. And the water will
flow, and you'll have life. That's Romulini.