Numbers chapter 20, the title
of our messages speak to the rock. And we are in the 40th
year of our sojourn. We are headed to the land of
Canaan because that's God's purpose, his vision, his objective, his
teleological goal for the children of Israel, the land of Canaan. As I told you before, getting
to the land of Canaan is not all that easy. You've got three
enemies keeping you from entering into the promised land, the world,
the flesh, and the devil. And we saw as they were making
their way through that the Edomites wouldn't even give them the convenience
of passing through their territory. We just want to pass through.
We're not stopping to visit. We're not going to pillage you.
We're not going to take anything from you. We just want to pass
through wouldn't let them do it. Why because the devil ruled
in Edom and the enemy knows that if God's people ever make it
to Canaan, he's in trouble. And we said this last week or
two weeks ago, there are two people who have an invested interest
in God's people making it to Canaan, and that's God himself
and the devil. Now, we are in the 40th year,
as I said. Now, that's very important. Now, we're right up on the brink
of entering into Canaan in our text. You may not be able to
see that in Numbers 20, but if you go to Numbers 33, where in
Numbers 33, we have the account of the 42 encampments. that are describing the children
of Israel's excursion through the wilderness. And we happen
to be at approximately the 34th encampment right here. We are
on the brink of entering into the promised land. We are in
the 40th year. And in this 40th year, some very
ominous things occur quite naturally. And they have a very significant
redemptive connotation of which we want to understand today. On the one hand, as our elder
was reading Numbers 20 and he alluded to the ominous character
of the death of Aaron and Miriam, he suggested or implied that
this passage ought to apprehend us if we could put our feet in
the shoes of these people who walked with Moses, Aaron and
Miriam for the 40 years that they did, you could sense with
them that something very serious took place in the death of Aaron
and in the death of Miriam. Isn't that right? Well, yeah.
And in essence, what's taking place is what was talked about
in Sunday school this morning. where our elder was dealing with
John chapter 10, where Jesus quoting from a passage in the
Psalms described God's viewing of those who are rulers in the
church and the world as gods. Hath not it been written, it
is said that you are gods. And what he was elaborating on
is the importance of rulership in the world and in the church
as being directly ordained by God for the purpose of giving
God glory in all things. And when the worldly rulers or
the religious rulers, such as myself and my elder, do not conform
to the word of God in terms of his will and purpose, guess what
the psalmist says? God judges them. That's true. You saw that this week, if you
pay any attention to the news. Now, it doesn't mean that you
don't make discerning, discriminating conclusions about whether a person
is preaching the truth. You're supposed to. You prove
all things, you hold fast to that, which is good, right? You
don't suspend critical thinking skills in determining whether
a person is telling you the truth or not. You don't do that. God
didn't say that when he said thou shalt not judge. What he
meant was it is not your job to bring condemnation or judgment
on that person in terms of their eternal destiny. You can determine
whether or not a man is telling you the truth or not. You can
determine that. However, what's very, very important
about our text is Unlike most of the judgments most of us have
seen over the three and four or five decades we've been in
America, been in the Lord here in America over the last three
or four or five decades, we've seen God judge false rulers.
We've seen him judge ungodly preachers. We've seen God expose
the crooks and the shenanigans in religion. We've seen that.
And God does that in his mercy in order to help you understand
how close you are to damnable deception. But what you don't
often see is when God disciplines and judges his own faithful godly
servants, which he does also. And in our account, I want you
to follow me. I hope you can hold on now for an hour. In our
account, I want you to understand what God is doing. In this 40th
year, God put Miriam to death. In this 40th year, God put Aaron
to death. And in this 40th year, God put
Moses to death. All three of these, these pillars
of Israel died in the wilderness in the 40th year. Now that's
very serious. When your whole leadership structure
at the pinnacle of leadership is gone in one year, marry them
in the first month. Moses in the fifth month. I mean,
not Moses, but Aaron. And Moses somewhere in the 11th
month before Israel goes into the land of Canaan. All three
of them died. All three of them were brothers and sisters. All
three of them were at the head of the rulership contingency
in Israel. But there's some messages here
for us to understand. Remember, the scriptures are
written to point us to who? Christ, don't ever miss that.
So there's some things to learn here. Why was it so that they
all died here in the wilderness? Well, just to give you a running
start, it's because Miriam and Aaron and Moses represented that
carnal system. They represented that legal system.
They represented that system of works, which cannot bring
you into the kingdom of God. So they must die in the wilderness.
They must die in the wilderness. They represented that political
kingdom that can bring you to the brink, but can't cross you
over. Am I making some sense? So they've
got to die in the wilderness. So let's understand some things.
Recalling now Miriam. Remember Miriam? Sister Miriam
hasn't been heard from for several decades now. Last time we heard
from Sister Miriam, she had gotten in trouble with the Lord. Remember
that? And all of a sudden she goes into obscurity. Now, there's
a lesson for you. When you get out of line and
God taxes you for something that you've done wrong, particularly
when you have a prominent role in leadership, you will find
yourself in obscurity even as a true child of God. We think
about many people in the scriptures that have had potentially dominant
roles who over some indiscretion in their life, God set them on
the sidelines. One person I'm thinking about
right now is Barnabas in the New Testament. He has so much
potential working with the Apostle Paul in the ministry of the gospel.
But because he had such great love for Mark, his little nephew,
Him and Paul got into it because Paul saw the gospel as essential
and Barnabas saw relationship between Paul and Mark as essential. And the next thing we know, Barnabas
disappears. Now Barnabas is saved, but his
choice, his choice greatly curtailed his significance in terms of
contributing to the kingdom of God. Do you hear what I'm saying?
This is what happened to Miriam. You remember what happened to
Miriam? She had that problem, this problem of pride, and she
committed that scurrilous accusation against her brother Moses in
accusing him of marrying an Ethiopian. You guys remember that. And I
told you when we go through the Old Testament, God's gonna do
things whereby you and I find out what's important to him.
And Miriam found out what was important to God, and that was
this, God's no respecter of persons. And whenever we start to imply
that our own ethnic group is superior or better than some
other ethnic group, God will put you on the sideline. I guarantee
you that. I guarantee you that God will
not use you if somehow you feel like just because of who you
are, you're better than someone else. Can I share a rule with
you before I go on? This is very important. God always,
and this was implied in the study. I'm just going to put it within
a concept to help you. It was implied in the study this
morning. God always, always without exception, not only delivers
the poor and the needy and the minority, it's through them he
gets his glory. He always gets his glory through
those who are disadvantaged. So if we try to rush to the front,
if we try to rush to a place of prominence and prestige and
power, we're setting ourselves up to fight against God. Be careful.
Be very careful. So when Miriam did that, she
found herself in trouble. For the next 38 years, Sister
Miriam had to wear a big brim hat with shades. and play with
her nieces and nephews happily preaching salvation by free grace
in Christ alone apart from works. She was happy, but she couldn't
play a significant role. Are you understanding what I'm
saying? That's what God did for her because she may she was a
major type. She was a major type of the church.
See her scandal against her brother Moses pointed to the ridicule
and opposition that the Pharisees and the Sadducees cast at our
Lord Jesus when they said this man eats Republicans and sinners.
This man eats with tax collectors. He eats with the heathen. Absolutely,
that's who he came for. Do you hear what I'm getting
at? That's who he came for. There's your correspondence.
So God says to Miriam, because you have violated my major gospel
type, I'm setting you to the side. even though Miriam was
a prophetess, even though God called her to prophesy a song
and to sing with the saints at the Red Sea. Remember when she
saw so great a deliverance on the part of the Hebrew people,
God delivered them through the Red Sea. That Red Sea was a great
type of Christ in him crucified, the bloody cross by which sinners
come out of Egypt into the promises of God. And she's saying about
the triumph of God and the glory of God and how God had destroyed
the enemy in the midst of the sea. That was true. But then
she got in trouble a little later on down the line. You know what
that means, folks? You can ostensibly come into the kingdom of God
having heard the gospel and rejoice. And once you get here, get your
priorities turned all upside down and God will check you on
that. God will check you on that. So
now let's talk about the next person because Miriam was a pillar
in the church. Aaron, you guys remember brother
Aaron? Brother Aaron dies in the wilderness here in the fifth
month. We'll be looking at verses 22 through 29 here in a moment,
but you remember his problem. God had called him, he was a
great servant too. He was eloquent in words and
God used him as the mouthpiece of Moses to deliver the children
of Israel out of Egypt. So he had a great role. But remember
what I said last time? If God gives you a one-year contract,
don't assume that you're gonna have another contract the second
year. So Aaron got in trouble right along with Miriam, didn't
he? Because he joined hands with his sister in that scurrilous
accusation against Moses, and God checked him. But you remember
what Aaron did before that? Went in there, as it were, 12th
encampment, Three months into their journey into the wilderness,
God sat them down on Mount Sinai and gave them the law of God.
You guys remember that, right? God called Moses into the Mount
with Joshua and 70 of the elders, and up in the Mount, they worshiped
God according to spirit and truth. They worshiped God according
to the revelation of the true and the living God in the person
of Jesus Christ. God spoke to his people. That's
called worship. Worship is when God reveals himself
to you through the scriptures Worship is when God reveals himself
in your heart when the dynamic of the Spirit of God is working
in your soul Confirming the presence and eminence of the person of
Christ. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Understand
then worship begins with God it begins with a revelation of
God down at the bottom of the hill They had another worship
service going on. Remember that? Radically different
than the one that was up in the heavens. It was a carnal worship
service. It was a worship service according
to the works of men's hands. Remember that? That Babylonian
Egyptian golden calf that Aaron helped build. and they were down
there having a drunken party. They were hooping and hollering
and having a great time, attributing to this golden calf, God's deliverance
and power. And we learned, didn't we? How
you feel doesn't determine where you stand with God. You can come
in and out of a building talking about having a great time, but
if the gospel wasn't preached and you didn't worship God in
spirit and in truth, you were deluded just like they were. That's where Aaron basically
sealed his doom. Right there. That's where he
basically sealed his doom. God would say to Aaron, you can't
bring the people in either. You can't bring them in because
that worship of the golden calf would play itself out several
times in the whole history of Israel. Israel would constantly
find themselves apostatizing and defecting from the truth.
And we learned over in first Kings that Jeroboam did the same
thing. He built two golden calves, one
for Dan and one for Bethel. and the people fail for it again
and this is all a foreshadowing type of apostate christianity
going on in your presence right now do you see the difference
can you see the difference folks between the true gospel and the
false gospel of religion today you better ask yourself that
because this is these are very serious times very serious times. So what we often have are the
warnings of scripture from long, long ago, teaching us of how
the enemy works and deceiving the masses of the people. So
Aaron can't bring them in. Aaron can't bring them in. And
we read over in verse 22, look with me at verses 22 through
29, see what happens. This is how God gracious, graciously
puts Aaron away. In verse 22 of our text, it says,
and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation journeyed
from Kadesh and came on to Mount Orr. This here is in the regions
of Moab. Moab is right by the river Jordan. Jordan is what we will be crossing
over in a couple of weeks to get into the land of Canaan.
And the significance of the crossing over of Jordan becomes very important
for us to understand. The Lord spoke unto Moses and
Aaron in the Mount, of or in the coast land of Edom saying
Aaron shall be gathered to his people for he shall not enter
into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel because
you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Now
notice what Aaron had to do take Aaron and Eliezer his son and
bring them up to Mount or and strip Aaron of his garments and
put them upon Eliezer his son. Aaron shall be gathered to his
people. And you go all the way down to
verse 29, you find that the people wept for 30 days at the death
of Aaron. That was a very serious transition. Very, very serious transition. What's happening here? What we're
finding out is that leadership has made significant mistakes
and have suffered for it. We're finding out also that all
human leadership is subject to these things. Isn't that right?
All human leadership are subject to these things. All right, now
let's get to Moses, because Moses is another brother that we have
to really reckon with. What happened to Moses? Well,
according to Numbers chapter 20, they finally got to brother
Moses, finally got him. He did well for 40 years. He
led these people out of Egypt under the hand and power and
guidance of God. And you know, all through his sojourn, he had
a difficult time with them, didn't he? They were constantly wanting
to return again to Egypt. They were constantly gathering
together in insurrection, wanting to stone even Moses, the servant
of God, and sometimes Aaron as well. So Moses had to put up
with these people for 40 years. Listen to me, there's a time
at which you just get tired of it. And on this occasion, Moses
was tired, but I want you to grasp the more spiritual significance. Moses was tired, and because
he was tired, the enemy took opportunity to cause him to stumble. Are you following me? See the
enemy is ever lurking to stop God's people from entering into
the blessings of the gospel ever lurking. He will allow you to
get right up to the brink. He'll be satisfied with you being
able to get a look into the kingdom. But as long as you don't enter
into the kingdom into the blessings of Christ, he's satisfied. Don't,
don't listen to what Paul says. Let no man spoil you of your
reward. Let no man deceive you by vain
philosophies and doctrines of men, which are not after Christ,
but are after this world to take you captive and spoil you from
the gospel blessings. Because that's all the enemy
wants you to do. He'll let you get right up to the brink of the
blessing and then stop you from entering into the blessing. Don't
fall short of it. Anyhow, we have to understand
that Moses, while he is a great type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
in terms of him being the lawgiver and a prophet and a priest, as
it were, Moses is not Christ. You know what that means? All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What that means
is all of us are subject to temptation. All of us are subject to fall.
All of us are subject to error. And as a consequence, what this
text teaches us is to beware. Paul said to Timothy, take heed
to yourself. and to the doctrine. Did you
hear that? He said, first take heed to yourself
and then to the doctrine. This applies to all rulers. Because
there's a sense in which rulers can get into a position where
they may be taking heed to the doctrine. They might even be
taking heed to the church and yet not take heed to themselves.
And as a consequence, get themselves in trouble. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Because that's what happens very often. And what's
happening in this case is that brother Moses was more inclined
to take the accusations that were brought to him, which we're
going to address here in a moment. He was more inclined to take
those accusations personally. Their request for water was not
personal. All right, let's move into the
message. Very important. Let's deal with our contacts. If you
follow me in your outline, our context says what? Thirst. The
issue is thirst, isn't it? They're thirsty. Look at verse
five. 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 a fig
or a vines or a pomegranates, neither is there any water to
drink. Saints, listen to me, they were
right. I want you to understand the
context. You can't draw conclusions unless you understand the context.
They were being brought to the brink of Jordan, but they were
in a part of the peninsula, the Sinai Peninsula, which had no
water whatsoever. The ground was so parched, you
couldn't grow anything on it. They were right. A million and
a half people, maybe upwards of two million people out here
in the middle of the desert. They don't have the luxury of
the Red Sea or any little water basins anywhere. They are in
a completely dry, parched territory. Now let's put our feet in their
shoes. Be honest with me now. How cranky
do you get when you don't have water after six or seven hours?
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Because I want you to be able
to derive from the text reality, not simply hypotheticals and
mystical concepts. These people were thirsty. Now,
when they came to Moses, they didn't simply say, man, give
us something to drink. They said, here, Moses, here's our problem.
We're way out here in the middle of nowhere. And when it says
evil place, it means this. It's the place that doesn't produce
anything. That's an evil place. That's
an evil place. And if you're in a place where
it doesn't produce anything, you're in an evil place. Did you get
that? We're in an evil place. We can't
grow pomegranates. We can't grow figs. We can't
grow this. We can't grow that. We can't even provide something
so that in six months we can have something to nurture ourselves.
We are in an evil place. They were. They were thirsty. Now watch this now, please, because
we are dealing with what I've told you before. God, as he brings
us through the wilderness sojourn, he takes us through repeated
experiences, the same experiences over and over again. This is
called the recapitulation principle. Remember that? A repeat and then
an expansion of the same lesson. a repeat and then an expansion
on the same lessons. Very often you and I are found
in the same place after many years wondering, why am I still
here? Because there's something else to learn. That's all. You think you got the lesson
all the first time? If you did, you wouldn't be there again.
Am I making some sense? This is important. You and I
don't get it the first time. Read it for yourself, Proverbs
chapter 6, 23. I said it last night in the men's
meeting. The law is a light and the commandment is a lamp and
reproof of instructions are the way of life. You know what God
does? He tells us over and over and over and over again. You know why? Because we're slow. Not me, pastor. Okay, not you. The principle that we talked
about the first time we dealt with the water dilemma, the water
crisis that Israel had in number 16, the principle we talked about
was the principle of thirst. They were in a situation where
they were thirsty, rule number one, because God put them there.
Now listen to me carefully, because this, if you don't get anything
else today, this is critically important. Thirst, Thirst is
something God does to drive you to him. Thirst is something God
does to drive you to him. God puts his people in situations
where they are thirsty so that they can look to Christ. He makes
us thirsty. He strips us of confidences. He removes from us props. He
allows our souls to dry up for seasons so that we can seek God. Am I making some sense? This
is what the text is doing and it did it several times all throughout
the sojourn. They were constantly finding
themselves without that basic element called water. Why? Because
God put them there. Thirsting is a blessing. Thirsting is a blessing. You won't move until you're thirsty. You won't respond until you're
thirsty. You won't cry out until you're thirsty. You won't admit
the truth until you're thirsty. Do you hear what I'm saying?
You won't do it. You just won't do it. So when
these folks came to Moses, they were being real. Their request
was authentic. It was legitimate. Look at verse
two. And there was no water for the congregation. They gathered
themselves together against Moses and Aaron. You think about it.
Our bodies are made up of 80% water. Gotta have it. This is
no small issue. And they cried out, look, it'd
be better that we had died. Isn't that right? Now let me
ask you a question before we go on and develop this. Which
one is easier to handle? Thirsting to death or being dead? I'm trying to help you now. I'm
trying to help which one if you're listen to me if you're a child
of God and you know to be absent from the body is to be present
with the Lord do you believe that that's what I believe I believe
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord I
believe to be with the Lord is far better but I have to be here
because he's called me to preach the gospel but to be with the
Lord is far better now I know we're such a carnal generation
today we can't embrace that promise but you better learn to We're
such a carnal generation, we think somehow down here is where
it's at. It's not. If you and I could ever get a
glimpse of glory for real, it would strip us of all of our
delusions of grandeur and love for this carnal world. So then,
if a child of God is grounded in the vision and revelation
of God's glory in Christ, do you know what? Every opportunity
to exit this world thrills his soul. You missed that. You missed that, but it's just
true. And so here's what they said. It would be better to die.
And I can understand that rationale because think about it. You're
thirsting to death. You are famished. And if there
is no promise of God's deliverance is going on and kill me, let
me go to glory. Isn't that right? But I want you to follow the
principles because the principles are very clear. Thirsting is
where God wants us to be. First and foremost, thirsting
is an honor. It's an honor to thirst. Jesus
thirsted. John chapter four says that he
was making his journey through Samaria because he had to meet
one of his elect children. He was wearied and he sat by
the well, which he gave his servant Jacob to create or to make or
to purchase. And his soul was weary. Remember
that? And he asked the sister that came along for a drink of
water while he was thirsty. Jesus was thirsty. He was thirsty. In John 19, verse 28, he's hanging
on Calvary's tree as a substitute for sinners under the wrath of
God. And Psalm 22 says, his soul was so dry that his tongue cleaved
to the top of his mouth. Brother, that's thirsty. And
he cried out, I thirst. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Thirsting is good. Thirsting is good. Jesus said
it in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6 blessed. Are they that hunger
and thirst? You're in danger when you don't
thirst you're in danger when you don't hunger and you know
what the Apostle said in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 Around
verse 7. He says we are in hungers and
thirsting all the time. You have these these Idiots talking
about the call to the apostolic ministry God called me to be
an apostle. No, he didn't No, he didn't. He didn't call you to be an apostle.
He already called his apostles and they already laid the foundation
and there's no other foundation that can be laid than that which
is already laid, which is Christ Jesus. And they already went
through what we call the apostolic march, which is seeing the resurrected
Christ, which is being endowed with the powers of judgment in
order to establish the church. And then also being called to
suffer the way Christ suffered. Apostolic ministry is not glorious.
Apostolic ministry doesn't allow you to drive around in Rolls
Royces with Rolex watches and tweak $20 million homes. Apostolic
ministry has you hated by everyone. and love by God. Apostolic ministry
has you despised by your religious colleagues, but loved by the
saints. Apostolic ministry has you practically buck naked, just
like your Lord Jesus. And apostolic ministry calls
for your death for Christ's sake. That's apostolic ministry. So
you want to be an apostle? Go for it. See, I'm not deceived
by that foolishness. I hope you aren't. And then we
read in John chapter seven, I love this. Jesus said in John chapter
seven in verse 37, when on that great day of the feast, it was
the last day of the feast of tabernacles. Our Lord Jesus stood
up in the midst of tens of thousands of people. And you know what
he said? He said, if any man thirst, you remember that? I don't like that loud preaching,
I do. Because sometimes I just can't hear unless somebody just
tell it to me. If any man thirsts, you know
what he said? Let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me. Isn't that what he said? He that
believeth on me. Watch this now. As the scriptures
have said, out of his belly. Is it the believer? No, it's
Christ's belly. Don't miss that. He that believeth
on me out of Christ's belly shall come the rivers of living water
by which the soul of the thirsty is quenched. That's good interpretation,
brothers, because it's true. And you can read it for yourself
in Isaiah chapter 43 and turn with me now to Psalm 107 so that
we can lay this part down so that we can go to the next part.
Here's what I'm saying. The thirsting of the soul is
providentially from God. You are blessed when you are
found thirsting for God. And God is gonna see to it for
those who request a satisfaction of their thirst, that he reveals
to them a savior that can satisfy them. Is that good enough? Listen
to what it says in Psalm 107. Psalm 107, the beautiful portion
of scripture, Marie verses four through nine. And you tell me
if this is not your experience. This is the experience of every
true believer. Watch this. Verse four, they
wandered in the wilderness. That's where we are. They wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. I was preaching up in Oregon
last week and I was talking to them out of first Peter about
the fact that when you become saved, God makes you a stranger
and a pilgrim in this world. Don't fight that principle. Don't
fight that principle. He made you that way so that
you don't find satisfaction in this world and to keep you moving
towards glory. See, because when you're simply
a stranger in a strange land, you're moving towards glory.
Did you get that? But what that means is you are
subject to vulnerability because as a stranger you're a minority.
That's what it meant here by solitary way. It's a solitary
way for the believer. The believer is always in a solitary
way. Saints don't look for the majority. You don't need the
majority. All you need is Christ. See, the majority will deceive
you. That's false religion today. The broad road that our Lord
said, avoid with all your life. Take that narrow way with the
saints who understand how to walk in the solitary way. And
that solitary way is Christ alone. Christ alone. So then as they're
going through the wilderness in this solitary way, God is
allowing them to be thirsty. He's allowing them to be thirsty.
You guys know how that is. Some of you have been Christians
for 20, 25 years, 30 years. And you finally have begun to
learn the reason why I am not completely and totally satisfied
is because God doesn't want me to be. Isn't that good counsel? You better get it. Cause we're
going to see a passage here that's going to cause us to raise some
eyebrows about this idea of wanting to be completely contented in
this world. Verse five, hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted
within them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. Isn't that good? And he delivered
them out of their distress and he led them forth by the right
way. That's what you'll do when you
get hungry. You'll call on God and then he'll
deliver you by the right way. And it goes on to say that they
might go to a city of habitation. All that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry
soul with goodness. That's my experience. Is it yours?
That's what he does. But it's a cycle. It's a cycle. We are filled and then we're
hungry. Then we're filled and then we're hungry because we're
making our way to the promised land. You got to understand that
child of God. Now, the importance of understanding this principle
will keep you from falling prey to this Laodicean age in which
we live. Revelation chapter three, go
there. The importance of understanding this principle will keep you
from falling prey to this Laodicean church age in which we live right
now. to be hungry and thirsty for
God consistently and continually will keep you from being deceived
by the alternative that is offered to the world with regards to
this very affluent lifestyle that you and I are involved in,
privileged with rather here in America. See, we all believe
that we are really highly blessed by God when we've got our situation
perfectly in order. We think we're all together totally
blessed by God when all of our bills are paid. When we got two
cars in the garage and big screen, flat screen, high digital televisions
in every room. We think we're blessed of God,
we're not. We think we're blessed of God when we have big churches
and well-to-do, accomplished people with degrees and different
affluences among men in the world. We think we're blessed of God.
We're not. Scripture speaks differently.
Scripture speaks differently. Listen to it for yourself in
Revelation chapter three. This is God talking. This is
the last church of the seven churches, which typify all the
churches of the New Testament age and did foreshadows prophesize
this Laodicean period in which we look at the problem that the
Laodicean church had. I'm in verse 14, the angel of
the church to the Laodiceans. Right. These things set the amen. The first, the faithful and the
true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Verse 15,
I know your works. Here's what God says. I know
that you are neither cold nor hot. This is what I know about
you. You have no zeal for me. I know that. That's what he's
saying. I know that you are neither cold
nor hot. I would that you were cold or
hot. So then because you are lukewarm,
neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. Now listen to what he says, because
you say I am rich, see it. That's their assessment of themselves.
They're rich. Because you say you have increased with goods.
I've got a business strategy that secures me millions for
years. And because you say I have need
of nothing. I am secure because my works
secure me. My deeds secure me. I know I'm
all right with God. Cause I pay my tithe. The preacher
told me if I pay my tithe, I'm good to go. You're deceived.
You're deceived. Pay your tithes, but you're not
good to go. What you don't know is that you're wretched. That's
what you don't know. This is a perfect description
of false religion. Do you hear me? Does anyone here know the wretchedness
like me? I hope you do. Because if you
don't, you can't be saved. You're deluded. Miserable, you don't even know
your misery. You don't know how poor you are. You don't know
how blind you are. You don't know that you have
no righteousness, no righteous standing with me at all. There
it is. I counsel you to buy of me gold
tried in the fire that you might be rich and white raiment that
you may be clothed. That is the righteousness of
Christ. and that your shame, the shame of your nakedness does
not appear. And anoint your eyes with eyesalve so that you can
see the glory of God in the gospel when it's preached so that your
soul can be continually anchored in Christ alone. Now I'm telling
you what's going on today. Jesus is saying they think they're
good to go. They have no righteousness, they
have no covering, they have no revelation, but the revelation
of carnal things that cater to their own base desires. They
don't see God's glory. Isn't that a bad place to be?
Go with me back to my text. Y'all hold on for a minute, we'll
learn a little bit more. It's a very dangerous thing to
be in a place where you are self-sufficient. It's a very dangerous place to
be when you've got all your ducks in a row. It's a very dangerous
place to be when you cannot get on your knees and seek God earnestly
because you need him. David said it in the Psalms.
My soul thirsted it longed for the true and the living God as
the heart heart panted after the water broke. So my soul thirsted
after God. Now, let me help you with this
as we go on with our tech. You can't pretend to be thirsty for
God. Isn't that right? You can't pretend
it and you're not manipulating the true and the living God I
just want you to know that the Laodicean Church was so busy
with its works righteousness with all of its ministries with
all of its accolades with all of its prominences worldwide
influence all of its evangelism God just walked out the door.
They never saw him They were so capable of functioning on
their own without God because of their methods, their techniques,
their programs, their ministries, their well-skilled musicians,
their scholarly individuals with regards to their programs got
left. They didn't need him. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? Didn't need him. And business
as usual goes on. and business as usual goes on.
I'm here to tell you, when God lays his hand on you and he's
bringing you to himself, he makes you thirsty for him. And that's
a good thing. That's a good thing. So we're
at the end of the wilderness sojourn. And that whole period
that's going on here in the 40th year, it signifies the time in
which we live right now. One of our memory verses is Amos
verse 11. You remember what Amos 11 says?
Thus saith the Lord, I shall send a famine into the land. Not a famine of bread, nor thirst
for water. See, we got plenty of that. but
of hearing the words of the Lord. The young men and the virgins
shall run to and fro all over the place to listen for, to look
for anyone preaching the truth. And you won't find it. Everybody
playing church. That's where we are. Now I want you to look at the
instructions given to Moses. This is very important. You know
why I'm so emphatic today? But I want some of you to be
very clear. You're on the brink of self deception. You're on the brink of destruction
of your soul. Now I'm just praying the spirit
of God will open your understanding. So just convert you right now
so that you can come to Christ and land square in the middle
of his security and don't leave. That's what I'm hoping for. Listen
to what he says. God speaks to Moses after Moses
and Aaron falls down on their face in verse six. 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. I'm always amazed
at that. When they fell and petitioned
to God, he came immediately. That was quick, wasn't it? And
notice what God says. We're gonna learn some lessons
here. Now we've been here before, but I'm hoping that at least
if you know these things, they become fresh to you. God tells
Moses some very specific instructions to follow. Very specific instructions. Point number one, Moses, take
the rod. Do you see that? Look at it in
verse eight. Take the rod, Moses. Take the
rod and gather the assembly together. You know what that's called?
A worship service. And that word there, assembly,
is the whole congregation. I'm gonna make a distinction
between this account and number 16, when Moses was before the
rock before. He says, take the right. Now,
do you guys remember that rod? Yeah, I do. Brother Moses is
on the backside of the wilderness, tending sheep, because God has
to humble you before he uses you. For 40 years, tending sheep.
And he had a rod. It was called a shepherd's rod.
It's the shepherd's staff. It's the staff you use to protect
the sheep and to comfort the sheep. Isn't that what Jesus
said? That's what David said in Psalm 23, thy rod and thy
staff. They do what? Comfort me. Now,
let me say something about that word comfort. I heard somebody
make mention of this the other day. When you read the word comfort,
both in the Old and the New Testament, don't buy into the idea of the
word comfort, meaning to meet your felt needs. That's a delusion. The word comfort there means
to correct you, to instruct you, to illuminate you, to give you
an advantage by seeing things the way God sees them. That's
comfort to the believer. If I'm out of the way, tell me
the truth. That's going to comfort me. Isn't that right? Because
my dilemma is I can't see the light. So when the gospel comes
with clarity, man, I'm comforted. Isn't that so? My flesh may be
troubled because I'm out of the way. I've got to go repent, ask
God for mercy. But man, I'm comforted because
now I can see the light. That's what comfort means. And
I will send another comforter to you. He will not only be with
you as I was with you, but he will be in you and he will take
the things of mine and he will show them to you. He will not
glorify himself. but he will take the things of
mine and he will show them to you. He will glorify me. And I'm telling you, Christ's
sheep are comforted when Christ is glorified. Isn't that so? See, the sheep can be, they can
be at peace as long as they can see the shepherd. But now you
eclipsed the shepherd and we're in trouble. And we're gonna see
something here. Now that rod, that was Moses'
rod on the backside of the mountain, but that rod changed commissions.
In Exodus chapter four, God told Moses to go back to Egypt and
get his people. Remember that? Moses said, man, I can't do that.
I can't preach. God said, what you got in your
hand? He says, a rod. He says, throw it down. He threw that
rod down and that rod turned into a serpent, for real. And
that rock was used by God to expose the false religion of
Egypt. Because in false religion, it tries to duplicate the true
religion. So Jonas and Jambres came along
saying, we preach the gospel too. But they had a couple of
staffs that were really snakes and they weren't staffs at all.
And they used a method that magicians use in order to paralyze the
snakes. And once those snakes are paralyzed,
you can throw them down and it will shake them out of their
paralysis and they'll move around. That's nothing but the trickery
and scam that goes on in religion. So God told Moses, throw that
rod down. Moses threw his rod down and went and swallowed him
up. That's what the truth does to the lie when it's preached.
Am I making some sense? You better think about what I'm
saying. Better think about what I'm saying. Go back to the text.
See, Christ shall have dominion. So the rod in Moses' hand is
a rod to expose false religion, but that rod was also in Aaron's
hand. It was called Moses' rod. It was called Aaron's rod. It's
funny. Aaron take this rod, man, and scatter it to the wind. And fleece and flies and worms
and frogs came in and just tore Egypt up. You remember that?
That was a rod did that. Now God is so God does have a
divine sense of humor here He is this infinite being fighting
against the greatest nation in the world and he sent flies Sin
flies He does that to show you how powerful he is Here what
I'm saying? It's a divine sense of humor.
Humor is not bad. I Humans because God laughs at
the wicked. Didn't we learn that Pharaoh
put an indictment out on God's people? We're going to kill every
one of the firstborn children. God says you got to be kidding.
Not only are you not going to kill my children, my son's going
to come up in your house and rule over Egypt for 40 years
and he allowed Moses to run the whole show for 40 years. Psalm
two says he shall laugh at them and have them in derision. I
believe that. I believe that. So he'll take
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. He'll take
small things to demonstrate that you and I have no power at all.
Microscopic, invisible things to lay low a whole nation. Our
brother was talking about the Assyrians in Isaiah chapter 36
and 37 this morning. God destroyed that whole group
of Assyrian army. Israel didn't have to do anything.
How did he kill them? Biological warfare. Yeah, it's good, isn't
it good? That's how God works. Aaron was
said to have that rod. It's in Exodus 6, Exodus 7. So
Moses had the rod, Aaron had the rod. You know in Exodus chapter
4, that rod was called God's rod. That was God's rod. Because the rod always represents
authority. It always represents power. So
when Moses gathers the people together, he's gathering them
together under the authority of God represented by the rod. Are you with me so far? This
is very important for you to get this. We can't gather together
in the name of Jesus Christ and by the spirit of God, unless
there's some authority here. You can't, this is not a social
club. This is not a democratic party. The gathering of the saints
is a gathering unto Christ. He's our authority. And our instrumental
authority is the word of God. And the efficient authority is
the spirit of God working through the gospel in the life of God's
people. Is that true? Kingdom of God
is not in word, it's in power. 1 Kings chapter four, 1 Corinthians
chapter four. So now let's go on. God tells
Moses to bring the congregation together and they come together
with the rock. Now this, to the rock rather,
with his rod. Now he has very specific instructions. This really amazes me. Verse
eight, take the rod, gather thou the assembly together, thou and
Aaron, your brother, and speak unto the rock. Do you see that?
Speak unto the rock. That's all he was called to do.
Now, here's what he did. He says, speak unto the rock
before their eyes. Now, the reason why he said that
is because in Numbers chapter 16, the first time that he engaged
the people of Israel about the matter of thirst, God told Moses
to tell the elders to gather with him in front of the rock.
Remember that? They gathered together in front
of the rock. What that means, saints, is the assembly was not
there. The only people that were there
were the elders. And in the presence of the elders,
what Moses was instructed to do 40 years earlier was to smite
the rock. And in smiting the rock, the
waters would come out. Did you get that? And when the
waters would come out, then the elders, along with Moses, would
be able to provide for the people the water necessary to quench
their soul. Now, here's the reason why God
did it that way, was to exalt and establish Moses as the ruler. Moses as a type of the law is
in that account being honored. It's being lifted up. God's law
has to be honored. God's law has to be honored.
We're talking this morning. I know there's always some ambiguity
there about respecting leadership. You've got to respect leadership.
You don't worship them, but you respect them. And so God's law
has to be honored. We understand that salvation
comes through Christ, but before it came through Christ, Christ
himself had to come under the law. Isaiah 42 says he shall
exalt God's law and make it honorable. So that rod was used to smite
that rock. Who was that rock? Christ. Isn't
that what first Corinthians chapter 11 says? And that rock which
followed them through the wilderness was who? Christ. And when Moses
took the rod, you guys know this, Moses in that account is a representative
of the law of God. And Christ had to come under
the curse of the law. The law had to smite our Savior
in order for the people to have their souls satisfied, Christ
has to die. Do you believe that? And so the
scripture tells us in the Gospel of Matthews and in the Book of
Zechariah, smite the shepherd. and the sheep shall be scattered.
Isn't that right? The scripture tells us in Isaiah chapter 53,
and he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted. He was wounded
of God. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. There's Genesis 3 15. Our Savior
had to be what? Smitten, He was made under the
law, born of a woman to redeem those who were under the curse
of the law. As it is written, Christ became a curse for us
who believe the gospel. He became a curse for his people
as a substitute for his people. So we see in that first account,
the exaltation of what we call the justice of God in the death
of Christ on Calvary's tree. Are you guys hearing me? Let
me tell you something. A lot of people think somehow
that, what happened on Calvary's tree? 2000 years ago bears very
little relevance to my spiritual life today. I beg to differ.
I want you to understand something. The great atrocity committed
in religion today is that people have minimized the crucified
Christ. We have minimized the significance
of what we call in theology, the pinnacle of redemption, the
heart of the gospel, which is Christ and him crucified. What
Moses did in smiting that rock was to fulfill his role as the
law of God. Romans 4 verse 15 says the law
worketh wrath. Let me tell you something. If
you're without Christ today, you're under the wrath of God.
The wages of sin is what death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ. Now that gift comes through the
rock. What we learned last time is the water that Jesus spoke
about in John chapter 7. If any man believe on me out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water is the spirit
of the living God. Isn't that right? He said in
this he spoke concerning the spirit which was not yet given.
So we know that the water represents the spirit. But do you understand
you can't get the spirit apart from Christ? You can't get the
spirit apart from the crucified Christ. You can't get the spirit
until you see Christ crucified in your behalf, having put away
your sins by the sacrifice of himself. Do you get that? This
idea of obtaining the blessings of the spirit of God to the neglect
of the doctrine of the gospel of Christ and him crucified,
it doesn't match with scripture. You can't have the spirit without
having Christ. Am I making some sense you can't
so then when you meet people who don't understand the gospel
listen carefully to me You don't have the spirit You might have
another spirit, but you don't have the Spirit of God Listen
carefully the Spirit of God comes through the crucified Christ
So that first account of Moses smiting the rock was in obedience
to God because he was fulfilling the typology that scripture sets
down. So you can't violate the typology
because the typology is God's vision. The typology exalts Christ. It speaks to Christ. So you can't
violate that. So Moses did that. So listen
to me for 40 years. God provided for the children
of Israel. Moses gets to this account. God
tells Moses, Moses, speak to the rock. Elliptically, don't
touch that rock, Moses. Do you hear what I'm saying?
I feel for Moses now, right about now, I feel for him. Because
in one ear, he heard the instruction. This is so funny, this is how
this works. You're in your study. You're studying, you're praying,
you're reading, you're gonna do exactly what God says. You
get in front of the people, somebody takes you off, you say something
wrong. Well, I'm hypothesizing because obviously this is what
occurred with Moses. He had very clear instructions.
Speak to the rock. Now we gotta develop that. I
want you to understand speaking to the rock means something.
You have the whole mass of the congregation present. And here's
what the text tells us. speak to the rock before their
eyes. And Moses, when you speak to the rock, here's what will
happen. In the Hebrew, it's in the emphatic. This rock will
give you its water. It will give you its water. And
then you can take that water and give it to the people. What
I want the people to see are several things for which you
must only speak to the rock. Point number one, I want the
people to understand that the source of their satisfaction
comes directly from God. Am I making some sense? The source
of their satisfaction comes directly from God. You know what that
means? The source of your satisfaction doesn't come from the preacher.
It doesn't come from great preaching even. It doesn't come from all
of the great preachers you know. They aren't the source of your
satisfaction. God is. They're a vehicle. but God is
the source. See, we'll idolatrize preachers.
That's what Laodicea did. They had great preachers. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? And what God told Moses is don't
touch that, don't move, just speak. They will see that I am
their source, point number one. Point number two, what they will
see is that the provision that they need right now is the provision
that was established 40 years earlier for them. Am I making
some sense? Here's what I'm saying. I'm saying
that those of us who are trusting Christ today, as we did 20, 25,
30 years ago, when he revealed himself in his saving mercy,
the source of our blessing today is the same source we had 20
years ago. That's point number two. Point
number three, it doesn't diminish. We don't need a new thing today.
We don't need something new. We don't need a change of the
program. We don't need to modify nothing. All we need is to return
to that which satisfied us in the beginning. I'm the same person
today as I was 20 years ago, a sinner in need of the mercy
of God. Do you hear what I'm saying?
People got the same problem today they did tens of thousands of
years ago. You're sinners. When we need this and we need,
no, you don't, you need grace. We need this, we need, no you
don't, you need grace. That's your problem. If you ever
get the grace of God, you'll find that the Lord is your shepherd,
you shall not want. But see, now you're running around
wanting this, and you want that, and you want the other thing,
you've been deceived. Somebody told you, you're not
a sinner anymore. You're still a sinner. You're
still a sinner, and you still need the same thing that you
needed 20 years ago. I'm here to tell you, that's
the only way to get it too. God shut Moses up to Christ. God shut the children up to Christ. God shut them up to this reality.
If your soul is going to be satisfied, it's going to be satisfied by
the crucified Christ. You know what that means? All
you need is the gospel. Those of you who don't find the
gospel enough for you, you will never be satisfied with anything.
You will perish under the wrath of God. Do you hear what I'm
saying? This is why Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes unto the Father but by me. If you don't
believe in me, you will die in your sin. That's what he said. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
You will die in your sin. See, the Lord was the life in
the midst of religion, telling them, I am the life. You don't
get it anywhere else. You get it in Christ. You get
it in Christ. And so here's the next thing
you need to understand. Not only is he a present provision, not
only is there nothing new, not only is God the source, not only
is there no diminishing, no diminishing of the blessing of the gospel,
he told Moses to speak to the rock in order to exalt the preaching
of the gospel. See today in our church we do
everything but preach the gospel. Isn't that right? You might get
10 minutes, 5 minutes of preaching and that's nothing but hooping
and hollering and buffoonery. No substance whatsoever. And
you call, listen, you call worship the music and the dancing and
all of that. That's a delusion. That's a delusion. What's going to edify you? What's
gonna build you up? What's gonna strengthen you?
What's gonna cause you to leave here happy in your soul? Is God
speaking to you through his son, Jesus Christ? Speak to the rock. Speak to the rock. The tragic
mistake that Moses made is the mistake that's being made constantly
in our generation. Look at verse nine and 10. And
Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded. And
Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before
the rock. That's good, let's come together
to worship Christ. And he said unto them, now watch
this, here now, you rebels. Oh, here it is. Must we fetch you
water out of the rock? Did you get it? Did you get it? It happens in religion every
day. Men and women shouldn't be women here, but men and women
obscure the glory of God in the preaching of the gospel by causing
men to not look to Christ, but look to them. Every day. Every day. Every day. And then you grovel
up to the front of the pulpit, asking that preacher to lay hands
on you so that you can get the blessing. When the blessing is
yours in Christ. See, I know I'm telling the truth. I know I'm telling the truth.
And we've talked about this before. This is idolatry. Preacher worship
is idolatry. Preacher worship is idolatry,
but the reason why it's successful is because people have not heard
the gospel preached, and they've not seen, listen, I can guarantee
you, if you ever see the glory of God in Christ, preacher worship
won't do. If you ever hear the gospel in
your soul, you will stop listening to that which is wood, hay, and
stubble, I guarantee you that. I guarantee you, if you ever
hear Christ, if he ever speaks to your soul, if he ever blesses
you with his spirit to know him, you'll know the difference between
when they preach themselves and when they preach Christ. That's
what Jesus said in John chapter 7. He that desires to do the
will of God, he will know whether I speak of him or I speak of
myself. If you're seeking God, you can
tell if I'm preaching the gospel to you or not. unless you're
not God's sheep. And if you're not God's sheep,
you can't hear his voice. Did you hear what I just said?
If you're not God's sheep, you can't hear his voice. And I'm
making much ado about nothing to you. And you can't wait to
get out here so you can go back to that false religion. But today
I've told you. I've told you today. The ministry
of the church is Christ's ministry. And his job is to raise up ministers
that will feed the people with knowledge and understanding concerning
him. Because in him is eternal life
and in him alone. So he's exalting the preaching
of the gospel. He's teaching us something else. What Moses
did in eclipsing God's ordained means, which was the pointing
the men to Christ is to assume or imply a number of things that
are non-negotiable for us. Are you ready? For Moses to have
smoked that rock again. Are you ready? Is to imply that
the work that Christ did 2000 years ago was not finished. For
Moses to smite the rock was to say that Christ did not put away
our sins by the sacrifice of himself. For Moses to smite the
rock again was to suggest or imply when Christ hung on Calvary
Street 2,000 years ago and said, it is finished, it's not finished.
There was still something else to be done. For Moses to smite
the rock again means that atonement was not accomplished. Redemption
was not a procured, but that somebody has to still get to
Christ and put him to death again and again and again for sinners
to be able to benefit from his death on Calvary. We call that
works religion. From Catholicism, Catholicism
all the way to Lutheranism, to all of this fanatical Pentecostalism. Think about it. Think about it. When you read in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 18, Paul says, we preach Christ's crucified. Now watch
this. The first part is simple, is
we preach. It's in what is called the present indicative. What we do is constantly preach
Christ. We never stop preaching. We never stop preaching. God ordained preaching. What
do we preach, preacher? Christ crucified. You know what
verb form that is? It's what is called the perfect
passive indicative. You know what that means? You
can give it all in a Greek. This is what it means. The death
of Christ was perfect. It perfectly accomplished all
for which it did. The death of Christ, Christ crucified
means that there's nothing left to be done. We preach Christ
crucified because in Christ is the perfection of God to sinners. Are you hearing me? Colossians
chapter two, verse nine says Christ is the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. And we are what in him? Complete. You know what that means? Christ
crucified. I say this and I'm not doing
this in any kind of a pejorative towards my Hispanic brother.
Christ is the pinata. I want you to get that. Christ
is the pinata. And when God smote him out of
the pinata comes all the blessings of the fullness of God to needy
sinners. Am I making some sense? And it comes through the preaching
of the gospel. It comes through the preaching of the gospel.
So do I have problems? You bet I do. When I come to
church on Sunday, the issue is not how can I get a remedy for
myself? Do you hear what I'm saying?
Here's the issue. What is God's remedy for a needy sinner like
me, Christ, Christ and Him crucified. So the only thing I'm looking
for when I come into the doors of the church is the preaching,
the preaching of Christ. Did you get that? Amen.