Numbers chapter 20. I wanted to come right back here. We finished
last week concerning the red heifer. I wanted to come right
back here to this chapter for different reasons. One, it has
some practical lessons in it for us. And secondly, this is
the second smiting of a rock. that you and I want to consider
this afternoon. It's very, very important. This
is the second time that this took place in the history of
the nation of Israel. But another thing, too, that's
very interesting here in the last part of chapter 19, between
chapter 19 and chapter 20, there is about 38 years that's left
unwritten in this particular book of Numbers. When the red
heifer, we read that portion, then it skips about 38 years. And then in chapter 20 in verse
1, we pick up basically 38 years later in this passage. We know this because this is
the same chapter that tells us of Aaron being taken up to Mount
Horeb and stripped of his priestly garments and put on Eliezer,
his son. But let's look, let's just begin
here and look at some things in this chapter. And let's just
take it verse by verse as we do. As we go through it, we'll
take it one or two verses at a time. In verse 1, he says here,
Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation,
into the desert of Zion in the first month, and the people abode
in Kadesh, And Mariam, that's Moses and Aaron's sister, she
died there and was buried there. Now, Israel had wandered in this
wilderness for about 40 years. This was the 40th year that they
had been here in this wilderness. And the thing that happened here
is very peculiar. This is what I want us to see
first of all in this verse. There's something here in the
40th year, something that happened, I think that's very instructive
for you and I. They came here to Kaddish. They're
in the wilderness of Zin. And the strange thing is that
they were here, you remember, 40 years prior to this time. They came here to Kaddish, Garnia,
And they were on the border of the land of promise. Remember
that? They were on the border of the land. They had sent the
spies in. And they had came back and all
but Joshua and Caleb had gave the evil report. This is where
they were 40 years prior to this. And they left this place and
went back and wondered 40 years, almost 40 years, in this wilderness. And now,
40 years later, here they are, right back where they started
before. Now, what does that tell us?
Well, we can learn, I think, a practical lesson, and if there's
a practical lesson in here, it's this, that they come to this
point, and the Scripture says they could not go in because
of unbelief. Their heart was so filled with
unbelief they would not go in. So when they would not go in,
then God would not let them go in. And then because of their
rebellion, their unwillingness to obey the Lord, they left Kaddish
and went back and wandered 40 years in this willingness. And
before they could go into the land of promise, before they
could advance, they had to come right back. to this place where
the rebellion began. Now, there's a lesson in this
for us, isn't there? Sometimes when you and I go astray, God
help us, because we've not been watchful,
we've not been sober, we've not been diligent, we've been careless,
we went astray for one reason or another, and then we're apt
to be put in a wilderness, to go into a dry, barren wilderness. And before we ever advance any
farther, we come right back to this place where we were disobedient,
where we were slothful, and where we went astray. This is the lesson,
I think, that this teaches us here. Thirty-eight years had
passed, and now they come right back to the very place where
they ceased to walk with God in obedience. And I wonder sometimes,
brothers and sisters, if some of our long nights that we go
through in our spiritual journey and some of our cold winters
that we experience in our soul is not the cause of some disobedience
some slothfulness within us, somewhere that we've gone astray.
And before we can advance any further, we'll come right back
to the place where we left the Lord. I remember when the Lord
was riding to the church of Ephesus there in Revelation chapter 3,
and He said, I've got somewhat against you. Remember that? I've
got somewhat against you. What was the problem? What did
he have against them? You've left your first love in
your affections. I doubt if you can know that.
When you looked at them, they were still working. They were
still standing for the truth. But he says, in your affections
you've left me. And here was his instructions
to them. Remember from whence you are
fallen. Remember from whence, remember
where you left me in your affection and repent and do the first works. Return, return. I think this
is the practical lesson that you and I can see here in this
passage. If we reach the place in our
willingness journey where we're not trustful, Our hearts are
filled with unbelief and we're not trustful. We may well be put like these. We may well go off into the wilderness,
to the dry, burnt wilderness. And that was the reason they
couldn't go in because of unbelief. Trust in the Lord. Now listen
to this. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not to your own understanding
in all your ways. Acknowledge it. And then what
happens? Then He shall direct your steps. And when we don't trust in the
Lord and acknowledge Him in all our ways, then we're setting
ourselves up to go out into this dry, barren
wilderness until we're brought back. Thank God a child of God
will never be lost. A child of God will never be
lost. That's impossible. But it is
possible that they can be responsible because of their neglect, because
of their going astray, to be put in a wilderness where it's
dry and barren and perhaps for a long, long time before they're
brought back. into the way. That's a good practical
lesson for us to learn. There was a great loss to this.
Miriam, she dies here in verse 1. So she didn't get to go. Moses doesn't get to go. Aaron
doesn't get to go. There was a lot of loss because
of their going astray. So there is loss. A child of
God can lose much. He'll never lose Christ, but
he can lose so much if he's careless or he goes astray. And this lady,
Mariam, we don't see very much about her in the Scripture, but
we see some things about her. This was Moses and Aaron's sister,
and no doubt it was their oldest sister. And I picture this woman
to be, she's tough. I picture her to be a tough woman.
And she's sort of courageous. And she's a lover of the Lord.
And you remember when they were killing the little children.
Pharaoh was killing little children. And Moses was born. And her mother,
his mother put him in a little basket and pitched it and put
him out in the water and put pitch around so he could float.
It was Mary that stood and watched over him to see what would become
of him. And she was standing there when
Pharaoh's daughter and some of her maids come down and hear
little Moses crying and tuck him out of the basket. And she
went right up to Pharaoh's daughter and said, you want me to find
a maid for him? You want me to find somebody
to give supper for you for him? So she was a courageous little
woman and she loved Moses. And she watched over him. It
was this woman when they crossed the Red Sea that took her temple.
Remember this? And she was leading the women
out in worship. Saying, the horse and the rider,
he's thrown into the sea. The Lord has triumphed gloriously. Boy, she was a singer. She was
a singer. And here she dies. Moses and
Aaron loses their precious, precious sister. And I imagine they loved
her. Only one negative thing is ever said about this woman. Even the Lord said himself in
Psalms that the Lord led the children of Israel out by the
hand of Moses and Aaron and Mary. She had a hand in that. She was
a leader. And boy, I bet you they missed
her when she was gone. She was a mother of Israel. She
was a pillar in this church. You dear ladies, I tell you,
I don't know what we'd do. I bet this would have been a...
It was a difficult journey, anyway, in this wilderness. But I bet
you, without Mary, it would have been tougher. It would have been
tougher on Moses. It would have been tougher on
Aaron. And those women that look to her as their example and their
help, I tell you, it would have been a worse journey without
Mary. And you know something, you ladies,
and I'll tell you what these ladies said, Weak men could make
it, but it would be tough. I appreciate you, dear Marians,
in this congregation. And I know the Lord has forbid
you to do certain things. He's forbid you to preach publicly
from the pulpit. You're not to usher authority
over the men in that sense. And you ought to be thankful
to God for that. You never have to worry about
bearing that awful burden of the ministry. But I tell you,
you ladies, you dear sisters, you Mariams, you're as important
in the Kingdom of Christ as any God-called preacher. Now, that's
the way I feel about you. And when we lose any of you or
one of you, I tell you, we'll feel the loss, I'm sure, just
like Moses and Aaron felt the loss of their dear sister. She
died. And something else here we see
about it, they buried her there. You and I studied one time, the
first place that we ever found in the scriptures where it talks
about burial. I don't know if you remember,
it's been quite some time, when we were going through the book
of Genesis, the first place in the Bible where it talked about
a person being buried. Do you remember who it was? It's
been a long time ago, you probably don't remember. Abraham, buried. Sad. First time. And we learn
something from that, and here we see it again. The Jews, Israel,
always buried their dead out of their sight. They never did
burn them. They never did burn their bodies.
Sometimes the heathen did. Roman Catholicism. They loved
to burn Christians. They put a lot of them to the
stake and set them on fire. That's what you do to your enemies
if you're a heathen. You burn them. You burn your
body. They disrespect it. I know a lot of people, Wanda
can verify this, a lot of people today cremates the body because
of convenience or price. But you know, especially the
believer, your body is a purchased possession. And it's valuable. Look what it cost the Son of
God to purchase these bodies. And that's why he tells us that
our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which we have
in God, and we're not our own. We're bought with a price. Therefore,
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now, I've changed my opinion
on this through the years. I used to think that there was
nothing wrong with cremating our bodies. And I don't judge
people for it now. That's their business if they
want to do that. But I personally think that it's not showing the
respect for the body that should be shown. They buried her. They didn't
burn her, but they buried Mary. Look here in chapter 20 now. Look on in verses 2 through verse
5. Look at this. Here we've this
dear singer, her melodious voice is gone, and watch it replace
with murmuring. The voice of melody is gone,
and now here we go back to the murmuring. And there was no water
for the congregation, and they gathered themselves together
against Moses and against Aaron. And the people showed with Moses
and spake, saying, Would God that we had died with our brethren,
when they died before the Lord. Why have you brought us up this
congregation of the Lord into the wilderness that we and our
children should die there? 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 figs, or vines, or pop granites, or neither
is there any water to drink. Same old, same old way. Look
back over here with me in Exodus, whole chapter 20, and look back
in Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. Same old thing, doing the same
old thing, saying the same old thing. Why didn't we die before? Why have you brought us out here
in the wilderness to die? No water. Why did you just leave
us alone, Moses? Chiding with Moses. They were
always doing this. We've studied the history of
these people. Look here, Exodus 16. Look in verses 1 and 2 and
3. Exodus 16. And they took their journey from
Elam. This is where they first went off into the wilderness.
And all the congregation of Israel came into the wilderness of sin,
which is between Elam and Sinai. And on the fifteenth day of the
second month, after they had departed out of the land of Egypt,
and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the children
of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand
of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots,
and when we did eat our bread to the full, and ye have brought
us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger. Look in the seventeenth chapter
and look in verse one. And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin, after
their journeyings according to the commandments of the Lord,
and they 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, tempt
ye the Lord. And the people thirsted there
for water. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore
is this, that thou hast brought us out of Egypt to kill us and
our children and our cattle with thirst? You say, Bruce, we've
already studied that. What's significant about it?
Here's what's significant about it. This is the next generation that's
murmuring. This is the children of the parents
who murmured. Now it's starting all over with
the kids. And they're saying the very same
things, using the very same phrases. Why have you brought us out of
Egypt to kill us in the wilderness? Would to God we had died before.
And they chided with Moses. Where did they learn this language? And here's the lesson in this,
isn't it? We know where they learned the language, don't we?
They learned it from their parents. They learned it from their parents.
God help us, they learned it from their parents. Men and women that came out of
Egypt, they had a lot of good traits to them. Sometimes we're
rough on them, sometimes they're scriptural rough on them. But
you know, they had some good traits. We don't read about any
of them refusing to put the blood over the post of the door. And
when Moses stretched out his rod over the Red Sea, every last
one of them followed him into those waters. That's got some
faith in them. They sang when they got through
the Red Sea. But I tell you, they had some
bad habits, didn't they? And their habits, Wayne, was
murmuring. And they never did improve on
those habits. They murmured all their lifetime. And here's what's so detrimental
about this. Because they wouldn't mend their
habits, their children took those bad habits. And that's the sad part about
it. There are children of God who have some wonderful traits.
They're wonderful parents. But I tell you, if a bad habit
is suffered to linger, and we won't correct it, and we won't
deal with it in our own hearts and our lives, sometimes our
children can pick up on that bad habit. You can do a thousand
things that's right, and your children won't imitate you. But
do one thing that's wrong, and what do they do? They pick up
on that bad habit, don't they? So a bad habit is never to be
excused in a child of God. Because it often comes back to
haunt us. And here it did in their children. It came back to haunt. And look here in verse 6. Look
back over in our text again in Numbers chapter 20. And look
here in verse 6. Touching scene this is. Here
they came against Moses and they shied with him. They're murmuring,
complaining. And verse 6, And Moses and Aaron
went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces,
and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. What a touching scene
this is. Here's these two old men, I think
123. One's 120. And there was a time
when Moses would stand against these people and he would say,
why are you chiding with me? Why are you tempting the Lord?
But here he says nothing. He's tired. He's grown weary
of fussing with these murmurs. And he leaves them. And he goes
to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and he falls
upon his face with Aaron before the Lord. This was a man who
valued the presence of God. And now he values it more than
he did at the beginning when he said, if your presence goes
on up with us, don't carry me up here. I can't make it without
your presence. He knew that, didn't he? He knew
that. One man said this, he's learned
that God's presence is an all-sufficient answer. God's presence is an
all-sufficient answer to meet his every need. God will never fail a trusting
heart. Let us remember this. He delights
to be used. Now, that doesn't sound right,
does it? But he delights to be used. He
never grows weary of ministering to the needs of his people. And here's what Moses and Aaron
did. They left these murmuring people.
They were so weary of fussing and feuding. And they so valued
the strength that's in the grace and presence of the Lord. They
just go here in the privacy of the tabernacle and they fall
upon their faces. before the Lord. Brothers and
sisters, this is the only way you and I are going to get through
our willingness. His grace is sufficient for us. And how many times have you been
so weary, have you been so tempted, have you been so heavy with the
burdens of life that you found more comfort and more strength
just getting away from everything and everybody and falling on
your face with just you and the Lord alone. Haven't you found
strength in that? There's a time to still away,
the psalm says, in some portion of the day just to be with Christ
all along. In our blessed Lord Divine there
is peace There is joy, there is strength, supply. Let us take
our sorrows all to Him alone. Well, there's a time to do what
they did. They went from the presence of the assembly. And I tell you, there's a time
to go from our families. There's a time for the mother
to get away from her children. There's a time for dad and mom
to get away from one another and get off just for yourself.
away from the hustle and bustle and the cares of this life. It
may be a bedroom. It may be a shed. It may be driving
down the road in your vehicle. But just to leave the presence
of everything and everybody and get along with just you and the
Lord. And if we value His presence
and the strength of His presence, that would be my exhortation
for us to do that. Get along with just you. And
him, Charles Spurgeon, told the story one time of a dear friend. He loved him. He said, when this
man was going to preach, he'd give one example. He said they
were talking, said he was just talking. And he said the man
was going to preach that night. And he said all of a sudden,
he just got up and left them. And somebody ordered at him,
said, dear brother, where are you going? They knew where he
was going. They knew where he was going.
I'm weak. I'm going to get along with the
Lord. I'm sowing my seed tonight, he said. I'm going to get some
water. I'm going to get some water.
I'm going to be refreshed. Get along. Get along with the
Lord. Lead the presence of the assembly. Look here now in verses 7 through
verse 12. And this is so important. This
is the second time now this happened, but it is different this time,
and there is a good lesson here for us. Verse 7, And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the
assembly together, thou and Aaron your brother, and speak ye unto
the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water,
and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. so
thou shalt give the congregation and their beast drink. And Moses
took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him, and
Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before
the rock. And he said unto them, Here now,
ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses
lifted up his hand with his rod, and he smote the rock twice. And the waters came out abundantly,
And the congregation drank, and their beasts also." Now remember
this is the second time this has happened. It happened almost
40 years before this. But this is a different time
and a different location. But I want us to see the difference
this time as opposed to the first time. There was a different method
that was used this time than the first time. It's very, very
important. And Moses didn't do it right and got himself in trouble,
didn't he? Got himself in a lot of trouble. But I want you to
notice this time, in verses 8 and 9, there's a different rod. Take the rod. But which rod was
this? Well, look in verse 9. And Moses
took the rod from before the Lord. He took it from before
the Lord. Now, where did he take it from
before the Lord? Do you remember when we studied
in the 18th chapter on Aaron's rod that budded? And they laid
it up. Do you remember where they laid
it up at? Huh? In the tabernacle before the
Lord. And he went the next morning
and got these rods out. And remember, Aaron's rod had
budded. And it bloomed and blossomed and bore fruit. It bore almonds. And the Lord told him, take this
rod and lay it back up in the tabernacle. There's where it
was laying before the Lord. So that's why he told him there
in verse 9, he took the rod from before the Lord. This was Aaron's
rod, that buddy. You remember what this represented?
This was Aaron's priesthood, wasn't it? He had a priesthood. He had the authority of that
priesthood given to him. And God showed that priesthood
was His by making His rod to bloom and blossom. Now, the first
rod that smoked the rock, do you remember which rod that was?
I want you to look back over here with me again to Exodus
chapter 17. Look here in Exodus 17. I want
you to see, because there's a lesson in this, that these are two different
rods. And that's very significant.
Look here in Exodus chapter 17. Look in verse 5 and 6. This is where they were smite
in the first rock. Look in verse 5 of Exodus 17. And the Lord said unto Moses,
they were without water. They had no water. Go on before
the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and
thy rod Wherewith thou smoteth the river, take in thine hand,
and go. down in Egypt. This was the rod
He was to take in His hand. Look in verse 6. Behold, I will
stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt
smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that the
people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel. Now that was very significant
and very appropriate. that Moses smite this rock with
the rod of judgment. And that's what it was, the rod
of judgment. When he smoked the rock the first
time, it was with that rod of judgment that he did all those
miracles with down in Egypt. But it wasn't appropriate for
him to smite the second rock with Aaron's rod. Surely not
with the rod of judgment, and not with Aaron's rod, because
Aaron's rod represented to us his priesthood. And it was through
this priesthood that the blessings flowed to the children of Israel. Aaron's office was not one of
smiting, nor one of judging, but one of ministering grace
from God to the people. Aaron's office was a mediator
between God and Israel. It was through Aaron's priesthood
that God's blessings came to Israel. Therefore, therefore,
Aaron's rod was not to be used to smite. There Moses stands
with that beautiful rod in his hand. and it's budded and it's
blossomed and there's blooms all over it and fruit all over
it. And can you see Him taking that beautiful rod and smiting
the rock? No, Moses, no. The rock has done
been smitten. This is not a time of judgment.
This is not a time of smiting. This is a time of blessing. This
is a time when the water will give up its refreshing stream,
not by smiting it, Just speak into it. Just speak into it. See, what was so wrong about
this? First of all, then, there was
this matter about the rod. It was two different rods. And
these rods represented to us judgment. God judged Egypt. He turned their waters to blood.
They couldn't drink them. But this was the blessing. The
priesthood. Something else here also, the
method of getting water out of the rock. I just quoted that
to you here in chapter 20, in verse 8. Take the rod, and gather thou
the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak
ye to the rod before their eyes, and it shall give forth thy water. Speak to it. Before it was smiting
it, Smiting it. But the rock was only to be smitten
one time. You know who this rock was, don't
you? Who was this rock? How do you know that? The Bible says that. This rock
which followed them was Christ. See the significance of that
now? How many times was Jesus Christ smitten? One time. in the end of the world after
he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Peter
said this, Christ has once suffered for sin. Christ was once offered,
once, once, once. He was smitten. It is not appropriate
to smite him anymore. He cannot suffer anymore. Now the atoning work is done. Christ our High Priest is passed
into the heavens. He is to appear there in the
presence of God for us. And listen to this, the streams
of spiritual refreshment flow to us freely on the grounds of
an accomplished redemption and in connection with Christ's priestly
ministry which Aaron's rod was only the figure. and without any preparations.
Now listen, this is so important to me and you and anyone here
tonight that's lost or saved. This is so important. Without
any preparations on our part but thirst, without any preparations
at any time on our part but thirst, we can come to Jesus Christ and
drink of this life-giving Life-refreshing stream of grace. If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me and drink. That's how freely it is. Whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life. How? Freely. Freely. There's no preparation
in this. There's no smiting. There's no
more suffering on Christ's part or our part. Come now, come freely
without any preparation. David said, My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. Then David, come and take the
water of life freely. If you had asked of me, the Lord
Jesus told that woman, I'd have given you living water, refreshing
water. So it's there, isn't it? And
it is there freely, and it is there available for those who
come to drink of it. Hold every one that thirsteth,
come you to the water, and do nothing but ask, and stoop down,
and drink, and refresh your thirsty souls. For brothers and sisters,
the work has been accomplished. Jesus Christ is the right hand
of God. Come and ask. Speak to Him. Just speak to Him. And you shall
receive this life-giving stream. Oh, how encouraging that is.
Is that not very encouraging? Very encouraging. Look what He
did here in verse 11. And Moses lifted up his hand,
and with his rod he smoked the rock twice, and the waters came
out abundantly. And the congregation drank, and
their beast also. Now somebody is going to ask,
why did God give these waters when Moses did it wrong? He was
to speak and he smoked, but yet God gave the waters. Why did
He do that? Because God is not like us. He is not like us. How often,
brothers and sisters, you and I come short. How often we err. how often we don't say it right,
how often our hearts are filled with unbelief, and yet He abides
faithfully. He cannot deny Himself. If He
waited, if He always waited, do you and I got everything just,
just right? And we were so precise and we
had crossed every T and dotted every I, I tell you, He'd never bless
us, would He? But the blessing doesn't come because God sees
that we've got everything so precise. But the blessing comes
because He's a gracious God. And when He sees the thirst,
that's the essential thing, the thirst. And when He sees the
thirst, I tell you, He won't be long with holding. this gracious
fountain of refreshing. He'll bless. Don't think that
God's waiting on you to get everything just right in your life. Don't
think that He's looking to you to see if you've got everything
just right, and you'll act together, and everything's perfect, and
you believe everything just right. He's not waiting for that. He's
looking for the thirst. Are you thirsty, dear soul? That's
what he's looking at. If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me and drink. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give. The living water's thirsty one,
stoop down and drink and live. Drink. And drink freely. And drink all you want. Because
in this rock is abundance of grace and refreshment. I'll tell you one thing. You'll never exhaust it. It was said here, it came out
abundantly. And every one of them drank,
and all their beasts drank. There's something in Jesus Christ
that can never be exhausted. And it's His saving merits. It's
His grace. He's full of it. And any time
you feel like you need it and want it, then come right to Him
and speak to Him. And I'm just certain He won't
withhold the strength long from your soul. Refreshing. Refreshing. And here in verse
12, He said this, And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because
you believe Me not to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children
of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation unto
the land which I gave unto them. You shall not. And they didn't.
You read on through the remainder of this chapter. Aaron, he goes
up into the mountain and that's where he dies. And poor Moses,
bless his heart. You had to pity him in a sense,
didn't you? He was a good man. I tell you,
I admire him. Don't you? I esteem him. The
Scripture says he was faithful in all his house. But he was
120 years old. He listened to all the moms and
dads murmur for 40, 30 years or so, and now here their children
have started the same thing. And I think the wilderness journey
just got to him. He loses his sister. Four months
later, he's going to lose his dear brother Aaron. And I think
the wilderness journey just finally got to him, and he broke. And
the Lord said, Moses, you're not going into the land. Lord,
please let me know. Don't say anything else about
it, because you're not God. Boy, I tell you what, you know,
when the Lord tells His children something, because you've done
this, I'm not going to do this. Because you've done this, this
is what's going to happen to you. Buddy, that's pretty much
settling. And if you're a man like Moses,
and you make petitions to the Lord, and He won't hear a man
like Moses, and He says, don't ask me this anymore. Well, that
shows we need to be careful, doesn't it? Whatsoever we sow, a lot of times
we reap, don't we, in His chastening hand. And we can still be loved
of God, just as we was loved of Him before and loved after.
But I tell you what, sometimes He can say, you're not going
to do it now, because you didn't honor Me. You didn't honor Me.
Oh, I gave the blessing. I sent the water. In spite of
you not doing it right, But now I'm going to deal with you about
it. And you're not going to. But don't this teach us a good
lesson too. You're not going to take these
people over into the land of promise. And you know something?
Moses is not going to get you and me to heaven either. Do you
know that? He couldn't take himself there. And he couldn't take anybody
else there. And he can't get anybody else
in heaven today. Joshua had to take them over. Who is Joshua? Jesus. And it's going to take Jesus
to get us through this land of wilderness, through this wilderness
journey, and bring us up to the Father's house. The blessed Savior,
the Son of God. Well, wonderful passage. Wonderful
passage. May the Lord bless it to your
heart.