All right, Exodus 17, verse 1 again, and all the congregation
of the children of Israel, there were two, three, or four million
of them, we don't know exactly how many. It was a vast, vast
army of people, vast. They journeyed from the wilderness
of sin. That's a place. You have in the
back of your Bible something that very few people ever use.
There are some maps back there, and it's got pictures of the
travels of the children of Israel. About the third map has these
places that we're talking about this morning. In that third map
at the back of your Bible, it's Egypt, the desert, Exodus, the
promised land, is that wilderness of sin, S-I-N. They journeyed
there, and then they went down to Rephidim. You see Rephidim
there. Mount Sinai and Orib is just
within sight of it, of where they were in Rephidim. That's
as far as from here to Arrington. That's about how far that is
there, to your scale of miles. just about two or three miles
from where they are here to Mount Sinai and Horeb. So you use those
maps when you're reading about these places. Sometimes it helps
you to understand a little bit about it. But they went through
this wilderness after their journeys, Exodus 17, I'm reading, according
to the commandment of the Lord, and they pitched in Rephidim.
That's this place in the desert. Rephidim, a place in the desert.
And there was no water there. No water there for the people
to drink. So the amazing thing is that they began to murmur
and complain, and chide with Moses. They turned their anger
on Moses. You know, it says here in verse
2 where before the people did chide with Moses, they said,
Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why chide
ye with me? God is, I'm just his servant. God's in charge of this expedition.
This is God's people, not mine. God is our provider. Why do you
tempt the Lord? And he always provided for you?
And the people thirsted there for water, and they murmured
against Moses. And he asked him, he said, why
have you brought us out of Egypt, out here on the desert, to kill
us? With thirst, our children, our cattle, with thirst? You
know, when you read that, if you didn't know something of
the evil nature and deceitful hearts of natural men, you'd
be at a loss to explain this. The unbelief of these people,
the ingratitude of these people. God has been so good to them.
In the past they've seen God's mighty works, God delivered them
from Egypt, miraculously delivered them out of slavery and bondage,
set them free, parted the Red Sea. What if they'd forgotten
that? He parted the Red Sea and they went through on dry land,
and then God closed it together on their enemies and destroyed
their enemies completely. There they are over on the other
side of the Red Sea, no more army of this Egypt affair. God
fed them with bread from heaven. Go out in the morning and pick
it up. God gave them meat to eat, quail. Their clothes never
did wear out. Turn to Deuteronomy a moment. Deuteronomy 29. They had seen
all these things. The Lord had miraculously delivered
them. They are filled with unbelief,
ingratitude, insensibility to God's goodness and God's grace
that God provided for them. Deuteronomy 29, verse 2. And
Moses called unto all Israel and said to them, You have seen
all that God did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto
Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his The great temptations
which thine eyes have seen, the signs, those great miracles,
and yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, to lay
hold upon these things. Eyes to see, to really understand
them, ears to hear, unto this day, all of this time, still
you can't see, can't hear, and can't understand. I've led you
forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not waxen old
upon you." You think about that. We wear a suit maybe two or three
years just occasionally. They wore their clothes forty
years. They washed them frequently.
The Lord was always commanding them to wash their clothes, wash
their clothes and come before him neatly, clean. But they never wore out. Your
clothes have not waxen old, and your shoes, your shoes, your shoes have not
waxen old upon your feet. Turn to Exodus, also Exodus 15. This very situation in which they found themselves,
they were there before. no water, this identical situation
back some time. What I'm trying to point out
is that they're in gratitude, they're in unbelief, they're
in sensibility to God's goodness in the past. And here in Exodus
15, verse 23, and this is before this experience in Rephidim.
verse 23, Exodus 15, when they came to Marah, they could not
drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore
the name of that place was called Marah, bitterness. And they murmured
against Moses. They said, What are we going
to drink? They kept asking these questions. What shall we eat?
What shall we wear? What shall we drink? The Lord
said, After these things the Gentiles He gave us, our Master gave us
an answer to this. When he was talking to his disciples,
what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear?
And our Lord gave us the answer. He said, your Heavenly Father
knows you have need of these things. That's not only true of Israel,
that's not only true of the disciples, that's true of us. My Father
knows I need food. My Father knows I need clothes. He knows I need water. And he'll provide those things.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and these things will be
added to you. They'll be added. They are not
your greatest need. Anything that's added to me is
not my greatest need. My greatest need is a heart to
love God. My greatest need is a faith in
Christ. My greatest need is to be born
again. My greatest need is to know the
living God. But these things, God knows I
have need of them. And they'll be added. As Abraham
said to Isaac, the Lord will provide. This man Abraham knew that. He
had experienced that. He left his father's house. He
gave the best land a lot, he went to the mountains. He offered his son as a sacrifice. He knew God would provide. Listen to this, I read on in
Exodus 15. What shall we drink? Verse 24.
And Moses cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree,
which when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made
sweet. And there he made for them a
statute an ordinance. And there he proved them. And
he said, Now if you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord
thy God, and you do that which is right in his sight, give ear
to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I'll put none
of these diseases upon thee which I brought upon the Egyptians.
I am the Lord that healeth thee.' Believe me. They experienced
that, but here they are again. Here they are again at the place
called Rephidim, where there wasn't any water, and they were
murmuring against Moses, actually against God, that was their murmuring. But they murmured against Moses.
Now verse 4, And Moses cried unto the Lord, and he said, What
shall I do? What shall I do? I see something
here, too. This clearly reveals Moses' understanding
of his own inability, his own inability to do anything
for himself or anything for his people. He said, Lord, what shall I do?
I can't provide drink, I can't provide food, I can't provide
these necessities, so I'll turn to you, what shall I do? He had
no confidence in himself and no confidence in his ability.
But he had perfect confidence in God's power and God's goodness.
He turned in the right direction. Lord, what shall I do? He said,
these people are ready to stone me. They're angry. They're ready to kill me. One
time they wanted to make me a king, now they want to kill me. Verse 5, the Lord said to Moses,
You go on before the people. Don't be afraid of the people.
Go on before them. Stand before them. Don't hide. Don't send somebody in. You go
before the people. No harm is going to come to you.
These people are not going to stone you. You know, the Lord
said to Paul when he wanted to leave Corinth, he wanted to leave
so badly, so badly, because he was fearful for his life. And
the Lord said to him that night in a dream, You stay in this
city. I have much people in this city,
and nobody can harm I on your head. Don't you be concerned
about what the people are going to do to you, because you are
my servant. And that's what he said to Moses.
He said, You go right before the people. You stand right before
them. Go on before them. Go before and take with you the
elders of Israel. Now this is very important here.
You go before the people. They're going to Mount Orib.
You saw it on your map when you turned back there. Just a little
way. Just for four miles. That's where
the rock is. That's where the water is in
Orib near Mount Sinai. You go before the people. Take
the elders with you. Take the elders of Israel. Take
these men. men who are elders, who are leaders,
who are leaders of the people, who are recognized for their
piety and for their spirituality, for their commitment to God,
you take them with you. Why? Why? Moses is going in front of the
people up here to a place called Oreth, and there he's going to
smite a rock and water's going to come out of it. But why take
people with you? Why take these elders with you?
You couldn't take the whole 2 or 3 million up to this place where
the water is going to come from, where the rock. Probably a narrow
place, probably up by the mountain. But take these elders with you.
Don't you go alone. Take these elders with you. Because
if you go alone, and there's no witnesses to this miracle,
to this rock giving water. Somebody's going to say, Moses
went up there and found a spring. Moses went up there and found
the mouth of a river, it's already there. But God said to him, I
want witnesses with you. This miracle that's going to
take place has got to be witnessed by more than one person. That's
true of all spiritual truth. If you'll turn with me to John
chapter 5, I want you to look at this now. Don't you ever believe
anything that one person tells you that God showed him or told
him, if he doesn't have the word of God or the witnesses. Let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Don't ever forget
that. Don't ever follow any single individual. God wouldn't let
Moses go up there by himself. He said, you take these elders
with you. Something marvelous and miraculous
is going to take place, and I don't want one man saying he saw it.
because nobody's going to believe him. Even Christ said that, John
5. He said in verse 31, if I bear
witness of myself, my witness is not true. What does he mean
by that? You couldn't believe his word?
No. But he said this is an established fact throughout the Word, that
you've got to have two or three witnesses for people to believe
him. They're not charged to believe
anything except for the mouth of two or three witnesses. But
he said in verse 32, there's another that bears witness of
me. I know that his witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
You sent unto John, he bear witness. There's my witness, John the
Baptist. The Father said, upon whom you
see the Spirit descending in the form of a dove, that's the
Son of God. John was shown that as well as Christ, the man. But
he said in verse 36, I have greater witness than that of John. The
works that the Father hath given me to do, they bear witness of
me. Nicodemus said no man could do these miracles except God
be with him. So John the Baptist is a witness. The works that
I do are witness. Verse 37, And the Father himself
hath borne witness of me. He said, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. And then verse 39, You search
the scriptures. In them you think you have life.
They are they which bear witness of me. Even Christ our Lord said, I have more than one witness.
Father, the Word, John the Baptist, and the works that I do. So Moses,
you go before, take the elders with you. Take these men of renown,
these men of recognizable people as leaders, you take them with
you, and take your rod. Take your rod, wherewith you
smote the river. Thy rod, wherewith thou smotest
the river. Take it in your hand and go.
What river is this he's talking about? This is not the Red Sea.
He didn't smite the Red Sea. He smote the river. If you turn
to Exodus 7. Exodus chapter 7. In Exodus 7 verse 20. This is
when he turned the waters to blood. He smote the river Nile. And it's all the waters in Egypt. Even the water in there. in their
houses, even the water that they caught and saved for special
drinking, or hand wash, all in the waters of Egypt. Exodus 7
verse 20, And Moses and Aaron did so as the Lord commanded.
He lifted up the rod and smote the water. This is judgment.
Pow! He smote it. Judgment. and smoked
the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh, in the
sight of his servants, and the waters that were in the river
were turned to blood. Turned to blood. And you read
another scripture that says all the waters in their houses and
everywhere were turned to blood. And the fish that were in the
river died, the river stank, the Egyptians could not drink
of the water of the river, there was blood throughout all the
land of Egypt. He smoked he smoked the river. He didn't smite the Red Sea,
turned to Exodus chapter 14. Now this, I want you to remember
this, I'll come back to it later. In Exodus chapter 14, they were
standing there by the Red Sea and the armies of Egypt were
after them and they were afraid. In Exodus chapter Verse 15, the
Lord said, Moses, wherefore cryest thou unto me? Speak to the children
of Israel that they go forward. Lift up your rod and stretch
it out. Stretch out your hand over the
sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall
go on dry ground throughout the midst of the sea. God didn't
curse the sea. He didn't smite the sea with
judgment. It opened up and delivered. They
were delivered, they opened the way. God every day opens for
us the way. Wherever we have our hindrances
and our stumbling blocks and our afflictions and things, he
opens up the way. Over here in verse 26, even when
Pharaoh's army came into the river, verse 26, on the And the Lord said to Moses, Now
stretch out your hand over the sea, and the waters will come
again unto the Egyptians upon their chariots and their horsemen.
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea
returned to its strength. When the morning appeared, the
Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew them in the
midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered
the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh. All right, they came, now verse
6, God tells them about this rock. They moved from Rephidim
over toward Sinai to Mount Ored. And there was a rock. God said
in verse 6, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock. Now don't think in your mind
a rock about the size of this pulpit. A lot of commentaries
have written long passages on this rock. One man said it is
a stone of prodigious height and thickness. It's called the
Rock of Rephidim. It's called by the Arabs the
Stone of Moses. Some of them felt like they found
it. They went on talking about how
they found indications of water having flowed. Think about how
much water came from that rock. Here's two or three million people.
Water to wash their clothes, water to wash their bodies, water
to drink, water for their cattle, water for their flocks, water
for their sheep, water for everything. Water. I'll show you how it goes. I'll turn to Psalm 78. The psalmist
talks about it. Psalm 78, verse 19. Psalm 78,
verse 19. Psalm 78, 19. Yea, they spake
against God. They said, Can God punish the
table and the wheeliness? And behold, he smote the rock,
and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. You know how much that is? Boy,
you talk about the 37 floods. Oh my, the streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Can he
provide fresh for the people? Psalm 105. Look at this scripture. Psalm 105 verse 40. Psalm 105
verse 40. The people are asking. He brought
quails. Think how many. I've been quail hunting just
for George to get up one cubby. There's a lot of cubbies here.
He fed all those people with quails. abundantly, quail, and
bread from heaven. And he opened the rock, and the
waters gushed out. They ran in the dry places like
a river." Moses took the elders with him, because this was going
to be something that they were going to talk about a long time.
And I want everybody to know that God did it. I didn't do
it. I didn't find a stream up there. I didn't find a little
Mississippi. I found a rock. just an old rock like any other
rock. But I'll tell you the difference,
verse 6, God said, I'll stand on that rock. I'll stand on that
rock in Hoib, and thou shalt smite the rock. Take that rod
with you in view of the elders, and you smite that 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
then, what makes this so special? What makes this so special? What
message does this event have for us? Well, Paul the Apostle
in 1 Corinthians, and I'll tell you over and over again, everything
God said in the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New. Everything
that God prophesizing pictures in the Old Testament is revealed
in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1,
Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through
the sea, were all baptized under Moses in the cloud and in the
sea, did all eat the same spiritual meat, that manna, from and did
all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. That rock teaches us of the person
and work of Christ in providing water for thirsty sinners. Now
let me show you five things, five ways in which this rock
pictures our Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, the people had
a problem. It says here in the text there
was no water in that place. It was a desert place where there
was no water. And that's our spiritual condition
in Adam. David said over here in the Psalms,
he says, O God, thou art my God, Early will I seek thee, my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and
thirsty land where no water is." No water. That's the way Israel
was. They were in Rephidim, the place
in the desert where there was no water. Not even dampness,
no water, just desert. And that's where we are. The
human well is dry. In Adam we die. There's nothing
to come from Adam or the flesh. In the flesh dwelleth no water,
no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. The human well's dry. The religious well, the religious
well is dry. In fact, it's perverted. There's
a way that seems right unto the religious people, and that way
is death. That way is drier and deader. the way that seems right. By
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, there is
no water in the law. By the works of the flesh shall
no one be justified. God said in burnt offerings and
sacrifices I have no pleasure. Over here in Isaiah, turn to
Isaiah 1, listen to what the Lord says about their religion. I say the human well is dry.
I tell you this, the religious well is dry. It's flat dry, all
of this. In Isaiah 1 verse 13, listen
to the Lord. Verse 12, when you come to appear
before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my
courts? Bring no more vain oblations.
Your incense that you're burning is an abomination to me. Your
new moons, your holidays, your Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies,
all of your conventions and get-togethers, I cannot away with it. It's iniquity. Even your solemn meetings, burning
candles in a circle and holding hands and rolling your eyes toward
heaven. I'm sick of it, God said. Your
new moons, your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They're trouble
unto me, I'm weary of them. When you spread forth your hands,
I'll hide my face, hide my eyes from you. When you make many
prayers, see these fellows holding hands over a stack of letters
and just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. I'm not here, your hands
are full of blood. Now then, verse 16, you wash. You need water. Wash me, David
said. I'll be whiter than the snow.
Wash me. Wash me. Make me clean. Purge
me with hyssop and I'll be clean. What is this water? What is this
hyssop? Water and blood. We sang about
it. Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let
the water and the blood. from thy wounded soul, thy wounded
side which flowed. Build sin to double cure. Double
cure? I need double cure. I need to
be washed, I need to be purged. A double cure, save from wrath,
make me pure. Justify me, sanctify me, redeem
me, give me righteousness. You're not going to get this
with your heads flopped out over your head. rolling your moon
eyes toward heaven, going through a lot of commotions and motions
and holy days and burning candles, you're going to get this washing,
this regeneration, this cleansing from the water, Christ, from
the blood, his death. Wash it! Put away the evil doings
from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed.
Judge the fatherless. Plead for the wretched. Come
now, let's raise them together. Let your sins be ascited. I'll
make them whiter than the snow. They'll be red like crimson,
everybody's woo. It's dry. It's dry. Well, the disciples said, well,
who can be saved? Our Lord said, with men it's
impossible, but with God all things are possible. So there's a problem. It's a
drought. It's a desert. It's a dry, thirsty
land. There's no water. Secondly, there's
a rock. There's a rock. There's a rock,
the songwriter said, in a desert land. Its shadows fall on the
burning sand. calling the pilgrims as they
pass to seek a shade in the wilderness. Why will you die when the flowing
rock is so nearby? Just a rock. I can see Moses
and those elders walking up towards that mountain, Sinai, the land
of Ored. And there's a rock. God said,
Moses, I'll stand on that rock. Much like any other rock, The man said it's of prodigious
height, it's of great thickness, it's a huge rock. But it looks
like any other rock. I imagine there were a lot of
huge rocks around that mountain. A lot of rocks. Without anointed eyes, you'd
miss that rock. Without anointed eyes. God, Moses
and these elders had eyes that see. They saw the rock. And our
Lord Jesus Christ is a rock. That rock is Christ. But there
are a lot of men. He's a man. There's a lot of
men. The scripture says about him, in appearance, he looked
like any other man. In fact, they said, can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? This man's from Nazareth. We
know his family. We know his mother, Mary. We
know his brothers and sisters. Isn't this the carpenter? It's
like any other rock, just a man. Well, he's not fifty years old.
How could he have known Abraham? He's not fifty years old. Thirty-two
to be exact. He shall grow up as a tender
plant, as a root out of a dry ground. There's no beauty we
should desire from him. There's no comeliness. He's a
man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hear as the world purses
from him. We grow nails in his hands, nails
in his hands, but he ain't like anybody else's. We hung him on
a cross with a burning sun, and his throat was dry and parched,
and his lips cracked open, and his tongue cleaved to the roof
of his mouth like the ear of a man. He cried out in anguish
like the ear of a man. My God, why did you forsake me?"
He's just a man. But God said, Moses, I'll stand
on that rock. That's what changes that rock
from all the other rocks. That's what makes it the difference.
God's on that rock. God was in Christ Jesus. The
man is God. A child is born, a son is given,
his name's Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. Moses, I'll stand on that rock. I'm a father of one, only a man. No, a man, but not only a man. He's the man. He's the man, Christ
Jesus. He's the second Adam from heaven.
He's the Lord of glory. He's the Redeemer. Now, God said,
Moses, smite the rock. The rock was smitten. I told
you, he smote the waters of Egypt and they turned to blood. In
Exodus 8, 17, he said he smote the dust and fogs covered the
land. God said in Exodus 12, 29, God
smote the firstborn of Egypt. God smote it. Judgment. And when our Lord Jesus Christ,
the man, hung on that cross, he was smitten of God. Smitten
of God. And afflicted. Moses smote that
rock. God smote our rock. And when God, Moses smote that
rock, the scripture said that the water just flowed. It gushed
out. It flowed like a river. Plenteous
in mercy. Plenteous in grace. Plenteous in grace. Firstly,
and he did that for a bunch of murmuring, rebellious, quarrelsome,
ungrateful, sinful people. He didn't do it for the righteous. He did it for sinners. And Christ
Jesus was not smitten for the righteous. He was smitten for
sinners. He died for sinners. He died for the ungodly. There is a well in a desert plain. It's water is called with increasing
strength, whole, ill-free, thirsty, sin-sick soul, come freely drink,
and thou shalt be whole. And those people of Israel, they
just fell in that water. Oh, their cattle was drinking,
their sheep were drinking, their horses were drinking, their children
were drinking, everybody was thirsty, was drinking, and had
all they needed, all they needed. And that's our command. And come ye sinners, poor and
needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor fitness find a dream. All the fitness
he requires is a thirst. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water. That rocks Christ. Can you see
that beautiful picture? Beautiful picture. Moses smoked the rock, and the
elders had to jump back. Here it comes. He didn't find that river. God
gave that river. He didn't find that rock. God
was in that rock. God took him to the rock. God
took Judah Christ. God smites him. Here's the closing,
number five. The waters flowed freely and
abundantly and never ended. This rock, Christ Jesus, the
water of life, it doesn't require the Lord to purify it. It is
its own righteousness. It's water from God. It's water
from heaven. It's pure. It makes you pure. It doesn't require anything to
be added to it. It does not require your faith
to make it effectual, to put away thirst. Its power is in
itself. Its purity is in itself. Its
power is in itself. It's effectual. It doesn't require
baptism or church membership to pipe it to you. You drink of the water yourself
from the rock. It doesn't need anything to pipe
it to you. All these denominations are all fixed up so that they
can get between you and God. between you and Christ and require
something of them in order to make what he does affect you.
We'll take you to the water. No, you won't either. We'll pipe
it to you. You ought to be baptized first.
That way you get the water. No, you don't either. You just
got to have a drink. We're not going to pipe it to
you. Nobody stand between me and the
rock, between me and the water. I don't need anybody. I have
Christ. I have one mediator. What do we do with any doctrines
or any church membership? We can join our church and be
saved. That's not where the rock is. No sir. He said the word of faith
is in your mouth. That rock, listen, that rock
with its pure stream of righteousness and grace and faith and love
is in your mouth. His name is Jesus Christ. He's
the rock of ages in your mouth and in your heart. And it doesn't require you even
to come to a certain place at a certain time. That rock followed
them! That rock followed them! Everywhere
they went, the rock went. Everywhere they went. He's very
near and dear to all of us, in Him we live and move and have
our being. That's one of the reasons that
years ago I quit asking people to come forward to be saved. Because Christ is not down here
in an altar, in a preacher's hand, in an inquiry. He's right
there in your mouth, in your heart. When you receive Christ,
you receive him where you are. In him you live and move and
have your being. Don't come to me. They didn't
go to Moses, they went to the water. Moses had to skedaddle
out of the way. He'd get stomped on. Believing
on Christ happens in here. You don't move a hand or a foot
or a hair. You don't come to anybody. You receive him. That rock followed
them. That rock followed them. In him
you live and move. You can't get away from him.
He's the one with whom you have to do. You have to do. You have to believe him or not
believe him. You've got to receive him or reject him. Every one
of us, we're going to do something. That's right. Well, I'm going to believe. By
his grace. It never runs dry. Our Lord said
to that woman at the well, she said, you are greater than our
father Jacob who gave us this well. He said, he that drinks of this water will
thirst again and again and again. And those people that drank of
that water from that natural rock, they thirsted again. God
had to give them water again. He that drinketh of the water
I give him will never thirst, because that water is going to
be in him, a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.