If you have a Bible, I'd like
you to open it to the book of Exodus. I'm going to read two
verses of scripture from the book of Exodus chapter 17. Now
this morning this is going to be a very special message. It's one that if you'll hear
it, and the Lord is pleased to give you understanding of this
message, it may be that it'll open up many other Old Testament
passages of Scripture, and connect them with New Testament preaching. My subject this morning is entitled,
That Rock Was Christ. That Rock Was Christ. Now, some
of you are familiar with that term in 1 Corinthians, where
Paul wrote, that rock was Christ. But he's referring back to the
story found in Exodus 17, 5 and 6. Now, if you will, take your
Bible and go back to Exodus 17, verses 5 and 6, and let me read
just a couple of verses. The Lord said unto Moses, Go
on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel,
and the rod wherewith thou smotest the sea, take in thine hand,
and go. Behold," now watch this, behold,
I will stand, God said, I will stand before thee upon the rock
in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, thou shalt smite the
rock, and there shall come water out of the rock that the people
may drink." Now the people of Israel had been delivered from
Egypt. God had graciously and mercifully
and miraculously delivered them out of the hand of Pharaoh. God
had brought them through the Red Sea. And God had fed them
with the bread from heaven. Now they came to a certain place
in the wilderness and they pitched their tent. But now this is what
the scripture says in verses 1 and 2 of Exodus 17. There was no water there. There was no water there. Now instead of believing God,
the Lord God had certainly blessed these people. He had brought
them out of Egypt. He led them through the Red Sea.
He fed them with bread from heaven. But instead of believing God
and looking to God, the people began to murmur against Moses
and they said, give us water. Have you brought us all the way
out here in the wilderness to die of thirst? Get water for
us. It'd been better if we'd have
stayed in Egypt. And they threatened to stone Moses. Isn't that incredible? amazing, unbelievable, these
people who had seen the hand of God in so many ways, and yet
here they are murmuring and complaining and even threatening to stone
Moses. You know, if we didn't know something
of the evil and depravity of the human heart, this would be
difficult to understand. It would be difficult to account
for the ingratitude and the unbelief and the greed of these people.
Had not God freed them just a short time before that? They had been
in slavery for 400 years, and God had miraculously delivered
them. Had not God shown them his power
and his protection at the Red Sea, destroying the army of Pharaoh
and delivering them? Had not God fed them? and clothe
them, and now they're ready to stone Moses simply because there's
no water to drink. Oh, the evil of the human heart. There's nothing that exceeds
the evil of the human heart in gratitude, the sin, and the unbelief
of the human heart. Nothing. In fact, the prophet
said, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? But there's
one thing I learned from these people in the wilderness, and
that's the unvarying tendency of the human heart to doubt God. No matter what we've experienced
in the past, no matter what we've received in the past, no matter
the blessings and mercies from the hand of God, the smallest
cloud of trouble is sufficient to hide from us the face of God. the smallest cloud of trouble,
no matter all the blessings of the past, God's provision, God's
protection, God's blessings, the smallest cloud is sufficient
to hide from us the face of Almighty God. We had rather lean upon
the cobweb of human resources, something we can see, something
we can feel, something we can touch. We had rather lean upon
that which appeals to the senses, than trust the everlasting arm
of God Almighty. The evil heart of unbelief is
always ready to depart from the living God. That's what Paul
warned us about in Hebrew. He told us about these people,
this nation of Israel in the wilderness, and he said to the
church, he said, take heed, brethren, lest there be found in you an
evil heart of unbelief. Well, they came to this place,
and they pitched their teams, and there was no water to drink,
and the old questions arose, the age-old questions, what shall
we eat? What shall we drink? What shall
we wear? And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
after these things do the heathen seek. But true faith, true faith
has a brief answer for all these questions. What shall we eat?
What shall we drink? What shall we wear? True faith
has a brief answer for all these questions. A confident, comprehensive
answer. And that answer is God. My God
shall supply all your needs. according to his riches in glory
through Christ Jesus. Our Lord said to the heathen,
say, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall
we wear? Your heavenly Father knows that
you have need of these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added
to you. But the people murmured, get us water to drink. And they
threatened Moses, and they doubted God. And they were filled with
unbelief. And Moses turned to the Lord
God, and he said, what shall I do? What shall I do? And God told him, listen now
to the directions from God. Our God says, go take the elders
with you, and take the rod wherewith you smote the sea. And I will
stand upon the rock in Horeb, and you shall take your rod and
smite that rock. And water will come out of the
rock and the people shall drink. Now most people who teach the
Bible or read the Bible, they leave all that right there. And
they talk about the miracle of the rock giving forth water and
the people drinking and all this sort of thing. But I ask this
question today. What makes this event so special? What is significant about this
rock? God very specifically and definitely
gave some directions to Moses, and at the end of this message,
I'll show you something from the scriptures about this rock
where Moses violated the commandment of God. But God said, Moses,
you take your rod, and the elders with you. You go to this rock,
and I'll stand on this rock. You smite it, and water will
come out of the rock sufficient for the people to be well satisfied.
Now, what makes this rock so significant? What makes this
so special? Why did God devote so much scripture
to this rock and to this particular episode here? Well, Paul sums
up the answer in four words. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4,
Paul said, that rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. Just as in Abel's sacrifice,
the blood which Abel put upon the altar, that was a picture
of Christ. Noah's ark is not just a ship
made of wood that rescued some people from the flood, although
it did. But that ark is Christ. In the
Passover lamb, that lamb slain is Christ, the manna from heaven. Christ said, I am the true bread
from heaven. The brazen serpent lifted up,
the serpent which was made of brass in the likeness of those
fiery serpents that had bitten the people. That serpent was
Christ. God shows in all these things,
especially in this rock, and Paul says definitely that rock
was Christ. And God shows in this rock the
person and work and power of his beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer. Christ said, I am the bread of
life, I am the water of life, and that rock was Christ. Now,
in the time that I have, I hope that I get through this entire
outline, but I want to point out to you six things from this
passage of Scripture. Six things that are applicable
to you and to me right now. The first thing is this. There
is a need. Just as in the case of Israel,
there was a need. These people were in a wilderness.
These people were in a dry land. These people were in a place
where there was no water. The scripture plainly says there
was no water there. No water to drink means no life. No life. Is this not our condition? You say, we have plenty of water.
I'm talking about spiritual water. We're living in a dry and thirsty
land, just as David described in Psalm 63. He said, O God,
thou art my God. Early will I seek thee, my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in this dry
and thirsty land where no water is." On another occasion, David
said, as the deer thirsteth for the water brooks, so panteth
my soul for thee, the living God. We are like Ezekiel's bones.
We're very many. We're very dry. It's a dry and
thirsty land. It's a famine-infested land.
We're beached and barren bones with no life. The human well
is dry. There's no water there. You go
to human wisdom and human teaching and human thoughts, and there's
no water there. There's no spiritual water there.
The religious well is dry. All you find in the religious
well today is wildfire and enthusiasm or the dust of tradition and
doctrine. The philosopher's well is dry.
It's the same old rhetoric, the same old debates, the same old
argument. I ask, in this dry and thirsty
land, is there any spiritual water to be found? Is there any
help? That's what God, what Moses said,
God, what shall we do? This is a dry land in which there
is no water. There's no source of water anywhere. Where can we find water to drink? Thank God, too. There is a rock. There is a rock. God said to
Moses, go to the rock. There is a rock. The hymn writer
said, there is a rock in this weary land. Its shadows fall
on the burning sand. inviting pilgrims as they pass
to seek a drink in the wilderness. Our Lord said, Whosoever shall
drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst again. There is a rock, that rock is
Christ. For our God said to Moses, I
will stand upon that rock That rock is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the key to this type.
Here's the key to this picture. Here's the key to this picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will stand on that rock. God
was in Christ. That's what the angel said to
Joseph. Thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted,
God with us. You say that rock is Christ?
Why, in appearance, it's only a rock. Like so many other rocks,
my friend, without eyes of faith, you cannot see his glory. Without
eyes of faith, you cannot see the indwelling Christ in that
man born of Maverick. No beauty that Isaiah said that
we should desire him, no comeliness, we hid as it were our faces from
him. They said, is not this the carton?
How can you be God? You're only a man. Look at that
tabernacle. a tent like any other tent. If
you had been far up on a mountain looking down on the camp of Israel
and you'd seen all these tents out of badger skin, and that
tabernacle in the middle of them, you'd say, well, that's just
another tent. Oh, my friend, but God's in that tent. And you
look at this rock and you say, that's only a rock. But this
rock was Christ. God was in this rock. You look
at the man, Jesus of Nazareth, and you say, he's only a man.
I know, but God's in that man. God said, Moses, you go to the
rock. I'll stand on that rock. I'll be in that rock. No other
rock around here has the presence of God. I'll be in that rock.
You see that? There are two things. Now remember
them. First, there's a need. It's a dry land. It's a thirsty
land. Where no water is. You won't
find any. The human well is dry. The religious
well is dry. The philosopher's well is dry.
Human wisdom is dry. Everything is dry. But there
is a rock. That's God's rock. That's God's appointed, God's
selected, God anointed rock. God said, I'll stand on that
rock. I'll stand on that rock. You see what I'm saying? All
right. The rock was smitten. God said, Moses, take your rod,
the rod with which you smote the sea, and smite the rock. Now listen to me. There was a
rock. There was a need. There was a
rock. But still no water. Still no
water. The rock has got to be smitten.
Moses could have walked around the rock, he could have measured
the rock, he could have talked about the rock, he could have
pointed to the rock, he could have made slide pictures of the
rock, showed them everywhere, but still no water. That rock
must be smitten. God said, Moses, smite the rock.
And my friend, that rock was Christ. Moses' rod represents
the law. Moses' rod represents justice.
Moses' rod represents the wrath of God. And our rock, the Lord
Jesus Christ, must be smitten of God and afflicted. Jesus Christ,
that rock, in this dry and thirsty land, was born of Mary. If he
had lived on this earth, he could never have saved anybody. There
would have been no refreshing water, no living water from him.
Just as the rock in the wilderness, our Lord Jesus Christ must be
smitten. The scripture says, smitten of
God and afflicted. And you see him scourged, and
you see him crowned with thorns, and you see him taken to Golgotha's
hill and nailed to a cross, and you see the spear in the hand
of the soldier pierce his side, and from that smitten side comes
blood and water, blood to atone and water to cleanse. You can
get as technical as you want to. You can get as liberal as
you want to. You can get whatever you want
to. But the message is clear. There's a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath
that flood lose all their guilty state. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain, that fountain of blood and that fountain of
water, in his day. Though vile as he, wash all my
sins away. He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities.
The chastisement of my peace was upon him. With his stripes
I am healed. The rock must be smitten." All
right, fourthly, now are you with me? This is a picture that
God gave in the Old Testament of the person and work of Christ,
of the redemptive work of Christ, Israel. Here's a picture of the
true church. Israel is the church in the wilderness.
If you want to find out what God's doing, find out what God
is doing. If you want to find out what
God's going to do, find out what God has done. He said, I'm the
Lord, I change not. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. That rock was Christ. It couldn't
be clearer. Are you not interested? We read
the story of the rock, and Paul said that rock was Christ. Four
words. That rock that followed them
was Christ. The need was there, the rock was there, but it must
be smitten. And it was smitten, and out came
the water. Now, fourthly, that rock was
smitten for a purpose. That rock was smitten for a purpose,
not to show off God's power, not to show off God's might or
strength. That rock was smitten to give
water to a thirsty people. a helpless people, a impotent
people, a people who were dying of thirst. That's why the rock
was smitten. It was smitten for that purpose. No need to apologize
for Israel. No need to dress them up. They
were a guilty, greedy, murmuring, sinful, rebellious people. That's
all they were, weren't anything else. So are we. There's none
good, no not one, none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God.
We're just like Israel. We are a race of murmurers and
rebels and unbelievers and whatever you want to say about us, but
God committed his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. There is a well smitten of God,
a rock smitten of God. There is a well in a desert plain. Its waters call with increasing
strain. Oh, every thirsty, sin-sick soul
come freely drink. and thou shalt behold." Our Lord
died for a purpose. This is a faithful saying, Jesus
Christ came into the world, not just to be an example, not just
to show the goodness of God. He came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief. He was smitten that from him
might flow the water of life. He was smitten that from him
might flow the cleansing blood. He was smitten that from him
we might receive the mercy of God. You stand out in the desert
and you say, here's water, here's a rock, here's water. And a fellow
says, well, I'm not thirsty. And you say, well, I wasn't talking
to you. I'm talking to thirsty people. Oh, every one that thirsteth
come to the water. Every invitation our Lord ever
gave had on that invitation a requirement. He said, are you laboring and
heavy laden? Come to me. Are you thirsty?
Come to me. Are your sins as scarlet? Come
to me. He always addressed his offer
of water to thirsty people. Are you hungry? The bread's for
the hungry. Somebody says, well, I don't
have time right now. Well, if you were thirsty, you'd have
time. If you were really thirsty, you'd have time. I'm talking
to those who thirst. This water flows freely for those
who thirst. It's for sinful people. Our Lord
came not to call the righteous, but sinners. The righteous aren't
thirsty. It's sinners that are thirsty.
Come, the songwriter says, come ye thirsty. Come and welcome. God's free bounty glorified. True belief and true repentance. Every grace that brings you nigh
without money. Come to Jesus and bow. Now here's
the fifth thing. That rock yielded pure water
in sufficient and great abundance. Now this is important. There
was a need. It couldn't be met any other
way but by the power of God, by the hand of God. God provided
the rock. But that rock must be smitten.
You see, God must be just and justified. That rock must be
smitten. Christ was wounded for our transgression. And that rock was smitten for
a purpose. to give water, to give life, to give hope to a
hopeless, helpless people. Now then, that rock yields pure
water in sufficient and great abundance for all who want it. There was plenty for all who
wanted to drink. It was free. There was no rationing
of water. I remember back in World War
II, that we had certain rationing programs, just so much gasoline,
and you had to have cards to buy gasoline, so much sugar,
you had to have a card to buy sugar. There wasn't an abundance.
There wasn't a sufficient supply. There was rationing. But let
me tell you this, the blood of Christ is sufficient. The death
of Christ is sufficient. to save ten million worlds. It's
sufficient to save all who come. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. There's no lack in the blood
of Christ. There's no lack in the death
of Christ. There's no lack in the sacrifice
of Christ. All that you need is met in him. That's right. There was plenty
of water, plenty of water. Come on, everybody's thirsty
to drink. Drink your fill, the table's
spread, come just as you are. It's free, no matter how sinful. The rock was smitten for thirsty
people, and Christ was smitten for sinners. Now watch this.
That water didn't need anything to purify. It was pure itself. It didn't need any works of men
to purify it. The law cannot purify the water
of life. It needed no purification, and
it didn't require any work to pipe it to the people. Somebody's
always saying, well, the water's there, and we're here, but faith
is the pipe, and baptism is the pipe, and church membership is
the pipe. God doesn't need any pipes. The water's free. It's flowing free. It ran out
in a wide stream, and anybody that wanted a drink, all they
had to do was just drink. His grace is sufficient. In Christ
we have wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
The fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in him and we're complete in
him. It's sufficient. It's sufficient
for all who want it. There is no lack. There is no
want. There is no shortage. in the
power of Christ to save the chief of sinners." That's what Paul
said. He came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the chief. Now, here's the sixth saying.
Listen carefully. And the scripture plainly says,
that rock followed them. That rock followed them. Now,
that rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. And it
says, that rock followed them. all of their journey through
the wilderness to Canaan. Now, I can't explain that except
to say this. The Lord Jesus Christ said of
his people, and all this is a picture and a type of our relationship
with him, he said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake
you. Lo, I'm with you always, even
to the ends of the earth. I'm going to pitch my tent beside
that rock. And that rock will follow me
all the days of my life." That's what David said in Psalm 23.
Surely, mercy and goodness, goodness and mercy will follow me all
the days of my life. And I'll dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. Now here's something in closing. Several
years later or months or whatever, the people thirsted again. And
God told Moses, he said, speak to the rock, speak to the rock. And Moses got angry. He went
out there to the rock and he got angry with the people. He
got so angry. And he just blessed them out.
They murmured and complained. And I understand a little bit
of his anger. But he got angry with the people.
And he said, must I get water from this rock for you rebels?
And he drew back his staff and smoked the rock. Smoked it again. And the water came out and the
people drank. God called Moses over. He said, Moses, You didn't
sanctify me in the eyes of the people. Now the first time I
told you to smite the rock, you smote it and it gave forth water.
This time I said, Moses, speak to the rock. It doesn't have
to be smitten again. You smote it. And therefore you'll
die and not enter the promised land. Listen, my friend, Christ
never needs to be crucified again. He never needs to be smitten
again. By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. All we do is call on the name
of the Lord. We don't crucify him in the mass,
we don't crucify him in the sacraments, we don't put him on the cross
again. He died, buried, rose again, ascended to the right
hand of God. He said, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That rock was Christ.