Thirsty? Exodus 17, And all the congregation
of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord,
and pitched at 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 me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?
The people thirsted therefore 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? And Moses cried unto the Lord,
saying, What shall I do unto this people? They almost be ready
to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go on before the people. Take with thee of the elders
of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smote the river, take in
thy hand, and go. 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. And
he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of
the chatting of the children of Israel, and because they tempted
the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we come in the blessed name of Jesus
Christ the Lord, of whom this passage speaks, as does all of
your book. We pray in that name because
it is the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. You have bid your children, indeed
commanding them, to pray in that name and it will be given to
them. We know that we preach and we
pray and we do what we do in the name of Christ knowing that
we are backed up by that name where all authority in heaven
and earth is given to him. and he's bid us to go forth and
preach the gospel. We ask your help tonight as we
look at your words. You might be pleased to open
it up. Open up our minds and hearts to receive and believe.
Bow us down before you in worship with a heart full of thanksgiving
and praise. We pray for those who are going through trials
and tribulations. Pray especially for this young
girl with this horrible disease of the eye, we know that you're
able to heal and we pray you'd do so. Pray for those families
that have lost loved ones. Remember Patsy Ledford, Lord,
that you'd be with hers, bring her back to a good measure of
health. For the others who've requested prayer, Lord, we ask
your help for them. For our shut-ins, we pray you'd
give them strength and courage in Christ. And Father, for ourselves
tonight as we've gathered here, that you might catch it and give
us a glimpse of the Savior. a glimpse will do us to see him
high and uplifted, seated at thy right hand, having purged
our sins. We praise you for salvation,
full, free, and forever. We thank you in Christ's name.
Amen. Now, what I just read to you
is the record of the people being led to Rephidim. and they are
tempting the Lord, is what it says twice in this passage of
Scripture, and the introduction also of the rock that gushed
forth with water and gave the people to drink. Verse 7 gives
us an understanding of how they tempted the Lord. It says this
in the last sentence of verse 7. It says, They tempted the
Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? They did this by chiding
Moses and blaming him for bringing them to a place where there was
no water. Verses 2 and 3 says, And Moses
said to them, Why chide you with me? Wherefore the people did chide
Moses and gave us water, give us water that we may drink. And
Moses said, Why chide you me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there
for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore
is it that thou hast brought us out of Egypt to die, to kill
us and our children and our cattle of thirst? Now they're all saying
all this to Moses, but he says, You're tempting the Lord. You're
tempting the Lord. So what they're doing is tempting
the Lord. And it is ever the malady of
the heart of a natural man and also even of believers to blame
second causes. And by blaming Moses, they are
forgetting that Moses has nothing to do with where they were being
led. He was following the Lord. They refused to account for the
obvious. By day, they had a cloud that covered them. And when it
moved, they moved. That was the commandment of the
Lord for them to move. And that's what he's talking
about when he says Moses said he didn't obey the commandment.
At night, they had a fiery pillar. that stood watch over them, and
if it moved, they moved. So they were not led by Moses,
but they were blaming Moses. Moses had nothing to do with
where they were led, and to attribute the work of God to a man, as
they were doing, is tempting the Lord, evidently, because
that's the language that was used here. Why do you tempt the
Lord, chiding me and blaming me for this, when I had nothing
to do with it? You see, the work of the Lord,
regardless of the particular act, whatever it might be, always
points and pictures and typifies our Lord's greatest work, and
that is the work of salvation, which fully glorifies Him and
honors all His attributes. That is the salvation of the
elect by the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now,
Paul encountered the same frame of mind among those in Jerusalem
when he brought a sinner saved by grace, only grace, a sinner
who had never heard of the law, never heard of the law of Moses,
never been under the law of Moses because he was a Gentile and
not a Jew. And he brought that sinner to
Jerusalem and told him that that sinner was saved, his name was
Titus. And he brought him so he'd be
accepted among the brethren. Now there were those that did
accept him, sort of. They accepted Titus with a caveat. Titus had not been circumcised.
He was a Gentile. They required Titus then, a Gentile,
to be circumcised in order that he would be fully saved or that
he would comply with the law of God. Now Paul had brought
him with a specific purpose to Jerusalem to show them that a
sinner saved by grace doesn't need to be under the law and
indeed is not under the law. spent a great deal of time writing
to the Roman church and to the Corinthian church especially
2 Corinthians chapter 3 saying that old covenant was dead and
it was a letter and it killed and it had no glory in it. But
he brings Titus and they say well he must be circumcised. Well that was a slap in the face
to the grace of God. They were saying that the act
of a man had something to do with the work of God. That's
exactly what they said back here in in Exodus chapter 7 and if
you will turn over to Acts chapter 15 where this took place which
is called the First Bible Conference ever mentioned in Scripture in
Acts chapter 15 beginning with verse 4 it says, And when they
were come to Jerusalem They were received of the church and of
the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that
God had done with them. He's declared he's preached the
gospel to them, that the Lord has saved them. And there rose
up certain of the sect of the Pharisees. Now these were sects
of the Pharisees which professed to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, but they were still Pharisees, and that meant they were going
to keep the law or else. The sect of the Pharisees which believed,
saying that it was needful to circumcise him, to circumcise
them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Now this was
in direct opposition to what Paul was saying. Paul said he
had preached the gospel of these people, they had been saved by
God's grace, they were children of God, they were saints, and
when they came to Jerusalem, which was kind of church central
at the time, they came there and they were not received fully
because they had not been circumcised and they wanted to bring them
back under the law. And the apostles and the elders came together
for to consider this matter. So they had a conference. They
had a theological conference. They sat down and started talking
about, well, does a believer need to keep the law? And this
was back and forth, I'm sure. And when they had been much disputing,
and it still goes on today, Peter rose up and said to them, men
and brethren, You know how a good while ago God made choice among
us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. Now when would that take place? That took place when
Peter was on the rooftop and the Lord put him in a trance
and hung down a sheet with all manner of beasts on it. And the
Lord said take and eat. There were unclean beasts on
that thing. The law said you can't eat. But
the Lord said, take and eat. And he said, Lord, not so, Lord.
I can't do that. That's against the law. He's
talking to the one who gave the law and told him. And he said,
not so, Lord. Those are three words that never
leave anybody's lips. But anyway, he said, not so,
Lord. And the Lord said, don't you
call unclean what I've made clean. Suddenly, all the unclean animals
of the law were now clean. Now what was that all about?
It was all about this. There was a man, a centurion,
that Peter was going to be sent to. He was a Gentile, an unclean
thing. And he was going to take the
gospel of that Gentile, and the Gentile received the gospel.
His whole house did, and they were all saved and baptized.
But he says, that's when God appointed me to take the gospel
to the Gentiles. Now he's talking because Titus
is a Gentile. because Titus is a Gentile he
said in God which knoweth the hearts bear them witness giving
them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us he gave them the
Holy Spirit these Gentiles they never kept the law they were
not circumcised and he put no difference between them and us
he said we were the same what does that mean we was all saved
by grace all saved by grace purifying their hearts by faith now therefore
Look what he said, why do you tempt the Lord? Just what Moses
said, you're tempted, why do you tempt the Lord? Now therefore
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of his disciples
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? The law
was too heavy for us, we couldn't do it. And you want to put it
on these people? And he said, but we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
even as they and the way that's worded is very important he doesn't
say we're jews and they'll be saved like we were saved he didn't
say that he said we're jews and we'll be saved like they're saved
and that is by the grace of god that is by the grace of god but
he said why tempt ye the lord what was he saying he said that
they were tempting the lord salvation you see is entirely the lord's
work and allows no input from man whatsoever. And the flesh
cutters were saying in so many words, Is the Lord among us or
not? Is the Lord among us? Or they
were saying, The Lord is not among us. The Lord was among
the people of Israel, and it was He who led the people where
there was no water. And once again, He's proving
this multitude. Remember, this forty years that
they spent in the wilderness, was a trial. I mean this was
an 11 days journey. From Egypt to Canaan wasn't but
11 days a short journey. That's all it really took them.
11 days and they'd have been there. They was there for 40
years. Why? Because they were being proved and tested and tried
over and over again. The Lord tried them here and
the Lord tried them there. He tried them with starvation
and gave them manna and quails to eat. He tried them at the
bitter waters of Marah. He tried them here, and that's
what's going on. You see, He had promised to take
them to the promised land, to the land of milk and honey, and
it seems that every step that they had stepped, they were proved
to be unbelievers. Here they are, too. The Lord
said, I'm going to take you to Canaan. Well, they ain't nowhere
near Canaan yet. They got 39 and a half more years
before they get there. Why didn't they believe God?
God said, I'm gonna take you. They said, why did you bring
us out here to kill us in the desert? Kill our cattle and kill
our children. 40 years of proving and testing,
trial upon trial, we'll leave everyone above 20 years of age
in this nation to never set foot in Canaan. Everybody that was
above 20 years old that left Egypt never got to Canaan. They will be carcasses left to
putrefy in the desert, fully proved and found wanting. The LORD led them to the place
of no water, and their response was, Not it is the LORD let him
do what seemeth good in his sight. Their response was, Wherefore
is this, that thou hast brought us out of Egypt, to kill us,
and our children, and our cattle? That was their response. Their
response was unbelief. and we as we studied in the book
of numbers all the way through numbers that unbelief was set
forth and finally in numbers fourteen the ultimate of unbelief
when the Lord actually did turn those above twenty years of age
back into the desert to die. They mastered in unbelief. They
said we can't go into that land because there's giants in there.
We're not going. The Lord says go and take the land. And we're
not going. Giants said we can't go. He said
okay. then you can't go. Go back into
the desert and die. And they said, oh well, we'll
go. They can't believe. No matter whether it's go or
don't go, they can't believe. They must act against what the
Lord has said. Wherefore hast thou brought us
out here to kill us and our children and our cattle? What we have
before us is Us, and it is unbeknownst to those who are athirst in the
wilderness, is an Old Testament revelation of the method of grace,
the way God does things. It is revealed in the Scripture.
Now, we can't see the particulars of what's going on, how it works
in each situation, but there is a method of grace, a way that
God shows grace, a way that God brings sinners to Himself. Look
over at Ezekiel chapter 36. Now here he's addressing his
people who have profaned his name among the heathen. These
are the people whom he's chosen. This is the kind of people they
are. This is the kind of people you and I are. That's the kind
of people God saves. In Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse
21 he says this, but I had pity for my name's sake, my holy name,
which the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen, whither
they went, wherever they went, they profaned my name. Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord, I don't
do this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's
sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye
went. And what am I going to do? line you up in a firing squad, open up the earth and let you
be swallowed up. He said, I will sanctify my great
name. I'll set my name apart, which
was profound among the heathen, which he hath profaned in the
midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord.
I'm going to separate my name, lift it up, saith the Lord, when
I shall be sanctified in you. I'll be sanctified and you'll
be sanctifying my name. You profaned it, but you're going
to be sanctifying my name before their eyes. For I will take you
from among the heathen and gather you out of the countries and
will bring you to your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and
from your idols will I cleanse you. a new heart also will I
give you, a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of
flesh and I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statues and you shall keep my judgments and do them and
you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you
shall be my people and I will be your God Well, that's certainly
gracious, isn't it? These are the people who profane
his name, but he's not finished. He said, I'll also save you from
all your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn, and will increase
it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit
of the tree, and the increase of the field, and ye shall receive
no more reproach or famine among the heathen. Then ye shall remember
your own evil ways, and your doings that are not good. and
shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities
and your abominations. Now not for your sakes do I do
this, saith the Lord. Be it known to you. Be ashamed
and confounded for your own ways, saith the house of Israel. Thus
saith the Lord in the day, that I shall have cleansed you from
all your iniquities, and I will cause you to dwell in the cities,
and the wastes shall be builded. and the desolate land shall be
tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that pass
by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become
like the garden of Eden, and the waste and the desolate and
the ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then
the heathen that are round about among the people whom you profane
by name, round about shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined
places, and plant that which was desolate. I the Lord have
spoken it and I will also do it. That is what He does for
His people. That is a method of grace. Why
do I say it is a method of grace? Look at verse 37. Thus saith
the Lord, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel to do it for them. I will increase them Like men,
like a flock of men, I will increase them. Grace upon grace is bestowed
upon them and it's clearly all He's doing. Twice He says it's
not for your sakes, it's for my name's sake. And then He says
that the people will inquire of Him to do these things to
them. They'll ask for it. Strange thing this, He's going
to do these things for them and has fixed it so that they will
ask Him for them. That's grace. That's the method
of grace. This is the method of grace exhibited
in the passage in Exodus. He led them to a place where
there was no water, made them to thirst so that they would
what? Ask for water. Ask for water. God's elect in
nature have no spiritual longings. They must be led to a place where
there is no water to long for that which nature cannot supply.
He brings them to thirst for righteousness, for the water
of life. Mankind cannot meet their need
except as God, as a means to the end, employs those men. When
comforted with the dilemma of slaking thirst of the spiritually
needy men, they can but respond as motive. When people say, what
do you have to do with the salvation? Nothing. Now, I preach the gospel,
but I don't have anything to do with salvation. When confronted
with the fact that these people need water and you can't produce
it, these people need salvation and even want it and you can't
give it to them, it must be an act of God, we answer just like
Moses did. In verse 4, he said, Moses cried
to the Lord and said, What shall I do unto these people? They'd
be almost ready to stone me. What can I do for them? You've
got them here in a place with no water. They're ready to kill
me. They need water. I can't do anything
about it. That's the plight of everybody
who preaches the gospel. It's the plight of you who tell
folks about Jesus Christ. You can tell them, but you can't
tell them about the condition. You can't do it. That's the dilemma
that faces every child of God. You see, it'll take a miracle,
a miracle of grace to remedy this need. Enter the gospel. The Lord tells Moses to take
the rod that was employed to smite the river with the elders
of Israel and head out. And you'll find him on the rock
of Horeb standing. It tells Moses that he'll be
standing on a rock. Standing on a rock. Moses is
then to strike that rock and it would bring forth water and
slake the thirst of the people. There can be no doubt as to the
meaning of this according to First Corinthians chapter 10
and verse 4. Christ is that rock. It says
Christ is the rock that followed them in the wilderness. This
is the New Testament teaching. Christ is that rock. That's phenomenal
language. That rock is Christ throughout
the Old Testament. He's the rock in a weary land.
He's what David said, the rock that is higher than I. He's that
rock that is a covert from the storm and the wind. Moses makes
it clear that that rock is our rock and He's not like the other
rocks. He says that in Deuteronomy chapter
32. Verse 31 says, For their rock
is not as our rock. They have a little r-rock and
we have a big R-rock. Their rock is not like our rock,
even their enemies themselves being judges. The way they talk
about their rock and the way they talk about our rock, we
know that their rock is not our rock by what they say. Our rock
is sovereign. Our rock does as he pleases in
heaven and earth and all the deep places and under the sea.
Our rock is one who does according to his will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? What about their
rock? He can't do anything unless you untie his hands. He can't
do anything unless you let him. You've got to do the inviting.
You've got to do the deciding. You've got to do the choosing.
That's not our rock. Our rock does the choosing. Our
rock doesn't decide it. Our rock doesn't save it. Our
rock is not like our rock. I'll stand upon a rock, God said.
I'll stand upon a rock. There are several things about
that rock. God stood upon the rock. What
does that mean? The entirety of the triune Godhead
resides on that rock. That's what it says in Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 10. In Him, that is in Christ, dwells
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. They're
Jesus Christ. He's the Rock. The Rock was in
that place before the people were made thirsty. The Rock was
already in place before the people were made thirsty. Christ is
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Ere there was a
thirsty sinner, there was already a satisfying Savior. That Rock
brings forth no water until it's smitten. It must be smitten. All the benefits received from
Christ for the elect are theirs only because He was smitten. That's the only way you get it.
The only way to get it. We are thankful for His life.
It was perfect in every way because He was a righteous man without
the taint of Adam's sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. And this righteous life fitted
Him for what? To be the perfect sacrifice.
to be the perfect offering for sin without spot of blemish and
listen very carefully his life did not save us had he not been smitten there'd
be no hope for us that life did not save his people it was his
death that satisfied God's justice and that's why in baptism and
in the Lord's Table and in the preaching of the Gospel this
primary paramount subject is His death. We do show forth His death until
He comes again when we take the Lord's Table in the waters of
baptism we say when He died I died and when He arose I arose. When I preach the Gospel I preach
about Jesus Christ crucified Christ in Him crucified the benefit
of life, the benefit of our life, the benefits that we have, this
assuaged thirst, this hunger for righteousness, this acceptance
in God's presence, the forgiveness of sin, a river of living water
flowed only because the rock was smitten. Moses, take that
rod. Moses' rod, what is that? That's
the law. Christ was smitten by the justice
and law of God because it says about you and I the sinner shall
die and when he was made to be sinned he knew no sin he was
not a sinner when he was made to be sinned God poured out his
wrath upon him to satisfy and fulfill the law of God Christ
kept the law by dying as a righteous man the law had nothing to do
with him he kept and fulfilled the law by dying. That's what
the law had to do because that's what the law says to sinners.
That's smitten rock. Turn over to Zechariah chapter
13. In Zechariah chapter 13, verse 7
says, Awake, O sword! against my shepherd, and against
the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the
shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn
my hand upon the little ones, and it shall come to pass, that
in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut
off and die, but the third shall be left, And I will bring the
third through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and
will try them as gold is tried. And they shall call on my name,
and I will hear them, and I will say, It is my people. And they
shall say, The Lord is my God. The Lord is my God. When is that
going to happen? when he draws the sword of justice out of that
scabbard that has never left the scabbard but one time and
has been returned to the scabbard when he pulled that sword of
justice out and plunged it in the heart of his fellow Christ thought it not robbery
to be equal with God the sheep scattered then he says I turn
my hand on the little ones bring them home bring them to the land
I'm going to be their God and they're going to call me Lord.
They're going to call me Lord. That's what happened. Why did
that happen? Why was their thirst slaked? Because the rock was
smitten. The rock was smitten. Finally,
that rock was mobile. First Corinthians 10.4 says it
followed them wherever they went, with us wherever they went. Christ
said, I am with you always, even to the end of the earth. You
thirsty? come and dine, come and drink.
Father bless us to our understanding, we pray in Christ's name, Amen.