[0:00] Let us bow down with all, and on our knees, before the Lord our Maker, let us fall. For He's our God, the people we of His own pasture are, and of His hand the sheep.
[0:19] Today if He His voice will hear, then harden not your hearts as in the provocation, as in the desert on the day of the temptation.
[0:32] When me your fathers tempt and proved and did my work in sea, even for the space of forty years, this race hath grieved me.
[0:45] Four verses. And after we sung these verses, if John Mordor MacDonald would lead us in prayer. O come and let us worship Him.
[0:56] O come and let us worship Him.
[1:11] O'er the King. strings. Oh, I'm not a priest before the Lord, and we can let us fall.
[1:38] Oh, he's the God that we've been, a place for us to live.
[1:57] That all this hand let you give to Him, when He in His voice will hear.
[2:15] Then pardon not to curse the sin, the provocation.
[2:33] I'll sing the rest upon the name of the creation.
[2:52] When me, your Father, came down blue, and did my life be seen?
[3:12] In formless grace of forty years, this grace hath given me.
[3:42] I'm asking that you would give us the liberty and spirit of faith to call upon your name, knowing that you are a God that gave you heaven and earth, the sea and all that in you.
[4:02] Amen. And there would be one and only God, for heaven is thy throne, earth is thy throne, and there you are really the most holy, wise and wise.
[4:18] And all that we would come, my son, I know that there is no other God that we, and we are the only God that we are asked to worship.
[4:30] We are a tender, loving God who says to those that He has saved, all blessed days, the man to whom the street pardoned, for all the transgressions He has done, whose sin is covered.
[4:46] And we believe, Lord, these sins covered in you. And the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, He came into this world to seek and to save sinners, the scriptures we have.
[5:00] And the cross, Lord, gave Himself over to Him, but kept His promise that He had made. His disciples, that on the third day, He would rise again.
[5:14] And He did so, and I send it out to Him. But He said, Your right hand is not making a possession for Him. And we should thank You.
[5:25] We have an appetite with You. And Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus. And Lord, it should be a joy for us to be asked to come to Him.
[5:37] And Lord, it should be a prayer for us to be asked to come to Him. And Lord, if you come, throw out the meats upon You.
[5:52] You are there to come to Him. And Lord, it should be said to Him. And Lord, it should be a prayer for us to be asked to come to Him. And Lord, it should be said to Him. We thank You, Lord, for all these promises, that You will have even a forsaken world. We pray, Lord, that Christ would be made more precious to our souls this night with you.
[6:09] We pray, Lord, that the Lord has sent us to be opened down to us by Thyself and Lord's Son.
[6:20] We might be enlightened through the prayers of the people. We sing in Your sight, Jesus. Or we just ask to and say that all people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful and heart.
[6:36] We pray, Lord, that your heart should be opened. And our lips so will be sent that we sing to You. You ought to find that in the Lord, Jesus. And ask God.
[6:48] And the man is to fend, he is to go find that Lord. And to enjoy Him. But, bless us now as we gather in that prayer, each and every one place.
[6:59] That we might be here with the same mind with the same needs and the same wants in our hearts and souls. That we would meet with us here.
[7:11] And that we might be here tonight and see it was good of us to have been here. For here we met with the Lord. We pray now for each and every one that is absent from us this night.
[7:25] That they would like to go with us with them. They decide to have kept them away from many of us. We know, Lord, that they think and pray for us as we gather here.
[7:39] And, Lord, that we would remember them as well as we look to you. And ask that there is to be with them wherever the Lord might be to them. And we pray, Lord, that there is to have measured upon us now.
[7:54] That there would come with a day of life covered in you. That there is corner of heaven. That we might hear and see many cry out just one thought. What must I do to be saved.
[8:07] And that there would be led by the Spirit today. The scripture that reads them and says to them. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you shall have everlasting life.
[8:18] And the everlasting life is known. You are the only one and true God. Jesus Christ our Son. Without its sentient and to this world.
[8:31] We pray now for the Sabbath School. All that's done in the congregation here. Again, how might they grow up there?
[8:41] And the words they have heard from teachers in the Sunday School. Keep their hearts in the issue. And the Lord should come. Even then to see the Lord for himself.
[8:54] We pray for the woman's mission as well. That it might be a blessing to each and every man. And to every speaker that comes with us here.
[9:05] That it might be blessed with you. And we pray for the church worldwide. And the Holy Spirit would awaken.
[9:16] The different kinds of things that the world is being pleased. And we pray for the country. That it also would be over us.
[9:28] And one day come to see that you are the one that's Holy Holy Lord. You are the Lord of the Lord and King. And we pray for the sick and the sick and the sick.
[9:41] We know and those we know enough. In homes and hospitals and residential homes. That they know he had my dear partner. And he's knowing. The best that spent with that dear partner today.
[9:54] We pray for the Lord for the doctor. We look after them and said. We are dear enough. That there was given the patience of it. And the needs. And the ways of dealing with different circumstances. That they come across. And we pray for the loss of love.
[10:07] Especially the family connected with the village.
[10:22] Certain departure of husband and father. Not the only affected immediate family. As we hear that they are affected in the family.
[10:34] And the family family. And we pray for their family. And especially as they gather with us. And the coming out.
[10:45] For their family worship Lord. And pray for their family worship Lord. And we pray for their family worship Lord. And pray for their family worship Lord. And pray for their family worship Lord.
[10:56] They are involved. May be seen and come to be blessed. Blessed be the voice of God. We pray for each and every one.
[11:08] For before us now, Lord, taking away sin, Lord, we ask for Jesus' sake, and in this name we ask you, amen. Let us now read from the Old Testament, from the book of Exodus, in chapter 17, and then we'll read again in the New Testament.
[11:32] Book of Exodus, chapter 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 in Rephidim.
[11:54] 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.
[12:08] And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt 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 up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our cattle with thirst?
[12:38] And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me.
[12:51] And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, Take with thee the elders of Israel and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river.
[13:03] Take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Choreb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.
[13:23] 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 chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
[13:48] And again in the New Testament, in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 10, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 10, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
[14:42] But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent.
[14:55] We should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them.
[15:08] As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell on one day, three and twenty thousand.
[15:28] Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
[15:46] Now all these things happened unto them, for examples. And they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the earth are come.
[16:01] Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. Amen, and may God bless unto us these readings from his truth.
[16:17] Let us again sing to his praise, from Psalm 78, at verse 14. Psalm 78, at verse 14.
[16:31] With cloud by day, with light of fire all night, he did them guide. In desert rocks he clave, and drinketh, and drinketh from great depths supplied.
[16:47] He from the rock brought streams, like floods made waters to run down. Yet sinning more, in desert, they provoked the highest one.
[17:02] For in their heart they tempted God, and speaking with mistrust, they greedily did meet require to satisfy their lust.
[17:17] Against the Lord himself they spake, and murmuring said thus, A table in the wilderness can God prepare for us.
[17:30] Let us sing these verses. With cloud by day, with light of fire all night, he did them guide. With math sle pl drinks, Him andählt different people thy strength, andigration and ministry.
[17:55] And of disciples coming up on the bush, heroes, we create them together the Sonate of Death checkout in 2012 The troubled rockeks like dust The Lord has given us The Lord has given us The Lord has given us
[18:58] For in the heart it tempted all As he gave endless us The King in the east Give me three fire Truths satisfied us For is the Lord Till the heavenly spirit Upon the King set us The King in the wilderness
[20:05] Love will be paid for us Let us now turn to the first part of scripture that we read The book of Exodus chapter 17 And we may read at verse 1 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 in Rephidim There was no water for the people to drink I have circumvented the usual order this evening
[21:09] Because I understand you have other duties Following on from this meeting From the scriptures we learn that there are two main sources of danger to believers in the world There is danger externally Where believers are subjected to being attacked By those who are hostile to and opposed to the reign of Christ Those who are hostile to everything in their power To dilute and erase the message of truth And that campaign may be conducted under many different guises But behind it all is the thinking That the teaching of scripture must be overthrown
[22:13] Got rid of Behind those hostile forces Are of course the manipulative, powerful, spiritual forces of evil Because of evil But when the people of Israel were miraculously delivered from their Egyptian oppression or slavery The first enemies they faced were not external but internal Their struggle was with themselves As the Lord showed them their own hearts You see part of the wilderness pilgrimage Was being educated by the Lord As to the kind of heart that belonged to them
[23:14] That is a battle that believers have to contend with To the present out Our struggles are mainly from within And not without And you remember how the Apostle Paul Writes about this inward strife in his own life In his own life I see he says Writing in the letter to the Romans In my members another law Waging war against the law of my mind And making me captive to the law of sin That dwells in my members And he says Not only does he have an awareness Of this inner strife He sees it But he also tells us He is captivated By this law of sin Leading to the cry Wretched man that I am
[24:15] Who will deliver me From this body of death body of death. The implication is that the apostle feels that he is burdened, as it were, by carrying a dead corpse attached to his person.
[24:36] Israel during their relatively short period in the desert had encountered several difficulties already. At Mara, for example, the water was undrinkable, causing them to complain.
[24:54] And you remember how the Lord made it drinkable by miraculous provision. Then it was lack of food that made them grumble.
[25:06] And again God provided them miraculously with manna from heaven. The difficulty in this chapter was that they were faced not with undrinkable water, but with a total lack of water.
[25:25] And what comes across from this episode, among other things, is this. No matter how much progress they may think they made, and no matter how much progress believers may think they have made in the realm of grace, you never arrive at a place, this side of death, where you leave sin behind.
[25:54] It follows you along the way. And it raises its ugly head again and again and again in the lives of believers.
[26:09] The Bible tells us that it was at a place called Rephidim that this recorded incident took place, where dangers from within raised their heads.
[26:22] Rephidim, we understand, was an oasis in the desert. The dangers from within are very serious.
[26:33] You know, it is easy to see the low spiritual state that prevails in our country, in our island, and to complain about it.
[26:47] To moan about our lack of spiritual life, and so on. But in doing that, we are prone to lose sight of where the real danger lies.
[27:01] Where does the real danger lie? In our own hearts. That's where we have to begin. With our own lives.
[27:13] With our own inner life. And as I have already mentioned, that is what caused such grief in the life of the Apostle Paul.
[27:26] As I have already quoted. Well, I'd like to raise four thoughts before you this evening. First of all, the command of God.
[27:37] Secondly, the response of the people. Thirdly, their complaints. And fourthly, the provision of God.
[27:49] The command of God. You note, the people of Israel had been directed to move from a place of plenty, as was Elam, to this place Rephidim.
[28:05] All the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim.
[28:17] There was no water for the people to drink. The verse states that they journeyed according to the command of the Lord. The verse doesn't say that they journeyed on their own initiative.
[28:32] It wasn't a choice that they themselves had made. They came to Rephidim, as they had been instructed by the Lord.
[28:44] And behind the command was this, that they might learn to be more trusting of the Lord, who was their guide. It's all part of the required preparation to enter the land of promise.
[29:01] But on camping at Rephidim, which incidentally means rest, they could have expected to rest up and find provision for themselves and their herds.
[29:16] But what we read is, there was no water for the people to drink. Here is the next trial. Before now, it was that the water was undrinkable and God miraculously making it drinkable, and so on.
[29:35] You know, when you are brought through a trial, and perhaps you feel relieved that you have come through a trial.
[29:47] Have you ever thought that it is that you might go through an even greater trial? And that, I believe, is part of the education that the Lord gives to his people as they go through the wilderness.
[30:09] Some query whether in the light of what happened subsequently in the chapter, and we didn't read that part where they were attacked by the Amalekites.
[30:23] Was it really that there was no water at Rephidim? Or was it the case that they had no access to water? That the Amalekites refused to give them access to water is not too clear.
[30:40] Whatever is true, the Bible states there was no water for the people to drink. They had come to a place of rest, but they couldn't rest because there was no water to drink.
[30:53] Now, when you consider their providence and that they are there because of God's command, that raises a question, doesn't it?
[31:04] Let's put it to ourselves first. Does the path along which the Lord has led you until now, does it make you wonder?
[31:15] Does it make you pause for reflection? So you look back over the way the Lord has led you until the present hour.
[31:26] Have His dealings with you in providence been as you expected when you took the first haltering step after the Lord in obedience to the effectual call that was addressed to you?
[31:45] Have there been situations or circumstances, or are there even now, that are not as you might have wished? And that never entered your mind when you took the first step in obedience to the call that was addressed to you?
[32:05] Things that have caused you, or are causing you? Tribulation, pain, and trial. How have you dealt with that?
[32:18] Remember in the New Testament, we are told of a journey that left. A journey that was taken by the disciples.
[32:30] A sea journey at the express command of Jesus. It's a journey that left them quivering with fear. They thought it was the end.
[32:42] They awoke the sleeping, exhausted Savior with a cry, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?
[32:53] Can I ask, if you ever ask that question of your Savior, do you not care?
[33:04] In light of some of the circumstances and situations that have been in your life. As you viewed it, you were in the path of obedience, just like the disciples.
[33:19] And yet you met with circumstances that shook you to the very core of your being. You see, we tend to think, if we are in the path of obedience, that there will be no trial in our life.
[33:38] And it's not the case. Who had such an obedient life as Abraham? And the Lord tested him time after time after time.
[33:54] Well, that is what seems to me comes across in this context. Here were a people who had followed divine instructions.
[34:09] And yet in following divine instructions, they found themselves in a place where there was no water. And you know how precious water is in the desert.
[34:23] You can't live long without it. Their herds couldn't survive. So here is the Lord leading them, you might say, along a path where they come face to face with trial.
[34:42] And you have to conclude that the Lord has his own good purpose for doing that. It's not easy for us to see that or to understand it when we are passing through great tribulation and trial in this world.
[35:02] To see the purpose of God behind the trial or in the tribulation. And you may be asking the question, how can this possibly be for good?
[35:16] And yet, the Bible teaches very firmly that everything that God does in the lives of his children is for good.
[35:30] Well, that's the first point. The command of God. Secondly, the response of the people. Let's now examine how the people responded to this lack of water.
[35:42] You will not find in the Bible that they are saying, in light of their very immediate past, where God had done such marvelous things for them.
[35:58] You will not find in the Bible that they are saying, what will God do now? Did they even remember how graciously the Lord had been to them?
[36:12] You would like to think that was how they conducted themselves. Wouldn't you? You would like to think that they called for a time of prayer.
[36:23] And that they spread the matter before the Lord. But you do not find that. What you do find is this. The people did chide with Moses.
[36:37] And in addition, they tempted the Lord. Moses writes, Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
[36:50] And the word to tempt in that context, and in many other contexts, means to test the Lord. The word to chide is a very strong word.
[37:03] A word that reveals hostility in their attitude toward Moses. And that hostility, although directed towards Moses, is particularly channeled towards the Lord.
[37:17] And the psalmist confirms this for us in Psalm 78. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert. They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
[37:32] Psalm 95 that we started off with this evening. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. It says at Meribah. It's on the day of Massah in the wilderness. When your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof.
[37:48] They were putting God to the test. The word of God encourages us to bring our troubles to the Lord. To speak to him in prayer.
[38:01] Acknowledging our great need of help. Call upon me. God counsels through the psalmist.
[38:13] When does he counsel us to call upon him? And what you find the Bible answering is, call upon me in the day of trouble.
[38:28] The Bible doesn't specify what the trouble might be. It just says in the day of trouble. You could say that God encourages us to call upon him in whatever trouble might face us.
[38:44] It doesn't matter how the trouble comes or in what form it takes. And you remember there is a special promise attached to this counsel.
[38:56] Call upon me in the day of trouble says God. I will deliver you. And you shall glorify me.
[39:07] But you do not find this people doing that. They were intent on testing God. That's the response.
[39:19] They began to complain. And that brings me to my third point. They are complaints. Paul in writing to the Corinthians gives this piece of advice to the church.
[39:36] We must not grumble as some of them did. And when you look at the context here, there are three basic complaints lodged by the people.
[39:50] First of all, there is a strong demand for water. As if it was their right.
[40:01] As if they were deserving of water. They wanted their own will to prevail.
[40:13] Did their will conform to the will of God? That wasn't a matter of concern. And perhaps you were saying this evening, oh well, I never or would never do that.
[40:29] Are you telling me that you never ever wanted your own will? Are you going to tell me that?
[40:41] Let me put it like this. When God doesn't do something in the way that we think he should. And in the way that we believe he should. Are we happy?
[40:54] Or do we complain? No, you have to be honest with yourself. How many times have you complained in the face of the dealings of the Almighty?
[41:13] How often do we seek his provision on our conditions? But not on his conditions. They wanted water and they wanted it then.
[41:27] Irrespective of what God was saying. And the second ground of complaint was this. Wherefore is this that they were brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
[41:39] And what is implied in that complaint is this. That they were denying God's power to protect them. They are implying that God has forsaken them so that they have no hope but face certain death in the desert.
[41:56] They were tired, have been tested. Oh, how different to their father Abraham. You remember, I referred to him already in the book of Genesis.
[42:10] You find this written after these things. God tested Abraham. After a lifetime of testing.
[42:21] God still tested him in the evening of life with the greatest test. That he had ever been subjected to until then.
[42:32] And you might say that all the previous testings were preparing him for that big test. And what do you find? You find that he doesn't offer any complaint about God's dealings with him.
[42:52] You know, you read that story. He got up early in the morning. He made the preparations for the journey.
[43:03] And he went a journey three days. He does not even mention of conversation. But you have to believe that he communed frequently with God during these three days.
[43:22] Until they reached their Mount Moriah. And he said, What you do see in the life of Abraham is the beauty of obedience as he faces this additional test.
[43:43] Well, who would not wish to be free from testing? You know, sometimes when people are going through forms of education, they are given an exemption from testing if they have some certain qualifications.
[44:04] That doesn't apply in the College of Grace. It doesn't apply. You will always be tested as long as you are this side of eternity.
[44:19] And this complaint reveals, I believe, how selfish and self-loving the people of Israel were as a people.
[44:31] It's not quite evident from what is written in our Bibles here. But literally it is this. Wherefore is this that thou hast brought me up out of Egypt to kill me and my children?
[44:51] You see, there is me. One, two, three. That's a familiar story, isn't it? Myself, first, second, and third.
[45:04] And it is evident that they believed that God had failed them, which of course is an impossibility. God never fails. Nor were they able to grasp what the Apostle Paul had grasped many, many years after this when he wrote, For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
[45:27] As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Their complaint, I believe, revealed how they had lost sight of the great God who had saved them.
[45:45] Are we, too, not guilty of the same at times? And then thirdly, they questioned the presence of the Lord among them.
[45:57] Is the Lord among us or not? As if to say, we find no evidence of his presence among us. And there they are, in the words of the Psalmist, Hardening their hearts, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
[46:20] And I believe what lay at the bottom of this was a lack of listening. That was their problem. They were so absorbed in their own problem. There was no water to drink.
[46:32] And is that not always the danger? That we are so taken up with what we consider to be our own priorities, as we see them in a time of testing, that we doubt or question the presence of the Lord.
[46:49] Their anger or frustration was so great that Moses concluded that they were ready to stone him. And note the contrast between the way Moses conducts himself and the way the people conduct themselves.
[47:09] They complain against God. They complain against God. But Moses brings the complaint to God. That's the difference.
[47:20] And there's a great lesson there for us too. To bring our complaints to God. How often God had to test them before they would come to place their trust and confidence in him.
[47:45] Remember how the psalmist expresses it. But they soon forgot his works. They didn't wait for his counsel.
[47:58] God was testing them. But they didn't wish to be tested. They even wanted to put God on trial.
[48:10] In the book of Deuteronomy, you find this of Levi, he said, Give to Levi your Thummim and your Urummim to your Godly One, whom you tested at Massa, with whom you quarrelled at the waters of Meribah.
[48:24] It's a reference to what took place here. And the term used there for quarrelling is the term that would be used for a covenant lawsuit.
[48:37] They were, in effect, accusing God of a capital offence, namely murder. Why have you brought me up out of Egypt to kill me and my children?
[48:49] And so they were saying if there was to be any death, Moses was to be first by stoning. What an effect they were doing was that they were really judging God.
[49:02] How often do you hear that voice? Shrewdly raised in the world. If God is so good, why does he permit evil?
[49:14] If God is love, why does he let this happen? In the main such questions are not asked from any desire to gain a knowledge of God, but from hearts that refuse to believe in God.
[49:31] That is the philosophy of Satan. Remember how he came to tempt the Son of God. God, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you.
[49:48] On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And do you remember the response of Jesus? It is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
[50:05] You shall not put him to the test. Words that are copied from the very history of this people. You shall not put the Lord to your test.
[50:20] And that brings me to my final thought. There are complaints, the response of the people, the command of God, and finally the provision of God.
[50:32] Moses had been calling on God. And God now submits to judgment. Not to the judgment of the people, but to his own judgment.
[50:45] He takes the judgment in the place of Moses. And the Lord said to Moses, Go on before the people, take with thee the elders of Israel and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go.
[50:58] Now, there are a number of interesting things here. Take with you some of the elders and your rod. That must in itself have seemed intriguing to the people who were gathered at Rephidim.
[51:15] What now was going to happen? Were the elders to be punished? Are they going to be struck dead? Why the rod? And then you have to remember that the rod has history.
[51:29] Remember how Moses smote the waters of the Nile, which were worshiped by the Egyptians, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
[51:40] Again, the rod was used. To divide the Red Sea. And for the Red Sea waters to return.
[51:52] It was a judgmental act against the Egyptian forces. So you might say that the rod was an instrument of judgment.
[52:03] And you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And notice what the Lord says, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb.
[52:15] What are you to understand from that? God is a spirit. And yet he's saying to Moses, I will stand before you on the rock at Horeb.
[52:28] Was it in the pillar of cloud that he stood on the rock? Because you see, the Bible is silent on this.
[52:39] Some think that the presence of the Lord was unseen, except by Moses alone. Others said this was a theophany. That it was the Son of God in human form before he ever appeared in the flesh in this world.
[52:55] We're not told. Except I will stand on the rock before you. And does anything strike you about that?
[53:10] It's like a reversal of the order. The Lord before the servant. Instead of the servant before the Lord, I will stand before you, says the Lord.
[53:24] And there is an instruction given to strike the rock. And the promise that water will flow from it from the people to drink. The psalmist tells us he opened the rock.
[53:38] Water gushed out. It flowed through the desert like a river. The psalmist certainly had no difficulty in believing about the copious provision of water.
[53:50] Some think that the water was there all the time. That only a thin skim of rock prevented it from flowing. Well, I'm not persuaded by that.
[54:03] I'm not a geologist. So I can't claim to have expertise in that area. But I prefer to think of this as the miraculous provision of God.
[54:17] A miracle that demonstrated the power and the deep compassion of the Lord. And what is really interesting about this scenario is the way in which the Bible itself interprets it.
[54:36] That's why we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. All ate the same spiritual food. All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them.
[54:50] And the rock was Christ. Isn't that interesting? How Paul sees, as he writes to the church at Corinth, that the rock is illustrative of Christ.
[55:07] Now, there are many illustrations that you could use. For example, without this marvelous, miraculous provision, the people would have perished from lack of water.
[55:23] Apply that in the Gospel era. Sinners would all perish if there was no salvation. Again, it seemed a most unlikely place to find water.
[55:39] Despite what any geologist might tell you, it seemed a most unlikely source of providing water for these hundreds of thousands of people and their animals.
[55:57] Now, apply that again. How much more unlikely that eternal salvation would be provided by one who in the eyes of man looked weak as he died on the cross.
[56:18] That's another way it could be applied. We could apply it in this way. There is rich satiation to be found in Christ. Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.
[56:32] In other words, it is refreshing for your soul. This is the God who gives water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert to give drink to his chosen people.
[56:46] But the illustration that I prefer most of all is that I see the rod smiting the rock as an illustration of God smiting himself in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ.
[57:12] In the person of his Son who became man. The rod, a symbol as it were, of the rod of divine justice.
[57:27] And the Son who received the blows of the divine rod. He is obedient in all that takes place.
[57:46] As the one who has been made sin. As the one who experienced the bitterness of the curse. In order that the sweetness of blessing without end might be in the experience of his people throughout the ages of eternity.
[58:11] The Bible sets before us this. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
[58:23] The chastisement of our peace was placed upon him. And with his wounds. And with his wounds. The wounds that are occasioned by the rod of divine justice.
[58:39] We are healed. He was wounded. Healing flowing from the wounds of Christ.
[58:50] Christ. Towards the very people who by their own admission have stinking and festering wounds. And they can only be healed by the application of what flows from the wounds of one who was smitten by the rod of divine justice.
[59:17] So, even in a little passage like this, there are so many lessons to be learned.
[59:29] There is so much that is profitable for our souls. The command of God. The command of God. Leading them to a place of testing. The response of the people.
[59:41] Denying, as it were, the care and the provision of the Lord.
[59:52] Their complaints. Their complaints. So like our own complaining. And the marvelous provision of God.
[60:04] Who can ever appreciate enough the marvelous provision of divine grace. In giving the Lord Jesus Christ.
[60:16] As one in whom. There is perfect. And eternal. Satiation. Let us pray. O eternal God.
[60:28] How great thou art. Is beyond question. Help us to see more of your greatness.
[60:43] And of your provision. That we might be found. At your foodstool daily. Looking unto thee.
[60:54] And the glory shall be thine. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen. Let us conclude.