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[0:00] that's on page 153 in the esv bible page number 153 and it's numbers chapter 20 and the people of israel the whole congregation came into the wilderness of sin in the first month and the people stayed in kaddish and miriam died there and was buried there now there was no water for the congregation and they assembled themselves together against moses and against aaron the people quarreled with moses and said would that we have perished when our brothers perished before the lord why have you brought the assembly of the lord into this wilderness that we should die here both we and our cattle and why have you made us come up out of egypt to bring us to this evil place it is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates and there is no water to drink then moses and aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces and the glory of the lord appeared to them and the lord said to moses he spoke to moses saying take the staff and assemble the congregation you and aaron your brother and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water so you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle and moses took the staff from before the lord as he commanded him then moses and aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock and he said to them here now you rebels shall we bring water for you out of this rock and moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice and water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their livestock and the lord said to moses and aaron because you did not believe in me to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that i have given them these are the waters of meribah where the people of israel quarreled with the lord and through them he showed himself holy moses sent messengers from caddis to the king of edom thus says your brother israel you know all the hardship that we have met how our fathers went down to egypt and we lived in egypt for a long time and the egyptians dealt harshly with us and their fathers and when we cried to the lord he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of egypt and here we are in kaddish a city on the edge of your territory please let us pass through your land we will not pass through field or vineyard or drink water from a well we will go along the king's highway we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory but edom said to him you shall not pass through lest i come out with a sword against you the people of israel said to him we will go by the highway and if we drink of your water i and my livestock then i will pay for it let me only pass through on foot nothing more but he said you shall not pass through and edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force thus edom refused to give israel passage through his territory so israel turned away from him and they journeyed from kaddish and the people of israel and the whole congregation came to mount hor and the lord said to moses and aaron at mount hor on the border of the land of edom let aaron be gathered to his people for he shall not enter the land that i have given to the people of israel because you rebelled against my command at the waters of meribah take aaron and eliezer his son and bring them up to mount hor and strip aaron of his garments and put them on eliezer his son and aaron shall be

[4:04] gathered to his people and shall die there moses did as the lord commanded and they went up mount hor in the sight of all the congregation and moses stripped aaron of his garments and put them on eliezer his son and aaron died there on the top of the mountain then moses and eliezer came down from the mountain and when all the congregation saw that aaron had perished all the house of israel wept for aaron for 30 days amen and we pray that god will bless his word to us we're going to now sing together some words from psalm 107 in the scottish psalter version on page 384 we're going to sing from verse 25 to 31 six stanzas the tune is loch broom psalm 107 and that's 25 verse 25 to verse 31 for he commands and forth and haste the stormy tempest flies which makes the sea with rolling waves aloft to swell and rise they mount to heaven then to the depths they do go down again their soul doth faint and melt away with trouble with trouble and with pain verse 25 to 31 six stanzas of psalm 107 and we'll stand to sing for he commands the stormy tempest flies which makes the sea with rolling waves aloft to swell and rise they mount to heaven then to the depths they do go down again their soul doth faint and melt away with trouble and with pain they will heal and with pain they will heal and stag they will heal and stag they will heal and stag like one drum ...

[6:36] ... choose Then did to God in trouble cry, who then from stricter free.

[7:05] The storm is changed into account at its command and will, so that the winds which reached before now quiet are and still.

[7:38] Then are they glad because of rest, and quiet now they be.

[7:54] So to the heaven he them brings, which they desire to see.

[8:09] What that meant to the Lord would give, praise for his goodness there, and for his works of wonder done, and to the sons of men.

[8:41] Let's turn now to the New Testament, to the letter to the Hebrews on chapter 7.

[8:55] That's on page 1207 in the ESV Bible.

[9:13] Hebrews chapter 7, page 1207, and we're going to take up the reading at verse 23. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

[9:32] But Jesus holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

[9:53] For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

[10:07] He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for all the people, for those of the people, since he did this once for all, when he offered up himself.

[10:20] For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests. But the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

[10:33] Now the point in what we are saying is this. We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

[10:47] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

[11:00] They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

[11:14] But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

[11:25] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. Amen. And once again we pray that God will bless his own word to us.

[11:40] We're going to once again join together in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we pray for the gospel. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you for putting it into our heart to come here, to listen to the good news this evening.

[11:58] But we ask, Lord, that as a church, that we may be continuous in prayer for ourselves, for others, and for those who are, particularly for those who as yet do not know you.

[12:16] We thank you, Lord, of the many who we know, who are known to us by way of family, and friends and acquaintances and neighbours and colleagues. Our Father, we pray for them.

[12:27] And ask, Lord, that you will put it into their hearts. Put that sense of restlessness in their hearts. We pray for those who appear to have no thought about you whatsoever, who appear to be completely careless about the gospel, and who appear to believe that life in this world is simply a random series of events.

[12:50] And our life here is, our objective is to make the most of every opportunity that we have, to better ourselves and to make the world a better place.

[13:00] Father in heaven, we pray, Lord, for those who appear to ignore you. We ask, O Lord, that you will change that, that you will come into their hearts and into their heads and minds, and give them, Lord, a sense of unease about their living, a sense of dissatisfaction.

[13:23] Lord, we pray that you will give them that questioning spirit that just knows that this world is not all there is.

[13:37] We pray that you will reveal yourself to them. We thank you that you can organise your providence in ways in which people are forced to think of life and death issues.

[13:48] And we pray that you will move in such a way in our community and in our country and in our world. So, Father, we pray, Lord, that we will make us witnesses to you.

[14:01] And we thank, O Lord, of how important it is to be consistent in the way that we live in front of people. We want to remember that we are being watched all the time and that people see the way in which we live our lives to check if we are consistent with what we believe.

[14:21] We pray that you will make us consistent and forgive us for when we have failed to be. We ask also, Lord, that we will be ready with an answer for anyone who asks us to give a reason for the hope that we have.

[14:35] And, Lord God, we pray that we will be fearless in giving that reason. We pray that you will encourage us and help us, Lord, to be able to articulate our faith according to the gifts that you've given to us.

[14:50] We don't need to be eloquent in speech. A few words in season here and there may be all that it takes, but we ask, Lord, that you will fill us with your Spirit and that you will give us, Lord, to be close and to live close to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[15:05] If ever this world needed to see the reality of the Christian faith lived out in the lives of your people, it is tonight. And we've all failed in this respect.

[15:16] And we pray that you will give us the courage and the boldness to live for Jesus and to make him known. Father, we pray, Lord, for a collective witness as a congregation and as churches.

[15:29] We thank you, Lord, for every congregation this evening in which Jesus will be preached. We thank you, Lord, for our local congregations. And we ask that you will bless them and bless all those who stand in pulpits this evening and who proclaim the unsearchable riches of Jesus.

[15:47] We thank you for our two vacant congregations that have just been filled in our presbytery. We pray, Lord, for Murdo Campbell and for Thomas Davis as they prepare now, Lord, to begin their ministry in Barvis and Carloway.

[16:03] We thank you, Lord, for them. And we pray that you will bless those ministries richly by touching lives and by intruding on people's unbelief and bring them, Lord, to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.

[16:20] We give thanks, Lord, for the ministry of Innes, which we enjoyed this morning. And we pray that you will bless those who are preparing to study for the ministry or for mission work or for whatever else you have them to do.

[16:34] We ask that you will call people to mission and ministry. We pray that you will work in people's hearts and open them and make them willing, Lord, like Isaiah, to say, here am I, send me.

[16:48] Father in heaven, Lord, we pray that you will make us a praying people, that you will make us an interested and a concerned people, that you will give us knowledge of what's happening all over the world with the gospel.

[17:02] We pray, Lord, for those who are in towns and villages and cities and who are coming into contact with the gospel for the very first time.

[17:13] And we thank you for that work and pray that you will bless that work in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we're going to sing in Psalm number 16. It's on page 17.

[17:24] It's the Sing Psalms version. It's the last four verses from verse 8 to verse 11. Page number 17, Psalm 16. Verse 8.

[17:42] Before me constantly I set the Lord alone because he is at my right hand. I will not be overthrown. The tune is Golden Hill. I'm going to sing from verse 8 to the end.

[17:53] We're going to stand to sing. Amen. Before me constantly I set the Lord alone Because he is at my right hand I will not be overthrown.

[18:34] Therefore my heart is nigh In my tongue with joy will sing My body too will rest secure In hope and we will be For you will not allow My soul in depth to stay Nor will you be your holy one To see the tombs he gave

[19:39] You have made known to me The path of life divine Which shall I know At your right hand Joy from your face will shine Let's turn to Numbers chapter 20 And we'll take up the reading

[20:42] At verse 22 On page 154 Numbers chapter 20 Verse 22 And they journeyed from Kaddish And the people of Israel The whole congregation Came to Mount Hor And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron At Mount Hor On the border of the land of Edom Let Aaron be gathered to his people For he shall not enter the land That I have given to the people of Israel Because you rebelled against my command At the waters of Meribah And so on In November 1992 Her majesty the queen made a speech At the guild hall in London In which she described her experiences During the previous year 1992 And she described it using this term It was an annus horribilis A horrible year

[21:43] And that was of course Because several things had happened Which had embarrassed and saddened And devastated the royal family Well the same could be said About this chapter This was Moses' annus horribilis Because as you work your way through the chapter You just read About one disaster After another First of all Miriam died Miriam was Moses' sister Miriam had looked after him Since he was a little baby And although things weren't always easy Between the two of them The relationship was sometimes strained As we sometimes read During the wilderness journey Nevertheless Miriam had supported Moses Throughout his whole life And had been his friend And his confidant And his sister Then the people

[22:44] Started complaining Once again This was not the first time Or the second time Or the third time That they had complained Against Moses and Aaron This time they had no water Again this wasn't the first time That they had complained For not having any water And God told Moses He gave Moses certain instructions To speak to a particular rock And from that rock Once Moses spoke to it Would come water But instead of speaking to the rock Moses struck the rock And even although water came out of the rock It is very clear That both Moses and Aaron Had disobeyed God And God was going to Bring upon them The consequences Of their actions And these consequences Were simply this That they would no longer Be able to Enter into The promised land They were both going to die On the east side

[23:44] Of the Jordan Before the people Were able to cross The third thing That happened was That when they tried To pass through The land of Edom Now Edom were Relatives Of Israel They were descendants Of Esau You remember How Isaac Had two sons They were twins Jacob and Esau And Jacob's descendants Became the Israelites Esau's descendants Became the Edomites So they were The relatives Of one another And they knew well How related They were They traced their Ancestry back To Isaac And to Abraham But amazingly Despite the Humility In which the Israelites Asked and pleaded With the Edomites To just simply Pass through Their land The Edomites Completely Flatly Refused To allow them In fact They threatened

[24:45] Them With this Large army In verse 21 Edom refused To give Israel Passage through His territory So Israel Turned away From him And what's More In this episode God appears To say Nothing at all There's no voice No indication No leading No guiding No light From the Lord No vindication Of Israel No help From the Lord God is silent In this whole Episode The last thing That happened Was that Aaron Died This is within Months This all took Place In the one Year Probably The half Year The six Months During That particular Time God told Aaron That he was Going to Die He told Him the Time And he Told Him the Place

[25:45] And he Gave him The instruction To go up On the top Of Mount Hor And there He would be Gathered To his People And that is Exactly what Happened After taking Off his Priestly Robes The robes That indicated The particular Work that God had Given him To do He gave Them to His son Eliezer To continue That work After him And then He died And as we Read He was Gathered To his People And all Israel Mourned For him Not least Of which Was Moses Again Aaron Was Moses Brother His older Brother And Aaron Although Relationships Weren't always Good between The two Of them Moses And Aaron Yet Aaron Had been One with Moses In purpose And in Direction And he Had supported Him and been With him His whole Life This must Have been Utterly Devastating For Moses One Disaster One Sad Event

[26:46] After Another Miriam Dies Then there's The waters Of Meribah Moses Disobedience Along with Aaron The consequence Of Moses Disobedience The refusal Of Edom To grant Passage To Israel Through their Land And then Lastly The death Of Moses Or the death Of Aaron What could Be worse Is anything Else Going To Happen The wilderness Journey Of course Has helped Christians For hundreds Of years To understand Much about The hardships Of the Christian life Often we We understand The wilderness Journey as a Picture of what The Christian Life is Beginning with The moment When we are Released from The bondage Of sin As the Children of Israel were Released from The bondage Of the Egyptians When they Passed Through the Red Sea And thereafter Was a Life Which was Led by The Lord A life

[27:46] In which They didn't Know what Lay in Front of Them From one Day to The next All they Knew was That God Was leading Them And one Day he Had promised To lead Them into The promised Land That's what The life Of faith Is all About Some People call It blind Faith I don't Believe In blind Faith If ever You hear People talking About blind Faith I know What they Mean I suppose When people Talk about Blind Faith They mean That we Don't Know exactly What's going To happen To us From one Day to The earth But that Doesn't Mean it's Blind For one Thing Our faith Rests Upon the Death and Resurrection Of Jesus Christ These were Historical Events Events That we Can look Back to That form The basis Of what We know And what We believe So our Faith Is not Blind In the Sense That it's Meaningless And arbitrary And random

[28:46] There's nothing Random about The Christian Faith Neither Is it Blind In the Sense That God Has promised That one Day we Too will Enter into The promised Land And that Promise is As sure As if it Had already Happened We know That God Will fulfill His promise Just as the Man or the Woman who Belonged to Israel Knew if They believed And loved The Lord And listened To him They knew That one Day The time Would come When God Would fulfill His promise But that Didn't Make the Intervening Journey Easy The wilderness Journey was Full of Testings And teachings And trials In which God would Allow his People To suffer Sometimes To a Certain extent In order To draw Them in

[29:47] Trust To himself To test Their faith Like here When the Waters Of Merib When there Was no Water They had Experienced All this Before This wasn't The first Time that It had Happened They found Themselves With no Water So what Should they Have done And they Should have Learned From their Earlier Mistakes And they Should have Come to The Lord Through Moses and Aaron And said We want To pray That God Who promised To take Care of Us Every step Of the Way That he'll Provide us With what We need Right now Which is Drinking water For ourselves Our families And our Flocks That's what They should Have done And God Would have Graciously Answered That prayer Instead They were Filled With This Absence Of Rationality And reason They were Not prepared To look Back to The past To the way In which God Had helped Them in The past But they Were interpreting Their present Situation only In the light

[30:47] Of present Circumstances And it was Growing arms And legs They were Inventing All kinds Of scenarios All of Which painted God And Moses And Aaron In the wrong Light Look at What they Say The people Quarreled With Moses They said We wish We had Perished How can Anybody With a Right Mind Say We wish We had Perished When our Brothers Perished Before the Lord Now that Goes all The way Back to When some Of them Had rebelled Against God And God Had literally Opened up The ground And swallowed Them up And here They are They're saying We wish We had Been there With them We wish We had Been swallowed Up by The ground What kind Of unbelief Would say Something like That Especially When every Single day They wake Up and They see The glory Of God Right there Remember that The children Of Israel They were Guided from Day to day By the Pillar of Cloud by Day and The pillar Of fire By night

[31:47] And it Constantly Accompanied Them wherever They went But they Had got so Used to It that They had Become Complessant Familiarity Had bred Contempt And so They were Now because They happen Not to have Any water Instead of Believing That God Who can Do anything And with Whom Nothing Is impossible And who Could easily Have provided Them with Water They came To the Conclusion That God Was against Them And that He wanted Them to Die Why have You brought The assembly Of the Lord into This Wilderness Blaming Moses Blaming Aaron They knew Perfectly Well why Moses and Aaron had Brought them Into the Wilderness And they And they Knew Perfectly Well that God Promised What God Had promised That they Would not Die But that God was Going to Take them One day Into the Promised Land But they Had come To all The wrong Conclusion You see Unbelief Makes a Monster out Of God In order to Excuse Itself Unbelief

[32:49] Exaggerates The character Of God In order To think And what These people Were saying Is we Are right You're wrong Instead of Asking The Lord Instead of Confessing That they Were in God's Hands And coming To God With empty Hands and Asking him To just Supply their Need as he Always had Promised Why have you Made us Come up Into Egypt To bring us To this Evil Place There Is no Place For grain Or figs Or vines Or pomegranates And there's No water To drink They had been In that Place of Course For quite A while In Kadesh And it Had been Long enough For them To try Out some Planting And some Reaping See if they Could plant Some seed In the In the Soil Of course It was a Desert And they Couldn't Do it The reason They couldn't Do it Was because It was not God's Intention For them To stay In that Place It was God's Intention For them To go Into the Promised Land At length But they Had begun

[33:49] To settle There And begun To try And plan And instead Of understanding Their circumstances By faith And accepting That even Although it Was hard Even although They had to Forgo Certain Pleasures Like their Vines And their Pomegranates These were Unnecessary God was Feeding them Every day He was Giving them Everything That they Needed But they Wanted More They wanted Vines And figs And grain And pomegranates Well one Day God Was going to Give them All of that In the Land of Canaan The promised Land But meanwhile They had To live By faith And the Life of Faith Is a Life where You have To forego If any Man would Come after Me said Jesus He has To deny Himself And take Look up His cross Daily And follow Me The life Of the Christian Is one Of self Denial And the People of Israel Looked as if They had a Long way to Go before

[34:50] They learned How to Deny Themselves But then Moses and Aaron As was Characteristic Of them They went To the Presence Of the They went From the Presence Of the Assembly To the Entrance To the Tent of Meeting And fell On their Faces The Tent of Meeting Was a Particular Booth That Moses Had Erected In order For one Reason And for One Reason Only And that Was To meet With God To pray To find The Presence Of the Lord And we Read in An earlier Chapter that Every time He went Into the Tent of Meeting The Glory Of the Lord Which I Assume Was the Cloud The Glory Cloud It would Move And it Would locate Itself Right over The Tent Of Meeting And there Moses Would meet With God As it Were Face To Face That's The Unique Thing About Moses He Met With God Face To Face He Knew God Face To Face There Was Nobody As Close In The Bible To The Lord As Moses Was And every

[35:51] Time he Met with The Lord He Would Come Out And Sometimes We Read That His Face Was Glowing Literally Shining Like The Sun So People Couldn't Look At It And So Moses And Aaron Went For The Presence And They Met With The Lord And The Lord Gave Them Instructions As To How To Answer The Complaint Of The People Now Here's The Question Is This Where Did Moses Go Wrong Why Was It That After Striking The Rock And Water Coming Out Of The Rock Which Is What The People Wanted And Which Was What God Intended All Along Why Then Did God Turn Against Moses And Tell Him That He Had Sinned In So Doing And Forbid Him And Aaron To Enter Into The Promised What Did They Do Wrong Where Did They Go Wrong Well Let's Read It And Try And Try And Work Out Here's The Instruction That God Gave In Verse 7 The Lord Spoke To Moses Take

[36:52] The Staff And Assemble The Congregation Now The Staff Was A It Was A Rod A Wooden Rod That Symbolized His Authority As Their Leader You And Aaron Your Brother And Tell The Rock Now Here It Is Tell The Rock Before Their Eyes To Yield Its Water Now See That Word It's Water You Notice That Word It's Water What That Means Is That There Was Water In The Rock In The First Place God God Was Not God Didn't Intend To To Bring The Water Into Being He Didn't Create The Water Out Of Nothing The Water Was In The Rock In The First Place But Moses Was To Speak To The Rock And To Tell The Rock To Yield Its Water So You Imagine That The Rock Was Like A Tank It Was All This Water Waiting To Burst Out All Moses Had To Do Was To Speak To It And That Was Where The Miracle Lay So You Shall Bring Water Out Of The Rock For Them

[37:52] And Give Drink To The Congregation And Their Cattle So Moses Took The Staff From Before The Lord As He Commanded Him Then Verse 10 Moses And Aaron Gathered The Assembly Before The Rock And He Said To Them Hold On Wait a Minute He Wasn't Supposed To Speak To Them He Was Supposed To Speak To The Rock And Instead Of Speaking To The Rock He Is Speaking To The People And Look At What He Saying To Them Here Now You Rebels God Didn't Tell Him To Say That Shall We Bring Water For You Out Of This Rock Shall We Aaron And Me Bring Water From For You Out Of This Rock God Didn't Tell Him To Say That Then Moses Lifted Up His Hand Verse 11 And Struck The Rock With His Staff Twice And Water Came Out Abundantly And The Connugation Drank And Their Livestock God Didn't Tell Him To Strike The Rock But

[38:52] He Did And Water Came Out And The People Drank But Moses Made A Catastrophic Mistake Where In Lies The Sin That Moses Committed There Were Plenty Of People Who Throughout The Pages Of The Bible They Erred In Some Way And God Seems To Overlooked Them And Forgiven Their Sin No Doubt And No Doubt Whatsoever That Ultimately God Forgave Moses And Aaron Their Sin As Well Moses And Aaron were Good Men Men Who Loved The Lord And Followed Him So We're Not Suggesting Here That They Are Unbelieving In Any Way But What Appears To Have Happened Is That Moses Emotion Seems To Have Got The Better Of Him If You Want To Put It In Modern Terms He Lost The Place He Had Had It Up To Here With The People If Anyone

[39:53] Had Any Right To Speak To The People It Would Have Been The Lord Every One Of Them Was Accountable To Him So If Anyone Was Going To Pass Judgment On The People And What They Were Doing That Belonged To God But Now Moses Took It Upon Himself To Judge The People Of God And To Call Them A Bunch Of Rebels But That Wasn't The Word Of God That Was His Word Spoken In The Name Of The Lord Moses Was God's Representative So He Stood In Front Of The Whatever He Said Ought To Have Been God's Word But It Wasn't It Was His Word He Decided To To Make Use Of His Own Position As Leader And As God's Spokesman To Give Them A Piece Of His Mind But It Wasn't The Mind Of God He Took Words Out Of

[40:53] God's Mouth But They Weren't In God's Mouth In The First Place That Wasn't God's Message To The People God's Message To The People To Moses Was Simply This All I Want You To Do Is To Go And Speak To The Rock Just Tell It To Give Out Its Water And Somehow I Will I Will Convert I Will Take That Word That You Say To The Rock I Will Make That Word So Powerful That The Rocks They Will Break And The Water Will Come Out Now If Moses Had Done That It Would Have Been An Entirely Different Message To The People The Message Would Have Been That God Had Simply Heard Them And He Was Answering Them In His Grace And In His Mercy Because God Is A Merciful And A Gracious God A Patient

[41:53] God Slow To Anger And Abundant In Mercy And In Kindness That Was For The Message That God Wanted To Give To His People That They Belong To Him Even Although They Were Calling Moses And Aaron Evil And Accusing Them Of Taking Them Into This Evil Place And With All Kinds Of Wrong Motives God Was Going To Answer Their Lies With Grace He Was Going To Respond To The Rebellion With Kindness Just The Same Way As He Has Responded To Our Sin By Sending His Own Son Into Into The World If We Had Got What We Deserved As A World God Would Have Destroyed Us Many Thousands Of Years Ago If God Were To Mark Iniquity Who Could Stand The Psalmist Says From

[42:54] His Own Experience But Yet With You Says The Psalmist There Is Forgiveness That You May Be For And Here Was God He Say I Want To Forgive These People I Want To Deal With Them Gently And Graciously In Order That They May Know That I Am A Gracious God And That In Wrath I Remember Mercy So All You Have To Do In Order To Demonstrate My Mercy Is To Go And Speak To The Lord And That Little Miracle In Which The Word Has The Power To Provide The Water For My People And Declare My Mercy And My Kindness Towards Them Moses Destroyed It He Blew It And Instead He Decided To Lecture And Harang The People No Doubt They Deserved It They Were A Bunch

[43:54] Of Rebels They Were So Were We When Moses Took It Upon Himself To Make Judgments He Had No Right To Make And By So Doing He Had Misrepresented God And Had Left The People With The Wrong View Of The Mind Of God At That Time Instead Of Preaching Grace He Preached Judgment And Demonstrated A God That Repaid According To Their To Their Sinfulness They Tell Me That I Read An Article About This Many Years Ago It Was Absolutely Fascinating From A Scholar Who Was A Geologist At That Time And He Was Talking About The Way In Which Rocks

[44:54] Were Formed That You Find Rocks In That Part Of The World And They Act Like Sponges There There Is Not A Great Deal Of Rainfall In That Part Of The World As You Know And Water Is Scarce But That Doesn't Mean To Say There Isn't Any Water In That Region There Are But It Collects And Apparently Water Collects Within Rocky Formations And It's All Held Together It's Like With This Hard Exterior And It Doesn't Take Much To Break That Exterior And For The Water To Come Out So God Knew That There Was Water In The Rock In The First Place And So Did Moses The Miracle Would Have Been What Would Have Shown The People Of Israel That God Was Providing Them With Water Would Have Been Simply To Speak To The Rock But Instead Of That Moses Let His Emotion And His Anger And His Temper Get The Better Of Him He To

[45:57] Speak What Was On His Own Mind And Instead Of Doing What God Commanded Him To Do He Simply Did What He Knew Was Going To Happen He Just Smashed The Rock And Out Came The Water As Expected And What Happened Was That The Glory Of God Was Overshadowed And The People Simply Drank That's All We Read I Wonder What Would Have Happened If Moses Had Done What God Had Said To Him In The First Place What Their Response Would Have Been To The Grace And The Kindness And The Mercy Of God What's Your Response Tonight To God's Grace We're Worshipping Exactly

[46:58] The Same Lord Tonight As Moses And Aaron The God Who Has Every Right To Punish Us As Our Sin Deserves And As Our Rebellion Deserves And We Too Are Guilty Of Making Up Our Own Perception Of God Of Thinking All The Wrong Thoughts About God Of Characterizing Him Of Caricaturing Him As A God Just Like The Man Remember Who Hid His Talent In The Ground And When He Came To Give An Account Of The Talent He Said To The Master I Knew That You Were A Hard Man Reaping What You Haven't The God Tonight Not One That Is Shaped By The Bible But One Is That Is Shaped By Your Own Prejudice And Your Own Hardness And Your Own Bitterness Well

[48:00] I Want To Challenge You Tonight To Think Again And To Come To The Lord Personally To Come To God In Prayer And Ask Him To Forgive You For Your Your Perverted Opinion Of Him And Ask Him To Reveal Himself To You As Never Before And You'll Find That Revelation Only In The Bible When You Come To See That God Is The God Of Grace Who Does Not Repay Us As Our Sins Deserve And Who Sent His Son Into The World Jesus Christ To Pay The Penalty For Our Sin By Carrying Our Guilt Upon Himself And Laying Down His Life And Suffering God's Wrath And God's Judgment Instead Of Us Rising Again From The Third Day And Promising Promising Everlasting Life To You If You Will Come And Put Your Trust In Him And Turn Away

[49:00] From Your Sin And Your Old Life He Promises Whatever You Deserve Whatever I Deserve God Has Removed That In Jesus Christ And He Has Given An Invitation Not To The Good People Of This World Because Remember What Jesus Said It's Not The Righteous I Have Not Come To Call The Righteous Or Rather The People Who Think They're Righteous In Them No Such Thing As A Good Person In Them But There Were People In Jesus Day Who Thought That They Were Good No Said Jesus I've Come To Call Sinners People Who Are Outcasts People Who Are No Hopers Who Are Bankrupt Who Are Dead In Trespasses And Sins People On The Margins People Who Have Written Themselves Off And Believe That God Has Written Them Off As Well God Is A Gracious God Who Has Brought Up Who Has Sent His Son And To Save

[50:00] Those Who Were Lost That's The Message That God Wanted Moses To Preach To The People Of Israel That God Was Willing To Freely And Graciously Provide For Them Despite Their Sinfulness And That Would Have Been The Greatest Rebuke Of All What Good Do You Think Moses Lecture Did To The People Didn't Do The Slightest Bit Of Good Because It Came From Moses And They Knew That Moses Was A Sinner Just Like They Were But For Them To Hear And For Them To See The Grace Of God Would Have Been Earth Shattering And It Would Have Been Life Changing Well In Jesus Christ You Can See And Hear The Graciousness Of God And It's Life Changing And It's Earth Shattering The Greatest

[51:00] Message That You'll Ever Hear The Greatest God That You Can Ever Serve And Worship So Come To Him Come To Him Tonight Come To Him As You Are Trust In Him Ask Him To Forgive You And Cleanse You And To Open Up Your Heart To Reveal Himself To You To Show Himself To You As Never Before But When He Does And Follow Him As He Shows Himself To Us In The Gospel Follow Him Obey Him Love Him Trust In Him And Live For Him Let's Bow Our Heads In Prayer Father Father Father In Heaven We Pray Tonight That You Will Speak To Us We Pray Lord That You Will We Give Thanks That That You That Jesus Did Not Come Into The World To Judge The World But The World Through Him Might Be Saved

[52:01] Your Intention Is To Save people From Sin And To Show Yourself To Them In Grace And In Mercy And We Ask That Tonight That You Will Give Us To See Jesus As Never Before As The Jesus Who Represents God And Out Of His Mouth Comes The Invitation Of The Gospel To Have Everlasting Life By Believing In Him So Give Us That Life We Pray Each One Of Us For We Ask In Jesus Name Amen Psalm Psalm 116 From The Scorning Psalter Version I should Have Intimated At the Beginning That The July Edition Of The Record Is Now Available And You Can Pick Up Your Copy At The Door If You're A Subscriber There

[53:01] Are Some Available Copies And If There Is A Box For Payment At The Door As Well Psalm 116 Is On Page 396 I'm Going To sing The Last Four Stanzas Of Psalm 116 I Love Salvation Take The Cup On God's Name Will I Call I Pay My Vows Now To The Lord Before His People All Verse 13 To The End Of The Psalm 116 And We're Going To Stand To Sing I Love Salvation Take The Cup On God's Name Will I Call And Name My Vows Now To The Lord

[54:01] Before His People All In God's Sight Is His Saints Then Thy Serpent Lord Did 젠 recording Sään I to thee will give, and on God's name will call.

[54:59] I'll pay my bills, and to the Lord before his people all.

[55:16] Within the course of God's own eyes, within the midst of thee, O city of Jerusalem, praise to the Lord, give me.

[55:48] Amen. And now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest on and abide with each one of us, both now and always.

[56:00]  Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.