{"id":18785,"date":"2018-04-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/law-grace-007-whacking-watering\/"},"modified":"2018-04-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T05:00:00","slug":"law-grace-007-whacking-watering","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/law-grace-007-whacking-watering\/","title":{"rendered":"Law & Grace 007: Whacking & Watering"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[49],"series_event":[477],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[152],"class_list":["post-18785","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-numbers","series_event-law-grace","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-jim-mcgowan","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Law & Grace 007: Whacking & Watering","sermon_date":"20180429","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5730,"sermon_slides":5729,"sermon_mp3":5731,"sermon_id":"429181333309","series_or_event":477,"service_type":[473],"speaker":152,"books_of_the_bible":49,"chapter_and_verse":"20:1\u201013","sermon_transcript":"Sugar Land Bible Church\n\nDr. Jim McGowan\n\nLaw & Grace 007: Whacking & Watering\n\n4-29-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Numbers 20:1-13\n\nGood morning.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to welcome you here to Sugar Land Bible Church, thank you for those of you that are here present physically here in our sanctuary and we\u2019d also like to welcome those of you that are viewing by livestream, it\u2019s a real blessing for us to have the opportunity to come and minister the Word of God on this occasion.\u00a0 I want to thank you for the privilege you give me here at church to do this and I\u2019m excited this morning about what God has for us today.\u00a0 If you want to go ahead and open your Bibles up to Numbers 20, we\u2019re going to be looking at verses 1-13.\u00a0 And while you\u2019re doing that I\u2019ll open us up with a word of prayer.\n\nDear Precious and Loving Heavenly Father, we come before you now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with great praise and thanksgiving, mostly Father for who You are but also for what\u00a0 You do.\u00a0\u00a0 Father, thank\u00a0 You for saving us, thank You for filling us with\u00a0 your Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Thank\u00a0 You, Father, that you didn\u2019t leave us orphans.\u00a0 Father, thank\u00a0 You that You\u2019ve given us a guide book whereby we can find answers to every issue of life.\u00a0 Thank\u00a0 You, Father, that You call us to be co-laborers together with You in this great work of bringing men and women, boys and girls to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Bless the time we have today, Father God; help me Father, move me aside and may the Holy Spirit speak through me, to me and to all of us.\u00a0 I pray in Christ\u2019s name, Amen.\n\nIf you have been participating in the studies that we\u2019ve been doing you\u2019ll recognize that this is session 7 of our Law & Grace series that we\u2019re doing and here is an outline of what we\u2019ll be looking at today.\u00a0 As always we\u2019re going to review our purpose, aim and objective, we\u2019ll do a little brief review of Session 6 to kind of help catch us up, and then we\u2019ll enter into the material for today which is Whacking & Watering.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you love these titles?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t they great.\n\nSo, let\u2019s look at our aim and purpose here; we said that the reason that we\u2019re studying this topic of Law & Grace, there\u2019s a lot of confusion out there so our aim and purpose and objective here is to compare and contrast Law & Grace so as to properly understand these two important themes AND (this is the important part) how they are related to the life of the New Testament believer.\u00a0 And hopefully we\u2019ve, in previous sessions, given you some insight perhaps that you haven\u2019t had or perhaps had forgotten and had a chance to renew that in your heart and mind.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to read through this again, I have a made a point to include this in the last two or three sessions but I would strongly encourage you to go back and look at the material and take time to read this.\u00a0 The issue that Dr. Scofield brings up here is this issue of Galatianizing and being Galatianized in the church today. And basically in a nutshell what he\u2019s saying here is because we are very much like the Galatian church we\u2019re confusing the themes of law and grace and that impacts us greatly in terms of our ability to walk in the things of the Spirit. So I\u2019d encourage you to go back and read that when you have some time.\n\nI\u2019ve been throwing this chart up here just to give you some ideas, just very briefly there\u2019s a whole lot more material than this but just to show you that there are some real significant differences in the teachings of law and grace, again I\u2019m not going to read that to you, I\u2019d encourage \u00a0you to go back and look at that slide.\n\nSo let\u2019s review what we have been talking about in lesson 6.\u00a0 You\u2019ll recall that in lesson 6 we had Moses getting the Ten Commandments and you\u2019ll recall that one of the important things that God said during that point in time was that the children of Israel, even their beasts, their animals were to keep their distance from the mountain because there was something very important and very holy transpiring there.\u00a0 You will recall that I put this chart up last time, the last couple of times showing you that there are various ways in which different groups break up the Ten Commandments and I actually got a couple of comments from folks that said hey, I really appreciated the slide, I didn\u2019t realize that there was so much variation in terms of how people look at these, but I guess the main point is that regardless of how you divide them up everyone comes up with ten and that\u2019s the important thing.\n\nJust a few slides here again, with review, some of the things we brought out last time in Exodus 20:1-21 we said that presents what has come to be called the Ten Commandments, and there were additional spoken instructions at the end of the chapter, that was after verse 21.\u00a0 Some people stop at the Ten Commandments and say oh, there you are, we got the whole deal there.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the case!\u00a0 We said that the Ten Commandments were later literally called the Ten Words, so we\u2019ve added this, through church tradition, this word \u201cCommandment\u201d but they\u2019re literally in the Hebrew text called the Ten Words.\u00a0\u00a0 And in Exodus 21 through 21 which we\u2019ve covered, the ten were not given some special unique name.\u00a0 You know, the Ten Commandments have sort of been elevated and esteemed and exalted above all the rest of the Law, and so it\u2019s important for us to understand that when God thinks in terms of the Law He doesn\u2019t just think about the Ten Commandments, He thinks about the entirety of the Mosaic system.\n\nWe said that the first tablet of stone were broken by Moses, he got a little upset with the children building, fashioning the idol, the calf, and he broke the tablets and new tablets of stone were being written again by God and those were placed in the Ark of the Covenant.\u00a0 We also mentioned the fact that in Deuteronomy 5:4-25 that that consists of a retelling of the Law, the Ten Commandments plus, to the younger generation and that is the reason why that book is called Deuteronomy.\u00a0\u00a0 Deuteronomy means second law.\u00a0 And so here they were at this point in time in Deuteronomy, they\u2019re about to go into the Promised Land and at that point in time God says maybe we\u2019d better rehearse this law business again because it\u2019s going to become very important as you enter into Canaan.\n\nThe Ten Commandments were clarified, this is an interesting point, with additional laws.\u00a0 For example, if someone was presumed guilty the Law that came after the ten clarified, well how were those individuals to be brought up with charges?\u00a0\u00a0 How were they to be proven guilty or innocent?\u00a0 How were they to be punished?\u00a0 So the Law, the entire Law is holy, not just the Ten.\u00a0 All of the additional laws were to be followed with equal attention to detail and weight;\u00a0 you couldn\u2019t pick and choose,\u00a0 you know, I really like commandments 1-4, I think I\u2019ll follow those and leave the rest for someone else.\u00a0 NO, the Law is the Law!\u00a0 And it was to be followed\u00a0 explicitly.\n\nThe first of the ten were not the first commandments in the Bible, we mentioned the fact that there were commands to be fruitful and to multiply previously, there was a command about male circumcision given Abram, the command for observing the Passover which happened previous to this part in the story.\u00a0 These were all given before the Ten Commandments.\n\nAnd then something a lot of people were surprised to discover is that much of the Law of Moses was actually revealed through the agency of angels and if you\u2019d like to go back and look at those passages it\u2019s very interesting.\u00a0\u00a0 A lot of people think that God just dictated all of the Law and that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0 The Ten Commandments as given are holy, righteous and good, thus says the Apostle Paul, and then he says the Law demands obedience but provides no power\u2026 NO POWER to comply with those demands.\u00a0\u00a0 So notice, this is very important, we have many believers today that want to live under the Law, but notice the last part of that statement there, you have no power to keep the Law if you\u2019re under the Law and therefore the Law becomes fatal, it becomes fatal!\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Paul called even the Ten Commandments, the tablets there and letters engraved in stone, listen to what he called them; does this sound like an encouraging statement?\u00a0 Let\u2019s all follow the Ten Commandments, which he called a ministry of death and condemnation.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a pretty heavy thing to say there, isn\u2019t it?\n\nPaul told us that we have died in relationship to the entire Law of Moses and Andy, Pastor Woods has brought out in the past there are some that want to take the Law and divide it up\u2026 well, you know, there\u2019s the moral law and there\u2019s the ceremonial law, we don\u2019t have to follow the ceremonial law but we have to follow the moral law.\u00a0 We know that\u2019s not what Paul said at all. He said the entire Law of Moses that we\u2019re dead to it and we\u2019ve been released from the law to be joined to Christ.\u00a0 Remember that in the Bible death means separation and the spiritual way of thinking there can never be a void; if you\u2019re alive to the Law you\u2019re dead to God as a believer.\u00a0 If you\u2019re dead to the Law you\u2019re alive to God, Paul is saying here.\u00a0 The singular reigning principle or rule of grace during the church age is what?\u00a0 The Law?\u00a0 NO!\u00a0 It\u2019s grace\u2026 it\u2019s grace!\n\nWe have said that salvation in every dispensation is always by grace through faith and that grace is not just the means of our salvation but it\u2019s also, notice, the motive for our living.\u00a0 It\u2019s the means for our living and it\u2019s the source of opportunity within the church body.\u00a0 All ministry that takes place in the church is due to God\u2019s wondrous grace.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that fantastic.\u00a0 \u00a0You can believe it or not, me being up here before you this morning is God\u2019s grace; some of you were wondering, I could tell.\u00a0 No, it is God\u2019s grace to.\u00a0 So that brings us to the end of our review.\u00a0 Now if you need to run out and get a cup of coffee it\u2019s okay, just be sure you come back quickly.\n\nSo that brings us to our session this morning, Whacking and Watering.\u00a0 So here\u2019s our outline again, let\u2019s look at what the Scriptures say.\u00a0 If you\u2019d like to follow along I\u2019m going to read these.\u00a0 It says, [Numbers 20:1] \u201cThen the sons of Israel, the whole congregation came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.\u00a0\u00a0 [2] There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron\u00a0 [3] The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, \u2018If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!\u00a0 [4] Why then have you brought the LORD'S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here?\u00a0 [5] Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.\u2019\u201d [6] Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them; [7] and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [8] \u201cTake the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.\u201d\u00a0 [9] So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him;\u00a0 [10] and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, \u201cListen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?\u201d\u00a0 [11] Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. [12] But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, \u201cBecause you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.\u201d [13] Those were<\/em> the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the LORD, and He proved Himself holy among them.\u201d\n\nWow!\u00a0 Okay, strap on your seat belts, get ready, here we go.\u00a0 Let me give you some general information about this account.\u00a0 First of all this is not the first time, as you know, that water has been brought forth from the rock.\u00a0 We saw that happen in Exodus 17:1-7 and now here we have it again in Numbers 20:1-13.\u00a0 Some of the details are a little bit different though.\n\nNow let me make a side comment just for a moment.\u00a0 It\u2019s important that I tell you that thus far in our sessions I\u2019ve tried to make a very clear distinction between Law and grace and give you contrasts and comparisons; I\u2019m going to depart from that technique a little bit today but don\u2019t lose heart, I think you\u2019re going to discover that the event that we\u2019re going to talk about here, since they are in fact key events in the life of Moses, and because there are tremendous spiritual principles I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to be disappointed.\u00a0 So bear with me here.\n\nThis is the second account in which water is brought forth from the rock and as we worked our way through the Exodus account, remember we\u2019ve been at this thirty thousand foot level, we actually passed over the first account, which again is found din 17:1-7.\u00a0 And there you\u2019ll recall that the children of Israel were on their way down toward Mount Sinai.\u00a0 So they had crossed the Red Sea, they\u2019re on their way down to Mount Sinai, and the Lord miraculously provides water in a very similar fashion to what we see here, almost forty years later.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting?\n\nSo the account in Exodus 17 took place when?\u00a0 At the beginning of the Exodus and the account that we\u2019re going to talk about today in Numbers 20 takes place toward the end of the Exodus.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost as if they\u2019re book ends of the Exodus story.\u00a0 Very interesting!\n\nLet me give you a geographical overview of what we have seen thus far.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a picture, if you look at the top center you\u2019ll see that lush green area, that\u2019s the land of Goshen.\u00a0 And so the children of Israel start out from the land of Goshen, they head sort of east, on the east side I should say of the Nile delta.\u00a0 Then, as they continue on down they cross the sea and they head towards the Sinai desert there, along the Sinai peninsula.\u00a0 And they eventually come to Mount Sinai and that\u2019s somewhere near the southern end of the Sinai peninsula, and again as we\u2019ve indicated this is where the first water from the rock event took place, just as they are getting close to Mount Sinai.\n\nThen they travel northward up to Kadesh-barnea and Kadesh-barnea is the largest oasis in the wilderness of Zin.\u00a0 So that tells you why they were going that direction.\u00a0 In the northern Sinai there it served as kind of a base for the children of Israel until they ultimately set out on their campaign for the conquest of Canaan.\u00a0 So Kadesh-barnea is going to be an important place in the life of the children of Israel.\u00a0 You may recall that Kadesh-barnea was also the location where the spies had been sent out and where ultimately the children of Israel were disciplined because of their unbelief.\u00a0\u00a0 And what happened?\u00a0 They were told to turn and go back into the wilderness and so they had a little journey ahead of them at that point in time, of some 38 to 40 years.\n\nJust for information purposes here\u2019s a family tree showing Sarah and Abraham down to Miriam, Aaron and Moses.\u00a0 And Scripture doesn\u2019t tell us specifically what Miriam\u2019s age was, generally the idea is that she was somewhere between the ages of probably about 7 and 12 years of age when Moses was dropped off in his little private ark in the Nile River.\u00a0\u00a0 But we do know from Exodus 7:7 that Aaron was three years older than Moses.\u00a0 [Exodus 7:7, \u201cMoses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Interesting information.\n\nLet\u2019s move into the commentary section here.\u00a0 So here in Numbers chapter 20, verse 1, what\u2019s the first thing that we really see happening here of import.\u00a0 We see that Miriam, the older sister of Aaron and Moses, dies.\u00a0 This is a significant event.\u00a0 It says she died there and was buried.\u00a0 [Numbers 20:1, \u201cThen the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.\u201d]\n\nNow you may recall that Miriam, the prophetess, had been the one who had led the musical celebration when the Israelites passed through the sea and the Lord rescued and delivered the people of Israel and also eliminated the Egyptians.\u00a0 She was so excited she grabbed her tambourine and led a bunch of ladies out ant they started a dance party.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it was a dance off, a dance party, that\u2019s a little different there.\u00a0 You also recall that Miriam is the one who led Aaron in sibling rivalry against Moses in Numbers chapter 12.\u00a0 Now some people like to say well wait a minute, Jim, I don\u2019t see that in the text; prove to me that Miriam was the leader.\u00a0 Well, let me give you a couple of things that you might not be aware of.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty clear that she was the leader in that incident, both from the priority of her name appearing over Aaron\u2019s in the text, and also, and you have to know a little Hebrew here to get this, the use of the feminine gender of the verb \u201cspoke\u201d in that passage is feminine in the Hebrew text.\u00a0 So it was Miriam the prophetess who was leading Aaron and Aaron being the\u2026\u00a0 you know, properly obedient younger brother following in her dissimilation there.\n\nAnd of course you know what happened, she was smitten with leprosy, and that\u2019s kind of what those two lower pictures are representing there.\u00a0 And that was not a good thing, was it?\u00a0 Fortunately Aaron prayed for her and God healed her.\u00a0 So Miriam had been one of those that had celebrated their delivery after crossing the sea, Miriam was among those who died without entering the Promised Land due to unbelief.\n\nAnd that brings us to the wilderness of Zin.\u00a0 So here they are camped at the wilderness of Zin; Miriam dies.\u00a0 I previously mentioned the fact that Kadesh-Barnea was the largest oasis in the wilderness of Zin, but you might be wondering, if you look again at verse 2,what does verse 2 say, \u201cThere was no water for the congregation,\u201d but [can't understand word] just said it was the largest oasis in the wilderness; what\u2019s going on here?\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s interesting because if you\u2019ll recall that the children of Israel at this time numbered somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5-2 million people and that didn\u2019t include all their animals.\u00a0 So you had to have sufficient water for all of that congregation and their beasts.\u00a0 Now that, as you can imagine, would require a lot of water on a daily basis.\n\nNow the text doesn\u2019t specifically indicate that there was absolutely no water; that could have been the case.\u00a0 It could have actually been the case that there wasn\u2019t sufficient water, that\u2019s also a possibility.\u00a0 So again we still have to ask ourselves, well why would that be the case.\u00a0 I mean, after all, if they were using this as their base of operations they apparently hadn\u2019t encountered this problem before, at least not in a recent period of time, so what\u2019s going on here.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s very interesting that you\u2019ll discover that in these oases that it\u2019s not uncommon for the water table to drop.\u00a0 So from time to time the rains have been good in other parts of the area that water table will come up and there\u2019s an abundance of water and other times the water table goes down and you don\u2019t have as much water.\n\nAs I was thinking about this it reminded me also that there might have been another issue going on here, although the text doesn\u2019t say so; I had the opportunity to go to Africa on a mission trip one time and once we got all the work done it was play time and so we decided we were going together to the\u00a0 Maasai Mara Game Reserve and unfortunately that didn\u2019t pan out.\u00a0 So they said well, we\u2019re going to substitute another trip for you, we\u2019re going to take you over to the ark, and if you\u2019re not familiar with this resort (I guess I\u2019ll call it that) I\u2019d encourage you to go look it up on the internet, it\u2019s pretty fascinating, somewhere back, I think in the 1800\u2019s some wealthy individuals went out in the middle of the jungle and they constructed a facility that is designed after the ark, Noah\u2019s ark.\u00a0 And there was a place where they lived for years, and then finally they sold it, I think to Kenya, and they turned it into an animal viewing location; very fascinating.\n\nAnd to bring it home here one of the things that I noticed when I was there, staying up all night long watching the animals come in, you know, animals are not very discriminating.\u00a0 Have you noticed that, when they go to the water hole they\u2026 I don\u2019t want to gross anyone out but they don\u2019t mind drinking and defecating and urinating all in the same place.\u00a0 And this went on over and over all night long.\u00a0 The elephants would come in and they would do that, the rhinos would come and they would do that, the little gazelle animals would come in and they were all doing this, the water buffalo\u2019s.\u00a0 And I\u2019m just wondering, can\u00a0 you imagine if you had all these animals that had to have water if maybe there wasn\u2019t a possibility that part of the reason they didn\u2019t have any water was the water table had dropped and the water had gotten kind of foul.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s a freebie, do with what you want to with it.\n\nBut whatever the reason is, if we look at verse 3, verse 3 tells us that, \u201cThe people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, \u201cIf only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!\u201d \u00a0[Numbers 20:3]\u00a0 Great men and women of faith here, right?\u00a0 Have you noticed in our study of the Law and grace before how fickle the children of Israel are?\u00a0 They\u2019re so\u2026 now this is audience participation when I say \u201cHave you noticed\u201d you\u2019re supposed to say \u201chow fickle were they?\u201d\u00a0 No,\u00a0 you didn\u2019t do it,\u00a0 okay\u2026 well, this is how fickle they were: here\u2019s what\u2019s happening.\u00a0 All through the story there we see that they come to Moses and they always have one of two extreme responses.\u00a0 Ready\u2026 here it is\u2014number one it\u2019s either Moses, we\u2019re all going to die, oh no!\u00a0 OR, it\u2019s Moses, we\u2019re all going to die I hope.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that right?\u00a0 That\u2019s what you have happening here.\n\nLook at verses 4 and 5.\u00a0 In verses 4 and 5 notice the two very similar questions that are asked that are presented here.\u00a0 They say, now look at this, they say, [Numbers 20:4-5] \u201cwhy then have\u00a0 you<\/u> brought the Lord\u2019s assembly into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die here?\u201d Oh boohoo!\u00a0 Can you see it?\u00a0 And the next question is [5] \u201cWhy have you made us to come up from Egypt to bring us into this wretched place.\u201d\u00a0 Oh my goodness!\u00a0 The thing they had forgotten here is the fact that the Lord Himself had made it very clear that He was the one who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.\u00a0 Is that not true?\u00a0 Moses was merely His agent.\u00a0 But instead of acknowledging that the Lord had brought them there they chose to use this as an opportunity, just another opportunity to do what?\u00a0 Murmur and complain.\n\nNow it\u2019s interesting that the only factual statement in that passage right there is in verse 5, at the end when they said, \u201cit is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only thing that they said that was accurate.\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to focus on that here in just a minute.\n\nSo what the children of Israel did here was a lot of faithless complaining and this, despite the many miracles and miraculous events that they had witnessed for almost forty years.\u00a0 Let me just rehearse a little bit of that with you.\u00a0 Just imagine now many of these people had seen all of the Exodus events; they had seen the parting of the sea and they had walked through on dry ground.\u00a0 They had witnessed what happened when the Lord closed up the waters over the Egyptians.\u00a0 They had seen the Shekinah glory of the Lord on top of Mount Sinai.\u00a0 They had heard God speak from the midst of the Shekinah cloud, in fact, they\u2019d even said oh Moses, you go talk to the Lord, we don\u2019t want to hear Him any more.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 They had seen the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, daily\u2026 daily!\u00a0 They had seen and been partakers of the daily miracle of the manna and had eaten the quail that the Lord had provided.\u00a0 Their clothes and sandals did not wear out according to Deuteronomy 29:5 and they had witnessed miracle after miracle.\u00a0 Yet they were choosing to push all of that aside focusing on the fact that they were hungry and thirsty.\n\nDo you think that they had had manna that morning?\u00a0 I bet they had.\u00a0 Yeah, they had had manna that morning.\u00a0 Interesting!\u00a0 So once again the children of Israel lost their focus on God\u2019s providential care which always resulted in either a fleshly self-focused unreasonable fear of dying or a wretched irrational yearning to die.\u00a0 So if I were going to sum up the children of Israel\u2019s exodus experience I would borrow from Shakespeare and I would say that the subtitle to Exodus would be \u201cTo die or not to die, that is the question.\u201d\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 They had rejoiced that God Himself had brought them out of Egypt but now they blame Moses because they\u2019re hungry and thirsty.\n\nNotice that their words and their attitudes reveal that their hearts were where?\u00a0 Still in Egypt.\u00a0 This brings us to the point of a very important principle, VIP!\u00a0 Wherever you are and wherever you go on earth\u00a0 you\u2019re always passing through.\u00a0 We\u2019re indeed going to find some places and some circumstances that are better than others, aren\u2019t we.\u00a0\u00a0 There will be variation on how much we enjoy one situation versus another.\u00a0 But wherever God has you right now you will not be there forever.\u00a0 Our earthly journey is temporary, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 We\u2019re just passing through.\u00a0 In fact, the earth is just a getting ready kind of place.\u00a0 Earth for the believer is a getting ready kind of place, getting us ready for what\u2019s next, which is what?\u00a0 Heaven!\u00a0\u00a0 God had promised\u2026 listen now, God had promised to bring the children of Israel into the land of Canaan.\u00a0 At this point they had been traveling from one place to the next for about 38 years.\u00a0 In the flesh things looked bleak to them.\u00a0 But God was not going to leave them at Kadesh-barnea in the wilderness of Zin forever. He had promised them, had He not.\n\nSimilarly for the believer, no earthly circumstance is here to stay forever.\u00a0 The earth is just a getting ready kind of place for us.\u00a0 Our earthly existence is more like a railroad station, it\u2019s not a place to stay, we\u2019re just passing through.\u00a0 What God is doing presently, right now, is getting us ready for our true home so we shouldn\u2019t get all wrapped up in God\u2019s process of getting us ready so much so that we lose sight of where it is we\u2019re headed.\u00a0 We shouldn\u2019t get so\u2026 let me say that again, we shouldn\u2019t get so wrapped up in what is happening now that we lose sight of what God has in store for us.\u00a0 And that\u2019s kind of the tendency, isn\u2019t it, when we look at the news and we go online and we see all the things that are happening around the world, we kind of have a tendency (like the children of Israel) to lose our focus.\u00a0 Well, let\u2019s not do that.\n\nVerses 6-8, in these verses what we see happening is what is it that Moses and Aaron do when they\u2019re confronted by these children of Israel?\u00a0 Well, they leave the presence of the assembly and they enter the presence of the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0 I like that.. I like that!\u00a0 They leave the presence of the assembly and they enter the presence of the Lord.\u00a0 And now they\u2019re at the \u201cdoorway of the tent of meeting\u201d which is also called the tabernacle, and there the glory of the LORD appears and He speaks to them.\n\nNow I\u2019m getting excited, we\u2019re getting to the good stuff, right?\u00a0 \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d appears, it\u2019s all going to be great and wonderful and exciting.\u00a0 You can see pictured here a real life model, in the middle picture, that\u2019s a real life model pitched out in the desert, and then the picture on the right is a rendering that kind of gives an idea of what it would have looked like to see the tabernacle set up and all the tribes in the camp around about it so this sort of gives you an idea of what was happening there during this time.\n\nSo what happens in verse 8?\u00a0 God tells Moses to take his rod, now was that rod important?\u00a0 That was the same rod that he had used to do what?\u00a0 All the miracles in Egypt; same rod he used to split the Red Sea, so He tells him take your rod, and He says you and Aaron go gather the people together.\u00a0 And then He says speak to the rock and He says the water will flow.\u00a0 Now let\u2019s see, one, two, three, four, there\u2019s four things to do, that\u2019s all it is.\u00a0 Just four things.\u00a0 Here we go.\n\nPreviously in Exodus 17 when Moses was providing water through the agency of the Lord there what was he told to do?\u00a0 He was told to strike the rock one time and he did that and the water came out.\u00a0 But notice this time the Lord says \u201cspeak to the rock\u201d and so that\u2019s what Moses was supposed to do.\u00a0 He told them that if they would do this there would be water for them to drink.\u00a0 So what happened?\u00a0 Well, Moses starts out well, we\u2019re on the right track here Moses, so Moses gets off to a good start, he takes his rod just as the Lord had said for him to do, he and Aaron gather the people of Israel exactly as the Lord had told them to do.\u00a0 Man, we\u2019re obeying here, we\u2019re doing the right thing, this is good stuff.\u00a0 He gets a gold star, right.\n\nBut then what happens, oh my goodness, he goes from this good start and then he starts to ad lib.\u00a0 Instead of speaking to the rock as God had said he spoke to the people in anger, so much so that he calls God\u2019s chosen people rebels, \u201cyou rebels,\u201d listen you rebels\u2026ooohhweee.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re in trouble.\u00a0 This brings us to another very, very important principle: allowing our feelings and emotions to reinterpret God\u2019s Word is NEVER a good idea.\u00a0 Remember what God had said?\u00a0 There were four things: take the rod, assemble the people, speak to the rock, and the water will come out.\u00a0 That\u2019s all he had to do.\u00a0 When the people came to Moses though they were angry, weren\u2019t they?\u00a0 They were upset and instead of putting his faith in what the Lord had told him to do Moses responded in-kind.\u00a0 At that point Moses was following his feelings, not faith in the fact of what God had just told him.\n\nRemember, all he had to do were four things.\u00a0 A key thing at this point for us as believers to understand is represented in this illustration of the faith train.\u00a0 The railroad tracks represent the biblical facts, what does the Bible say?\u00a0 Faith is like the engine of the train and faith in the biblical facts represents the train running on the tracks.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that when faith leaves what follows?\u00a0 Feelings, emotions and circumstances. \u00a0So it\u2019s not just how you start; feelings and emotions took over which is a real problem because Paul tells us is in Romans 8:7, \u201cThe mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Romans 8:7, \u201cbecause the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.\u201d]\n\nInstead of speaking to the rock as instructed Moses struck the rock twice and this is bad!\u00a0 But hold on, it gets worse.\u00a0 Moses misrepresents God.\u00a0 Moses not only didn\u2019t do exactly what God said but he also spoke as if bringing the water from the rock was his and Aaron\u2019s accomplishment.\u00a0 Can you see him sticking his thumbs up under here?\u00a0 WE, we\u2019re going to do this, right.\u00a0 Notice what he said, \u201cShall we bring forth water for you out of this rock.\u201d\u00a0 [Verse 10]\u00a0\u00a0 Shall WE, at this point in Moses\u2019 emotionally charged thinking God doesn\u2019t even have anything to do with what\u2019s happening.\u00a0 \u201cWE\u201d he says, \u201cWE<\/strong>\u201d Aaron and I, my older brother, WE\u2019RE going to provide this water for you, you rebels!\u00a0 Wow!\n\nThat brings us to another very important principle: our best efforts and good intentions just aren\u2019t good enough.\u00a0 Would you agree with that?\u00a0 We have to realize that our best intentions just won\u2019t get the job done.\u00a0 Many people believe that they\u2019re good enough to get into heaven on their own.\u00a0 Do you know anybody like that?\u00a0 Maybe you were like that before you came to Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s why works oriented religion draws so many people.\u00a0 Have you noticed that?\u00a0 And that\u2019s the reason why these self-help books, even the ones in the Christian bookstore, just fly off the shelf, because by golly, we\u2019re all going to do it, we\u2019re going to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to make it happen.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re going to accomplish what needs to be done.\u00a0 But heaven, as you know, is only accessible to fallen man by faith in God\u2019s work through Christ, faith that Christ died for your sins, that He was buried, that he rose again, faith that Christ, the Son of God did those things for you personally, that is what saves a person.\u00a0 Not being good enough or as some like to say well, I\u2019m not as bad as so and so, I\u2019m actually better than average.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter, you\u2019re still not good enough, are you ?\n\nGuess what?\u00a0 Most of us sitting here as believers, we understand that, we believe that, we accept that, we applaud that don\u2019t we.\u00a0 However, what I want you to keep in mind is that even after you\u2019re saved it\u2019s still not our best efforts that God wants.\u00a0 What God has in mind for us is not something we can pull off on our own.\u00a0 It\u2019s not our own efforts that will accomplish God\u2019s purposes for us; it is God\u2019s, it is the Lord\u2019s!\u00a0 It\u2019s true that God wants to use us as instruments but not for us to rely on our own abilities and then take credit, like Moses did in this passage.\n\nSo Moses called the people of Israel rebels.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t quite what God had told him to say, was it?\u00a0 God had told him to speak to the rock, not to the people.\u00a0 But not only did he speak to the people instead of the rock he spoke in anger and he took credit for the miracle that was to follow.\n\nThat brings us to verses 12 and 13.\u00a0 Moses\u2019 error, after almost forty years of leading the Israelites in the wilderness, would have very severe consequences for him.\u00a0 As a result of his disobedience Moses would not be allowed to lead the children of Israel into the Promised land nor would he be allowed to even set foot in it.\u00a0 He would only be allowed to see it from afar.\n\nCan you put yourself in Moses\u2019 place just for a second?\u00a0 You have been faithful to God, you have led the children of Israel all through the wilderness, you\u2019re literally at the point where your toes are about to cross over into the Promised Land and because of stupidity and self-will you blow it. And now you have to stand there and look at what God is going to do with the children of Israel.\u00a0 How disheartening that would have been.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Can you imagine, maybe slap yourself up against the side of the head\u2026 dumb, dumb, dumb, why did I do that?\u00a0 Right?\n\nThe lesson that we should learn from this is that earthly disobedience now always has consequences.\u00a0 Did\u00a0 you notice that \u201calways\u201d.\u00a0 We sometimes think that well, you know, there are little sins in our life, well, they\u2019re not that big of a deal.\u00a0 I like what Lewis Sperry Chafer said.\u00a0 He said that \u201csecret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven.\u201d\u00a0 Ouch!\u00a0 Well, I have good news.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to just leave on a bad note there.\u00a0 Hey, guess what?\u00a0 Moses will ultimately have the opportunity to walk the land.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to do that at the same time we do it, in his resurrected body, and that\u2019s because God\u00a0 is wonderfully gracious, isn\u2019t He.\n\nLet\u2019s ask some quick questions.\u00a0 What went wrong here?\u00a0 What went wrong!\u00a0\u00a0 Moses didn\u2019t listen carefully, just doing the same things the same way as was done before was not what God had in mind at all.\u00a0 Perhaps, who knows, perhaps Moses was thinking well, you know, I\u2019ve struck the rock the first time, so it was one time, hey, okay, this is the second time, well, maybe two times, it\u2019s not that big a deal, speaking, smiting, what\u2019s the difference.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Well, God had a different plan and purpose in mind which Moses would declare later in the Book of Deuteronomy and it was basically that God intended for Moses to glorify Him.\u00a0 But there\u2019s even more; if you go look at Deuteronomy in chapter 32 you\u2019ll find five times there where Moses, subsequent to this event, refers to the rock as God.\u00a0 So there was a little more significance here to what was happening.\u00a0 God hadn\u2019t shown Moses that yet; God expected Moses to act in faith and he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Moses gets the picture later and ah, I get it now!\n\nBut that\u2019s not all, there\u2019s the verse, look at that, the Rock, the Rock, the Rock, the Rock, and he\u2019s talking about God there.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 32:4, 15, 18, 30, 31]\u00a0 I encourage you to go look at that.\n\n[Deuteronomy 32:4, \u201cThe Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.\u201d\u00a0 Deuteronomy 32:15, \u201cBut Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-- You are grown fat, thick, and sleek-- Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 32:18, \u201cYou neglected the Rock who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth.\u201d\u00a0 Deuteronomy 32:30, \u201cHow could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?\u201d Deuteronomy 32::31, \u201cIndeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.\u201d]\n\nBut not only that, but notice the Apostle Paul uses this very same event and he says that the rock was a picture of Christ Himself.\u00a0 Look at this verse, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, \u201cFor I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; [2] and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; [3] and all ate the same spiritual food; [4] and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.\u201d\u00a0 The rock \u201cwas Christ,\u201d interesting. What went wrong?\u00a0 Striking the rock twice in anger was not only an act of disobedience, it was an act that did not properly honor and respect God.\u00a0 God wants to use us, again, as his instrument but He doesn\u2019t want us acting on our own and taking the credit.\n\nWhy, it\u2019s a good question to ask here, why did Aaron also receive the consequences?\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t it Moses who had spoken and acted in the wrong manner.\u00a0 I can just see all of our millennials today\u2026 \u201cthat\u2019s NOT FAIR!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 But is it or isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Let\u2019s contemplate that for just a moment.\u00a0 I have a question for you: how many people went to the [can't understand words].\u00a0 Two, Moses and Aaron, right.\u00a0 Moses and Aaron both heard what God had said.\u00a0 There were only how many things to do?\u00a0 Four things to do, and they both heard them.\u00a0 Aaron knew what God said yet Aaron stood by quietly saying nothing; he made no attempt to impede or correct Moses.\u00a0 So they were both guilty.\u00a0 Moses was guilty by what he did and said wrongly, and Aaron by what he didn\u2019t do and didn\u2019t say.\n\nBut you know God is a gracious God, isn\u2019t He?\u00a0 Although Moses and Aaron both erred and in spite of the people murmuring and complaining God mercifully and graciously made the water come out of the rock abundantly it says, because God\u2019s mercy and His grace\u2026 watch this, depend on Him and not on us.\u00a0\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that wonderful!\n\nThat brings us to another very important principle.\u00a0 The fact that the Lord may bless His people does not mean that everything that they are doing is right.\u00a0 How many of us can raise our hand this morning and say God is blessing me because everything I do is right.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see any hands go up, that\u2019s probably good.\u00a0 The fact that the Lord may bless His people does not mean that everything that they\u2019re doing is right.\u00a0 The Lord may graciously and mercifully follow through even though people have erred because God\u2019s mercy and His grace depend upon Him (praise the Lord) not on\u00a0 us. Oh man, we should just stop and just pray to God for that, right?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that wonderful!\n\nWell, it\u2019s time for a conclusion, here we go.\u00a0 You ready:\u00a0 I\u2019ll see if we can get it all in here.\u00a0 The Law wasn\u2019t the same as grace but you\u2019ll notice that in this event, under the Law now, God reveals grace doesn\u2019t He?\u00a0 And that grace points to Christ. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:2 which we read he states that the fathers were baptized into Moses.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 10:1-2, \u201cFor I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; [2] and all were baptized into Moses.\u201d] And that is referring to them having been identified and joined to the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 So they were literally all under the Law, as we said, but the fact that they were under the Law doesn\u2019t mean there wasn\u2019t grace that was demonstrated.\n\nBut notice that the same verse that states that the rock from which the water flowed was to represent Christ, notice that it says\u2026 it represented Christ I should say, God\u2019s merciful and gracious provision of life for us all.\u00a0 Christ is God\u2019s merciful and gracious provision of life for us all because we did everything right\u2026 is that correct?\u00a0 NO!!!!\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, there has not ever been a single human being in the whole world, other than the Lord Himself that did everything ultimately right.\u00a0 Did Moses perfectly follow God\u2019s instructions?\u00a0 Did Aaron do what was right?\u00a0 Were the children of Israel right with all of their griping and complaining and accusations against Moses and Aaron?\u00a0 Everyone involved in this event erred but God was gracious and merciful and that to me is just amazing.\u00a0 What a wondrous God we serve!\n\nI wonder if Moses and Aaron understood that God was going to use them as living examples for us.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they did.\u00a0 Did they realize what was happening in their day?\u00a0 Not fully.\u00a0 Did they realize that the rock was representative of God and even Christ Himself?\u00a0 Not at that point they didn\u2019t.\u00a0 We, like the children of Israel though are also very shortsighted.\u00a0 We can become depressed and distressed about all kinds of things, can\u2019t we?\u00a0 We can lose our joy and we can focus on our situations and on our circumstances.\u00a0 The children of Israel were thinking I\u2019m hungry, I\u2019m thirsty, I\u2019m tired of manna, you know, but they had no idea that what they were living out would have HUGE spiritual significance.\n\n1 Corinthians 10:11 says something very insightful, \u201cNow these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.\u201d\u00a0 Can I say that when these events were happening they\u2026 are you ready for this?\u00a0 That God had you and me in mind.\u00a0 Sometimes we forget that God is all everything, don\u2019t we.\u00a0 You know, He\u2019s [can't understand words] and Omni, Omni, Omni?\u00a0 And we forget that God is way up here and He has plans and purposes that He\u2019s fulfilling, and we focus on what\u2019s happening here and here and here.\u00a0 He sees the big picture.\n\nSo when all this was going on God is saying you know, one of these days I\u2019m going to have a group of people at Sugar Land Bible Church sitting in that church listening to a message because this is all going to be an example for their instruction.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that wonderful.\u00a0 That\u2019s how much God cares about us.\n\nWe said that the events under the Law points to Christ and we can ask this or we can say here as we reflect upon the children of Israel in this event there are some things of great importance that we can take away.\u00a0 This is a good one, think about that for just a moment.\u00a0 One of the things we should take away is that the Lord is doing amazing and incredible things in our lives irrespective of what we perceive on the surface.\u00a0 In fact, we often have no idea what spiritual significance our daily lives actually have, just like they didn\u2019t.\u00a0 In our lives God is doing things far more significant than what it might seem on the surface.\u00a0 There are far more spiritual processes taking place beneath the surface than what others or even we ourselves might recognize.\n\nI have a question: have you ever wondered what God is doing in your life?\u00a0 Have you, perhaps even felt a little perturbed at points because of what God isn\u2019t doing in your life?\u00a0 Have you ever thought God, what\u2019s going on?\u00a0 Well, I want you to know this morning that the reality is that God is indeed doing amazing things right now, this very instant, in all of our lives.\u00a0 And we may not become aware of it until sometime later.\u00a0 The Bible says that the \u201cLaw has become our tutor to lead us to Christ. [Galatians 3:24, \u201cTherefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.\u201d]\n\nAgain I would say God had you and He had me in mind when the Passover Lamb was sacrificed, when the sacrifices under the Law of Moses were instituted, with the accounts of the water and from the rock happened, all of this was leading to Christ and He had us in mind.\u00a0 So with that in mind let\u2019s pray.\n\nFather, we just praise You, we thank You so much for who You are.\u00a0 As we reflect this morning on Numbers 1-13 we don\u2019t want to do like Moses did; we don\u2019t want to improvise and ad-lib our way when it comes to our obedience. What we do want to do, Father, is to come to You, to speak to You and to give You thanks.\u00a0 Father, I ask that\u00a0 You would open up our eyes and sharpen our spiritual senses so that we might recognize the depth of what\u00a0 You\u2019re doing in our lives each and every day.\u00a0 Abba Father, help us to see and understand that even the dreary and humdrum and exasperating and frustrating things in our lives are things that\u00a0 You have designed for Your good and eternal purposes.\u00a0 Thank You Lord that as we look at this biblical example which You have given for our instruction, we see how even though we may have moments of faithlessness and\u00a0 yes perhaps even error, You are amazingly merciful and gracious toward us.\u00a0 We pray that we might see and extend Lord the same mercy and grace in our own lives as well.\u00a0 In Jesus name, everyone said\u2026Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t