Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - Massah, Meribah, and the Gospel

Transcript

Voddie Baucham - Massah, Meribah, and the Gospel · Voddie Baucham Sermons

0:00
Speaker 1: Bibles with you open them to Exodus seventeen Exodus chapter seventeen.
0:08
Speaker 1: As we continue our journey through the desert here in
0:13
Speaker 1: the book of Exodus, and as you turn, recall to
0:19
Speaker 1: mind the fact that we are looking in this section
0:23
Speaker 1: of Exodus, especially thirteen through nineteen, at the relationship that
0:29
Speaker 1: is developing between God and his newly delivered people. And
0:34
Speaker 1: as we look at the relationship between God and this
0:38
Speaker 1: people whom He has delivered, one of the things that
0:41
Speaker 1: we're recognizing is that there is not as stark a
0:46
Speaker 1: contrast between Israel and us as we have been led
0:51
Speaker 1: to believe. We understand theologically that the Church, according to
0:56
Speaker 1: Galatian six, is the Israel of God. Understand that God
1:01
Speaker 1: has one people, not two. We understand that God has
1:05
Speaker 1: always had one people. We understand that God has one
1:08
Speaker 1: means of deliverance, not too. God saves us by grace
1:13
Speaker 1: through faith. God saved Israel by grace through faith. No
1:17
Speaker 1: one has ever been, nor will anyone ever be saved
1:21
Speaker 1: by the law. Israel was saved by grace. Israel is
1:26
Speaker 1: still saved by grace. We are the people of God
1:31
Speaker 1: only through that salvation by grace. But as God is
1:35
Speaker 1: delivering Israel out of Egypt. We recognize that this is
1:39
Speaker 1: a picture of God's deliverance of his people from their sin.
1:44
Speaker 1: The New Testament carries on this idea that it is
1:47
Speaker 1: a picture of God's deliverance of us from our sin.
1:50
Speaker 1: And we've seen in all of these chapters these similar
1:54
Speaker 1: experiences that Israel has as it relates to their salvation
2:00
Speaker 1: and when we compare it to our own, and this
2:03
Speaker 1: section is no different. In fact, this is more acutely
2:10
Speaker 1: connected to our salvation in Christ. As it is this
2:16
Speaker 1: section Exodus seventeen one through seven that brings Paul, in
2:23
Speaker 1: One Corinthians chapter ten, to make the most explicit connection
2:29
Speaker 1: between Christ and the Old Testament in perhaps all of
2:34
Speaker 1: his writing. As you remember, we've said that all of
2:39
Speaker 1: Scripture is about God's redemption and the person and work
2:44
Speaker 1: of Christ, that in all of Scripture we see God's
2:48
Speaker 1: saving work in Christ, and that here in Exodus it
2:53
Speaker 1: is no different. And in First Corinthians chapter ten, Paul,
2:57
Speaker 1: looking back at the incident that we're going to read
3:00
Speaker 1: about and the water coming from the rock, said that
3:05
Speaker 1: rock was Christ, as clear as day, the rock was Christ.
3:15
Speaker 2: But how so.
3:17
Speaker 1: That's the question that we have to answer. Let's begin
3:21
Speaker 1: by reading the text and then asking another question. Exodus seventeen,
3:29
Speaker 1: beginning of verse one, all the congregation of the people
3:34
Speaker 1: of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages,
3:40
Speaker 1: according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Refidine.
3:49
Speaker 1: But there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore,
3:56
Speaker 1: the people gathered together and had a prayer meeting, and
3:59
Speaker 1: they prayed to the God who had delivered them time
4:01
Speaker 1: and time again, to ask if he might no. Therefore,
4:12
Speaker 1: the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water
4:18
Speaker 1: to drink. It's the first of three statements by the
4:21
Speaker 1: people that are very important. And Moses said to them,
4:26
Speaker 1: why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test
4:32
Speaker 1: the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water. And
4:39
Speaker 1: the people grumbled against Moses and said they'd gone from
4:43
Speaker 1: quarreling to grumbling. Why did you bring us up out
4:47
Speaker 1: of Egypt to kill us and our children and our
4:51
Speaker 1: livestock with thirst. So Moses cried to the Lord, what
4:58
Speaker 1: shall I do with this people? They are almost ready
5:02
Speaker 1: to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses, pass
5:10
Speaker 1: on before the people, taking with you some of the
5:14
Speaker 1: elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff
5:19
Speaker 1: with which you struck the Nile, and go behold. I
5:25
Speaker 1: will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb,
5:30
Speaker 1: and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come
5:34
Speaker 1: out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses
5:39
Speaker 1: did so in the sight of the elders of Israel,
5:43
Speaker 1: and he called the name of the place Masa and Marabah.
5:50
Speaker 1: Because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and
5:54
Speaker 1: because they tested the Lord, saying, here's their third statement,
5:58
Speaker 1: is the Lord among us or not?
6:06
Speaker 2: Where is God? That's the question where is God? There's
6:23
Speaker 2: only two points to the sermon this morning.
6:25
Speaker 1: The first is the people and how they raise the question,
6:28
Speaker 1: and the second is God and how He answers the question.
6:31
Speaker 1: But the question is important nonetheless, where is God? Or
6:40
Speaker 1: it may be asked reflectively, where was God? As we
6:46
Speaker 1: look back on our circumstance like this, Perhaps the most
6:53
Speaker 1: difficult question for Christians to answer is this question of theodicy.
7:00
Speaker 2: People ask us to.
7:01
Speaker 1: Explain why an omnipotent and omnib benevolent God will allow
7:06
Speaker 1: evil and suffering, and we simply do not know where
7:11
Speaker 1: to be in someone's child dies and they look at
7:18
Speaker 1: you and say, okay, Christian, tell me where was God?
7:26
Speaker 1: Someone loses their job and their home and their livelihood,
7:31
Speaker 1: and they look and they say, okay, Bible thumper, where
7:35
Speaker 1: was God? Someone goes to the doctor and comes back
7:44
Speaker 1: having received a terrible report, and they want to know.
7:53
Speaker 2: Where is God? Where is God in.
7:59
Speaker 1: All of this? Well, there are three main dodges that
8:05
Speaker 1: we give, not answers, but dodges that we give when
8:10
Speaker 1: people ask us this question. Dodge number one is the
8:13
Speaker 1: two wills argument. We try to serve as God's pr
8:18
Speaker 1: agent and get him out of this difficulty. And one
8:22
Speaker 1: of the things we do is he said, well, you know,
8:24
Speaker 1: God actually has two wills. God does have his sovereign will,
8:30
Speaker 1: but he also has his permissive will, and in his
8:34
Speaker 1: permissive will, he allows things that he doesn't necessarily want
8:39
Speaker 1: to happen, but because of the freedom of man, he
8:42
Speaker 1: has to allow. See that it's his permissive will. Dodge
8:48
Speaker 1: number two is God's powerful enemy. We might not go
8:53
Speaker 1: to the whole permissive will thing, but then we go
8:57
Speaker 1: to the powerful enemy thing. Well, you know, the only
9:00
Speaker 1: one doing things, and when those good things happened to you,
9:04
Speaker 1: that that's God doing those good things. But when those
9:07
Speaker 1: bad things happened to you, that's the devil who does
9:10
Speaker 1: those things. The third dodge is God's dependence on our
9:21
Speaker 1: faith to do his work. Well, you know, if you
9:25
Speaker 1: had just believed enough, that wouldn't have happened. Well, you
9:32
Speaker 1: know if you had not, if you had just not
9:34
Speaker 1: spoken those words, because you know, the power of life
9:38
Speaker 1: and death is in the tongue. That's a Bible verse, right,
9:42
Speaker 1: So you were going around saying words like that scared
9:46
Speaker 1: me to death and da da da da dah, and
9:48
Speaker 1: you were speaking death into existence. And so it wasn't
9:55
Speaker 1: that God allowed this to happen. It was just one
9:59
Speaker 1: time too many you said, that makes me sick. So
10:01
Speaker 1: you went to the doctor and guess what, You're sick.
10:07
Speaker 2: You laugh.
10:08
Speaker 1: But this is a prominent theological understanding in our day. See,
10:14
Speaker 1: these answers all fail at at least three points. First,
10:19
Speaker 1: they fail to align with the message of the Bible.
10:23
Speaker 1: The Bible knows nothing of the two wills of God.
10:27
Speaker 1: The Bible knows only of a sovereign God who has
10:30
Speaker 1: decreed all things, whatsoever come to pass. There is nothing
10:36
Speaker 1: that God wants that he doesn't get our God is
10:40
Speaker 1: enthroned in the heavens. He does whatever pleases him. God
10:46
Speaker 1: is not running for God.
10:48
Speaker 2: Amen.
10:52
Speaker 1: The idea of God's powerful enemy, that doesn't line up
10:55
Speaker 1: with the scriptures either. And here I defer to a
10:59
Speaker 1: greater mind than my own, as I quote that great
11:04
Speaker 1: reformer and theologian Martin Luther, who said, even the devil
11:09
Speaker 1: is God's devil, Amen, and he is on a short leash.
11:22
Speaker 1: There is nothing that befalls me, because the devil wanted.
11:26
Speaker 2: Even job, even job, and all the things that happened
11:30
Speaker 2: to job.
11:31
Speaker 1: Those things happen only after the accuser came and got
11:36
Speaker 1: permission for those things to happen.
11:41
Speaker 2: So that doesn't line up with scripture.
11:44
Speaker 1: And the idea of God being dependent upon our faith
11:46
Speaker 1: to accomplish his will, that doesn't line up with scripture.
11:51
Speaker 2: That's ridiculous.
11:53
Speaker 1: Everything that you have you have because it comes from God.
11:59
Speaker 2: Not only do you not have have.
12:00
Speaker 1: Faith enough to get out of bed in the morning,
12:02
Speaker 1: you don't have sense enough to do it. You don't
12:07
Speaker 1: even have sense enough to know what you ought to
12:09
Speaker 1: have faith to believe? For Amen, how many of us
12:14
Speaker 1: would have sense enough to have believed God for the
12:17
Speaker 1: difficulties that God used to shape us and strengthen us.
12:22
Speaker 1: How many of us you don't understand that you weren't
12:28
Speaker 1: strengthened by that because you came to God and you said, God,
12:31
Speaker 1: I'm believing you for some difficulties to come into my
12:34
Speaker 1: life to make me stronger so that I can believe
12:37
Speaker 1: you for more things. Hallo, yah, no, no, and no.
12:49
Speaker 1: And yet that's exactly what God did, and it's exactly
12:53
Speaker 1: what God does. You walk through a valley, you come
12:57
Speaker 1: out of the valley on the other side, faith is
13:00
Speaker 1: strengthen and in the next thing, you know, you run
13:03
Speaker 1: into somebody who's walking through the same valley that you
13:06
Speaker 1: just walk through, and you are able to comfort them
13:09
Speaker 1: with the comfort that you have received. That is not
13:12
Speaker 1: because you had faith enough. That's because God's not stupid.
13:18
Speaker 1: He knows what he's doing and you don't. Romans chapter eight.
13:25
Speaker 1: I love it the spirit intercedes for us. Why because
13:30
Speaker 1: we don't even know what to pray for? How can
13:33
Speaker 1: we argue that these things are happening to us because
13:35
Speaker 1: of our faith or our lack of faith when we
13:38
Speaker 1: don't even know what to pray for. God is not
13:43
Speaker 1: dependent upon you and praise God that he's not. Amen. Secondly,
13:53
Speaker 1: these answers fall short because they fail to satisfy the skeptic.
14:00
Speaker 1: The skeptic knows better. Something bad happens and they come
14:03
Speaker 1: to you and they say where was God? And you go, well,
14:06
Speaker 1: you know, God has these two wills and you just
14:08
Speaker 1: kind of ran up against.
14:09
Speaker 2: The wrong one. Oh great, that's the answer I was
14:12
Speaker 2: looking for.
14:13
Speaker 1: Where do I sign up for this Christianity stuff? Job lost, bankrupt,
14:25
Speaker 1: everything gone? Well, you know, God really does love you
14:32
Speaker 1: and he really wanted to keep that stuff.
14:35
Speaker 2: You know, secure for you.
14:36
Speaker 1: But the devil, you know, he's kind of mean, and
14:38
Speaker 1: every once in a while he just really, how are
14:42
Speaker 1: you going to get to heaven? If God can't keep
14:46
Speaker 1: the devil from messing up your pocketbook? How's he going
14:48
Speaker 1: to keep the devil from keeping you out of heaven?
14:53
Speaker 2: Amen?
14:53
Speaker 1: Somebody child dies? Well, you know, if you had just
15:05
Speaker 1: believed a little more, you know, if when you were
15:12
Speaker 1: on your knees beside that hospital bed praying, if you
15:17
Speaker 1: had just upped the faith a notch or two, then
15:22
Speaker 1: that how dare you?
15:26
Speaker 2: How dare you?
15:29
Speaker 1: These answers not only don't satisfy the skeptic. They don't
15:33
Speaker 1: satisfy the believer, and they don't give believers real hope.
15:41
Speaker 1: These answers also expose a deep dark secret. And that
15:46
Speaker 1: deep dark secret is this we too question God when
15:50
Speaker 1: faced with frowning providences. This is why we can identify
15:57
Speaker 1: with Israel in Exodus seventeen. And this is also why
16:02
Speaker 1: we need to heed the psalmist warning in Psalm ninety five.
16:06
Speaker 1: We're addressing this very issue. The Psalmist says, today, if
16:11
Speaker 1: you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as
16:13
Speaker 1: at Mahrabah, as on the day at Masa in the wilderness,
16:18
Speaker 1: when your fathers put me to the test and put
16:21
Speaker 1: me to the proof though they had seen my work.
16:26
Speaker 1: The Psalmist is referring to this scene right here in
16:32
Speaker 1: Exodus seventeen. So let's look at these two points, shall we. First,
16:38
Speaker 1: the people's sin reveals the question. The people's sin reveals
16:43
Speaker 1: the question. They're asking the question Where's God? Because here
16:48
Speaker 1: we are and we're about to die of thirst?
16:53
Speaker 2: Where is God?
16:57
Speaker 1: First, the people presumed upon God the first place where
17:00
Speaker 1: we see their sin.
17:01
Speaker 2: Look at verse two.
17:02
Speaker 1: Therefore, the people quarrel with Moses and said, give us
17:06
Speaker 1: water to drink. Do you hear the arrogance in that
17:11
Speaker 1: we're thirsty? Give us water to drink. They're quarreling, they're
17:15
Speaker 1: not even begging. It would have been one thing if
17:17
Speaker 1: the people came and begged Moses, Oh, Moses, please, would
17:21
Speaker 1: you please give us water to drink. We're going to
17:24
Speaker 1: die of thirst. No, the people come and they're quarreling
17:26
Speaker 1: with Moses. They're pointing their finger at Moses, and they're saying,
17:29
Speaker 1: you brought us to this place, give us water. There
17:37
Speaker 1: is a lack of humility here. Treating God as though
17:44
Speaker 1: he owes us anything more than judgment is a complete
17:50
Speaker 1: and utter lack of humility. Demanding anything from God or
17:55
Speaker 1: from the servant of God as though it is owed
17:59
Speaker 1: to us is a complete and utter lack of humility.
18:03
Speaker 1: And this is one of my main problems with the
18:05
Speaker 1: whole Word of Faith movement. My main problem with it
18:09
Speaker 1: is that it is power religion, and basically, here's what
18:12
Speaker 1: it says. Faith is a force. Words are the containers
18:18
Speaker 1: of this force, and if we learn how to use
18:20
Speaker 1: our words, we.
18:22
Speaker 2: Can create our own reality.
18:26
Speaker 1: In the world outside the church and now increasingly inside
18:30
Speaker 1: the church. It is the law of attraction. You heard this,
18:37
Speaker 1: you watch in the Oprah. It's the law of attraction.
18:42
Speaker 1: You think about things and you speak those things, and
18:45
Speaker 1: you bring those things to yourself. In other words, you
18:50
Speaker 1: become God and you manipulate reality. This is a pagan
18:56
Speaker 1: ideology and it has wormed its way into different strains
19:01
Speaker 1: of Christianity. But at bottom, here's what it is. You
19:04
Speaker 1: have the power, the authority, and the ability to stand
19:08
Speaker 1: flat footed before God and say give me water. I'm thirsty.
19:17
Speaker 1: It's the height of arrogance and it is so much
19:24
Speaker 1: of what plagues us today. Oh maybe not in the
19:31
Speaker 1: active sense, but in the passive sense. What I mean
19:35
Speaker 1: by that, well, on the one side, you stand before God,
19:39
Speaker 1: or you stand before God's servant and you say, give
19:41
Speaker 1: us water, and there's the arrogance in that. On the
19:44
Speaker 1: other side, you don't stand and demand the water. But
19:48
Speaker 1: when you don't have the water, you accuse God. You're
19:56
Speaker 1: still assuming that he owed it to you. You just
20:00
Speaker 1: didn't demand it, you assumed it. But in both cases
20:03
Speaker 1: you're presuming upon God. And it's sin, flat out sin.
20:10
Speaker 1: Notice the absence of prayer and calling upon God. We
20:16
Speaker 1: came to this place and there's no water. God has
20:19
Speaker 1: brought us to this place and there's no water. Where's
20:21
Speaker 1: the water? What are we going to do?
20:23
Speaker 2: Well?
20:24
Speaker 1: God has provided everything else for us. Let's get on
20:26
Speaker 1: our knees and let's pray that God will send us water.
20:30
Speaker 1: There is no prayer here. After the people presume upon God,
20:39
Speaker 1: they advance to accusing God. Look at verse three. But
20:44
Speaker 1: the people thirsted there for water. And the people grumbled
20:49
Speaker 1: against Moses and said, why did you bring us up
20:54
Speaker 1: out of Egypt to kill us and our children and
20:57
Speaker 1: our livestock with thirst. Now they're accusing God. By the way,
21:02
Speaker 1: this is not the first time that the people accused
21:04
Speaker 1: God and Moses like this. Chapter fourteen, verse eleven. They
21:09
Speaker 1: said to Moses, is it because there are no graves
21:12
Speaker 1: in Egypt that you have taken us away to die
21:15
Speaker 1: in the wilderness? What have you done to us in
21:18
Speaker 1: bringing us out of Egypt? Chapter fourteen, verse twelve. Is
21:24
Speaker 1: not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave
21:27
Speaker 1: us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. For it
21:30
Speaker 1: would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians
21:33
Speaker 1: than to die in the wilderness. Chapter sixteen, verses two
21:38
Speaker 1: and three, and the whole congregation of the people of
21:42
Speaker 1: Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And
21:46
Speaker 1: the people of Israel said to them, would that we
21:49
Speaker 1: had died by the hand of the Lord in the
21:52
Speaker 1: land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots
21:57
Speaker 1: and ate bread to the full. For you have brought
22:00
Speaker 1: us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly
22:05
Speaker 1: with hunger. Those wicked, wicked Israelites. How dare they accuse
22:21
Speaker 1: God over and over and over again. How dare they
22:28
Speaker 1: watch God deliver them time and time again, and then
22:33
Speaker 1: not only presume upon God as though God owes them,
22:37
Speaker 1: but then turn around and accuse God as though his
22:41
Speaker 1: not giving them what he owed them was somehow sin
22:45
Speaker 1: on God's part, as though God himself has been unrighteous
22:50
Speaker 1: in his dealing with his people. How dare they to
22:58
Speaker 1: which the Israelites, if they could communicate with us right now,
23:02
Speaker 1: would respond, takes one to no one, because this is
23:16
Speaker 1: exactly what we do. Everything that we have comes from
23:23
Speaker 1: the hand of God. Everything. What do you have that
23:28
Speaker 1: you have not received? Everything? God has provided everything, our health,
23:39
Speaker 1: our strength, our life, our breath, everything. And yet, mark
23:44
Speaker 1: my words, the next time something befalls you and the
23:50
Speaker 1: next time something befalls me that we know is beyond
23:54
Speaker 1: our control. Did you notice how I said that, Because
23:59
Speaker 1: everything's beyond our control, there are some things that just
24:02
Speaker 1: remind us. Amen, you think that going to work and
24:08
Speaker 1: providing for your family is within your control, and you say, God,
24:13
Speaker 1: you take care of the other stuff, and I'll take
24:16
Speaker 1: care of this stuff, until one day you're down in
24:19
Speaker 1: your back and you can't get out of the bed. Now,
24:22
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you realize that every other day
24:25
Speaker 1: it was God who gave you the strength to go
24:28
Speaker 1: and make wealth. That's why I say, one of those
24:34
Speaker 1: things comes that reminds us that things are out of
24:37
Speaker 1: our control. And then all of a sudden, we don't
24:41
Speaker 1: say these exact same words, but in so many words,
24:46
Speaker 1: we say, have you brought us all the way out
24:49
Speaker 1: of here to kill us?
24:54
Speaker 2: Well?
24:54
Speaker 1: Why didn't you kill us before? When we were a
24:59
Speaker 1: young cup and we were struggling. Why didn't you just
25:02
Speaker 1: kill us then? Because we were a young couple and
25:04
Speaker 1: we were struggling, but it was just the two of us,
25:06
Speaker 1: and it didn't take a whole lot for just the
25:08
Speaker 1: two of us. When we were a young couple and
25:09
Speaker 1: we were struggling. You could have just killed us then, God,
25:12
Speaker 1: but no, you let us become more than a young
25:15
Speaker 1: couple who are struggling. You let us become a family.
25:17
Speaker 1: And then you let us become a successful family. And
25:19
Speaker 1: we weren't just be bopping around in little apartments that
25:22
Speaker 1: we couldn't even get away from each other.
25:24
Speaker 2: And now we have a house and we have a yard,
25:26
Speaker 2: and we have.
25:26
Speaker 1: Children and responsibilities and we're talking about retirement and all
25:30
Speaker 1: this other stuff.
25:31
Speaker 2: You let us get all the way to.
25:33
Speaker 1: This phase of life, and now you let the difficulty come.
25:36
Speaker 1: You didn't want to kill us when we were just
25:38
Speaker 1: a young couple who didn't have two nickels to rub together.
25:41
Speaker 1: You wanted to bring us all the way to this
25:43
Speaker 1: level of prosperity. Now you want us to die and
25:46
Speaker 1: be buried in the backyard. You don't use those words,
25:55
Speaker 1: but that's what you say. That's what your heart says. Amen,
26:06
Speaker 1: Oh oh oh. You let us raise our children. And
26:09
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, it wasn't enough that when
26:12
Speaker 1: there were children, we sat there in front of the
26:15
Speaker 1: crib so that we could watch the chest go up
26:18
Speaker 1: and down and make sure that they were still breathing.
26:21
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no, Now you let them grow up
26:24
Speaker 1: and they leave. And here we were thinking that when
26:26
Speaker 1: they leave that all of our worrying is going.
26:29
Speaker 2: To be over.
26:30
Speaker 1: And we worry so much when they're grown that we
26:32
Speaker 1: wish we could go stand by the bed and watch
26:35
Speaker 1: their chests go up and down. And we accuse God.
26:51
Speaker 1: The accusation ignores God's provision up to this point. But
27:00
Speaker 1: you know what else the accusation does. The accusation assumes
27:06
Speaker 1: that God ought to run the universe with me at
27:08
Speaker 1: the center of it. This is the key, folks, This
27:17
Speaker 1: is the key to the where was God? Mentality. See
27:22
Speaker 1: if my assumption is that God is God and I
27:26
Speaker 1: exist for God's glory, then I say to God, you
27:31
Speaker 1: do with me what you will in order to bring
27:33
Speaker 1: glory to yourself. And all of a sudden the bad
27:36
Speaker 1: report comes. And my assumption is that this is happening
27:41
Speaker 1: because God, in his infinite wisdom knows that this circumstance
27:47
Speaker 1: in my life is what will maximize his glory. And
27:51
Speaker 1: so my prayer is, God, when you give me grace
27:55
Speaker 1: to endure this circumstance so that I might maximize your
27:59
Speaker 1: glass through my life. See that's a God's centered view
28:03
Speaker 1: of our circumstances.
28:05
Speaker 2: Here's a MEAs interview.
28:07
Speaker 1: You exist to bring me glory and comfort, and you
28:13
Speaker 1: are not doing your job well right now, that's the
28:19
Speaker 1: sin at the heart of it. We see ourselves enthroned
28:27
Speaker 1: at the center of the universe, and we believe that
28:30
Speaker 1: everything God does is only done rightly when our needs,
28:36
Speaker 1: our wants, our desire, and our comfort are the end result.
28:43
Speaker 1: This is what's wrong with us. We do not have
28:49
Speaker 1: a high enough view of God, and we have far
28:56
Speaker 1: too high a view of self. And so we presume
29:03
Speaker 1: upon God, and we accuse God, and then we doubt God.
29:10
Speaker 1: Looking for seven and he called the name of the
29:15
Speaker 1: play of the place Massah and Merabah because of the
29:21
Speaker 1: quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested
29:25
Speaker 1: the Lord by saying, is the Lord.
29:28
Speaker 2: Among us or not you see here Moses? Or is
29:41
Speaker 2: he not?
29:44
Speaker 1: And this was neither the first nor the last time
29:47
Speaker 1: that the people would doubt God. But there are theological
29:53
Speaker 1: flaws here in this question as well. First, there's the
29:57
Speaker 1: theological flaw that says, if I can't see God, then
29:59
Speaker 1: he's there. Where's the pillar of cloud, where's the pillar
30:04
Speaker 1: of fire? If I can't see him, he's not there. Second,
30:09
Speaker 1: there's that. There's that if I can't feel God, then
30:14
Speaker 1: he's not there. I don't see God, therefore God's not there.
30:19
Speaker 1: I don't feel God, therefore God's not there. We fall
30:23
Speaker 1: more in this second category than in the first. We
30:26
Speaker 1: don't we don't have the pillar of smoke and the
30:29
Speaker 1: pillar of cloud. We have the power and presence of
30:32
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. And and we think that I ought.
30:35
Speaker 2: To feel a certain way.
30:37
Speaker 1: And if we don't feel a certain way, then God
30:41
Speaker 1: must not be there, because if God was there, the
30:44
Speaker 1: presence of God, by the way, only exists so that
30:47
Speaker 1: I can feel a certain way. And if I'm not
30:50
Speaker 1: feeling a certain way, God must be present. Must not
30:53
Speaker 1: be present, because certainly God would not be present and
30:58
Speaker 1: me feel ashamed or guilty, or alone or confused, or any.
31:03
Speaker 2: Other such thing.
31:05
Speaker 1: Certainly, the presence of God in my life means that
31:08
Speaker 1: those human emotions that are the part of everyone else's
31:10
Speaker 1: existence are no longer a part of my own. Certainly,
31:14
Speaker 1: the presence of the Spirit of God would not merely
31:17
Speaker 1: be there so that in my sanctification I would know
31:20
Speaker 1: how to live in and through those kinds of emotions
31:25
Speaker 1: and in spite of those kinds of emotions, Oh no,
31:28
Speaker 1: He's there so that I don't have them. That's the
31:32
Speaker 1: theological flaw. That's the theological flaw. The theological flaw says,
31:41
Speaker 1: God is present in my life. Therefore I don't have
31:43
Speaker 1: to experience the value of the shadow of death. Whereas
31:46
Speaker 1: the Bible says, yay, though I walk through the valley
31:50
Speaker 1: of the shadow of death, you're with me. The theological
31:55
Speaker 1: flaw says, I don't ever feel down and alone and
32:00
Speaker 1: fearful because God is present. And if I'm feeling those things,
32:04
Speaker 1: God must he must not be present. And all I
32:06
Speaker 1: need is for the presence of God to come and
32:08
Speaker 1: then those things will go away. No, you might need
32:11
Speaker 1: to feel that. You see, our psychotherapeutic culture that has
32:23
Speaker 1: a pill for everything, has us convinced that if you're depressed,
32:30
Speaker 1: you need a pill. Folks, let me tell you something.
32:37
Speaker 1: If you think about who you are and what you've
32:41
Speaker 1: done in light of who God is and what God
32:45
Speaker 1: has done, and you don't have some depression every once
32:48
Speaker 1: in a while, you're not thinking rightly about your sin
32:51
Speaker 1: and God's holiness and his righteousness. There are things that
32:57
Speaker 1: we do that ought to make us feel like we
33:00
Speaker 1: want to crawl up under the dirt. Amen, somebody. I
33:06
Speaker 1: am not worried about the Christian who comes to me
33:08
Speaker 1: and says I sin and this is on me and
33:12
Speaker 1: I just can't get it off of me. And I'm
33:15
Speaker 1: not worried about that Christian that come on me, and
33:17
Speaker 1: that Christian let's walk together. We can do some stuff, right.
33:20
Speaker 1: I'm worried about the Christian who sins against God and
33:23
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like that. That's who I'm worried about. I'm
33:34
Speaker 1: not worried about the Christian whose loved one has died
33:38
Speaker 1: and they feel like they may just want to lay.
33:39
Speaker 2: In bed today just cry.
33:43
Speaker 1: I'm worried about the one who's at the funeral saying, hey,
33:46
Speaker 1: how you doing. Oh, I'm blessed in highly favored. It's
33:49
Speaker 1: all good, really, because it's not. Death is an enemy
33:54
Speaker 1: and not a friend. We're here to celebrate a homegoing.
33:58
Speaker 1: We're not here to be known, Actually we're not.
34:00
Speaker 2: We're here to mourn a loss. It's a funeral. It's
34:09
Speaker 2: a funeral.
34:24
Speaker 1: There's the question, and it's the question that all of
34:28
Speaker 1: us raise, Where's God? Where was God? And we raise
34:39
Speaker 1: that question. We might not ask that question because we
34:41
Speaker 1: know that we're not supposed to ask that question. But
34:44
Speaker 1: when we presume upon God, when we accuse God, when
34:47
Speaker 1: we doubt God, that's the question that we're asking without
34:51
Speaker 1: asking it.
34:52
Speaker 2: Well.
34:54
Speaker 1: God's response provides the answer. Look at verses five and six.
35:01
Speaker 2: And the Lord.
35:02
Speaker 1: Said to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with
35:08
Speaker 1: you some of the elders of Israel, and taking your
35:10
Speaker 1: hand the staff with which you struck the nile. By
35:13
Speaker 1: the way, is that the only thing that he did
35:15
Speaker 1: with the staff? No, interesting though, isn't it. He didn't say,
35:21
Speaker 1: take the staff with which you parted the waters. Just
35:25
Speaker 1: take the staff with which you struck the nile. Hold
35:28
Speaker 1: that thought, and go, behold, I will stand before you
35:33
Speaker 1: on the rock at Horreb. Underline that God says, I
35:37
Speaker 1: will stand before you on the rock at Horreb, and
35:43
Speaker 1: you shall strike the rock on which God is standing
35:48
Speaker 1: before you, and water shall come out of it, and
35:53
Speaker 1: the people will drink. And Moses did so in the
35:56
Speaker 1: sight of the elders of Israel. First of all, they're
35:58
Speaker 1: these witnesses. What's this, these witnesses? Why do we need
36:02
Speaker 1: these witnesses? Again, God's answering the question. The question is
36:05
Speaker 1: where is God. He's answering the question. They're these witnesses.
36:09
Speaker 1: This message is not meant. This message is meant for
36:12
Speaker 1: the elders and for the people of Israel. God is
36:15
Speaker 1: not just providing water. God's providing an answer because there's
36:19
Speaker 1: a question being raised.
36:20
Speaker 2: This is not just about thirst. It's not just about water.
36:23
Speaker 1: If God just gives water, he doesn't deal with the
36:27
Speaker 1: real core issue. The real core issue is that these
36:31
Speaker 1: people don't know God. That's the real core issue. That's
36:36
Speaker 1: why they presume upon God. That's why they accuse God.
36:39
Speaker 1: That's why they doubt God. That's why we presume upon God.
36:43
Speaker 1: That's why we accuse God. That's why we doubt God,
36:47
Speaker 1: because we're wondering where God is. And so God brings
36:50
Speaker 1: witnesses because he doesn't just want to provide the need.
36:53
Speaker 1: He wants to answer the question. This message is also
36:57
Speaker 1: meant for their posterity, because this question doesn't go away
37:00
Speaker 1: with this generation. Therefore it must be witnessed and recorded.
37:05
Speaker 1: God doesn't do this kind of work in secret. Then
37:10
Speaker 1: there is the rod. He says, take the rod first.
37:12
Speaker 1: You got the witnesses, You got the rod take the rod.
37:15
Speaker 1: The rod is an emblem of Israel's deliverance. Bring the rod.
37:19
Speaker 1: Israel's about to be delivered again, Bring the rod. But
37:23
Speaker 1: the rod is also an emblem of God's judgment on
37:26
Speaker 1: his enemies.
37:29
Speaker 2: Bring the rod.
37:30
Speaker 1: Why because as a whipping that's about to be given out,
37:35
Speaker 1: Mos Is probably like, yeah, every last one of them.
37:38
Speaker 2: You needed to line them up, and I'll just.
37:40
Speaker 1: Wear them out every lad till my arm falls off.
37:43
Speaker 1: I guess somebody else though, Yeah, yeah, let's.
37:46
Speaker 2: Bring the rod. These people need the rod.
37:52
Speaker 1: And notice how he identifies the rod, the rod with
37:54
Speaker 1: which you struck the Nile. There's a couple of reasons
37:59
Speaker 1: here that he uses this reference. One because when he
38:02
Speaker 1: strikes the nile, what does he do? When he strikes
38:05
Speaker 1: the Nile? He takes away the water that the Egyptians
38:08
Speaker 1: will drink. Now, the rod is going to provide the
38:11
Speaker 1: water that the Israelites will drink. But why does he
38:17
Speaker 1: take away their water in judgment upon them? What ought
38:25
Speaker 1: he do to Israel? He ought to judge them because
38:34
Speaker 1: they have sinned against God. He ought to judge them. Therefore,
38:43
Speaker 1: the rod is an emblem of God's provision through substitutionary atonement.
38:55
Speaker 1: I will stand before you. Take the rod that you
39:04
Speaker 1: used to judge Egypt and to take away their water.
39:11
Speaker 2: Take that rod and go to the rock.
39:16
Speaker 1: I'm going to stand before you on the rock, and
39:22
Speaker 1: then you strike the rock or you strike me, And
39:33
Speaker 1: when you strike me, I will give them water. You
39:41
Speaker 1: judge me with the judgment stick, and I'll take the
39:46
Speaker 1: judgment they deserve, and instead of judgment, I will pour
39:51
Speaker 1: out for them.
39:54
Speaker 2: Water.
40:09
Speaker 1: This is why Paul says one Corinthians ten one through five.
40:15
Speaker 1: I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that
40:19
Speaker 1: our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed
40:23
Speaker 1: through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in
40:27
Speaker 1: the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the
40:30
Speaker 1: same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink,
40:34
Speaker 1: for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed.
40:38
Speaker 2: Them, and the rock was Christ.
40:48
Speaker 1: Nevertheless, was most of them. God was not pleased, for
40:52
Speaker 1: they were overthrown in their wilderness. Folks, this gospel, God
41:06
Speaker 1: says to you and to me, in our sin, you
41:11
Speaker 1: deserve judgment. And there is a judgment tree, and on
41:19
Speaker 1: that tree your judgment will be meted out. But instead
41:26
Speaker 1: of your judgment being meted out upon you, it will
41:29
Speaker 1: be meted out upon me. God takes in his own
41:35
Speaker 1: body the judgment that we deserve, and then from that
41:41
Speaker 1: judgment flows living water. This is why Paul says the
41:51
Speaker 1: rock was Christ. How often have we missed this? How
42:01
Speaker 1: often have I missed this? How often have you missed this?
42:07
Speaker 1: That little phrase, I'm gonna stand before you on the rock.
42:17
Speaker 2: And you strike it.
42:20
Speaker 1: Christ died for sin, once for all, the just, for
42:23
Speaker 1: the unjust, in order that he might bring us back
42:25
Speaker 1: to God. All we like sheep and gone astray. Each
42:27
Speaker 1: of us had turned to his own way. But God,
42:31
Speaker 1: God hath laid upon him the iniquity of us. All.
42:36
Speaker 1: God made him, who knew no sin, to be sin
42:38
Speaker 1: for us, so that we might become the righteousness of
42:41
Speaker 1: God in him. This is substitutionary atonement. This is the
42:46
Speaker 1: picture of God being just and the justifier. Because he
42:51
Speaker 1: pours out his wrath on a substitute, and he feeds
42:55
Speaker 1: his people, the people's needs are met. Jesus connects himself
43:07
Speaker 1: with both the bread and the water of Exodus John
43:10
Speaker 1: six thirty five. Jesus said to them, I am the
43:13
Speaker 1: bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger,
43:15
Speaker 1: and whoever believes in me shall never thirst John seven
43:22
Speaker 1: thirty seven. On the last day of the Feast, the
43:27
Speaker 1: Great Day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts,
43:33
Speaker 1: let him come to me and drink. And then with
43:37
Speaker 1: a woman at the well, he offers he has more
43:40
Speaker 1: than water John four ten. Jesus answered her, if you
43:45
Speaker 1: knew the gift of God and who it is that
43:47
Speaker 1: was standing before you, saying, give me a drink, you
43:54
Speaker 1: would have asked him and he would have given you
43:57
Speaker 1: living water. I'm about a response, Okay, give me that
44:05
Speaker 1: John four thirteen or fourteen. Jesus said to her, everyone
44:09
Speaker 1: who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But
44:12
Speaker 1: whoever drinks the water that I will give him will
44:15
Speaker 1: never be thirsty again. The water that I will give
44:20
Speaker 1: him will become in him a spring of water welling
44:24
Speaker 1: up to eternal life. The rock was Christ. The rock
44:36
Speaker 1: was quiet Christ. This is a picture of God, the Sun,
44:40
Speaker 1: the pre incarnate Christ, the pre incarnate Christ, standing before
44:44
Speaker 1: the rock, being struck and pouring out water. And later on,
44:54
Speaker 1: later on, there would be another piece of wood and
45:02
Speaker 1: he would hang and he would die, and then he
45:05
Speaker 1: would be pierced in his side, and blood and water
45:09
Speaker 1: would rush forth the rock. It was Christ, Oh rock
45:19
Speaker 1: of ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself and
45:24
Speaker 1: thee with water and the blood from thy riven side
45:32
Speaker 1: which flowed be of sin. A double cure. What is
45:44
Speaker 1: that double cure? Then it would save me from its
45:48
Speaker 1: wrath and from its power. If you are here today
45:59
Speaker 1: and you've come, you're trusting in anything other than Christ,
46:04
Speaker 1: May I say to you repent, turn from your trust
46:13
Speaker 1: in inferior things and trust in Christ and Christ alone.
46:21
Speaker 1: If you're here today and you're dealing with this where
46:25
Speaker 1: was God mentality, and you're at war with God and
46:30
Speaker 1: asking where was God when dot dot here's the answer.
46:35
Speaker 1: The answer was he was in front of the rock
46:37
Speaker 1: that was struck that provided everything that you needed. That's
46:41
Speaker 1: the answer. That's the answer. Where was God? Where was God?
46:46
Speaker 1: Where was God? Where was God?
46:50
Speaker 2: When I got that report?
46:51
Speaker 1: Where was God when my loved one died the same
46:54
Speaker 1: place he was when his son died. That's where God was,
47:01
Speaker 1: and that's where God is, and that's where God will
47:07
Speaker 1: always be. My prayer for you is that God grants
47:12
Speaker 1: you grace, that He opens your eyes, and he allows
47:15
Speaker 1: you to see that you are not at the center
47:17
Speaker 1: of the universe, but you stand under the judgment of God,
47:21
Speaker 1: and everything that you have received you received because He
47:25
Speaker 1: stood before the rock and was himself struck so that
47:28
Speaker 1: you might have your thirst quenched. But know this, there
47:34
Speaker 1: is a difference between this rock in Exodus seventeen and
47:37
Speaker 1: the Rock of Christ, because not everyone who drank the
47:42
Speaker 1: water from this rock was saved. There are many in
47:48
Speaker 1: this multitude who received the grace of God in terms
47:54
Speaker 1: of this water from the rock, who did not trust
47:57
Speaker 1: Him by faith and were cast into.
47:59
Speaker 2: Hell when and they died.
48:00
Speaker 1: But there is none, not one who comes to Christ
48:05
Speaker 1: who will in any way be cast out. Not one
48:12
Speaker 1: trust him, cling to him, believe in him. Oh young one,
48:20
Speaker 1: you who come here with your parents week in and
48:23
Speaker 1: week out, and this water flows over you. My prayer
48:28
Speaker 1: for you is that you do not end up having
48:32
Speaker 1: this water flow over you for weeks and months and years,
48:37
Speaker 1: and yet never turn from your sin and turn to
48:40
Speaker 1: Christ and trust him, so that this water might not
48:43
Speaker 1: flow over you, but that it might also flow in you.
48:49
Speaker 1: Cling to Christ, flee to him, trust in him and
48:56
Speaker 1: him alone. That you might never thirst again. Let's pray,
49:10
Speaker 1: Oh God, how we have tempted and tested you, how
49:15
Speaker 1: we have presumed upon you, how we have accused you,
49:17
Speaker 1: how we have doubted you. And in every one of
49:21
Speaker 1: those things that we are asking, is God really with
49:26
Speaker 1: us or not? Is it really here or not? Is
49:31
Speaker 1: it really real or not? And you have answered clearly
49:38
Speaker 1: in the affirmative. Not only have you answered, but you
49:46
Speaker 1: have provided grant by your grace, that we might see
49:51
Speaker 1: this provision, that we might embrace this provision.
49:58
Speaker 2: Grant by your grace, that.
49:59
Speaker 1: We might by faith be found in Christ, the Rock
50:09
Speaker 1: who pours out endless dreams of everlasting water. Lord, help us,
50:25
Speaker 1: help us to trust, help us to believe, Help us
50:36
Speaker 1: to embrace your provision in the person and work of Christ.
50:41
Speaker 1: This we pray and his name and for his sake, Amen,
51:00
Speaker 1: as