Christ the Rock that quenched the thirst of the people in the desert

Good morning. It is good to be here with you on this morning. If you have your Bibles with you, open again to the text that we read this morning in First Corinthians chapter ten, but also put your finger back in Exodus chapter seventeen, as that is where we'll spend our time. And that first paragraph and one Corinthians chapter ten is one of the most theologically dense paragraphs in the entire New Testament. It can also be one of the most theologically difficult paragraphs in the entire New Testament because of the number of metaphors that are present there, and because of the number of theological truths that are present there that need to be unpacked to be understood properly. We read there, for I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drink from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was christ Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness again, there are many theological nuances on which we could spend a great deal of our time, but there is one in particular that I want to concentrate on this morning, and that is Paul's statement there towards the end of the paragraph that the rock was Christ, that the rock from which flowed water to quench the thirst of God's people in the desert was indeed and in fact Christ. And if we don't have a proper theological understanding, that can lead us often too a number of dangerous areas. For example, we could read that and try to take it literally and say that Jesus was taking the form of inanimate objects and that somehow he took the form of a rock. That would be quite problematic. But if it doesn't mean that Jesus actually took the form of a rock, which it can't mean, first of all, because Jesus doesn't and didn't do that, and secondly, because there is a rock here that's following them in the desert, so we know we're not talking about a rock in any sense that we would normally understand in reference to Christ. However, we know that God gave water to his people from rocks in the wilderness, and in one instance, we see very clearly what Paul is referring to in Exodus chapter seventeen, and it not only helps to explain what Paul is saying in First Corinthians Tent, but it also helps explain the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, between the people of God. In the Old Covenant Israel and the people of God, and the New Covenant the Israel of God, the Church or the Church in the Old Testament, and the Church in the New Testament, the Church under the Old Covenant and the Church under the New Covenant. This one people of God. God doesn't have two separate peoples. He has one people, and these people are manifested in these two covenants. And it's texts like this that help us identify that theological reality that we are the same people of God, that we are being sustained the same way the people of God have always been sustained. But we also see here a clear picture of the Gospel, clear picture of God's redemptive work, of the way that God redeems his people. Paul is making it very clear that God does not have two ways of redeeming his people. Not only does God not have two peoples, as some would argue this hard line distinction between Israel and the Church. Paul is rejecting that idea. But secondly, this idea that not only are there two people, but there are two means of salvation for those two people. That the people of the Old Covenant were saved in one way and the people of the New Covenant are saved in another way. That somehow, under the Old Covenant the people of God were saved by keeping the law of God, but in the New Covenant, the people of God are saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Paul obliterates that thinking when he says that Rock was Christ. So it's not as though God had a plan under the Old Covenant that didn't include Christ, and a plan under the New Covenant that does include Christ. God's plan has always been to redeem his people in Christ. This wasn't seen as clearly under the Old Covenant. But one of the ways I like to understand this myself is to remind myself that when I'm thinking about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, it's like thinking about a house. It's the same house. It's the same house. The Church and the Old Covenant, the Church and the New Covenant, same house. The furniture has not been moved in that house. The furniture in the house has always been where it is. However, in the New Covenant, the lights have been turned on. Under the Old Covenant, the furniture was there, and they felt around and couldn't quite understand what it was that they were feeling. However, it was the same furniture in the same house that we are living in today. The only difference is we have the lights turned on. And Exodus chapter seventeen is one of the clearest examples of that in the entire Bible. But Exodus seventeen is also a clear example of the condition of man and a clear example of why it is that we need a savior in the first place, a clear example of how we think about God and about what's wrong with the way we think about God. There are very few people out there who are arguing that there is no God, but there are many people out there who are arguing that the God of the Bible is somehow inadequate or insufficient. And one of the most common ways that this is done is through the problem of theodicy or the question of the existence of evil and suffering. So you look at your circumstances. I look at my circumstances. We look at our circumstances, and the temptation is to look at our circumstances as the only reality there is in determining who God is. And we ask the question, how can God be omnipotent and omnib benevolent, all good and all powerful, and yet allow evil and suffering in the world. And there are many people who have sort of wiped their hands of this God and said, I want nothing to do with this God because of what I've seen and because of what I've experienced, Because if this God were who you say he is, these things would simply not be. So. Perhaps you've had that conversation. Perhaps you find yourself in the midst of that discussion right now, friends, family, schoolmates, coworkers. Perhaps you find yourself making that argument against God. Perhaps you come here this morning and sit here this morning as the one who is trying to figure out how the world can be the way that it is and God be the way that Christians say he is. Allow me to attempt an answer from Exodus seventeen. Let's look at those first seven verses. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Refidem. But there was no water for the people to drink. Again, these are people in the desert, and there is nothing more in the desert than water. Within a few days, you die with no water. You can go weeks without food, but you die in days without water, especially in the desert. So here is the entire camp, the entire company of the people, numbering in the millions, and they don't have water. They don't need a puddle of water. They need a significant amount of water. They need a source of water so that they can survive. And here they are, and the text says they had no water to drink. This is a problem. Therefore, the people remembered what God had done for them in the past, and they knelt down and called upon him in prayer, knowing that God no. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. Notice, they didn't ask. And Moses said to them, why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water. And the people grumbled against Moses and said, why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us? And our children and our lives thought with thirst. So Moses cried to the Lord. Finally, somebody prays, what shall I do with this people? Anybody who's been in pastoral ministry longer than a month has prayed this prayer. Amenose, Lord, what am I going to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me. Anybody who's been in pastoral ministry longer than a few years, it's familiar with this one. And the Lord said to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and taking your hand the staff with which you struck the nile, and go. It's an interesting point here. You might want to underline that phrase, the staff with which you struck the nile. The staff has been involved in a lot more than just striking the nile. That phrase is of the utmost importance in this text. And go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at horror, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. They called the name of the place Masa and Marabah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, is the Lord among us or not? There's the question, is the Lord among us or not? Is the Lord with us or not? Is the Lord good or not? Is the Lord real or not? Is the Lord powerful or not? Is he or is he not? That's the question. I have but two main points to make here. First that the people's sin raises the question, and secondly that God's response answers the question. In looking at the people's sin and how they raise this question, we see, first of all that the people presumed upon God. And it is amazing how often we do this, How often we actually presume upon God. Even people who don't claim to know God, people who don't claim to be Christians, are presuming upon God. Think about it. For example, the person who ask the question, if God is so good and God is so powerful, then why does this evil happen? They are presuming upon God. They are presuming that God is obligated to act in a certain way on their behalf. It is pure presumption, and it is sinful at its core. Notice the complete lack of humility among the people, treating God as is he as if he owed them something, and assuming that they should have the water. Notice also the absence of prayer. They didn't pray, they didn't call upon God, they didn't bow down and humble themselves. They just presumed upon God. They were told to go from point A to point B, and they assumed that when they got to point B, water would be waiting for them there. When the water wasn't waiting for them there, they presumed upon God. The people also accused God. It's one thing to presume upon God, to just assume that God owes you something. It's another thing to accuse God, like what happens in verse three. But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst. By the way, this is not the first time that the people accused God in this way. Fourteen, verse eleven. This is my favorite. By the way, if I can have a favorite, I guess there's certain things you shouldn't have a favorite of. But listen, to this one. In Chapter fourteen, verse eleven, they said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness. What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Was there just not room to bury us there? Verse twelve? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Look at Chapter sixteen, verses two and three. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel said to them, would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Two things about these accusations. First, these accusations ignore the provision of God in the past. They ignore the provision of God in the past, as though somehow God has stopped being the God who provides for his people. It's as though they don't remember what God has done. If you remember, they prayed and cried out to God, and early in Exodus we are told that their cry reached up to heaven. Hundreds of years they've been praying. One prayer, get us out of Egypt. God gets them out of Egypt, and immediately they forget and they're angry with God. Notice the statements, it would have been better for us to die there than here. In other words, better to die in bondage than to die in the liberty that God provides for his people. They forget what God has done to the Egyptians, the most powerful people on the face of the earth at the time, the greatest superpower that the world had ever seen to that date, and God brought them to their knees and delivered a community of slaves out of their midst. They have forgotten that. They have forgotten that God has protected them with the pillar of Cloud and the pillar of Fire. They have forgotten that God has fed them with quail and manna. They'd forgotten. But more importantly than this, this accusation makes God out to be exceptionally cruel. In fact, they are accusing God of sin. You deceived us what you really wanted was not to deliver us. You wanted to kill us. You just wanted to get our hopes up before you killed us. This is what they're accusing God of. You want to destroy us, But before you destroyed us, you wanted to make us believe that we were actually delivered. You wanted to make us believe that we actually serve the most high God. You wanted to make us believe that you loved us, and that you smiled upon us, and that you are our God and we are your people. When all along you hate us and all you want to do is kill us. You're evil, You're wicked. This is the accusation against God. And before you get on your moral high horse and look down at the Egyptians, realize that you do this yourself every time you come to a difficult moment in your life, and your response is God's not going to deliver me. God has just brought me this far to let me down. God has just brought me thus far to disappoint me. Even people who don't serve God. There are people who don't even claim to be Christian, and yet this is their attitude toward God. Difficulty comes in their life they presume upon God, and then they shake their fists at God, and they're angry with God, assuming that God is wicked and God is evil. Finally, beyond presuming upon God and accusing God, the people doubted God verse seven. And he Moses called the name of place ma son Marabah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying is the Lord among us or not? Their sin asks the question, Our sin asks the question. The heavens declare the glory of God. You know there's a God. God doesn't believe in atheists. Romans Chapter one makes that very clear. The problem is not that men don't know that there's a God. The problem is that they suppress their knowledge in their unrighteousness. There is no such thing as an atheist. There is no such thing as a human being who does not believe in God. And any human being who says that he does not believe in God is a liar. We don't just believe that there's a God. We know that there's a God. And it always amazes me that atheists fight so hard against the God and whom they do not believe. What sense does it make to be against a God whom you say does not exist. What sense does it make for individuals to devote their lives to this God and whom they say they do not believe? Entire careers built on fighting against a God that they say is not there. They know better, they know better. So because of that, anytime we question the existence of this God, whom we know, we are in sin. Anytime resume upon God, we are in sin. And if you are here apart from Christ today, your entire existence is presumption upon God. Because if you are here apart from Christ, you stand under the judgment of a holy and righteous God, and you are presuming upon him because you do not fall on your face and beg for his forgiveness and beg for relief from his justice. You just assume that He's not going to give you what you deserve. That is presumption. You ought to live in constant fear of the judgment of God. If you are here apart from Christ, you ought to be the most frightened individual on the planet, because the God who spoke the world into existence is your enemy, and he owes you nothing more than death, hell, and the grave. And yet you presume upon his goodness. You wake up every morning, wash your face, and brush your teeth, and put on your clothes, and go about your business, assuming that you're going to reach the end of the day, assuming that you have no need to be made right with God, assuming that this day will not be the day of judgment. You presume upon God my friend, and you take his kindness for weakness. And then when things don't go your way, you accuse God, this God whom you do not serve, This God, and whom you claim not to believe, you accuse this God. It amazes me that the new atheists accuse God of cruelty. Again, how can a God who does not exist be cruel? Amen? And then we doubt God. This was neither the first nor the last time that Israel would doubt God. In fact, if there is anything consistent about the people of God in the Old Covenant, it is that they doubt God. Amen. If there is anything consistent about the Book of Exodus, it is the people doubting God at every turn and at every point. And oh, how things have remained the same among us. We doubt God. The people's sin raises the question. God's response provides the answer. Remember the question, It is God among us. And again we can extrapolate from that, is God real? Is God good? Is God powerful? Is he? Or is He not? Look at verses five and six. And the Lord said to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and taking your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold. I will stand before you on the rock at horror, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Several things here. First of all, to take witnesses. This is important, he says, take witnesses. There are times when Moses goes before the Lord and he is instructed not to bring witnesses. This is not one of those times, he says, This time, you bring witnesses. This message is meant for the elders and the people of Israel. This message is meant for posterity. God wants every every aspect of this to be seen, known and understood, and so he says, bring witnesses. This is not to be done in secret. This is to be done publicly. Secondly, he takes the rod he says, take the rod. The rod is an emblem of Israel's deliverance. But it is also an emblem of Egypt's judgment. And so here which emblem is it. It's the emblem of judgment. He says, Bring the rod with which you struck the nile. He did not say, bring the rod with which you parted the sea deliverance. He says, bring the rod with which you struck the nile. Judgment, but not just any kind of judgment. Judgment on the water. Bring with you the raw that is a symbol of my judgment on the water, my judgment against Egypt, by taking away from them the water that they drink because of their sin of disbelief. That is the rod you bring. It is also a symbol of provision through substitution, as we will see. And then he says, I will stand before you on the rock at Horeb. We must not miss this. Whether it is not the rock that is struck, it is God. Moses strikes God. Moses doesn't just strike God. Moses strikes God with the rod of God's judgment, so that at the rock of horrib God himself is offered up and takes upon himself the judgment that the sins of his people deserves. This is why Paul says Christ is the rock. He is the one who stands as a substitute and receives in his own body through pieces of wood, the judgment that the people of God deserve, so that the judgment is not poured out on the people of God, but instead is poured out on God himself, so that God can be both just and that his judgment and wrath is poured out and merciful, that his people receive water from Him. And said of the judgment that they deserve. This is why Christ is the rock. Christ is the one who is struck on our behalf. Christ is the one who is judged on our behalf. Christ is the one who takes punishment and gives mercy and deliverance. The rock is struck. The rock is struck. And I don't know if Moses comprehended this or not. The Bible doesn't say, but I have to believe that Moses did not comprehend this. First of all, Paul is the first one to give us this picture. But secondly, I just don't believe that Moses could have done it if he knew what he was actually doing that. If God had spelled it out and had said, this moment deserves my judgment and my wrath, and it is going to be poured out. But it is not going to be poured out on Israel. The only thing poured out on them will be water. Instead. I will stand before you, and you will pour out my own judgment on me, using the rod in your hand like me. And the symbol and the picture here is of death that brings forth life. Jesus connects himself with both the bread and the water of Exodus. John six thirty five. We read Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John seven thirty seven. On the last day of the feast, the Great Day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He also offers more than water John four ten. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water Verses thirteen and fourteen At John four. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. This living water motif takes on entirely new meaning in light of Exodus seventeen, because you don't get the living water unless God is struck with the rod of judgment. You see, if you have come here today outside of Christ, you are indeed presuming upon God, and you are indeed God's enemy, and you do indeed stand under the judgment of God, awaiting the wrath of God that will be revealed. And yet there is hope. There is hope because this same God extends to you and offer of grace and mercy. God does not say to you that my wrath will be removed, but he says to you that there is a substitute who can take upon himself the wrath that is owed to you. There is a substitute who can satisfy my wrath and grant you grace and mercy. There is one who was struck not just with the rod of Moses, but with the judgment tree. There is one who died on an old rugged cross, who died for the sins of his people, and who, because of his death, according to Romans chapter four, allows God to be both just and the justifier of the one who places faith in Jesus. How do we drink from this water? We simply receive it. We simply acknowledge our need of it. We acknowledge our sin and our sinfulness. We acknowledge the righteous judgment and wrath of God that we deserve, And in acknowledging it, we throw ourselves upon God's mercy, and we plead God's mercy on our behalf for God's forgiveness, turning from our sin and turning to God, believing that God has judged our sin and Christ, and receiving the redemption that is ours. As a result, we turn from sin, we turn from Christ, we flee from wrath, and we embrace forgiveness and mercy. This is how we drink from the water, And not just the water out of a rock in the desert, but the water that will never run dry, the water that will raise up in us, the streams of living water, and because of which we will never ever ever thirst again. This water cleanses us, This water refreshes us, This water renews us. This water satisfies us, unlike anything you or I could ever imagine. Oh, won't you receive this water today? Won't you be made clean? Won't you be made whole? Won't you drink and be filled? Do not continue to presume upon God, to accuse God and to doubt God. You know that there is a God. You know that he is good, and you know that he is powerful, powerful enough, and good enough to forgive you of your sins. Should you be willing to merely turn from them and flee to Christ, run to the rock and be made whole? Would you pray with me, Oh God, our Savior, our Redeemer, Grant by your grace that we would hear and heed these words. Grant by your grace that we might see this horrific picture of you as our judge, so that we might indeed see, apprehend, and comprehend this tremendous picture of you as our redeemer. Grant by your grace that we might comprehend the reality of the forgiveness that is ours in Christ and in Christ alone. Grant that we might see our own doubt for what it is, our own accusations for what they are, our own presumptions for what they are. And Grant that in seeing them we might repent of them, and that in our repentance we might flee to Christ, that we might know Him in the pardon of our sins, and that we might walk with Him as all. In all, Father, I pray for those under the sound of my voice who have come here apart from Christ. Grant by your grace that they might see the truth the reality of their existence, that they might see the sinfulness of their presumptions and accusations and doubts, And not that they would merely see them, but that in seeing them they would be convicted and convinced of their sinfulness and their need of a savior. Grant by your grace, that by the power of your spirit, their eyes might be opened, might not only see their sin, but see the Savior, and in seeing Him and his beauty and his majesty, they might flee to Him and cling to him, and find forgiveness in Him and hope and living water. Father, I pray for the one who has come here knowing Christ, following Christ, and yet finding themselves doubting again, questioning again, accusing again, God, would you remind us that we still need Christ, that we still need redemption, that our sanctification is yet incomplete, that we still need repentance and faith. What do we pray and ask these things? Because we do believe them to be in accordance with the will and the nature and the authority of Jesus, who is the Christ, who was the Rock, who is the Rock. In his name, we pray all these things Amen,