Two Funerals and a Broken Faith
At Kadesh, with Miriam dead and the people once again without water, the congregation turns on Moses and Aaron in bitter complaint, exposing how hardship reveals what's really in the human heart. Moses and Aaron respond rightly at first, falling on their faces before the Lord in prayer, but under pressure Moses loses his focus and his temper, striking the rock instead of simply speaking to it as God commanded. Because Moses failed to treat God as holy before Israel, tainting the very symbol of the rock that Paul later identifies with Christ, God bars him from entering the Promised Land despite decades of faithful service. Pain and pressure are unavoidable in life, but how a person handles them—through prayer, obedience, and reverence rather than rage—determines whether hardship draws them closer to God or costs them dearly.
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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ There is a song that calls to my soul ♪ ♪ And there is a friend that won't let me go ♪ ♪ And dark is the sky that I cannot hide ♪ ♪ Will I see your arms of love open wide ♪ ♪ So I come just as I am ♪ ♪ But I come just as I am ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God, praise ♪ ♪ Praise the will for Him and give ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God, praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise that is greater than all I see ♪ ♪ So there is a meal where God was made ♪ ♪ There is a king who died in your life ♪ ♪ Praise, now I am awry ♪ ♪ I am redeemed ♪ ♪ For how the great will give it a free ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God, praise ♪ ♪ Praise the will for Him and give it a free ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God, praise ♪ ♪ Praise that is greater than all I see ♪
♪ I'll fix my thoughts before heaven ♪ ♪ I'll find my hope in the hope of my Savior ♪ ♪ All I see that the hope of my Savior ♪ ♪ Your praise is greater ♪ ♪ I'll fix my talk and call forever ♪ ♪ I'll find my hope in the hope of my Savior ♪ ♪ All I see and the hope of my Savior ♪ ♪ Your praise is greater ♪ ♪ Your praise is greater ♪ ♪ Why come just as I am ♪ ♪ I come just as I am ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God ♪ ♪ Praise, praise the will for Him and give it a free ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God, praise ♪ ♪ Praise that is greater than all I see ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God, praise ♪ ♪ Praise the will for Him and give it a free ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God, praise ♪ ♪ Praise that is greater than all I see ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God's grace ♪ ♪ Praise that will for Him ♪ ♪ Praise, praise God's grace ♪ ♪ Praise that is greater than all I see ♪ ♪ The fellowship, what a joy we've done ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting arms ♪ ♪ What a blessing is, what a peace is mine ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting arms ♪ ♪ Safe friends secure from all of our hearts ♪ ♪ Leading, leading ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting Lord ♪
♪ Oh, how sweet to walk in this field of great ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ Leading, leading ♪ ♪ Safe friends secure from all of our hearts ♪ ♪ Leading, leading ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, how sweet to walk in this field ♪ ♪ Oh, how sweet to walk in this field ♪ ♪ Oh, how sweet to walk in this field ♪ ♪ Still, what am I to drink ♪ ♪ What am I to fear ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ I have less at peace with my Lord ♪ ♪ So dear, leading on the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ Leading, leading ♪ ♪ Safe friends secure from all of our hearts ♪ ♪ Leading, leading ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ Leading, leading ♪ ♪ Safe friends secure from all of our hearts ♪ ♪ Leading, leading ♪ ♪ Leading on the everlasting Lord ♪ ♪ It's good that we can depend on the Lord ♪ ♪ We can lean on him because he's faithful ♪ ♪ So now as we know that, let's praise the Lord ♪ ♪ In this place together, we taught you this last week ♪ ♪ To sing this chorus out real big when we get to it ♪ ♪ Oh, the heart is within me ♪
♪ The last is holy name ♪ ♪ For the love of those forever ♪ ♪ This verse is here today ♪ ♪ We will live to the greatless healing ♪ ♪ And fill the source of grace and culture ♪ ♪ The letter was sent to sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Let his faith ♪ ♪ Let all within receive ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ If you arise, be granted ♪ ♪ By the one Jesus fought ♪ ♪ In a way that makes great danger ♪ ♪ For I keep them yet to come ♪ ♪ Oh, he sings it again ♪ ♪ Sons and daughters of King ♪ ♪ Come to it ♪ ♪ The letter was sent to sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Let his faith ♪ ♪ Let all within receive ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ And for the one who's broken high ♪ ♪ It's hard to sing this song ♪ ♪ You've been walking through the valley ♪ ♪ In your faith is feeling small ♪
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] Today we're going to look at a very important passage as we go through the book of Numbers, a very important passage of Scripture, Numbers chapter 20, it begins with a funeral, the death of Miriam. She died in that 39th, 40th year where they were wandering in the wilderness at the beginning of the year in the very first month. She was Moses' oldest sister, and she was probably 127 years old. Moses' brother Aaron is going to die at the end of this chapter, and he's 123, the Bible makes that very clear. He's three years older than Moses, and then Moses is going to die some months after this event in Numbers chapter 20, and he's 120 years old. Now about 37, 38 years have passed since last time, since Numbers chapter 16, the rebellion of Cora. There's not a lot said during those wilderness wanderings because you're just wandering around the wilderness. There's not necessarily a whole lot going on. It's another day of the same things, Groundhog Day for them. You know, every day is just kind of the same, so there's this big gap, but then we come to Numbers 20. It's almost the end of the wilderness wandering, and we read about two funerals and a broken faith. Listen, the question for today is this. How do you handle the pain and the pressures of life? Because there will be pain in life, and you will face troubles and trials and pressures and problems. That's just part of the deal. How do you handle it? Numbers chapter 20 verse 1, "Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation came to the wilderness of Zinn in the first month, and the people stayed at Kadesh." Kadesh is where they were in Numbers chapter 13 when they could have gone into the promised land. So this is fast forward about 40 years, about 39 years, and they're at Kadesh.
Now, Miriam died there and was buried there at Kadesh. There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord." Probably referring back to the rebellion of Cora and the 250 that died with him. Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us into this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there any water to drink. This is horrible. If only we had perished, I jumped ahead. If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. Why then have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness for us and our beast to die here? the pressure along with Aaron. Three insights for this morning, insight number one. Many people handle hardships poorly. Many people who call themselves Christians, these Old Testament people would have called themselves the people of God. They were unbelieving believers as we have titled this series on the book of Numbers. And as hard to know how many of them were truly the Lord's people, I think a lot of them were, but others, you know, you just see their faithlessness and you're like, "Good night, you're a believer in Yahweh. It's hard to understand that." But so many of us are like these folks that we read about in the wilderness. Handle problems poorly. Now remember I told you that the wilderness, when you read about the wilderness of Zinn as we read about in chapter 20 verse 1, the wilderness is not a forest. It's a desert. It looks like this. That's where they were for 40 years. They just wandered around. It's hilly. It's rocks. It's sand. It's dirt. It's hot. And water is critical. You have to have water. Remember, we have two to two and a half million people plus their animals. And so you're going to have to have lots of water. And they don't have any water. And they're not responding well to that. Now water is the genuine need. So what they bring before Moses and Aaron is the genuine need. There's no water to drink. And if we don't have water to drink, we're going to die. So genuine needs are a genuine problem. This isn't a manufactured need. This is a genuine need. And the great promise in Scripture, Philippians 4 and 19, "And my God shall supply all your needs," according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. God has promised us, and we can claim Philippians 4 and 19 when we have a genuine need. Now, we may have a need for transportation, but
we don't have a need for a Mercedes, for our transportation. You have to separate out the difference between needs and greed. God doesn't promise to meet your greed or my greed. He promises to meet our needs as we trust Him. Well, they had a genuine need. They needed water. And that was a genuine problem. Now, genuine problems reveal your spiritual condition, whether you're mature or childish, whether you're faithful or faith less, whether you're trusting God or you're complaining about God. And as we've seen over and over and over again, the people don't handle the tests very well. We had talked about the book of James, James chapter 1, "Consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." And so God will allow things to come into your life and to my life, just like He allowed things to come into their lives, to test them. And needless to say, they didn't do well with the test. The people look at verse 3 again, the people that's contended with Moses and spoke saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord." I wish I were dead is another way to say that. Why then have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? We hate this place. I mean, you talked to us about this promised land, this land flowing with milk and honey. Guess what? That was false advertising. This is not a place of green or figs or vines or pomegranates. It's not even a place of water. What are we going to drink? They didn't handle that test very well. They didn't handle the stress very well. Now, my pastor, DeManschuk, used to say, and I've never forgotten this, he said, "You know, you can tell a whole lot more about a person in the way they react as opposed to how they act." So you can act a certain way. We have Kirk Cameron has become a friend of mine and "Kirk, I really like you, you're just a good brother." He said, "You've got to watch out for people like me because I'm an actor." I say, "Oh, I hadn't thought about that. I take back what I just said. I don't know if I can believe you or not." And he said, "Well, you can believe me." People can act a certain way, but you really get to tell how a person is and what's going on on the inside by the way they react because your life really is like a tube of toothpaste.
When you get squeezed, what comes out is what's inside. The mouth speaks from that which fills the heart. And these people, what comes out, moaning, groaning, grumbling, griping, blaming, faithlessness, that's what comes out. I wish we had just died in number 16. Why have we lived these almost 38 years to get to numbers chapter 20? Now they didn't obviously look at it like that, but we look at it like that. We had died in chapter 16. Now we're in chapter 20, there's nothing to drink and nothing is worse than dying of thirst. It'd be better to have the ground open up and swallow us and just get it over with. That's kind of where they're coming from. So genuine problems reveal your spiritual condition. When you're going through a difficulty in life, how do you respond to it? How do you respond to the pain of losing a loved one? Moses lost his sister, Aaron lost his sister. How do you respond to the pain? How do you respond to the pressure? The people are upset, the natives are restless, so to speak. How are they going to respond to that? I was reminded, as I was studying this passage this week, of the Syrophoenician woman, the Canaanite woman in Matthew chapter 15. She was the one who came to Jesus and she said, "Lord, my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. Master son of David, she came seeking help. He didn't speak to her." And then she yells out even louder, and he says to her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And she said, "Lord, help me." And he said to her, "First, he doesn't speak." Then he says, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
And then he says to her, "It's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." He's basically calling her a dog. "I don't speak to you. I say I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and then I call you a dog." Well, what's she going to do with that response? "Well, why did I ever come here? I knew you wouldn't help me. I'm just going to make it some other way." She didn't do that. She said, "Yes, Lord." But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. She wouldn't go. She wouldn't leave. She knew that he could help her, and it was like Jacob in Genesis chapter 32, when he wrestled with the Lord, and he said, "Let me go for the dawn is breaking." He said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And that's the way a syrophoenician woman was. And in the pain, and in the pressure, she wouldn't let go of Jesus. And he said, "Woman, your faith is great, be it done to you as you have asked me." And her daughter was delivered just like that at that very moment. "Hey, genuine problems, they don't cause you to be immature. They reveal your maturity or your immaturity." And the sad reality is so many people handle hardships and problems and pains and pressures poorly. Second, insight, Moses teaches us what to do and not to do with hardships. What to do and not to do. So they go to Moses and to Aaron. They contend with him.
This is going to be called the waters of Maribah because Maribah means quarreling contention. They contend with Moses. Says in verse 6, "Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting," and that's where God was, "and they fell on their faces." They fell on their faces. This is the fifth time that it's mentioned that when difficulty comes, when a problem comes, when the natives get restless and they're so upset and they're grumbling and griping and complaining that Moses, that's his default. That's what he does. He falls on his face. See, the very first move when you encounter difficulties in life, which you will, which you no doubt many of you are, you're in a problem right now. The very first thing to do, the very first move, is to pray. Is to fall on your face, so to speak, is to cry out to the Lord. Jesus told a parable in Luke chapter 18, and he told this parable. He said this was the preface. Men ought always to pray and not to faint, not to lose heart, not to give up, not to throw in the towel. Pray and keep praying. Bible says, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks for this, as God's will in Christ Jesus concerning you. Ephesians chapter six talks about the armor of God, and it sums it all up and says, "With all prayer and petition,
"pray it all times in the Spirit." The prayer is what gives power to all the implements that God gives us, the pieces of armor, it's prayer. And so the very first move is to pray. It has well been said. We can do more than pray after we pray, but we can't do more than pray before we pray. So we pray. The very first thing is to pray. The very next move is to obey. You pray and then you obey. I remember a man told me, he said he was interviewing this church leader who was leading tens of thousands of people at his church. And he asked this guy in an interview, he said, "What is the secret of your spiritual success?" He said, "I pray and then I obey, pray and obey." So look what it says. Moses and Aaron, they go before the Lord. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them, verse six. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Take 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." So Moses took the rod from before the Lord just as he had commanded him. He's doing really well. Moses gives us a picture.
What do we do when the pressures of life come, when the pains and sorrows of life come? You pray and then you obey and Moses did that. He prayed and then he took the rod as God told him. There's a little bit of discrepancy as to whose rod this is. Is this Aaron's rod that budded in chapter 18 to show that Aaron was the one for his descendants would be the high priest. God did a miracle with that rod. They kept that rod in the ark of the covenant. Was it Aaron's rod that he took or was it his own rod? And I don't really know because the Bible is not super clear on that. Some believe it was Aaron's rod, some believe it was his own rod. But he obeyed the Lord and he went out and he took the rod. He did what God told him to do. But then he didn't. So two things to avoid. So we learn from Moses what to do, what not to do. So we pray, we obey and we avoid losing our focus and losing our temper. Moses is gonna lose his focus and he's going to lose his temper, verse 10. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock and he said to them, listen now you rebels. That wasn't what God told him to say. Listen now you rebels, shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?
Then Moses lifted up his hand and he struck the rock twice with his rod, bam, bam. And water came forth abundantly and the congregation and their beasts drank. The Lord told him to speak to the rock. He struck the rock. Now in Exodus chapter 17, when they had just come out of Egypt, they didn't have any water and they grumbled and griped because they didn't have any water and God told Moses, take your rod and strike the rock and he struck the rock and water came out. Now he's telling him 40 years later, now you speak to the rock, but he didn't do it. He struck the rock twice. He is angry. You know, the Bible tells us that we are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. We have so great a cloud of witnesses encompassing us. Not that they're watching us, but that they've gone on before us, the Hall of the Faithful in Hebrews 11. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses encompassing us, let us run with the endurance, the race that is set before us. Let us lay aside every encumbrance and run with endurance, the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. To turn away from everything else and fix your eyes on him, Moses took his eyes off the Lord, he lost his focus, and he lost his temper. Now, many have said, Bible commentators,
have said that Moses, although he was a great man, faithful in all God's house and the Lord goes on to say, he was the most humble man on the earth, Numbers chapter 12, and he was the one that spoke with God face to face. He was the one that he had such a close relationship with the Lord when he'd go in before the Lord. His face would shine and glow because the glory of the Lord was on his face. I mean, Moses is top-top, but Moses could get angry. I find it amazing that Moses didn't blow his stack a lot more than he did. But there are nine times in Scripture in the Old Testament talk about Moses' anger. And six times directly, it says he was angry, and then three times indirectly. And he could kind of pass all this off as I have righteous indignation, and some of that was true, but the way he responded was not righteous. The way he responded here was not righteous because he disobeyed God. Moses, when he came down off the mountain with the two tablets of stone, because the people were worshiping a golden calf, what does he do? He gets so angry that he takes the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and he throws them down and he shatters them.
Well, the God didn't want him to do that. Now, it was kind of a picture of the fact that they had broken the Ten Commandments, but he wasn't supposed to do that. You have something in your possession that's as valuable as two tablets of stone written by the finger of God. The handwriting was God's, and you shatter that? Good grief. You know, I got some things in my office that are special to me where somebody has signed something. And I wouldn't, you know, I got it under glass and it's hanging on the wall. I wouldn't want to take it and throw it down because I got mad about something. This is something that has a value. You could not place upon it, and he breaks that in anger. Moses lost his temper. And listen, when stress and pressure come, you and I need to be on guard for anger. We used to tell couples at the weekend to remember marriage or treats. Anger is a communication killer. Anger and marriage is just one letter from danger. And when you get angry, that's when you need to be really careful what comes out of your mouth. And all of us have had the experience, no doubt, where we lost our temper and lost our cool,
and we said something we wish we hadn't said. But once it's out there in marriage, in family, in business, in the church, it's out there, then you can't reel it back in. Moses, he calls these people rebels, and he, twice. And it wasn't a love tap. It's not like Tony Orlando and Don, knock three times on the ceiling if you want me. That he is angry. He is banging on the rock. So he teaches us what to do. We pray, we obey, and what not to do. We don't lose our focus, and we don't lose our cool. Keep our eyes on Jesus. And then insight number three, God's response teaches us about the high cost of sin. The high cost of sin. So, shall we give you water from the rock you rebels? Bangs, twice, and the water. plus our animals. It's like an ocean depth. The Bible even talks about that. He gave them water like the ocean depths out in the wilderness, out in that place so it's just rocks and sand and dirt. He gave them water, but there was a cost, says in verse 12, "But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Because 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. Those were the waters of Maribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord,
and he proved himself holy among them.'" God said to Moses and Aaron, "You've been leading this people from out of Egypt to Sinai to go into the promised land, and guess what? You're not going in, because you've failed to treat me as holy before the people." You say, "Well, that seems pretty harsh of God. Why is God so harsh?" Let not many of you become teachers, my brother, knowing that as such you shall incur a stricter judgment. James chapter 3, verse 1, Moses called the people rebels. That comes from the word "mara," which means to be bitter. And God calls Moses and Aaron rebels. Chapter 20, verse 24, "Aaron will be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Maribah." Oh, Moses, did you think they're rebels? Well, you're rebelling against me. You're doing exactly what you are upset at them for doing. Listen, Moses broke faith with God and did not honor him as holy. He committed a really terrible sin here. And it's kind of interesting in Exodus 17 when there was no water and he struck the rock. They called that the waters of Massah and Maribah. Massah means testing, Maribah means contention or quarreling. Now they just call these the waters of Maribah quarreling, contending with Moses, contending with the Lord. But it was really also the waters of Massah because Moses is being tested here. I have a friend, Rich Halcom, some of you know Rich Halcom. He told me early on in my ministry, he said, "Jeff, remember this as a pastor." He said, "People can say and do mean things to you, and they can come at you. And people, they'll give them a pass for doing that, but they'll watch how you respond. And if you respond in an angry, ugly way, that won't go well for you.
And you will diminish in the minds and hearts of the people." That is so true. And I wish I could say, "Well, I've never lost my temper or lost my focus, but that wouldn't be true. And I have." And this is a convicting passage of Scripture as we see Moses because they're not very many like Moses. And Moses loses his focus, he loses his temper, he breaks faith with God. And that's what the Lord said in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32. Deuteronomy is three sermons that Moses gives before the children of Israel go into the promised land, and before he goes home to heaven. And the Lord said to him, "Because you broke faith with me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Maribah, Qedesh, in the wilderness of Zinn, because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. Moses, you're my representative before the people, and you didn't represent me well. You dishonored me. You broke faith with me. You didn't trust me. You didn't do what I said. The king gave you orders. This is what you do, and you took it upon yourself to do something different. I didn't tell you to strike the rock twice. I told you to speak to the rock." And isn't it interesting? They're at Kedesh. The Hebrew word for holy is kadosh. Comes from the same root where we get kedesh. They're at a place called kedesh, a place of holiness. Yet Moses didn't treat God as kadosh, as holy, before the people, as the King of kings and Lord of lords,
the God whom we are to obey. He broke faith with God. Didn't trust God. Didn't honor him as holy. He dishonored God. And God said, "Because you did that, in the midst of the sons of Israel, you did that before all my people. You're not going in the promised land. There's a price to be paid for your disobedience, Moses." Well, Moses could say, "Well, Lord, have you seen these people?" You know, when the Lord would get mad at the people, he'd say, "Moses, your people are doing this and that." Moses is like, "My people. They're your people." He'd remind God, "They're your people." God, I didn't even want to do this. Let's go back to Exodus chapter three and four. I kept telling you I can't do this. It was a serious breakdown in Moses' life before the Lord, because Moses is so special. And he's so special in the eyes of the people. And for him to do what he did, he was going to be judged for that. Now God said that he was going to keep himself holy and show himself holy before the people. It says in verse 12, "But the Lord said to Moses in Aaron, because 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 had given them." And it says in verse 11, "That Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice through his rod. And water came forth abundantly. And the congregation and their beasts drank. And the Lord proved himself holy among them." You say, "How did the Lord prove himself holy by what Moses did by disobeying God? He did it two ways. God showed that he was the holy God. Even though Moses didn't show he was a holy God and didn't treat him as holy because God brought forth water. He met the needs of his people. And number two, he judged Moses. He judged the representative of God. He judged him. You're not going into the land. And that shows that God is a holy God. He's no respecter of persons. And if you violate something as sacred as what Moses violated, there's a price to be paid. Now, the other thing Moses did was he tainted the symbolism of the rock. He messed it up. First Corinthians chapter 10, Paul says this, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, 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, manna, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ. This represents Christ. He is the rock that followed them. And in Exodus chapter 17, when they first come out of the land, strike the rock. Jesus is the rock. And he was smitten once for your sins and my sins and the sins of the whole world. He was crucified once for all. And now here you are 40 years later. And what does he say? Don't strike the rock. Speak to the rock. The rock has already been struck because the rock is Christ. You don't have to crucify Jesus again. Now you just speak to the rock by faith. But he didn't do that. He struck the rock twice. And God is saying, Moses, you messed up the illustration. This is the serious thing that you did. Hebrews chapter four and verse 15 says, "We don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who's been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin, let us therefore draw in with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Confidence means freedom to speak. And we speak to the rock. We speak to the Lord. He doesn't need to be struck again. We just need to come to him and speak to him in faith. So Moses messed up the symbolism of the rock and Moses didn't get to enter. all the rigmarole with these people for 40 years in the desert. Why did Moses have to wander for 40 years in the desert? Because of the people's unbelief, not because of Moses' unbelief. Same is true for Caleb. He had to wander for 40 years because of the people's unbelief, not his own. He believed God. Joshua believed God, but they were under the same sentence of judgment. "You're not going in the land." And so Moses is presiding over these folks, and it's been rough, and he's thinking, "But one day I'm going in the land, one day I'm going in the land, one day I'm going in the land, and this is now the last year of their wondering, and he loses it." He didn't get to go into the land. So in Deuteronomy, Moses is telling the people this, and he says in Deuteronomy chapter 3, "I also pleaded with the Lord at that time saying, "Oh Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand for what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts of yours. Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon. But the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me, and the Lord said to me, "Enough! Speak to me no more of this matter. You're not going into the promised land. I don't care how much you whine in the grocery cart, I'm not getting you candy." That's kind of what's going on here, right? Have you ever done that with your kids, your grand kids, their wine and wine and wine, and I want candy and I want candy and I want candy." Well the Lord doesn't say, "Okay, you wore me down." He says, "Enough." He says, "Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east and see it with your eyes for you shall not cross over this Jordan. God let him see the promised land. He didn't let him enter the promised land." Joshua led the people into the promised land, and very interesting, Moses represents the law. The law doesn't get you
into the promised land. Joshua represents Jesus. Jesus brings you into the promised land. Because you're not saved by the works of the law. The law has become our tutor Galatians chapter 3, he says, "To lead us to Christ, and Christ is the one who brings us into the promised land." The law just shows you you're a sinner in need of a Savior. The law says, "Here is Jesus." You see, you can't save yourself. So here is Jesus, put your faith and trust in him. And so you have that symbolism taking place here. Moses couldn't take the people into the promised land because the law doesn't do that. Jesus does that by grace through faith. But Moses didn't get to enter the promised land. Now that was a bitter pill to swallow. And in the end of chapter 20, Aaron dies. So Miriam dies in the first month of the year around March or April. The Hebrew month is Nisan. And about five months later, which would be July, August, Aaron dies. And then about 11 months later, the 12th month of the year, Moses dies. So from Miriam, first month to Moses, the last month of the year, all the three who led Israel. Now they're all gone. And Israel is going into the promised land led by Joshua. But here's the thing about Moses. He hears this. He prays that the Lord would reconsider. The Lord says, "Enough. Don't ask me about that anymore." And you know Moses does. He says, "All right, Lord." And he keeps leading the people. He blew it, but he trusted God. He got up off the mat, so to speak. A righteous man falls seven times and rises again. And he was faithful until death, even though he had that failure. If you had any failures in your life, I sure have. Failure is not final. You've got to get up. You can't quit. And Moses teaches us by getting up that, okay, so when you blow it, you confess to God, you blow your temper, you get in the flesh, you do something terrible, horrible, that has consequences to it. You don't just throw I did. It was terrible. It was awful. It was horrible. But, oh, God, have mercy on me. Oh, God, forgive me." Tom, 130, verse 3, tells us that if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, oh, Lord, who could stand, but there's forgiveness with you that you may be feared.
And God forgave Moses, and he can forgive you. I've done things in my life as pastor, I've lost my temper before. And it's exactly what Rich Halcom said. It's not what other people do. It's how you respond to it. And I wish I could undo it, but I can't undo it. Moses wished he could relive Numbers, chapter 20, but he wasn't given that opportunity. And so the consequences are there. And all you can do is say, "I was wrong. I'm sorry. God forgive me, and the people that you're wrong, please forgive me." And if possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. But let me tell you something about the goodness of our goddess. We talk about grace, grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. We read about the Mount of Transfiguration, Matthew, chapter 17, and who appears on the mountain with Jesus, Moses. He made it to the Promised Land. In his glorified state, he made it to the Promised Land. Hey, you might have some things taken away from you because of your sin in this life, and there are consequences with sin, but you can get things right with the Lord, and you know that he's going to work all things together for good to those who love him, to those who are called according to his purpose. You mark it down. Life is filled with pain, and it's filled with pressures, and how you handle it matters. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart, Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner, and I can't save myself, but I believe Jesus that you are God in the flesh.
I believe you died on the cross from my sins and rose again from the dead, and right now I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be, I surrender my life to you, and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in, and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you, and if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana. Listen, you really are important to God, and you are important to us, and we are here for you. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
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