FBCWest 701 | The Rock
Recorded On: 03/01/2026
Bulletin
Hymn # 446 “Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It”
SCRIPTURE READING – Galatians 3:10 - 14
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“In the House”
“Your Love Awakens Me”
“Great I Am”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“The Rock”
“Jesus Saves”
Sermon Notes
Numbers 20:1 Miriam dies and is buried
Numbers 20:2 – 5 No water and the people complain
Numbers 20:6 Moses seeks God’s instructions
Numbers 20:7 – 10 Moses told to take Aaron’s rod and the people, then he is to speak to the rock
Numbers 20:11 Moses strikes the rock twice
Numbers 20:12 & 13 Moses told because he did not treat the Lord as holy, Moses will not be able to enter the promise land
Exodus 17:5 & 6 Moses struck the rock once the first time
1 Corinthians 10:4 That rock was Jesus
Matthew 16:13 – 18 Upon this rock
1 Peter 2:4 – 10 Jesus is the cornerstone and we are living stones being built together
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
The people of God were in crisis, so Moses asked God for instructions. God tells them exactly what to do, but instead of doing exactly what God told them to do, he did something else. We're going to take a look at God's response to that and how those incidents can make, make, and our own lives. That great I am. The one who no one can stand before, who's holy, high lifted up, who created us, provides for us, sustains us, and this great I want I am, who no one can stand for, has called us to be in this holy of holies, to find grace and help and time of need. God that we've come to worship. One of the things that I think creates wisdom is not necessarily making your own mistakes and learning from them, but seeing other people's mistakes and learning from them, that you don't have to live with the consequence of their mistakes.
But for some reason we never choose to do that, we just choose that we want to make our own mistakes. So I'm going to discuss today in the passages a few things that hopefully we can learn from their mistakes, both the congregation and the leader, so that we don't make those mistakes, but that we live a quarter of the way God has called us. And then I'm going to do something a little different, and I'll let you know then. So if you have your Bibles and you should turn to numbers, and we're going to start with the first verse. Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation came to the wilderness of Zinn, and the first month and the people stayed at Kadesh.
Now Miriam died there and was buried there. And so again, Miriam Moses is a sister. She's been part of the intergroup, if you will, Miriam and Aaron and Moses, even though Miriam and Aaron at times kind of worked against Moses, but she was part of that intercommunity.
And so dies along with the rest of the congregation has been dying, and they're now proceeding towards the promised land. And so there was no louder for the congregation. Some of themselves against Moses and Aaron thus contend with Moses and spoke, saying, if we only had parish when our brothers had parish before the Lord, why have you brought us the Lord assembling to the wilderness for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us an Egypt to bring us to into this wretched place?
Is not a place of grain or figs or vines or promigrant, promigrant, nor is there water to drink? If you've been following along in this series, this time that these people have made these complaints, they keep saying, why did you bring us out of Egypt? We should have died there. Maybe we should have died this place or maybe we should have died this place. Well, if you're looking to die, this place is as good as any place. So why are you complaining? People of God seem to do. They complain.
Now let's face it. So do we. We like to complain. One of the first things we do is complain. And I want to remind you and me, you never fixed a problem by complaining.
That's their complaint. By complaining how much water did they get? Zero. So when we have our own problems, money, people, jobs, whatever it is, complaining, it might make you feel a little better for the moment, but it doesn't get you out of your situation. So what does God recommend?
God recommends pray without ceasing. Perhaps that they'd have spent more time praying than Moses wouldn't have to do what Moses is now going to do. Because they had been the ceaching God. Say, God, we pray for water, but instead they blame Moses and God for their fight.
When if they would just do what God had told them to do in the promised land now with figs and from the granites and great so large that it takes people to people to carry. But no, because of their hard hardness and because of their stubbornness, they had to wander around the wilderness for 40 years. So if they want to complain, it's not the complaint against God, it's not the complaint against Moses, it's their own problem. But again, we should need to learn from their mistake. So Monday, when you have a problem and you'll have a problem Monday, if not Sunday afternoon, pray instead of complaining. And quite frankly, you'll hear a more receptive year from God than you will from your fellow people. Because when you go to your friend and you start to complain about something, what do they do?
They start complaining about their problem. They don't want to hear complain about their problem. So you don't even have the satisfaction of getting it off your chest that you get to complain. So just bring it to God. And Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of the meeting and fell on their faces. The Lord appeared to them.
And so again, Moses and Aaron prostrate themselves in front of the tabernacle and God comes down in this form to let them know he is there. 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. Then it may yield its water and you shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beast drink. But what tells Moses exactly what to do?
He tells them, I want you to take Aaron's rod, the one that was dead that was brought back to life because it voted, it blossomed and then it produced ripe almonds. That symbol of a new life. Take that in the assembly and I want you to talk to this rock and that rock is going to provide water enough for the congregation, which is some 600,000 people plus their animals. That says, I'm going to abundantly supply your need. You just speak to the rock.
So Moses took the rod before the Lord, just as he had men in him. So he starts out obeying. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock and he said to them, listen now you rebels shall we bring forth water for you out of this.
Notice the situation. Moses is upset. I don't blame him. He's been more patient than I would have been. I had probably four or five instances before they said, go ahead Lord, kill him. Being alone is people. But he's the one who's been interceding. But he is, if you will, it's the straw that has broken the camel's back.
And he goes, you keep complaining about me. And now he's taking on it. If it will, we're going to bring forth water for your wrong Moses. You're not going to bring forth water. God it. And often we start thinking that we are so essential to the situation that is about us. And it's not about him.
Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice. And water came forth abundantly and the congregation and their beast drank. Moses did not do what God had commanded him to do.
God had commanded him to speak to the rock. Not to strike. Now I'm going to tell you why in a little bit that he made such a mistake.
But Moses should have done what God told him to do. It was gracious enough because if I were God and think God I'm not, I said, I guess you're all going to die a thirst. Because you didn't do what I told you to do. But God's grace and love and mercy is sufficient that even though Moses doesn't do what God had told him to do, he did the people. And he brings forth water abundantly so that they can drink and their animals can drink. God's mercy is there even when his leaders don't do what he says to do. So now I'm going to interfere all too often, pastors and leaders don't preach the word because they think, well, it's not culturally relevant.
And that's what you're different than it is now. And so they want to change the word of God to be in alignment with the current beliefs and culture of the day. And that's wrong. We as pastors and church leaders and folks need to say what God said does say at the Lord.
God said it. I believe it. That finishes it. Where to treat God's word as holy, not culturally relevant. The second thing is that because Moses apparently is very upset with the people, he does what he did. There are a lot of people who stop coming to church because somebody irritated them, offended them, did appreciate them or whatever.
And they blame God for his people. Now I'm going to surprise you. Church is a hospital. All sick. We're all recovering centers. We've all fallen short of the grace of God and the glory of God. So it is not going to surprise anyone is you walk in these doors and you find some hypocrites. I tell people I believe in the word of God and then I don't do all the word of the God.
That makes me a hypocrite. But I should never get into way of between me, you and God. You should be coming to church not before you know I am, but because you're here to worship God and nothing that I do or anyone else does should affect that. You shouldn't come in and say, well, it was a great worship service because no, it was great worship service because I worship God. I don't know what you're God.
You might have thought it was a great service, bad service. Same service. If you hear to worship God and you don't look around and say, well, whatever everybody else doing and looking for a way to get offended. There's so many people, there are Christians who are sitting home because they don't like people of God.
Well, neither did Moses. Moses is going to pay for his consequence, but again, God was merciful. He provided water for the people. Moses and Aaron, both of them, because you have not believed me to treat me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel. Therefore, you shall not bring the assembly into the land which I have given them. Now, the people of it, they weren't there with the conversation. They didn't know that God said, this is what you're to do.
So they didn't know that they had violated God's word. But Moses and Aaron did. So God says, I provided water, but you're not entering the promised land. You've had to wander with these people and now you're going to die with these people and never having the opportunity to enter into the promised land. Now, fortunately for you and I, when God gives us eternal life, we still get to go to the promised land. But we need to treat God's word and him as holy.
And we need to do so appropriately. So those were the waters of Mirabal. The sons of Israel continued with the Lord and they proved himself holy among them. So God says, I proved myself because I provided one now. That should have been an awesome sight. But this is not the only time that this is a rock producing water.
A rock. It's not a waterfall from it. From a rock. It's water out of a rock. Again, it's not the first time in Exodus chapter 17 when they were having trouble with water. Then the Lord said to Moses, past before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff, which you struck the Nile and go and behold, I stand before you. The rock at Horib and you shall strike the rock and the water will come out of it that the people may drink and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
So God had told Moses one time, I want you to go to this rock and I want you to strike it and when you strike it, water will flow. God has told him speak to the rock and water will flow. What's the difference? Because God was trying to teach Moses and the people something in a physical problem, a spiritual lesson. Moses is going to mess up that lesson.
What is that lesson? We find in Corinthians and it says this. And the offspring, the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual follower of them and the rock was priced. You see, the teaching was to be that the Christ would be struck once and living water would flow from him, but that he would never need to be struck a second time because his penalty and his sacrifice was once for all. And then you would simply come to him by speaking. The reason why it's important is that Jesus died on a cross some 2000 rose again from the dead some 2000 years ago, but his sins covered my sins has his sacrifice covered my sins 2000 years later.
Because one strike. His sacrifice one time covers all eternity's sins. But Moses messed that up. Now I'm not sure if physically the rock was Christ or it wasn't it was a symbol of him.
Let's say that it was a symbol of him. God takes his symbols seriously. And so should we. And so if God says to do X, we're not why not X plus two, we're to do what he says so that maybe when we're in this problem that we're wanting to complain about instead we should pray about. And maybe we're wanting why Lord did this happen maybe there's some spiritual lesson he's trying to teach us.
And when we word he doesn't teach us because we don't see his teaching. Now I'm going to talk about the rock some more. Now when Jesus came into the district of Cessaria, Philop way he was asking his disciples who did people say the son of man is. And they said some say John the Baptist and others Elijah but still others Jeremiah or one of them. And he said to them, but who do you say that I am. And Simon Peter answered you are the Christ the son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, less than are you Simon barzona because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. Other who is in heaven.
I also say to you that you are Peter and Peter means little rock or little stone. Now upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Haiti will not overpower it. Now you've probably heard that there is a on this passage. Our Catholic brothers and sisters teach and believe that Peter now becomes the Pope, the leader of the church. And that is what Jesus is saying.
I disagree with our. I come from a Baptist heritage and background and a Protestant's and Baptists and many evangelicals say what this passage means is that Peter's statement of faith is where he is being built. I disagree with both of them. And I know that shocked you. My frankly kind of other than me because this and I started researching and whatever. And I've never heard anybody that I respected tell you what I'm going to tell you.
I never even heard anybody I didn't respect. Disrespected tell you what I'm going to tell you. So what I'm going to tell you before I tell you.
To suggest this. I don't want you to accept it because I'm saying it or teaching it. I want you to consider it. I want you to study it for yourself.
Now I want you to come to your own conclusion. But all too often we read certain passages and we accept what others tell us. Now when I came to this conclusion. It bothered me. Because I kind of I go. Well the scriptures been around for almost two thousand years.
And nobody else. Came to the. Saying the whole world believes that the earth is flat. And I saw a passage in the scripture that said the earth is an orb which means it's round. And I go, well, what? And then I make some other observation to go. Be saying the earth is flat. I don't think so.
So that discomfort of well everybody else thinks differently. Therefore I must be wrong because I'm not that right or I'm not that significantly spiritual. That all of a sudden I come with this conclusion. I'm warning you just because I said I want you to consider. What you consider your own. I believe what Jesus said here in means here.
And I'm going to kind of act it out. Your Simon. Upon this rock. I will build my church.
Jesus is saying I am going to build my church on me. Not the. Keter being a pope or the. A faith. But the church is going to be built on Jesus.
Now because I came to this thought and nobody else. I said, well, I need to do some research. Some obviously somebody has had to have this thought. And so I found that there is a kind of a third that kind of somewhat agrees with me. They kind of put it as Christ teachings. Or the reason for the rock.
And I say, I don't follow Christ teachings because they're great. I follow Christ teachings because of Christ. The Son of God and he is that. I accept what he says because he is who he is. I don't believe. My faith doesn't rest on what I know. My faith rests on whom I know.
And so. conclusion is that Jesus is saying that upon this rock him he is building his church, not as teaching, although as teaching is important and not Peter and not as secretary, but on him. And I want you to see a few other classes. So it says this.
And coming to him as the living stone which has been rejected by men, but his choice and precious in the sight of God. So I want you to see Peter who is the one who Jesus talked about who said you're a stone Peter saying, well stones. But I want us to come as to a living stone which has been rejected by men which is choice and precious in the sight of Lord God.
You are for you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy free offer of spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in scripture. It hold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone and he believes in him will not be disappointed. Precious value then is for you who believe. For those who disbelieved the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for the stumbling because they were disappeared and to this doom they were also appointed. And then he goes on, but you are chosen priesthood whatever. And I want you to see Peter supposedly the Pope says Christ is the cornerstone which we build and we are all living stones being fitted together to be a temple of God.
Furthermore throughout the Old Testament which Jesus does say, in them you are in the church for eternal life and they speak of me. Well what does the Old Testament say other than that Jesus is a cornerstone? It says the Lord is my rock and my redeemer. The scripture is my rock and my salvation. The scripture says the Lord is my rock and my defense.
The Lord says the Lord is my rock and my refuge. I think what Jesus is saying is the rock that ice or is actually Jesus there, that is God and that is who provides the living water. And Jesus told them, I will give you living waters to flow out just like the rock did because it is the one who our faith is rested upon, who our faith is not about his teachings, it's about him. It's not the Lord is providing my salvation. The Lord is the Lord.
The Lord not going to just provide me a redeemer. The Lord is the rock is my redeemer. So I want you to think about it. Maybe our Catholic brothers just are right. Maybe the Protestants and the Baptists are right. I will say this in my defense.
If I'm wrong, I just want to glorify him. And I think, and I think my salvation is about him. And I think my life is about him. And I think this world is about him. And I think regardless of what I think he is, who he is, and does what he does, regardless of whether it's popular or not, regardless of whether everybody else is so. So sometimes you have to take a different path. But let's be the one, the one that's narrow, few who follow, but it's the one that leads us to the rock. And all God's people said.