Jesus: Our rock of . . .
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Rock of . . .
Rock of . . .
When is a rock more than a rock? Let the scripture speak on this issue today.
You have heard it said
He is the Rock of Ages(implied) (Isa26:4)
4 “Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.
He is the Rock of Salvation (Ps95:1)
Well just because it is great passage and want to get us with a grateful, thankful, joyful heart let e give you the Rock of salvation as used in context
1 O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, 4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.
5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice,
(Sorry could not help myself)
(Transition) - we need to hear the voice of the Rock of salvation, the everlasting rock, for to others he is a rock of offence.
He is a Rock of Offense (1Pt2:8; Isa8:4; Rom9:33)
8 and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
That is a quote from Isa8:4 and further seen in
33 just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
A rock of offence to those who do not believe. So this morning we are looking at Jesus our Rock as seen (implied) in the O.T. and clearly seen in the N.T.
A dry rock that was still provisional (Exo17:1-7; 15, 8-13)
A spiritual rock that is historical, provisional and gives warnings (1Cor10:1-6)
A dry rock
A dry rock
Have you ever felt alone, abandoned maybe like you did not know how things were going to come together? Israel felt like that, even when there was history showing the different.
1 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
3 But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.”
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”
Sometimes the Lord’s leading may not make any sense (v.1) - He led them right where He wanted them. To a place where there was no water to drink.
He led them to the Rock of Horeb, a dry land where the people are complaining about their physical need.
(insert: God’s provision picture here)
God’s leading, God’s provision
The people of Israel were a complaining bunch and still God always looked out for them and provided historically for them too.
God provided for them through the Red Sea (Exo14:21-22)
They grumbled that Moses led them out there to die; but God provided a dry safe way out.
God gave them manna from Heaven (Exo16:4-5)
They complained that they had nothing to eat, and God provided them bread from heaven.
God provided quail too (Exo16:13)
And yet still there were complaints when they compared life in Egypt to life in the desert and yet God provided to them.
God led the to a dry rock, a dry land where He knew there was no water, and in our walk with Christ we may come to “dry times” when we think we have the things we need, but God knows and will provide.
God wanted to give Isreal more than just physical water to drink, he wanted to give the spiritual food to grow on, first trust in Him and know He will provide, and just after this he gives them spiritual food, the 10 commandments God’s provision for righteousness.
(Insert picture Massah and Meribah here)
Interesting words Massah and Meribah in (v.7) and the definitions are: Massah means testing, it was in the dry land they were, one more time, testing God and Meribah which means quarrelsome.
This was on top of them quarreling and grumbling (v.2-3)
The results of the quarreling, grumbling was Moses crying out (v.4) - now maybe it was in Moses own Massah and Meribah time that he cried out for his own protection.
Maybe when we are in our dry times our in our Massah and Meribah times we may cry out to the Lord?
In our times of Massah and Meribah (v.7); Similar to David’s experience (Ps63:1) may we learn what to do.
1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
David Cried out!
God wants to meet our needs (Exo17:6)
After meeting the needs we see the results after the application of the spiritual lesson being taught (trust God, rely on God and His provisions (Exo17:15, 8-13)
15 Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner;
Let me ask a question, a question to consider. Is the Lord your banner, even in your times of Massah and Meribah?
In a dry land, look what transpires after God provided water physical and spiritual
8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
God gave the victory over their enemies and he wants to still do the same today for our Mighty God, Jesus our Rock has not changed. He purchased our victory on the cross, so, when in a dry time remember God is with you in case you need further reminder, let Davids example be before us.
1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.
4 So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
6 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, 7 For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.
Good results from trusting God, our rock of salvation (as seen in Ps63:1-8)
Call on God in the dry and weary land times (v.1)
It’s always a good time to call on God, especially in those dry times, dry times do not necessarily mean troubling times, though they can be, but when struggling and just not feeling God and His presence, when your walk seems stagnant. Call on Him,thirst for him, seek Him earnestly.
Acknowledge God and his awesome power (v.2)
Know God’s history with the world, with man, and even with you personally. Acknowledge his awesome power, starting with victory over condemnation, over sin!
Praise God with your lips; joyful lips at that (v.3, 5)
Knowing history, His, yours, may you praise God with your lips, from a heart filled with joy so your joy becomes joyful lips!
Bless God, and yes even with lifted hands (v.4)
Your actions, your reactions to God’s awesome power that hears you in your dry times will be a blessing to God, and yes you can even raise your hands in praise to bless God.
Remember God (v.6)
In the cool of the night, at the crack of dawn may you remember God and meditate on all that He has done (by meditating on the Word) and is doing in your life today, again starting with your deliverance
Sing to God, sing for joy (v.7)
God has always been our help and protector, so, go ahead sing for joy.
It did not make any sense God led Israel to the Red Sea, or to the Rock of Horeb, but it did to God so that He could provide physically and spiritually for them so they would
Cling to God (v.8)
let your soul, your very essence cling to God knowing He is with you and upholds you.
(Transition) now I know I have spent the majority of this morning in the O.T. so now how about we turn to our Spiritual Rock now?
Jesus: Our Spiritual Rock!
Jesus: Our Spiritual Rock!
Jesus is our rock, our cornerstone, on Him and through Him all things are held together. Now may we look at our spiritual rock and what we can learn here too.
Spiritual Rock (1Cor10:1-6)
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.
I know we don’t see the rock, the spiritual rock until (v.4) but I know it needs to be kept in context for us to properly glean from what Paul is trying to convey.
Using history we see God’s deliverance (vv.1-2)
We can see God’s spiritual provision (vv.3-4)
Important to see in (vv.3-4) while this happen in the physical Paul is addressing the spiritual application
Still there was rejection (v.5)
They rejected, having the history of God’s provision they still rejected.
Even though God’s provision, the Gospel deliver today many reject it or do not fully surrender to it.
God’s warning to them for us (v.6; 1Jn2:16)
Paul points back to evil cravings of Israel, the the potential of evil then, and well, for us today.
Makes me think of this
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
look at this other version
16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
from lust (NASB) to cravings (NLT) - expand on this briefly (time permitting)
Spiritual Rock, words of Christ (Mt7:24-25)
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
Hear the words of Jesus
Act on the words of Jesus
Build your spiritual house on the words of Jesus
Spiritual Rock, church built upon it (Mt16:18)
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
So what is the rock? maybe I better back up
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
The rock in which you stand matters, so may we take just a few minutes and look at how do we have the right spiritual rock in which to stand and what we should do with that rock we are building our spiritual house on.
Moses struck the rock by faith (Exo17:6); we come to the rock of salvation by faith (Eph2:8)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Moses heard and believed (Exo17:5); we too need to hear and believe (Rom10:17; Heb11:6)
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Faith that is how we are to come to our rock!
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
We need to come to the rock
With repentance (Act2:38; Mk1:15)
With confession (Heb10:9-10; Mt10:32-33)
With obedience ( 2The1:8; 1Pt4:17)
God’s desire is for all to come (1Tim2:3-6)
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
(invitation slide- be saved today-1) (song) (Prayer)