NUMBERS 20:1-13 DONT MISREPRESENT GOD2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Numbers 20:1-13 Dont Misrepresent God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. Well, this morning as we look at Numbers chapter 20, we're looking at a passage that's pretty familiar, I think, to a lot of people and pretty familiar to us because it's the time when Moses made a great mistake.

And through that mistake, we have some great lessons to learn for ourselves. And this morning, I want to encourage you and exhort you to represent God well. Or to put it the other way, the title of the message is Don't Misrepresent God.

And I recognize that's a little bit of a double negative, but I think you'll get the point and understand what is taking place here as we look at the example of Moses, that we would learn not to misrepresent God. Now, as we look at Moses in the Old Testament, we can see that normally Moses did really well at representing God.

But this is kind of the exception to his, you know, general behavior. In verses 10 through 12 in our passage this morning, we can see him yelling at the people. He's angrily striking the rock. And then God pulls him aside and rebukes him for this behavior because, well, he's misrepresenting God's heart.

to the people. He's misrepresenting God's attitude toward the people. And so in doing so, he made a big mistake. Now, this is important for us to consider this morning because, well, I want to encourage you this morning and remind you that you as a believer in Jesus Christ, you represent God. Just as Moses was called to represent God, you are called to represent God.

we call ourselves Christians. And in doing so, we take on the name of Christ.

The title Christian or the name Christian first began in Acts chapter 11, verse 26, where you have the church at Antioch. And it tells us that there the disciples were first called Christians. So disciples of Jesus and followers of Jesus were first labeled Christians there in Antioch. But the idea that's portrayed in the passage is that it wasn't the disciples

together of believers that said, hey, we need a new name. Let's call ourselves Christians. But that it was the outward community, the guys and the people on the outside in their community that were looking on to the congregation, looking on to these followers of Jesus, and they began to call them Christians. Christians.

The word Christian, it gives the idea of being Christ-like or belonging to Christ, or some have put it this way, little Christ. And so the idea of saying I'm a Christian is saying I'm a little Christ, kind of like a mini me, right? I mean, I'm not exactly Christ, but I'm following in his footsteps and I'm demonstrating his character. I'm representing who he is. And so it means to be Christ-like or belonging to Christ.

C.S. Lewis put it this way. He says, every Christian is to become a little Christ. He says, the whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.

He says the whole point of Christianity, the whole point of being a Christian is to become like Christ, to become a little Christ. He goes on to say that the church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ to make them little Christ. And so there's this idea, there's this understanding from the New Testament that as we walk with God, we're to become like Christ.

But then also we are to be reaching out to the world around us that we would bring people to Christ and that they would become like Christ. And so as a disciple of Jesus, as a follower of Jesus, as a Christian, you need to know that you represent God to the world around you, to your friends, to your family, to your coworkers, to the people that you interact with.

You have taken on the name of Christ and you are identified with Christ as a Christian. And so you represent Christ to the people around you. Your responsibility is to model the character, the nature, the love, the forgiveness, the grace, the mercy, the love,

the wrath even sometimes of God, that you would demonstrate accurately who God is. You could also think about it in Matthew chapter 28.

where Jesus gives the great commission. And we've addressed this many times, that as Jesus gave the great commission, it wasn't limited to those 11 disciples who were at that place at that moment, but there Jesus says, even to the end of the age, that this is a command that extends to all disciples of Jesus, all followers of Jesus. And the command is to go and make disciples. So be a disciple,

But being a disciple involves making disciples and bringing other people to the Lord. And he says in Matthew chapter 28 verse 20, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

And so our responsibility as followers of Jesus is to teach others to follow Jesus, to teach others to do the things that Jesus commanded. That's your responsibility. That's my responsibility because we represent God.

that we're to carry on that work just as Jesus poured into his disciples and then they poured into other disciples and they poured into other disciples. Eventually, disciples poured into you and then you are to represent God and pour into others around you to bring people into that right relationship with God and help them to walk with God.

The apostle Peter also talks about this concept in 1 Peter a couple different times. He mostly talks about it, though, in the context of suffering. And Peter basically says, because Christ suffered, arm yourselves with the same mind.

that you're to be of the same mind as Christ and suffer like Christ suffered. And he points out in 1 Peter 4, verse 14, he says, And then he says, As Peter talks about you as a representation of Jesus Christ, he says,

you're going to be reproached because you represent Christ. And just as Christ was reproached, you will be reproached. You will be hated. You will be persecuted. There will be those who come against you. And he says, when that happens, you're blessed because the spirit of God is upon you. But he says on their part, he has blasphemed the people who come against Christians and

They're blaspheming God, but you represent God. And so they come against you. And so on their part, God is being blasphemed as they reproach you and come against you. But he says on your part, he is glorified. God is being glorified as you suffer for the name of Christ because you represent God. You represent Christ.

And so I want to encourage you this morning to represent God well, or again, the opposite of that is to not misrepresent God. Now, the thing to understand as we get into this passage is that you don't get to pick and choose when you represent God. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you represent God, period.

You don't get to decide, well, today, you know, I woke up on kind of the wrong side of the bed. It's not really been that good of a day. My attitude's not very good and I have some things going on. And so nobody look at me today as an example because I'm just not having a good day. I don't represent God today.

But then tomorrow you wake up on the right side of the bed and you go, okay, today's a good day. I'm feeling pretty good. So today I can be an example. I'll be a representative. And so, you know, everybody can pay attention and this is, you know, what God is like. But we don't have that option. You represent God always to the world around you. As a believer in Jesus Christ, as a Christian, you have that responsibility to represent God, to let people around you know, to demonstrate to them

What God is like, his character, his nature, what he thinks about things that are going on. And so there's four points I'd like to hit this morning about not misrepresenting God. And the first one we find in verses one through six. And here's the point. Don't misrepresent God, even if your reasons are understandable. Don't misrepresent God, even if your reasons are understandable. Let's look again at verse one.

It says, And so here we get some idea about where we are in the context of Israel and their journey to the promised land.

They came out of Egypt, it looks probably about 40 years earlier. So this is the end of their 40 years of traveling in the wilderness. It's the first month of this new year. And they arrive at the place...

called Kadesh, which is where they were when they refused to enter into the promised land the first time. So when God brought Israel out of Egypt, they went to Mount Sinai and camped there for about a year. And then God brought them to Kadesh Barnea to take them into the promised land. And at that point, they sent spies into the land. The spies came back and said, hey, the land is great, but there's giants. And

And so 10 of the spies gave a bad report and said, we can't make it, we can't win. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, they gave a good report and said, yes, there's giants, but God's with us and we should go in and conquer it.

But the people were fearful. And so they refused to enter into the promised land. And God said, okay, so this generation is going to wander in the wilderness. And this generation is going to die out there in the wilderness. And the next generation will be brought into the promised land. And so we're at the conclusion of that wilderness wandering.

They're back at Kadesh and the final things are falling into place so that God can lead his people into the promised land. Now, as we understand the timing of this, it helps us to understand, and I think it's not hard or difficult for us to look at this passage and really be sympathetic towards Moses about why he snapped at the people the way that he did. Because by this time,

He had experienced a lot of trouble with this people and it's been going on for a really long time. Moses...

I would say, was under a considerable amount of stress. And it had been happening for a long time. And this is important to understand because a lot of times we excuse our behavior when we misrepresent God because of stress, because of things that we're facing and burdens that we carry. And so I want to give you a little sample of some of what Moses was going through as this was going on.

It takes us back to the beginning in the book of Exodus chapter 3. You might remember that God appeared to Moses through the burning bush. And he spoke to Moses and he sent him to Egypt, to Pharaoh, to call God's people out of Egypt. Now, at that time, as God was speaking to Moses, you can see that Moses was called to do something different.

that he wasn't excited to do. He was called to do something that he really didn't want any part of. He did his best to get out of it. He said, God, I can't. God, I don't speak very well. God, they're not going to believe me. And so God gave him miracles. God gave him a spokesman. He gave him his brother Aaron. But Moses was doing whatever he could to get out of it.

He was called to do something that he wasn't excited to do. And if you've ever been part of something or been called to do something that you're not very excited about, that you don't really want to do, you understand that could be incredibly stressful because, well, there's this burden of accomplishing this, but you really don't want to. You really don't want to be part of that. Well, then as you read through the rest of the book of Exodus, you can see that there was all kinds of trouble that was happening.

even as you know God did these miracles with the 10 plagues and brought the children of Israel out Moses is immediately placed into some stressful positions as they come to the Red Sea and then they're trapped and Moses's or Pharaoh's army is you know chasing after them and they're trapped between the mountains and the Red Sea and and so he's stressed out there's this problem they're about to perish and he does the right thing he calls out to God and God leads them through the Red Sea

But then on the other side of the Red Sea, it's a very short period of time. And then the people begin to complain. They're hungry. They're thirsty. And they're not just expressing, you know, those physical needs, but they're turning against Moses. They're accusing Moses. They're saying, we need to select a new leader and go back to Egypt. You know, why have you brought us out here to die? And so they would bring these attacks and complaints against Moses very early on.

It was a little bit later after that at Mount Sinai, as Moses was meeting with God up on Mount Sinai, that the people turned to idolatry and remember the golden calf that they fashioned while Moses was up on the mountain. And it grieved Moses. He was so angered by it. He threw down the tablets and broke them, those tablets that God had written on and given to him. And so there's been this burden from early on in this process of

that there's these people that are against him, that turn against him, that complain against him, that attack him, that are kind of resisting and fighting against what God has called him to do. Well, then as we head into the book of Numbers, you see that pattern continue. In Numbers chapter 11, you see another instance where the people were complaining against Moses. And Moses comes to the point in verse 14 and 15 of Numbers chapter 11, where he says,

He tells God, God, I can't bear the burden of this people. It's too great. It's too difficult. And so if you're going to treat me like this, if you're going to continue to have me bear the burden of this people, he says, just kill me here and now. Moses was really kind of at the end of himself. He's overwhelmed. He's stressed out. It's a great burden. It's a difficult thing that he's involved with. Well, then in the next chapter, in Numbers chapter 12,

Aaron and Miriam, this is Moses' brother and sister, lead an attack on Moses. And they challenge Moses and his authority. And they say, look, God hasn't just spoken to you, Moses. You've taken all this responsibility and authority on yourself. Hey, God speaks to us too. And so they try to kind of take the reins and take charge of Moses.

And again, it's a stress. It's a burden on Moses. Moses continues to do the right thing. He continues to bring it to the Lord. But you can understand the burdens that continue to mount.

In Numbers chapter 14, we see this is the point where they were at Kadesh Barnea the first time and the children of Israel refused to enter in. So there's all of these rebellions happening and then now finally they say, no, we're not going into the promised land. We're too afraid. And so they threatened, hey, we're going to choose a new leader and go back to Egypt.

Now God rebukes them through Moses and they kind of decide not to go back to Egypt. And so instead they say, okay, well, we're going to invade the promised land now. But God had already said, no, it's too late. But they tried anyways. And so now people are dying at this failure to invade the promised land because of their disobedience to God.

Now, all of this is continuing to happen, you know, during this 40-year period. You can see in Numbers chapter 16, the rebellion of Korah and some others, and then more people died as well in that chapter, and more people complained against Moses and tried to overthrow Moses. And you could also consider during this 40 years of wandering, the frustration that Moses must have had because he

I expect that he really wanted to enter into the promised land. I mean, can't you imagine that? Like Moses was sent by God to bring his people out of Egypt to go into the promised land. He wanted to go into the promised land and he couldn't go into the promised land because these people refused to enter into the promised land. I kind of imagine, you know, I'm speculating a little bit here, but it'd be easy for Moses to be

somewhat bitter towards the people of Israel who continued to just rebel against God, attack him and come against him. And he's saying, I didn't choose this. I didn't want this, but this is what God called me to. And I'd really want to go into the promised land, but I can't. He would have preferred that. He said, I could have been there 40 years ago, you know, if it wasn't for you, for you guys, if you wouldn't have just, if you would have just been obedient to the Lord. And

I mean, can you imagine that? Can you imagine if you couldn't go home for 40 years because of someone else's rebellion or mistake? That would be incredibly frustrating, right? In the same way, Moses, he's had 40 years of wrestling with these people, 40 years of these rebellions and complaints. And then now as we head into chapter 20, we're concluding that 40 years and

But in verse 1, we see that he's also on top of all of that. Now he's grieving. In verse 1, it tells us at the end of verse 1, Miriam died there and was buried there. So there at Kadesh, Miriam dies. That's his sister. And so as this is all unfolding, you can understand that Moses was grieving. His sister had just died. His sister, they've been together for quite a while now, 80 years now.

wait, 40, 40, yeah, no, 40, 40, 120 years. Sorry, math is hard. 120 years they've been together. She was the one who, when Moses was found by Pharaoh's daughter, offered Moses's mom to nurse him and, and arrange for that. She, she has been involved. Yeah, she had some rebellions against Moses that, that we see recorded there, but this is his sister, no matter who it is, you know, if it's,

If it's your family like that, there's the grief, there's the loss. And that's what Moses is dealing with. And not just his sister, but again, this is the end of that 40 years. So he's watched this whole generation die. There's only a few remaining. All of his friends, they're dead. All of his family, the extended family, they're dead. He's watched them all die. And now his sister has died. And now the people once again come and contend with Moses. Look again at verse two.

Verse 4. So all of those things that I've been sharing at the introduction lead into now chapter 20.

Right? All of these stresses, all of these things that he's been putting up with for a really long time, now he's grieving. And now the people, once again, one more time, come and complain against Moses. They gather against Moses. There's this attack that happens once again, where they contend with Moses. And notice the accusation there in verse four. Why have you brought us up? Why have you done this? Moses, it's your fault.

This is all on you, Moses. That's what the people are saying. What a burden. What a great stress to be on his shoulders. And the people are complaining. They're attacking Moses to really a great degree when they say in verse 3, if only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord. Understand, these are the next generation. These are the kids of those who said, we're not entering into the promised land. So they're saying, hey, if only we had died before

with our brethren, our parents, when they died in the wilderness, it would have been better for us to die in the wilderness with them. So this generation learned a lot from their previous generation, from their parents. They're saying essentially the same things. You can see that also in verse five. He says, why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there any water to drink.

So they say, Moses, it's your fault. Why did you bring us out of Egypt? There's no figs here. There's no food. There's no water. Again, it's all your fault. But Moses could easily look back and say, it's not my fault there's no figs here. This isn't where God promised us. He wanted to take us into the promised land and you refused. And so it's not Moses' fault that they're not experiencing the blessings that God had promised. It's not Moses' fault that they're not experiencing the blessings that God had promised.

It's because of the rebellion of their previous generation, their parents. Well, it tells us in verse 6 that Moses and Aaron do the right thing. They go to the presence of the assembly of the door of the tabernacle of meeting and they fell on their faces and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. And so they take all of this attack and this contention, this stuff that's happening, and they go and seek the Lord regarding it.

But I would ask you to consider before we move on to the next couple of verses, the idea of not misrepresenting God and understand that you are not to misrepresent God even when your reasons for doing so would be understandable. We look at this situation and it would be very easy for us to sympathize with Moses, wouldn't it?

His sister just died. They're attacking him. He's been putting up with this for 40 years. There's all these things that you could listen. And we kind of feel sorry for Moses. And a lot of people do. They kind of have this idea like, oh, poor Moses. He, you know, it's kind of not fair. Like he makes this one mistake and now he doesn't get to go into the promised land. And why would God be so mean and harsh to Moses? Because, you know, he only did this one mistake and it wasn't that bad. And it's easy for us to sympathize with,

with Moses. We would understand if he would make this mistake. We would understand if he would behave this way, but that's what we need to grasp because we also would understand when we're having a bad day and when we're grieving and we have stress and we have problems, then we also convince ourselves, well, it's okay if I don't represent God so well because look at all these difficulties I have. And so we excuse our disobedience to God, our misrepresentation of God and

because of our circumstances. But what we see here in the passage is that, well, Moses is held accountable for his actions, even though his situation was difficult. In the same way that you and I will be held accountable for our actions, we'll be held accountable for the way that we represented God, even when our situations are difficult and extremely stressful. I would ask you to consider as a parent, do you represent God well?

to your kids do you represent god well to other parents around you do you demonstrate his character and his nature dealing with them in the way that well god deals with you as a spouse do you represent god well do you show people do you show your husband your wife what god is like do you show your family his character his nature his love his concern do you show your co-workers

They can look at you and they can know what God is like by the way you behave, by the way that you work, by the way that you relate to the people around you. Do you represent God on the freeway or at the traffic stop or in the mall during the Christmas season? I mean, there's lots of situations where we can easily recognize it would be understandable. None of us would hold it against each other because of the difficult circumstances, but God will hold us accountable.

The reasons that we may have for misrepresenting God or disobeying God may excuse us before others. Oh, wow, Carlos, I didn't know all that was going on. Well, no problem then, you know, go ahead and lose your temper because yeah, it makes sense. I mean, yeah, you got a hard life. God doesn't do that. He doesn't excuse us. They're just excuses to God. Don't misrepresent God, even if your reasons are understandable. Well, going on in verses seven through 11, point number two now, don't misrepresent God even

even though God can still work. Don't misrepresent God, even though, even when you make mistakes, God is able to work. Check out verse seven and eight. It says, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, take the rod, you and your brother Aaron, gather the congregation together, speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water.

Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals. So here God gives Moses and Aaron some instruction. They hear the complaints, they're grieving over their sister, but they take these complaints to the Lord. And as they do, God gives them this instruction about a rock.

Now, previously in Exodus chapter 17, a similar thing happened where the people were thirsty and they take the complaint to God. And so God says, okay, go to this rock and Moses, I want you to strike the rock with your rod and then water will be provided for the congregation. And so the people complained, they sought the Lord. God said, strike the rock. Moses did it.

And God provided water for the congregation. And so this is kind of a repeat of that. Now, again, the people are complaining. They're thirsty. They take it to the Lord. God tells Moses, all right, go to the rock. But this time he doesn't tell Moses to strike the rock. He says, speak to the rock and I'll provide water for the congregation. Verse nine. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. So far, so good, right?

God tells Moses, all right, take your rod and go gather the people before the rock. So Moses takes the rod just as he was commanded. But then verse 10, and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. And he said to them, here now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? So God said, all right, gather the people together, then speak to the rock, and then it will yield water and water will be provided. Moses takes the rod and

just like God told him. So here's his rod. He takes the rod. He gathers the people. But instead of speaking to the rock, he speaks to the people. And the way that he speaks to the people is not just, you know, hey guys, what's going on? But you can see his tone here. He says, here now, you rebels. Now it's interesting. For first service, we did the same thing that we always do. We read through the passage at the beginning.

Well, as we read through the passage at the beginning, Jessica Heasley was sitting right in front of me. So I heard her voice really clearly as she was reading verse 10. And it was all nice and sweet. It's like, here now, you rebels, you know, like nice and sweet. But listen, that's not how Moses sounded. He wasn't saying, hey guys, you know, how's it going? Moses here is, well, he's grieving. He's frustrated. It's a lot of stress. He's upset. He's overwhelmed. And now the explosion. Here now, you rebels, you

He's shouting. He's got, you know, you guys know that tone in your parents' voice, right? And maybe you remember that from back when you were younger. That, that it's like, oh no, we're in trouble. That, I mean, that's the tone that Moses is giving. He's, he's angry. If I have to come out here one more time, right? It's like, here now you rebels. And then notice what he says. It cracks me up. He says, must we bring water for you out of this rock? Must we? Moses is saying, look,

It's a lot of trouble, but do I have to give you water once again? Am I going to have to give you water out of this rock? Like what part did Moses have in bringing water out of the rock? He kind of forgot. He forgot his place. He forgot. He didn't have the power to bring water. But as he communicates this, he's saying, look, me and God, we feel the same way about this. Do we have to give you water, you rebels?

Moses is essentially saying, I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you. And God feels the same way. We have to give you water once again. And so in verse 11, it says, then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Now, what did God say? God said, gather the people, take the rod, gather the people and speak to the rock. Moses gathers the people, yells at the people and then strikes the rock. I don't know if his staff broke, but mine did. And then he strikes it again. And then he strikes it again.

He struck the rock twice. He's demonstrating, I'm angry with you guys. I'm upset. I'm fed up. I can't put up with you any longer. And God feels the same way. He misrepresented God. And so in verse 11, it tells us, actually verse 12 tells us that God rebukes Moses. But here, as Moses disregards what God has said, as Moses disregards and does what he basically wants to do because he's fed up, he's frustrated.

Notice in verse 11, God's mercy and grace. Because as he struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out, it says water came out abundantly and the congregation and their animals drank. Here they are, sinful people, complaining against Moses one more time. The people were in the wrong. That's clear. They weren't doing what was right. Again, that's why we could understand. We sympathize with Moses. The people were sinful. The leader was sinful. The leader was sinful.

but God still provided water for the people. God is amazing in his grace and his mercy. And so he provides water for them, but he does so even in spite of the way that Moses represented the Lord before the people. Again, point number two is don't misrepresent God, even though God can still work. So don't start thinking, well, Moses misrepresented God. He exploded and God still worked. So don't

Maybe it doesn't matter. I'll just do whatever I want. Now, don't misrepresent God. God may still work because he's gracious and merciful and he'll still minister to people. But I like the way that David Guzik says it. He says, what works is not the best measure of what is right before God. Just because it works, you blow up, you explode, you misrepresent God, but then God still works. That doesn't mean that God approves everything

of what you did. It doesn't mean that you represented God in what you did. As a parent, do you represent God well? Or sometimes are you yelling when God didn't say that? That's not his heart. That's not his attitude. Now, sometimes God is angry. We see that throughout the scriptures. We see that even in the book of Numbers. In Numbers chapter 16, when there was that rebellion, God told Moses, hey, get out of the way that I may consume this congregation in a moment. And he said,

And Moses interceded and pleaded with the Lord. There was times where God told Moses, hey, I'm just going to wipe out the children of Israel. We'll just start fresh with your family and build up a whole new nation from there. There is times when God is angry. There is the wrath of God and it's right. It's appropriate. It's justified. It's exactly what is needed. And so just because there's anger, just because there's wrath doesn't mean that there's a misrepresentation of God.

And that kind of poses a problem for us because how do you know which is which? How do you know when God wants that wrath and when he doesn't? Well, it requires that we actually have relationship with God, that we connect with him, that we hear from him, that we can then represent him. Sometimes we're angry when we should not be. And sometimes we're not angry when we should be. Our job is to represent God.

to represent God, to let him and what he says override what we say or what we feel about a situation or about a thing that's going on. And so as a parent, do you represent God? God can still work in the life of your kids, even when you misrepresent God, but that doesn't make it right for you to do so. God can still work in your spouse as you misrepresent God, but it doesn't make it right.

And so don't start thinking, well, it worked, so I'll just continue to do that. You know, I had the blow up. It was the outburst of wrath. But, you know, then the kids got their life together and, you know, they got on the right track. And so, you know, it was the right thing to do. Maybe it was, but did you demonstrate what God felt? How God thought? Just because it worked doesn't mean it was right. God provided water for the congregation because he's merciful and gracious.

but he's still going to deal with Moses and Moses is still going to be accountable for misrepresenting God. Moving on to point number three in verse 12 and 13, don't misrepresent God because you may miss out on God's blessings. If you and I misrepresent God, we might be setting ourselves up to miss out. Now, just as God is gracious and merciful to the congregation and God still provided water,

There's times where God is merciful and gracious to us and so we still get the blessings that God wants to give us even when we misrepresent. But that's not always the case. And sometimes we're gonna miss out on what God has for us because of our misrepresentation. Check out verse 12. It says, "'Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "'because you did not believe me to hallow me "'in the eyes of the children of Israel, "'therefore you shall not bring this assembly "'into the land which I have given them.'"

Verse 13, this was the water of Meribah because the children of Israel contended with the Lord and he was hallowed among them. So God kind of gives the, hey, come over here, Moses. We need to sit down and have a talk. He says, because of this, you didn't believe me. You didn't hallow me or set me apart in the eyes of the children of Israel. So he says, therefore,

Moses, you're not going to take them into the promised land because you did not represent me here. God held him accountable for his behavior.

Now we could look at a situation and go, oh, I mean, Moses had it so hard. His sister just died, you know, and he was grieving. And then this another attack comes and it's, man, it's been over and over. These people have attacked and blamed Moses and it's not even his fault. It's their fault. And we could easily sympathize and explain away and say, okay, it's no big deal. It's no problem. We understand you behave that way because of all this going on.

But God says, you're accountable. Yeah, you got some hard things going on, but you're accountable for how you represent me. You're accountable for how you represent God. And so Moses, you're not allowed to enter in. You're not going to go into the promised land. You're not going to lead these people in. You're going to miss out on those promises that I gave to my people. You're not going to be part of it. You're going to miss out on the blessings that I have in store there. Now,

God, of course, is able to do great things even in the midst of difficult situations. And through this situation, with Moses not being able to enter into the promised land, on the one hand, there's a picture that was broken, and that is the picture of Jesus. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 that Christ is the rock that followed them through the wilderness. And so in Exodus 17, as the rock was struck and water was provided, Jesus was able to enter into the promised land.

It's that picture of Jesus being crucified. And remember, he said, hey, if you're thirsty, come to me and drink and torrents of living water will flow forth from you. And so Exodus chapter 17 is the first part of that picture. But then Numbers chapter 20 could have been the second part. God said, don't strike the rock again. Jesus doesn't have to die again. His sacrifice upon the cross was sufficient to cover all sin, to take care of all needs, to resolve all issues. His sacrifice was sufficient.

And so the rock, Jesus, didn't need to be struck again. But now that Christ has been struck, you only need to speak to him. All you got to do is call out to him. Call upon the name of the Lord and the water will flow from the rock and you can be filled with the Holy Spirit. You can be washed and forgiven as you call upon the name of Jesus. That could have been the picture here of Numbers chapter 20, but Moses disobeyed and he struck the rock. It breaks the picture here.

The truth is still there. Jesus has been struck, so you only need to speak to him and you can be forgiven and washed and cleansed and filled with the Holy Spirit. But it also, God used it to develop another picture. Right now on Wednesdays, we're in Romans and we're working our way through Romans chapter seven right now. We'll be heading into Romans chapter eight. And Paul's making the point there in Romans chapter seven that legalism can never take you into the promises of God.

following a list of rules and regulations, whether it be Old Testament code or whatever system we've developed, that can never take you in to the fulfillment, the abundant life that God has promised for you. The only way that that's possible is by a work of the Spirit of God.

And so Romans chapter seven talks about the legalism and how that's impossible. Then Romans chapter eight talks about because of what Christ has done, we can live being led by the Holy Spirit. And it pictures for us that promised land. And so Moses, the law, because the law was given to Moses there on Mount Sinai, he could only take God's people so far. He couldn't take them into the fulfillment of those promises. But then the next leader,

Who led the children of Israel into the promised land? His name is Joshua. That's Hebrew. The name Joshua in Greek is Jesus. Well, that's the English version of the Greek, but you get the point. Joshua, Jesus, same name, just different languages. Joshua led the people into the promised land in the same way that the law can't lead us into the promises of God, the blessings of God, but Jesus can and Jesus does. He's the only way to experience God.

the abundant life that God has promised. And so it's a great picture for us. God used this to accomplish something that we would understand. We should not try to approach God based on a system of rules and regulations, but we should try to approach God on the basis of our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, looking to him for salvation and forgiveness and blessing. But again, the point here in verse 12 and 13 is to not misrepresent God because you may miss out on God's blessings.

You might miss out. Not only do you break the picture that God is painting for the people around you, not only, you know, do you misrepresent him, but you also miss out. There's things that God wants to do, but in misrepresenting him, we can miss out on those things. Well, finally, point number four found in verse 12, don't misrepresent God. How?

by believing and obeying God. Notice what God says to Moses in verse 12. It says, then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, because you did not believe me. Here's the core issue. Moses did not believe God. He says, you did not believe me to hallow me. That word hallow, it's also the word holy, to set apart, to consecrate, to devote. Moses, you didn't set me apart in their eyes. You made them think that I'm like you.

You demonstrated to them that I'm like you. You tried to show them that I'm like you and that I felt the way that you felt. You didn't set me apart and show them that I'm different, that I'm set apart, that I'm not like that. You didn't hallow them or hallow me in their eyes. But the root cause of that, the reason why he says, because you did not believe me.

The commentator Thomas Constable describes that this way. He says, Moses did more than God told him to do. He failed to believe that God's way was best and took matters into his own hands. Thinking about it that way, it's the idea of Moses thinking, you know, they're not going to get the point, God, if I just speak to the rock. That's too soft. They're not going to get the point. They're not going to understand that they're complaining again and they're wrong. And so God, I need to show them that they're wrong.

I need them to understand how wrong they are. And so he yells at them, you rebels, listen up. Do we have to provide water again? And then he strikes the rock. He did more than God told him to do. He thought his way was best. He decided, you know, they need more than what God is saying. And so he took matters into his own hands. He didn't believe God. He wasn't obedient to what God spoke to him. And for you and I,

To learn from Moses' example and not misrepresent God, this is what it's going to take. We're going to have to believe God and obey him. And really, that's what it means to represent God. The best way that you can represent God to the people around you is for you to believe God and obey God. It wasn't that Moses didn't have clear instruction. God gave him clear instruction. But Moses decided, you know what? I don't think that's enough.

I need to do more than that. It's going to take more. They need to understand. And he let his feelings, his thoughts, his ideas override God's commands. And that is when we misrepresent God. When we think we know better. When we think our ways are better than his ways. When we think our ways are

are justifiable because of our incredibly tense circumstances. And so, well, we can violate this commandment. We can disregard those instructions because we'll look at our situation. And in doing so, we misrepresent God. But to represent God well, we must believe God, hold his word higher than our own. We must hallow him before the eyes of the people around us and say, you know, it's important what God says.

And I want to hold fast to the word of God, to the instruction of God, to obey God. And so this morning, I want to encourage you to represent God. You do represent God. The question is whether or not you're a good representation or a bad representation. As a believer in Jesus Christ, as one who's taken on the name of Christ, you represent God to the world around you. And that means you'll be accountable.

for how well you've represented him, how well you've portrayed his character, his nature, what he sees is important, what he sees is valuable. You will be held accountable to that. You don't get to pick and choose when you represent God. Sometimes it's going to be in the middle of great stress, in the middle of great grief, but you're called to represent God, to believe God at his word, and to be obedient to him.

And so don't misrepresent God, even if your reasons are understandable. Even if the people around you would say, oh yeah, you should behave that way. You should yell at him that way. You should treat them that way. You should do that. Even if other people would understand, it's not an excuse to disobey God, to misrepresent God. Don't misrepresent God, even though God can still work. Yeah, he's gracious and he might still work even though you disregard him, but you'll still be accountable. It doesn't mean that God approves you

of the behavior, that he's okay with it. He's going to deal with it. Don't misrepresent God because, well, you're robbing yourself. God doesn't give us commands because he just wants to see us jump through hoops. Like, hey, watch this. He says to the angels, right? I'll tell them to do this. And they're like, they're going to have to like wiggle their way around and do all these difficult things. And it's like an obstacle course, right? Let's see how challenging we can make it. That's not why God gives us commands. That's not why he gives us instruction. He gives us instruction. He gives us commands because

Because he knows what's best for us. Because he loves us intensely. He tells us, stay away from things. He forbids things because he loves us so intensely. And so if we disregard, we're hurting ourselves when we disregard God, when we ignore his instruction. Don't misrepresent God because you'll miss out on God's blessings. God has great things in store for you. Let him bless you. Let him do the work that he wants to do.

So how do you do that? Again, by believing and obeying God. We're going to close out the service this morning with a time of communion. And as we prepare for that time of communion, I would ask you to consider Jesus. Now, Jesus gave us this institution of communion. He gave us the two elements, the bread and the cup. And he said, this bread, it's my body, which is broken for you.

He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood for the remission of sins. He says, do this in remembrance of me. It represents his body, his blood, what he accomplished for us upon the cross. And what I would ask you to consider as you prepare your heart for communion this morning is that in going to the cross, Jesus perfectly represented the father. Going to the cross was a perfect representation of how God feels and cares about you.

perfectly represents his love towards us. God demonstrates his love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And as we look to Christ there on the cross, as we look and partake of the communion elements and remember what Christ has done for us, it's a perfect representation of the Father. It's a great reminder to you of how much God loves you

how much God cares for you, of his forgiveness in your life, of his grace and his mercy towards you. And so I would ask you this morning as you partake of communion to do so as you remember Jesus with an attitude of reception saying, yes, Lord, I receive your forgiveness, your grace, your mercy. And whether you've been a Christian for many years or you've never received that forgiveness, I

It's time for us to reflect on the Lord Jesus, to consider what he's done. You don't have to strike the rock anymore. Now you can just speak to the rock and speak to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm sorry. I'm a miserable representation of you. Forgive me. And God is able to forgive. All you got to do is speak to the rock. It's Christ. And he died upon the cross. He was stricken once so that all sin for all humanity for all time could be forgiven.

And so as you prepare your heart for communion, do so with this attitude, asking God for forgiveness, receiving what Christ has done for us. But then I would also encourage you to ask God to help you then turn around and give that out. Not only do you receive the living water, but Jesus said, when you call out to him, torrents of living water will flow forth from you.

And so come to Christ this morning. Remember the cross. Remember what he's done. And then look to him for help and ask him to help you. Then pass that on and bring forth that refreshing water. Bring forth that refreshing representation of God to the world around you that they might know Christ and that they might become like him. Amen.

The worship team's gonna come up and lead us in a song. And as they do, the ushers are gonna pass out the bread and the cup. And at any time during the song, I invite you to go ahead and partake. At the end, they'll give you an opportunity to partake if you haven't already. But worship the Lord. Receive his grace and mercy and forgiveness and ask God to help you give it out as well. Let's worship the Lord together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.