Anger, my greatest regret. Now, I won't ask you to raise your hand, but who among us here has never dealt with the problem of anger? Right? And I'm not talking about righteous indignation. There's a place for that. There's a time for that. I'm talking about anger. And I was just reminded of this yesterday. Coming home, I had a car, cut me off. couldn't wait until I passed, there was a car in front of her, and I'm coming up this way, barely had time to put her blinker on and boom, didn't matter if I was there or not. Now that kind of stuff angers because of the danger it causes. Fortunately, Fortunately, I kept my thoughts to myself, and I didn't do any kind of hand signals at all. And I didn't do any kinds of expression. I didn't yell. I just kind of contained it. And that was only by the Lord's grace, I'm sure. But there are people like that. There are anger issues that we have to deal with. And so Moses is one of those really odd birds in this sense. Here was a guy who walked with the Lord. From the time he was about how old? How old? 80, right? He had spent the first 40 years living in Egypt, then the next 40 years tending flocks of sheep for his father-in-law out in the field. And probably wondering what his whole life was about. What am I doing here? I was raised in privilege and here I am tending sheep out in the field with nobody. God, there must be some other purpose for me. You ever prayed that? And then God says, well, I'm glad you asked, because yes, there is another purpose for you. And right away, Moses starts backpedaling. Wait a minute, Lord. No, I didn't mean that. I didn't want to do that. And so here is a guy, though, that learned to walk before the Lord consistently, circumspectly, Total reliance on God. Every step of the way. Really, if we look at Moses' life, this is really, he sinned, but this is really the only time that we're going to talk about where his anger got the best of him. And it caused a major problem, not just for Moses and for the people of Israel, but I believe it ruined some imagery that God was trying to portray through the two incidences at the rock. It ruined it. Completely. And we'll talk about that. You're probably ahead of me. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. But let's just go through a couple of verses. It says, be angry but do not sin. Nowhere in scripture are we told not to be angry. That being angry itself is a sin. However, I'm going to use myself as an example. I was raised in a household with two parents who butted heads a lot. Unfortunately. Their anger, they both had anger issues, I guess, and they eventually divorced because of it. My father was raised on the streets of the Bronx before it became a terrible place to live. But still, there was a lot of scrapping going on. He learned to fight at an early age. If you didn't, you were you know, dealt with constantly. So he had to defend himself, and he learned how to defend himself. He went into the military as well during World War II. He was a strong, strong personality. And he was also the oldest son in an Italian family, raised Roman Catholic. So when the parents were gone, he was the boss, period. You didn't question it. You didn't resist it. You just did. And if you didn't do what he did, wanted it done, And he would deal with it. So my mother also had a strong personality. And so unfortunately, as a child, I would hear them argue. That was part of the example that they unfortunately left me. And so naturally, when I was a kid, I would get angry. And that anger would come out at my friends, at other people. And it got me in trouble a few times. But the Bible basically says, look, be angry, but don't sin. King James Version says, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. We're familiar with this verse, Ephesians 4.26. We know it. We know what it means. It's OK to be angry if you have a very good reason. And we have some really good reasons, by the way, in society to be angry today, what we might call righteous indignation. When we see our elected leaders ignoring the threat of Islam and nuancing the way they respond to these things that happen in society. Well, let's not jump to conclusions. We're better than that. This is one rogue individual. It doesn't represent Islam. Unfortunately, yes, it does represent Islam. And that's what we need our elected officials to say. And when it doesn't happen, then we go, wow, they're lying to us. And so we become righteously indignant about that. But the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. We're familiar with that one, James 1.20. Now, of course, Moses did not have these scripture verses. But he also was a gentleman who spoke with God face to face, as if you and I right now are doing this. So it was God's very presence in Moses' life that was the scripture. And Moses learned very quickly what was right and what was wrong. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31. Paul is, again, we're familiar with this. Our whole life should be one that glorifies God in our thoughts, in our actions and voice, everything we do. So again, it's okay to be angry. If we have a really good reason, we know that Christ was angry and we know that because he got angry, he knotted the cord and he overturned tables. Now, I feel more comfortable with him doing that because I would probably go way over here. He didn't go way over here. A fool... I love Proverbs. I used to not like Proverbs because I thought, man, this stuff is so simplistic. It's obvious. It's logical. But really, a fool uttereth all his mind. Picture a person who is so angry, it just comes out. That's a fool. They have no ability, no filter. no ability to contain themselves, contrasted with a wise man who keepeth it in till afterwards, until he's thought about it, contemplated, wondered, is this the best way to handle this situation? I learned this because when I was growing up, one of the things I did not want to do, and I love my father, I love my mother, but one of the things I didn't want to do was treat my children the way my father treated us. And most of the time my sister and I lived in fear of my father. There was a healthy, healthy respect bordering on fear because we never knew when we were going to do something that would make him so angry he would get that far away from our face. And when you're this little and you have this grown adult boiling mad that far from your face, it really makes an impact on you. And I determined when I got married, and by the way, my wife is here recording this for me so I could put this up on my video blog. I know that this is a men's class, but if you'll forgive her for being that way, I'd appreciate it. So what happened was, I decided after we had two kids, especially with my son who came second, I started seeing my own father's reaction in the way I would react to him. And that really got me. And I thought, I've got to break this chain. I've got to break this chain. And it was very difficult. But I learned that a soft answer turneth away wrath, my wrath. And I could deal with my son as an individual and as a human being and not as chattel. Not as something I owned and he was supposed to go boom. How high? When I said jump. It was a very difficult thing to overcome. But I can honestly say that the Lord must have helped me do that because now my son and I, he understands that I respect him, I treat him as an adult. 25, I don't have any control over him anymore. It's like Dr. Mark was saying a few weeks ago, when he kicked off this series, you know, you start off with what? You have control over your children, because they're young. And then it moves into what? Anybody remember what he said? It moves into, unfortunately, I don't remember what I said. What was that word? From control to, help me out. Nobody? Advice? That's the third one, actually. There was a second one in there. But the third one, and too many parents I've noticed, they just exercise that control, control, control, control, control. They could be 20-something and still living at home, and the parents just want to control their lives. And then the child is like, I can't wait to get out of here. So anyway, the Lord helped. And then Mark 3, 5, and when he had looked around about them with anger, Jesus being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, saying unto the man, stretch forth your hand. Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other. What we find here is that Jesus, and Moses had this same issue constantly with the people of Israel, is that Jesus was so upset with their hard heartedness. But notice how controlled he was. And I like verse 5, Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. He knew what he should have done. Why? Because his parents, Adam and Eve, explained it to him. And, obviously, Abel got the picture. Abel got the message. Abel did it correctly. Verse 8. Cain's anger allowed him, caused him, pushed him to kill his own brother. The first murder. The first murder ever recorded. So we have all these admonitions against anger that we should be slow to speak, slow to wrath. James tells us, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And then Paul continues in Galatians, and he says, now the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Enemies murders and he goes on I tell you before as I've told you in time past that they which do such things shall not Inherit the kingdom of God he's not talking about people who are Christians who occasionally sit in those areas He's talking about people who are their life is defined by these things because they're not and as Christians because those people do not inherit the kingdom of God as Christians we should never Imitate their behavior So that's important for us, and this is all leading up and now we've got you know Paul tells us in Colossians put off all these things. How do you do that? It's frustrating about Paul sometimes because it's not really When I was young and first studying scripture, and I would come to scripture like this Paul says put off all these things how? how How do you not become angry when something makes you angry? How do you not allow yourself to be filled with wrath, malice, filthy communication? I mean, how do you do that? Well, you do it, of course, we know, by what? Relying on God. Which is a process, isn't it? It's not, boom, I've made it. Moses proves to us, as close as he walked with God, for how many years he had not still made it. And that is a lesson. Moses who could sit with God face to face as a man speaks with another man, if Moses could do that 40 odd years and then toward the end of his life, make such a huge mistake, that should be a warning to us. That should be a warning to us. David, the same way. King David, It's easy to sit there and go, David, what were you thinking? Not only did you start this chain of events where you're sitting at home in the spring when you should have been out leading your army, but you're now at home and you're bored. So what do you do? You go out onto the temple to Terrace and there's a young woman because the palace the temple not the temple the palace King David's palace would overlook all of Jerusalem because Jerusalem was on a hill and The palace was on the highest point. So of course you're going to be able to overlook all the city and there Is Bathsheba bathing at night? She was doing nothing wrong. She was bathing at night So David instead of immediately turning around and walking inside and shutting himself in just stare and Played with the idea and then we know where it went from there. No one no one is above it. No one I don't care how long you've been a Christian Doesn't make any difference we can all fall all of us Psalm 37 8 cease from anger forsake wrath fret not thyself in any wise to do evil So there's all kinds of admonitions. Why do people become angry? And we'll get to Moses shortly here. But why do people become angry? Hatred and contempt. We don't like to admit the fact that there are times when we really don't like another person. It always bothers me. And it bothers me because eight years ago or more, when our current president was elected, I felt like I couldn't stand the man. But I have a hard time with politicians anyway. And as time increased, I thought, he's not telling us the truth. He's not doing what's right. And things would just build up. And I had to deal with that. God had to get me aside and say, you know what? You need to deal with this. Because your anger toward President Obama or other officials is not what you need to be doing. You need to be praying for him. And that was very, very difficult. And then I had other Christian friends who would confess, I have such a hatred for this politician or that politician, when our job is to pray for them. So hatred or contempt, self-centeredness is a reason we might become angry. Our needs aren't being met. Nobody's paying attention to me. Lack of control. You know, when I was growing up, I would see my father with this lack of control. And he was an extremely light sleeper, which doubled my problems because if I made noise while I was playing and he was taking a nap, I remember one time I was in the hall and I had this metal globe of the earth underneath my arm. It was round. So you can imagine how easy it was. I didn't think about the fact that it might slip out of my arm, but it did, and it hit the linoleum floor. Well, he bounced out of the bed, cursing a blue streak, Because he was literally jolted out of sleep and fortunately he calmed down, but I mean I went like oh my gosh What did I do nothing intentionally, but there was a lack of control jealousy creating Failure to see things from God's perspective. I struggle with this a great deal. Maybe you do too I Because I see the way this country is going, and I know, Lord, OK, I know we're destined, according to Scripture, to get to a one-world government, which will include the United States. I don't like it, though, Lord. I just don't like it. I don't like all the lies, all the subterfuge, the failure to address true situations, that are causing security problems for this country. And we have leaders, these same leaders, who are really their number one concern is global warming or climate change. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We have a border down south that nobody's paying any attention to. Can we do something there? So failure to see things. What's God's perspective? God's perspective is everything is under control. And we know that. That makes it hard for us because we know what the truth should be. An unwillingness to forgive others. I don't know about you, but I've had to deal with this issue. Sometimes I'll be just cruising along in my life and all of a sudden a thought will come in and go, oh yeah, I remember that guy. And the harboring right here, and I have to deal with it again. Lord, I gave that to you. Okay, I guess I didn't give it all to you. And it takes time. I'm sure we're all there. Not one of us in this room can stand up and say, I've never hated anybody. I've never been angry with my brother without cause. I don't think anybody can do that. Maybe you can. If you can, that's wonderful. Not allowing God to work in your life. Think highly, more highly of ourselves than we ought to. And right there, that last one, I really think that that, unfortunately, was where Moses failed that day. So we're going to get into that in the last few minutes we have. He was the epitome of patience. I think you'll agree with me that because of what he saw as his own shortcomings, it caused him to do what? He had two choices. to try to back away from the situation, which he tried. And God said, no, no, but I can't speak. Fine, Aaron will talk for you. But don't worry, I'll be there with you in power. But no, enough buts. You're going to do this. God knew, and Moses learned, that he would have to rely on God every step of the way. That's simply the bottom line. That's the reality that Moses faced, which I believe is why God chose Moses, not to mention everything he had been through. He continually sought God's counsel. There is example after example after example in scripture where Moses would prostrate himself before God and say, the people are ready to stone me. What should I do? He never reacted. out of absolute and abject anger until we get to Numbers 20. Up until that point, he was a man committed to God and God's ways and God's purposes, and there is this depth of humility and patience about Moses that I wish I had. But it didn't come in a vacuum. It came from the circumstances that Moses was born and raised in. I mean, imagine you're in the Pharaoh's house for 40 years. That's one life. And then the next 40 years, you're tending your father-in-law's sheep. And there you are. It's you and these sheep, and all the problems and potential enemies. And you have to protect the sheep. It's not just sitting there babysitting. You have to be a good shepherd. You have to know how to. throw a sling, or use a sling and throw a rock in it to hit a wolf way over there, or a coyote way over there. You have to constantly be on guard. So he learned, by God's methods, how to deal with people, how to lead people, how to get them to do what God wanted them to do. He doubted himself, but it forced him to rely on God all the way. He stood strong in the Lord when dealing with strife. And we see this time and time and time again. And only one time did he lose his control. And that, unfortunately, was after he had been walking with the Lord for 40 years. You know, I became a Christian when I was 13. My mom, bless her heart, made us go to church every Sunday. So I was fine when I got to church. I just didn't like getting up and getting ready to go to church. But I was fine when I got there. And God used that, certainly, to draw me to him. And I'm very, very appreciative. My father didn't care about church. He was an ex-Roma Catholic. And to him, the church was just money-grubbing, and it was just a political thing. He lost all interest. However, I do think, I'll find out for sure when I get to eternity, but I do think he actually received the Lord not long before his death, which I'm grateful for. But my mom was the one who got us to church. And so as a Christian, I became one at 13, realizing my need for Christ. Well, I'm almost 60, so I'll let you do the math. There are times when I sit there and I go, I should be further along than this. Why am I still dealing with the same junk? I should be further along with this. I should be loving my neighbor better. Instead, their barking dog drives me crazy. So I have to sit there and go, Lord, OK, I know that if you were here, that dog probably would not bother you. You would go out of your way to extend your love and grace to that family. I need to do that. But it's hard for me to get past that dog. So what do I do? I have to do that stuff. You have to do that stuff. So here we are. Exodus 17. If you want to turn there with me, that's great. We're not going to read all the verses, but it's an important section to look at. It's a very, very important section to look at. And in Exodus 17, we see what transpired here. And the saving grace for Moses was that he was afraid. And his fear caused him to throw himself on God and his mercy. So again, I'm not going to read all the scripture, but let's look at some of this. First of all, the Israelites pitched their tents at Rephidim. Rephidim. There was no water for them or their flocks. Oh, Moses must have made a mistake, right? Or no, God made a mistake. How could he bring us to this point with no water? Better off, we stayed in Egypt. Keith Green put out a song years ago called, So You Want to Go Back to Egypt. I don't know if you're familiar with that one. But it's really poignant because that's a lot of us. We long for those days sometimes when it was easier. So in verse 2, it says, wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? Verse 2. So he was very concerned. He wasn't angry here. He was not upset with them because they wanted water. He was upset with them because they were in danger of tempting the Lord. There's a big difference. But Moses was fairly contained, composed. Moses warned them that they were tempting the Lord, putting the Lord to the test. The Israelites allowed their anger to get the best of them. And what did they do? Well, they began to murmur against Moses, their leader, God's anointed man. God's anointed man. And I have to remember that, by the way, when it comes to politicians, regardless of whether or not I agree with them. I don't recall Jesus except one time saying anything negative about Harry. And only then he called him that fox. And why did he call him that fox? Because Herod was a Jew. And he was actually working against Jews. And when he wasn't around Jews, he acted like he wasn't a Jew to please the Roman officials. So Jesus rightly called him that fox. And that was not a compliment, of course. He knew exactly what he was doing. Paul never took the time, literally, to rail against the elected officials or those appointed in government. And in some way or another, they're there because God has them there. And we need to appreciate that. That is difficult. So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, what shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. Verse 4. His fear, which is a healthy fear at this point, caused him to do the right thing, which was to throw himself God and God's mercy and what we're going to see here is this reaction is So different compared to the reaction that we see in numbers 20 This is the right reaction. This is the one that says Lord. I can't handle this by myself. Please help me I remember one time in California when You know, we're the head of the home guys whether we like it or not the buck stops with us and whether we like it or not. That's simply the way it is. That's biblical truth. So in California, we were having financial issues, and I knew at least part of the reason was some of the bad decisions I had made that put us in that position. It wasn't my wife's fault. It wasn't my children's fault. God wasn't going to talk to them about it. God was holding me responsible for the decisions I had made. And I remember I had been on the phone calling this financial company, this one, blah, blah, blah. Everything I could do to see what I could do to make things work. And all I was doing was getting the runaround. Not one person could give me something substantive or something that would really help. Nothing concrete. Finally I just said, I was eating dinner, and I was so preoccupied, I just excused myself, went upstairs, and I sat in my dark office, and I just said, Lord, I'm really sorry. This is my fault, and I don't know what to do about it. And I just over and over again said, I am so sorry for being stupid, for being pig-headed, for making decisions that I did not come to you first and ask for your opinion. Just barreled ahead. And then I did that for about 15 minutes, and when I was done, all of a sudden, the thought came to me, yeah, open up your computer. And I had been to this one site before. Check that again. So then I went there again, and I went to another link, and I found another link. And within 10 minutes, I had found the paperwork I needed, and I was on my way to helping solve the problem. And I look at that, and I go, God wouldn't have helped me if I had not been willing to admit that I needed help. from him. And this is exactly what Moses did. Here he is faced on one hand with people who were about ready to stone him to death. And instead of getting angry at them, he just said, Lord, what do I do? What do I do? And he was in fear, but his fear pushed him to rely completely on God. And that's something I have to learn over and over again. I don't know about you. Depending on your personality, you may not have to learn it as often as I do. I've been blessed with that A-type personality because both my mom had it and both my dad had it and there's a lot of things I have to unlearn as well as learn. But his fear caused him to eventually move in the correct path, which was complete reliance on God alone. There is no other answer that I can think of. Can you? There is no other answer. You know, we can go to other people that we think are wise and have wisdom and can give us biblical counseling, and there's a place for that, because the Bible says that we should do that. But ultimately, ultimately, we need to rely completely on God. So notice that God, it's very interesting, notice that God was not actually upset with Moses here in verse 5 and 6. Let me just read that real quickly. And the Lord said to Moses, go on before the people. and tells him what to do. He's not angry. He just says, do this, do this, do this. And so Moses does this. God simply told Moses what to do. He was to take his rock. He was to go to the rock in Horeb, and he was to smite the King James Version. I love that word, smite. There's no ambiguity there. Smite. He's going to strike that rock. Striking. That's what God told Moses to do. So once Moses did what he was commanded to do, God would do what he knew he was already going to do. Water would flow from the rock. Now, of course, you're with me here on this. Many commentators believe the rock represents God. I would agree. Jesus later on said, out of me would flow living waters. And he talks about himself being the rock. So this is an image of God. Out of him would flow living waters. Well, that's what happened here. And the people, their thirst was quenched. The thirst of their herds was quenched, which would have taken cubic tons of water to satisfy all those animals and all those people, over 600,000 at least. So that's what happened in Exodus 17. It was letter perfect. The people were upset. Moses went to God. He relied on God. God responded to Moses and said, just do this. It'll be fine. And Moses obeyed exactly. That's the key. He obeyed God exactly. That's the key. Now, skip ahead 40 or so years, 38, 40 years, to Numbers 20. And here we are. The Israelites arrive back to the desert of Zion. They're just wandering around. Because it's not time for them to go into the promised land yet. They had already made that choice and rejected the promised land. So God said, fine, you're going to wander around until that generation is gone. So, the time was almost up. They're back at the Desert of Zin. I can't imagine what they did there. I have a book. It's a really cool hardback book. It's called The Exodus. It's a hardback. And it has tons of research by archaeologists who have found things that they believe where actually the water came out of the rock. They found that, what they believe there. They found heavily encrusted, barnacle-encrusted chariot wheels, horse skeletons, and human being skeletons in the Red Sea. And it's interesting to note that as soon as the discovery was made, the Egyptian government said, OK, nobody else gets to look here. We're done. Sorry, go away. They closed it down. But the book is phenomenal because it talks about all of this stuff, archaeological evidence proving all this stuff happened. Miriam dies, verse 1, in Numbers 20. There's no water for the people or their flocks again. Huh, that's interesting. So what's going to happen now? Remember, Moses has been walking with God, face to face. He was the first high priest. And then that dude, he passed on to Aaron. But Moses was the guy whose office closely resembled that of Jesus Christ. And in a sense, many would argue that he was a type of Christ. And he was. The people chode in the King James. They chided, murmured. They did the same thing now that they did 38 years ago. It's the same generation, by the way. They're just much older. The new generation is getting ready to come up. But this old generation, some of them are still here. And they've already forgotten what happened 38 years ago. You would think they would remember something like that. So they spoke against Moses and Aaron, verse 2. And the people complained loudly. And why had he brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our cattle should die there? Huh? Come on, Moses. Answer that question, would you? Verse 4. They didn't know their history. They didn't know why they were wandering. They chose to forget it. And again, this is the older generation of people. The older generation of people goes up to numbers 25, and chapters 26 through 36 deals with the new generation. So this is still part of the old garb. And they had no excuse, because they had lived through this before. They should have known the answer. Does that ever happen to you? God brings you through something, and a year or two later brings you through something similar, and your immediate response is to act like you didn't even know what happened a year or two ago? And then God has to bring it to our mind? Oh, that's right. You did help me there. I've gone through that. Maybe you have too. Hopefully it's made us better Christians. So they try to imply that their brothers who had died in the desert years before had it easy. They were trying to turn the tables. They literally would have made good politicians. They're putting their spin on things. They refused to acknowledge that those deaths, years before, were due to failure to obey the Lord. They simply failed to obey. They blamed Moses instead of remembering what God had brought them through and what he had previously done for them. So, this time, We see both Moses and Aaron. They're approaching this the correct way from the start. Look, we need to go before the Lord. These people are crazy. They're picking up stones. They're getting ready to stone us to death. Let's go find out what the Lord wants us to do. And the Lord responds to them in verse 6. The Lord gives Moses nearly the same instructions he had given them almost 40 years before. Almost the exact same instructions, except one big, huge, huge exception. Moses, this time, was told to only speak to the rock. He was not told to smite it. He was told to speak to it. He was told to speak, not to yell. Not to become angry, inflamed. There's no indication in this chapter that God is angry. Moses was simply supposed to speak to the rock. Unfortunately, in verse 11, we see that he struck the rock twice. Again, he was supposed to speak to it. And the Lord, I feel bad for Moses. I mean, this was his, wow. This changed everything for Moses. Here he was, having walked with God 40 years, face to face, talking with him. The glory of the Lord, the Shekinah glory would surround both Moses and him. I mean, he had a relationship with God that you and I can only dream about and know we will have when we get to eternity. Of course, we won't have the sin nature there, so we'll never be in this situation. But imagine what Moses lived. And yet, he made such a huge mistake. And in verse 12, Moses, his sin is pointed out to him. Because ye believed me not. What? God didn't say, because you got angry, because you smoked the rock. He said, because you believed me not, What happened? It's because Moses did not believe God's simple instructions that he went way beyond those instructions by getting angry, by striking the rock, by giving the people a lecture before he did those things. So in what way did he not believe God? There's no indication, as I mentioned, that God was angry with people, but Moses was angry with them. He wasn't warning them this time gently, look folks, you're in danger of tempting the Lord. He was angry with them. And it affected the way he responded to them. And it also affected the way he carried out his responsibilities and directions from God. God said, speak to the rock. Moses struck it. If Moses had believed God, which works itself out in obedience, right? If you believe God, you obey him. Simple. It's not that simple sometimes. And in this case, we see a perfect example. Moses would have simply spoken to the rock. So why was it such a big deal? Why was it such a big deal? Anybody? That God got so upset with Moses, and though he forgave him, it's clear he forgave him, he would not set aside the consequences of Moses' errant actions. Why? The rock clearly represents God. Moses' anger caused him to go beyond God's will. Why was it all right for God to tell Moses, strike the rock twice in Exodus 17? And in Numbers 20, I want you just to speak to the Lord. And if the rock represented God in both instances, then why? What's going on here? What's up? Anybody want to venture a guess? Well, it's salvation, and by striking it twice, he's saying that you have to get saved more than one time. Okay. Okay, that could certainly be part of it. Thank you, Pat. Any others? Christ suffered once. Christ suffered once. Good. Good. All right, now I know not all commentators agree with this interpretation. I tend to think it's right on. You decide for yourself. Exodus 17 may represent the first coming of Jesus. And Pat, you basically just alluded to that, and so did you. I'm sorry, what was your name, sir? Jerry. Jerry. So we're getting there. Now again, I think this interpretation works really well. Exodus 17 may represent the first coming of Jesus. He came as a suffering servant, right? Isaiah 53. He was beaten, mocked, ridiculed, reviled, tortured, put to death. That's the first coming of Jesus, the suffering servant. And so when God said, Moses, you strike that rock, the imagery is of Christ's first coming. And then the second coming. Numbers 20 may actually represent the second coming of Jesus. In which case, he comes as ruler, king, victor, king eternal. He will not be beaten. He will not be ridiculed. He will not be scourged. He will not be tortured. He will certainly not be put to death. In fact, no one will touch him. The most they will do is speak to him. He will reign forever and ever. When his foot touches down on this earth at the end of the coming seven-year tribulation period, he will vanquish the evil that permeates this world. And only the king eternal can do that. So what is the problem? Well, in my opinion, through anger, leading to unbelief and disobedience, he destroyed the mental picture of the first and second coming that would have been clearly evident in the Old Testament. Because he struck the rock both times. And I think God wanted to paint a picture. And he wanted to show a difference between these two events. The first coming, the second coming. Moses, unfortunately, destroyed that. And you know what? He couldn't take it back. Couldn't undo it. An apology was worthwhile, and God forgave. But the consequences of Moses' actions remain. He destroyed the mental picture that we could have had by looking at Exodus 17 and looking at Numbers 20. And now they look similar. Now they look very similar. Strike the rock both times. But wait, he wasn't supposed to. So there is the reason, I think at least, I think, that Moses was held so accountable. And the consequences remained. Forgiveness was there. God did not stop loving Moses. The forgiveness was there. The consequences remained. And the consequences were, you know, you messed up this picture that I wanted to create through you, Moses, as a type of Christ. And because of that, you're not going into the promised land. You're not going. So the first instance of the rock was of the suffering of a servant. The second instance, I believe, was of the returning king in victory. And a returning king in victory, you don't touch. You speak to, if you're allowed to. That's it. We were just in Europe. And it's amazing how the royalty over there still exists. And they still venerate royalty. The Habsburgs, the palaces, oh, it's goodness. It's like, what a waste of money. But that's Europe. And to this day, you see Queen Elizabeth walking down the street or in her carriage or something, you do not approach her. That goes against all what? What's the word? I don't know. Policy. So it wasn't just that Moses was angry and sinned. He destroyed the picture of the difference between the first and second comings of our Lord Jesus Christ that would have been part forever of the Old Testament. But it's not. We need to quit, huh? Alright, he should have known better. I think this is why God was so hard on him. He should have known better. He should have known better, because he had walked face-to-face with God for 40 years. He saw God's shadow, for goodness sake. He had no excuse. And, uh, Exodus 33, 11, And the Lord spake unto Moses face-to-face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. He had no excuse. None. Poor Moses. Your heart goes out to the guy. He was human. He had a sin nature. It existed. He did the best he could. God forgave him. But the consequences remained. Moses harshly rebuked the people. He actually wound up taking credit for what God had done, implying it was part of his way of doing it. He resented the Israelites. He lost his temper. He disobeyed God. He did not trust God's power. He failed to glorify God. And he literally, unfortunately, rebelled against God. No amount of pleading by Moses. We know that. Oh, God, would you please just change it? And finally, God said, don't bring the subject up again. And I can picture my dad doing that same thing. Do not raise that issue again. It's over. I would have been a complete moron to raise the issue again. What was done was done. There's just a couple of verses here, and then we're familiar with all these, I'm sure. How people avoid anger. Slow to anger. Slow to anger. Slow to anger. Be not quick in your spirit to become angered, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools. I can relate to that. Let every person be quick to hear and slow that wrath. So, if Moses could allow anger to get the best of him after walking so closely with God for 40 years, how much more do we need to be on guard? Period. I know I do. If you are blessed with an easygoing personality, wonderful. You are blessed. Most of us are not. Anger can kill. It's the opposite of what God is creating within us. May we constantly seek his strength to guard against anger that seeks to undo and mar our testimonies. I have to do that. Any comments, questions? Father, we thank you so much that you lead our lives, that you guide us, that you help us to avoid the things that we know are detrimental to us, and yet we still fail. We are so thankful that you are there with your forgiveness and your grace to pick us up, to move us onward toward the perfection that you have deigned for us, that you've desired for us, that we will one day achieve only because of you. and your grace and strength in us. May we go on to the next service, and I ask that you will speak to our hearts richly from the message that you have put on the gentleman who's going to be speaking this morning. Thank you for this time together that we've had. Be glorified in and through us in Christ's name.