Moses Struck The Rock Twice

"Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle." And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.
Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. (Numbers 20:8-11 ESV)

Moses struck the rock twice when God told him to speak to the rock. Because of that, he cannot lead Israel into the promised land.

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." (Numbers 20:12 ESV)

But earlier on another occasion, God did asked Moses to strike the rock once.

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. (Exodus 17:6 ESV)

The rock is only allowed to be struck once.

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (Romans 6:10 ESV)

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27-28 ESV)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18 NIV)

Because the rock was Christ and He died once for our sins.

I would not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 MEV)

Think I got this verse and the idea that rock was Christ from some YouTube sermon by Adrian Rogers but I have forgotten which sermon.

His Part And Ours - Grace, Faith And Works

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. (Romans 4:19 ESV)

Faith is always difficult to explain. If God promised us something, do we just sit and wait for it to be fulfilled? Is it not written in Romans 4:21 that "what God had promised, he was also able to do"? What else do we need to do? Well, someone by the name of J Sidlow Baxter wrote a whole book (His Part And Ours: God's Promises and Our Responsibilities in the Christian Life by J. Sidlow Baxter | Goodreads) about it, detailing God's part and our part.

But after listening to a sermon by Adrian Rogers: How to Be Strong in the Faith (2052) - YouTube, I suddenly found an easy explanation. It is about sex, so it will catch attention.

When God promised Abraham that he would have a son, Abraham did not do nothing and wait for his son to pop out. Abraham had sex with Sarah. He had to do his part. God worked the miracle through Abraham's action.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. (Romans 4:20-21 KJV)

When Nothing Seems to Make Sense

Sermon by Adrian Rogers, "When Nothing Seems to Make Sense".

1. Don't demand to understand;
2. Don't fail to be faithful;
3. Don't bow to bitterness;
4. Don't be unwilling to wait;
5. Don't let dreams dissolve.

Notable quotes:
Don't doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.
It is always too soon to quit, never too late to start.

Who among you fears the LORD and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment. (Isaiah 50:10-11 NLT)

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. (1 Peter 2:20 ESV)

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:4-6 ESV)

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. (Psalm 37:8 ESV)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:6 NIV)

Valley's Battle Won At Hill Top

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16 KJV)

This is an extract from a sermon by Adrian Rogers, "Victory Over the Flesh".

Our three enemies:

1. World - external foe - Egypt
2. Devil - infernal foe - Pharaoh
3. Flesh - internal foe - Amalekites

God called the Israelites out of Egypt. God called us out of the world.
Where are the Israelites suppose to go? They were to go to Canaan.
On the way, they had water from the rock and then they were attacked by the Amalekites.

1. Spirit-filled life - Canaan
2. Water from the Rock - the Holy Spirit
3. The Rock - Christ

Flesh is our internal enemy, represented as Amalekites. When did the Amalekites attack?

1. Unexpectedly, after the biggest blessing;
2. Indirectly, attacking the weakest;
3. Arrogantly, without fear of God.

How did the Israelites win the battle against the Amalekites?
Moses went up to the hill with Aaron and Hur and Joshua battled the Amalekites in the valley.

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. (Exodus 17:11-12 ESV)

The battle in the valley is won at the top of the hill.
The victory over the flesh is God given.
Stand in the victory that is already won.

Pictures From Exodus

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. (Exodus 17:6 ESV)
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 ESV)

Taken from a sermon of Adrian Rogers, "Victory Over the Flesh".
Pictures from Exodus:
World - external foe - Egypt
Devil - infernal foe - Pharaoh
Flesh - internal foe - Amalekites
Spirit-filled life - Canaan
The Rock - Christ
Water from the Rock - the Holy Spirit
Rod of Moses - power of God

Cannot Be Saved By Own Righteousness

The following quote was taken from a sermon of Adrian Rogers in YouTube, Adrian Rogers: When the Spirit Speaks - RA2318, starting at time 17:00.

QUOTE
Now think with me for a moment. If you can be accounted righteous before God by doing good deeds, by giving your money, by helping the poor, by being religious, being kind, if you can be counted righteous for doing that, listen to me, why did Jesus die? Why did he suffer on that cross if you can be saved by your own righteousness? I submit to you that if you can be saved by doing good, then Calvary was the blunder of the ages.
UNQUOTE

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:21 KJV)

What Can A Dying Woman Do?

The following quote was taken from this video sermon of Adrian Rogers in YouTube, Adrian Rogers: Salvation #2067, starting at time 34:26.

QUOTE
The woman looked up at the minister. His heart was broken.
She said, "Are you a minister?"
"Yes, madam."
"Are you a man of God?"
"Well, I want to be."
"Can you tell me how to get to heaven? I am dying."
You know what he did? He began to give her platitudes about God's love, about the goodness of God, about the beauties of heaven, about how God is merciful and all of this and how it pays to live a godly life.
And after a while she just shook her head and said to him, "Don't you understand? I am dying. I can't do any of that. I can't live a good life! I can't do all of those things that you were talking about. I am about to die! Don't you have a message for a dying woman like me?"
UNQUOTE

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10 ESV)

"There is no one so good that he need not be saved. There is no one so bad that he cannot be saved." - Adrian Rogers

"If you don't receive who He is, you cannot have what He gives." - Adrian Rogers

All Can Be Saved

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)

Good news!
No one is so bad that he cannot be saved. No one is so good that he does not need to be saved.

Listen to "Hebrew 11:31 - the story of Rahab, a harlot whose life was radically, dramatically & eternally changed by faith" by Adrian Rogers.

Nature forms us, sin deforms us, school informs us, prison reforms us, world conforms us and Jesus transforms us.

Four things that God did to transform us:

1. Confronting power of the providence of God;
2. Convicting power of the Spirit of God;
3. Confirming power of the Word of God;
4. Cleanse by the grace of God.

Assurance of Salvation According To Adrian Rogers

Adrian Rogers, in an article from the Christianity.com website "How do I know I'm saved?", gave us three tests from 1 John.

QUOTE
The Lordship Test. Is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? Jesus said, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46). Here's a riddle I want to solve for you. On the one hand the Bible says that we know that we're saved because we keep His commandments (See 1 John 2:3). On the other hand, the Bible teaches us that it is possible to sin (See 1 John 1:8-9). The key word is "keep". It is the same word used years ago by sailors who navigated by the stars at night. A sailor’s goal was to keep the stars. As a child of God, His commandments are the stars by which you navigate your life. Is keeping His commandments the burning desire of your heart? It is if you've met the Christ of Calvary.

The Fellowship Test. Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? The Bible challenges us on several occasions that this is the way we will know we are in Christ (1 John 3:14, 4:20, 5:1). When you get saved, you receive the divine nature of God and the nature of God is love (1 John 4:7). You're not saved because you love the brethren, you love the brethren because you're saved. Love is the nature of the Christian because love is the nature of God. If we love the Lord Jesus, it follows as night follows day that we are going to love what Jesus loves.

The Relationship Test. The question is not, "Did you believe in Jesus Christ?" The question is, rather, "Are you believing Jesus right now?" If you can't remember when you were saved, that's okay. 1 John 5:11-12 says, "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." Can you say that at this very moment, that you have a personal relationship with Jesus right now?
UNQUOTE