We begin the message. We want
to go to God in prayer and ask for his mercies on us tonight. I know I've been over this message.
Every time I come up here, sometimes it looks like I'm looking at
it for the first time. So I pray Lord would be gracious
to give me the words you need and the thoughts. Remember those who are indeed
suffering physically. I had spoken with a lady this last
week that's listening online and is going through so many
distresses, so many trials, so many afflictions. And oftentimes
we think that we're the only ones, but we know that's not
true. God has left these men in scripture for us to know that
they experience the same afflictions that we experience in this body
and this mind. So, I know, pray for those in
our congregation that we know. When you think about it, ask
for the ones you don't know. Think about the ones you don't
see. Because God's people do ask for
our prayers. this from people listening in
other places, asking for prayer. So as you think about yourself,
I know you do. It's the first one. That's when
I think about first. But as we think of others, the Lord knows them. And if you
would mention their name as someone unknown, I know he will help them. I ask
your prayer for me as I desire to preach tonight, but pray for
God's churches. It is a very difficult time.
It is a very difficult time. And God's churches are, a lot of them are in trouble. A lot
of them are in trouble. They don't have pastors. They
don't have people to help them and to preach the gospel faithfully
to them. They rely on others and a lot
of strife. And I know we experience sicknesses
in our congregation. We have. We've experienced a
lot of that, a lot of troubles, other troubles. We should praise
God that we've not experienced disunity. Disunity. So pray for the churches that
God would give them unity. This is something that he has
to do. And I know that his providence is working all things together,
even that disunity. He's working together for our
good. And I know God will teach His
people. That's one thing I do not have
to worry about. God will teach you. I'm so thankful
God has not given me such a mind to micromanage you. I don't have
it. I imagine if I did, maybe I would,
but I don't. But I'm confident in this. God
will take care of you. God will teach you. God will
instruct you. Don't have to always be over
you. That's good news. And that's good news for you.
That you are instructed of Christ Himself. You belong to Him. Isn't that something? And He,
listen to this, He belongs to you. I wouldn't say that if He didn't
say it. We are His, and He is ours. It's a wonderful relationship
and I'm thankful for it that God has given us this unity,
this mind of love for one another and especially, and we love each
other, but we love the gospel. That's what unifies, isn't it?
If our unity depended on our love for each other, it wouldn't
last long, would it? But our unity depends upon Christ. It depends upon this gospel.
And this is what we love. We love the gospel. And that gives unity. It knits our hearts together.
That's what the apostle prayed, that your hearts would be knit
together. And how is it knit together?
It's knit together by this word, by Christ, our union with Christ.
And I'm so thankful for that, and we should be thankful. We
should bow our heads and give praise to God for the unity that
we have. And we know this, only God can
keep it. So pray for the churches, pray
for this church, and give thanks for what God has given us. I know there are many troubles
going on in different families. God knows. He definitely knows. And so as you look around, if
you see people that are not with us or not able to be with us,
please remember them. Bring them before the feet of
Christ and ask for mercy on them. Let's go to him in prayer. Our
gracious Father in heaven, we bow before you. We bow before
your throne of grace. Father, I'm so thankful that
we have the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood and righteousness pleads
our cause. We are able now to present our
supplications, our requests, our desires before you, and we
have many. Father, I do beseech you this
night that Christ should be magnified, that the Lord Jesus Christ might
be preached with plainness and clarity, so as every soul, under
the sound of my voice, should fall at the feet of Jesus Christ
and believe on Him. Father, I do pray that you would
apply this word to the hearts of your people as they suffer,
as they are afflicted, as they are tempted, Father. I pray, Father, that you would
use this word to comfort them, strengthen them in the inner
man. And yes, Father, we plead for
those ailments in the flesh, those maladies of this body. We beg you to heal. We plead
with you to be merciful. And I pray you will. Father, for these churches, your
churches, that they're your churches, they're your people. We plead
with you to send them pastors after your own heart, and that
you would give them a heart, Father, to receive the men that
you send with the word that you've given them. I pray for unity
here and everywhere that the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. that you would give us love for
this gospel, love for Christ, and that it may spill over to
one another. I plead for forgiveness of our
sins. We ask this in the name of Jesus,
our Savior, and for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Psalm 28. Psalm chapter 28. I've entitled this message, The
Rock in the Silence, or A Rock in the Silence. Look at this
here in verse 1. David writes this, Unto thee
will I cry, O Lord, my rock. He gives us His determination,
He gives us the object or the one to whom He is going to cry,
and then He gives us the reason. Look at this, Be not silent unto
Me, lest if thou be silent unto Me, I become like them that go
down into the pit. There is never Never so dark
a time in the believer's life as this, when God is silent. There is never a darker time
as when you cannot discern or hear the voice of our Savior,
when He has seemed to hide His face from us for whatever reason. We feel like He has left us alone. This we know to be true, that we deserve to be forsaken.
If we feel forsaken, this is the first inclination of the
believer, we know we deserve it. We have sinned against God, And
we are often condemned by our own conscience. When I thought
about this, I thought of Joshua, the high priest. Remember how
he stood before the Lord. He was a high priest. He should
have had that priestly garment on, but the Scripture says he
was covered in filthy garments. We often feel like that. We stand
before God and God is silent, Feel the filth of our garments
and our conscience condemns us. And it's in this darkness we
fear like the psalmist, and then we cry out to God to reveal Himself. The psalmist here, don't be silent
to me. If you're silent to me, what's
the difference between me and them that go down to the pen?
There is no difference if you're silent to me. And so he cries
unto the Lord, to restore his strength. He cries in verses
3 through verse 5 to destroy his enemies. I often find myself in this condition. I don't know. When I read this
text, I can very much identify with David. I find myself in
this condition. Sadly, at times I feel that God
has left. And this is the sharpest arrow
that pierces the heart, because without Christ, without Him,
I would surely go down to the pit. But even in our despair, in our
time of despair, God is performing His good will and providence
to us. What I was talking about before
is something like, I feel like the Lord is silent. I feel as
though God has left me. But even in those times, God
is still performing His good will and His good providence. Why? Because in these times,
in these times of His silence, in the times where He hides His
face, it is then the believer is brought to his low estate. It's then we are humbled before
Him. It's then we see exactly how
precious He is. And this is what David said,
I cry unto thee, O Lord, my rock. I cry unto thee. This is what every believer does
in the silence. Every believer, when he realizes
the silence, it is then he cries unto the Lord. You remember when
the Lord Jesus Christ preached that message of sovereignty in
John chapter 6. He said, I am the bread which
came down from heaven. He said, I am man. That's what He was talking about
being the bread of heaven. He was telling us of His humanity. And He came down from heaven.
He preached His deity. And you remember, He preached
concerning His elect. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And He told us what that will was. that of all that the Father
giveth me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. You remember in verse 44, he
even told them, he said, no man can come to me. He told how depraved
man was. He said, you can't even come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. You know
what that message did? That message, all those disciples
that had followed him for so long, they left. And he was standing there with
the twelve. And he asked them that question, will you go away
also? What a dark providence it was
for those disciples. Can you imagine that? They had
thousands. After one message, they had twelve. Talk about confusion. And he
said, will you go away also? You know what Peter said? He
answered for everybody. He said, to whom shall we go? There ain't no place else to
go. This is what you learn in the silence. You learn there
ain't no place else to go. Even if you're silent, there's
no place else to go. Even if you determine to leave
me, I still have no place else to go. In the silence, we, like David,
will what? What are we going to do? We'll
cry unto the Lord. We cry unto the Lord. Christian, when you are distressed,
when you're in darkness of our heart, when the accusations of
our conscience overwhelm us, when Satan stands ready to accuse
us, religion desires to tempt us away, By returning to the law? That's
a temptation in the silence, isn't it? Why do you think the
Lord spends so much time talking to us about grace versus law? We've been going through Romans
so much and this is over. It's a constant theme. Why is
that? You and I say this, man, I'll never return to the law.
Listen to me. In the silence, it is a temptation
for us to look for some kind of assurance. And what do we
do? We return back to law to try
to find some assurance. No! No, don't return to the law
in the silence. The silence is not meant to take
you to the law. It's meant to take you to Christ.
Come to Christ. And in the darkness, in the void,
in the silence of God's voice, in the trouble and in the difficulty,
let us do what David does. He said, I will cry unto thee. He had determined to cry unto the Lord. And so if God seems silence,
His children will not be. If God is silent, His children
won't be. I thought of two illustrations
of that. Blind Bartimaeus. Remember him? When the Lord passed
by, old Blind Bartimaeus heard that He was there. Couldn't see
Him. He heard He was there. And he cried out with that loud
voice, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Lord just kept
walking, and he just kept saying what Lord Jesus thou son of David
have mercy on me and they began to say men be quiet be quiet
and The scripture says he cried all the more Until when until the Lord answered
him I thought of that second illustration,
the Canaanite woman, right? She said, Lord, Jesus, thou Son
of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And she kept crying unto Him, crying unto
Him. And He ignored her. He was what? He was silent. Did that stop
her from crying? No, it aggravated her woe until
she could not stand until he answered. And his answer was
harsh to her. Is it me to give the children's
bread to a dog like you? Did she get upset? Run away? No. Truth. Our Lord, when He speaks to me
again, He may speak harshly to me, but whatever He says is truth. Whatever he says about me is
true. I'm just a dog, but yes, even the dogs receive the crumbs
from the master's table. See what that silence did? It
humbled her and she cried until what? Until he answered. And that's exactly how long the
believer will cry. Until he answers. Until he answers. Until he speaks, we keep crying.
We can cry. Now we can and do often cry to
others. I don't know about you, but I
do. I imagine Cheryl is totally tired of hearing me cry out to
her. We can aggravate others. We want
help from others. And it's alright if you do. We
want company. We want companionship. But listen
to me, believer. In the silence, don't trust the
arm of the flesh. Don't lean on someone else. David didn't. He said, I cry
unto thee, oh Lord. Give you a couple places, there's
Psalm 62. Psalm 62, and you can look at
verse eight. What does God instruct us here?
In the silence, what are we to do? Trust in the Lord at all
times. Now, I'll ask you a rhetorical
question. How often are you to trust in
the Lord? At all times. You people pour out your heart
before Him. Why? God is a refuge for us. Surely men of low degree are
vanity and men of high degree are a lie. To be laid in the
balance they are altogether lighter than nothing. What is the help of man? God
says it is lighter than nothing. Now how light is nothing? Can
you weigh nothing? He said that's how much help
they are. So in the silence, don't lean on the arm of flesh.
Trust in the Lord always. Look at Psalm 118. Psalm 118 and verse 8. He says, It is better to trust
in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust
in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Now you pay attention
to me. How many of us are putting confidence
in our leaders? How do you think that's going
to work out? He said, it is better to put
your trust in the Lord. That's where your trust should
be. Not in princes, or in man. Not in your family, or your friends,
or your children, or your spouse. They are nothing but flesh. The arm of flesh will always
fail you. So in the silence, in the darkness,
don't lean on flesh. Don't lean on flesh. It will
always fail you. But one thing about God's arm,
it will never fail. It will never fail. I thought of this today, you
know, I've asked the Lord for things that seem to be so impossible. I've prayed for things that seem
to be so impossible. But then I thought about it.
If God were to give me what I asked for, which requires an enormous
amount of strength, how much strength would it take from God
to do that? Realizing that if God does anything,
his strength doesn't diminish. I don't know anything about that.
You know, if you were to take lifting some weights, and you
start lifting a weight, and you lift it ten times, next time
you won't be able to lift it ten times. You'll be able to
lift it maybe six times, and then the next time it'll be less
than that. Why? Strength goes from us. God does
something he is never diminished in his strength That's what omnipotence is And listen what the scripture
says I cry unto thee go back he's Look at the term that David
gave unto God as he was struggling in this silence. As he was struggling,
I will cry unto thee, O Lord, my rock, my rock. He used the term rock for a very
specific reason. Because the Holy Spirit uses
this word to describe Christ. our rock. We cry unto God, our
rock. Why? Because a rock is something
firm. It's something sure. It's a help. I've given three reasons why
the Lord uses this term rock. First of all, we cry unto God
our rock because He is a sure foundation. A sure foundation. Secondly, we cry unto God our
rock because He is a sure refuge. And thirdly, we cry unto God
our rock because He is a sure refreshment. show you how a rock
can be refreshing. That doesn't sound like it. It
sounds like you can get refreshment from a rock. I'm going to show
you you can. So first of all, He is our rock, a sure foundation. So in the silence, cry unto God,
your rock, because of this, He is our sure foundation. Our Lord said that in Isaiah
chapter 28, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a sure foundation,
a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. We know that is Jesus Christ
alone. He is the rock that is the foundation
and cornerstone of our soul. Therefore, in that same chapter he makes
a contrast. You remember he says that the
religious man, the self-righteous man, he has a refuge, he has
a foundation, but his refuge is one of lies. His refuge is
not a sure refuge, it is a refuge of His works. It's a falsehood. And then He
sets Christ in opposition to that as a sure foundation for
all the elect children. So all those whose hope is built
on this cornerstone, we know this, that not even the gates
of hell shall prevail against this stone. That's what our Lord
said. He said, Thou art called Peter,
little rock, pebble. But upon this massive rock I
will build my church, speaking of himself, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. Surely the word of the apostles
and prophets are the foundation of our of our faith and practice. But what's the cornerstone of
this book? In the silence, in the darkness,
what is the comfort of the believer's heart? My comfort is that this
Word is sure. It's sure because it is the Word
of God. How do I know this Word is sure?
How do I know that this book is not like every other book
that has been written? I know that because Jesus Christ
is the cornerstone of this book. He is the cornerstone of the
Word of God. And all its Word is founded on
Him. What is a cornerstone? Why is
that so important? Why does the Lord call Him a
cornerstone? Well, because in that day when they built a building,
everything was measured off of that stone. There was a stone
in the corner of the building and everything was measured off
that stone. The direction was measured off
that stone. And all of the weight was to
be distributed onto that corner stone. And if that stone failed,
the whole building failed. This word is sure because Christ
is its cornerstone. This book is about Him. So when
David said, I will cry unto thee, O Lord my rock, I know he's crying
unto Jesus Christ. I know that. Because the whole
book is about Him. And this book stands and falls
upon His victorious work. Listen, if Jesus Christ failed,
this book is worthless. But I know He never failed. Why? He is the stone that God laid. He is the cornerstone. Scripture
says He is a tried stone. I like that. He was a proven
stone. When Jesus Christ came into the
world, He was from the very, from His very birth, He had to
prove. that he was the Christ. Or he
was born of a virgin. There's one. He was born in Bethlehem. There's another. And he didn't
even do anything yet. Yet what was he doing? He was
fulfilling the prophecies. The wise men, those king makers
came and anointed him. The shepherds came and proclaimed
him. He was a tried stone. You know,
there was never a man more tried than Jesus Christ. There was
never a man in history more tried than Him. God tried Him. God proved Him. Satan tried Him. And He was proven in the wilderness. He tempted Him. And what? What
did Jesus say about Satan? He said, The prince of this world
hath found nothing in Me. Can you say that? That Satan looked and tried to
find sin, couldn't find it. His enemy said, never a man spake
like this man. Even that Gentile governor said,
I find no fault in this man. Ain't nobody ever more tried
than this man, more proven. Through the ages He has not changed.
Why? Because He being God is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. Who are we leaning on? In the
silence, who are you leaning on? David said, I'm leaning on this
rock. My hope is built on nothing less. than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust how I feel. Sweet is frame, but holy lean
on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking.
You found that to be true. Every other ground is sinking,
Sam. Every other thing. What about your feelings? Aren't
they sinking, Sam? What about your physical Isn't
that sinking sand? Are you dependent on that? Friends,
neighbors, family, what are they? Sinking sand! And so when God
is silent, where are you going to go? I'm going to go where
I've always gone. I'm going back to this rock.
The Lord Jesus Christ, He was tried. And yet men still today falsely
accuse Him and refuse to believe on Him. who God has set to be
the foundation of everyone that believeth. We sing this hymn once more.
Here we have a firm foundation. Here the refuge for the lost. Christ the rock of our salvation. His the name on which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded.
Sacrifice To cancel guilt. Isn't that wonderful? What do
you do? He canceled it. He canceled guilt. None shall be confounded who
on him their hope hath built. So in the silence, what are you
resting on? We rest on him, the rock. Second of all, He is called our
rock because He is also our refuge. He is not only the foundation
on which we stand, He is the refuge that covers our head. You know, Moses one time prayed
to see the glory of God, didn't he? He said, Show me thy glory.
And God says, Oh no, you can't see my glory in your condition. He'll kill you. So what'd he
do? He said, I will put you in a
rock by me. Remember, he put him into the
cleft of that rock and covered him with his hand. And so when
he passed by, he could hear the glory of the Lord. And as he
finished, he could only see the hinder parts of God. Friend, Jesus Christ is that
eternal rock that was always near the Father. In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was always
near the Father because He was one with the Father in will,
in deity, in purpose, in power. God has predestinated us who
believe in Christ unto the adoption of sons. He has purposed that
we should be made perfect. And therefore, in love, He did
to us what He did to Moses. He put us in the rock. He put us in the rock. He put
us in Christ. So when distresses come, when
tribulations come, when trials come, when difficulties come,
this is my hope that I am not only on the rock, I am in the
rock. In the rock. And there was never a time that
I wasn't in Christ. Now listen, there are times I
don't feel like I'm in Christ. But what in the world does that
have to do with anything? Seeing this, that God from eternity
put me in Christ. In time, the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world and died in my stead, provided righteousness
for me, and then at the appointed time, He came to me and showed
me. He gave me life. He gave me faith. And because our Lord had borne
my sins in His own body on the tree, because my guilt and sins
were punished in my substitute, Because Jesus suffered the full
measure of God's wrath without mercy for my sins. So then, believer, if Christ
suffered for our sins, if he endured the wrath of God for
our sins, if he is our rock and he has already endured the wrath
of God for us, then how can the waves of justice
or divine providence ever remove us from Him? You see, I cry unto
the Lord my rock because He is my refuge. Can this dark providence
remove me from it? I thought of this hymn. Somebody
in the darkness, you might understand this hymn. Augustus Topley wrote
it, I believe 1700s. He said, From whence this fear
and unbelief? Hath not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for me? And will the righteous judge
of men condemn me for the debt of sin, which the Lord was charged
to thee? Complete atonement thou hast
made to the utmost farthing paid, whatever thy people owed. nor can his wrath on me take
place if sheltered in thy righteousness and sprinkled with thy blood if thou hast my discharge procured
and freely in my room endured the whole of wrath divine listen
to his question is what this new statement payment God cannot
twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine. This is the benefit of the refuge.
Because Christ endured the wrath of God for me, I will never face
the judgment and wrath of God for my sins. Why? God cannot
demand twice payment for sins. It's unjust. It's unjust. So in the darkness, when sin's
accusations overwhelm us, what's our hope? I have a refuge. I
have a refuge. So how can the waves of justice
ever come and charge me? They can't. They can't. Psalm 27 verse 5 says, For in
the time of trouble, He shall hide me. Isn't that what you
want? In His pavilion. That's what
I need. I don't want Him to hide His
face. I want to be hidden in Him. I
need to be hidden in Him. He shall hide me. In the secret
place of His tabernacle shall He hide me. He shall set me up
upon a rock. In Christ we cannot be found
guilty of sin, nor the justice of God can never charge us. Why? Because Christ is our hiding
place and in Him we are safe. We are safe. I thought about those cities
of refuge. Remember the man slayer? A man accidentally slayed a man.
He was told to run. Leave everything you've got and
run to a city of refuge. And if he made it to the city
of refuge, the man was safe. The man was safe. What a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The avenger of blood is God's
justice, God's wrath. But what can it do to one who
is in a city of refuge? Nothing. Now, I noticed this again in
that city of refuge, that he had to stay there. As long as
the priest was alive, he had to stay there. But the moment
the high priest died, listen, he was allowed to go anywhere. And he was never going to be
charged. The avenger of blood could never
come on him. When? Because the priest died. Our high priest is dead. The
Lord Jesus Christ died. So what does that mean? We're
at liberty. We can go wherever we want to. The justice of God
will never come. I also thought of Noah. Remember
Noah? Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Did Noah escape
the judgment of God? Did he escape it? Did Noah stand out there in the
middle of the field and God put a bubble around him and everybody
else died? No, he was in the ark. He did
endure the wrath of God. Where? In the ark. Christ is
the ark. He is our refuge. So in the time
of darkness, in the time when God is silent, listen to me,
you are in the rock. He is your refuge. What can hurt
you? What can harm you? I'm going to show you something
else. We cry unto God, our rock, because Christ is also a rock
of refreshment. A rock of refreshment. Now, I
won't take you there, but Isaiah 48, he tells you this, but you
can go back and look at this later. Children of Israel, remember
when they wandered in the wilderness? Had over 2 million people wandering
in the wilderness, and they were in the desert. And as they were going along,
there was a rock. They'd seen this rock, this big
rock. And as they wandered a little
bit further, well, there's that rock. It followed them wherever
they went. It's amazing, because that's
what the Apostle Paul tells us. He said that rock followed them.
Now, do you think for one minute that they ever thought that they
was going to get water from a rock? The most unlikely place you would
ever think to get water was a rock. And yet we know that's exactly
what happened. The Lord told Moses, He said, go over to that
rock, that rock's been following you. Go over that rock, and you
hit it. You smite it. And when he did,
out poured water out of this rock. Water enough for over two
million people. A lot of water. Out of a rock. That was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul says he was the rock in the wilderness. And you see that all our forgiveness
of sins, all of our cleansing comes from that smitten rock. But we read this later that they
also came into another time where they were experiencing the same
thing. They were without water in the
desert. And you know what? There was that rock again! And
the Lord told Moses, He said, This time, I don't want you to
smite the rock. I want you to go up and speak
to it. And Moses, you remember, he went up and smote the rock,
and he wasn't allowed into the Promised Land because of that. But consider this. In our time
of distress, It's like a time of drought. We become dried up. We become withered. When God
is silent, there's nothing. Food don't taste good. There's
no enjoyment in life whatsoever when God is silent. But let us learn what the Israelites
should have learned that in order to receive refreshment from this
rock, all we have to do is speak. Is it any wonder why David would
cry into the rock? Because his soul needed to be
refreshed. How often do our sins drag us
down? And all we must do then is speak
to the rock and He will cleanse us. Isn't that what John says?
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. He is a rock of refreshment. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God was made flesh,
and this is why He is a refreshment, because He came into this world
as a man, and humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. And because of his victory, and
the victory of this rock, is this, out when he was smitten,
what flowed out of Christ? Water and blood, water and blood,
just like that rock, flowed out water to cleanse, blood to atone
for our sins. I think of that woman at the
well. She was sitting there and Christ
asked her for some water. And He said this to her, He said,
If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith, Give
it to me to drink, you would ask of Him. Listen to that. You would ask of Him. That's
all that was necessary, wasn't it? Just ask. Just speak to the rock and what
he promised and he would give unto thee living water. What
is that? The water of life. The water
of life, the word of the Spirit. He said, whosoever drinketh of
this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but this water
shall be given to him, and shall be in him a well of living water
springing up. Oh, that sinners would come to
Christ for refreshment, for cleansing. Anybody need cleansing? Does
anyone need cleansing of sin? I don't mean do you need help
with sin. Religious people are going to
try to help you with sin. I don't need help. I need somebody
to remove it. I need somebody to cleanse it.
I need somebody to save me. Speak to the rock. Speak to the
rock. And what will happen? Listen,
He'll wash you. He'll wash you and make you white
as snow. We who believe we are the children
of the living God and this is by grace because Christ is made our foundation
stone. You that believe on him, God
made him your foundation. Isn't that right? God made him
your refuge. God made him your refreshment
and the only reason you know he's your foundation You know
he's your refuge, and you know he's your refreshment is what
because God gave it to you Listen you should worry You should
really worry if God is silent that doesn't bother you then
you should worry If God is silent and that moves you to cry there's
a reason Why? Because Christ is your rock. Christ is your foundation. Look
at what he says. Go back to your text. David in verse 6. He said, Blessed
be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplication. I cried unto the rock. Don't
be silent. Please answer me. Please hear
me. And what do you do? I bless the
Lord because He heard me. Now you that are in Christ, I
want you to know this. You are always heard. Now you are not heard because
of you. That's why you doubt, right? You cry out and then you
think, well, you know, I don't know if He's hearing me. Well,
that's because you're thinking about what you deserve. Listen, He hears you not because
of you, but because of Christ. That's why He hears you. And
David said, I bless God that He heard my supplications. He
said this in verse 7, what did he find out? The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in Him, and
what's the result? I'm helped. I'm helped. Therefore, my heart gladly rejoices,
and with my song will I praise Him. And notice this, David knew
that the Lord's strength was not just sufficient for him.
Look what he said. Notice the tense here has changed.
The Lord is their strength. He's not just my strength. He's
their strength. His strength is sufficient for
His whole church. How many saints have already
gone home to be with the Lord before you got here? Before you
came into this world? How many saints had already lived
and gone and died? And friends, when we pass on,
how many more will He uphold? That's strength, friends. He's
upheld them, and He will uphold us. That's how I know I'm sure. He upheld David. Well, David
said, well, He'll hold you too. He said their strength. The Lord
is their strength. He is the saving strength of
His anointed, and what does He cry? What is His desire now? Now that God has spoken, He was
silent, He cried unto the Lord, recognizing He's His rock. So
what does He do? He simply falls on the rock.
How much strength does it take to fall? Really, falling is the absence
of strength, isn't it? When a man has no strength, what
does he fall? What does he do? He falls. What
did he fall on? He said, I fell on the rock. I'm so thankful this rock is
large. This rock is large. That means I'll never fall off
of it. I'll fall on it, but I'll never
fall off of it. When I fall on it, I get broken.
I get broken. Breaks my heart to see what my
Lord has done for me and what I've done to Him. Breaks my heart. But I won't ever fall off. He's
my foundation. He's my strength. He's my refuge. And He's my refreshment. He's
my rock. David mentions these in this
text. He also mentions in verses 3
through 5, the enemies of God. The enemies of God are those
who are not on the rock. In Isaiah 28, God says, I lay
the plummet to the line which means everything outside of this
rock is going to be cut off. It's like on a foundation, you
have a foundation, and that foundation, I remember building a house with
my dad, and we'd build this house on blocks, and we'd have some
pieces of wood that just stuck out. What'd we do with those? We cut them off. We cut them
off. Listen, anyone outside of Christ,
you have no rock. You have no refuge. You have
no refreshment. And this rock will crush you. If you don't fall on this rock,
you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, listen, this rock
will crush you. It will destroy you. And David
said this, give them exactly what they deserve. That's exactly what God's gonna
do. Is this your rock? Is this the one you cried to
in the darkness? In the silence? It is for every believer, because
I got no place else to go. And to tell you the truth, I
don't want to go anywhere else. Do you want any other rock? Do
you want any other refuge? No, I want him on him. Oh Lord, be not silent to me.
Be my rock. I pray God will bless this and
stand be dismissed. Terrence, dismiss this in prayer,
please. Yeah. Yeah. There's not another doctor like
you. You're the one that's going to
give us the freedom and the right to be free. That's what you told
me. We're trying to arrest you. We're trying to free you. Oh, pray for us as we travel. We'll be heading out tomorrow
to go to Houston. I'll be preaching at my niece's
funeral, wedding.