As I preach this message, I ask
you, pray for me. Pray for me. That God would give
me such liberty as you need to hear. The title of the message
is, A Cry to the Rock. A Cry to the Rock. The psalmist
said in Psalm 28, Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me,
lest if thou be silent to me, I am become like them that go
down to the pit." This morning I want to speak to you from the
Word of God. I want to speak to you who are
believers in Christ concerning our need to cry unto God. I want to talk to you this morning
about your enemies. Those who oppose us this morning. If you're a believer in Christ,
you know this. You have enemies. And these enemies are not fake.
They're not mythological enemies. They are real enemies that desire
nothing more than for us to cause others to blaspheme the name
of our God. We have real enemies. I want
us to see these enemies. And then I want us to see the
remedy. What is the remedy for our calamities? What's the remedy for our troubles
and our trials and these fights we fight with the enemies that
we face? What is the remedy? First of
all, I want us to see that the psalmist here is fighting real
enemies. He's in trouble. He says, Unto
thee will I cry. Cry. He cries unto the Lord in the
midst of great troubles, as is often and frequently the case
of every believer in Christ. Is that not so with you? Are
we not often found crying? Crying out unto God for help. The case of every believer, this
is my case, constantly before God, has caused me to cry out
as my enemies. What causes me to cry out are
all those things that oppose what I truly desire. What every
believer truly desires is to be with Christ. That's what I
desire. I want to be holy. I want to
be like Him. I want to serve Him. I want to
love Him. I want to honor Him. In every
part of my life, this is my desire, that I dwell with Him and that
He be present with me. Though it is true that every
sinner who comes to God by faith in Christ, we have peace with
God. Isn't that so? Paul says that in Romans chapter
5. He says, being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You, believer,
have peace with God because of the blood of Christ. But I tell
you this, your Savior never promised you peace with the world. He never promised you peace with
this world. Jesus promises us the opposite. In this world, you shall have
tribulation. Why? Because the world hates
me, he said, it will also hate you. It will also hate you. I'm often surprised when people
hate me. I am. I'm just such a likable
fellow. But I know this, it is true,
the world hates me. It hates me not necessarily because
of me. It hates me because it hates
my God. It hates my gospel and it hates
my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The world hates me because it
first hated Him. And therefore the Lord says,
you have an enemy. The enemy is this world. The
enemy is this world and it hates you. In Christ we have peace with
God, but in the world we have tribulation. Because the world
is absolutely and completely opposed to Jesus Christ, His
gospel, and His church. This world is a place of peace
for the wicked. The world loves its own. The
world loves its own. Jesus said that. He said, if
somebody of the world come to you in their name, him you will
accept. Think of any famous person that
you consider. He comes to you, the world embraces
them, loves them. But I come to you in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what does the world do? It opposes
me because it opposes Him. It hates Him. And therefore,
the gospel that I preach, the world hates. This world is a
place of peace for the wicked, but it's not for us. For me,
as I grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, I know it is for you
too, believer. This world is becoming more barren.
This world is becoming less and less attractive to me every day. I despise this world. The things
of this world are so fastly fleeting, and when I consider eternity,
this amount of time that we are given in this world is but a
blip. It is but a speck. And it's gone. It's gone. This world has nothing
for us, believer, but it's full of sin and snares and tears and
sighs. Therefore, By the world comes
tribulation. It makes our hearts cry to God
for help. Isn't that so? The world causes
us to cry. The second enemy that causes
us to cry is much closer than the world. The world may be in
general, the world may be out there, you may go into your home,
shut the door, cut off every electronic that you have, and
you can cast out the world in that sense. But there's an enemy
closer to you than the world. Your family. Your family that
does not believe on Jesus Christ is your enemy. They oppose you
in every single way. Go over to Matthew chapter 10.
Look at this. Look what the Lord Jesus Christ
said about this. And remember, He's warning us about this so
we wouldn't be surprised. Now, I'm surprised at this a
lot, and that's sad because the Lord has warned us. Go over to
Matthew chapter 10. And look at verse 34. Think not, I am come to send
peace on earth. I am not come to send peace,
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Listen.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. You see, when God takes one from
a city and two from a family, when God saves one in the house
and doesn't save the other, I tell you there's going to be great
conflict in that house. There's great conflict. How do
I know that? I know this by experience because
I was opposed to my parents. When my parents wanted to go
to church, I tell you this, I would rather go get a root canal than
go to church. And I would oppose them in every
turn. Why? Because I was their enemy. I was opposed to them. I was
opposed to their God. I was opposed to their Christ.
And I would do anything to disrupt their unity. I'd do anything. Why? Because God can send a sword. And the sword is the gospel.
The gospel is not this gentle thing. It is a sword of division. Do you not see that? If you're
lost, you have been divided from Me and Me from you. I am bound for glory, bound for
eternity, and if you're lost and you die in your sins, you're
bound for hell. You see a division there? You remember when the
rich man lifted up his eyes being in torment, Abraham said, see,
there is a great divide between us. A goal fixed so that nobody
can come across. Nobody. There's a great divide
in our families, aren't there? Even because they're enemies.
They're enemies. The gospel is hated and rejected
not only by the world, but also those who are nearest and dearest
to us. But let me tell you of a closer
enemy. There's a closer enemy than your family. Believer, you
have a closer enemy than your blood relation. You know what
enemy that is? Yourself. Yourself. If you're a believer, you completely
understand what I just said. You are constantly opposed to
you. You are constantly opposed. The
natural man, the old man, is still with us. And thus we have
an enemy that we cannot rid ourselves. I tell you what, I can leave
my family, I can leave everything behind me, shut out the world,
I can get into a closet all by myself, but I tell you I cannot
escape this enemy. The enemy of self. The enemy
of the flesh. If there is ever an enemy that
will cause the children of God to cry out unto God, it is ourself. Now, we have been given a new
heart. We who are believers in Christ,
the reason we love the gospel, the reason we believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ is because God has given us a new heart
that wasn't there before. As I told you, I opposed the
gospel before, but now I embrace it. Now I love Him, and I love
His gospel, and I love His people. Why is that? Because God gave
me something that wasn't there before. He gave me a new nature,
a new heart. And as soon as that new nature
came in, a war started. A warfare. A warfare inside of
myself constantly opposed to one another is the flesh and
the spirit. The flesh desires sin. The new man desires righteousness
so that I cannot do what I want to. The flesh can't do what it
wants to and the spirit can't do it. Constantly opposed to
one another. Constantly fighting. It is only after spiritual warfare,
spiritual life, that spiritual warfare begins. Therefore, believer,
we are constantly in need of the exhortation of Galatians
5, 13. It says, brethren, you have been
called to liberty. Isn't that a wonderful gospel?
You've been set free. You were a slave to sin, and
now you've been set free. You have liberty of God's free
and sovereign grace. You have limitless forgiveness
and mercy and all the graces of God are yours. The inheritance
of heaven is yours. Life is yours. You have liberty.
Only use not your liberty for an occasion of sin. And I'll
tell you, if we were free from sin, would we need that? Would
you need an exhortation like that if you were free from sin
completely? But because we have the flesh,
we need that. I need to be reminded of that.
Don't let my liberty get in the way and say, oh, well, I'm saved
by grace. I guess I can give an occasion
to the flesh here. No. No, don't do it. We're exhorted
not to. Use not your liberty to an occasion
to the flesh. Surely, believer, we are prone
to sin. and need the exhortation, abstain from the very appearance
of evil. Isn't that a good exhortation
for us? Do you need that? I need that. I need to be reminded of that.
Flee fornication. I need to be reminded of that.
Why? Because the old man is prone
to all sin. He is prone to all sin. The flesh and the spirit, being
contrary one to another, are at war with one another. Because this war rages within
our own body, we cannot escape it. Listen to me. If there is
no struggle, it's because there is no life. If there is no struggle, with
sin, there is no life. And I don't mean struggle with
sin like the natural man who thinks, well, I struggle with
sin because I don't want to get caught. Well, that's not the
struggle I'm talking about. The struggle I'm talking about
is I don't want to sin because I love my God. I'm like Joseph. When he was tempted with Potiphar's
wife, he said, how can I do this and sin against God? You see, I don't want to sin
against God. If you have no struggle, if you
have no love for Christ, no love for the brethren, no desire to
hear His Word, no desire to fellowship with the saints, it's because
you're dead. You're dead. You have no life. Listen to me. Men struggle with
morality. They struggle to be good citizens.
They struggle with drug abuse and alcohol abuse. Men struggle
with sexual immorality. Men surely cry out to God for
healing. Isn't that so? They struggle
with these things. All men struggle with these things. The difference between the lost
man and the saved man is the lost man desires to be free from
the consequences of his sin. A man goes out, commits sexual
immorality, he gets a disease from it. What does he do? He
cries to God, Oh God, help me, help me! Oh please, what does
he want? He wants to be delivered from
his sickness. Who doesn't? Who doesn't? That doesn't make a man saved
because he wants to be excused from the... He has all these
drugs, and his body is ruined now, and his reputation is ruined,
and what does he do? He cries out to God. He says,
Oh God, help me! What does he want? He wants to
be free from the consequences of his sins. He doesn't want
to be free from his sins. Just the consequences. The lost man desires to be delivered
from his troubles only. But we who believe on Jesus Christ,
we desire something much greater. I tell you what, I can live without a lot of things. But I can't live without hearing
him. I must have Christ. Isn't that what the psalmist
said? He says, I cry unto thee, O Lord, my rock. Listen what
he wants. Be not silent to me. Lest, if thou be silent, I become
like them that go down to hell. The lost man does not desire
to hear the voice of God. He doesn't want it. He doesn't want to hear it. The
natural man hears the voice of God's judgment. He hears the
voice of God's creation. Because the law of God is written
in his heart and he can't escape that. But to those who are saved, the Word of God is of more value
to us than anything else in this world. The Word of God. This book is
greatly valuable to me. It's greatly valuable to me because
this is how God speaks to me. It's through His Word. Through His Word. The Word of
God is precious to us because the Word of God exposes me. The Word of God exposes me for
what I am. It exposes my sin and it causes
me to humble myself before God and seek mercy. Seek mercy from God. I desire to hear his voice, a
voice of grace, not audibly, but I tell you this, I hear it
through the preaching of the gospel. Isn't that how he quickened
us to life and faith? It's through his gospel, through
the preaching of his word. Go over 2 Thessalonians and see
it. 2 Thessalonians, chapter two. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13, We are bound to give thanks to
God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God had chosen us from the beginning to salvation through the sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto He called you
by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. You believer, God has chosen
you to salvation, which He has obtained by Jesus Christ, and
now through the sanctification of the Spirit, through the power
of the Holy Spirit, He's given you life, and you've believed
the gospel of Jesus Christ, We believe the truth even as God
has ordained us to. You know who's going to believe
this gospel? Those that God ordained. And no one else. No one else. The gospel. The Scripture says was preached
by the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 13. And the Scripture says, as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Believed. But how did they believe? How
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? God saves as many as He's ordained,
and they'll believe how? By our gospel. He says, whereunto He called
you. Isn't that wonderful? He called you. It's not the other
way around. Truly, I called on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He whosoever calleth on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But I called Him only after He
called me. Only after He called me by His
grace did I cry out to Him. And He called me by the gospel,
by the preaching of the gospel. And it's by this method, this
means, that God speaks. And so He says, I will cry unto
thee, O Lord, my rock, be not silent to me. Jesus said, My
sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me. and they shall never
perish. I give them eternal life. This is the voice that I heard.
This is the voice of Jesus Christ that I desire to hear again and
again and again by the gospel. I desire to hear this message
constantly. I need constantly to be reaffirmed
that this is all my hope and salvation. And I need not just
to hear a man's voice, I need to hear His voice. There is never so dark a time
in a believer's life as when God is silent. Isn't that so
with you? It's so with me. When God is
silent, I tell you what, my world begins
to tremble. The foundations begin to quake,
and I find no standing. If I can't hear His voice, I
find no standing. We know that in our flesh dwelleth
no good thing. We know we deserve to be forsaken. We know that in ourselves dwells
nothing good. We are daily and hourly in need
of God's mercy continually. Therefore, it is such darkness
and silence from our God that we begin and are made to cry
out, O Lord, please speak to me. Lord, please speak to me. Please don't be silent. Reveal
yourself and speak to my heart the words of God, the words of
comfort, the words of forgiveness of sins. And it is here in our
weakness that we are made to cry, O Lord, restore my strength,
restore my love, restore every grace. Father, I need You. I can't live without Your voice.
I must hear it from You. I must have Your Spirit speak
to me. I often find myself in this condition
when my sin is exposed and I feel as though God has left me. I
feel as though the windows of heaven are shut up to my prayers.
My heart feels so hard and my love feels so cold. My faith
to me is at best weak and at worst it's unbelief. The silence of heaven to my heart
is the sharpest arrow of God's chastening providences. The silence of God pierces my
heart because without Christ's voice, I know this, I have no
hope. Except I hear his voice, I have
no hope. But believer in Christ, let us
be reminded that the purpose of God in his silence, the purpose
of his arrow and chastening rod is not to destroy us. I tell you, it feels like it. His chastening hand when it's
hard against us. It feels as though God would
crush us. But that's not His purpose. His
purpose for silence is to cause us to cry. He desires us to cry
out to Him. Cast all your care on Him, for
He careth for you. Now consider the greatness of
this our God. Consider the greatness of His
grace that no man can cry out to God except God draw him. I know this, many people think,
well, I'll call on God when it's more convenient. As though you
have any power to do that. As though you think you have
any sway with God. As though you can manipulate
God and say, God, well, I'll call on you later. I'll tell
you this, if God doesn't give you the power to call, you'll
never call. The power to call on God doesn't
rest with you. It rests with God. No man can
call on God, call on Christ, except the Father. Draw Him.
We will cry unto God alone through the merits of Jesus Christ alone.
Not by mere will, but we are willingly calling and crying
because of the power of God. Do you cry unto God? Then consider
the grace of that. Consider the mercy you have obtained
from God that you can cry to God for mercy. because this is
the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jeremiah 31 verse three, God
says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness have I drawn thee. You see, I'm drawn to Christ
because God draws me to Christ. God draws me to Christ. Only
those loved by God, chosen by God from eternity, He will draw
in loving kindness. Therefore, are you distressed,
believer? Are you distressed about the
darkness and silence of God? Do your enemies afflict you? Then I'll speak to you The Word
of God. I'll speak to you concerning
the rock. Look what he says. I cry unto
thee, O Lord. Notice, my rock. The Holy Spirit uses this on
purpose. On purpose. To show us and describe
to us our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. First of all, let me
give you four things quickly about this rock. First of all,
He is called my rock because He is a rock of rest, a rock
of repose. You see, Jesus Christ is my rock
of repose even because He is the sure foundation of our souls. Believer, you can cry out to
your God, Lord, speak to me. How? Through the rock. Speak
to me through the rock. The rock is our repose. It is our foundation of our souls. Man by nature trusts in all sorts
of things. They trust in their works. They
trust in their goodness. They trust in their parents.
They trust in their... All kinds of things. What are
you trusting in? What are you hoping? When you
see God, what are you hoping to stand on? Because I tell you, there is
only one foundation by which men can stand before God. It is Jesus Christ and Him alone. God says, behold, I lay in Zion
for a stone, a foundation stone, sure stone, tried stone, precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. There is only one foundation
for the souls of man to rest on, and that is Jesus Christ. This is the foundation stone.
It was the purpose of God in grace that all of the elect church
should be built upon Jesus Christ. Jesus said, upon this rock, pointing
to Himself, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. Consider this, those whose names
were written in the Lamb's book of life before the world began,
who were born under the brass gates of hell and sin, that the
bars did not stop God from saving us. Isn't that right? I was barred
up with sin. I was barred up against God.
I was opposed to God. And you know what? Those gates
did not stand. They fell when God came in power. They fell and His kingdom was
set up in my heart. That's the power of God. Consider the power of God who
broke down the bars of our heart and keeps us. This foundation
was laid of God. Behold the rock. Jesus Christ,
upon whom all our salvation is built. It is sure. It is a sure foundation. Therefore,
you who believe, you can rest on it. You can rest. Second of all, Jesus is the rock
of my refuge. You remember when Moses wanted
to see the glory of God. He said, God, show me your face. And God said, you can't see My
face and live. But I've prepared a place beside
Me. It's the cleft of the rock. And
He put Moses in that rock. And He covered him with His hand.
And then God was able to reveal Himself. as He passed by. This rock, this cleft of the
rock is Jesus Christ, our refuge. Our refuge. I tell you, many
of you have a refuge of nothing but lies. What would you think of a man
before a tornado that's coming in his path if he were to hold
up his cardboard box? say ah look at me I'm protected
I'm protected surely this box will take care of me you would
laugh at that you would say no man that won't work and yet many
you got a box You're holding up your works and your goodness
and all your things before God, and God's justice is coming right
at you. And I tell you, your refuge is
nothing, and God will pass over you, and hell will come over
you, and He'll rip apart your lies. He'll tear them all apart. But I'm pointing you to a refuge.
I'm pointing you to One who absorbs the blow of God's justice. That's Jesus. Do you not see
that all of His elect were in Him when God punished Him on
the cross? All of us were in Him! And God's justice poured out
on Christ. He took our sins in His own body
on the tree, and God poured out vengeance. But you see, all who
are in Christ are safe. He is the mountain of refuge. He is our refuge. His blood that
was shed has already satisfied the justice of God in our stead. And when he opened my eyes to
see it, I fled to him for refuge. Have you fled to Christ for refuge? And as our refuge, Jesus shelters
us from divine judgment. You know this, God cannot come
back on me with my sin. Do you realize that? God's justice
can never demand twice payment. If a man were to be released
from prison unjustly, Do you not suppose he'll always
be looking over his shoulder, waiting for justice to fall?
But listen to me, I have been freed from the justice of God. Why? Because I have already paid
the price in my Savior, Jesus Christ, my refuge. Hear His voice. He says, I am thy refuge, I am
thy ark, and in me the wrath of God shall not touch you, because
it's already struck me in your stead. Christ is our hiding place,
our pavilion, our sharp rock that protects us from all trouble. And thirdly, God is the rock
of refreshment. Jesus is the rock of refreshment.
You remember when Israel was in the desert, and they were
thirsty. They had no water. It was only
after Moses struck that rock that out poured water for them in the desert. And Paul tells us that that rock
that followed them in the desert was Christ. And the second time that rock
appears in Scripture, God says to Moses not to smite the rock,
but to speak to it. Now Moses, he hits the rock.
He gets mad at them and he, oh, how dare you people! How many
times have I got to do this for you? And he hit the rock. And
God wouldn't let him in the promised land that time. Because he disobeyed
God. Because he ruined the type. Do
you not see that Christ is the rock? Do you need water? Do you
need refreshment for your soul? Do you need cleansing from sin? Then speak to the rock. Speak. Cry out to God and He will pour
over you rivers of living water. And when Jesus asked that woman
at the well, he said, give me a drink of water. And she said, well, you ain't
got nothing to draw it out with. He said, if you knew who it was
that asked you for water, you would ask of me. And I would give you rivers of
living water. Do you need life? Then ask. I don't know how many
times my children come to me with questions, and I could easily
answer them theoretically, theologically answer them, but you know how
I want them to ask instead of me? Ask God. Why do you not ask the one who
wrote the book? Ask of Him and He'll give you
life. Ask of Him and He'll give you
fountains of water to cleanse you from all your sin and unrighteousness. He'll give you glory. Heaven
itself. Eternal life. Ask. You know what? When I first asked,
you know what I've been doing ever since? Asking. Asking. to me. God teach me. God cleanse me
from my sin. Do you need cleansing? Look to the rock that was And lastly, this is the rock
that will restore. He is the rock of repose. He's
the foundation of life. He is the rock of refuge for
your souls. He is the rock of refreshment.
And listen, He is the rock that's going to restore. In other words,
one day this rock is coming back. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
back. And He is going to restore all things. He's going to restore
order. He is going to restore paradise. For who? All that are in the
rock. All that are in Christ. All that
believe on Christ. All that love Christ. All that
love God and hear His voice. He is going to restore this world
to paradise. It's going to be glorious. But all who are outside Christ,
listen to me, this rock, if you do not fall on this rock and
are broken, listen to me, this rock will grind you to powder. This rock will crush you. Unto thee, O Lord, Do I cry unto my rock? In Christ, I find rest. In Christ,
I find refuge. In Christ, I find refreshment.
And in Christ, I find the restoration of all things. Have you heard his voice? Then
I know this, you desire to hear it again and again. And without
it, I know this, I can't live. I must have Christ. May God instill
this in your heart. And you can rejoice with me.
Let's stand, we'll be dismissed in prayer.