All right, take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Psalm 28. Psalm 28. The title of this message,
Cry Unto the Rock. A cry unto the rock. The psalmist writes, unto thee
will I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me, lest if
thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the
pit. Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. There is never a time so dark
in the believer's experience as when God is silent. David,
the psalmist here, is writing and says, Lord, be not silent
unto me. When God seems to hide his face
and he seems to leave us alone, This is a dark time. This we
know to be true, that if God were to forsake us, surely we
deserve it. There is nothing in us that would
merit God staying with us. We have sinned, we do sin, we
are condemned by our own conscience, So we stand before the Lord as
like Joshua the high priest robed in those filthy rags. How often
do we come to God and feel as though we come in these filthy
rags? And we beseech Him and He is silent. It's in this darkness and fear
In our text, the psalmist cries out to the Lord to reveal himself,
to speak. He said, Be not silent unto me,
lest if thou be silent I become like them that go down into the
pit. There is nothing different between
me and those who are cast into outer darkness. If you are silent,
I have no hope. If you don't speak, I have no
hope. And so what do we do in this
time as we cry out unto the Lord to speak to our hearts, to give
us comfort, to restore our strength, and not to destroy us. I often
find myself in this condition. Sadly, I feel at times that God
has left. And again, what we're dealing
with is what? My feelings. I feel. I feel as though God
has left. It seems to me as though God
has left. He is not speaking. This is like
an arrow that pierces my heart. Because without Christ, without
his mercy, I'm sure to go down with the rest of the wicked. But even in our despair, God
still is performing his good providence to us. We must by
faith know this, see this. You cannot tell the love of God
by what you see or what you feel. Because what we see and what
we feel is always changing. Remember, the love of God towards
his people is changeless. It's changeless. And I'll tell you, God is performing
by this his good providence. For when God is silent, I am
brought low. When God is silent, I again see
that he is altogether precious. that he is my rock. He is all my salvation. Therefore, in the silence, what
are we to do? David said, unto thee I will
cry. O Lord, my rock. When the Lord Jesus preached
the sovereignty of God in John chapter six, you remember, He
had a bunch of people. He had fed those 5,000 and then
they had followed him across the sea and they said, ìLord,
give us more of that food. Weíre going to make you king.î But after he preached, he said
this, ìI am the bread of life. that cometh down from heaven.
I am the God-man, is what he was saying. The bread of life,
that speaks of his flesh, of his humanity, of coming down
from heaven. That's where he was, in deity. The God-man has come down. In chapter, in verse 37 through
40, he tells us why he came down, that he should give eternal life
to those that the Father had given him. He said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. And this is the will, this is
the will of him that sent me, that of all he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. He preached to them the inability
of man in verse 44 of John 6. He said, no man can come unto
me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him. And he said at the very end,
he said, these words that I speak, they are spirit and they are
truth. And after this, you remember
what happened. Many of his disciples walked
no more with him. Can you imagine what his disciples
have thought and felt? Suppose 5,000 people came sitting
down in this building, if it were possible. You'd be saying,
praise the Lord! Wow! Look at what God has done! He has brought many! And after
I preach the first message, you're the only ones here again. How
your heart would sink! And he turns to his disciples
and asks a question that he knows. He says, will you go away also? Dark providence. They didn't
understand. They didn't understand what was
going on. And Peter had the right answer, the answer that God gives
every one of us when we are in the silence, when everything
seems to go opposite of the way we think it should. That question
comes to our hearts. Will you go away also? What is your answer? I got nowhere else to go. To
whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Christian, when we are distressed,
when we are in darkness, When the accusations of our conscience
overwhelm us, when Satan would accuse us, religion would tempt
us, then in the darkness, in the silence, in the absence of
God's voice, in our heart, in trouble, in difficulty, what
do we do? Do we go away? No. Where shall we go? We have nowhere
to go. And friends, I know this in my
heart, I don't want to go anywhere else. If God is silent to me,
I do not seek someone else's voice. I need His voice. I need
to hear His word. We cry unto God, for there is
none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. There
is only one Savior. There is only one help for me. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is my help. We cry unto Christ. We're like blind Bartimaeus.
You remember him? Be merciful to me. You know,
he wouldn't shut up until Christ came. He couldn't. He didn't care what the disciples
said. He didn't care what anybody else said. He had to hear Christ. We don't desire to hear anyone
else's voice, but His. Now listen, you can cry to others. All right? You're in trouble.
You do ask for others' help. How does that usually work out
for you? He said the arm of flesh shall
fail you. Why? Because the strength of
man is weak. You can ask me for help and I
will do all I can to help you, but there is no strength here. Where does the believer derive
his strength? To endure, to believe and trust. It is from God. The arm of flesh
shall fail because it is flesh, but we cry unto the arm of God
that cannot fail. His strength is never diminished. Because to every sinner who is
without strength who comes to Christ, what do we find? We find him to be a rock. A rock. David cried, I cry unto thee,
will I cry, O Lord, my rock. My rock. Crying to God because he is our
rock. He is our sure foundation. He is our refuge. Holy Spirit uses this word rock
many times to describe the Lord Jesus Christ. Many times. Why does the Holy
Spirit use a rock? Because a rock is firm. A rock
has a characteristic of being sure, steady. A rock is something that can
support us. A rock is something that can
protect us. Now I've got three things about
Christ being our rock. Actually, there are four things
about Christ being our rock that I wanted to say. First of all,
I want us to see this, when we cry unto Him as our rock, I want
you to see that this rock is the foundation of our souls. The rock Jesus Christ is a foundation
under us. Secondly, Christ is a refuge
over us. Christ is a rock that refreshes
us. And fourthly, those outside of
Christ, Christ is a rock that will crush them. So let's see these things. First
of all, Christ is a rock, a sure foundation under us. Believer
in the silence and in the darkness, we should now presently cry unto
Christ our rock and fall upon him by faith because of this.
He is a sure foundation. He is a sure foundation. You see this in Isaiah chapter
28. Isaiah chapter 28 and verse 16. Therefore, thus saith
the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion For a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Oh, my friends, behold, the cornerstone
of all our salvation is Jesus Christ. So whether God is speaking
to me or God is silent to me, listen, my foundation is Jesus
Christ. My foundation is not whether
I can feel the presence of God or not. That fluctuates. I love to feel the presence of
God. I do. I long for it. But because that presence is
absent, that is not my hope. My hope is in something sure,
something immovable. It is Christ. God said, I lay
in Zion for a stone, a sure foundation. Foundation for the hope of God's
elect, the foundation of our souls. Now in contrast, men have made
lies their refuge. They have made a foundation for
their souls based on falsehoods, God said, on their works. What's your hope
of being accepted with God tonight? You that are in Christ, I know
this. When I ask that question, you
know the answer to that is Christ. My hope is Christ. All Christ. Nothing but Christ. His righteousness,
His blood, His resurrection, His intercession. That's my hope. That's what I'm standing on.
That's my foundation. But this world, they have a foundation
of religious works. But God has laid a stone in Zion
by His grace. He has set Christ to be the foundation
of all His elect and all whose hope is built on this cornerstone. Listen, the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. How sure is your salvation? How
sure is it? How confident can you be in this
salvation? You can be as confident as God.
God said, I lay this stone. Christ is my stone, the cornerstone. That's what he told Peter in
Matthew 16, right? He said, thou art Peter, you
little pebble. You're just a little pebble. upon this rock, speaking of himself,
massive rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Surely the word of the apostles
and prophets, that is, Paul says, that's the foundation upon which
our faith and practice is built. Isn't our faith and practice
built upon the foundation of this word? It is. This is the
foundation. But what's the cornerstone of
the foundation? What's the whole sum and subject
of the apostles and prophets? It is the cornerstone. What is
the weight of their word? Why should we give any weight
to their word? Why should we give any heed to their word? Because their word is Christ. Their word speaks of the cornerstone. Their word is built upon the
cornerstone. Jesus Christ. You all remember
the old building that we had off Zorn in Cleveland? We had
an old building and it had a cornerstone. You know what that means? All
the weight of that building rested on that corner. That's what it
is. The whole weight of that structure
depended upon that stone. If that stone were removed, the
whole thing would fall. That's how buildings were built
then. But not only that, it made it
level. The stone had to be level. The
whole building was measured off of that stone and if the stone
was unlevel, the whole building would be out of line. The cornerstone is important
because it gives a line of direction. And if it's not a tried stone,
if it's not a true level stone, the whole building and structure
would fall under its own weight. You see, God chose Christ to
be the cornerstone, to set him from eternity. set
on him the full weight of the salvation of God's people. This is relieving to me that
the responsibility for all my salvation was totally dependent
on Christ. God put all the weight on that
stone. All my salvation rests upon the
work of Jesus Christ. And everything that is not built
on Him, God says, I will cut off. He said judgment, verse 17 of
Isaiah 28, judgment also is laid to the line. Righteousness to
the plummet, and hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and
the waters shall overflow the hiding place. Friends, there's never been a
man more tried than Jesus Christ. This stone has been tested. This
stone has been proven. How do I know my salvation? Sure,
look at the stone. Look at the rock. He's been tried. God tried him. He spent 40 days
without food. You know what? He trusted God
for his life. Satan tried him, tempted him.
And what did he say to Satan? The prince of this world hath
found nothing in me. Can you say that? Anybody? Anybody say that? Satan found
nothing in me. No, only he could say that. He
was tried. And when Pilate tried him, what
did he say? I find no fault in this man. He was tried. He was tried. And through the ages he has not
changed. He being God is the same yesterday,
today, and forever, yet men still try to falsely accuse him. They
refuse to believe on him who God has said to be the foundation
of everyone that believes. The stone which the builders
refused, the same has become the head of the corner. Here, I like this hymn that we
sing. We have a firm foundation. The
refuge of the lost. Christ, the rock of our salvation. His the name of which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded. Sacrifice to cancel guilt. Listen to this. None shall be
confounded who on him their hope have built. Is your hope built
on Christ? then you will not be confounded. You will not make haste. Do you desire to go anywhere?
When you feel down, when God is silent to you, do you desire
to go anywhere else but Christ? Is there any other way that you'd
cry to God? But through the rock. Secondly,
we see Him as our foundation, but we cry unto our rock, David
said, I will cry unto the Lord my rock because He is not only
my foundation, He is my refuge. He is not only the foundation
under us, girding us, carrying us, supporting us. He is also
the refuge over us. You remember when Moses prayed
to see the glory of God, God said, you cannot see my face.
you'll die. But he said, there is a place
by me. I think it's Exodus 33. He said,
there is a place by me. And you remember, God put Moses
where? Where did God put Moses? In the
cleft of the rock. And not only that, he covered
him with his hand. Could you imagine a safer place? Christ our rock. We are covered
by Christ our rock and the hand of God keeps us there. Protects
us. Why? So that we may see God. So that we may glorify God and
worship him. Believer, God has predestinated
us and chosen us as believers in Christ unto the adoptions
of son and his purpose that we should be perfect. Therefore,
he in love made us accepted, where? In Christ, in a refuge, in the cleft of the rock. Consider that there was never
a time that we were not kept in Christ. Can you imagine any time that
you have not been in Christ? Now listen, there's a time in
our experience where we were outside of Christ. But in truth,
we were always in Christ. God put us in Christ. Then one
day He revealed it to me. One day I experienced it, but
I was always in Christ. There was never a time I was
not in this cleft of the rock in union with him. And therefore, we were in Christ
and preserved until the appointed time of our salvation through
faith in him. You remember that his blood had
already been shed and satisfied the justice of God with his one
offering. And when he opened our eyes,
when he created in us a new nature, we were able then to see that
we were justified, that we were in Christ. I can now understand how God
can be just and justify the ungodly only because Christ is my refuge. The Noah's Ark is an ultimate
picture of this. It is a beautiful picture of
a refuge, isn't it? God swore destruction upon the
whole earth. In wrath against sin, God swore
destruction. And yet Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. And those that have found grace
in the eyes of the Lord were placed in the ark, in the refuge. And as God poured out His justice,
it was the ark who endured the wrath of God. That's Christ,
our rock, our refuge. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. He bore all the guilt. He was made sin for us. Who knew
no sin? I spent a lot of time today thinking
about that. And to tell you the truth, I
can't enter into it. I don't fully grasp what that is. I think the closest thing I read
today was Lamentations. If you read Lamentations, through
the eyes of Christ, as though Christ is writing that, he says,
is it nothing to you that passed by? He said, I'm a man that has seen
affliction. Is there any man that has seen
affliction like Christ? Is there any man that has endured
the wrath of God but Christ? Christ endured the wrath of God
for all his people's sins. He suffered the full measure
of God's wrath without mercy and then satisfied the justice
of God. Believer, if Christ has suffered
for our sins, if he has endured the wrath of God, for us as our rock. How then shall the waves of God's
justice ever come to charge us? We just sang that, didn't we?
How can God demand twice payment? First at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine. See how he's a refuge? He has
shielded us from the wrath of God. So He is my foundation,
He is my righteousness, and His blood, His offering is my refuge. Therefore they cannot and they
will not ever come before the eyes of God. Is it astounding
we will never see the wrath of God? I told you I couldn't enter
into it now in my mind, but you know what? You don't have to. Christ already did it as my refuge. You know, Noah endured the flood,
didn't he? Did Noah survive the flood? You
bet, because he was in the refuge. You and I shall endure because
we are in the refuge in Christ, our Rock. Psalm 27 verse 5 says, For in
a time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret
place of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up
upon a sharp rock. That word rock means a sharp
rock. In other words, in Christ we
cannot be found by guilt, of sin or the justice of God. In Christ, he is our hiding place. In him, we are safe so that no accusation can penetrate. I read this last night, but it's
a very good one. When God sees me, what does he
see? Go to Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse 20. Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse
20. Because Christ is my refuge,
listen, In those days and at that time, saith the Lord, the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for." Who's seeking? Who's looking
for iniquity? Well, God is. God's eyes are
of purer eyes than to behold evil. God's eyes are as a consuming
fire. looking for sin. And when he
finds sin, it must be punished. But when God seeks for sin in
His people, what does He find? He said, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for, and there shall be, how many? None. And the sins of Judah, they shall
not be found. Why is that? Because Christ endured
the wrath of God for them. They are paid in full. And God cannot demand twice payment. For I will pardon whom I reserve. Everyone He reserved. Everyone
He determined to pardon. Everyone for whom Christ died.
There is no sin to be found. Now wait a second. Go look in
the mirror. And what do you see? I'm sure Glenn gets up in the
morning and says, oh, look at holy Glenn. No, that's not what
I'm saying. I see my sin. I feel my sin. I hate my sin. I confess my sin, but in the eyes of God my sin
has already been dealt with in Christ. How far is our sin removed from
us? God's Word says as far as the
east is from the west. Now how far is that? How far
is your sin removed from you? You remember that great day of
atonement? What a wonderful picture that is. Christ is the picture
of all of it. There's the high priest. Who's
that? That's Christ. There's the offering goat. Who's
that? That's Christ. There's the scapegoat. Who's
that? Well, that's Christ. There's the strong man. Who's
that? Well, that's Christ. You get the picture? Oh, this
is Christ? See, God confessed all of my
sins upon my Savior and became His. God killed Him, and by killing
Him, this strong man took my sin away into a land uninhabitable. And He is my eternal High Priest. What a refuge we have. A refuge. Cry unto Christ, my rock, my
refuge, who has by His one offering forever removed our sins. Now thirdly, Christ is a rock
of refreshment. I tell you what, when you think
about getting a drink of water, do you ever think about going
to a rock? Is that the first thing that comes to your mind?
Say, man, I'm thirsty. Let's go to a rock. Sounds right,
does it? When the children of Israel wandered
about in the wilderness and murmured against God, they had no water.
God in great mercy gave them water from the most unlikely
source, a rock. A rock. To the world, Christ is the most
unlikely source of refreshment. They don't see any refreshment.
I don't see any joy. But we see the picture of that
rock in Israel is Jesus Christ, and we know this, that he is
the only rock of refreshment. Just as no man would ever thought
to seek water from right rock, even so, when Christ came, He
had no form of comeliness that we should desire him. He was
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. No man would have ever sought
a king in a stable. No man would ever search for
a mighty man among carpenters. No man would esteem the lowly
and meek as noble and majestic, and no one would have ever saw
salvation in a crucified savior. Yet the king was born in a stable. The mighty conqueror and captain
of our salvation was a carpenter. The most majestic and noble man
humbled himself and became the lowest of men. And Jesus, the
eternal God made flesh, and being found in fashion as a man by
his crucifixion, saved us. Just as you would not think to
find water in a rock, even so, Christ seemed to be the most
unlikely source, but he is the only source of refreshment. The only source of cleansing
from sin. Do you need to be cleansed from
sin? The only source is the rock, Jesus Christ. He who is the rock of ages came
in the flesh and by his righteousness and blood he has cleansed his
people from their sins. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him and given him a name that is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, And every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. And so you see the rock. Remember
when Moses, how Moses got that water out of the rock? He struck it. God said, smite
the rock. And the water flowed out. Our salvation, our refreshment
comes from this, the smiting of the rock. Christ was smitten
and out of his side flowed what? Blood and water. Friends, Christ is the water
of life. Remember he told that woman a
whale, he said, if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is
saith unto me, give me to drink, thou would ask of him and he
would give thee living water. You that believe on Christ, you
have this living water. And out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. This is the word and the spirit. And what do we always find in
Christ? We find him a well of living water springing up. Is there anyone thirsty for righteousness? Anyone in need of cleansing?
Where are you going to go? You go to the rock. You go to
the rock that was smitten. How then shall we receive this
water? Well, remember the second time Moses went to this rock,
God didn't say, smite it. He says, speak to it. But Moses
being a picture of the law, he could not speak to it. He could
only smite it again. But how do we receive refreshment?
David said, unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. How do you receive refreshment?
How about asking? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. He is a rock of refreshment to
everyone who believes in Him. And so then we who cry unto God,
is God silent? Are you in affliction? Notice what David found in verse
6 when he cried unto God. He said, Blessed be the Lord
because He hath heard the voice of my supplication. When we cry
unto the rock, you can expect this. You can expect to be heard.
Why? Because Christ is my rock. He's
my foundation. He's my refuge. And He's my refreshment. And God says, in Him I am accepted. And David, when he cried, he
was heard. When you cry, you can expect to be heard. And notice this, he said, the
Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in him and I
am helped. We cry into the Lord, what do
we cry with? We cry in faith. Trusting the Lord. And it is
through faith in Christ we are helped. We are helped. And notice
he says, therefore, my heart greatly rejoices With my song
will I praise Him. David started out this psalm
in despair. Don't be silent. But how did
he end this psalm? With rejoicing. Because God is
not silent to His people. Everything I've told you is God's
Word. Christ is the rock of our salvation. And this hearing his voice causes
us to rejoice. And what do we do with this?
We declare it to others. The Lord is their strength and
he is the saving strength of his anointed. We say, save thy
people and bless thine inheritance. Feed them also and lift them
up forever. Christ our rock, our sure foundation. How do I know God's going to
hear me? Because Christ is my foundation. He's all my hope
that God is going to accept me. His righteousness, His blood,
His offering, His resurrection, His intercession. He's my refuge. He has endured the wrath of God.
He's put away my sins. Therefore, when I come to Him
confessing my sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And I'll tell you this, we need
refreshing. We need constant cleansing, don't we? John says
this also, that He cleanseth us, constantly cleansing us. And how do we receive this water
from the rock? Speak to Him. Ask Him. Is He not our friend and brother?
He is. And I know this, and this is
a warning. In the verses 3 through 5, I
didn't get to this, but listen. Everyone outside this rock will
be crushed. If you're not on this rock, if you're not in this
rock, if you're not refreshed by this rock, you pay attention.
This rock will crush you. He said, give the wicked what
they deserve. What do the wicked deserve? God says they deserve the eternal
judgment of God. You see, they don't have a refuge. They don't have a foundation.
And they certainly don't have any refreshing. But we who are
in Christ do. Hope and pray that God would
give us grace to avail ourselves constantly to it. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, dismiss us with
your mercy and blessing, I pray. Pour out your spirit upon us
and give us light and understanding. May Christ be magnified as our
rock, our sure foundation, our refuge, and are refreshing. I pray, Father, you would do
this for your own namesake. Amen.