All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Psalm 28. Psalm 28, we're looking at verse
one, mainly verse one, but we'll be going through this chapter
a little piece at a time. I've entitled this message, Christ,
our rock in the silence. Christ, our rock in the silence. In Psalm of David, it says, unto
thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. And notice the occasion, but
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. Now here David is crying out
in anguish. He's crying out in despair from
his soul unto the Lord, and see his determination. See the determination
of David, unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock. He is determined. in his prayer
that God, his rock, should hear him. What a lesson this is for
us in prayer. When we pray, when believers
pray, remember our Lord says this about that Pharisee. Remember
him? He prayed what? Thus with himself. Now listen,
when I go to God in prayer, I don't want to be praying to myself.
Do you? I don't want to pray to myself.
I want to pray to God. I want God to hear me. Our Lord Jesus, when talking
about prayer, he said this, pray when you pray. Pray not using
vain repetition as the heathen, for they think that they should
be heard by their much speaking. You remember those prophets of
Baal? They were out there yelling and cutting themselves and they
thought they should be heard by what they did, by their actions,
by their much speaking, by their yelling, by their making a big
show. Friends, prayer is not a big
show. It is not a performance. And
listen, if you're praying and pretending, you're not praying
at all. If you've got to stir yourself up and pray to put on
a show, how many times have we done this? And I'm being honest,
we should be honest with ourselves. How many times we put on a show?
If not for men, we put it on for God in our closet. We should
not do that. The child of God must never and
is never sufficed to pray to the wind. When we come to God in prayer,
it is not to be heard of men, to be seen of men, or to be pious. It is not to have some heartless
reciting of cliches. How many times have we just recited
the cliches and thought that's prayer? No, friends, prayer is
from the heart. David is praying from the heart,
and when we pray, we must pray in sincerity from the heart. We must be honest. How foolish
is it for us not to be honest with God when we pray? He sees
everything and yet we try to hide things from Him in prayer. Oh, we need to be honest. We
need to stop reciting the cliches and preparing speeches. Lord,
keep us from such vain hypocrisy. But may God the Holy Spirit now
allow us not to be satisfied until we hear from Him. That's
what I want in it. When you pray, what do you want?
I want an answer. I don't want an answer from you.
You don't want an answer from me. I want an answer from God. And it's not going to be sufficient
for me until I have an answer from Him. I've got to hear from
Him. He must answer me. David said,
unto thee and thee only am I praying my rock. David prayed and he would not
be... We should pour out our hearts like this. We should pour
out our hearts unto God. And what better way can the Holy
Spirit use to do that than trouble? Is that not the vehicle by which
God brings us to prayer so much? There are times when we are in
such a prosperous state, when God has brought us and we feel
as though we're in heaven itself sometimes. Very rarely we see
him so clearly. And yes, that moves me to prayer.
That does move me to prayer. But this other vehicle that he
uses is trouble. Trouble is the most often used
vehicle of God to bring his children to him in prayer. God uses these
troubles. And what better way to fix our
hearts and minds upon the only source of help? Jesus Christ. Listen, if you
find help somewhere else, you'll use it. You'll take it. If I
find help from you, I'll take it. You'll find help from me,
you'll take it. But when I can't find help from you or anyone
else, where do we go? We should go there all the time
because God is the only source that is able to deliver us from
our trouble. In fact, He's the one that ordained
our trouble. He ordained it to bring you to
Himself. And notice His promise. I told
you this last time in Jeremiah 33 and verse 3. God says, call
unto Me and I will answer. Did anybody misunderstand that? I'm glad He didn't say, call
unto Me in such and such a way or such and such a time. He says,
call on Me. When? Whenever. Call on Me. And I will answer. Don't call
on me and someone else. Call on me and I will answer.
And I'm going to show you great things, mighty things that you
didn't know. Oh, child of God, are you in
trouble? Because David was in trouble. Are you in trouble? Then cry like David. Cry unto
him. Are you cast down with no answers
as to how to find any comfort or peace or assurance? and fix
your eyes, the eyes of your heart upon Jesus and cry out to him
and he will answer you. He will answer you, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen, he doesn't have a theory
about suffering. You know, I got a lot of theories
about suffering because I haven't suffered it. I was talking to
someone who had lost their spouse. Now, I can't really enter into
that. You know, I can't. I really don't. I've got a theory.
I got an idea of something because I've lost something precious
to me and I can maybe counter. Our Lord Jesus don't have a theory
about it. He knows exactly what you're feeling. The scripture
says that he has touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
Which one? Every one of them. Every one
of them. Cry, cry instantly, come boldly
then, God says to the throne of grace that you may find help
when? In trouble. In trouble. That's when he says call on him.
And notice David, his concern. He said, I cry unto thee, oh
Lord, my rock. Notice the circumstance. Be not
silent to me. Silence. I don't know about you, but there
is nothing in the world more troubling as when God's silent. There is nothing more painful,
nothing more fearful, as when you cry unto God and he hides
himself. David said, if you are silent
to me, look what he said. He said, if you be silent to
me, I am become like them that go down into the pit. If you're
silent to me, then I am no better than those who are cast into
the grave. I am no better than those who
are dead and lost and in hell. You don't hear them. You're silent
to them. If you're silent to me, what
better am I than they are? What a horrible situation. I'm
like them, they go down into the pit, down into hell. The
believer in Christ, I know this, you and I cannot
and will not be satisfied with religious ceremony, vain repetition of prayers, academic
theories of God. I'm not satisfied with that,
are you? When you're in trouble, does that satisfy you? That doesn't help. The only thing
that helps is to hear His voice. That is the only thing that will
give me comfort to endure all my troubles, is to hear His voice. Nothing else will suffice. All
who believe on Him, have you not heard His voice? Have you not heard His voice?
I know you have. Not with these ears, not these
fleshly ears. But you heard His voice. Remember
when He said to you, live? I saw you polluted in your own
blood, and I said unto thee, live. And what happened? We lived. He gave us life. Jesus said, verily, verily, I
say unto you, The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall
live. The Word of God, when it comes
in power and demonstration of the Spirit, when it is preached
to sinners, God the Holy Spirit in free grace
gives life to dead sinners. This is our experience. Now I'm talking about the experience.
Everybody has a different outward experience, but this experience
of being called from death to life is common to every true
believer. We were dead and the Spirit of
God quickened us to life. That's what it is to hear his
voice. I know our brother JD, that's
just one of his, when I, he says, I won't forget the message you
preached. It was the Lord is my, the Lord, the good shepherd,
the great shepherd. That's what it was, a message.
And he said that night, the Lord saved me. I heard his voice through
the preaching of that gospel. I heard his voice and he called
me and I believed. And that's what happens. We hear
His voice when He says live. And what is the first thing we
know when we hear His voice? We feel our need of Him. We feel
our need. Have you ever felt your need
of Christ? Listen, if you ain't felt your need of Him, you've
not heard His voice. That voice of Christ first exposed
us of sin, didn't it? I'm so glad He wasn't silent.
I'm so glad at that time he exposed my sin. Deuteronomy 4, 36, when
God came and spoke to Israel at Mount Sinai, he said, out
of heaven, he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct
thee. And upon the earth, he showed
thee his great fire. And thou heardest his words out
of the midst of that fire. When that nation of Israel came
to Sinai, they heard a voice. What was that voice? It was the
law. It was the law, they heard that voice of fire and justice. What a picture of this, when
God comes in grace and he exposes our sin. Remember when Paul said,
I was alive without the law once, but when the sin came, I sin
revived and I died. The law was spoken in reality
and he found out he was dead. That's what happened to us. What was the purpose of that
law? That purpose of that law is never to save anyone, is it?
The purpose of the law was simply to shut us up. Shut us up to our guilt. Have
you been convinced of your sin? Not just your sin, this sin,
that sin, that you are sin. Are you convinced of that, that
you are sin? By nature, from the top of your
head to the bottom of your foot is nothing but sin. Are you convinced
of that? Well, you know who convinces
people of that? The voice of the Son of God. When He comes,
He convinces us of this, and then we see what? Our need of
Christ. We need Christ. We're convinced
of our sin, and our hopelessness to earn salvation. And then by
the grace of God, we behold the righteousness and blood of Christ.
You know what that blood of Christ did? That fire, it quenched it. That fire on Sinai, the blood
of Christ put it out, extinguished it forever. He satisfied the justice of God
against our sin and he obtained for us an eternal redemption
and an everlasting righteousness. That's what Christ did. I'll tell you this, when his
voice of his blood spoke, didn't the voice of his blood speak?
Paul said it spoke better things than that of Abel. Abel's voice
demanded what? Justice. What does Christ's voice
demand? Forgiveness. Pardon. Peace with
God. That's what His blood spoke to
me. It spoke to you. It said, Peace! Peace! forgiveness
and pardon and peace with God. But how did you know this? How
did this voice speak to you? I'll tell you how it came to
you, through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's
how this voice came. Peter, over in 1 Peter 1, he
said, for as much as you know, you are not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received
by the tradition of your fathers. But you know this, you were redeemed
with the precious blood of Jesus as a lamb without spot and blemish.
Now, how did you do this? How did you believe? Paul said,
you were born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And he said,
that word of God is the gospel we preached to you. You see how
you heard his voice? Did you hear his voice? Have
you heard his voice? The voice of the only begotten
son, full of grace and truth. When a sinner hears the voice
of Christ, he believes on Christ. He believes on Christ by the
gospel we preach. And I know this, he'll call all
his sheep the same way, every one of them. Every one of his
sheep, he will call them. Every one the father has given
him, he has bought with his own blood and he will call them with
this irresistible voice. How sweet was that voice? How sweet was the voice that
says, forgive him. How sweet was the voice that
said, I love you. How sweet was that voice of His
that says, You are pardoned, redeemed. You're mine. I bought you. I carry you. I keep you. That was His voice
we heard. And I tell you this, other sheep
He has, He said, the enemy also must bring. He'll bring by bringing
them the same way He brought us by hearing His voice. Therefore,
if you've heard His voice, We who have heard the voice of the
Son of God and believe on Him, when we are in trouble, what
is it that you most want to hear? You want to hear that same voice.
You don't want Him to be silent. You want Him to speak, to hear,
and to answer. Only His voice can soothe our
doubts and calm our fears. That's the only voice. That's
the only voice. I was talking with a lady who
had lost her husband and been married for 61 years, lost her
husband. And I tell you this, I tried
to comfort her. I gave her what God would in his word. But you
know what? I can't apply any of that. I
can't make that effectual to her. That's something that only
the Spirit of God can do. Only the voice of Christ can
give her the peace and comfort that she needs. His voice alone,
not mine. He may use it, but it's really
not my voice. Tonight, if you're comforted
at all by this message, you know it's not me. You know it's His
voice. It's His voice that speaks peace.
And he speaks it how? The same way he spoke it in salvation
through the preaching of his gospel. You know, Jesus and his
generation was a wicked generation. He said, they seek after a sign.
You want a sign? You want a miracle? You are a
wicked generation if that's what you want. He said, the only sign
given to this generation is that of Jonah. As Jonah spent three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth, so shall
the son of man be three days and three nights. You see, that's,
What is he doing? He's preaching the gospel. He
said only by the gospel will you hear and believe. And that's
what we're doing tonight. I want tonight to preach Christ.
That's what I'm doing. I'm setting him before you. This
is the only voice you need to hear. You need to hear his voice.
When you hear his voice, trouble flees, fear subsides. We preach the word. Now I want to talk about silence
because that's what the trouble is, the times of silence. We've
heard his voice, but there are often times in the believer's
life when God is silent. If you've been a believer for
any length of time, you know this to be true. There are times
where God hides his face from his people. I like that picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the bridegroom in the Song of Solomon. The scripture
says that the bride sees him through a lattice. You know,
a lattice is a thing that you can, there's holes in it. In
other words, when somebody's passing by, you see him and you
don't. You see him and you don't. A lot of times that's the way
it is with Christ. We see him and we don't. Doesn't mean he
ain't always there. He's always there, whether we
see him or not. but it's the times we don't see
Him that we are troubled. And these times, because most
of these times we become fearful, especially because we still reside
in this body of death, this fleshly nature, because sin still abides
and we are so easily prone to sin. What believer cannot identify
with that? We are prone to wonder. Lord,
I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
We're prone. Many times we are lulled into
a spiritual sleep. You remember those virgins? All
those virgins, there were 10 wise, 10 foolish, and you know
what? They were all asleep. God's people and lost people,
God's people sleep. We are lulled at times into a
spiritual slumber. We become like the Shulamite
bride. You remember she laying there
in that bed. She done washed her feet and put off her clothes
and her bridegroom comes knocking. And what does she say to him?
I've put off my shoes. I've washed my feet. How can
I get up? It's too inconvenient. How many
times we thought that about prayer or study? How many times we thought
that when God would call us and our hearts come to me, my love,
my dove, my undefiled, and we put him off. How many times has
worship become inconvenient? Prayer, a task and a burden.
Study becomes a cold exercise. Prayer, vain repetitions, and
our love waxes cold and indifferent toward the things of God. But you remember what happened
then. He put his hand to the hole of the door and her bowels
were moved within her and she rose up. She dipped her hands
in myrrh. She dipped her hands in her works
and she came to the door. And where was he? He was gone.
He was gone. And we, like the Shulamite bride,
our hearts fail within us and our strength melts into weakness. Child of God, are you in such
a place? Is God silent to you? You've heard his voice. You know
what it sounds like. You know you need it. Oftentimes
we become cold and indifferent. Our sins cause us to wax cold
toward him. And God, for our own good, hides
his face. Are you in such a sad state?
Then let us follow David. David here is in the same place.
Don't be silent to me. He cries unto the Lord. Now notice
what he uses. Go back to your text. Very important,
the Spirit of God uses this phrase to describe his Lord. And it's
very important for us to see this phrase because it is a phrase
meant to comfort us. It's meant to comfort us. I'll tell you this, when we're
fearful, it feels like we're staggering. It feels like we find no ground
under our feet. We find that we have no stability. when God is silent. Seems like
we're guessing at everything. Is this what he wants me to do?
Am I doing the right thing? I don't know what to do. What
do you want me to do? And he's silent. You want something
firm, don't you? Well, that's what a rock is,
isn't it? It's something firm. It's something immovable. It's
something tangible. It's something you can grab onto.
And so God here describes himself as a rock. And he does this for
a reason because Christ is our rock. So when God is silent,
pay attention, cry unto the rock. I'm gonna give you four things
about a rock. Four things about Jesus, our rock. And it concerns
the whole of our salvation. First of all, Christ is a foundation
under us. Second, Christ is a refuge over
us. Christ is a refreshment, a rock
of refreshment to encourage us, and he is a wall around us to
protect us. Those four things. First of all,
Christ, our foundation. Believer, as we fall on our knees
seeking the answer from the Lord, let us fall then upon the rock
of Christ, even the foundation of God upon which the whole church
is built. That's who we fall on. You know
what? If you're staggering, the best
thing to do is just fall down. Eventually, you're going to fall
down anyway. Might as well just go ahead and fall. You know what
you're going to fall on? If you're a believer, you'll
fall on Christ. You'll fall on Christ. God says this in Isaiah
28, verse 16. Behold, I lay in Zion. What? For a foundation. foundation. What is the foundation? A stone. Not sand, not dirt, not water. Something stable, something sure,
something hard, something rock solid that can't be moved. A
stone, not just any stone, a tried stone. That's important. You
don't want just any stone. Any stone could just crack, but
this stone has been tried over time. It's been tested. It's
been proven. That's the kind of foundation
that I've laid. I've laid one that's been tried
and tested from eternity. It is my son, a precious cornerstone. The one stone that supports the
weight of the whole building is the cornerstone. He said,
I lay a cornerstone, a sure foundation. That's what I want. When I can't
hear from God, I'll tell you this, I want something sure. And you know what I have that's
sure? Christ. He is a sure foundation. Robert
Hawker said this about this passage, I love this. He said, he cries
out to God, he said, oh God, cause our souls here to build
on this rock to bottom all our hopes of heaven and happiness. All for grace to try that blessed
Jesus, which the father had tried and found faithful. Never, never
shall I be ashamed or confounded while I trust and rest upon thee
in life, in death, in time, and all eternity. Oh, my soul, rest upon the foundation
that God has laid. And that foundation that God
has laid is for my salvation. It is firm, it is immutable,
it is eternal. It is upon Christ that God has
built his entire church. Jesus said, upon this rock, myself. Can you imagine any other man
saying that? Now look, I don't care if you
find the most dependable man you want to, and you trust him
as long as you can, he's eventually going to fail you. Jesus Christ
is so bold as to say upon this rock, why? Because I'm the rock
that God laid for the church. I'm the sure foundation. He said,
I upon this rock, I will build my church. Don't you see that
we are built on Christ? Look, I didn't build myself on
Christ. He says, I will build my church. This church is built of God. The scripture says, of God are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And this church is an elect church.
It's a chosen people. Don't you realize this? You are
a chosen people. A royal priesthood. A peculiar
people. You are. And you know this, here's
his promise to you. In the midst of the silence of
God, here it is, the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. I can't hear his voice. I can't fall on the rock. It's sure. It's sure. Those who are lost in sin, I
compel you, fall on the rock. Scripture says, whosoever shall
fall upon this rock shall be broken. What's the alternative? Upon whomsoever this rock shall
fall, they shall be ground to powder. fall upon this rock,
and all who fall upon this rock, guess what? We will not make
haste. Why? Because this rock supports
me before God. You see, I am able to stand.
Scott, this is good foundation here. I'm standing on this, it
feels firm. I got something much firmer than
this foundation. I have the Son of God to stand
on, and as I stand on Him, I am standing on His righteousness.
I am standing on His holiness. I am standing on His offering.
In order to be accepted with God, in order for God to accept
me, I am standing on His merits and not my own. That is a sure
foundation to stand on. That hymn, the writer says, here
we have a sure 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. I like that. Cancel guilt. I
feel guilty. It's canceled. It's canceled. None shall ever be confounded
who on him their hope hath built. Christ, a rock of foundation
stone. Secondly, Jesus is a rock of
refuge, a refuge, not only a foundation underneath, but a refuge overhead,
a shelter, a shelter, a refuge. When God is silent because of
our sin, Is our conscience not heavy? Is your conscience heavy? Is it the seeming cause of God's
silence that makes you grieve? Then cry to Christ the rock. For He is not only the foundation
beneath, but the refuge above. Consider Jesus, who is the only
God-man mediator, that He willingly became the surety for your soul. Consider this, for Him to be
my refuge, He must be the mediator. This ceiling is between me and
the sky, and between me and heaven is this ceiling. It's a refuge.
If it rains, The ceiling, the roof will take the brunt and
I will be dry. Though I'm in the rain, literally,
I am in the rain while in this house. Yet the refuge takes the
hit. It mediates between me and the
heavens. That's what Christ is. He is
our mediator. He is the surety. He is the guarantor
of our salvation. Just as Judah was for Benjamin,
he said, I will be surety for the lad. If I bring him not again,
let me bear the blame. Now, child of God, consider this.
Now, when God is silent, I know you're troubled. When God is
silent, we're troubled. We cannot feel his presence,
we're troubled. But this doesn't change the truth
of who Christ is. He is your refuge. Consider that
in the midst of God's silence, in the midst of your guilt and
shame, that Jesus, our rock, in the covenant agreement of
God in grace, agreed to be responsible for
all your salvation. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. The weight and responsibility
of me being accepted with God is all on Him. That's the purpose
of assurity. He left none of it up to us. So then let me ask you this.
If you do not feel God's presence, what does that have to do with
your salvation? Nothing. What if you feel God's
presence? Does that have anything to do
with your salvation? Nothing. It's a blessing. We like it.
We enjoy it. We desire it. We want it. But
yet that's not my refuge. My feeling His presence is not
my refuge. Christ is my refuge by an eternal
covenant of grace. Something done before I was ever
made. He agreed to be a surety and
covenant. And what did this entail? That
he should be all my righteousness before God. Paul says, even the
righteousness of God, which is what? By the faithfulness of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. And not
only is he to be all our righteousness in this covenant, he is to be
all our reconciliation. All our reconciliation to God. Jesus Christ, our rock has reconciled
us to God by his one blood offering. And thus he became my refuge. You know, an illustration of
that is Noah's Ark. What a beautiful illustration
that is. God's wrath was upon the whole earth. God says, I'm
going to destroy the whole earth. He did. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And that ark was built and God put Noah in the
ark. He shut the door behind him and
the wrath of God descended on the whole earth. Noah was not
exempt from the wrath of God. Did he not go through the flood
like everybody else? The only difference is he didn't die in
the flood. Why? Because he had a refuge. He had the ark. Christ is our
ark. If we are in Christ, guess what? He endured as our refuge, the
wrath of God in our stead. And by his enduring that, what
did he do? He reconciled us to God. He redeemed
us. He bought us. He paid our sin
debt. Scripture says, for God hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. What great suffering
for the purpose that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He reconciled us to God. Consider this. What if one sin
of God's elect remained unpunished? Do you realize the ramifications
for that? If Christ is to bear the blame, do you understand
that He, that the glory of God would be
marred forever? That the oath and the promises
of God would count God a liar? Isn't that what He said? By two immutable things in which
it's impossible for God to lie. He made an oath, He made a promise.
that all of his people should be saved and that Christ should
redeem them if Christ missed one sin. But you know, that can't
happen. That can't happen. Therefore,
we see that we are surely saved who have fled to Christ for refuge.
Have you fled to him? Then listen, Christ is your foundation
and Christ is your refuge. He is a mediator between you
and God. I like this hymn, In My Surety. I am free. His dear hands were
pierced for me. With his spotless garments on,
I'm as holy as God's son. Now, when is that not true? When is it not true? When does that not apply? Well, I've sinned. Well, of course
you have. And Christ has already put it away. He's already put it away. Believer, though thy Lord may
be silent, you may be oppressed, you may be cast down. And though for a moment he may
hide his face, we may find comfort in this, that Christ is our refuge.
and behind every frowning providence hides a smiling face. When does God not smile? When is he not happy? When is
he not content? If you are in Christ, he is always
content with you. Not because of you, but because
of your refuge. Thirdly, Christ is the rock of
refreshment. Rock of refreshment. I'll read
this for you in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 32. Isaiah chapter 32 and verse two. God speaking of Christ says,
and a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, a culvert
from the tempest, That's a refuge, isn't it? That's just what he
is. He's the wind of God's justice,
the wrath of God's justice. He, a man, a man, Christ Jesus,
is a refuge from the tempest and the covid. That's what God
said 700 years before Christ was born into the world. That's
what God said he's going to be. But also notice this, as rivers
of water in a dry place, a shadow of a great rock in a weary land, I don't know about you, but this
place is wearisome to me. The older I grow, the more I
grow, the more I understand that there is no lasting joy here. It's a desert. Most of the time,
this place is a barren wilderness. You know what you need when it
in a desert, one of the greatest benefits, two things are beneficial,
a shade and water. Those two things are precious
in a desert. Christ is both a shade, a refuge,
and refreshment. How then could you make that
out of a rock, pastor? He says he's a rock. How can
it be refreshment? How can it be water? You remember
when Israel was in the desert. And God told Moses, see that
rock there? Hit it. And when Moses hit the rock,
the most unlikely source for water, wasn't it? That's not
a place you'd go look for water, in a rock. But you see this old
dry rock here? Moses said, God's gonna give
you water. And he hit that rock and out
flowed water for two million people. Just amazing. What does the Scripture say?
That rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. Remember,
the law struck Christ. God's wrath struck Christ. And out flowed God's grace, God's
mercy, God's love, God's pardon, God's forgiveness, God's heaven
flowed from Him to all His elect. Now, if you would ever be wise,
sinner, You would depart from the snares
of death and the drink of this fountain of the water of life.
Now what it says, ho, everyone that thirsts has come to the
waters. You know, that's kind of inclusive,
isn't it? To everyone that's thirsty. Only a certain group
is invited, thirsty. thirsty, come and drink this
water, which is Christ. Why? Because the law has smitten
him. And because God has smitten him,
there's peace. In Zechariah 13, it says, in
that day shall a fountain be open to the house of David and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, this is what it's open for,
for sin and uncleanness. for sin and uncleanness. Believer,
come now and drink from this fountain and be refreshed. I
like that hymn, Never Ceasing Grace. Fountain of Never Ceasing
Grace. You know what that means? Just
don't ever quit. His grace is constant. This fountain
has been open for 2,000 years and it's still flowing just as
freely as it ever has. This fountain is open for sin. Anyone need cleansing? Cleansing. Sin. Don't go to baptismal pool. There's
no cleansing there. There's no cleansing in earthly
water. There's cleansing in the blood
of Christ. Come by faith to Christ and be
cleansed of all your sin. It's open. And then once you've
been washed, guess what? You're continually being washed.
And then what the scripture says, he cleanseth us, cleanseth us. That ETH is a perpetual
constant cleansing of our sin. This rock we may drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and
drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and
drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink
and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink and drink How much
forgiveness do you need? There's more than you need. There's
more forgiveness than you need. There's more grace and more love
that flows from here. Oh, weary, wandering one, consider
there is no more need to strike this rock. You know what? That's
when Moses, he saw that rock again later on, and that second
time God said, don't strike it, speak to it. And Moses, he struck
it and that was his sin because that marred the picture. You
see, now all we must do, there is no more sacrifice for sin. And to offer your works, to offer
your religious deeds is to strike the rock again. To try to come
to God by law is to strike Christ again. No, you come asking. You come and speak to the rock.
We never come by law or merit. That's not how grace flows. We
need simply to ask and God will pour out his blessings. Why? Christ is a rock of refreshment.
And lastly, Christ is the rock of protection. David in the text,
in our text, he was fearful of God's silence because if he did
not speak, he said, I would be like God's enemies. I would be
like them. God doesn't speak to his enemies,
you know that? He don't speak to them. Not in grace, not in
mercy. When God doesn't speak to us,
sometimes we consider, maybe consider ourselves his enemies. But consider believer in Christ
that God, he will destroy his enemies. Look at your text. Go
back to your text and look at this. God will destroy his enemies. Verse three, draw me not away
with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity, which speak
peace to their neighbors, but mischief in their hearts. Give
them according to their deeds, according to the wickedness of
their endeavors. Give them after the work of their hands, render
to them their just deserts. This is why he will, because
they regard not the work, the works of the Lord, nor the operation
of his hands. He shall destroy them and not
build them. What does that mean? They do not regard Christ. They
do not regard Christ. He will destroy them because
they do not regard that salvation is of the Lord. We do. We do. We wholly, fully understand that
salvation is by grace. God chose us. Christ redeemed
us. We were dead in sins and the
Spirit of God called us. He quickened us to life and faith
in Christ. And listen to this. We acknowledge
that if we are going to make it to glory, it's because we
are kept. Peter said that in 1 Peter 1,
verse 5, who are kept, guarded, protected by the Spirit
of God unto the day of salvation, ready to be revealed as last
time, kept. So not only is Christ your foundation
under you, refuge over you, refreshment to you, but he is also that wall
of fire around you. This is important. When we preach the gospel, we
know this. We will be hated. Be hated. You are hated. You may not know
it. You may be oblivious to it, but
you're hated. I was talking to a man just the other day, and
he liked to talk. We talked for an hour or more
about frivolous things, politics, everything else. The moment I
mentioned Christ, it looked like He had to find a way out. He
just kind of had to get out. He couldn't stay. It was too
much. If I had constrained Him in that
building, He would have probably either run me over to get out.
We're hated, friends. Listen, I'm going to tell you
this. All free will works religion is a refuge of lies. Now go tell
that to somebody out there. and see how quickly you'll win
friends and influence people. You won't. You're hated. We're
surrounded by enemies, friends. Enemies without, and not only
without, listen, I have enemy within. Myself is the worst enemy
I have is myself. Oh, friends, how will we ever
make it being surrounded by such enemies? You listen to this. because Christ
protects me. Christ protects us. Consider
that Christ, our rock, is our protection. Don't you know he
knows everything about you? David said he knoweth my down
sitting and my uprising. He knoweth my thoughts are far
off. And before I even speak a word, you know it all together.
You know what, I don't even know what I'm gonna say after. But
he does. Every hair on your head is numbered. Who else takes care of you like
that? Who else cares for you like that? No one. And know this, that there is no arrow of the
enemy that shall ever fly over the wall of Christ and strike
your soul. Yes, Satan can and does use our
foes to trouble us. God does use our foes to trouble
us. God does allow sickness of all sorts and troubles and all
men to invade us. But let us take heart that none
of these devices shall ever prevail to remove us from Christ. In fact, all of them are working
together to bring us to Christ. I want you to hear this, thus
saith the Lord. I will be unto thee as a wall
of fire round about thee. And I will be the glory in the
midst of her. He that toucheth you, toucheth
the apple of his eye. Believer in Christ is God's silent. You've heard his voice before.
He said, live, believe, and you lived. What a joy, but what a
sadness when sin and indifference cause us to not be able to hear
his voice. When he hides his presence, when
that happens, here's your recourse. Cry unto the Lord, my rock. my
foundation, Jesus Christ, my foundation, Jesus Christ, my
refuge, Jesus Christ, my refreshment, my nourishment, my food, Jesus
Christ, my protection. And consider this, that even
the silence of God itself is an answer. Have you considered
that? Who else is worried about God
being silent? You suppose they're lost or worried about God being
silent? That's an answer in itself, isn't it? That we are His. That we are in this rock of Christ. I pray that God make this a comfort
to you, that Christ being our rock. When God is silent, and
don't worry, He will speak. Matter of fact, has He not spoken?
I just told you what He said. Now
may God Take that and speak to you. I pray speaks to me in the
same vein.