If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Psalm chapter 28. Psalm chapter 28. We'll be looking
first of all at the first couple of verses in this Psalm. And the title of the message
is A Cry in the Silence. A Cry in the Silence. 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." There is never so dark a time
in a believer's life as when God is silent. There is never
a darker time in a believer's life when the Lord hides His
face from us. This we know to be true, that
we deserve worse. If God hides His face, I know
this, my conscience says, right. That's good. That's right. That's
what's supposed to happen. I deserve nothing but hell. And that's the first thought
that comes in when we realize that we're moving about and God
is silent. The conscience comes in and condemns
us and shows us once again that we are deserving of nothing but
hell. It's in this darkness and fear
the psalmist here cries out. He cries out in this darkness
and he says, God, hear me! My rock, hear me! My salvation,
hear me! And don't be silent to me. He cries out for the Lord to
reveal Himself, to speak to his heart, to speak and give comfort
To give strength and to restore and renew the joy of His salvation. I know I've often found myself
in this condition. I have often found myself, sadly,
in this condition. And I'll tell you, there's no
arrow of the Lord that pierces my heart more than this. When
the Lord is silent. Because without Christ, without
his mercy, I'm sure to be like them that go down into the pit.
There's no difference between me and any other sinner other
than Christ. And when Christ is silent, when
he hides his face from us, fear overwhelms us. It's then when God is silent
that I'm brought again to see how precious He is. This is the reason for His silence. If God were not to be silent,
if He would have let us continue in the noise of our own voice,
our own mind, surely we would never be brought back again to
see how precious He really is. What's the saying? You don't
know what you've got until it's gone? This is never so true when
the Lord hides His face. We know that He is our rock. That He is all our salvation.
And therefore, because He is our rock, we cry unto Him. We cry unto Him because He's
the only one that we would ever cry to in this condition. He says, unto thee will I cry,
O Lord. You remember when Jesus preached
the gospel to those Jews and the disciples, when He said that
no man cometh to Me except the Father draw him? He preaches
of the sovereignty of God in choosing His people and giving
them to Christ, and He said, All those that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out." We know that this speaks of the sovereignty
of God. And when they heard that, many of His disciples said, this
is too hard for us. We can't hear this. And they
turned away and walked no more with Him. And then He turns to His few
remaining disciples and He said, will you go away also? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? When there is silence, where are you going to go? When
God hides His face, where do you go? Where do you go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We aren't going anywhere, even
when we don't understand. Christian, when we are distressed,
when the darkness of our heart and the accusations of our conscience
overwhelm us, then in the darkness, in the void of silence of the
voice of God in that time of trouble, it is then that we must
cry unto God. A believer was talking with me
this week and she was concerned. She was concerned about her faith. She felt as though it was not
enough. And I told her it wasn't. It's never enough. Your faith
is never enough. That's why we don't trust in
our faith. We trust in Christ. And it's to Him we cry. And if
you are a child of God, the fact that you cry is altogether an
encouragement. Because one thing about a dead
man, he doesn't cry. If a baby is stillborn, it doesn't
cry. It's dead. But when a baby comes
out and he takes his breath, he cries. And God's saints, God's
children, cry. And they won't stop crying until
He hears them. One thing I've learned about
this, raising children, is that they don't stop calling your
name. If I've heard Daddy once, I've
heard it a million times. And you know, when there are
desires to get something from me or get my attention, they
don't stop. And you know what? I don't stop
either. When I need my Father's attention, I don't stop. I don't
stop until I have it. I must have it, else I die if
I don't have it. I go down to the pit like everyone
else if I don't hear His voice. Now,
we can and do cry on each other's shoulders. Which is good. Confess your sins
one to another. Confess your faults to one another.
It's good. It's good for us to know that
the person next to us isn't some super saint as we all think they
are. It's good to know that the pastor
is the worst sinner in the church. If He saved me, He can save you.
If He keeps me, He'll keep you. We cry until the Lord. Now, we
lean on each other, and we should, but truly, our comfort and assurance
does not come from one another. Otherwise, it's pride. If we
look to somebody else to make ourselves feel better, then what
we're doing is saying, well, look, I'm better than this person,
so obviously I'm doing well. No, you're really doing worse.
Don't lean on them to lift yourself up. But I'll tell you this, lean
on Christ. And He will lift you up in due
time. In due time. Not your time. But in due time. He will lift
us up. The arm of flesh will fail us. But when we cry unto the arm
of God, we know that His strength is never diminished. by our requesting,
by our supplications. You know, my children, when they
do cry unto me, I become weary fast. It is not long before I am exhausted. But my God has heard the cry
of His people from the beginning. And He still, He has not drained
one bit by hearing our cry and fulfilling our request. He is
not diminished in any capacity. His strength is not gone. His grace is not gone. It is
just as strong as it was when He purposed it in eternity for
you. It is just as strong. No one
would think that they would be stealing from the ocean to take
a cup of water. And yet we think our God to be
much like ourselves, begrudging. Oh, no. He's plenteous in grace,
plenteous in mercy, rich in mercy, rich in grace. And He's never
diminished in strength by hearing our cries. I'll tell you, I get
tired of me crying, but God never does. His shoulders are big enough
to carry our problems, because He's the one that gave them to
us for our own good. Will He not bear us through them? How little we think of God. How little I think of God in
my problems, my troubles. And when we cry unto God, In
the midst of our heartache and our suffering, in the midst of
our darkness, when we cry unto the Lord, we must cry unto Him
as He is our rock. Rock. The psalmist mentions this name
many times. The Holy Spirit throughout the
Scripture uses this allegory of a rock, of a rock that pictures
To us, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is the Rock of Ages. He is the Rock of Ages, specifically
cleft for me. And in Him we hide. In Him we
have comfort. And in Him alone. And so as we
cry, let us tonight think of Christ as He is our Rock. I've got four things concerning
this Rock. that the Scripture reveals to
us concerning Christ. First of all, we should cry out
to our Rock because He is a firm foundation. A sure foundation. Second of all, we cry out to
our Rock because He is a refuge. Our Rock is a refuge in the time
of storm. A refuge from the wrath of God. And we cry out to our rock because
Christ is the rock of refreshment. The rock of refreshment. And
lastly, because all who are not on this rock will be crushed. I pray tonight that every one
of you would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that you might stand firm on
this rock. First of all, believer, be comforted
that our rock is a sure foundation. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 28.
Isaiah chapter 28 and verse 16. The scripture says, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a rock, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation, and he that believeth shall not make hate. In other words, everyone that
believes on this rock won't run from this rock. I don't want
to be found anywhere else but on this rock. I'm not making
haste to go anywhere. I want to be on this rock and
this rock only. Jesus Christ is the precious
cornerstone that God has laid from eternity. Eternity. He is a sure stone which the
church of God is built upon. Therefore, because men by nature
make lies their refuge, because the foundations for their souls
is based on falsehood, God has laid a stone in Zion by His grace. He set Christ to be the foundation
for all His elect. and all whose hope is built on
this cornerstone." Friends, the Lord Jesus Christ says of Himself
being the cornerstone, being the weight-bearer of the church,
He says, upon this rock will I build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. We know this, that the word of
the apostles and prophets, they are the foundation of the church.
We know this, the Scripture tells us this. But what is the cornerstone of
the apostles and the prophets? What is the cornerstone? The
first stone. When the ancients were set up
a building, and they laid the first stone. That stone had to
be set in the right direction. Otherwise, the building would
crumble. The building would fall. That
stone had to be true. It had to be flushed. It had
to be straight. And it set the line for the whole
building. In eternity, God set the line
of righteousness for His church. He set the cornerstone for His
elect. It is Jesus Christ upon whom
the apostles and the prophets have built their Word. This Word
of God is based on the Lord Jesus Christ. And without Him, we don't
have a Word from God. Without Him, we don't have the
church. Oh, but this cornerstone was set before the world began.
This cornerstone was set by God. And this cornerstone, it was
tried and proven to be true. It was tried and proven to be
true by God Himself. He said, He said, therefore, thus saith
the Lord God, behold, I, I did it. Who's going to move it? God
set Christ to be his sure rock of salvation for his church.
This is the most important stone, Christ. If you're not built on
him, if your life is not built on him, if your soul is not built
on Christ, if you are not a living stone built on this rock, then
you'll be cut off. Look at the next verse. Judgment
also will I lay to the line. And righteousness to the plummet. And the hell. shall sweep away
the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place,
those of falsehood." You see, God has set a line, and that
line is perfect righteousness. Perfect. God will cut off anything
that is not in line with His perfect Son. Friends, to be in Christ is to
be in line with God's righteousness. It's to have the righteousness
of God by Jesus Christ who obtained it for us. God chose this stone and he said
it. And friends, this stone is sure,
because it's been tried, it's been proven. There's no other. There's never been a man more
tried than the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that there's never been
a man more tested by everyone. God tested him. Remember, it
was God that drove him into the wilderness to fast for 40 days,
40 nights. I'll tell you what, you try to
fast for 40 minutes, and I'm upset. This was a supernatural
thing. We could not do this. And he
was tested and tempted of Satan and proven to be faithful to
the law of God. Proven. Proven to do the will
of God. The Jews tested him. And what
did he say? Which of you convinces me of
sin? None of them. What was their testimony? Their
testimony was this, that never a man spake like this man. That
was their testimony. His enemies. The Gentile ruler
said, I find no fault in this man. And friends, God tried him and
proved him to be the Son of God through the resurrection. He
proved his sacrifice was acceptable. This is a firm foundation. It's
been tried. It's been tested. It's been leveled. It's been set. Men still try to falsely accuse
Christ, don't they? They still try to falsely accuse
him of some unrighteousness. But that's impossible because
he is righteousness. He is my righteousness. I do not and will not add one
thing to his righteousness. I am complete in him. In him. He is a firm foundation. I like this part of the hymn. I think it's stricken smitten.
It says, we have here a firm foundation. Here, the refuge
for 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. None
shall be confounded, who on him their hope is built." We have
a rock that's sure. Cry unto your rock. He's sure.
He's sure. Second of all, we cry unto the
rock because he is our refuge. Christ is our refuge. When Moses
asked to see the glory of God, he said, you cannot see me and
live. Friends, we're sinners and we
can't see God and live unless we see Him in the cleft of the
rock. That's where Moses saw the hinder
parts of the glory of God, and we see the glory of God by the
face of Jesus Christ, who is the cleft of the rock. Jesus
is the eternal rock that was always by the Father. Remember,
he said to Moses, I have a rock by me. I have a rock near me,
and I'm going to put you in that rock. And because he and the Father
are one, that's why the rock is near. They're one in purpose,
one in power, one in will, and as God has predestinated us,
Unto the adoption of sons He has purposed us to be perfect.
Therefore, He made us accepted where? In the Beloved. That's where we are accepted. I'm accepted. I'm accepted in Christ. This
is always how it's been. There was never a time in the
purpose of God that I was not in the rock. There was never a time in the
purpose of God I wasn't in the rock. You see, I didn't put myself
in the rock. I just was revealed, it was revealed
to me by God that I was always in the rock. While we were yet
sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. We were always in the
rock. And it was by Christ that we
were preserved until the appointed time when we were shown this
by the Spirit of God, when we were born again by the Spirit
of God. And His blood was always, already
had been shed for the remission of our sins. Scripture says,
by His one offering He hath forever perfected them forever that are
sanctified. Forever. When does forever begin? What's eternity? He's perfected
us. He has been as the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Because of His blood, we have
protection. You know that the Scriptures
are very clear that we are not saved from the wrath of Satan. That's what the world believes.
The world believes that God and Satan are in some kind of mystical
struggle between one another, opposing one another, and they're
somehow equal. And that we are in bondage to
Satan, but as though God had no purpose in it. That God was
just trying to get us out. That God's trying to save us
from Satan. No! God is saving us from Himself! Isn't that something? God saves
us from His own wrath. How? By sending His beloved Son
to bear our guilt. to absorb the wrath of God in
our stead. This is most astounding, but
it's very simple. If you were inside of a mountain,
in the middle of a mountain, you get through a cave and you
go to the center of a mountain, if a tsunami was to come and
hit the side of the mountain, you would feel none of it. The
blood would be taken by the mountain, by the rock. And that's what
Christ has done as our rock. He's shielded us. He's protected
us. He has taken the wrath of God
for us. So that there's no more condemnation. No more. There is therefore now,
now and forever now, no more condemnation. To them who are
in Christ Jesus. Protection. Protection. He shields us from everything
that would harm us. Well, you say I have troubles.
He didn't shield me from my troubles. Well, that's not there to harm
you. That's there to help you. I'm not going to tell you how,
because I don't know how. It doesn't matter that I don't
know how. I just know it's so. Everything God does is for your
good. Faith. I believe God. Even when he's silent, I believe
God. And I cry to him for protection. Protection from my conscience.
Protection from the enemy. Protection from his wrath. I flee to Christ. And thirdly, we cry to the rock
who is our refreshment. Look in Isaiah chapter 48, flip
over a few pages, Isaiah chapter 48, and look at verse 21. Scripture says, and they thirsted
not when he led them through the desert. He caused the waters
to flow out of what? The rock. Of the rock for them. He claved the rock also, and
the waters gushed out. Let me ask you, when you want
water, do you suppose that you would choose a rock Does anybody suppose that that
is the most likely source of water in the desert? No. It's not the most likely
source. Yet this is what God had chosen
when they murmured to give the children of Israel water from
a rock. Why? Because He would show us
that Christ is the rock of refreshment. Christ is the rock of refreshment.
And just as no man would have sought water from a rock, even
so no man seeks refreshment from Christ by nature. No man seeks
refreshment. There is nothing in Him. There
is nothing in Him that the natural man wants. The Scripture says there was
no form or comeliness that we should desire Him. He was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid our faces from him." No man would have sought a king
in a stable. No man would have sought a mighty
captain from being a carpenter's son. No man would have esteemed a
meek and lowly man as majestic and noble. Yet the King of kings and Lord
of lords was born in a stable, an unlikely source. The mighty
conqueror, the captain of God's armies was a carpenter's son,
and the most majestic and noble man that ever walked the face
of the earth was also the most meek and lowly. of men. Jesus,
the eternal Son of God, was made flesh, and being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Jesus was smitten like that rock. You remember that when they had
that rock, it says, the Scripture here says, He claimed it. He
hit the rock and water flowed out of the rock. Moses struck
that rock with his rod. Moses' picture of the law, the
wrath of God. And what does he strike? Does
he strike Israel down for murmuring and complaining against God?
No, he strikes the rock instead. And what pours out is water in
the desert, the most unlikely source. And there he is, behold,
the Lamb of God that's hanging on the cross, the most unlikely
source of salvation, and yet that's the only hope for men.
is the crucified Christ. He was smitten, and what flowed
out of him when he was smitten? Blood and water. That's no accident. That's no accident. It's because
he's our rock, and God has highly esteemed him and given him a
name. that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee shall bow in things in heaven and things in earth, and every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father." And the next time, you remember
the next time they came in the desert murmuring and complaining
about water, and God said to Moses, speak to the rock. And Moses, being a man like us,
he smote the rock again. And because of that, he was not
allowed to enter in to the promised land. Moses, the type of the
law, the law, men who come by the law. You see, Christ has
already been smitten. And if I'm trying to add to his
work, then I won't enter the promised
land. That's smiting the Lord again. That's spitting in the
Lord's face to put our own works with His. Friends, God's salvation is His
work. Go back to your text. Why does the psalmist cry out
for vengeance against those evildoers? Because they regard not the works
of the Lord. This is the work of God. that
you believe on the Son of God. That's the work of God. That's
not our work. If anybody takes that work, they've
smitten the rock twice, and God will condemn them. What are we
supposed to do? Friends, speak to the rock. The
work's been done. The rock's already been smitten.
Salvation has already flowed forth from Christ. Now then,
to have it, we must just speak. He's given us his righteousness.
If you have the righteousness of God and the Holy Spirit dwells
in you and God hides his face from you. Do you think he's left you? Can
he leave you? Is that possible? No, not possible,
because God is just. God will not demand of you of
your sins and of His Son. Either my sins were smitten in
Christ, or they'll be smitten in me, but not both. God's just. When He's already taken care
of my sins, He's not going to come back to me and require them
of my hand. I have no fear. This is why I've been preaching
so much in Hebrews about faith. Faith driveth away fear. Trusting God, even when He's
silent. Crying out to our God, to our
Rock, who is our refuge, our foundation, and our refreshment.
If you would be refreshed, just speak to the Rock. Just speak,
and He will pour out His blessings. Chapter four, the woman at the
well, you remember, he said, if you'd known who it was that
asked me, give me to drink. He said, I would give you fountains
of living water. And he said those fountains would
spring up. He said, I would have give thee
to drink of if thou would have asked him and he would have given
thee living water. And this living water would spring
up in him a well. To everlasting life. You have the water already. It's like being thirsty and having
an ocean behind you and you're facing the opposite direction.
And crying because you don't have no water, complaining. This
fountain is a never-ending, never-ceasing fountain, river of supply, and
all you have to do is ask. And God will refresh you because
his water is two things. It's his word and his spirit,
and both of them are in you. Both of them are present wherever
you go. Wherever you go, God says he
is. He says his Holy Spirit dwells
in you, is that true? Do you believe that? Do I believe
that? Because if we do, I'll tell you,
we have a lot less fear and a lot more refreshing. A lot more refreshing. We have His Word and His Spirit. And if you are a sinner, then come and drink of the water
of life freely. That's the only way you get to
drink of this. It's the only way we're refreshed. He said,
come and buy wine and milk without money, without price. If you
come with anything, you'll go away empty. Come with nothing,
you go away with everything. Is that not the most simple thing?
And yet it's impossible for man to do it without God's grace. And the fact of it is, if anyone
would ask. I know God's chosen a race, I
don't know who they are. And it should be a comfort to
everyone that asks. Everyone that seeks the righteousness
of God hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of God. Do
you? Do you hunger and thirst to be
found in Christ? Do you hunger and thirst to be
forgiven of your sins and iniquities? Do you hunger and thirst for
the righteousness that's in Christ? Do you hunger and thirst for
glory in Heaven, to be with Him and to see His face? I do. Drink. Go. It's yours. Drink freely. Believer in trouble, cry to your
rock and you will find a rock that
is true and faithful. You will find a rock who will
protect you from everything. You will find a rock that is
refreshing. But if you're without this rock. There is no comfort. But in this rock, God says to you, all is well. Say ye to the righteous, it is
well with him. It's well. I pray that God give us the strength
to cry out to him. A stand will be dismissed in
prayer.