All right, turn with me, if you
would, back to Psalm 61. Psalm 61, and let me read the
verse of scripture that spoke to my heart. It's verse two,
Psalm 61, verse two, it says, From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. Oh, lead me to the rock that
is higher than I. You know, when you are low, When we get into that state,
into this place, when you are low and you need help, there's
moments when you think you're low and there's moments when
you're low. There's moments when you think you need help and there's
moments when you need help. And when you're low and you need
help, you need something higher than you. That's what you need,
something higher than you. When you are weak and you need
help, you need something stronger than you. David here said that he was overwhelmed. That's what he said. He said,
when my heart is overwhelmed, that means covered over. Overtaken. Think about a wave
of the ocean, just overwhelmed, overtaken by the waters of sorrow
and fear and distress. David said he was overwhelmed
and in his condition, he knew that he needed something that
was able to stand up out of that flood. and stand firm in that
flood. And he knew that he himself was
not that thing. He knew that. God's people are
constantly reminded of that realization. They truly are. They are constantly
reminded of that. They are constantly in a position
where they realize my head is not above water. Everybody's
trying to just keep their head above water. That's a saying
that we have, you know, well, I'm keeping my head above water.
God's people are constantly in a place where they realize my
head is not above water. I'm not able to stand firm in
this. In my own flesh, I'm not able.
In my own self, I'm not able to stand firm in this. Therefore,
they are constantly crying out to God. When we do, when our
souls do and our hearts do, we're crying out to something higher
than us. We're crying out to someone stronger
than us who can help us because we know we need help. And God's people are constantly
crying, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. When we cry
out, Lord, help me. Help me. That's what we're crying.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Is that not our prayer right
now? Honestly, right now, it is my prayer. I know it's yours,
too. Lord, lead us to the rock that is higher than us. We have a rock. Is that good news to anybody
besides me? We have a rock. I'm so happy to tell you that
we have a rock. I'm so thrilled, just so thrilled
to tell you we have a rock that is higher than us. Much higher than us. We have
a rock to stand on and to take courage in and to take comfort
in that rock is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus Christ our Lord, He is
our rock. He's our rock. And our prayer
is that the Spirit of God will lead us to Him. That's my prayer
right now while we are in this message. May nothing be a distraction
to you and may nothing be a distraction to me. May the Spirit of God
right now lead us to the rock that's higher than us. I pray
the Spirit of God will lead us to Christ. Lord, please lead
us to Him. Look with me, if you would, at
Psalm chapter 18. Psalm chapter 18 verse two, David
said, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my strength in whom I will trust. My buckler. and the horn, the strength of
my salvation and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord who
is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine
enemies. He said, we have a rock and he
is all those things to me. And by His grace, I'll call on
Him. Look at verse 31 right here in Psalm 18. It says, for who
is God? Save the Lord. Or who is a rock? Save our God. He said, our God's
the only rock there is. There's not another rock. There's
only one. The Lord is the rock. The Lord
is my rock. And there's only one, not just
a rock. He's the only rock that there is right here in Psalm
18 verse 46 says the Lord liveth and blessed be my rock and let
the God of my salvation be exalted." Let my rock, Christ Jesus my
Lord, the God of my salvation. Christ Jesus my Lord, He's my
Savior. He's the God of my salvation.
And David said, let Him be exalted. Let Him be exalted higher than
I. So much higher than I. There's
an insurance company. that chose the Rock of Gibraltar
for their company logo. You've seen it. That big, huge, there's a picture
of a big, huge cliff. It's just a big mountain, and
it stands so high above this little town, this territory called
Gibraltar. I looked it up on the internet,
and when you see an actual picture of it, it's just this huge, huge
rock, and all these little buildings below it just towering over these
buildings. That rock is a symbol of strength,
It's a symbol of stability, that rock is a symbol of something
that does not move and something that does not change and that's
Christ Jesus our Lord. That is Christ Jesus our Lord
who stands for and stands over His people. He is our strength,
He is our stability, He is unmovable, He is unchangeable. The Lord is our rock. He's our rock. Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Turn with me over to Psalm 94.
Psalm 94, verse 22 says, But the Lord is my defense, And my God is the rock of my
refuge. The rock of my refuge. David
said, he is who I run to. Oh, when you need a place to
hide, when you need a place of safety, David said, he's who I run to.
He's the rock of my refuge. Look at Psalm 95, verse one. It says, oh, come, let us sing
unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation. The rock of our salvation. Now,
our cry as a congregation is to our Lord. Our cry is to our
Lord. Lord, we are crying to you. We
are, we are crying to the Lord. We are crying individually. I
know that we are, I know that you are. We're crying individually. We're
crying collectively. Our hearts are overwhelmed. They are. They are overwhelmed. For that reason, we are crying
out to our rock that is higher than us. And I acknowledge that
at this moment, Lord, we are crying out to you. You are higher
than us. And individually and collectively
as your congregation of people, we are crying out to you. We're crying out to you. We're
only crying to you. Now David's cry in Psalm 61 is
our cry to our rock tonight. David's cry is our cry to our
rock tonight. The rock of our refuge, the rock
of our salvation, the rock that was smitten for us. Oh, don't you thank God for the
smitten rock that the law struck that we might
live. The rock that was broken for
us, don't you thank God for the broken rock. The rock that God the Father
hid us in, in that broken place. In the cliff of the rock, when
the fire of His wrath was poured out, our cry is to Christ our
Savior, who shielded us from all of our destruction. That
destruction was our destruction, that wrath. It was our wrath. Our cry is to Him, and this is
what we cry. As His congregation, this is
what we cry. Turn with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 61. Psalm 61 verse 1 says, Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto my prayer. Lord,
we are crying. Lord, we are crying. Would you please hear us? We're crying. Would you please
hear us? For Christ's sake. Isn't that
our cry? For Christ's sake. For His blood's
sake. For His blood's sake. Because
He was smitten for us. Because you hid us in Him. You
broke Him for us and hid us in Him. He is our plea. He is our cry. Lord, Christ is our cry. Because you made us to be your
people in Him. Because of Him. Verse 1 says,
Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto my prayer. Attend unto my prayer. Lord,
please, I'm crying. Attend unto my prayer. In Psalm 86 verse 1, David said,
bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me for I am poor and needy. Please bow down your ear. Please
hear I'm so poor and needy. Psalm 20 verse, verses one and
two, it says the Lord will hear thee in the day of trouble. In the name of the God of Jacob
will defend the, and we'll send the help from the sanctuary and
we'll strengthen the out of Zion. He will. For that reason, because
of that promise, we're crying unto you, Lord, we're crying
unto you. In Psalm 28 verse 1, David said,
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. Lord, you delivered us from the
pit. You found a ransom. You found
a sufficient price paid in the death of your precious son. For
his sake, he's our cry, he's our plea. For his sake, keep
us from going down into that pit again. Verse one right here, David said,
hear my cry, oh God, attend unto my prayer. From the end of the
earth will I cry unto thee. Aren't you so thankful for the
fact that he said he saves to the uttermost? Aren't you so
thankful for that? No matter where we are, no matter
where we are physically, mentally, emotionally, sometimes it feels
like we're standing on the end of the earth. Even from the end of the earth,
we can cry unto him. And he said, he'll hear us. He
said, I'll hear you. And he said, I'll help you. I'll
hear you and I'll help you. He said, you cry unto me and
I'll hear you and I'll help you. Verse two says, from the end
of the earth, will I cry unto thee? when my heart is overwhelmed. None of us want to be overwhelmed. I candidly speak to you at the
moment. None of us want to be overwhelmed. You do not want to be overwhelmed
right now, and neither do I. None of us want to be overwhelmed,
but all of us know that it's not until He places us in a position
where we feel overwhelmed that we truly do start crying out
from the depths of our soul to Him. It's not until He puts us
in that place that our hearts from the depths of our souls
just start begging Him and pleading to Him. It's in these very moments
right here that we become convinced that He's our all. Without moments
like this, we would never be convinced that He is our all. We just wouldn't be. It's in
these moments that we truly know and experience our union with
Him. Our hearts know. When you're
in that place of pleading, you know. You know, you're connected
with Him. You're vitally joined to Him.
He is your lifeline. It's in these moments that we
become convinced in our hearts that He is mine and I am His. And as painful and as fearful
and as overwhelming as it may be, Can we not see and can we
not say, honestly, honestly, if that's the end result, if
that's what it produces right here inside my heart. It's good. Can we not say that and can we
not say that it truly is good. Knowing what Christ is to us. Knowing what Christ means to
us. Knowing what we have in Him. Knowing what we will find if
we run to Him. Oh, how good that is. That is
so good. Oh, how good and how pleasant
that is. Just to have all eyes on Him.
All the eyes of the heart on Him. all the need on Him, all
the hope in Him, all the comfort in Him, all the
assurance in Him. Verse 1, David said, Hear my
cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto Thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. for thou hast been a shelter
for me and a strong tower from the enemy." David said over and
over throughout the Psalms, he said, you're my shield, you're
my fortress, you're my unreachable place of safety, my high tower. And it's true. It's true. If Christ has been our Redeemer
and our safe-keeper concerning all of our spiritual, eternal
matters, then how much more is He our Redeemer and our safe-keeper
in all of our physical and temporary matters? In all things, no matter
what it is. No matter what it is, we God's
people, God's people cry, Lord, we bring it to you. We bring
it to you. We come to you. We're casting
our burden on you, casting our all on you. Verse three says,
for thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from
the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle
forever. Does that sink into your heart? In Psalm 27, David said, one
thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of His tabernacle
shall He hide me. He shall set me up on a rock. To abide in His tabernacle, that's
to abide in Him. And the scripture says what God
does is forever. If that's where God the Father
placed us, if that's where He put us, if He put us in Christ,
we will abide there forever. That's where we'll be forever. Verse 4 says, I will abide in
thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert. That means the covering. It means
the shelter. It means the hiding place of thy wings. Jesus Christ, our hiding place. Isn't that where you want to
be? Isn't that where you want to
be? Isn't that where you want to stay? Don't you just want to run to
that place of safety, run to that place of shelter in the
rock and just hide and stay there? Psalm 91 says, He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High. That place sounds so good
to me. I want to be there so badly. I want to be there right
now. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Oh, Lord, shadow
us. That's where I want to be. That's
where I want you to be. That's where I want all of us
to be. Verse 5 says, For thou, O God,
has heard my vows." In verse 1, David said, please hear me.
That's what he was crying, please, please hear me. By verse 5, he
said, I know that you already have. Isn't that how it is with
us? We start out begging, pleading, wondering, hoping, crying, and
the Lord's Spirit brings peace to our hearts and says, I've
already heard. I've already heard, I already
know. David right here is saying, I
know that before we even call, You answer. And we know that
too, don't we? We know that before we even cry,
Lord, You know our frame. We know that You know what things
we have need of before we know what things we have need of. And we know, Lord, that you will
supply all of our need. We know that, don't we? We cry
for it, and we know it. Verse 5 says, For thou, O God,
hast heard my vows, thou hast given me the heritage of those
that fear thy name. You've included me in the heritage
of your people. You've called me to the Fellowship
of your people in Christ. My Lord, verse six, thou wilt
prolong the King's life and his years as many generations, never
ending generations, eternal generations. David said, I know that whatever
happens in my life down here on this earth, there is an eternal
life to come. And there is. an eternal life
to come, and everything that's happening down here on this earth
is only leading us and preparing us for that life that's coming.
Everything is leading us to it. Everything is pointing us to
it. Everything is reminding us of it, preparing us for it. And David right here is speaking
of himself. He's talking about the king's
life and his years and all that, but he's speaking concerning
himself. Verse seven, he said, I know that I shall abide before
God forever. Oh, when you think about that,
when you think about that, David said, I'm going to abide before
God forever. When you think about that, it
makes everything here seem so small. I don't belittle our trials
and I don't belittle our troubles, especially one I'm not enduring
when a brother is or a sister is. But when God's Spirit causes
our hearts to truly see, believe, and enter into the fact that
we are going to dwell before God, we're going to abide before
God, it makes everything here just get so small. It makes it
get so temporary. The Apostle Paul endured so many
trials. That man, he truly did. He endured
so many trials. He had so many fears. But this
is what he said. He said, compared to the glory
that's coming. Oh, compared to the glory that's
coming. He said, they are all light afflictions. Light afflictions. But I'll tell
you this. The only way that we can see
them to be light afflictions is by looking to Christ. That's
the only way. Looking to Christ and crying
out to him. The middle of verse 7, David
said, Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve me. He's speaking of himself. Christ
is that mercy. Christ is that truth. Mercy and
truth meet together in him. They met together in his blood. Mercy has come to sinners because
of the blood of Christ the Lamb. They did not get what they deserved
because He took it for them. He shed His blood for them. So
for that reason, David said in verse 8, I will sing praise unto
thy name forever. but I may daily perform my vows. I'll sing praise forever and
ever throughout eternity. I'll sing praise now, I'll sing
praise forever, and I'll pay what I owe in return. I'll pay
the only thing that I can pay in return, gratitude. That's all I have, thankfulness. Honor, all honor be to Him, all
glory be to Him, all praise be to Him. We can say, the Lord
is our rock, in Him we hide, a shelter in the time of storm.
We can say, we can cry, Lord, Your oath, Your covenant, Your
blood, that's what supports us in the whelming flood. When all
around our souls give way, you are all our hope and stay. On
Christ the solid rock we stand, all other ground is seeking sand.
We can cry, here I raise mine Ebenezer. Ebenezer was a stone
that was placed, a stone of remembrance. And this is what the stone represented,
and this is what the name means. hither by thy help I'm come."
Only because of you. Only because you brought me.
Hither by thy help I'm come. I love the story, I've told it
to you quite a few times, but I love the story that says, a
vessel was wrecked one stormy night off the coast of England. All were drowned except an Irish
boy. The waves swept him onto a great
rock. In the morning he was rescued
and they asked him, lad, didn't you tremble out there on the
rock during the night? He said, sure I trembled, but
the rock didn't tremble once all night long. Now, this is what I want to say
to us. This is what I have to say to us. It's OK to tremble. Because the rock won't. That's
good news, isn't it? I know things can be fearful.
I understand that. I know things can truly be trying.
And it's OK to tremble. The rock won't. You're standing
on the rock, and He will stand forever. He will deliver us all
the way to the end. He'll get us all the way through
the night. Morning's coming. Morning is coming. And the rock
will deliver us all the way to the end. Lord, from the end of
the earth will we cry unto Thee. When our heart is overwhelmed,
lead us to the rock that's higher than us. That's my prayer for
us. That is my prayer. Now let's
close this evening with that prayer. We'll have a word of
prayer and be dismissed.