I'm so thankful for the special
music today. Thankful for these who minister
to us in this way. I love music. We're blessed with
musicians that love the gospel. God has gifted them and they
use their gifts for God's glory and bless us. I'm so blessed,
blessed by the organ, the piano, those that sing, those that lead
the singing. We're thankful to God for them,
aren't we? I know you are, and I am. Look again at Psalm 18
this evening. This is where we visited earlier
today, and I want to go right back to the same verse of Scripture
in the 18th Psalm, verse 46. The Lord liveth, and blessed, blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation
be exalted. The Lord liveth. He's not imaginary. He's not dead. He liveth. We read that He only hath immortality. A dead Savior, a Savior who stays dead, is of
no value to anybody. Our Lord Jesus, He died. We read, he laid down his life
for the sheep, but he didn't stay dead. Those that visited his grave
that first day of the week, the messenger said to them, why do
you look for the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen as He said. Our Lord is life and He liveth. He's life in Himself. And all
of the life that exists in whatever form originates with our God. The book of the Bible, the book
of Genesis, the second chapter. The Lord God formed man out of
the dust of the ground. And he breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. And then that's when man became
a living soul. The Lord's the giver of all life.
And He is the supporter of all life. He sustains all life, all
natural life. The life that you have in the
flesh, in this body, that's a life God gave you. And that's a life
God sustains. The Lord who gave you your life,
He keeps that life for you every day. The reason you breathe is
because God gives you breath. The reason your heart keeps beating
is because God keeps it beating. He's the origin of your life.
He's the one who maintains that life. And at His will, that life
will end. He's the giver and the sustainer
of physical life. And He's the giver and He is
the sustainer of spiritual life. If you live under God, if you
have been quickened by the Spirit, if you've been born again by
that incorruptible seed, that Word of God that liveth and abideth
forever, that life is a life God gave you. He breathed into
your soul the breath of life. If you're born again, you're
born of God. And the evidence of being born
again is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, pastor, how do I
know when I've been born again? How do I know that God has given
me life? Well, tell me this, who is your
hope? You say you believe you'll go
to heaven when you die. What is your basis for that?
And I tell you, if the Spirit of God has given you life, you'll
say, my hope is built on nothing less, just like we sang, than
Jesus' blood and His righteousness. He'll be all of your hope. And
when you go before God, He'll be all of your plea. That Jesus
Christ died. And that when He died, He died
for you. That He paid your debt. He's
your life. He's your righteousness. He's
your all. And the One who gave you that
life, He maintains that life. He keeps you living. That's why
the Lord Jesus said, under the Pharisees, of His sheep, He said,
they'll never perish. They'll never perish, neither
shall any man take them out of My hand. The Father who gave
them Me is greater than all. Nobody is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand, and I and My Father are one on this
in sustaining the life of the sheep. We're safe forevermore. Every once in a while somebody
will ask me, do you believe in once saved, always saved? And
usually my answer is, it depends on who does the saving. If you have wrought your own
salvation, if there's something you've done to get this life,
then you can do something to end that life. But if your life
is the life that God gave you, if Christ Jesus is your life,
you'll never die. You cannot die. Because you have
Him who is life, He gave you life, He'll sustain that life. And even when this mortal body
dies, the life of God in the soul keeps on going. The Savior said, he that liveth
and believeth on me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this? And I ask you, do you believe
this? I do. By the grace of God, I do. The
One who gave us life, He sustains our life. You know that when Adam fell
in the garden, Adam and all of his posterity lost three things. Number one, we lost the way to
God. Thank God there's a new and living
way. A new and living way. That way
to God in the garden, Adam and Eve, they fellowshiped with God.
They spoke with God. God spoke with them. And then Adam sinned, he fell,
he lost the way to God. Oh, he came up with his own way
whereby he thought he could get to God. But there was no way for him
to get to God by that way he selected because that's the way
it works. And that's man's natural way,
that's his natural natural choice ever since, isn't it? Man thinks
he can get to God by his own works. All I've got to do is
present to the Lord the best that I can do. Well, you're going
to have to have something a whole lot better than the best you
can do. Because except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never enter into the Kingdom
of God. You've got to have the very righteousness of God. And
that's in Christ Jesus. And He established that righteousness
for us, that justifying righteousness for us by His bloody death on
the tree. Thereby we're justified by that
blood before God. Adam lost the way to God. And
the Savior said to all of His disciples concerning the way
to God, He said, I'm the way. It isn't merely, now watch it,
it isn't merely, I'll show you the way. It isn't, I'll tell you about
the way. He said, I'm the way. Somebody's the way. God's own
Son, our Savior, He's the new and living way. There's one way
to God. Mary's not the way. Some dead
saint's not the way. The church is not the way. Christ
is the way. We lost the way to God in Adam's
fall. Bless the name of our Savior.
He's the way to God. Secondly, we lost the very truth
of God. We lost the gospel of God's salvation. We lost that message of salvation
by grace alone, by the work of Christ Jesus alone. Adam lost
that truth. Eve believed the serpent's lie.
And Adam forsook the very truth of God and invented his own way
of salvation by works, by the labors of his hands. The Apostle
Paul in Romans chapter 1 says, they changed the truth of God
into a lie. And that's what happened in the
garden. They changed the truth of God
into a lie and men have been believing a lie ever since. And you'll never believe the
one who is the truth unless him who is the truth makes us alive. and shows us that he's the truth. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth. And thirdly, Adam lost the life
of God. The Lord said to him, in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And dying,
he died. He died spiritually. He dropped
dead spiritually right then. Somebody said he fell and broke
his spiritual neck. And broke every other bone in
the body as well. He died before God. He lost that
life that God gave him. Thank God there's somebody who
is the way, he's the truth, and he's the life. He's the life. This is a record that God has
given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Where
is the life? It's in His Son. It's not in
the church. It's not in taking the Lord's
Supper. It's not in baptism. Where is
this life? It's not in morality. It's not
in good works. Where is this life? It's in God's
Son. That's where life's at. Every
blessing every mercy, every grace that God has for fallen sinners,
they are all in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. The Lord liveth. And I tell you,
because He lives, we live. That is the reason you are alive
tonight. I'm looking to the faces of people who are alive under
God. Alive under God. And the gospel
is alive to you. It's like that live coal that
was put on Isaiah's lips. That gospel is life to you. God
has burned it deep into your soul. Who did that for you? The
one who's the life. You live to His glory. The Lord liveth, look at that
next phrase, blessed or blessed be my rock. Blessed be my rock. That word
blessed means saluted. And it also presents the idea
of kneeling. Look up the word. as in bending
the knee and in worshiping, saluted and honored, and let's kneel
before this One who is the Rock. He's the Rock of all of our hope,
so let Him be the object of all of our glory. Let us unite our
songs in the song of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, this Rock, You see, all earthly honors die. All earthly pleasures die. The
world itself is dying. And we're dying. Every day we're
dying. But the Lord liveth our rock. Blessed be our rock. My flesh is as sand. My fleshly life, my strength,
my glory is a word written on the sand that will someday be
washed away in the tides of time. But blessed be my rock. He lives
forever. My rock. Who is the rock? This rock is Jesus. Yes, He's
the One. This rock is Jesus, God's only
Son. He's the rock. In the Word of
God, He's set forth all times under the character of a rock
or a stone, that which is immovable, that which is very firm. that
which endures all time, all trials, all the storms, the rock that
stands steadfast all the way to the end. He's the rock. Go with me to Isaiah chapter
28. Look at Isaiah chapter 28. A most interesting scripture. Maybe another day we'll examine
this more particularly verse by verse, but I know this, in
the first four verses the Lord speaks of judgment that is going
to arrive. That's why it starts off in chapter
28 of Isaiah verse 1, Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards
of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is as a fading flower, which
are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with
wine. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty
and strong one, which is as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,
as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down to the earth
with the hand. Then again he says, that crown
of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet,
and the glorious beauty which is the head of the fat valley
shall be a fading flower. All the things that they relied
on, all the things that they trusted in, shall be as a fading
flower as the hasty fruit before the summer, which when he that
looketh upon it, seeth while it is yet in the hand, he eateth
it up. Our Lord says judgment is coming. In verses 5 and 6, He speaks
of the grace that God gives to an elect remnant. In that day
shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem
of beauty under the residue of His people. God always has a
residue. God always has a remnant according
to the election of grace. I know this world is filled with
ungodliness and wretchedness and vileness. Everybody is filled
with that and so are you. And so am I. And by nature we
are all fading away. But by grace, by grace, there
is a residue. God said, I've reserved, He said
to His discouraged prophet, I've reserved 7,000 that haven't bowed
the knee to Baal. And I know religion today is
vile and worthless. But I tell you, our God has 7,000
or many, many more that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. He has
His sheep out here. Not everybody is going to be
damned. Not everybody is going to be
judged. God has His elect. Christ Jesus
has redeemed them. And if they haven't yet been
brought unto the sound of this glorious gospel of God's free
grace, they shall be brought unto the sound of it. And the
Spirit of God is going to quicken them and give them faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Judgment is coming. but God has
reserved a residue. In verses 7 and 8, we see the
sinfulness and the wickedness of all men. They've erred through
wine. They're drunk on the wine, the
harlot's wine, the wine of Babylon, the wine of false gospel. Most of the people you know and
that I know, they're drunk on false religion. They're inebriated
with it. And you try to talk to them,
you can't reason with them. It's like talking to somebody
who's physically drunk. What's happened to them? They're
intoxicated with that wine of the false gospel. They've erred
through wine, through strong drink they're out of the way.
Both the priest and the prophet. They've erred through strong
drink. They're swallowed up of wine. They're out of the way
through strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble
in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit
and filthiness, so that there's no place that is clean. Boy,
that's bleak. In verses 9 through 11, God tells
His way of instructing His people. He says, whom shall he teach
knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
milk, that are drawn from the breasts of false religion. Well,
how does God teach them? Precept upon precept, precept
upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little
and there a little. For with stammering lips and
another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said,
this is the rest that ye may cause the weary to rest. And this is the refreshing. There
is a refreshing message. There is a message of rest for
poor sinners. But this is the natural man.
Here's his response. The last phrase of verse number
12. Yet they would not hear. That's always the case, they
won't hear. And you wouldn't hear if God didn't give you ears
to hear. You wouldn't see if God didn't
give you eyes to see. You wouldn't believe the gospel
unless God gave you a new heart to believe in. Look at verse 13. This is their refusal to believe
the gospel, to submit to salvation by grace, but the word of the
Lord was under them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,
that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and
taken away. God keeps on sending His word,
increasing your responsibility. Well, what do men do when they
hear of God's judgment? Well, this is what they do. Look
at verse 14. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful, ye bragging men, ye boasters, that's what
the word means, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem,
because ye have said, in light of God's word, judgment's coming.
Woe unto Ephraim! The judgment's coming. Well,
here's what they said. They said, we've made a covenant
with death. And not only have we made a covenant
with death, but with hell are we in agreement. When the overflowing
scourge of God's judgment, of God's wrath shall pass through,
it won't come to us. For we've made lies our refuge,
And under falsehood have we hid ourselves. This speaks to us
about somebody who is trying to soothe his own conscience,
pacify the terror of his soul, and silence the voice of guilt
within his own heart. Being warned of God's righteousness,
God's justice, and God's wrath, man says to his soul, everything
is alright. There is no need to fear because
I've joined up, or I've made my decision, or I'm trying to
live by the Ten Commandments, there's a million false refuges. I got a treaty with hell. Well,
others may perish, but that judgment's not going to come near me. I
have a refuge. I have a refuge. That's what man says. But listen to what God says.
Verse 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God. See, verse 16, here's the connection. In verse 15, because you have
said. Now in verse 16, God says, now
I got something to say. I got something to say. He says,
behold. Behold. Look. Listen. Perk up. Pay attention. At word behold. Every time you
see the word behold in the Bible, you do need to kind of sit up
straight and put your hands behind your ears and listen up because
something mighty powerful is going to be said. Behold! Look! See! God says, I lay in Zion for a
foundation of stone. a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. There's only one refuge where
you'll really find safety, and that's in this stone, that's
in this rock, Christ Jesus. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ our Lord. This
is the only firm foundation. I made mention to you this morning
about the wise man building, he built his house upon the rock. When I was a little kid, we used
to say the wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise
man built his house upon the rock. The rain came streaming
down. That house stood firm because
it was built on a rock. It was a foolish man built on
it. He builds on the sand. He builds
on the sand of his decision, the sand of his experience. Is
there somebody here tonight building on the sand of your experience?
Well, I know I'm right with God because years ago, I remember
when I went down the aisle, I was at a tent meeting and I walked
the old sawdust trail. That's what folks used to say. I remember when I went to the
altar and I prayed through. You don't have a refuge. That's
no refuge for your soul. Only those who are built on the
rock shall stand fast. And doesn't this... I know you
won't argue with me on this, and you've heard me enough to
know this. I believe in salvation and all
of grace. all through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I also believe on our responsibility to build on the rock. For your soul's safety. for the
glory of God. Build all of your hopes for time
and eternity, for salvation, for righteousness, for the forgiveness
of sins. Build on the rock. And if you
don't, God's going to damn you for it. We're responsible to
build on the rock. I know that what God has decreed,
that shall happen. But I can't look into the books
of God. And I'll tell you this, if I
feel a need in my soul, I'm running to Jesus Christ. I'm going to
flee to Him and I'm going to build all of my hopes on Him.
And then I find out this, He purposed for me to do that. He
enabled me to do that. It's all of grace. We're not
fatalists. When you say you're a predestinarian,
that's a glorious thing. God has predestinated all things
and He's predestinated His people to seek Him and He'll be found. He said, you'll seek Me and find
Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I'm seeking the
Lord, aren't you? I'm still crying out to Him.
Every day I say, oh God, show me mercy for Christ's sake. Oh
God, I'm building on the rock. Help me more fully to build on
the rock. Jacob called him the shepherd,
the stone of Israel. Christ Jesus. David said, he's
my rock. Blessed be my rock. I stand on
him, don't you? I stand on Christ the solid rock. I know He's the stone which the
builders refused, but God has made Him the head of the corner. I build on Him. He's the foundation God has laid. He laid Him in His eternal purpose
of grace. He laid Him in His substitutionary
work. He's the foundation laid by God
for Zion. Zion is the church of the living
God. He is the foundation upon which
the church is built. Our Lord said, upon this rock
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Our Lord Jesus, He is the cornerstone. He is the cornerstone. He is
the one who brings us all together. He is the one who unifies. We
are unified in Christ Jesus. You see, we are the temple of
the Lord. The Lord goes out into the world.
He goes out into the quarry. And He digs out rocks out of
the quarry of the world. And He shapes them and He fastens
them and He puts them in the building. We are a living building
to His glory. Built on the rock, Christ Jesus.
Here's the cornerstone. He's the one who brings us all
together. He's the sure foundation. What
is your refuge? What is your refuge? Is yours
a refuge of lies? You ask most people, they'll
say, yeah, I believe it's going to be a final judgment. Of course,
they don't understand what judgment's really about. They don't understand
that it's according to righteousness. But yeah, you believe you're
going to answer, yeah, we're going to have to answer to God
someday. There's going to be a judgment someday. Well, what's
your refuge? How are you going to stand in
that day of judgment? And that's what I'm asking. How
are you going to stand? You are not going to stand unless
you are standing in the Lord Jesus Christ and standing on
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the rock. Blessed be my
rock. My rock. Look at Isaiah chapter 26 verse
4. Isaiah 26 verse 4, since you're
very close to that anyway. Isaiah 26 verse 4. Verse 3 says,
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. And it says, Oh, trust
ye the Lord forever. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting
strength, and in my Bible you go over into the center, And it says in the Hebrew, the
rock of ages. That's who He is. That's who
He is. This is the one to trust for
everlasting strength, the rock of ages. Nobody else to trust. Nobody else to put confidence
in. Look at Isaiah chapter 32. See, He's not only a foundation
stone, He's the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. This rock. Blessed be my rock. Isaiah 32,
1 and 2. Behold. Behold. There's that word again. Behold,
a king shall reign in righteousness. And princes shall rule in judgment. And a man, or literally, and
that man, that king, shall be as a hiding place from the wind,
and a covert, a shelter from the tempest, as rivers of water
in a dry place, as the shower of a great, a massive rock in
a weary land. In this awful desert, this wilderness
of the world, we find the heaven-born soul finds in the Lord Jesus
Christ, a shadow of a great rock. Weary of sin, weary of self,
fearful of the wrath of God, where do we flee? The rock of
ages. Go back to the book of Psalms,
Psalm 61. Look at Psalm 61, verse 1. Verses
1 and 2. Psalm 61, 1 and 2. Listen to David. Hear my cry,
O God. O God, attend unto my prayer.
Psalm 61, verse 2. 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. When I am overwhelmed, You know
what the word overwhelmed means? When I feel faint, and when I
feel feeble, and I'm swooning, I'm staggering, I don't feel
like I'm going to make it, here's the cry, and I think the cry
is to the preacher, lead me to the rock that is higher than
I. You're out here in the world all week, you work in the world,
you live in the world, You come in here on Sunday morning and
Sunday night and Wednesday night. Oh, what a blessed thing it is
to attend the place of worship. We come in here and we say to
the preacher, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. I
feel faint, pastor. I'm about to swoon. I'm staggering. The world has been beating up
on me. You know what some preachers
do when you come into church? They'll beat up on you too. Yeah? Well, you think the world is
rough on you, the way you come in here, I'll get you. I'll just
take the hide right off of you and send you back out in the
world and you're bleeding and you're wounded. No, preacher,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. It's this gospel of the Lord
Jesus. That's what invigorates the people
of God. It's not laws. It's not rules. It's regulations. It's Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that right? Oh, when I'm overwhelmed. When
there's sorrow in the family, when there's sadness, when there's
trouble, when there's trials, when there's grief, when there's
pain, when there's affliction, lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. Let me sit down under the shatter
of this great rock and enjoy sweet peace and rest and consolation
for my poor soul. I need the gospel. Don't you? I need the gospel. This is my
bread. This is food for my soul. And
David said, blessed be my rock. Eulogized be my rock. Let's brag
on the rock. Go back to Psalm 18. I'll quit
in maybe 15, 20 or 30 more minutes. I won't be that long. I'll spare
you. I've given you enough already,
but I'm going to give you this too. Psalm 18, 1 and 2. Psalm 18, 1 and 2. This is the
same Psalm we took our text from. Psalm 18, 1 and 2. I will love
thee, O Lord. And I want you to notice how
many times he uses the word, my. My. I will love thee, O Lord. My
strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress,
and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust,
my buckler, that is, He's my defense, and He's the horn of
my salvation and my high tower. He's all of that, David says,
to me. To me. Blessed be my rock. You know that expression, my
rock? It's found a dozen times in the Bible. And it's used only
by David. David's the only one who says,
he's my rock. He's my rock. Now he's the rock
of all the other writers of Holy Scripture, but this expression
is unique to David. He says, he's my rock. And David
loves using that word, my. He said, the Lord is what? My
shepherd. He's my shepherd. He's mine,
I'm his. And I tell you, this is the rock
from which flows the water of life. All of Israel is thirsty,
no water. God said to Moses, you take the
rod, you take the rod of God. A rod of judgment. You go up
to Mount Horeb, you smite that rock. And he did, and water came out
of that rock, and it followed him all the way to the promised
land. And our rock, he was smitten
by the rod of God's justice. and the river of refreshing,
the refreshing waters of salvation. They follow us all the way through
life to refresh our souls. Do you thirst for Him? Do you
thirst for His blood? Do you thirst for His justifying
righteousness? Our Lord Jesus Christ, He's the
rock. We know He's the rock because
I began the service by reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 4,
chapter 5, chapter 10, verse 4. That rock was Christ. And
if you're thirsty for God's salvation, come and drink. The rock's been
smitten. Now, I've already thrown a curve
to these musicians tonight, and I'm going to throw another. Do
you know Rock of Ages? That's not a new one to you,
is it? I don't think it is. No, what is it, 126? 126? It
just seems fitting to sing that, and I apologize if I didn't give
these folks fair warning, but I got a feeling they probably
knew it was coming. You did, didn't you? Yeah. There
you go. You can read my shallow mind.
All right. What is it? 126.