Alright, let's open our Bibles
to 1 Samuel chapter 23. I love that song you sang. That's
certainly a hymn that speaks of what I'm going to talk about
this evening concerning the believers' security and safety in Christ. As I said, the title of the message
is Safe in the Rock. Christ Jesus. Now you'll recall
in this chapter 23, the first part of this chapter, the first
12 verses, we see in the life of David a great and grand and
beautiful illustration of how the redemption of sinners by
the Lord Jesus Christ is all of grace. Just as David in the
first part of this chapter is seen delivering by power from
the Philistines a people who were unworthy and undeserving.
That's just exactly who Christ redeemed on the cross. A people,
His own, His race, as you say, who are unworthy and undeserving
of that great, tremendous sacrifice of love and mercy and of justice. He redeemed us. He redeemed his
people from their sins. And not a one of us deserve to
be redeemed. Not a one of us. That's grace.
When we were enemies, the scripture says, Christ died for the ungodly. And so that was an illustration
in the first part. In the second part, beginning
at verses 13 and going down through verse 23, we see the fellowship
that is between David and Jonathan, King Saul's son, And we see how
that is a beautiful illustration of the fellowship that is all
of grace that brings those who by all practical purposes and views
of things should have been enemies. Jonathan being the heir to the
throne of Israel because of his father Saul, but God intervened
to take Saul. off the throne and say, David's
the anointed one. And Jonathan wanted it that way. He loved it that way. And that's
an act of the grace of God. And that's the way it is with
God's people when He brings us to see our sins and to see the
glory of Christ and the power of His blood and His righteousness
and who He is. Not only do we see our need of
salvation by grace, but we love it that way. We want it that
way. When we see the sovereignty of
God in salvation, that's the way God's people want it. We
wouldn't have it any other way. You know, people talk about how
they fight against it. They say they're Christians and
they fight against it. Now, listen to me. Now, you know,
when God saves a sinner, He puts us in the dust where we belong.
And He brings us to see that His sovereign grace is the only
grace. It's the only way. The blood
of Christ is the only way of the forgiveness of sins. The
righteousness of Christ is the only way of our justification
before God. And He brings us into fellowship
with Himself, with the Father and the Son through the Spirit.
And that's what brings us in fellowship with each other. Even
our fellowship together is all of grace. That's right. And that
was an illustration of that. And then, of course, we saw the
opposite of that in the people who inhabited the wilderness
of Zeth who aligned themselves with Saul against David. That's
where there's no fellowship between the church and the world. There's
no fellowship between light and darkness. And that fellowship
of light is the fellowship of grace. Now, if you'll look at
verse 24 to the end of this chapter, We are going to see this, that
our preservation and our protection from all that would come against
us, from all that would separate us from the love of God in Christ,
all of our preservation is all of grace. Not only are we saved
by grace, we are kept by grace, and we will enter glory by grace. And in no time in that process,
Will we ever be able to stand up on our legs and say, now I
deserve it. Now I've earned it. It's all
because of Christ who is our rock. Now here, after David was
delivered from Saul and the wicked men and women of Ziph who would
turn him over to Saul, which says in verse 24, And they arose
and went to Ziph before Saul," that is, those who would come
against David, and it says, "...but David and his men were in the
wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon." They
weren't there, they weren't where Saul wanted him to be. And it
says in verse 25, "...Saul also and his men went to seek him.
And they told David, wherefore he came down into a rock." Now,
some translations say he came down from a rock. The indication
is that he was on this mountain, or a large hill, which was known
as a rock. And there were caves there. And
David abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard
that, when he heard where David dwelt, he pursued after David
in the wilderness of Maon. So Saul went after him. Saul
was relentless in his ways to go after David. He was relentless. He had a one-track mind, and
that was to kill David. It reminds me of the Pharisees
and the scribes and the Sadducees going after our Savior. It reminds
me of fallen humanity going after our Savior. That is the one thing
that we did not want this man to rule over us until God brings
us and causes us to submit to him. In verse 26 it says, And
Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men
on that side of the mountain. So you have a chase here from
one side to the other of this mountain. And David made haste
to get away for fear of Saul. For Saul and his men compassed
David, and his men round about to take them. Now here it comes
to a point where it looks like David is done for. Saul had more
men than David. David had about 600 men at this
time. I don't know how many Saul had
at this time. Some say around 3,000. Some say
more. But he was surrounding this place. And it looked like David was
a goner. Well, look what happens. Verse
27. But there came a messenger unto Saul. Now, we don't know
who this messenger was. But he was a messenger who came
unto Saul saying, Haste thee and come, for the Philistines
have invaded the land. And wherefore, or for this reason,
Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines,
and therefore they, that is, David and his men, called that
place Sila-hama-lekoth." Sila-hama-lekoth. Now, let's all pronounce that
together. We might not ought to do that.
We'll sound like we're talking in tongues or something. Here's
what it is, that's Shila Hamalakoth. Now if you were to translate
that literally, it would be the Rock of Slipperies. What a name. There used to be
a college, every time I'd watch the basketball scores or something,
there was a college called Slippery Rock. I don't know if this is
where they got their name or not. But that's what it would
be literally, the rock of slipperies. And what it's talking about,
this is where David slipped away from Saul. That's why they called
it that. But it has other names, too.
You might read in your concordance, it says rock of divisions. That's
a good name for it, too. But Sela Hamalikoth, the rock
of division, rock of separation. And it says in verse 29, And
David went up from thence, and dwelt in the holds of En Gedi. Now David escaped Saul. He was
preserved. He was preserved not by his own
power. He was protected not by his own
goodness, his own cunning, or his own wisdom. It was totally
a sovereign act of God. First of all, to bring the Philistines
in, the wicked Philistines, God overruling evil for His good,
for our good rather, and His glory, bringing the wicked Philistines
into the land to invade it. Secondly, to send the messenger
to Saul and diverting Saul's attention from the one thing
that he had on his heart to do. And that was to destroy David. But Saul had to go against the
Philistines. We find later on that Saul was
successful in going against the Philistines. But this point in
time, it was for one purpose, and that was to preserve the
king. to preserve the anointed king
until God work his purpose in all things. Now, this commemoration
that David gave to this place when he was delivered from Saul
by naming it this name was an act of worship. In other words,
it is teaching us that David recognized that this wasn't an
act of luck or it wasn't an act of coincidence. Or it wasn't
an act whereby he could look up and he'd say, boy, I must
have done something right today. Saul got away. I got away from
Saul. It was an act of God. And that's
why he called it the Rock of Slipperies. Now, you have enjoyed
over the years that you have been sitting under the preaching
of the gospel, I know this, you have enjoyed over the years many,
many sermons, many songs, hymns, concerning the type of a rock
typifying our Lord, our Savior, our Christ. The rock. Many ways in scripture he's represented
as a rock, and I love it. In fact, my favorite hymn, I
can say without any reservation at all, is The Solid Rock. I quote it all the time up here,
don't I? I quote it on television. My
hope is built. on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. And all other ground is sinking
sand. I love that hymn. If the Lord doesn't come back
and He takes me home, I want that sung at my funeral. The
solid rock. Because that's the rock upon
which I stand. We'll look at a scripture in
a minute. There are many times in Scripture where a rock is
used to typify and picture and illustrate our Lord's person,
who He is, and the great work that He accomplished on Calvary
as the sure foundation of our salvation and our redemption
and our preservation and our entering into glory. I think
about one Back in the book of Exodus chapter 17, you don't
have to turn to these scriptures, but if you'd like to mark them
down, you're familiar with them. It may not come to mind when
I mention the number, but you're familiar with this one. You remember
when the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness and
they complained, as they often did. Don't get down on them. We're complainers too. And they
had no food. They had no water. So God sent
them a rock. And here's what he said in verse
6 of Exodus chapter 17. Listen to this. The way it's
put is just beautiful. It says, Behold, I will stand
before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite
the rock. Talking to Moses. Moses will
smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, water out
of that rock, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in
the sight of the elders of Israel. He stretched the rock. And that
was a picture. of our rock, Christ Jesus, being
struck on the cross of Calvary. And out of that death comes the
water of life. Isn't that a beautiful picture? You remember how that perfectly
typifies our Savior. You remember later on, Moses
misrepresented the type because he let his anger get ahead of
him. He struck the rock twice. And see, that's a misrepresentation
of Christ. He didn't die twice. By one offering,
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. But somebody
says, well, how do you get Christ out of that rock? Well, 1 Corinthians
10, verse 4, the Apostle Paul, when he was speaking of the experience
of the children of Israel in the wilderness as an example
to believers in his day and in our day, when he said that these
things that were recorded and written were written for our
good, And for our example, he talked about the children of
Israel who did all drink, 1 Corinthians 10, 4, who did all drink the
same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock
that followed them, and that rock was Christ. The Holy Spirit
tells us. That's a great commentary on
Exodus 17, isn't it? Listen, if you buy the Bible,
you've got that commentary already right there, the New Testament
commentary on it. Christ is our rock who was struck
on the cross of Calvary from which we get, as a result, the
water of life, eternal life, spiritual life. For through his
death comes our life. You see, when he died, he didn't
stay dead. He was buried, but he arose again
the third day. So from his death comes life.
I think about another passage, Exodus chapter 33. where Moses
was asking God, show me thy glory. Show me your glory. And it says
in verse 21, it says, And the Lord said, Behold, there is a
place by me, and thou shalt stand up on a rock. Standing on the
rock. We stand on the rock, Christ
Jesus. And it shall come to pass, he went on to say, while my glory
passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, a cleft,
a hiding place in the rock, and will cover thee with my hand
while I pass by. Not only do we stand in our salvation,
in our completeness, in our certainty, in our assurance upon the rock
Christ Jesus, but we are hidden in a cleft of the rock. We are
hidden in him. We stand upon him, we live and
move and have our being in him. And we're protected from all
that would come against us. We're protected from Satan, because
there's therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
We're protected from his accusations, for who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father.
in heaven, making intercession for us, ever living to make intercession
for us. And we're protected from sin
because Christ took care of the sin problem on the cross. He
bore our sins away. He satisfied law and justice.
He paid the debt in full. And so we're protected in the
rock, Christ Jesus, from our sins. And then we're protected
from ourselves. Now that's so, I love that part
because I believe our cells are our worst enemies. And even our
cells, even our own hearts cannot condemn us because we're protected.
I think about Hannah's prayer over in 1 Samuel 2. You know,
Hannah was Samuel's mother. Samuel was a miracle child given
to Hannah. She prayed for that child, didn't
she? She dedicated him to the Lord before he was ever conceived
and born. And when her prayer, in the second
part of her prayer, verse 2 of 1 Samuel 2, she says this, she
says, There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside
thee, neither is there any rock like our God. She knew who had
the power of life and death over her womb, let alone her eternal
destiny. She knew that. She knew it. And
David wrote so many times, there's not enough time for me to go
into all the Psalms in which he speaks of the Lord as our
rock. I read that in Psalm 18 where
he made the statement, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and
my deliverer. And Brother Aaron read that in
Psalm 27 where he says, for in the time of trouble he shall
hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his tabernacle. And
that's Christ. The tabernacle, the Old Testament
tabernacle was a picture of Christ. And when it was said that he,
when John wrote in John chapter 1 about the word being made flesh
and dwelling among us in John 1, 14, that word dwell there
among us is tabernacle among us. And so he says, and the psalmist
says there, that I will dwell in the secret of his tabernacle,
shall he hide me, he shall set me up upon a rock. And you could
go on and on and on through the Psalms. with that kind of language,
leading us to the rock Christ Jesus. Well, back here in 1 Samuel
23, here Saul is still at his sane, sinful, rebellious occupation,
still in pursuit of David, who was hiding on the other side
of this very large hill or mountain, however you want to look at it.
It looked like Saul was going to trap David, but I think we
can interject by way of scriptural language in other places, that
this, but God, but God, but God who is rich in mercy. Just like
us, when our sins are about to overtake us, but God. When our
enemies are pursuing us, but God, God intervenes, and He protects
His anointed one. Well, the Lord sent an old enemy
into Israel, the Philistines. He sent him down for one purpose,
and that is to distract this evil man Saul and to protect
David. And the Lord used those Philistines
to accomplish his purpose and to fulfill his promise to David.
Now that is an amazing thing, but it is so. All things work
together for good to them that love God who are called according
to his purpose. And so when that happened, David
and his men commemorated it in worship, in faith, in trust in
the Lord. And they say, we'll give this
mountain, this hill, this rock a name. And he called it Silahama
Likoth, the rock of slipperies. It's also called the rock of
escape. It's also called the rock of
separations or the rock of divisions. Well, Christ is our rock in all
of those ways I've just mentioned. Let me show you some scripture.
Let's turn to Matthew chapter 7. I believe this is the one
that the hymn writer of the Solid Rock based his hymn on. This
is the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ had
preached the gospel, where he had showed them the straight
and narrow way of salvation, which is Himself, Christ and
Him crucified. The only way of salvation, the
only way of redemption, the only way of righteousness, And then
he said in verse 24, look at this, Matthew 7, he says, Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will
liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house, and it fell not. Now why? Well, because
the fellow had built it sturdily. Or because he used good nails. Well, fella, I'd have built a
house sturdily, hadn't he, Jim? You've been building one. And
put good nails, put good materials in it. But none of that's the
reason the house didn't fall. It didn't fall for it was founded
upon a rock. It was the foundation. It was
the foundation. And see, that's the way it is
with our salvation. It will never fall. It will never
fail. It will never be taken away because
it's founded upon the rock, Christ Jesus. My friend, we're safe
in the rock, Christ Jesus. Now, our safety is not in ourselves. Our safety is not in each other.
Our safety is not in the church. It's not in baptism. It's not
in anything we do or don't do. Our safety is in the Lord. Our
safety is in the grace of God. The only reason that we don't
perish is because of the power of His precious blood. The only
reason we can stand before God whole and complete and accepted
is because of the beloved. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7.
It's because of His righteousness alone that's given to us freely
and unconditionally. And we have no other claim. He
goes on. He says, verse 26, Everyone that
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand,
and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall
of it. Why? Because it was built on
the sand. It could have been the most beautiful, the most
sturdy built house. It could have been built with
the most expensive, the strongest materials, but it's going to
fall because it's not built upon the right foundation. Not built
upon the rock Christ Jesus. Turn to Isaiah chapter 28. Turn
back in the Old Testament. This, as I said, we see it here
in 1 Samuel, but in the prophets too. Safe in the rock Christ
Jesus. Here, Through the prophet Isaiah,
God is exposing what he calls the refuge of lies. Now, you
know, a lot of people claim a lot of different things as refuge. Refuge. I think about David when
he went into the cave of Dolom, and that word of Dolom means
refuge. That's a picture of us in Christ
who is our refuge. Well, what is your refuge tonight?
You know, I told somebody today, I said, you know, this issue,
you know, you talk about different doctrines and different things
and there is right doctrine and there is false doctrine. There's
truth and then there's lies. But we got talking about Calvinism
and Arminianism. Let me tell you something. This
isn't an argument over Calvinism and Arminianism. This is an argument.
This is a debate. This is an issue over grace and
works. That's what it's about. And what
I'm telling you is if your safety, if your salvation, if your preservation,
if your refuge is in any way in man, self, works, it's a false
refuge. It's a refuge of lies. And you're
just deceived to stay there. But here he says in verse 16
of Isaiah 28, here's the right refuge. Listen to this. He says,
therefore, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a stone, and that's a rock there, a tried stone.
This rock's been tested. The rains fell upon it, the wind
blew against it, the earthquakes, and this was tested. Our Savior
was tested. He was tested all of his life.
He was tested on the mount by Satan, and he passed the test.
He was tested by the Pharisees and the religionists, and he
passed the test. He was tested in the Garden of
Gethsemane, and he passed the test. And when he came to the
cross, he fulfilled all that was required of his people by
his obedience unto death. He's a tridestone. And then it
says he's a precious cornerstone. The cornerstone holds it all
together. He's a sure foundation. And he
that believeth shall not make haste. He says judgment also
will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet and the hail shall
sweep away the refuge of lies. That's going to be swept away.
And the water shall overflow the hiding place. And whatever
covenant you've made with death, shall be disannoyed." It's going
to be thrown away. Somebody says, well, I know that
when I die, I'm going to heaven. And I ask you this, and if it
offends you, that's too bad. I'm glad somebody asked me one
day, what is the reason for your hope? What is the reason for
your assurance? And I'm telling you, if it's
anything but Christ and Him crucified and risen again, it's a refuge
of lies. I tell you, people need to hear
this, don't they? You know, Christ told his disciples, he said,
upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16, 18. Turn over to
1 Peter chapter 2. Peter quoted Isaiah 28 over here,
but look at what he says. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2. And
look at the context and how the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to
comment on these verses over in Isaiah 28, because it's real
interesting. He's encouraging believers here
to live right, to fight sin, to be obedient, not to be saved,
but because you already are. You see? Not trying to earn your
way into God's favor, not trying to earn God's blessing, and not
trying to get God to bribe you with earned rewards in heaven.
That's a bribery. That's what that is. That's greed.
That's not grace. Don't let anybody tell you differently.
But look here. He says in verse 1, "...wherefore
laying aside all malice..." That's hatred. All guile. That's dishonesty.
"...hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn
babes..." That's people who have already been born again. He says,
"...desire ye the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby, if so be ye tasted, the Lord is gracious." To whom
coming, and that's a continual coming. It never stops. It's
not just a one-time thing. It's not just walking down an
aisle. It's a lifelong coming to Christ by faith. "...as unto
a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, Natural man doesn't receive
the things of the Spirit of God, doesn't know it. But chosen of
God and precious, Christ was chosen of the Father. And he
says, you also as lively stones or as living stones are built
up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That's how our
sacrifices, our prayers, That is how our works are acceptable
unto God, not because there is any merit or worth in them, but
because of Christ. Just like our persons are accepted
in Christ, our efforts to obey God and to worship Him from the
heart are accepted with God in Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness. And so he says in verse 6, Wherefore
also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion. a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded." Now, what is all that talking about?
What does all that mean? He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. Well, look at verse 7. "...unto
you therefore which believe he is precious." Literally, he is
an honor. That means he is my honor. He
is my worthiness. And he is precious to me. But
unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which
stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed."
Appointed by God. And it was their own unbelief
that caused them to stumble over the preaching of Christ and Him
crucified. Because they thought too much
of themselves, too much of their works, too much of their religion.
But he says in verse 9, look at this. But ye are a chosen
generation. That's an elect people, isn't
it? A royal priesthood. And holy nation. That means separated
by the grace of God in Christ. A peculiar people. Peculiar there
doesn't mean weird. It means purchased. You see that
in your concordance? We're bought with a price. that
you should sow forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light." And you can read the
rest of it. Christ is our rock. Christ is
our rock of escape. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. He
is our rock of escape. You cannot escape death and hell
without Christ. Just like David slipped away
from Saul on that mount. Christ is the way we slip away,
you might say, from sin, from Satan, from death, and from hell.
Look at verse 1 of Hebrews 2. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. That's the
gospel. the good news of how God saves sinners, how God can
be just and justify the ungodly, the good news of Christ and Him
crucified and risen, lest at any time we should let them slip.
The picture here is like drift on by. You know, in Paul's day
and in our day, there's a lot of drifters. They come by, they
hear, and they drift on by. They don't take to heart what's
being said. So he says in verse 2, for the
word spoken by angels was steadfast. That was under the old covenant
as they were ministering angels that he spoke of back up in chapter
1. And every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward. Now that was the laws
that were given under the law of Moses, the capital punishment. All those for breaking the Sabbath,
they received a just recompense of reward. So he's saying if
under that covenant, God was strict and He demanded justice
as the payment for sin. Look at verse 3. How shall we
escape? If we neglect, so great salvation. How strict do you think God is
going to be in this matter of eternal salvation? I hear people
talking about it all the time, the mean God of the Old Testament.
And they say, I would rather deal with the loving God of the
New Testament rather than the hateful God or wrathful God of
the Old Testament. Well, they don't know what they're
talking about. They have no idea. And I want to tell you something.
Our Lord had some of the harshest words that a human being could
ever speak. He's God in human flesh, but
as a man, he walked this earth. He had some of the harshest words
that a person ever had for the religionist of his day. You see, God is wrath against
all sin. He must punish sin. Old Testament
or New Testament, He never changes. And he's either going to punish
your sins eternally in yourself, or they've got to be punished
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no other way. If you want to experience God's
love and God's mercy and God's compassion, You better run to
the Rock, Christ Jesus. How shall we escape? Look at
it again, verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him? What
is this great salvation? It's salvation by God's grace
in Christ. It's the Rock, Christ Jesus.
He is our Rock of escape. You know, Christ warned the Pharisees
in Matthew chapter 23 and verse 33. He called them serpents.
He said, you generation of vipers, poisonous snakes. He said, how
can you escape the damnation of hell? How can you? Not by
your works. He said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. It's not by your pedigree. John the Baptist told him, he
said, bring forth fruit meat for repentance and say not within
thyself, we be Abraham's seed. That'll do you no good. When
you get before God at judgment, what are you going to plead?
As you're right entitled to enter heaven. You're going to say,
well, I was a Jew. I was a child of Abraham. I won't
do it. You say, well, I was a Baptist.
I won't do it either, folks. You say, well, I was circumcised.
That won't do it. Well, I wasn't perfect, but I've
done my best. That won't do it either. You
see, the measure, the judge is Christ, the Lord our righteousness,
and he's also the measure of judgment. For God hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. You
see, you've got to have a perfect righteousness to escape hell. And there is not one to be found
on this earth in men. There is only one to be found,
and that is in Christ. No other. None other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. No other way. In Romans
chapter 2 and verse 3, Paul wrote, And thinkest this, O man, that
judgest them which do such things that are sinners, and doest the
same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? How am I
going to escape the judgment of God? God, who knows my every
thought, my every motive, my every action, my every word.
I've done things that you haven't seen, and you've done things
that I haven't seen. I've thought things that you
didn't know, and you've thought things I didn't. But let me tell
you something, there's one who saw everything and knows everything,
and he's God Almighty. It's like I said this morning,
if that thought is standing before him, and he knows everything
about us, if that thought frightens you, and it should, don't run
away. Ask this question, how shall
I escape his judgment? How's it going to be? And there's
not but one way, and that's run to the rock of Christ Jesus.
Plead His blood and righteousness alone. Say, God be merciful to
me, the sinner. Turn over to Isaiah 59. Christ
is our rock of separation and division. And what I mean by
that is just like David. Here he is, Saul's pursuing him. And it looks like that Saul is
going to catch him. And then God intervenes and separates
Saul from David. Now you see, in our fallen Adam,
in our fallen Adam, our sins separated us from God. And we
are born in Adam, born dead in trespasses and sins. Look at
Isaiah 59 verse 1. He said, Behold, the Lord's hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy,
that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you, that he will not hear." Now, what is Isaiah saying there? What is the Holy Spirit to Isaiah
saying? He is saying this, that if salvation is going to come
to our houses, to us personally, If communion with God, if we're
going to be able to pray to God, see what He said there? Your
sins have separated between you and your God. Your sins have
hid His face from you that He will not hear. If we're going
to have a clear, clean, open way to God, then this sin matter
has got to be taken care of. Because until it's taken care
of, our sins separate us from God. That's right. Now, how is
this sin matter going to be taken care of? We'll turn to Hebrews
10. Hebrews chapter 10. How is God
going to receive me when I'm a sinner? How is God going to
commune with me and bless me? How is He going to save me? How
is He going to hear me? It's not that God can't hear
unbelievers. He hears what they say, but He
doesn't receive and accept and bless what they do. How are we
going to receive blessing from God? Well, look at Hebrews chapter
10, look at verse 19. Well, let's go back up to verse
17. Now, he's been talking about
one thing here, and that's the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross to fulfill all righteousness before a holy God for His people.
His offering, His sacrifice, and have fulfilled all the types
and the pictures of the old covenant and abolished that covenant.
And God says here, He says in verse 17, And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Now that's language for
our understanding. God never learns anything. God
never forgets anything. But what He's talking about here
is this. God will not hold our sins against us. He will not
charge us with sin. He will not mark iniquities,
as the psalmist said. He said, I'll remember them no
more. Verse 18, Now where remission
of these is, that is these sins, There's no more offering for
sin. In other words, if Christ took care of the sin problem
on the cross, then there's nothing else to be offered. It's done.
It's finished. One offering, he says back up here in verse
14. For by one offering he hath perfected,
completed forever them that are sanctified. So you see these
people all the time trying to offer God payment offerings for
their sin. That's a denial of Christ. His
one offering. That's a denial of his offering.
Because when he did it, he said it's finished, the sin problem
is taken care of, and he says now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. Now look at verse 19.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter the holiest, that is
the very presence of God. How? Look at it. By the blood
of Christ. It has nothing to do with the
eloquence of your prayer. It has nothing to do with today
you've had a good day, and you feel good, and you think you've
been obedient. It has nothing to do with, well,
I was in church today, or I gave my tithe today, or I was baptized.
It has to do with one thing and one thing alone, the blood of
Jesus Christ. That's it. Fleet of the Rock. And he said, a new and living
way, verse 20, which He, Christ, hath consecrated, newly made
for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. And he
goes on, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near with a true heart, a sincere, honest heart, honest
about ourselves, honest about God, honest about Christ and
salvation. We're sinners. God owes us nothing
but death and hell. And my only hope is Christ and
Him crucified. In full assurance of faith, that
is looking to Christ, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience. That's a guilty conscience. Burdened
down with sin. When I look to Christ, that's
the only thing that will cleanse my conscience. His blood. And
our bodies washed with pure water. Christ is the one who separates
me from my sins. Christ is the one who separates
me from the world. Christ is the one who separates
me from all that would come against me and protects me. You know,
we've often, I used to hear my dad say all the time, somebody
would get in trouble and he'd make this statement. And I know
y'all have heard it, Sid, that fellow's between a rock and a
hard place. You ever heard that? He's between
a rock and a, that means he's, he's bad off. He doesn't have
any place to go. But you see, if we ever get between a rock
and a hard place, we know exactly where to go. Go to the rock.
Don't go to the hard place. That's where a lot of us go.
That's where the flesh wants us to go. Go to the rock. But
we're safe in the rock Christ Jesus.