Now as we continue with our studies and our theme is Christ in all the Scriptures, today we're going to examine the thought of Christ being the rock. Now the rock is mentioned in a number of places in the Old Testament and there they set forth the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The figure is found in the writings of Moses and in the Psalms and the Prophets. In the New Testament Christ themselves uses the figure of the rock and Paul also speaks of the rock and likewise Peter. Now let me read some verses to you that will set the background to what we have to say. First of all, I'll read to you from the Proverbs and chapter thirty. Proverbs chapter thirty, verse twenty-six. The Coneys are but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks. Then I'll read to you some verses from the New Testament. In the Gospel according to Matthew and chapter seven, And this comes in as part of what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. And just as the Lord is coming to the end of that great sermon, he says this, 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, for it was founded upon a rock. I am sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Now, based upon what we have read in these verses, I'm going to suggest to you that here we learn our first great truth concerning Christ as being the rock. I suggest here we could write these words the saving rock. For we learn from Proverbs chapter thirty verse twenty six that the rock is a safe place in which to hide. We find there those little animals that make their house in the rock. Proverbs being written by the wise man sets before us some very wise statements and sets forth those items related to wisdom. Here now we have the Kony's. It is said concerning them they're feeble. That is, they would be the victims of their enemies, but they know how to find a safe place. So they make their houses in the rock. That is a safe place to hide. But when you come to Matthew chapter seven, verses twenty four and twenty five, the Lord Jesus Christ indicates that the rock is a safe place on which to build. So in the Proverbs we have a house in the rock. but in Matthew chapter seven we have a house on the rock. In each case the scriptures present the action as a mark of wisdom. There was a man who was called Top Lady, or his name is well known in certain religious circles, and others, while they don't know his name, are very familiar with what he wrote. He lived in the south of England, and one day while he was out having a walk, he noticed that there was a gathering storm, and it would be essential for him to find some place of shelter, or else he would be overtaken with the storm. He noticed there that there were the rocks, and up there there was a great cleft in the rock. So he hurriedly climbed up and got in to the cleft in the rock, and he sheltered there until the storm had passed. That experience of his was the means of causing him to write those familiar words that are well known in almost all church or evangelical centers. They sing them often, Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy ribbon side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save me, Lord, and make me pure? Perhaps you have sung that hymn often, Rock of Ages. But have you ever paused to consider that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who is indicated by the writer as being the Rock of Ages. And if one is in Christ, He is in a safe, hiding place, sheltered in Christ. No enemy can reach us. No one can destroy us. We have that place of security in Christ. But according to the teaching of the Lord Jesus himself, as found in Matthew chapter seven, the rock is a safe place on which to build. There is a contrast set before us, and life seems to be pictured as someone erecting a building. So we apply it to ourselves. We are all builders, building in time and building in the light of eternity. And someday what we build is going to be put to the test. Now may I ask you, will your building stand or will your building fall? No, I visited a place some time ago that was looked upon as a campground. The man who owned the particular place thought it would be a beautiful place and an attractive place for campers. And so he had his ground prepared and certain buildings put up. He himself put up one for himself. And also all the conveniences for the people who would come in and rent places in his camping ground. Beautiful place in the summertime. With a river running down the side of the grounds. Oh, it was just fine. A restful place. But just recently there was a heavy storm. There were floods, and the river overflowed its bank, flooded right on to its place, and unfortunately, the places that were there and the trailers that were there were washed away and buildings destroyed. It seems now that while it looked beautiful and was all right in fair weather, When the storm came and the rains descended and the floods washed in, the place collapsed. That's exactly the picture we have in Matthew chapter seven. Here he says a man built his house. Nothing wrong perhaps with the appearance of the house. Nothing wrong perhaps with the material he put into it. It may have looked all right. Naturally speaking, to the eye it looked beautiful, but when the testing time came they discovered it had no solid foundation, it was built on the sands and not on the rock, and without a foundation when the rains descended and the floods came and the winds blew, the house collapsed because it was built. on the sand. But the other man had got rid of the sand. He had dug down till he got the rock. He got the solid foundation. He built his house on the rock. And when the rains descended and the floods came and the winds blew, when the testing time came, his house stood the test, all because it was founded on the rock. You'll see the rock was a safe place on which to build. So if you have a house that is in the rock, that is safe, a safe place to hide. It will protect you from all your enemies. But if you're built on the rock, what you're building, if your house is on the rock, it's a safe place to build. And if you take this rock as being indicative of the Lord Jesus Christ, And perhaps you're saying to yourself, but how do you know that the rock speaks of Christ? Well, when we come to Paul's letter to the Corinthians, First Corinthians chapter ten, he makes reference to certain things relative to the children of Israel. And he says there, And they did all drink the same spiritual drink, For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So you see, the New Testament makes it perfectly clear that Christ is indicated by the rock. He is that solid rock. There was a time when Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord said, Thou art Peter. My Father in heaven has revealed this unto you, and on this rock I will build my church. Christ is the rock. The testimony and confession of Peter spoke of him as being the son of God, and he said, that's the rock. But now then we learn, first of all, then, he is the saving rock. In Christ You're safe and secure from all alarms. What you're building is you build on Christ the solid rock. It will stand. No doubt the hymn writer again had that in mind. When he said, On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is shifting sand. Not only is he the saving rock, I suggest to you he is the supporting rock. Way back in the book of the Psalms, you find that David one day is expressing himself in a word of testimony. And here is what he says. And by the way, I believe what I'm about to read to you in its primary application has to do with the Psalmist. but it also becomes a kind of prophetic statement concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible fit, out of the mirey clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. He hath put a new song in my mouth, ye who prays unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. It's that particular part of these verses, and he set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. If Christ is a saving rock, he is also a supporting rock. The psalmist claims that his feet Not just one foot, his feet are set upon the rock. You know, a person could have one foot on the rock and another one dangling over, but not so with the psalmist. Both feet were well established. The believer is well settled with both faith and hope fixed on the Lord. You know, an old woman... who didn't know very much about education as she hadn't been educated, and she didn't know very much about original languages, but someone tried to upset her one day, and she kept saying, but I'm on the rock. I'm on the rock. And they said, but ah, my dear lady, don't you think it's possible for you to fall off the rock? No, she said, I'm on the rock. is big enough to hold me, and I'll never be able to fall through it. She was on Christ, the solid rock. Christ is a supporting rock. My friend, it's one thing to know Christ as the saving rock, a place in which to hide. It's one thing to know Him. as the rock on which to build a safe place on which to build for time and for eternity. But here is something that will strengthen our faith. He is the supporting rock. And when you're built on Christ, He's the solid rock. And on Christ, you're safe and secure. He'll support you through every circumstance of life. But then again I find that, a way back in the writings of Moses, that the Lord Jesus Christ is set before us as the supplying rock. In the book of Exodus chapter seventeen we discover there that the children of Israel were passing through the wilderness. And there was one thing they required. and that was water. You know, water is a very essential thing. Have you ever wondered, my friend, how would you do if you didn't have water, even if it was for a day? You know, we take a awful lot of things for granted these days. We just rise in the morning, and there is the water at our touch. But there was a time when it wasn't so. A great number of people, perhaps still alive today, will remember when they didn't have water in the home, when you had to go and find the water, it had to be carried perhaps in buckets from the well and brought into the house. But, oh, when people got all their modern conveniences and they got a good supply of water into the home, what a difference that made. But sometimes, you know, the supply runs out and there's a scarcity of water. But ah, let me remind you, my friend, that water is an essential thing. And when the children of Israel were going through the wilderness, they required water. And they lamented and they complained. But the Lord told Moses what to do. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel and thy rod, wherewith thou smoteest a river, take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb. And thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders. of Israel. They got the water from the rock. That's why I read to you again that verse from First Corinthians chapter ten and it's there while he's referring back to that incident that there he discovered, as it were, and made it known to them that rock was Christ. And so they had to learn that the rock that was smitten there in the wilderness was only a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. So they had water from the rock. It was a supplying rock, supplying water to quench their thirst. But then again there is another interesting thing in the book of Deuteronomy, again a book written by Moses. And there we find in chapter thirty-two that Mention is made of this rock. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields. And he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. So not only do they get water out of the rock to quench the thirst, But oil came out of the rock to refresh the body, and there was honey out of the rock to sweeten the taste. All these three proceed from the rock. So spiritually Christ was smitten, and makes a full provision for the believing pilgrim. You see, my friend, if you need something to quench the thirst, The spiritual thirst I'm referring to now, it comes from Christ, just as water came out of the rock to quench the thirst, the natural thirst of those that were in the wilderness. If you're thirsting after righteousness, you'll find it in Christ. You need oil to refresh the body. Ah, we get that. Out of the rock, according to Deuteronomy chapter two. But, you know, that oil being indicative of the Holy Spirit also is supplied by Christ. But he had to be smitten before that the Holy Spirit was given. And then there's honey to sweeten the taste. He's the supplying rock. There's not a thing we need in our spiritual experience, but can be supplied by Christ. When you come to the writings of the Prophet, and you come over to that great prophecy of Isaiah and here after all Isaiah was one of the outstanding prophets of Old Testament times he's called the Gospeler of the Old Testament when you come to the writings of Isaiah and chapter thirty two here's what he says behold A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment, and a man, a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a cupboard from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a gray rock in a weary land. He's a sheltering rock. When the day is sultry and the journey wearisome, the shadow of a great rock will shelter from the oppressive heat and enable the weary pilgrim to keep moving on towards the goal. In a coming day the nation of Israel will look for and appreciate this sheltering rock. My friend, I wonder do we appreciate Christ as the sheltering rock now? After all, if they were travelling through the wilderness, they needed places to shelter. And so He is the sheltering rock. And in a coming day He will be their sheltering rock. Today you and I can look upon Christ as the one who can shelter us. As we travel through life's journey, you may come to some part in your life where you're feeling the weariness of the journey. A place where you need to sit down and rest, you can rest under the shadow of the great rock. That great rock is Christ. He said, Come ye yourselves apart and rest a while. He knew that his disciples needed a rest. And when we need that rest, he is our sheltering rock. But then again, I want to refer you to the words of Peter. When the Lord said to the disciples, Whom do men say that I am? And he gave their various answers. Then he makes it very personal. Whom do ye say that I am? Peter says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now with this solid rock for our foundation, Christ is building his church. on that solid rock. Say, on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. No power on earth or in hell can never prevail against his church. Let me remind you then, he is the steadfast rock. He's not just a little splinter of rock that can be broken off. He is the solid rock. steadfast rock that eternity can never move. Christ is that rock. There again I remind you of our verse from First Corinthians ten. We'll come back to that now as we close. He is the spiritual rock. The natural thing, water, was provided in a supernatural manner and the scriptures declare that rock was Christ. Just as the presence of the Lord continued with the Israelites in the wilderness, so the presence and provision of Christ is at the disposal of the believer today. When you think of a rock, all that savers of stability and serenity for the protection and preservation of the trusting soul is assured in the rock-like permanency of our age-abiding deliverer and defender. Then you can sing, On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Christ is our rock.