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All right, good evening. Thank you for coming to our Sunday evening service. The verse of the week is Deuteronomy 32 verse 4. He's the rock. His work is perfect. For all his ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity. Just and right is he. Pastor is Pastor Aaron Thompson. And we also had a great service this morning and we go to the book of Colossians on Wednesdays Bible study at 6.30 and we also go, we have soul winning Sunday at 1 p.m. So I believe we didn't have any salvation today, right? We had one salvation. So praise God. Hey, if you have one salvation, that means it's receptive. I hear churches a lot bigger than ours go out soul winning, they also have only one salvation. Smaller group, one salvation, that's awesome. That makes it I believe 172 for the year and seven for August. So that's great. And then tonight Pastor Thompson will be preaching as well. And as I mentioned, we're going to the book of Colossians on Wednesdays, I believe we'll finish it this Wednesday. And on September 2nd, Pastor Thompson will be preaching in Cincinnati, Ohio for the fundamentalist conference. And then on October 3rd, Pastor Thompson will be preaching at Pure Words Baptist Church. And on November 7th, Pastor Jimenez will be preaching at Vancouver for the p.m. service. And I forgot to mention also on October 5th, there's going to be a fire breathing Baptist fellowship at Statfest in Hearst, Texas. So that's going to be also another conference type where if you can, we should try to make it. The last time I went to the Red Hot Preacher Conference this year and before that I went to the, what's it called, Make America Straight Again Conference. So I don't believe we're going to have that this year, right? Make America, yes. Maybe next year. But that was a pretty, pretty awesome conference as well. And tonight, after the evening service, we're going to have two baptisms. So right after the service, we're going to go outside to the back of the building and down the stairs. And we're going to have two baptisms over there. And also, after the church, everybody is invited to go eat out. As long as Ryan Gallagher gives us permission, we'll go out. We'll have to verify with him later. So I'm joking. But yeah, everybody here is invited to go eat out. And thank you, Pastor Thompson, for that as well. And we have the other information there, Money Matters at the bottom of the bulletin. And that's all for that. And let's open the Bible up to Psalm 126. Psalm 126. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. Psalm 126. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. We were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord have done great things for them, the Lord have done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord have done great things for them, the Lord have done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord have done great things for them, the Lord have done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. All right, great singing. Right now we'll do tithes and offerings. Brother Robert, if you can pray for the tithes. Dear Heavenly Father, Please just bless this offering Lord, bless the gift of the giver and the use of sin. Amen. All right, if you want to take your Bibles and read Exodus chapter number 17. Exodus chapter number 17. Exodus chapter number 17 beginning in verse number 1 the Bible reads, And the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin. After their journey according to the commandment of the Lord and pitched in Rephidim and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted for water. And the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. 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 smote us the river, take in thine hand and go. For 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. And he called the name of the place Masha and Meribah because of the chiding of the children of Israel because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? Then came Amical and fought with Israel in Rephayadim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek, and tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill, and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were stayed until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword, and the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for it will utterly put out the remnant, the remnant branch of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehorvashish, for he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Brother Dan, would you please pray? Amen. Alright, well it's great to be back again for the evening service, and it's been a great trip so far, and praise God for the person that got saved, and for the baptisms we're going to be doing this afternoon, and tonight I got a message, it's a little bit different, but it's called The Rock. So let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much, for this great church up here in Spokane Valley. I pray that they would continue to hold it down, and go forward, and attack the gates of the enemies. Lord I pray that you would help me with this sermon today. I pray that you fill me with your spirit, with power and boldness, and I pray for people to hear what the spirit says under the church tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, so the title of the sermon is The Rock, and so basically it's kind of just a study on what the rock represents in the Old Testament, and the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4, it says, And did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So the Bible really implicitly says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, that that rock that kind of seemed to follow them wherever they went, they obviously didn't like roll down the hill after them or something like that, but there's all these different areas where they come to a rock, and you see something special happen in that situation, but you know just thinking about things about rocks like qualities or characteristics, and I try to just think of all the ones that I could think of that were interesting, but like when we're comparing the Lord Jesus to a rock, or God to a rock, there's certain characteristics on a rock that are pretty interesting. So a lot of rocks are very hard, and so you know God's not always hard, but like I would say that that kind of represents the fact that he's unmovable, he's steadfast, he doesn't change, and like rocks can have water flow over the top of them for long periods of time, and they don't really change. I mean obviously if it's a hard rock, it's not going to change much. It might smooth it out or things like that, but they're pretty much rocks are pretty much unmovable. If you just left one there and no elements were on it, it would just kind of stay the same, right? So and then a rock is a good thing to build upon. So when we think about building things, obviously nowadays we have like concrete foundations, and that's a pretty hard substance, but you can build houses and things like that on top of rock, and that's obviously the best thing to build things on. And the Bible talks about not building your house on sinking sand, right? So we wouldn't want to build our house upon sand because when the hard times come, the whole house is going to be destroyed, but if you build it upon a rock, then that's a good foundation to build upon. So and also rocks can do damage to your enemies, right? So a lot of people, you know, I mean David killed Goliath with a rock and hit him right between the eyes and dropped him dead as a doornail, right? And so he had a pretty good aim, but David used that rock to defeat his enemies. When the Bible says to destroy certain people that deserve the death penalty, he talks about stoning them with stones, right? So, you know, they get rock to sleep, right? So anyway, and you know, this is strange to me when I read this story in the Bible, but about Jacob using stones for a pillow. I mean that doesn't sound like the most comfortable pillow. I have like one of those side sleeper pillows and it's pretty comfortable, but you know, a rock, I don't know if that would do the same thing, but I guess if you're in the right situation, a rock might be just helpful to keep your head from doing this or whatever. I don't know. But Jacob used it for a pillow, but you know, we can lean on the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can lean on God for the things that we need and he's going to comfort us. You know, a pillow is supposed to be something that comforts you, right? So and again, a rock doesn't seem like something that would do that, but you know, rocks could also be protective. You know, if you're in a war or something and you're shooting arrows or shooting guns, I mean most people try to hide behind something solid so that they don't get shot, and I'm sure a rock would be a good spot. When you shoot guns, you usually go to a place where there's like rocks in the background so that you're not shooting to pass and hurting people. But rocks are also gnarly. You know, not all rocks are beautiful. You know, when you're talking about gemstones and things like that, those things are beautiful. Well, like just a nasty, gnarly old rock is what I think of when I hear the word rock. And Jesus didn't have any appearance that was comely. He didn't have, he wasn't this like super striking, good-looking person or something that people would desire him, right? And so, you know, Jesus, when he died on the cross, he was ugly. He was beaten. He was bruised. He was bloody. And he was probably really hard to look at. And rocks, some of these rocks are really hard to look at. I don't know, it's just some things I thought about when thinking about the characteristics of a rock. Does anybody else have anything that would kind of apply? Anybody want to give a shout-out to their thing that they're thinking about while I'm blathering on here? No? All right, well, let's just get into the sermon then. And I just want to show some simple things. The first two points, I just want to show how the Bible clearly shows that he is the rock in the Old Testament. Obviously, the New Testament sheds light on the Old Testament, and so that's what we always should take our doctrine from. If we, you know, if the New Testament explains something in the Old Testament, that's what's right about that scripture. So, but let's look at number one. And we'll stay in our text here at verse number six. It says, so point number one is the rock is Jesus. The rock is Jesus. Look at Exodus chapter seven, verse six, it says, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come out of it that the people may drink. Jesus did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So, you know, the people are upset, they don't have any water, they don't have any food, and they're tempting the Lord. You know, because God, I mean, they've just seen God do all these things, right? And then instead of just asking God and just asking him to supply their need, I'm sure he would have been a lot more helpful to them and things like that if they would just ask nicely. You know, when kids are up there and go, give me something to eat, Mom, or give me something to eat, Dad. If they come at you like that, it's going to irritate you, right? If your kids don't ask you nicely or say please or things like that, it's rude. So that's kind of what they were doing in this situation, and God wasn't very happy about it. But anyway, he told Moses to smite the rock to basically help the people. And so he also said to speak to the rock. So he said speak to the rock, but he also said smite it. But when Moses did, he did it twice, didn't he? So which kind of breaks the, you know, Jesus was smitten once, he was killed once for our iniquities, and, you know, the blood that flowed out of him when they stabbed him with a spear, you know, obviously, you know, that came out of him. And that blood that came out of him, that was the atonement for our sins, the sinless life of Christ. And so this is a picture of Christ getting smitten for our sins, and that, you know, obviously water, what does water do? It washes things, doesn't it? So water sustains our lives. And so when you look at it like that, you know, this is kind of an ugly thing to say, but it's true. You know, the blood of Christ, I mean, if you think about, you know, washing yourself with blood, that's not like a very appealing thing to think about, is it? But the fact is, is that Jesus' blood does cleanse us from all of our sins. So it does have some similar things, like, you know, when we get baptized, it pictures us being forgiven of all our sins. It pictures us dying and being born, you know, being born again like Jesus died and was risen from the dead. So, but look, it says that, so it says, Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, and the people may drink. So, again, Moses, why didn't he go to the Promised Land? Because right here, he smote the rock twice, and it did kind of mess up the picture of salvation. But God, you know, obviously, Jesus was going to save us anyway, but that's why, I mean, that thing that Moses did right there, all the great things that he did, and he was a great man of God, I mean, he was, you know, one of the greatest men in the whole Bible, but even just that one thing made it to where he wasn't able to go to the Promised Land. And then I'm just going to have you turn to Numbers 20, verse 8, and I'm going to read again that scripture in 1 Corinthians 10, 4, where it says, And did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock. See, it's a picture of drinking of Christ. It's a spiritual drink that followed them, that rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So you see the picture here? The Old Testament shows us when it's talking and dealing, and there's just so much of this. Like, I could actually preach probably a series about all these things, but I don't have that kind of time tonight, so. Anyway, you're in Numbers 20, look at verse 8, it says, Take the rod, so this is where he instructs Moses about this situation. It says, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock, so that thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. So you see the picture there? When we gather together as a congregation, it's before the rock. It's Jesus Christ is the rock. He's the pillar and ground of the truth. The church is the congregation of the Lord, and so it's a picture of us gathering together before Jesus. So Jesus is in the midst of our church, and he meets with us as we have church. And does he meet with all churches? No. I mean, not if they're not a legit church that he's not going to meet with that church. A church that's not considered a legit church would be one that just quit soul winning. You know, after a while, God's just going to remove that candlestick, and it might look like a church. People that go there might look like they're Christians. You know, they might do things and say things that would resemble Christianity, but if God has already taken the candlestick away, what does that mean? He's taken his spirit away from that church. And so he doesn't consider it to be a legitimate church anymore. So, and it says, And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the Lord, and he said unto them, Here now ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lift up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beast also. But, you know, we don't have time to get to all the other parts of this, but he was told to speak to the rock, but he was told to smite the rock, because if you look in Exodus 17, it does say, Thou shalt smite the rock. So he was supposed to smite it. It just doesn't give us that detail in this parallel passage here, but he's supposed to speak to it. So, you know, when we get saved, we're supposed to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, right? So, like, I mean, I just believe that's a picture of us confessing to the Lord, and that, you know, when the rock is smitten, you know, it pictures the death of Christ, and the water that comes out is unto eternal life, right? So, but he did it twice, he ruined the picture, but there's no doubt that the Bible teaches that that rock is Jesus. That's what the Bible says, that rock was Christ. Who's Christ? Christ Jesus. Number two, that rock is God. The rock is God. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32. And actually, this chapter speaks about the rock more than any other chapter, and that rock is who? That rock is Christ, but that rock is also God, because Jesus Christ is God, right? And you'll see these terms used interchangeably in these passages. Look at Deuteronomy 32 verse 3. It says, Because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. See, it says God right there. He is the rock. His work is perfect for all his ways or judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. So, does this passage say that the rock is God? Yes, it does. Yes, it does. And also, the New Testament says that Christ is the rock. So there's a good proof text to prove to people that, you know, Christ is God, because it's used interchangeably right here, right? Now look at verse number 15 in the same chapter. It says, But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked, thou art waxed and fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness. Then he forsook God, which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. So it says they forsook God, that he forsook God, which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. So it's using the rock and God interchangeably here. Now look at verse 18. It says, Of the rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. See, again, using the rock interchangeably with God. And what do we know from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4? That rock is Christ, okay? So Deuteronomy chapter, the same chapter, look at verse 31. It says, For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. So there's a lot of people that have a lot of false rocks. There's a lot of false rocks out there, false gods. You notice how, you know, and obviously it just is showing us the difference, but in your King James it might have the first rock mentioned here in a small R, and the second one with a capital. Does your Bible have that in it? Or it capitalizes the second one? Okay. And obviously, you know, I mean, it's just emphasizing that the first rock it's talking about is like a fake rock. You know how it has little g, big G? You know, and some people, it's funny how they want to teach us how to be Christians and they write little g in their Facebook posts or whatever. Or, you know, just people write little g because they just don't have respect for God in that way. They don't understand that when, you know, obviously to us in our culture, writing God with a capital G just shows it's talking about the God of the Bible, right? And the small rock, the small g represents, you know, false gods or whatever, right? Look at verse 36 in Deuteronomy chapter 32. Verse 36, the Bible says, For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants. So God judges his own people and he will repent himself for his servants. What does that mean? It will change his mind. You know, if we change our mind, if we change our direction that we're going, if we repent of the things that we're doing wrong, then God will repent himself and change his mind about how to deal with us in certain situations. It says, When he seeeth that the power is gone, and there is none shut up or left, he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you and be your protection. See all these people with all these false gods, you know, and he was talking specifically about the children of Israel, how they would go whoring after these other gods and they would serve them and they would serve Balaam and they would serve all these different gods. Well, hey, since you just want to hang out with those little Gs, you want to go whoring after those small Gs, those small gods, those fake false gods, then hey, let them rise up and help you when you're in trouble. Don't call upon me. But obviously, you know, God is long suffering, he's merciful, and you know, if people will repent and change their mind about things, then God will help them. A lot of times we just destroy ourselves by just making stupid decisions and bad decisions, but God, you know, he's there to help us and he loves us and he wants to protect us. So number three tonight, the rock can either break you free or grind you into powder. He can either break you free or grind you into powder. So we've established that the rock is God, the rock is Jesus, and that rock can either break you free or grind you into powder. So you can be on his team or you can suffer as his enemy. And obviously, you know, at the end, anybody that's not saved is going to be God's enemy. So if they're not reprobate now, eventually they're going to be if they choose not to serve him. You know, there's not a single person that's held that's not a reprobate. You know what I mean? So like all those people that go to hell eventually turn to reprobates. I'm not trying to be like, oh, he just has to bring up the reprobate doctrine all the time or something like that, but it is true, isn't it? Anybody that God casts into hell, anybody that his angels throw into hell, aren't they truly reprobate at that point? Yeah, so even if they're not, at the moment they close their eyes for the last time, and they didn't believe on Christ, they're going to go straight to hell. And so they're going to be reprobate. But there's a lot of people that are either God's enemies or they're for God. You know, there's a lot of people, you know, and obviously God loves sinners and he wants them to be saved, but there's people that directly oppose God and his people, and God's not going to deal with those people kindly. So, and, you know, I just want to say this for the sermon. Rocks and stones are used interchangeably in the Bible, too. The stone which the builder rejected, you know, has become the head of the corner. So, you know, a stumbling stone. Like, so, rock and stone is also used interchangeably in the Bible. They basically mean the same thing. So, now turn to Matthew chapter 21, verse number 42. Matthew 21, verse number 42. The Bible says in verse 42, Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. So, when you fall on Jesus, and it's talking about you're going to be broken. If you fall on, like, a real rock, it breaks you, doesn't it? You can bust yourself up pretty bad falling off a rock and hurting, or falling onto rocks and hurting yourself. I've bashed my legs up pretty bad on a rock before. But what I think that this is talking about is that if you come to Jesus and you're broken, He's going to save you, He's going to have mercy on you. But then the flip side to this is that if this stone falls upon you, it's going to grind you into powder. So, you want to be the one that falls on the rock for mercy, right? You want to be the one that's broken by falling on the rock for mercy. You don't want to be the one that the rock falls on top of and grinds it into powder. It's not going to feel good. Being ground into powder doesn't sound like a very likable activity to me. But what I'm saying is that God's enemies, He's going to crush them. He's going to grind them into powder. Well, who's He talking to right here? He's talking to the Pharisees, isn't He? And, you know, they had their chance and they rejected Christ. And He's telling them, hey, you know, the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. I'm the boss. I'm the one that's the head of the corner. I'm the chief cornerstone. And they don't like that. They get mad about that. And so they say, He says, well, hey, you know what? The kingdom of God's taken from you and it's going to be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And who's that? Bible-believing Christians. Saved people. So it went from being, you know, this physical kingdom that also had spiritual aspects, but it also then it turned into a spiritual kingdom, you know, with also people that are of flesh. So it's a spiritual kingdom of all nations of the world, all saved people, right? So that's who the nation of Israel is now. So, but God, you know, you can come to Him for mercy, but if you don't want to come to Him for mercy and you want to be His enemy, He's going to crush you and grind you into powder. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 13. Deuteronomy chapter 13. We were just talking about this this afternoon. Who was I talking to about this Deuteronomy 13? I was preaching brother Robert. So, you know, this is some of the hardest Scripture in the whole Bible, I think. Because God's asking you to do something that seems very contrary to what anybody would do. And I kind of doubt that people followed this very closely in the Bible, because people always went over into Baal worship and worshiping other gods. So it just tells me that they weren't carrying out these acts the way they were supposed to. But it's a very difficult thing to ask people to do. Look at verse number 6 of Deuteronomy chapter 13. It says, So any god, anywhere, if they secretly entice you, what's it say? You're not supposed to hide the truth. You're supposed to tell what they've done. And who are these people? Your best friend, your daughter, your mother, your son, your brother, your wife, the wife of your bosom. It says, It says, So what was supposed to be done if someone secretly enticed somebody to worship another god? They were supposed to be killed no matter who that person is, even if it's your own spouse there to be put to death. See, that's not a hard saying. It's a hard saying. But that's how serious God takes. Hey, who are we supposed to serve above all others? Who are we supposed to love more than anybody else? God, right? It says, See, the rock can either grind you to powder, or you can fall on the rock and be broken and ask for mercy. So it says, And why do this? Why does it say to do this? Well, look what it says. So even if a few people would have done it, a few people would have said, Hey, you're not going to try to trick me into, you know, try to get me, lure me to worship these other gods, then maybe Israel hadn't gone into idolatry like it did. Maybe Israel hadn't gone into work salvation like it did. Maybe Jesus wouldn't have had to say to those Pharisees, Hey, you know what? You can either fall on the rock and be broken or be crushed. So God will destroy his enemies. And what did he say to do to these types of people? Stone them with stones. Do you think that's a coincidence that he says to use rocks to kill them with? No, it's not a coincidence. It ties right in to what the Bible teaches in Matthew chapter 21. So, and why? Because all of Israel shall hear and fear. That's why this country has gone out of control right now because all the criminals are getting off with these easy, light sentences. Someone can molest a child and get out with 60 days served. Probably less than that now. I don't even want to know. Like the last time I preached here, there was that island, that pedophile island that's off the coast of Washington. Somebody said that they looked that up and that it was true. It is true, you know. It's sickening that we live in a world where we have to breathe the same air as these freaks. Right? So, you know, if things were just taken care of the way the Bible says to do them, then we would have a lot better of a place to live. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 8. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse number 8. I'm sorry, Jason, that I gave you Exodus chapter 17 to read. It was having a lot of problems with those Jewish words. It's okay, though. I was struggling with you. I was praying for you and I felt bad. I should have just given you Deuteronomy chapter 32. It would have been a lot easier. Anyway, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 8 says, So, you know, you can stumble over the stone. Who's the stone? Christ, right? A stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. People are offended at the things that Jesus Christ teaches. People stumble over the things that are taught in the Bible, don't they? Like, I can't serve a God that believes that. I'm not going to worship a God that says that you should put sodomites to death or that you should stone adulterers and burn these people, you know. Look, the God of the Bible isn't who people think that He is. They go to church where it's Barney Baptist Church where, I love you, you love me, you know. That's kind of how these churches are. If anybody knows who Barney is, I'm sure you do. But that's how these churches are. Like, they never get anything negative at their church. And so when they hear somebody like us, you know, just talk regular Bible, they get offended, don't they? And it doesn't even have to be the issue of the sodomites. It could be any issue where you have to take a strong stand on what the Bible says. It's like, well, the Bible's just like a guidebook for you, you know. No, the Bible is truth. The Bible doesn't change. The Bible's unchangeable. It's unmovable. And it's forever settled in heaven. And so what the Bible says is what the truth is. And you know what? People be tripping over it. They be tripping over that stone. It's offensive to them. That rock is offensive to them. It says, even to them which stumble at the Word. What word are you talking about? The Word of God. They stumble over the Word of God because they can't handle it because they've been in, you know, Barney Baptist Church for too long. Singing little cookies and Kool-Aid songs. You know, Bingo was his name-o or whatever. You know, there was a farmer. Anyway, sorry. Apparently I watched Barney before when my kids were younger. But anyway, so look, but people, you know, it says they stumble at the Word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed. So look, the Bible says that this stone is going to be offensive to people. This rock is going to be something they stumble over. And they stumble over the Word of God. And you know, we've got to understand that the Bible is truth. And you know what? If you don't fall on the rock for mercy, you're going to get ground into powder. Look at Exodus 17 verse 11 through 13. Let's go back to Exodus 17 verse 11 through 13. The Bible says in verse 11, And it came to pass that Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. So Moses is sitting here holding, you know, he's holding up the staff or whatever. And you know, he's got people on either side of him. Look at what it says in verse 12. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone. You think that's accidental? They took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the one on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. You know, when we go into battle, we've got to make sure that we have the stone under us. We've got to make sure that, you know, and we also, you know, this picture's, you know, having, you know, more than one person. It's good to be in battle and have friends with you. Obviously, one on your right hand and one on your left hand. But once they put that stone underneath him, you know, the pillar and ground of the truth, you know, when Jacob set up that pillow, it says it was a pillar, right? But that pillar was a rock, okay? So, you know, we need to have the power of God in our lives. We can't just go out on our own willy-nilly. There's people that, like, don't say, I just won't go to any church because I don't like organized religion or whatever. And they try to do things on their own. You know, there's a lot of soul winners around the country that don't have a good church to go to, and they try to go out on their own. But you know what, when they're going to be the, I'm not saying don't do that. I'm just saying if you're going to be the most effective, you should be sent out of a local church with the power of God on that church, and then you're going to be way more effective. So look at Deuteronomy chapter 32 again. Let's turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 32. So point number four this afternoon is, the rock will strengthen, protect you, and sustain you. The rock will strengthen, protect you, and sustain you. So God wants to take care of us. He says that He's not going to leave us nor forsake us. You know, He's there for a protection for us, and He will also sustain us in hard times. You know, the children of Israel, they were put to the test, and remember they were crying about not having any food or water? God gave it to them. They were crying about not having any meat to eat? God gave them so many quails that it was coming out their nostrils. God can bless in any situation. Even Moses was doubting. He was like, what are we going to do, kill the whole flocks of Israel to feed these people? I mean, how are you going to do this, God? He was like, is anything too hard for the Lord, right? There's nothing too hard for God. So He can take care of us in the hardest of times. He can protect us when our enemies are coming against us, and He can strengthen us when we feel weak. We need to realize that we can tap into the power of God and not worry about being defeated. You know, even if we get defeated, we're still winning, because guess what? We're saved if we go straight to heaven. Deuteronomy 32, look at verse 13. It says, 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, you know, God will make us ride in the high places of the earth. You know, He can take us up. He can bear us on eagle's wings, and God is there. He's going to sustain us. He's going to take care of us, and He's going to protect us. And, you know, just honey out of a rock? I mean, how does that happen? You know, probably a bee's nest, I guess. I don't know, but, like, you know, it's God. But what it's representing, though, is that God's going to be able to sustain you. The rock is Jesus, right? The rock is God. If you put it in that context, He's going to make sure we have what we need. You know, and oil, I guess, would probably represent the Holy Spirit. You know, God gives us Jesus when we believe in Jesus. What do we get? The Holy Spirit, right? And what do we get when we get Jesus? We also get that honey, that word of God that tastes sweet unto our lips. You know, think about what the manna tasted like. It said it tasted like fresh honey and fresh oil. So those things aren't on accident. And every day they were supposed to collect that manna from the ground. Every day they had to pick new, you know, they had to pick it up off the ground. It was just free. It was free food. It was a welfare system, right? But anyway, so, but God did that out of the kind of His heart. And think about this. You know, we're supposed to read the word of God every single day. And, you know, every day we get new ones. You can't just save it for later. You know, if you missed out that day, you know, you're not, if you miss out a day of Bible reading, you can't get that day back. So, you know, it's important for us to read our Bible and get that daily bread. You know, Jesus said that bread was more important, you know, the words of the Lord are more important than our daily food, right? So Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 13 says, or excuse me, let's turn to Psalm chapter 81. Psalm chapter 81. Psalm chapter 81 verse 16 says, He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. He's talking about these children of Israel that if they would have done things right, God would have taken care of them. But, you know, obviously the children of Israel are just a continual story of them messing up all the time. But, you know, it also kind of pictures us, if you think about it, because we mess up all the time too, don't we? So none of us are perfect either. But we think about, like, God's doing these miracles, you know, we don't see, like, seas parting and, you know, all these different, you know, fire coming down from heaven. We haven't seen it, nobody in this room has seen any of that, unless you're on some kind of psychedelic drugs or something. But, you know, we're not going to see the miracles like they saw, and so to me it's hard for me to, like, to know that, like, there was over 600,000 footmen that walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, plus all their families, and God, you know, basically just intervened when they were about to be killed by the Pharaoh and all of his army, and that they still didn't believe. See, because you can have all these great things happen in your Christian life, you can just see people saved at the door, you can experience the power of God through Bible preaching, you can experience the power of God in your daily life and daily prayers, but you, you know, it's up to you to be satisfied with those things, and, you know, you think about people that saw the miracles, hey, Jesus said it was blessed for us to have not seen God and yet still believe in Him. So, you know, it doesn't make any sense to me that they saw the miracles and don't believe, but, you know, the miracle of our salvation is enough of a miracle for me to follow God and to realize that, you know, hey, we've seen the miracles in our own lives, we just don't see them the same way. We don't see fire coming down from heaven, we don't see the prophets of Baal being destroyed, we don't see the Red Sea being crossed, but you know what, we do see the power of God in our own lives. And so we've got to remember that just like the children of Israel saw the true power, they saw the visible power of God in the miracles, but we see our own miracles too. So just because we don't see those kinds of things doesn't mean we don't still have to have the same kind of faith. And we have the Spirit of God, and we can ask to be filled with the Spirit of God, and if it's something that we should ask for and something we should do, then that means we're not always filled with the Spirit. So we need to ask for that filling of the Holy Spirit. Anyway, turn to Psalm chapter 78, Psalm chapter 78. So He'll sustain us with honey and oil and the bread. You know, He'll sustain us with those things, but if you're thinking about them on spiritual levels, you know, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, those are the things that He'll sustain us with, but obviously He'll sustain us with real food, real material things on that level. But look at Psalm 78 16, it says, He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. Behold, He smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people? What is the answer to those questions? Yes. Right? So God provides that water out of the rock, and He's going to take care of us. Turn to John chapter 4, it reminds me of that scripture where, you know, the woman at the well came to Jesus, and Jesus asked her for a drink of water, because that water represents that water that we will never, if we taste of that, we'll never die. Right? You know, you can take a drink of this water and I can be thirsty again, but the water that Jesus gives us is water that's unto eternal life. Look at John chapter 4 verse 7. It made me thirsty just thinking about that. It says, There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me the drink, for his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest this drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans? Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me the drink, thou wouldest ask of him, and he would have given thee living water. So see, Jesus is the rock. And what's he offering? Living water. You see the picture? Okay, so, and it says, The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us this well, and drank there of himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And the woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. So, you know, if we ask Jesus for that water, he gives it to us, right? And this lady's asking for salvation. You know, she's saying, hey, I want that water that I thirst not. And so, you know, if you, if a person, any person that comes to Jesus and asks him for that water, he's going to give it to them, amen? So, the rock also protects us. So, look at Exodus chapter 33, verse 20. I'll just show you some scriptures here really quickly. And I know I've got to, you know, preach as long as I want. No, I'm just kidding. But, we've got time. We've got time. All right, Exodus 33, verse 20 says, and he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. So, this is talking about, God is talking to Moses, and he's, you know, Moses wants to see the Lord. And he says, hey, you can't see, thou can't see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon, what? A rock. And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. So, he puts them in the cliff of the rock. See, God, you know, is protected by the Son. You know, if you think of it like the Father, and he puts them on this rock, the rock is Jesus, right? The rock is Christ, and he protects him with the cleft of his hand. And it makes me think of that story in Exodus, how, you know, if God saw the blood, he passed over, and didn't destroy the firstborn of that house. But it says, I will put thee in the cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. So, Moses was not allowed to see the face of God, because he would have died immediately, right? Nobody can see the face of God the Father and live, but we're protected by the Son. Who do we pray to the Father through? The Son, that rock, right? So, turn to Psalm chapter 62, Psalm chapter 62. I know we're going through a lot of verses tonight, but believe me, there's plenty more I could have shown, but I'm going to show you. I don't got much more farther to go, so. Anyway, Psalm 62 verse 7 says, And God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength, my refuge, is in God. See, God wants to also, not only just sustain us, but He wants to protect us, and He will protect us. And what is a rock? It's the rock of strength. You know, David went to hide, you know, and when people make, like, these strongholds, they're usually made out of rock walls, right? So, anyway, I'll just read for you, Psalm 94 verse 22 says, But the Lord is my defense and my rock, or excuse me, and my God is the rock of my refuge, the rock of my refuge. So, God wants to protect us, He wants to sustain us. And number 5 tonight, the rock is the foundation stone that our faith is built on. The rock is the foundation stone that our faith is built on. Turn to Genesis chapter 28, I kind of already talked about this story a little bit, but I wanted to get all the details right. So, Genesis chapter 28 verse 10, and this is Jacob, talking about Jacob, And Jacob went out from Beersheba, verse 10, and went toward Haran, and he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of that place, and put them for pillows, and lay down in the place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. So, he takes the stones of that place, and puts them for his pillows, and he lays down to sleep, and he dreams about this ladder. You know, have you heard that song? We are climbing Jacob's ladder, in Sunday school, anyway. Sorry, I'm not going to sing anymore, that's it. But, you know, Jacob comes to this place, he falls asleep, and he dreams this dream, and then God, you know, I'm going to skip ahead in the story, but God blesses him, and tells him he's going to bless him, and follows him, and all that stuff. And so, then look at verse 16, it says, And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place. Now, this kind of puzzled me for a long time, but I was thinking, you know, when we're in the house of God, we should still fear the Lord, right? And, like I was saying earlier, there's a lot of churches you go in, it's like a fun center Baptist, it's like, you know, a play place for kids to play, that's all it is, you know, it's like a country club. But, you know, it should be a place where we get afraid. You know, when the Bible is preaching to us, and it's saying, hey, you need to change this in your life, you need to be afraid. Hey, aren't we supposed to fear the Lord? Isn't the, you know, aren't we supposed to have, you know, knowledge by fearing the Lord? Absolutely. So, you know, sometimes we've got to be, you know, we've got to have the house of the Lord in respect, and realize that it can be a dreadful place, too. You know, and so, you know, it's like, this is the house of the Lord. Why would we be afraid? Because you're supposed to fear the Lord. And it says, This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. So those verses in Timothy where it talks about the pillar and ground of the truth, this is where that story comes from. So it says, And Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone, the stone, right, that he had put for his pillows, and he set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon it. So what does that represent? So the pillar and ground of the truth, he set that there for a pillar, and he poured oil upon that. So, you know, the rock is who? The stone is who? The stone is Jesus. And what does the oil represent? The Holy Spirit, right? So he poured the oil up on the top of it, and he called the name of that place Bethel. What does Bethel mean? The house of God. But the name of that city was called Luz I. Now, look at verse 22. Let's just skip down to verse 22. It says, And this stone, this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. So, you know, this obviously represents, this stone is representing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the pillar of, he's the stone. He's the one, he's the head cornerstone. He's the stone that everything else is built upon. So look at Psalm, chapter 1, 18, verse 22. Psalm, chapter 1, 18, verse 22. I'm getting close to the end. I know there's a lot of scripture, but I'm getting close. So remember, Jesus is the foundation stone that our faith is built upon. And so if there was no Jesus, there'd be no purpose of us having a church, obviously. I mean, Jesus is what everything is built upon in this church, right? We're a sure foundation Baptist church. He's the stone, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation, all right? So here in Psalm 118, verse 22, it says, the stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. So at our church, we believe that Jesus Christ is the head of the corner. He is the pillar and ground of the truth. Everything is built upon him. Everything is built upon him, and upon him is built the apostles and the prophets. And then, of course, we as Christians are part of that building that's being built. Now, look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19. I kind of preached a little bit about this on Thursday concerning Peter being, you know, the rock and all that stuff. I'm not going to really get into that tonight, but you can see my sermon on 1 Corinthians 10, if you wanted to see that, if you haven't watched it yet. Anyway, first, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19, it says, Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner, what? Stone, right? And so we are built upon the chief cornerstone. Jesus Christ is that foundation stone, the first stone that's set in a building, and it's the most important piece of a building, that cornerstone. And so, but what's it say that we, that ye are built, or it says, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets? We're built upon that, because we're supposed to, you know, in the book of Acts, you know, we were supposed to follow the apostles after Jesus left, right? And they were following Jesus while he was on the earth. So look at verse 21, it says, In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye are also builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. So, you know, God's kingdom is just building with all these different stones, and, you know, all of you are stones too. So we're considered lively stones. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 4. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 4. So there's this big building that's being built. Jesus Christ is the head of the corner. He's the foundation stone. The apostles and the prophets are that other, on top of that foundation, and then, you know, the saints, the believers are built upon that. And we're builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Now look at 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, it says, To whom coming as unto a lively stone, this is talking about Jesus Christ, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. He also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So as these lively stones were built upon that spiritual house, okay, and we are in holy priesthood. We're priests and kings to God, and we offer up not animal sacrifices, but spiritual sacrifices. All you that went out soul-winding today, that's a spiritual sacrifice. It's a physical sacrifice, too, because it was like 99 degrees out there today, too. But it's also a spiritual sacrifice, and we're supposed to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God, and that's our purpose in life is to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. So it says, ye also as lively stones, actually go to verse 6, Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallow the same is made the head of the corner. Everything is built upon Christ. Everything that's worth having in this world is built upon Christ. And you know what, we're going to be able to experience that for all eternity. Verse 8, And a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient where unto. Also they were appointed, but ye are a chosen generation. Yea, you're a chosen generation out here. You're a royal priesthood, and holy nation of peculiar people, some more peculiar than others, that, I'm just teasing, but that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So hey, we were in darkness at one point. Every person in this room that's not, you know, that was not saved, and now that you are saved, you were called out of darkness into his marvelous light. You know, it's a privilege to be a believer. It's a privilege to be saved, amen? So, now let's look at a couple more verses, and then I'll be done. I've got three more places to turn to. Actually, I'll just have you turn to two different places, but let's look at Revelation 21, verse 13. So Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith, and we are built upon him and the apostles and prophets. But we're important too. We're an important part of that. You know why? Because Christ redeemed us, and that means that he wants us for himself. You know, we are important to him. It's not like we're just like, you know, ant worker ants in this big colony or something. You know, obviously God wants us to work. He wants us to work hard for him and all that, but we're not just some cogs in a machine. He actually cares about each individual person. He knows how many hairs are on your head or not on your head. You know, he knows everything about us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we're going to do before we think about doing it. Now, that'll scare you a little bit. It's like, man, he knows everything about me. And he knows all that stuff, and he still loves you anyway. That's actually unconditional love, wouldn't you say? Revelation 21, verse 13 says, on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates, talk about this New Jerusalem, right? And John's describing it for us. And it says, And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So even in heaven, the building, you know, this New Jerusalem has these twelve foundations, and they're built upon the apostles. And who's built upon that? All the believers. So that's what it represents, a holy habitation, this New Jerusalem, this city that we can all live in when everything is, all the death is gone, all the fighting's gone, all the wickedness is gone. You know, we don't have to worry. You know, God's going to wipe all the tears away from our eyes, and we're going to get to see the people and hang out with the people that we lost in this world, you know, people that have gone on to be with the Lord. And, you know, He, everything's going to be great. So this world is hard, you know. It's a lot of wicked and evil people in it, a lot of people that want to stop us from accomplishing our goals, a lot of people that, you know, they just hate God or something. I don't know what their problem is, but there's just a lot of evil people out there, and they would love nothing more than to destroy this church and destroy every single person and turn you away from God. But, you know, and the attacks are amped up. It just gets more amped every time, but, you know, don't get weary of the battle. You know, we have God to us for a strength. You know, those that wait upon the Lord will renew, you know, our spirit's going to be renewed. We're going to, you know, be on eagle's wings and all that. I don't have the verse memorized, but what I'm trying to say is that God can give us strength when we didn't think we had any more strength to move on. Have you ever just, like, been so tired, and you're like, God, I just need some strength, and He gives it to you? God, I'm so weary and tired of fighting about everything. You know, this world is a fight. The world that we're in is war, you know, and sometimes it gets hard, it gets old, it gets weary, but, you know, hang in there, because it's not always that way. You know, we go through battles, and we think they're just never-ending, but once the battle's over, then we get a little bit of a rest. God's not that cruel, you know. He's not going to put us through all these battles all the time. I mean, there's going to be times when we're up on the mountain, and then we're down in the valley, you know. So just enjoy the good times. And, you know, things are going to get harder, they're not going to get easier. Do you think that we're closer to Jesus Christ coming back, or further away? We're closer. So, I mean, just remember that, you know, no matter what happens to us, you know, God can give us strength, He can lift us up, He can strengthen us, He can sustain us in our time of need. Psalm chapter 89, I'll have you turn to Hebrews 6-8. I'm going to read Psalm 89 verse 26. Psalm 89 verse 26 says, He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Don't forget that our salvation is upon the rock of Christ, and what? He doesn't move. What He promises comes to pass. What He says to us is legit and real every single time. When He says that He gives us eternal life, He didn't stutter, He meant it, He can't take it away, He won't take it away because God's not a liar, and He's the rock of our salvation, amen. Look at Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18, where I had you turn, it says, That by two immutable things, that means unchanging things, in which that it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of our soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. You know, our salvation, our hope in Christ, you know, it's an anchor to our soul, it's sure, it's steadfast, it's immovable, just like a rock is immovable, right? And I'm not talking about little rocks, I'm talking about big rocks, right? So there's some rocks out there that you can't live, trust me. But anyway, so number one, Jesus is the rock. Number two, the rock is God. Number three, the rock can either break you free or grind you into powder. Number four, the rock will strengthen, protect, and sustain you. Number five, the rock is the foundation stone that our faith is built upon. And hopefully everybody in this room has trusted Him as their Savior today. And anyway, that's all I got. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great church. I pray that we would just trust in the rock, Lord. I pray that we would, Lord, that our church would continue to be founded on the rock and that nothing would be able to move anything in this church, that, Lord, you would just protect this church, Lord. You'd watch over this church, Lord. And, Lord, there's many enemies that are trying to destroy this church right now, but I just pray that, Lord, you would stop them and that you would help us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.