The Rock (Psalm 62)

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Good morning, church. Please open your Bibles to Psalm 62, that’ll be on page 462 in your pew Bibles, and that’s what we’re going to be today. I think everyone knows the story of the three little pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. So three little pigs move out from mom pigs house and they each go build their own place. One pig builds his house at a hay, the other out of sticks and the third out of bricks. So one of the big bad wolf comes along, and he Huff’s and puffs and he blows down the house made of hay in the house made of sticks, and those two little piggies don’t live happily ever after. But then the third little piggy in his house of bricks and the Big Bad Wolf pulls up he Huff’s and he puffs and he can’t knock the house over, the house stands firm, and that little piggy does live happily ever after. And it’s a cute story. It’s a cute little lesson about the importance of being prepared and picking the right refuge for the trials and circumstances we face in life. And I know I’ve never faced a big bad wolf. I don’t think anyone here probably has either. But we also know the importance of picking the right refuge for a storm. There was a time that me and my mom were driving back from O’Hare Airport to Iowa, and we’re on the interstate, and they’re caught up in a huge thunderstorm. I mean, the rain was coming down, beat up the car, the wind was coming at us. I thought we’re gonna wind up in the ditch. And then I couldn’t see like we’re like, at all so I’m just like going a mile an hour. I’m gripping the stereo. my knuckles are getting wide. I’m getting pretty scared. My mom was getting scarier, which made me even more scared. But why was I scared? Because the car was the wrong refuge for the storm. The car was not designed to be in a thunderstorm. And so I drove by that premiere an hour and a half just gripping the wheel just praying, oh man, get me out of this. And eventually pulled over into the hotel parking lot. And we’ve gotten the hotel and man gotten a hotel building. I was scared anymore. Because the hotel with its walls and its roof was designed to keep out the weather. I was in the right place the right it was the right refuge for the storm I was in. So matters which refuge you pick for the songs you face. And the same is true of life. Because life is hard. We face things that are way scarier than big, bad wolves and thunderstorms each and every day. So what is the right refuge for our life? Then how can we persevere through the storms of life? I believe Psalm 62 gives us the answer to the right refuge that for life when the storms come. And so I’m gonna give you my big idea right from the front so you can follow with me you can see where I’m going. My big idea is real simple rests in the right refuge. That’s rest in the right refuge and spoiler, Jesus Christ is the right refuge. I know shocker. Jesus is the right refuge for your life. But why is he the right refuge? And how do we rest in Him? And what are the refuges seem like they’re the right refuge, but in reality, they’re gonna blow away like bricks and hey, in the storm. Psalm 62 tells us that God is the right refuge to persevere through the storms of life. And also warns about trusting any foundation that is not God. Anything that is not God is going to blow away when the storm comes. So a little background of Psalm 62 is written by a man named David who is the king of Israel. And David actually knew a lot about storms himself, his life was full of them. Let me share some stuff with you. He fought a man named Goliath. He was on the run from enemy soldiers, both from foreign nations and also his own nation because he was betrayed by the King who he had served. And then to top it off, he lost his best friend to war. And those are the outside storms or outside circumstances that he faced. Because David had some storms in her life, but also they were his own fault. They were a consequence of his sin and his life. David had an affair and then he murdered the rightful husband of his stolen bride. And then the child conceived from that affair died in miscarriage. And then his other kids that grew up, went to war against David and they also died. At just scratching the surface. David’s life was full of storms. So we don’t know exactly which storm prompted David to write this particular song, but we know he knew a thing or two about the storms of life. And so the first refuges we see David wrestle with in the first few verses is the refuge of the rock, which is God God is the rock, or the rotten, which is the people that were around us sinners. And so first we see David say, why we should trust the rock why he trusts the rock as his refuge in verses one and two, we see truly my soul finds rest in God, my salvation can was from him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. So it’s kind of interesting verse because David is speaking to God. But he’s speaking to God about God. Do you think David need God to be reminded about who he was? No, David’s remind himself about who God was. And that’s the ultimate key to resting in the right refuge is David’s right himself that God is his salvation. He is his rock, his fortress, his source of rest. So David is remind himself of who God is remind us of the character of God is the key to resting on the refuge. And they’ve used the word fortress, which makes sense, David would use that word, he was a warrior where the warrior feel most safe. A fortress. So we should trust the rock, which is God, because He brings safety security policies to protect us. The rock is a mighty fortress, and we get caught up in the storms of life, we can run back to the stork fortress and be protected and seek shelter. Except we don’t always trust God, the rock, do we? Sometimes we would trust other people around us. I mean, think about this way, when a problem pops up in your life, who’s your first phone call? Is your parents, maybe you call the doctor or an expert, maybe turn on the news. I grew up in a time where the solution to every problem I ever face was a Google search or YouTube video way. It’s really easy to remember other people before we remember the rock to remember God. But David warns about trusting other people before the rock when he writes, How long will you assault me in verse three? Would all of you throw me down this leaning wall this tottering fence? Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place? They take the light and lies with their mouths, they bless. But in their hearts, they curse. So David’s contrasting this mighty fortress, this rock he’s built up God to be with people. He uses the word, this tottering fence this leaning wall. So God is a strong and mighty fortress. And people the rotten are kind of a sketchy one. But what makes them different? What is the difference between the reliable fortress and the sketchy check? Whether you can trust them or not, whether you can trust them to protect you look at the words that he used the verse one and two, truly. He says truly twice. God is a reliable fortress because you can trust them. He says he loves you. He wants to bless you any means it. People are a different matter. I mean, newsflash, people can lie, which makes them inherently untrustworthy. He describes these people in verses four and five as enemies of him, that with their mouths, they bless but in their hearts, they curse. People that say they love you that say they’re on their team that they want to bless you. When they’re either they’re actually against you. It kinda reminds me of politicians, I know, dangerous topic. But it’s election. It’s election season. And every year, every election cycle, someone comes along, who’s a man of the people, like I want to you guys, I want to go there, I want to go to Washington, I want to bless you tax cuts with social programs, all these things, make your life better, I’m on your team, we gotta get stuff done. And they say they want to bless you. But they don’t love you. They just want your vote. You’re a number to them. That’s kind of what it’s like with rotten people, round people. They say they love you. You just enter the means for them. And we don’t have to go very far to find someone rotten. Whether you want to hear that or not. Whether you believe it. I know. I think a lot of people like me too. But there are people that are against you. Maybe a co worker, a neighbor, maybe they’re in your family. Someone that says they love you, when push comes to shove, actually curse you in their hearts. Because what motivates a rotten person? It could be a could be, I think more likely, it’s self preservation. In the heart of a rotten person, if it’s you or them, they’re choosing themselves. If it comes down in the line, all those promises of blessing I’m gonna be here. I’m on your team. They vanished like a mirage. That’s why the rotten are so untrustworthy, make our lousy fortress cuz you can’t trust them.
But there is good news. There is one person we can trust. A person who walked the earth without a rotten bone in their body, the only person that’s Jesus, Jesus. He says he wants to bless you, and He loves you. And he actually means it. And he frees us from depending upon the rotten. I mean, if that was our only option was to trust the people around us that we knew, at the end of the day weren’t trustworthy, that would be pretty awful. But Jesus frees us from that he gives us a better option to trust us, the person who his actions actually match up with his words may have never seen a politician willing to die for his voters. But Jesus was not only willing to die, he did die so that we could be blessed with eternal life. So when we need a fortress, run to the rock, which arrest in the right refuge. So you trust the rock or the rotten. And the next choice we see the solace wrestle with is choosing the rock or reputation. So we see David Right, yes, my soul find rests in God, my hope comes from Him. Truly, He is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation in my honor depend on God, He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times you people, pour your hearts to Him for God is our refuge. So he’s once again pointing out why we should trust the rock. God is a mighty refuge of fortress arrest. But he also says something interesting. He says, My honor depends on him. Remember that that’s important to note of, for something to depend upon something else, it must rely upon it. And trust it. And that’s kind of hard. It’s hard to trust. And sometimes we’d rather depend upon ourselves when we are at least depend upon, excuse me, depend upon how others view us. David knows this, which is why he goes on to write in verse nine, surely the low bar or breath the high Warner but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing together, they are only a breath. So the high bar and the low bar it would mean kind of like the upper class, the elite, and the lower class, the nobodies. So to the eyes of everyone else, like the upper class, like they had it figured out, like they have all the money, the fame, the power, they’re doing great in life, everything’s going amazing. And the lower class, they’re not doing so hot. But David says that way on all balance, they are nothing. So in the eyes of God, this is not a difference. The upper class and the lower class have no eternal difference in the eyes of God. He even contrast, the powerful image of the rock, again to the reputation says it’s about a breath that weighs nothing.
So if you rest a reputation, you will not gain rest at all. Kim Kardashian, one of the most famous women in the world, went viral a week and a half ago, and I think she was gonna show up, did you? She went viral week and a half ago for this quote saying, “I’ve got about 10 years where I still look good. So that’s all I got it on me. And then I’ll take some time off. That’s my 10 year plan.”
So Kim has placed her whole career and reputation of being famous. And she believes she’s only famous because people view her as beautiful as attractive. And so her retirement plan isn’t when she feels like she’s done all she wants to do. Or she wants to design with family. It’s when she thinks she’s no longer beautiful. Doesn’t that sound miserable? To have her whole life propped up by whether or not people think you are valuable. And it’s easy look at that and be like oh yeah, that’s very obviously, like just awful. But we do the same thing. I mean, no one this room is a millionaire fashion model for sure. Look, we’re good. But I mean, don’t we also care about what people think about us when you’re trying to impress our bosses, so they keep employing us, to impress our friends and family. So I think we got to really put together and we’re doing all right. We’re gonna impress ourselves so that we can, like we look at in the mirror. We definitely care about what people think about us. But restaurant our reputation is exhausting. It’s like resting on a treadmill. It’s just always moving, it’s impossible to truly relax. And that’s because we make a reputation depend upon us our performance. But resting on the rock is different restaurants. It’s exactly what it sounds like as rested on security, on stability. So that’s not going to move.
David says our honor depends on him in verse seven. So the rock He grants us a new reputation honor, we rest upon it. And in verse six, it says, I will not be shaken. That honor is unchangeable. That honor is unmoving. So how can our honor depend upon him? Well, when we turn away from our sin, and we give our life to Jesus as Lord and Savior, He gives us a new name. He gives us a new reputation, we no longer have to worry about what everyone thinks about us. We can just know what Jesus believes about us. Jesus says about us. So we’re free from the pressure of trying to earn reputation, and we can rest and what is given to us. He makes us sons and daughters. And actually help us to be a little more honest. Think about this. Why do we lie? To protect your reputation? This tweak the little details make a much better version of Jake so that everyone can like me. I mean, I was I played basketball in high school, and whenever like the roster came out, you could clearly tell that someone lied about their height. Every guy did that a little bit. There were guys that were five, nine, maybe but there were six, one on the roster. And full confession time I say I’m six, four, I’m actually six foot three and a half. I know. But when we rest on the rock, we can rest comfortably on who we actually are. Yeah, I’m not six, four. But Jesus loves me. I’m not perfect. But Jesus loves me. I’m a sinner saved by grace, and Jesus loves me. We don’t have to lie anymore. We rest in the rock we can rest on who what is true? Well, we actually are to GSC frees us from the refuge reputation. We don’t have to prove ourselves to anyone anymore. We can run on what Jesus says about us, as opposed to what others think about us. And that gives us peace. So Jesus gives us an unshakable reputation. So when the storm comes, will you rest on the rock or reputation? The final question we see in this passage is will you choose the rock or riches? Verse nine is very clear. David Rice does not trust and exhaustion or put vain hope and stolen goods. Though your riches increase, do not set your hearts on them. So David is warned against trusting money over the rock. He’s saying that placing hope in stolen goods is vain, which means useless producing no results. Now you may be looking at this and be like hang on Jake Wait. Isn’t just saying like a Morley gain money is wrong, not just money in general. I hear I hear you’re saying but give me I don’t think it’s exactly the emphasis that David is trying to make in there. Look at all the actions of the passage of this verse. In verse 10, do not trust put vain hope. Do not set your heart on them. It’s not warning. It’s making money. It’s Warren against trusting money more than the rock trusting money more than God. But even the phrase stolen goods has a little bit of different meaning it also can be translated as borrowed goods. Now the term borrowed kind of begs the question like who you’re borrowing from, who owns this stuff? Psalm 24. One through two says the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. So David is not telling the people not to steal from each other. He’s saying, hey, the stuff you think you own doesn’t actually belong to you. You’re just holding on to it for a little bit. There’s this great song lyric I heard a while ago that says, You will never see a hearse with a trailer hitch. That’s true, right? All the stuff that we acquire in our lives that we, we think we own at the end of the day when we die. We don’t get to take it with us stays behind. But then why is it so easy to live like we actually own our money that we own the stuff that we acquire in our life because it seems to offer security and safety. If I could just get my savings account this amount of money, I’ll be okay. I’ll be able to weather any storm my way. If I guess I have this nice a car, I’ll be satisfied. I just go with the Disney World that many times I’ll finally be happy. But that’s not true is it? Your savings can always be a little higher. Your car is gonna get rusty, you gotta get a new car. It’s always a new model. It’s always a new vacation you can go on. And not just that, but like money problems are real. There’s always unexpected storms of money all the time, a doctor’s appointment, or a storm destroys an actual storm destroys your house or stuff gets stolen. So not only is money you can’t take it with you, it’s hard to keep in the moment is really fickle. Resting on riches like rests on a bucking bronco. Someone’s gonna get hurt is not a reliable refuge. But the rock is different. The rock is not going to move on you. It’s reliable is trustworthy. It’s my David goes on to close by writing a verse 11 One thing God has spoken to things I have heard, power belongs to you God and with you, Lord is unfailing love and you reward everyone according to what they have done. So these verses show why the rock is the right refuge because the rock has all the things you’re looking for in a refuge. You want to refuge that power you want to powerful refuge the rock has righteous power you don’t refuse to be fair and have justice. The Rock has righteous just this you’re looking to be loved. The Rock has righteous on failing love. The rock can withstand the storms of life because he is stronger than them the rock is stronger than riches money is subject the time and change the rock created time and is eternal. The rock is the right refuge because He is all powerful not just that the rock is also loving and not simply loving but on failing Lee loving the rock is better than the rotten because the rotten merely say they love you and they want to bless you the rock loves you he’s willing to die to prove that the rock is the right refuge because the rock is all loving.
And the rock is better than reputation because the rock rewards those based on what they’ve done, not what everybody thinks about them. And at first that seems like great and I have a new boss I gotta impress. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The Rock grants us honor through one act of attorney from our sin and give our lives to Jesus and then our honor is unchanging. No one can take that from you
the rock is the right refuge because he is all judging. He’s fair. The rock is the right refuge because God has unfailing love, power and justice. So we should rest on the rock to withstand the storms of life. If you’re a believer today and you’re like great, you’ve said that a logic you said rests on the rock a lot. Well what does actually even mean? How do we act to even do that, I believe David actually shows us what it looks like to rest on the rock. It’s in the structure of the song. Look at it with me. So verses one and two, we see Dave is reminding us of God’s attributes. He’s looking at what God who God is and what He says He is. And then he addresses the problem of Ron people in his life. And then in the middle, he reminds us up again to trusting God. And then he reminds others to do the same. And then he faces the problem of reputation is life. But then the end is switches. It’s not God, problem is problem. gaffed. He just had the problem of riches in his life. And then he once again remind yourself about who God is. So to rest on the rock is to remind ourselves that we’re on the rock in the first place. It’s before in the middle, and after the storms of life, remind ourselves who God is and what he’s done for us. That is how we rest on the rock. Because forgetting the rest of the rock doesn’t mean the rock isn’t there just means that we forgot about it. Maybe it’s just me, but there are some times where I’m like, I’m leaving the house. I’m in a hurry. And I’m looking for my phone. I’m looking all over the house like where’s my phone? Where’s my phone? My I can’t talk right now. Where’s my phone? Oh, my gosh
me forgetting my phone was there did not change back there was in my handle whole time. It’s the same way with the rock, forgetting that we once we give it off to Jesus, we are on the rock doesn’t change the fact that the rock is there. It just changed our perception of it. The Rock once you give him Jesus, he’s there. We just kind of forget, because we’re kind of dumped sometimes. That’s, that’s all it is. We forget. I mean, that’s well, it wasn’t my phone. I forgot because I was done a little bit. And so when we forget we need the rest on the rock. Just remember the rock is there before the storm in the middle of the storm, and after the storm, and then you’ll get the sense of peace. Right? I’m on the rock. I’m okay. I’m gonna make it and maybe you’re here and you’re not super sold on the rock as a refuge yet. You’ve seen some other things like I can trust my friends I can. I think I can trust my money. I think I can trust my reputation. And you’re unsure of taking that step until what you don’t know into the rock. As got to say the storms are coming. It’s not a question of if it’s caution or when life is hard. And not only is the right the rock the only right refuge. He wants to be your refuge. He wants to protect you and give you life and give you rest. So just let them let the rock give you rest
so Jesus actually told a story pretty similar to the three little piggies Believe it or not. He told the story of a wise man and a foolish man and the wise man built his house on the rock. And the foolish man built his house on sand. And the wise man who built his house on the rock represent anyone who built their life on Jesus and on His Word on his teachings. And when the storm came in, the wind blew in the rain came down. The man built his house in the rock his house stood firm. The man on the sand his house represents any other foundation, anything other than Jesus and His teachings as the foundation for your life. And the rain came and the wind blew and the House came tumbling down so build your life on Jesus. Build your life on the rock rests in the right refuge so that when it starts to rain you can remember you’re on the rock in the middle of storm remember you’re on the rock. Once the clouds clear remember you’re on the rock and you will gain rest and peace and not even the biggest baddest wolf life has to offer can knock you down. Let’s pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for sending your son so that we can join the right refuge. Thank you that you saw our need for safety and for life and protection. You sent down your sons that we could be with you Thank you that you’re stronger than all the other refuges that want us the rest of them. Thank you for giving us a way to be peaceful and at peace. I pray that we would be reminded to trust you more than we do that you would be patient with us as we forget sometimes that we are on the rock. We would just remember who you are, Lord, remember what you’ve done, so that we can receive rest and peace and joy. I pray these things, Lord, in Your perfect and mighty name. Amen.