Rock Of Ages, Cleft For Me (Deuteronomy 3:4)

Introduction

You noticed the theme of the songs this morning of the rock. And all of that was fueled by this particular hymn that I asked Ed, he was so gracious to sing all of these songs for us this morning. Rock of Ages cleft for me. Has it indeed been a place to which you have come? The Rock of Ages. The author of the song is Augustus M. Toplady. For those of you who want to know what the M stands for, it is Montague. How many Montagues in the audience today? Got any Montagues? Hey. Those of you having babies, and we have a lot of those around here. If you have a boy, just saying, Montague. 1763, Augustus wrote this hymn. It was actually published in the year of our nation’s independence in 1776.

An old but awesome hymn. Augustus was actually a Calvinistic opponent of John Westley. So I like that. And the reason why Thomas Hastings is credited in the song is that he placed this hymn, published it in his song book, Spiritual Songs, that was issued in 1830. What was the fuel for this hymn of Mr. Top Liddy? Of course, there’s a lot of biblical imagery involved. One, for example, is Psalm 94 and verse 22 but the Lord has been my stronghold and my God, the rock of my refuge. Actually, there are near sixty verses that contain this imagery. And in both the Psalm before the lesson and the Psalm before the giving, he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, we are reminded of that incident in Exodus 33, where there was a cleft place in the rock where God covers Moses with his hand, because if he sees his face, he could not live.

And as the glory of the Lord passed by, since Moses made the request to see the Lord, as he passed by, he removed the hand so that he could see his kinder parts. And so Moses was in that special place. The cleft of the rock, covered by the hand of God so that he could see a portion of God’s glory as it passed by. So that’s some of the imagery of Rock of Ages, cleft for me. And our hiding place in the cleft of the rock. And so now we’ll look at the other 57 verses. Actually, I pared this down, I thought, to seven. And you know why I did, because that’s the right number. We’ve been studying the book of Revelation recently. If you’re going to choose just a portion, seven, and then I realize I’ve made a mistake.

1. The Rock: His Work Is Perfect

There’s actually eight. But I don’t feel bad about it at all. Rock of ages, let me hide myself in thee. We’ll get to the practical considerations of this in just a moment, but I wanted to share some of these verses with you. What powerful imagery, and I’ve always loved the one in the song of Deuteronomy chapter 32. As this young nation is reminded by Moses, their leader, who it is who leads them and who it is that they must trust and rely in. The rock, and I love that. That actor by that name has nothing on this, by the way. The rock. His work is perfect. For all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness. Faithfulness always. And without injustice. Righteous and upright is he.

I love this Psalm of David as he is delivered from his enemy Saul. And he says, Oh, I love you, Lord. My strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my strong hold. Let the words of my mouth. Psalm 19, as he talks about the wonders of creation and the wonders of the word, in Psalm 19, he concludes: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. O Lord. My rock. And my redeemer. Psalm 61. Hear my cry, O God. Give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth. No matter where we are, we can call to the rock.

I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

My stronghold. I shall not be greatly shaken. Look at the confidence that we can place in God our rock. And he alone. He only should be our rock. I shall not be greatly shaken. And they remember. In talking about the problems Israel has had throughout their history, Psalm 78, you might want to read this in connection with this verse. All sorts of issues in their past, but thankfully they have come to their senses, and the psalmist says, and they remembered that God was their rock. They had looked to so many sources, so many solutions for comfort and pleasure. Nothing rivaled the true God. And they remembered that God was their rock. And the Most High God their Redeemer. Maybe someone is here today who needs to remember the same.

Maybe you’ve lost your way.

Maybe sin’s struggle has been winning of late. Maybe you need to remember that God is the rock. And the most high God is your redeemer. And then a couple in Isaiah, actually. Trust in the Lord forever. For in God we have an everlasting rock. I’ll have more to say about that concept in a moment. But also I want you to look at verse 3. After he has made, before he makes the statement of Isaiah 26 and verse 4, he says in verse 3, the steadfast of mind you will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you. And then he says, Trust in the Lord forever. He brings peace. Do not tremble and do not be afraid. Isaiah 44 and verse 8. Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?

2. Jesus And His Words Are Our Rock

And you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me, or is there any other rock? And I love this. I know of none. Our God who is omniscient knows that there is no other rock any place, anywhere in any realm of things that exist. He alone is the rock. What does all of this rock imagery? And again, there’s another 50 verses. But what does all of this rock imagery tell us? Let’s get to the practical considerations of this morning for a few minutes. When I think of the concept of rock and certainly Israel would think of that in a more rocky terrain. Rocks was a part of their world. Cities were built on rocks. They got that. Here it’s concrete’s not quite the same.

Now, if you go out to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado and you see the jutting out of rock, perhaps this imagery comes more alive for you, or go to the Rocky Mountains, that would be helpful as well. You know, our terrain here is not helping as much in this concept. But rock speaks to solidity, stability, security, strength, and sturdiness. Probably should have had all five S’s up there.

We laud these things. We admire and praise these things in so many realms. There’s so many commercials that none come to mind presently. There are so many commercials that are based in the concept of things that are solid and stable and secure. All the investment companies. These are concepts that they’re purveying to the audiences. You invest with us, it is solid, stable, strong, secure. It’s sturdy because there are fears they could all go together. And it will make. Well, so these are concepts that we appreciate in many other realms. Well, whether it’s education or anything in our culture that we deem valuable and important, we want to build on things that are solid and secure and stable. Why is it that we want those concepts in almost everything in our lives, and yet when it comes to the most important thing the well-being of the soul.

That we’re not as insistent upon it. We just take people’s word for it. We just listen to teachers without examining what they say in relation to that which is truly the foundation for the rock. And we say, Well, I’m comfortable with this. We’re going to accept comfort over rock. Because my family do this or believe that, or the traditions that we’ve had throughout our lives. And so we put our trust and hope in that. And that’s not rock. Rock is what issues from God. And what is true and reliable. And you know where I was going. Jesus and his words are our rock. That was the conclusion of the great sermon that we’ve been studying on Sunday morning. The wise man, the illustration that Jesus used, the wise man built his house upon the rock.

And the one who hears these words and sayings of mine is the one who builds his house upon the rock. And so if you don’t choose to submit to that, to acknowledge this as the source of spiritual life and spiritual hope and the promise of eternity in the presence of the rock, then you have chosen sinking sand. As we’ll sing in a moment. All other ground is sinking sand. You think about people who thought their lives were secure, and it’s not the same concept, but it’s the same idea of the mudslide that came in California and just destroyed homes and lives. People thought that their home was secure, that everything would be fine. They’ve never seen a mud slide like that, and whamo, it’s all gone.

And so many build their hopes on things that are seeking sand. Again, it’s Jesus’ words versus everything else. It is the only thing that is truly reliable in the world. I have no fear whatsoever that I’m going to pass from this life and that things are going to be something different than what this book tells me they’re going to be. Ha! Ha! Tony, the joke is on you. Of course, who’s going to be there to tell me the joke was on me? Because what’s on the other side of this is our creator and our rock. And if he’s not there, I want to tell you, there ain’t anything there. You’re just like Rover, you’re dead all over. I don’t have any concern whatsoever. It never crossed my boy.

I hope when I die, it really is like I’ve been preaching for 35 years. Woo! Boy, I hope I got that right. I don’t ever entertain those kinds of thoughts. I may wake up in the middle of the night and think about a lot of other things. But I don’t think about whether or not this is real, reliable, sturdy, solid, and then it’s somehow going to be different as it plays out in the end. I have every confidence. This is rock. All other ground is thinking sand. The song that didn’t have the word rock in it, mended and whole, did say this. We have a hope that is living and sure. So by principle and concept, yes. Rock. I want to make a practical consideration here.

3. The Rock Is There To Help You Win

What does this imagery do for us in regard to motivation for right choices in the face of Satan’s tantalizing offers? Or Santa, I guess I almost said Santa, but Satan’s tantalizing offers. I need something that’s going to help me here to know victory over temptation. What is it in this concept that can help? Are you fighting a serious battle that you’re not sure you can win? You may feel like I’m losing. I’m not winning in the fight. That’s what this is all about. That’s one of the reasons we’ve come here today to equip ourselves and to find hell in this very challenging struggle of life. And I’ll tell you what we’re going to do in this place. We are going to seriously confront the problem of sin in our hearts and in our lives.

We’re going to talk about the damage that sin brings, the destruction, the harm.

We’re going to talk about the things from which you need to flee. That will cause you to stand in danger of the judgment. And we’re going to challenge you. You must give effort to defeat this. The point of Jesus being our rock is that He has provided what we need in His teaching and in His sacrifice. In His example, those things are designed to engage and train the mind properly so that we can avoid transgression. With our eyes and our limbs and our lips. And I want to say this. If you will just keep fighting, there is hope.

And we may have to say to you, come on now. Come on. You’ve got to defeat this. But we are pulling for you.

There is only one person who says, you can’t win, and that’s not us. That’s the devil. He says, You’re not good enough. You can’t do it. Look at all the failure of your past. You can’t whip this. You can’t defeat this. I’m here to tell you that the rock is there to help you win.

You need the rock. The cultivation of this victory is not accidental. Oh, I did it. Look at me. I overcame. Woo! How’d that happen? No. It is not accomplished with minimal effort. Boy, that’s the thing. The great deterrent to success is twofold. Insufficient effort, and a failure to rely upon the king for victory. And number three, it will not be mastered without persistence. You must stay at it. Remember. All other ground is sinking sand. Oh Lord, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge in the day of distress. Is that where you are? Are you in spiritual distress? Are you in emotional distress? Are you hurting in some way spiritually or emotionally? I turn to you, my strength, my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress.

To you, the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, futility, and things that are of no profit. We need to realize the true value of things and reject those things from our lives that have no profit. And come to the rock that is higher than I. The song. This was actually what fueled all of this was the phrase in the song, bow to the fountain I fly. The writer said.

4. The Double Cure: He Saves Us From Wrath

Oh, that sounds good, but what was that? Be a sin, the double cure. What does the rock of ages do? Two things, the double cure. And he states them. Number one, he saves us from wrath. I really fear that we are not as motivated by the wrath of God as we need to be. I think in generations past, men like Toplady realized and appreciated the wrath of God more than we do. I don’t know if it’s because we don’t preach about it. I preached a sermon not very long ago about the wrath of God. We have been destined to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thankfully, we have not been destined to wrath. But the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.

We have several statements in the New Testament warning us of the wrath of God. And perhaps the reason why we don’t fear the wrath of God is that we’ve never seen the wrath of God. We’ve read about it in stories in the Bible, but it’s all Sodom and Gomorrah and it’s almost like it doesn’t seem real. But pick out a city you want to get rid of. Just like that. I mean, this thing of fire and brimstone coming down on that city. If you actually, well, you’re not supposed to look at it. Lot and Lot’s wife are told not to look. But if that had happened in your day, how impressive would that be to you? How much would that affect you? Or Anadizus of Iron, we talked about them recently dropping dead right there in front of the disciples and having to be carried out by the young men.

Maybe it’s because we’ve never seen the wrath of God that we’re not motivated sufficiently by wrath. One thing’s for sure here. You embrace the rock, you come to Christ, and you build your life on Him. You are being saved from the wrath of God.

5. The Second Part Of The Cure: It Makes Me Pure

And the second part of the cure is that it makes me pure. Coming to the rock. Removes the awful weight of sin. The chains of imprisonment. Cleansed from the filth of our deeds. And we are lit to the high plains of forgiveness and fellowship with our God. I read across this a while back. I think I may have already shared it with you. I don’t remember. So since I don’t remember, I’m going to share it with you again. Three vital ingredients to a fulfilled life. What great recommendations. All validated by the teaching of Scripture. Number one, fill your mind with godly wisdom. I tell you, that’s why I need to be here. I’m not here all the time because if I’m not, I don’t get paid, and it’s my job as a preacher.

And if I’m not here on a Wednesday, I was really concerned when I slept till eight this morning that somebody’s going to have to be tracking me down. Where is the preacher? He’s not here. Again, that’s that’s the stuff of nightmares. In the dreams of a preacher. I’m still in bed when I should have been here. But that’s not why I’m here. That’s not why. You know, there’s a lot of reasons to come. It’s not just about checking the box. Okay, I checked the box. Mike and Robert aren’t going to be calling me. Check the box. Get the family off my back. I’m here. We’re filling our minds with godly things. With godly wisdom. Number two, fill your time with godly people. We need influences in our lives that are going to help us to turn and rely upon the rock.

That’s one of the things we can’t see God. He is invisible. But we can see these people who are devoted to God, and we’re here to help each other through the tempests. And that’s what this rock imagery in Matthew chapter 7 is telling us. There are some tempests in our lives. There are challenges, there are hardships, there are the rains that fall and the floods that come. And if you don’t build your life on the rock, we all know what happened. I have to put the clicks down, everything goes whack. That’s what happens. Everything else is seeking saying sand. So we need each other. We’re going to have to go out on the limb, out of our comfort zone to spend sufficient time with people who are going to help us, not hurt us.

Too many Christians are spending time with people who are hurting them. I’m not saying go out of the world. But our association can be so much with so many who are not helping us in this fight, who are discouraging us in our connection with the rock. We need to spend time with godly people. And finally, we need to fill our lives with godly action. Perhaps less time and effort available for succumbing to temptation. If we would wear ourselves out in noble endeavors to advance the cause of our great King. Is Jesus your rock? Your salvation.

Conclusion

Embrace it. Embrace him with urgency and great joy. Oh, come. Let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Is your hope built on nothing less? If you need to respond to the invitation, let’s stand and sing together.