The Rock that is Higher than I
Sunday, June 7th-Morning Service
Speaker: Clint Woolsey
"The Rock that is Higher than I"
Psalm 61:1-2 (New King James Version)
1 Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Have you ever been there? At the end of your rope? Hopeless?
Maybe you’re there this morning?
You just don’t understand why things are the way they are!
This morning I want us to take a look at the “Rock that is higher than I”.
I love that verse…
“2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
Johnny Cash sang a song that is called “I Came to Believe”.
This song has a similar message as this verse.
I couldn't manage the problems I laid on myself
And it just made it worse when I laid them on somebody else
So I finally surrendered it all brought down in despair
I cried out for help and I felt a warm comforter there
[Chorus:]
And I came to believe in a power much higher than I
I came to believe that I needed help to get by
In childlike faith I gave in and gave him a try
And I came to believe in a power much higher than I
Nothing worked out when I handled it all on my own
And each time I failed it made me feel twice as alone
Then I cried, "Lord there must be a sure and easier way
For it just cannot be that a man should lose hope every day."
[Chorus]
Yes, I came to believe in a power much higher than I
That “power, or the Rock, much higher than I” is God.
When you get to that lowest valley in your life, who will you cry out to?
Who will you believe in?
We sing about God “the Rock” all the time in our Hymns:
On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand...
Standing on the Solid Rock…
Rock of Ages…
And so many more…
The Bible refers to God as “the Rock” numerous times throughout the Scriptures.
Deuteronomy 32:4 (New King James Version)
4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.
We serve a God who is righteous and just. He is perfect in every way.
He is a pure Rock!
Psalm 18:2 (New King James Version)
2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
When you are in that place where the enemy has you up against a wall and you don’t know which way to turn. Remember that verse.
He is a protecting Rock!
1 Samuel 2:2 (New King James Version)
2 “No one is holy like the LORD,
For there is none besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
The strongest stone on this earth does not compare to the strength of Our God.
He is THE Rock!
So what? We know that He is the Rock…Now what?
Have you built your life on this Rock?
Or
Have you built your life on the something else?
Your career?
Your family?
Your money?
Your knowledge?
Your church?
You see, when you get into one of the many trials of this life these things will all fail you…
Your career will fail you…
Your family will fail you…
Your money will fail you…
Your knowledge will fail you…
Your church may even fail you…
But I can promise you that GOD will NEVER Fail YOU!
God is FAITHFUL!
His Word declares it to us over and over again!
Deuteronomy 31:8 (New King James Version)
8 And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3 (New King James Version)
3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
Hebrews 10:23 (New King James Version)
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Why would you not want to build your life upon this Rock?
There are probably some here this morning who claim that Jesus Christ is Lord, but their lives are quickly sinking around them.
Maybe you are one of those people?
Luke 6:46-49 (New King James Version)
Build on the Rock
46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
Why do we do that so many times?
Why to pray to God, asking Him what we are supposed to do, but discard what He tells us to do our own thing?
47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.[a]
We have to DIG DOWN DEEP in order to build our lives upon the Rock…upon the things of God.
It is not easy. We have to be willing to deny our bodies sometimes.
In order to build upon the Rock we have to refuse to partake in some of the so-called “pleasures” of this world!
We cannot just be Christians on the outside.
We must be Christians within the deepest part of our beings!
49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell.[b] And the ruin of that house was great.”
How many times have we tried to do things on our own?
How many times has the “ruin of that house” been great?
When we try to do it on our own we tend to cause destruction upon our lives!
Our entire lives get washed out from under us because we had NO foundation.
Jesus is our ROCK!
Our Solid Foundation!
1 Corinthians 3:11 (New King James Version)
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 33:6
He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure!
Has your life been washed out from under you this morning?
No matter how well you try to build it, it just keeps falling apart?
Allow Jesus Christ to be your SURE FOUNDATION.
Allow Him to be YOUR SALVATION!
Jesus came to this world for one purpose and that was to save YOUR soul.
He came and suffered a brutal death on an old cross so that you could have a Rock Higher than Yourself!
So you could be saved from the sins of this world.
So that no matter what trials you go through, no matter what pains you have to suffer…you can know that God is right there beside you helping you along.
And you can have confidence that when this life is over you can spend eternity resting in His presence!
This morning if you do not know Jesus as your Savior won’t you come and accept Him?
If you are here this morning and your life is falling apart or you are facing a situation that you don’t understand…won’t you come and pray for God to lead you that Rock that is Higher than you?
Let us Pray