Matt Hagee - There is No Rock Like My Rock
Psalms 18 is a song of triumph that David wrote, and you can also read the same song in 2 Samuel 22. And David wrote these words after he had won his 18th war. I don’t know about you, but when you’ve been to war 18 times, and you’re 18-0, you’ve got a pretty good record. So, David is successful. And people wanna know, «David, how did you do it»? And David says, «It doesn’t amount to me, it’s the Lord. He’s my rock, he’s my fortress, he’s my deliverer, he’s my God, he’s my strength. It’s in him that I trust. He’s my shield, he’s the horn of my salvation, he is my stronghold». David said, «If you wanna know how I did it, let me tell you. I’m calling upon the Lord because he is worthy to be praised, and so shall I be saved from my enemies».
David is saying, it doesn’t matter the hard place of life you face, if you face it with the rock of salvation, God Almighty, on your side, you will be saved from your enemies. Life is full of hard places. Life is full of personal hard places. Life is full of physical hard places, life is full of financial hard places, life is full of spiritual hard places. Sometimes, you face a hard place and it’s just you and the hard place one-on-one. Sometimes, hard places will gang up on you and you’ll get about three or four working at you at one time.
I love how quickly David gets to the secret of his success. He simply says very boldly, «The Lord is». Would you say that with me? The Lord is. He didn’t ask permission if he was gonna offend the audience by telling them about his faith. We’ve gotten so sensitive about what other’s opinions are about the lives that we live that we’re more concerned about offending them than we are giving credit to the God who gave us the life we live. David didn’t say, «Let me debate this and discuss this with you». David just said, «I’m gonna declare it to you, it’s the Lord. He’s the one who pulled me through every trial. He’s the one that gave me triumph. He’s the one that snatched me out of the problem». Every individual is going to go through a hard place, but everyone who comes out wearing a conqueror’s crown has to declare that it was God that pulled you through it.
I believe that if there’s anything that this world needs right now, it needs a church that is bold enough to tell them who the Lord is. The Lord is the one who created heaven and earth. The Lord is the one who breathed into the dust of eden and man became a living being. The Lord is my healer. The Lord is my redeemer. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord is my comforter. The Lord is my rock. He is my shelter, he is my fortress, he is my strength, he is my deliverer, he is the horn of my salvation, the source of power that I cling to when I’m out of strength. The Lord is great and greatly to be praised. The Lord is alive. He is seated on the throne. He rules in grace and truth. Let the God of my salvation be exalted!
Has anybody in this room ever lived long enough to know for a fact that without God, you wouldn’t be here? When you were sick, it was God who healed you. When you were in need, it was God who provided for you. Whenever you wanted to quit, it was God that said, «Don’t give up, I’ll be your strength». Whenever you said, «I’m done,» he grabbed you by the hand and he pulled you over the other side of the mountain. Whenever it felt like the world was against you, he came and grabbed the world and said, «I’ll defend you. I’ll protect you». Because if God is for you, who can be against you? Does anybody in this room know how you got where you are? It is the Lord that made a way where there seems to be no way. Let the God of my salvation be exalted!
Y’all better be careful, I might preach this today. What has he brought you through? What has he helped you do? Who have you told? Because the world’s watching you, and when they watch, they wanna know, how did you get here? And what you cannot do is take any of that credit for yourself. Don’t you dare print your memoirs and start with, «Me, me, me, me, me, I, I, I, I, I, I». David said, «If you have to know, it’s all about him. He did it». David tells us where his confidence comes from. He says, «The Lord lives». In verse 3, he said, «I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, and so shall I be saved from my enemies». Say that with me, «And so shall I be saved from my enemies».
You see, David understood that it really didn’t matter who was attacking him on the outside, if he had the right source on the inside, he was gonna be saved from his enemies. Come one, come a thousand, come an army, come a whole coalition, as long as he had the rock on the inside, it didn’t matter about the enemy on the outside, he was gonna be saved. It was, kinda, David’s way of letting the world know, «Hey, we got this». Have you ever said that? «We got this». It took me a while to figure this out, but until I gained self-confidence, I had to borrow confidence. Have you ever borrowed confidence? You had to have somebody tell you you could do it before you actually thought to do it. It didn’t matter, it could’ve been little league.
You’re standing up at the plate and you’re thinking, «Man, I hope he doesn’t hit me in the forehead with that ball». And you need that voice telling you, «Hey, you got this». And you look over at 'em and go, «We got this». But if there’s not a voice of encouragement in the fight with you, then you don’t think you got this because you need somebody with some strength in your life to tell you when we got this. In my spiritual life, whenever I need confidence and I know that I don’t have the strength within my own self, I look to the rock that is higher than i, and what I recognize in him is whatever I’m lacking, he has all of that and so much more, so I don’t need to have the answer as long as I know where the answer comes from. I don’t need to have the resources as long as I know who the provider is. I don’t need to have the power as long as I know where all power can be found.
And when I look to him, suddenly he sends his holy spirit to remind me, we got this. It doesn’t matter if it’s sickness, we got this because by his stripes I’m healed. It doesn’t matter if it’s poverty, we got this because he is a provider who will give according to all of my needs. It doesn’t matter if I’m fighting alone, we got this because he’ll never leave me, nor will he forsake me. It doesn’t matter if a thousand fall at my right hand and ten thousand at my left side or the arrows fly by day, or the plague comes by night. We got this because the Lord is my light, and the Lord is my salvation, of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Child of God, when God is on your side, you can look at every enemy you face and declare with confidence, «We got this. God’s on my side».
David let the world know very quickly it was the Lord. And then, he begins to tell us exactly what God was. God was tangible, God was real. He said, «The Lord is my rock. He’s the foundation of everything». And then, he said, «And my fortress and my deliverer». Now, the thing about David’s rock is that he gives him two very unique descriptions. First, a fortress, then a deliverer. And not only are they unique, but they are as opposite as they can be. How can one rock be both a fortress and a place of deliverance? First, let’s talk about the fortress. David says, «The Lord is my rock, and he is my fortress».
Being a warrior, David knew the difference between going out to battle and having to defend yourself from attack. When you go out to battle, you’re on the offensive. You have a game plan. You know when the fight’s gonna start because you picked the time and the place of its choosing. But when you’re under attack, it comes against you. You didn’t choose it, it found you. David said, «When I was in trouble and I didn’t cause the trouble, the trouble found me, I found a rock and he was a fortress. He was a place that I could run into and I would be saved». When you come under attack from an outside enemy, you need a fortress, you need a shield, you need a place of protection.
Has anybody here ever found trouble that you weren’t looking for? I mean, you did nothing to cause it. You were doing everything you could to be as good as you could. Started coming to Sunday night, started doing the yearly Bible reading, got into one of them prayer groups, turned on your praise music every morning, canceled subscriptions on your internet. I mean, you were doing everything right. And in spite of everything you were doing right, trouble still found you. Anybody know what that’s like? When trouble finds you, you need a fortress. And the thing that I love about David’s confession that the rock is a fortress is that when David was young, and Saul was attacking him, he needed a fortress, so he ran to the rocks of Ein Gedi. He ran to the wilderness just south of Jerusalem. He went from the palace to the cave. But in that cave, he found a shelter from the sun in the desert during the day and he found a cooling shade in the night where he could sit and be warmed. He found a refuge, and it didn’t matter who was against him on the outside, as long as he was hidden in the rock, he was safe.
Now, that’s when he was a boy. When he was an elder king, his son, Absalom, turned 40,000 of his own men against him and they ran him out of the palace that he had fought to claim. And do you know where he went? Right back to the rock. The thing that I love about David’s profession is that it doesn’t matter if you’re in trouble in your early days or it doesn’t matter if you’re in trouble in your latter days, the same rock that helped you then is gonna be the same rock that you can run to now. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the fortress that will always be there. He will hide you from your enemies. He’ll protect you in a day of battle. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through and when you’re going through it, if the rock that you run to is Jesus Christ, the rock of ages, you have victory in his name. You and I have an enemy. He’s one who brings an outside attack.
The Bible calls him the serpent of old, the devil. Jesus said he has an objective to rob, to kill and to destroy. Whenever the enemy attacks you, it doesn’t matter how he attacks you, where he attacks you, when he attacks you, what he wants to do is rob you of God’s promises, kill your dream and faith, and destroy your potential. When he starts, the only way you can stop him is run to the fortress that is found in the name of Jesus Christ, the name that is above every name. Why? Because that’s the fortress that will never fail. That’s the fortress that will always show you the path to victory. Whenever you find yourself in trouble and it’s trouble you didn’t cause, you’re gonna have a whole pile of recommendations.
People are gonna say, «Oh, you should try this, or you should buy that, or you should call this, or you should read that, or you should go here, or you should do this, or you should do that». And that’s just in your social circles. If you really got trouble, don’t put it on the internet. Everybody’s an expert. But let me give you some rock-solid advice that will never fail you. In your day of trouble, if you turn to Jesus Christ, the king above kings and the Lord above Lords, he will not fail you. He is the one who has promised no weapon formed against you will prosper.
When the enemy attacks your health, when he attacks your resources, when he attacks the personal places in your life, when he comes to steal your joy and your peace by attacking your marriage, when he turns your house upside down by attacking your children, when he’s coming after everything that you hold dear, your strength will not pull you out, your intellect will not make it stop, your money will not be able to pay for enough. But when you call upon the name that is above every name, you run to a rock where you can find refuge from generation to generation. You hide yourself in a fortress in whom you can trust. This is why the Bible says, «The name of the Lord is a strong tower». Say that with me. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are saved.
When you call upon his name, if you’re in the lowest hell, he’s there. And if you call upon his name in the highest heaven, he’s there. When you call upon his name, his presence enters the atmosphere that you’re breathing, and in his presence is the fullness of joy. He’ll give his angels charge over you. His hand of favor will be upon you. His goodness and mercy will come running after you. The other fortresses of this world, they have failed, they have fallen. But there’s one that remains and his name is Jesus, king above kings and Lord above Lords. He will not fail you. He did not fail Joseph. He did not fail Moses. He did not fail Joshua. He did not fail David. He did not fail Elijah. He did not fail Daniel. He did not fail Jesus Christ when he rose on the third day. And child of God, he will not fail you.
David said, «I have a fortress, and I can run to him». And he said, «But I also have a deliverer that he comes to me». You run to a fortress, a deliverer comes to you. Why do you need deliverance? You don’t need deliverance from trouble that found you, you need deliverance from trouble you started all on your own. Now, I saw a bunch of people, «Oh, I’ve had trouble that found me. It just found me. I was behaving, doing everything right, and it found me». And I’m not gonna ask you to tell on yourself, but do you know anybody that created the trouble that they’re in? Not you, people you know about. If they’re sitting close to you, don’t raise your hand, just nod your head. I guess not. Nobody knows anything about trouble that you caused? You started it all on your own. It doesn’t matter, you’re still in trouble.
And that’s when you don’t need a fortress to hide in your sin. You need a deliverer to come and deliver you from the problem you created. Here’s the glorious news. The rock that you can run to is the living rock that can run to you. When you’re under attack, you can run to him. When you’re creating the problem, he’ll come to you, and he’ll deliver you, and he will set you free. I love what king Darius, a pagan king in the kingdom of Persia said in the book of Daniel 6:27. He said, «He,» God, «Delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth».
Now, obviously, he was speaking this about Daniel who God delivered from the lion’s den. He saw it as a sign and a wonder and said, «That God is a delivering and rescuing God». But let me tell you about the sign and the wonder that he used to deliver you from death, hell, and the grave. His name was Jesus Christ, and he came from heaven and earth, not that he could lift the burden and destroy the yoke through some method or process, but that he would become the burden-bearer, and he would become the one who paid your debt, and he would become the one who broke the chains, and he would become the one who shed his blood so that he could pay the price of your debt, and he could cover the wages of your sin, and you could stand here today and say, «Whom the son sets free is free indeed».
I don’t need to go to a lion’s den to wonder if my God works miracles. I’m standing here today forgiven, and set free, and on my way to heaven. I don’t need another miracle, I’ve got all that I need. It doesn’t matter how you got into the trouble you’re in, if it found you, or you chased it. The rock is a fortress, and the rock is a deliverer. He said if we’re faithful and just to confess our sins, he’ll forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But people wanna know, how do you get to the rock? I say this in closing. People wanna know, how do I find this fortress? People wanna know, how do I get to the deliverer? Verse 3, David said, «I will call upon the Lord. I will call upon the Lord».
You say, «Pastor, it can’t be that easy». I didn’t go through 18 wars, but the guy who’s 18-0, he said, «If you’re in trouble today, just call on him. Whatever you need today, just call on him». If you’re sick today, call on him, he’s a healer. If your family is being torn apart today, call on him, he’ll mend it. If you don’t know what to do today, call on him, he’s a way maker. If you’re scared to death today, call on him, he doesn’t give you a spirit of fear. But the thing about it is I can’t do it for you, you have to do it for yourself.
David learned how to call upon the Lord, and he said, «That’s the only thing that I did. Everything else was him. When it was a lion, I called on him. When it was a bear, I called on him. When it was Goliath, I called on him. When it was the Philistines, I called on him. When it was Saul, I called on him. When it was Absalom, I called on him. When it was me, I called on him». And that’s why you know the Lord lives. He’s not some ancient, polished piece of stone that we look at in memorial. He’s a rock that is alive. He moves with you. He’ll face the problem with you. He’ll walk you through the darkest valley because he’s the light of salvation. David says it very clearly in the last verse.
We read verse 46, «The Lord lives». Say that with me. The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. The thing that makes our rock different is he’s a living rock. Dead rocks don’t see, but my God sees. Dead rocks don’t hear, but my God hears. Dead rocks don’t move, but my God will move. Dead rocks can’t deliver, but my God is a delivering God. So, how do you get to this rock today? How do you get your life between the rock and the hard place? You call on him. And that’s what we’re gonna do to close this service. I want you to stand right where you are. I want you to just lift your hands for a moment and say:
Father, I thank you that you are the rock of my salvation. And every need that I have, you have the supply. Every problem that I face, you have the answer. Every enemy that is against me, you are the fortress. And every circumstance that I’ve created, you are the deliverer. So, today, in Jesus' name, I call upon you and thank you for being the rock of my salvation in Jesus' name, amen.