Living Hope Fellowship Church...Sermons From the Pastor
CLIFT
IN THE ROCK
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
I like to be able to get up first thing in the morning and laugh in the devil's face. Don't you? . . . knowing he ain't got nothing in me. Jesus said the devil had nothing in him. I can have assurance knowing the devil has no part in me.
He may come against me and he may fight me. He may work against me. He may try to discourage me. He can do all these things, but he ain't getting nowhere with me. At the end of the same day I can say, "Hallelujah! I made it through another day." Jesus said to quit fretting about tomorrow. Quit fretting about what you can put on, what you're going to eat, what kind of things ought to happen, or if God is really going to send revival; handle today. If you can handle today, that's one more day the devil does not have you. The Bible says a good man falls down seven times but he gets up again. Just believe God. A lot of people come to me and say, Brother Kevin, I don't know how I can handle it any more. Things have happened and the devil has been doing a good job of hitting me. The only thing I can tell you is what I've told others before, "get up one more time than the devil ever knocks you down." If he knocks you down a thousand times, get up a thousand and one. If he knocks you down 5,043 times, get up 5,044 times. Hallelujah, you'll be standing right in his face. He'll say, didn't I knock you down 5,043 times? You can say, Yeah, and I stood up 5,044 times.
Can you imagine the effect that Paul had on the people when they stoned him and they thought he was dead and walked off and left him? Remember in Acts he gave testimony that he was stoned, and they thought he was dead. Do you think they stoned him to hurt him? NO. They stoned him to kill him. He was preaching too hard. He was stoned . . . that doesn't mean he got too much marijuana, sweetheart. He was stoned . . . hit with stones till he was knocked out and down, bloody, beaten, broken bones, the whole bit. They thought they had killed him. He was lying totally out. They said, that dude's dead. No more hard preaching from him.
You know what happened? He got back up. One of the guys hung around the back and just looked to see. I don't know, last time they stoned him he got up. They're peeking around the corner. The rest of them left. Naaaa... he's dead. I know. I threw the biggest rock that hit him right there. No problem, he's dead. Gone, no more hard preaching! The last of the hard fire and brimstone preaching is gone. That's what was being said. No more fire and brimstone, we're under grace now. The last rock had been thrown. Somebody was peeking around the wall. I'm gonna watch and make sure that preacher is dead. When the buzzards light on him, I'll know he's dead. All of a sudden he saw a twitch, and a kick, and a move, and old Paul looked around, blood all over his face. Can you see him? Can you see him lying in the dirt? All of them gone and he's just lying there, all busted up. He gets up like this . . . . Hallelujah, I made it through another stoning. Hell shakes . . . Oh, No. They didn't get a big enough rock. They didn't get a big enough rock!! I told that boy to get another rock. He's up again! No! No! No! No! No!
What did Paul do? Did he run? NO! He went back into the city. Do you know what he was looking for? He was looking for the devil that was in the man that cast the stone and tried to kill him. He said I'm gonna get you boy and cast the devil out of you. You're gonna help me preach instead of stone me. You are gonna help me gospelize this area for God instead of throw rocks at me. Instead of talk about me you are gonna pray for me.
Oh they might knock you down, but you'll get back up. Are you ready to get up? You're not dead anyway. They've thrown the rocks and you're still alive, so you might as well get up. You gonna get up? Tell the Lord you're gonna get up a while. We need more hell fire and brimstone preachers, hard preachers. I'm not talking about without love. I'm talking about with the power of God.
I love the Word of God because it always tells me the truth. It never lies. That's why I believe it all. If you can't believe the whole Bible, then you might as well not believe any of it. It happened . . . these things took place. I heard a lady say one time, Ahh, they're just a bunch of stories to give you examples with symbolic words about what could take place. The devil is a liar. These aren't stories. These are chronicled actual events that took place in the earth in days gone by. Beloved, the things that are getting ready to take place are going to be greater. The later rain will be greater than the former.
Exodus 33:16-23. "(16) For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. (17) And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. (18) And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. (19) And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20) And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. (21) And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: (22) And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: (23) And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."
Moses requested that God would show him his glory. Now turn to Chapter 34 and we'll read verses 5-7. "(5) And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. (6) And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, (7) Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."
I believe this was one of the most awesome requests ever made by a man to God. Moses was talking with the Word of God. The Word of the Lord came to Moses and he gave out the Word of the Lord. He is called the Lawgiver. Moses made a request. He said, how can we know that you are going with us except we know that you're going with us? I want to make a decree that I have seen the God whom thy nation, the church, and the people of God worship, that I might be to them a witness of the Most High God. God said I'M GOING TO GRANT THIS TO YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE FOUND GRACE IN MY SIGHT AND I KNOW YOU BY NAME. THERE IS A PLACE BY ME THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT. YOU CAN STAND IN THAT PLACE, RIGHT ON THE CLIFT OF THE ROCK. I'LL PUT MY HAND OVER YOU AND PROTECT YOU FROM THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY CONSUMING FIRE, GOD THE FATHER. I'LL MAKE ALL MY GOODNESS PASS BEFORE YOU AND I'LL PRAISE THE GLORY OF GOD.
Do you see the proclamation that went before the Lord God? It was awesome. It is called in Ephesians 1 the praise of his glory. Exodus 34 gives us testimony to this. The Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Word of the Most High God was the clift that came over in the cloud upon Moses when his face shone like the sun. The pillar of the cloud came over Moses and the Most High God passed by. The one that talks about God is the Word of God. I believe Moses had a meeting with the Word of the Lord. He was given a promise by the Word of the Lord that he would be a place for him to stand upon the rock.
Read Deuteronomy 32:30-37. Our rock is not as their rock . . . talking about our Rock, Jesus, is not as their rock-the world. God gave Moses a place to stand in the shadow of his hand so that the fire of the Father's almighty perfection and glory would not consume Moses. In other words, he stood in the throne room of God on top of that mountain. Then he began to give him the laws that he wanted all man to obey. What an awesome day Moses had! Can you imagine that? You're standing there and you hear the voice of the Lord talking to you.
Moses said, I want to see your glory that I can go back and testify to the camp that I have seen God. I want to tell them the one I'm talking about is not a figment of my imagination. He's is not a figment of their imagination. It is not something you try to make happen because you want it to happen. It's not "mind over matter". I saw him with these eyes.
Some say, The Bible declares that no man has seen God and lived." The Bible says no man has seen the almighty God and lived, but Beloved, thousands of people saw the Word of God, when he came to earth as a man. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." I believe when he took on the promise, the covenant of God, Moses was able to stand in that covenant and obey it. It also covered him that the Most High God could walk right by him, and he was not consumed, because the glory of God was round about him.
He did not even have the fullness of the law yet. He just obeyed God. He didn't have what you have today, if you're a Christian: salvation through the blood of Jesus, a better covenant than the old, the New Testament written in Jesus blood. He did not have the indwelling of the anointed power of the Holy Ghost.
Why does a man need to get saved? If you try to stand before a holy and righteous God in the state you are in right now, you won't last any longer than a snowball in hell. That is because we've got sin. Even if you walked perfectly under the law of God, you're still not good enough. Flesh wars against the Spirit and is contrary to God. The thoughts of your own mind would be enough to destroy you in the presence of the Most High God. You don't think so? Next time you get down and start getting really serious and start praying, listen to the stuff that comes through your mind to try to stop you. That won't stand before God either.
God sent his Son, the Word of the Lord, clothed in flesh, that whenever he crucified totally all the things that any man would ever go through . . . sickness, disease, affliction, torment, sin of every kind, temptation of every kind, the wars against the mind, and even death . . . now it would not be flesh clothed in the Word. It would be the Word clothed in flesh by the promise that is in Christ Jesus. It is no longer you that liveth when you're walking in Jesus Christ. You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. This is where God wants us to get so that we can stand before him and make petition without any hindrance, without any waiting, without any time factor so we can get the great move of God this day and hour.
If Moses can get in the clift of the Rock and stand before the Almighty God the Father, and not die, and even see parts of him . . . then what should you and I be doing when the one who was his clift of the Rock, Jesus, is now covering us in his blood? He has washed us clean from all sin, set us free, and sanctified us out of this world, ready to go on in the Spirit. We ought to be able to walk in that clift right now and stand before a holy and righteous God. This is what God wants his church to do.
He said there is a place by me. Moses didn't know about that place. Don't you think he would have been there if he had known? Moses was scared but wanted to see God's glory. When you are on a mountain that weighs trillions of tons and it is shaking from the presence of one being, you have a tendency to be a little fearful. I'm scared of God! He has power to kill and to cast into hell. He wouldn't have to look long to find enough to send any of us to hell.
There is something that will get between him and the judgment . . . the Clift of the Rock. It is the blood of the Lamb. He said WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD I WILL PASS OVER YOU. WHEN I BEGIN TO POUR OUT MY JUDGMENTS AND MY WRATH, I'M GOING TO SEE THE BLOOD AND I'M GOING TO PASS OVER YOU. But, we're not supposed stay there. We are supposed to go on from glory to glory, from faith to faith, deeper and deeper in the love of Jesus, and higher and higher in the power of God. Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." God meant this literally.
Moses didn't have what you and I have got! Elijah didn't have what we've got, but they found the Clift in the Rock. He said there is a place by me that you can stand, and I'll cover you, and I'll protect you from all the wrath of God. Then you can talk to God and you can hear his voice. Imagine God talking to you . . . that would be 100 percent discernment. Just imagine if you will, that you are standing and talking to somebody about Jesus. God is there telling you exactly what they are thinking about you and exactly what they've been doing the last six months . . . that they've been backsliding. The day is coming. A lot of people say, well, I don't want to be around anybody like that. You need to clean up your life so you can stand to be around somebody like that.
God already knows what you are doing and not doing! The reason I'm wanting to know is so that I can tell you that God knows. 2 Corinthians 13:1, ". . . In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." Uh oh, I'm backslid. 1 Corinthians 14:25, "And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth."
There is a place. God showed it to him. Exodus 33:21, "And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock." If you want to see God's glory, there is a place by him. If you've ever wanted to really get in close to God, there is a place by him. God will cover you with his glory. He'll put his hand upon you. When God walked by, Jesus started shouting Hallelujah. He started saying, "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty . . . ."
The Word of the Lord will declare the Father. He continuously said that he would not speak of himself. John 14:10, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." He still does it today. He so greatly wants us to get in that place.
John 14:2-3, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." That is talking to you. He's talking to everybody: preachers, deacons, elders, and everybody! "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." There was a place prepared for Moses. He told him there was a place by him that he could stand. Jesus did something more mighty than any man has seen before. He had a place for Moses, and for me, and for you, and whosoever will.
He made a place. He said, "In my Father's house are many mansions." It isn't gonna be a two room flat or apartment on Fifth Avenue in the High-rise. We're talking about a mansion. Hallelujah. We're talking about a place in glory! It's gonna be so big that you can drive and turn a semi around in it. You can come and find rest for your souls and see the victory won. God will pass by you and say, HELLO, SON. HELLO DAUGHTER. HOW ARE YOU DOING? WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM DAD TODAY? These things are for you if you'll press in for God.
Wait a minute . . . there must be some kind of condition to this! The conditions are in verse 17. "And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." So . . . the way that we can get it is to find grace in God's sight, and for him to know us then by name. The Bible declares in Revelation 2:17 that those that overcame were given "a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." Your name is written down in the Lamb's book of life when you become born again. You get a new name written down in glory, found in the presence of the Most High God.
When you begin to pray according to Jude 1:20-21, you groan and pray, and seek God, and press into the deeper things of God. You take on the mercy, glory, and power of our Holy God, and grace is upon you. Things begin to happen. Your name is in his presence. He said he would know us by name. If you're saved, he knows you by name because your name is written in the book of life.
Those were the two conditions that it took for Moses to get his request granted: (1) he found grace in God's sight and (2) God knew him by name. He walked in God's statutes and he obeyed them. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Sometime we sacrifice a lot just to obey. As you press on in for the deep things of God, you get filled with the power of God. Pray and seek God, study the Word of God, fast and say God, I want it all. God sees you. He knows you by name because of Jesus. He has given you of his grace because of Jesus. If you get filled with the anointing and the power of God you have a promise of the Father. He'll show you the clift. That's the next step.
If you are living for God, it is for you. Why do you think the devil is fighting you so hard? He knows what the pearly gates look like. He was there one time. He got shot down but you get to travel up. Praise God! You are going to be taking the place of an enemy and become a friend in the sight of God. Moses was the friend of God. He knew him "mouth to mouth, even apparently" and face to face. When the glory of God came down, he spoke to God and visited with him. He had such faith that he could move mountains. This isn't 'name and claim or cheap religion. This is how close you are to God, but because of unbelief you've been kept away.
You didn't know what was on the other side. You didn't know that the wall was only paper thin. Oh, it's standing up like it is rock, or iron, or steel. But if you ever get up there and look at it, you'll find it is made of paper. You can go right through with the finger of God. That wall looks so solid it doesn't look like you could hit it with a bus and move it. Go touch it. The devil put it up. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, ". . . upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
If you keep on pressing in, you're gonna go right through that gate of hell and the things that are standing between you and the blessings of God. I don't care how bad it's been, God's gonna make a way and he said "there is a place by me." If you'll come on, He's going to show it to you directly!
John 14:30, Deuteronomy 32:29-39, 1 John 5:6-7, Exodus 12:13, Haggi 2:9, Exodus 33:16-23, Ephesians 1:6, John 1:1, Hebrews 8:6, Hebrews 4:15, Colossians 3:3, Job 41:10, Romans 14:4, Revelation 6:17, 1 John 1:7, 1 Samuel 2:6, Luke 12:5, Matthew 5:8, 2 Corinthians 13:1, Jude 1:20-21, 1 Samuel 15:22, Numbers 12:6-9, Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 14:25.
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