Yahweh Tsuri

Open your Bibles to . David is coming to the end of his life. He was a shepherd boy who God had protected from both lions and bears. He was chosen by God to lead the nation of Israel. By the power of God, he defeated the giant Goliath. He had fled from Saul because of Saul’s jealousy. After gaining the kingdom of Israel, David made some major mistakes. He slept with another man’s wife and had him killed. He disobeyed God’s commands about trusting in numbers more than trusting in God. He lost the kingdom in a coup attempt by his son. He regained his kingdom, but he lost his son Absolom. David had experienced so many different things in his life. He was known as “the man after God’s own heart.”

In Samuel 22, David wants those around him to know something important he had learned about Yahweh. David wrote a song to express his thoughts about the God he loved and served.

2 Samuel 22:1–3 CSB

1 David spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the grasp of Saul. 2 He said: The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock where I seek refuge. My shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, and my Savior, you save me from violence.

2 Samuel 22:1

This song of David is recorded here in and also in . Being recorded twice in the Scriptures, this song must be important. It tells us something very important about God. Several times over the course of chapter 22 and 23, David uses the same terminology about God. God is Yaweh Tsuri.

Yahweh Tsuri - God is my Rock

Wasn’t it the old Chevy commercial that used the Bob Seager song as a slogan “Like a Rock”? They wanted you to think that their trucks were strong, reliable, and dependable. David wants you to know that God is your Rock. God is strong, reliable, dependable, stable, and a place of protection from your enemies. God is Yahweh Tsuri. God is my Rock.

This is deeply personal. God is MY Rock. If you are a follower of Jesus, then God is YOUR rock. This Name of God is used well over 50 times in the Scriptures. The Hebrew has two different words for the word “rock”. The first one is“sela”. The word has a range of meaning.

סֶלַע (sě·lǎʿ

“sela” - hardness, cliff, boulder, or stronghold.

The second word is “suri”

“suri” - fortress or steep elevation

Both words are used as titles for Yahweh. The first thing this name for God reveals to us is that as Yahweh Tsuri, God is a place of protection from our enemies.

Yahweh Tsuri is a place of protection from our enemies.

Have you ever had an enemy, a person who really want to hurt you because you did what was right? I am not talking about someone who was mean to you or someone who angry tweeted at you. I am talking about someone who hates you because you did what you were supposed to do and they hate you for it.

David knew all about people like this in his life. King Saul had tried to kill him because of nothing other than pure jealousy and hatred. David, literally, had to run for his life and hide in caves. His own son organized a coup against him and once again David had to run for his life. David was following God and sought to do what God wanted him to do, but there were people around him that hated him for it. They wanted to hurt him in whatever way they could.

David had experienced God as Yahweh Tsuri. He had experienced God’s protection from his enemies. Throughout the Scriptures, we see God’s protection of his faithful ones. God will protect you from your enemies when you are following his will for your life. We are seeing a growing and festering hostility against those who follow God. We are seeing the horde of our enemies growing stronger as we stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must remember what Jesus has promised us.

Matthew 16:16–17 CSB

Matthew 16:16–18 CSB

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Matthew 16:18 CSB

18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Matthew 16:15–20 CSB

15 “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he gave the disciples orders to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

The rock Jesus would build the church on was not Peter. The Rock is the gospel. Peter’s confession was that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the one sent to deliver his people from their sins. Evil cannot overpower the life saving gospel of Jesus Christ.

The rock Jesus would build the church on was not Peter. The Rock is the gospel. The Rock

Jesus gave this declaration at a place called Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was a Roman town and is a very rocky place and they had built temples to various Roman gods into the very mountain itself. One of the temples was to Pan, the half-man, half goat being. In Caesarea Philippi, there was the grotto of Pan.

Caesarea Philippi

The belief was that the ancient fertility gods would descend into this cave to hell until spring. At the end of winter, the pagans would gather for orgies and other ceremonies to entice the gods to come back and make the land fertile for the next growing season. This place was known as the “gates of hell. It was here that Jesus said, “the gates of hell will not overpower it.” The gospel will overpower all lies that our enemies will use against us to harm us. God is Yahweh Tsuri. He is the truth and will protect us from our enemies.

Also, as Yahweh Tsuri, God is our stability in life.

Yahweh Tsuri is our stability in life.

God never changes. Do you take comfort in the fact that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever? You should because it means that we can know what God wants for us. We can know what God expects from us. We can know how God interacts with us. We can know because we have a written record of his interactions with his people. He has told what he wants and what he doesn’t want. He has told us what he likes and what he doesn’t like. It is all in the Bible. He is our Creator and therefore, he has the absolute right to be sovereign over us. He has never changed.

Sometimes, my life feels unstable. How about you? Does your life feel that way? Some of you just moved here, you are trying to find your bearings in a different culture, and you are wondering if the heat will ever break. Spoiler alert, it does and enjoy it when it does. Some of you have just gone through a major life change or you are about to go through a major life change. Our culture doesn’t feel stable. Our national unity is unstable. Rocket man keeps firing off missiles. The Feds keep messing with interest rates. The stock market goes up and the stock market goes down. We wake up each day to a new thing we are supposed to be outraged about. Our cities and infrastructure are decaying and our political leaders can’t get their heads out…well I’m just going to leave that there. The point is, unless your head is in the sand, you know that this world is unstable!

It the middle of all of this insanity stands Yahweh Tsuri. He is our Rock. He is our stability in an ever changing environment and culture. We don’t have to worry or be concerned about the instabilities of life when we are standing on the Rock of Ages. He cannot be moved, nor will he move.

A.W. Tozer in his work, The Knowledge of the Holy, wrote, "God cannot change for the better. Since He is perfectly holy, He has never been less holy than He is now, and can never be holier than He is and has always been. Neither can God change for the worse. Any deterioration within the unspeakably holy nature of God is impossible. Indeed I believe it impossible even to think of such a thing, for the moment we attempt to do so, the object about which we are thinking is no longer God but something else and someone less than He. The one of whom we are thinking may be a great and awesome creature, but because he is a creature he cannot be the self-existent Creator."

God is a place of protection from our enemies. He is our stability in life. He is our place of refuge.

Yahweh Tsuri is our place of refuge.

Billy Graham describes "peace" as hiding in the Rock, Christ Jesus: “The storm was raging. The sea was beating against the rocks in huge, dashing waves. The lightning was flashing, the thunder was roaring, the wind was blowing; but the little bird was sound asleep in the crevice of the rock, its head tucked serenely under its wing. That is peace: to be able to sleep in the storm! In Christ we are relaxed and at peace in the midst of the confusions, bewilderments, and perplexities of this life. The storm rages, but our hearts are at rest. We have found peace—at last!”

(https://books.google.com/books?id=iipgb8HqCY4C&pg=RA5-PA29&lpg=RA5-PA29&dq=billy+Graham+cleft+of+the+rock&source=bl&ots=ReZRnlvbk7&sig=ACfU3U0GYDo5Mm3sPQqlAEYiGE9aE8cCyQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjg9dbn8JHkAhUBd6wKHXKWDNgQ6AEwAnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=billy%20Graham%20cleft%20of%20the%20rock&f=false)

God is our rock. In him we find refuge, peace, and strength. A refuge is a place of safety. It is a place where your enemies can’t touch you. It is a place of shalom.

There were times in David’s life where he needed a place of refuge. There were times when people were out to get him and he needed a physical place of safety. While he was looking for a place of physical safety, he knew that his spiritual safety was secure in God. God holds onto us, even when we are not holding onto him. When we are weak, he is strong. In the hands of God, no one can touch you unless God allows them, which means he is still in control of the situation. In God, nothing gets out of control. Things get out of control when we try to do life on our own. Things get chaotic when we lean on our own understanding. However, like the prodigal son, we always have a place of safety in our Father’s house. He is our refuge.

When I think of places of refuge, I can’t help but think of a place called Masada.

Karen and I climbed up the Snake Trail which is about 980 feet in elevation.

It is well over 700 stairs to the top and very steep.

It takes about an hour and a half to climb at a good pace.

In any case, Masada was built as an impregnable refuge by King Herod the Great. He was quite paranoid and had many enemies. He built Masada as a winter escape and haven from enemies, complete with castle, storerooms, cisterns and a foreboding wall.

If you want the full history of Masada, I would encourage you to look it up because it is a very interesting historical story. Masada was a refuge; a place of security and safety from enemies. Masada was eventually taken by the Romans after months of seige, but hear this, God, not Masada, is our refuge. Nothing and no one can stand against our God. In him, we are completely secure and have nothing to fear. In him, we have a place of protection, a place of stability, and a place of refuge.

After several months of siege without success, the Romans built a tower on the ramp to try and take out the fortress’s wall. When it became clear that the Romans were going to take over Masada, on April 15, 73 A.D., on the instructions of Ben Yair, all but two women and five children, who hid in the cisterns and later told their stories, took their own lives rather than live as Roman slaves.

Do you remember the old hymn?

My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

Perhaps you are here this morning and you aren’t standing on the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ. If you were to describe your life, it would be described as anything other than secure. You are on your own and you feel it. You feel overwhelmed. You don’t know where to turn or what to do. Let me tell you what to do.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

I believe there are people here today who need Jesus. You can’t work your way to him. You can’t be religious enough for him. You receive the free gift of eternal life through the grace of Jesus Christ.

Jesus left heaven to come to earth. God took on flesh in the person of Jesus and lived a perfect life in every way. Without ever sinning, Jesus became the perfect sacrifice by dying on the cross for our sins and our offenses. He died in our place for the forgiveness of sins. On the third day, when the stone was rolled away, Jesus was not there. The tomb was empty. Jesus had risen from the dead, so that anyone, that includes you, who calls on the name of Jesus would be saved and forgiven. The amazing grace of God, no matter how bad you have been, no matter how dark your life is, no matter how many people you’ve let down, when you call on Jesus, he hears your prayer and he will forgive every sin and make you brand new.

esus left heaven to come to earth. God took on flesh in the person of Jesus and lived a perfect life in every way. Without ever sinning, Jesus became the perfect sacrifice by dying on the cross for our sins and our offenses. He died in our place for the forgiveness of sins. On the third day, when the stone was rolled away, Jesus was not there. The tomb was empty. Jesus had risen from the dead, so that anyone, that includes you, who calls on the name of Jesus would be saved and forgiven. The amazing grace of God, no matter how bad you have been, no matter how dark your life is, no matter how many people you’ve let down, when you call on Jesus, he hears your prayer and he will forgive every sin and make you brand new.

This morning, if you are here and you know that you need God’s forgiveness for your sins; realize that you are not here by accident. Will you surrender your life to God and experience his forgiveness? Will you pray this prayer with me expressing that you are trusting in God’s ability to forgive you and save you?

“Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sins, make me new. I ask Jesus to be my Savior and to be the Lord of my life, first in every way. My life is not my own, I give it to you. Thank you for new life. In Jesus’ name, I pray.

As we continue in an attitude of prayer, brothers and sisters, remember God is your rock. When everything in your life feels unstable, out of control, and chaotic, go to your rock, Yahweh Tsuri. Stand on his promises. He will protect you. He will uphold you with his mighty right hand.

Pray.

Our deacons will be coming forward to pray with you and for you. If you prayed to receive Jesus, please come and let us pray with you and celebrate your new life in Christ. If God is dealing in your heart and life right now, don’t let this moment pass.

As you stand and we sing together.

Perhaps you didn’t come forward for one reason or another, but you really do want to talk with us about what is going on in your life. Perhaps you need help, prayer, or you just want to know more about being a follower of Jesus. I would encourage you to do one of two things. After we are dismissed, just stay where you are. One of our deacons will come and talk with you and pray with you. The other thing you can do is check one of the boxes on the Connection Card. Put it in the offering plate as it passes. We will get in touch with you this week. You see, this church exists to minister to one another. We are here to support you in your walk with God.

Related Media

Related Sermons