Let me call your attention to a verse in the thirty-second chapter of
Deuteronomy, thirty-first verse: "For their rock is not as our Rock,
even our enemies themselves being judges."
These words were uttered by Moses, in his farewell address to Israel.
He had been with them forty years. He was their leader and instructor.
All the blessings of heaven came to them through him. And now the old
man is about to leave them. If you have never read his speech, do so.
It is one of the best sermons in print. I know few sermons in the Old
or New Testament that compare with it.
I can see Moses as he delivers this address. His natural activity has
not abated. He still has the vigor of youth. His long white hair flows
over his shoulders, and his venerable beard covers his breast. He
throws down the challenge: "Their rock is not as our Rock, even our
enemies themselves being judges."
Has the human heart ever been satisfied with these false gods? Can
pleasure or riches fill the soul that is empty of God? How about the
atheist, the deist, the pantheist? What do they look forward to?
Nothing! Man's life is full of trouble; but when the billows of
affliction and disappointment are rising and rolling over them, they
have no God to call upon. "They shall cry unto the gods unto whom they
offer incense; but they shall not save them at all in the time of
their trouble." Therefore I contend "their rock is not as our Rock."
My friends, when the hour of affliction comes, they call in a minister
to give consolation. When I was settled in Chicago, I used to be
called out to attend many funerals. I would inquire what the man was
in his belief. If I found out he was an atheist, or a deist, or a
pantheist, when I went to the funeral and in the presence of his
friends said one word about that man's doctrine, they would feel
insulted. Why is it that in a trying hour, when they have been talking
all the time against God--why is it that in the darkness of affliction
they call in believers in that God to administer consolation? Why
doesn't the atheist preach no hereafter, no heaven, no God, in the
hour of affliction? This very fact is an admission that "their rock is
not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges."
The deist says there is no use in praying, because nothing can change
the decrees of deity; God never answers prayer. Is his rock as our
Rock?
The Bible is true. There is only one God. How many men have said to
me: "Mr. Moody, I would give the world if I had your faith, your
consolation, the hope you have with your religion."
Isn't that a proof that their rock is not as our Rock?
Some years ago I went into a man's house, and when I commenced to talk
about religion he turned to his daughter and said: "You had better
leave the room. I want to say a few words to Mr. Moody." When she had
gone, he opened a perfect torrent of infidelity upon me. "Why did you
send your daughter out of the room before you said this?" I asked.
"Well," he replied, "I did not think it would do her any good to hear
what I said."
Is his rock as our Rock? Would he have sent his daughter out if he
really believed what he said?