Sunday 13th October 2024
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith –
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
Rock of Ages
‘Rock of Ages. This rock derives its name from the well-known hymn written about 1762 by the Rev A.M. Toplady who was inspired whilst sheltering in this cleft during a storm.’ Those are the words on a plaque on a rock outside the village of Burrington Combe in Somerset. It is a good story, but sadly almost certainly not true – although it is one of those stories we want to be true! What is true is that Toplady was curate at Blagdon, just a couple of miles away, and that he did write the hymn while he lived there.
The hymns speaks with wonderful clarity of the refuge we can find in the death of Christ, especially from the final judgment, if we ‘hide’ ourselves in him.
Toplady is rightly insistent that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God: “Not the labour of my hands can fulfil thy law’s demands.” We simply cannot do it. We are not able to love God as we should, nor our neighbours.
It doesn’t matter how hard we try to be good, or how sad we are when we fail, we cannot save ourselves and we can only be saved by God himself: “Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears for ever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.”
But while we can have absolutely no confidence in ourselves, we can have total confidence in Christ: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” We come “naked” and he dresses us in his righteousness. We come “helpless” to save ourselves and he saves us by his grace. We come “foul” (dirty) in our sins and he washes us clean.
The death of Christ for our sins is like a cleft in the rock where we can hide ourselves from the coming storm, so that “When I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgement throne,” I can look to the “rock of ages, cleft for me” and hide myself in him.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for being willing to be ‘cleft’ for me, so that I may find refuge in you, now and for all eternity, as my ‘rock of ages.’ Let me hide myself in you. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)