Psalm 127. And the title of the message
tonight is, Salvation Built and Kept. Salvation Built and Kept. Here we have another one of these
songs of ascension. the Song of Ascension, the Song
of Degrees, and this one specifically is for Solomon. You read that
in the title, A Song of Degrees for Solomon, and we'll explain
that in just a moment. Let's read this together. Except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain." Now, as I've studied this passage
of Scripture, I ran into many accounts, many commentaries who
use this as a practical application to one's family, or house, or
home. And I do not doubt that this
can be used in a very practical sense regarding a home, a family. Truly, if the Lord doesn't build
a family or keep the family, that family will surely fall,
no matter how hard you try. And the Lord must keep that family.
Surely our lust would draw us away, and so forth. There are
many applications for that. And true, I think that they could
be rightly interpreted in that way, but it is my desire, as
a preacher of the Gospel of Christ, to find Christ in every text.
In every text. And so then I would have a much
higher application, as I believe the Holy Spirit has intended.
This is speaking not of a house, and not even of a local church
or assembly, but rather, it is speaking of salvation. The salvation of God, or the
building of His church. His church. So this house that
is being built, we'll see this, is none less than the temple. The temple of God. Now, this song, no doubt, was
written by David for his son Solomon, as he was ordained to
build the house of God. The temple. Temple. You remember
David was a man of war. David was a man with blood on
his hands. He was a great man, a king, a
great king, a godly man. And it was in David's heart to
build the temple of God. It was in his heart. Yet God told him, you shall not
build my temple. You shall not build my temple.
because of the blood that is on your hands. But Solomon, God
ordained Solomon to build it. And this song is of David for
Solomon as he prepares to build the temple. And I'm going to
read this to you, and you can look this up later in 1 Chronicles
chapter 22 and verse 6. Listen to what is said here.
It says, then he called for Solomon, David, his son, called for Solomon,
and he charged him to build the house for the Lord God of Israel.
And David said to Solomon, my son, As for me, it was in my
mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God. But
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood
abundantly. Thou hast made great wars. Thou
shalt not build an house unto my name, because Thou hast shed
much blood upon the earth in my sight. Behold, a son shall
be born unto thee, who shall be a man of rest, and I will
give him rest from all his enemies round about for his name shall
be Solomon and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in
all his days he shall build a house for my name and he shall be my
son and I will be his father and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom over Israel for ever forever now Let us again
be reminded that this book is not just a history book. Kids are taking classes in Bible
in their school, and for the most part, that's how it's taught. as just a history book. This
is not just a history book, this is a book about Christ. The whole
from cover to cover is about the Son of the Living God, the
Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ. And so then we're going to see
in picture, in type, that these have a purpose other than just
the history of building some building. in Palestine. And so then let us see our text
is about Christ. You remember what Jesus said
to his disciples. He said, these are the things
I've spake unto you while I was yet with you, things that must
be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. Concerning me. And so then
let's see that this book is a history book. It is His story. It is
the story of Christ. The story of Christ. And so our
text is not just about building a family, it's not building a
sanctuary, and it's just not about building even that temple.
But this is what it's about. It is about the building of God's
church. It is about the salvation of
God's people. Salvation of God's elect. And
listen to this. With that in mind, read the text. Except the Lord build the house,
they that labor, they labor in vain that build it. Listen to me. Except the Lord
save a man, they labor in vain that try to build their own.
It's simple. It's about the gospel. They that
labor in building their own salvation, in building up their own religion,
except the Lord build it, All the labors of men is vain. Isn't
this what the Scriptures teach from cover to cover? Salvation
is of the Lord. From start to finish and everything
in between, salvation is of the Lord's building. It is of the
Lord's hand. It is the work of the living
God to save sinners. And so then I would like us to
see the types that are here pictured. First of all, the writer of this
psalm is David. He's writing it for Solomon,
his son. And then you have Solomon in
the picture, and you have the temple itself. I'm going to give
you these three things, and we're going to go over these three
things and see if these types are not so. First of all, David,
I believe here's a picture of the law. David, in this point,
is a picture of the law. Solomon is a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And you and I are a picture of
the temple. We are the building of God. We are the product of the work
of the hands of the Son of God. And so then let's see this, see
if this works here, and it surely does. David here is a picture
of the law. How do we see this? David was
not allowed to build the temple of God because he was a man of
war. He was a bloody man. He was required
of God. He was not a sinful man because
he did these things. He was actually the executioner
of the hand of God against the enemies of God. David. And so God required then the
builder of his temple to be a man of peace. Now behold then the
type of the law. The law of God is against sinners. The law of God is against the
sinner. The law of God is strict in its
justice and judgment, and therefore it can do nothing. It can do nothing in the building
of our salvation. It cannot have a hand in helping
us to God. The law is only a means of God's
execution. of His justice and His holiness
against sinners. The law is only meant to expose
sinners for who they really are. I use this illustration because
I believe it's a good one in my mind, is a mirror. The law
in itself is a reflection. It cannot help you. You look
in the mirror, the mirror cannot help you fix yourself. It only
can expose what is there. And that's what the law of God
does. It holds up the standard of holy
judgment, holy justice, and then it reveals what you and I are
By nature. What is really our nature? And what is our nature? Scriptures don't leave us to
think on our own. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understand
it. Now, you may be pretty smart,
but you don't understand this. By nature, you don't understand
this. Why? God said you don't. None that
understandeth. And listen, there is none that
seeketh after God. I know the Arminian says, well,
what if a man seeks after God? No. Why? There ain't no what
if. No man seeks after God by nature. He's not righteous. He
can't be righteous. He doesn't understand the things
of God. He doesn't know God. And he won't
seek God. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. So what does Paul say then? What's the conclusion
of this? Now listen, anybody that desires to be under the
law, Paul says, I'm calling you all in. You want to be under
the law, come here and hear me. Come here and hear me. If you
that desire to be under the law, don't you know what the law says?
We know that whatsoever things the law sayeth, it sayeth to
them that are under the law for this purpose, to shut your mouth. that every mouth may be stopped,
and the whole world become guilty before God. Therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin." What does the law do? It
is the knowledge of sin. That's, how do you know lying
is a sin? The law says so. That's how. And that law is just
not on the Ten Commandments. And you put that law on the walls
of every school and every building in all the world. You don't need
to. You know why? It's on their hearts. They already
know these things. This law is written down. You
know it. And see then the temple, the
salvation of God. This house of God, what was that
for? What was this temple for? It
was a place where men met with God in peace. It was where the
sacrifices were made so that God and man could be reconciled
and meet together in this temple. It is the only place where the
atonement for sin was made and peace with God was restored. But see, the law of God by no
means Though it pictured how sinners were made righteous,
in and of itself made no one righteous. No one. Paul deals with it very clearly
when he says that the law had a shadow of good things to come.
It was not the very thing. It was a shadow, an image of
those things. By those sacrifices offered year
after year, continually, that could not make the comers therein
too perfect. Well, how do you know that, Paul?
Well, he asks this question. Well, if they were perfect, shouldn't
they have stopped? Isn't that just logical? If it
made the sinner perfect, then why'd they have to do it every
year? Why'd they have to do it every day? He said it didn't
make them perfect. It didn't purge their sins. But
those sacrifices were a remembrance again of their sins every single
year. The law only reminded them of
their need. It could not provide what they
needed. It can only picture. And so then,
how does this tie into David? Well, David, like the law, could
only lay up what was necessary. Now, David, he had a plan about
this temple, didn't he? He thought long and hard about
it, and what did he do? He had that wood chopped down. He had measured it exactly those
lengths of those beams that were needed. He measured out how many
nails he needed for this temple. Every detail was taken care of. The gold for the doors were laid
out. The silver, the brass, everything
that was necessary to build the temple, David supplied. David supplied. Now listen, if
you want to know how it is you can be accepted with God, the
law supplies everything that you need. What's the problem? You can't put it together. And we're building the building.
I know a little about hammering and stuff like that. You put
all the material out there you want to, I can't put it together. It would be a mess. Now friends,
this is much more important than that. You're talking about salvation. What the law states, what the
law extends is all of the requirements necessary to be accepted with
God. All of the requirements are measured
out and laid out in order so that you might know how it is
that a man may be accepted with God. Look at the law and what
do you see? What do you see? The law absolutely
honors the holiness of God and is strict and exact in every
measure. Every measure. And what does it say? The soul
that sinneth, it shall surely die. That sound exact to you? The law is measured out. God
says, I have laid the line and set the plummet. Anything over
that line is to be cut off. Anything. Any sin is to be cut
off completely. Anyone who sins. God says this,
Be ye holy even as I am holy. Is that not laid out enough for
you? How holy do you have to be? As holy as God is. How holy
as God is. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
was talking to that lawyer, you remember the lawyer came up to
him and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Our
Lord, knowing his heart, said, well, how do you read the law?
And the studious man in his pride said, well, you should love the
Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself,
real quick. And the Lord said, okay, now
go do that. Well, you know what it requires? What are you asking
me for? If you want to earn it, go do
it. And the man then began to what? Justify himself. Justify
himself. We, like this lawyer, knowing
the law in our own hearts, try to seek loopholes in the law
Some men, by their traditions and earthly wisdom, try to modify
the law so as to keep it. But such is the dream of fools
and liars. Some men go so far as to say,
well, faith in Christ is necessary. I confess that you need the blood
and righteousness of Christ, but you must still put your work
to it. No. What does our text say? Except
the Lord build it. They that labor in vain that
build it. If you've got to add your works,
your will, your religious labor, your religious ceremony, you
listen. It's vain and it's empty. If
your salvation is in any part up to you, Your salvation is
not salvation at all. It's a lie and a dream. And you
are deceived and deluded. These deceived so-called followers
of Christ, they say, well, Christ is my wisdom, Christ is my righteousness,
Christ is my redemption, but I have to be my sanctification. No. Your labor is vain. You're
trying to put your hand to it. You're trying to put your work
to it. What did Paul say about the law? He said this, As many
as are under the law are under the curse, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not, listen, in all things, in
all things, written in the book of the law to do them. Now for us to be accepted of
the Lord, now listen, I know this is necessary. The law must
be honored. Just as David had those wood,
those trees already cut, Solomon didn't go cut his own. He used
that which David had already cut. And you listen, in order
for us to be saved, the law must be honored. Righteousness, both
passive and active, righteousness must be procured by obedience
to that law. Sin, according to the law, must
be punished by death. Justice must be satisfied. And so such a building Such a
building of salvation, then we must confess, cannot ever be
done by us. We confess it. Just as a building
cannot build itself, you cannot save yourself. Someone must build
the building. And I tell you who it is. It
is Solomon. It is Jesus Christ. Solomon is
here a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The builder of such acceptance
with God is Jesus Christ. You see, He's the only one that
has made the law honorable, isn't He? That scripture says in Isaiah
42, it says, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness
sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. Behold, David was required of
God to shed blood. And you listen, the law, in order
to be satisfied, must shed blood. It must shed blood. In order
for there to be peace between you and God, blood must be shed. Blood must be shed. Why? Law
required it. The law requires it of every
sinner. Law requires strict payment. And listen, we are all born sinners. We have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And so how then could our salvation
be built? Well then look sinner now at
Christ. Look now away from everything
else and look to Christ. You want to know how this temple
is going to be built? How God's going to save His people? It
is only by one man and by His work. Only by one man and his
work, he who is God, very God, became man, very man, so that
he should accomplish for his people what they could never
do for themselves. He came as a substitute. He came as a representative man. And behold him there at Calvary. What was he doing? What was he
doing on that tree? Behold, his hands, his feet were
pierced. There was not one ounce of flesh
unmarked by the whip. His crown of thorns was laid
deep into his skull. The Roman spear plunged deep
into his side. What was all this? This was just
a picture of suffering that was taking place inside his soul. All of His outward pain compared
nothing to the pain of His soul as He was made sin for His people,
as He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. And as He suffered
on that cross, what was He doing? He was fulfilling the law. He
was satisfying justice. Scripture says, he shall see
of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. You want to know where the center
of all time and eternity was? It was the cross. Everything
hinged on that. Everything hinged on the cross. Christ bore our sins there and
paid the sin debt as our High Priest by His one offering for
sin. He forever removed it. He did
what the priests of the law could never do. Jesus, our Solomon,
was building our salvation. He took the beams of His own
righteousness and put them together. He took the work of His own hands
and merited for us a righteousness that we could never merit, that
no man, Adam, if he remained perfect, could never merit a
righteousness like this. He did it of His own hand. And what was He doing by this?
He made therefore a way. that we as sinners could worship
God. Worship God. Behold the text. Accept the Lord, build the house.
They that labor, they labor in vain that build it. Friends, God was forever pleased
with his offering, and Christ, now being risen from the dead,
has established his throne in heaven forever. Forever. And so then, how did
the Lord build this, our salvation? By His own obedience and by His
blood. By His blood. Now then, the third
thing is the temple. The temple is the church. That's
a picture of you and me and our salvation. As God ordained the
first tabernacle in the wilderness, which pictured the Lord Jesus
Christ, but yet that old tent in the wilderness, it was veiled,
wasn't it? Think of the difference between
the tent and the temple. Two distinctly visually different
things, right? When you saw that tent in the
wilderness, you could not see anything of its glory unless
you were able to go inside of it. And there were very few.
And so it is with the salvation of Christ in the old dispensation. Very few were able to see the
glory of that old one. But as you take that temple now
and you raise that up, on the outside of this temple, everyone
could see the glory of it. Everyone could see the glory
of it. And so it is now that Christ has come and built our
salvation. Listen, this thing wasn't done
in a corner. This thing I'm talking about is not done in a corner.
There's none that could deny the glory of this gospel that
we preach. That Christ came and as a man
fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecy. None could deny that.
They can't deny His death. They can't deny His righteousness.
They can't deny His resurrection. There's nothing they can deny.
It's glorious. It's built. It's done in the
open. But you pay attention. No man
could ever enter in except God give him grace to do it. You
can study this all you want to on the outside. But unless you
come in, there's no salvation. Unless you come in to what Christ
has built. Now listen, if there was a storm
on the outside of this building, who would benefit from this building's
shelter? Only those who come in. And so
it is with Christ and His salvation. Only those who are in Christ
may benefit from the salvation of Christ. You can study salvation
on the outside, but that won't do you any good unless you come
in. Unless you believe on the Son of God. But listen to this,
except God do it, no man will believe. Accept God, do it. Listen, accept God, build the
house. Accept Christ, obtain the righteousness. Accept Christ,
obtain the redemption by His blood. Accept the Holy Ghost,
come and give you a new heart and create in you a new nature.
You will never believe on the Son of God. Ever believe on the
Son of God. So again, what am I telling you?
Salvation is of the Lord. And if the Lord build this, it's
built. Now then, look at the second
thing. It is kept. Salvation is of the Lord, and
so is the keeping of it. Look at your text. Except the
Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except
the Lord keep the city, the watchman laboreth in vain. I know, believer, it is your
heart's desire to be in Christ. Is that not right? Your desire
is to be in Christ. Always, perpetually, continually,
daily, momentarily, every day to be in Christ. That is your
heart's desire. Your heart's desire is to be
sheltered in the refuge of Christ, like that man escaped from the
avengers of blood into the city of refuge. As long as they abode
in the city with the high priest, they were safe. And that's our
desire is to always abide in our refuge. Now, the Scriptures, they're
often exhorting us to do that, aren't they? Listen to this. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. That's an exhortation, isn't
it? Jude 1, 21, keep yourselves. Well, Jude, how can we keep ourselves?
Listen, looking for the mercy of our Lord's faith. How do we
keep ourselves in the love of God? Faith in Christ, looking
always. The just shall live, how? By
faith. And so it is the believer's heart
to always believe, trust in Christ. Jesus said, if you love me, As
the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in
my love. Oh Lord, how am I to continue
in your love? Keep my commandments. What is that? Keep my commandments. John is very plain in his message.
He says, if you believe on the Son of God, you're born of God.
And those that are born of God love Him and His people. And He says in the next verses,
it's 1 John 5, 1-3, He says in the very next part, "...and His
commandments are not grievous to us." What are His commandments?
Faith and love. Those aren't grievous to us.
Those are the commandments we've been given. And it is our heart's
desire to keep those commandments, isn't it? We want to keep those
things that we are given. We want to stay in the love of
God. We want to stay in Christ, and
we don't want to go anywhere else. But we who are in Christ also
understand this, that there is no amount of zeal or determination
or desire in our hearts that could ever keep us in Christ. Though it is our desire, we understand
it is not us holding Him that keeps us in. It's Him holding
us that keeps us in. He didn't give you salvation
and then leave you to hold on to it. That would have been vain,
wouldn't it? Why? We would have left a long
time ago. We would have left a long time ago. Why is it you're
here? Why do you keep coming? What
is it about this? What is it about this message
that draws you? What is it about this that you
have to have it? What is it about Christ that
you must have Him? Why is it you stay? Why don't
you leave and go somewhere else? Because you can't. You're kept. You see, it took God to build
this salvation, and I tell you this, it takes God to keep it. You know how a person, you know
if a person's a false believer or not, don't you? They go away. They go away. And this is why people believe
in salvation today, lost tomorrow. You know why? Because they say,
well, I know a man who believed and he went away. It's very simple. He was never built of God. He built his own salvation and
it washed away. But if the Lord built it, now
you listen, the Lord keeps it. The Lord keeps it. I'm going
to read you just a few scriptures and listen to them very carefully.
Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. I will strengthen you. I will
help you. Yea, I will uphold you with my
right hand and my righteousness. Isaiah 41, 10. Isaiah 49, 14,
he says, Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me. Anybody have
any experience in that? Surely the Lord has forsaken
me now. Surely I've gone too far. Surely He has left me. And what does the Lord say? Can
a woman forget her sucking child? That she not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yes, she can. She can. But I will not forget thee. Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, Thy walls are continually
before me." Does that sound like you can be saved and lost? Nope. Why? You're kept. Now what Peter says, kept by
the power of God. unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. So then where does salvation
come from? Salvations of the Lord. From
start to finish. Read verse 2 with me. I'm not
going to be able to finish it, but read verse 2. It is vain
for you to rise early and to sit up and to eat the bread of
sorrows. If salvation is of the Lord,
why worry? Why do you sit up and eat the
bread of sorrows? If the Lord built the house,
the house is built. If the Lord keeps the house,
the house is kept. So why do you eat the bread of
sorrows? You do. I know because I do. Our sin drags us to the earth
Our conscience is constantly pricked by our wickedness. Satan
often accuses us before our God. The world persecutes us and hates
us. The flesh is drawn away in an
instant from our Lord that we love. And this causes us to eat
the bread of sorrow. No, it does. But remember, you
didn't build it. and you won't keep it. For so he giveth his beloved
sleep. If you want peace, faith, believe
and trust God. Trust Him. When? At all times. And you'll lay down and go to
sleep. Now what Peter, the angel had to smack him on the rear
to get him up. He was at perfect peace to die
the next day. That'd be great. Let's just get
this thing going. And so he fell asleep. He was
at perfect peace. And so is everyone whose mind
is what? Stayed on God. May God bless us and teach us. Our house was built of Christ.
Law laid out what we needed. Christ built it. The Holy Spirit
sets it up in your heart. And now you're kept. Why worry? May God bless you. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer.