Father Don, I appreciate him
so much. I'd usually talk to him one, two, three times a week,
every other week. Always a dear, faithful friend.
I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book
of Psalms 18. Psalm 18. I've entitled this message, The
One Who Can Be Trusted. The One Who Can Be Trusted. The Spirit of God moved upon
King David to pen this psalm of praise and thanksgiving, and
it was based upon an event that happened in David's life. Now, little words above, the
Spirit of God moved upon the writers to put this little part
in here. It tells us what David was thinking. It says to the chief musician,
a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord who spake unto the
Lord the words of this psalm in the day that the Lord delivered
him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of
Saul. And that is found in 2 Samuel
22. But it struck me as I read that
title, that little part we just read there, how David was moved
by God's Spirit to give a title to himself. David gave a title
to himself. He said, Psalm of David, the
servant, of the Lord. He didn't say Psalm of David,
king of Israel. He didn't say Psalm of David,
the man after God's own heart, sweet psalmist of Israel. Here's what he said. The servant. The servant. Oh, what a precious
title. That's the title that the Lord
Himself possessed. Isaiah 42, 1, God speaking of
the Lord Jesus Christ, behold my servant, my willing, obedient
bondman, bond slave, you that know the Lord, love the Lord.
Doesn't that title say, that's what I want to be, a servant. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, whom I keep, whom I retain, whom I
help, mine elect. The Lord referred to as the elect
of God. Boy, that's another title. This
world hates that word. They hate that word, the elect. But I think, oh, but for the
grace of God, oh, that God would choose to set His affection on
me. Somebody said, I hate that word. That's just not fair. Scripture
says if God had not given us, had a small remnant, a remnant
according to the election of grace, we'd all been like Sodom
and Gomorrah. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment. That is, he's going to establish
truth to the Gentiles. I know how the world speaks of
servant, often with a note of ridicule, like it's some kind
of a second-class citizen, but for a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, Paul a servant, a vessel for God's use of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle. You know, he noticed, he said,
I'm a servant first. God called me to be an apostle,
but I'm his servant. James said the same thing, James
1.1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter said it, Jude said it, John said it. when he penned
the book of the Revelation, servant. Well, there's a beautiful picture
of Christ. David, as all believers, could
say these words, being found in the Lord, servant. So let's just listen, let's just
hear. I'm gonna look at verses one,
two, three. Psalm 18, verse one, David speaks here confidence
the one that loved him, the one he loved, but who loved him first. He said, verse one, I will love
thee, O Lord, Jehovah, all caps, my strength. You know, the Lord
said in Proverbs 8, 17, I love them, I love them, he's everlastingly
loved them. I love them that love Me in time. God's people, the ones He's everlastingly
loved in time, they're going to love Him. He's going to call
them. I love them that love Me and
those that seek Me early. Diligently is what it means.
Those that seek Me diligently. Oh, how every believer struggles
with that. Boy, I want to seek the Lord. I want to seek Him diligently.
I want to read these scriptures. I want to hear what God has to
say. I want to ask Him. Mark, and I struggle every moment
with it. I'm so ashamed of myself when
I hear, read, pray. Struggling all the time, but
I do. I want to. I want to. We love
Him because He first loved us. And one that David loved was
the Lord, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, Jehovah Himself,
my strength, the source of my strength, saving, keeping strength. Believers love the thrice holy
God who is their covenant God. I love the Lord. We see that,
you know, it's Jehovah, capital, capital, capital, capital. Covenant
God, covenant God. The God who is the Father, who
chooses in strength. My counselors are gonna stand,
as we say. The Son who redeemed Strength
got the job done. He redeemed them from their sins. Redeemed them. And the Spirit
of God who regenerates in strength, in power, when He comes and He
removes that heart of stone and gives a new heart, He makes them
willing in the day of His power. I love the Lord. My strength, the strength of His people. Look at verse 32 in this Psalms
18. It is God that girdeth me with strength, maketh my way
perfect. Girds them with Christ, who is
their righteousness. That righteousness that is accepted,
because He's accepted. He that girdeth me with the whole
armor of God maketh my way perfect. God's people know themselves
to be weak in self. We know that. No believer is
going to admit that he's strong in himself. Paul the Apostle
says, when I'm weak, when God made me to know my weakness,
that's when I'm strong. Because I'm only strong in Him. Strong in the Lord. The Apostle
Paul was moved by the Spirit of God in 2 Corinthians 12, 10
to say, therefore, I take pleasures in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses. For Christ's sake,
for when I am weak, then am I strong. The world, man by nature, thinks
himself to be strong. You know that. Thinks himself
to be able. Has the ability. to be strong
and reconciling himself back to God. But the psalmist said
in Psalm 46, 1, God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble. Verse 2 says, the Lord is my
rock and my fortress and my deliverer. All these words of safety, comfort. Look at verse 31 in Psalm 18
right here. Who is a God? Save the Lord. Who is a rock? Save our God. Who is God? Save Jehovah. Where is absolute security? This life is going to be over. All of these things I've mentioned
before, first service, this is going to be over so fast. These
things that we're going through right now are just, I've said
before, a blip. The Lord Himself is the only
security. that a believer has. The world
and its false religion has created a god of its own imagination,
false religion that men can save if they're willing to allow him
to do this. Hold your place right there.
I want you to turn to Deuteronomy 32. Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 32, verse 31, 32.
Deuteronomy 32. That's what the Lord says about
the little g-god of this world. Deuteronomy 32, verse 31. Look
exactly how it says it. 31, verse 30, for their rock,
look at that lowercase r. It's not as our rock, even our
enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine
of Sodom. and of the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is of the poison of
dragons, cruel venom of asp. The gods of this world, little
g gods of this world, they're not wise, they're not powerful,
they're not gracious, because they're not gods. They're nothing. They're nothing. The God that
this world's religion, this God that men say they pray to. They're praying unto the Lord.
They're going to pray and they're believing that God is wanting
to save them. That He can if they'll let Him,
if they'll give Him their heart. He wants to. He wants to. I'm
telling you, that is no God. They're not praying to anybody.
There is no God like that, that hears. No God like that hears. There's nobody out there somebody's
praying to. There's one God. And He's God. And He's sovereign. And all these men that are standing
up preaching this little G-God that died, that sent His Son
to make salvation possible. I'm telling you, He's not there.
There is no God beside me. So I'm not just making this up. I'm telling you the truth. They're
praying to nobody. There's nobody out there like
that. Nobody hears. The Lord, verse
2, Psalm 18, is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. He's my fortress. What is that?
He's my stronghold. He's the stronghold of the sheep.
He's the city of refuge. He's the haven of rest for those
that are being kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last times. David said, He is my deliverer. Look here, still in Psalm 18,
look at verses 4 to 10. The sorrows of death come past
me. Here's the Lord speaking under
the inspiration of God's Spirit. The floods of the ungodly men
made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed
me about. The snares of death prevented
me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto
my God. He heard my voice out of the
temple and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then
the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills
moved and were shaken because he was wroth. Then went up a
smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured.
Coals were kindled. He bowed the heavens also and
came down, and darkness was under his feet. The Lord himself said,
I was compassed about. Bull's obation took hold. He said the sins, my sins were
more than the hairs of my head. I cried unto my deliverer and
he heard me. And he bowed heaven down. He
bowed or bent down heaven, is what he said. At my cry, in my
distress, in my need, in my moment, He came down, the scripture says,
verse seven, and the earth shook when he came to my rescue. The
foundations of the hills moved and were shaken. Hold your place
there again and turn to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. Matthew 27, verse
50 to 53. Matthew 27, 50, Jesus, when he
had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold,
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to the bottom,
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves
were open, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. and came out of the graves after
his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto
many." Somebody said, you think that really happened? Absolutely. Absolutely. God Almighty called
upon his Father. God Almighty in human flesh. And he said, I cried unto my
Deliverer. And he heard my voice, and he
bowed heaven down, and the earth shook. Verse 16 and 17 of our passage
here, Psalm 18. He sent from above, he drew me
out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong
enemy, and from them which hated me. for they were too strong
for me, I think. The Lord said that? He was the
absolute submissiveness of the servant of God. He put his all,
his trust, every bit of it in his father. He said, I bow. Someone said, I don't see how
the Lord can say that. My friend, let's go back to our
first service this morning. Don't strive against your maker. He humbled himself, made himself
of no reputation. We don't know the depth of his
humility. We don't know the depth of his
bowing, of him giving himself. I put here with God Almighty
that said I give everything, all of my hope, all of my hope
into his hands. Lord, teach me. Teach me something
of His submissiveness. He took me. He delivered me. My strong enemy that hated me,
for they were too strong for me when God delivers His own. Now, He doesn't wait for us. He draws us, making us willy
in the day of His power. And submissiveness was known
to the Father. Submissiveness, true submissiveness
was known to the Father in the person of His dear Son. And that
submissiveness charged to us all that God Almighty has put
in His Son now in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ Here's
what David says, the Lord's my rock, he's my fortress, my deliverer,
he's my strength, in whom I trust. I don't have a clue what it is
to trust God. I don't have a clue what it is
to trust God. Truly, to just not have any hope
in myself, I don't have a clue what that is. But he did. Again, I don't know the depth.
and to which he submitted himself. But whatever it was, God accepted
it, and accepted it on our behalf. Look at verse 43 in our passage
of Psalm 18, look at 43. Thou hast delivered me from the
strivings of the people. Thou hast made me the head of
the heathen, a people whom I have not known shall serve me. Look
at verse 48. He delivered me from my enemies,
Again, I'm with you right here. I get it. I get it. These words
are so beyond our comprehension. Somebody said, well, don't you
think the Lord Jesus Christ could have? Absolutely. He could have done whatever he,
but he submitted himself to his father. He delivered me from
my enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above
those that rise up against me. Thou has delivered me from the
violent man. I needed submission to the Lord
and I couldn't give it, but he did. And now in Christ, the Lord
delivers his people. He delivered them from the penalty
of death, sin, by the shedding of His own blood, deliver us
from the darkness of sin and unbelief, to the power of His
Holy Spirit in the day of regeneration. And finally, in that day, the
Lord Himself will deliver us from judgment in the day of our
standing before Him. There's no condemnation for them
in Christ Jesus, but in that day, He will verbally speak that word of deliverance,
enter in. Beloved of the Lord, inherit
that which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Back in Psalm 18 verse 2 again, the Lord my God, my strength,
my rock, in whom I will Trust. Believers don't trust in a what? What do you mean? I mean they don't trust in a
profession, they don't trust in a baptism, they don't trust
in a decision. My God, my strength in whom I
will trust. They trust a person, a person. I don't trust in knowing the
five points of Calvinism. I believe them. But I don't trust
in five points. I trust in Christ of whom these
points declare. The scripture says, I know whom
I have believed. I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Whenever Philip, Thomas, I'm
sorry, Thomas, whenever Thomas had doubted a week before that
the Lord had risen And the Lord appeared to His disciples, what
did He say? My Lord and my God. Him. Verse 47 in Psalm 18 says
this, It is God that avengeth me and subdueth the people under
me. It is God that executes vengeance,
subdueth, destroys. Those under me. The Lord is either
going to subdue in this life, He's going to subdue His people
in this life. He's going to break them right
now or He's going to break them in the day of judgment. But I
can promise you this, according to the Word of God, every knee
is going to bow. Every knee is going to bow. Those that will
not come right now, you will. You're going to. Those that will
not have this man to rule over, you will. He's going to rule. He shall do it. He's going to destroy in that
day or mercifully conquer this day. Verse 2, again, going on,
he's my buckler and the horn of my salvation. in my high tower. You know, I've always looked,
and I'm sure many here know this, just my ignorance, a buckler. You've heard that. It's the buckler.
You might say, well, it's a shield. That's right. It is a shield.
But it's a little bitty shield. It's a little old bitty shield.
It's not a big shield. I just missed it. He's my buckler. It's a shield
I read up on a buckler. I tried to do a little history
here, and it was a shield, and it just It covers his hand is
what it's doing. And it's the opposite hand of
the one you got your sword in, obviously. But it's an offensive
weapon, too. It's defensive, but it's offensive,
too. You can get it out there. It's
real easy to move. But it's a small shield. And with the sword in
hand, and the Lord says, he's my buckler. My personal protection
is what it comes down to. My buckler in the horn, the power
of my salvation, my high tower, my refuge. Look here in Psalm
18, look at verse 30. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried,
it's refined. He is a buckler to all those
that trust in him. It's a personal shield, a little
shield that protected the hand that was used. Look at verse
35 in this chapter. Thou hast also given me the shield
of thy salvation, thy right hand hath holden me up. Thy gentleness
hath made me great. Verse 39. For Thou hast girded
me with strength unto the battle. Thou hast subdued unto me those
that rose up against me. He's the horn. He's the strength.
He's the power of His people's salvation, life. He's the hope of glory. Verse 3. I will call upon the
Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. Look at verse six. In my distress,
again, we read this, but read it again. In my distress, I called
upon the Lord, cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of
his temple, and my cry came before him even into his ears. The Lord who has in the stead
of His people, submitted Himself unto His Father, earning by His
obedience that righteousness that robes us. Now, we can say
in Him, and only in Him, I will call upon the Lord. who's worthy
to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine
enemies. God's people never stop addressing,
calling out to Him. Time of danger, times when they're
not even aware of danger. They cry unto the Lord. They
know they need Him. And He's worthy. He's worthy. They know that, to be praised.
He's promised to save His own from their enemies. What are
the enemies? Satan, self, sin, this world. He said, I shall be saved from
my enemies. He's going to deliver us from
all. They love Him, they trust Him,
and they call upon Him. He's the Lord. David said, I
will, verse 1 to 3, I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The
Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength
in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation,
my high tower. I will call upon the Lord who's
worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. Who
spoke those words first? The Lord Jesus Christ. And every
believer in Him says the same thing. I pray God bless it. I've named it the one that can
be trusted. And he is. To his glory and our
eternal good. Amen.