Let's read together two short
portions in the Word of God. The first you will find in the
Prophecy of Isaiah and Chapter 12. The Prophecy of Isaiah and
Chapter 12. Here we have Isaiah speaking
of God as his salvation. Isaiah chapter 12, And in that
day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast
angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest
me. Behold, God is my strength, I
will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength,
and my song, he also is become my salvation. Therefore with
joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say,
praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among
the people, make mention that his name is exhorted. Sing unto
the Lord, for he hath done excellent things, this is known in all
the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant
of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee. And to now turn to the book of
Psalms and read part of Psalm 35. Psalm 35, a Psalm of David when
David was clearly in distress, chased quite possibly by Saul
who was hunted for his life and this is the Psalm that he writes. Psalm 35, my cause, O Lord, with them that
strive with me. Fight against them that fight
against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for my help. Draw out also the spear and stop
the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put
to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and put
to confusion that devise my hurt. I'll leave the reading of God's
Word there. The word that I want to speak
to you from, if the Lord helps, is in the third verse, the latter
part of the third verse of Psalm 35. These words that David prays,
say unto my soul I am thy salvation. David was one that knew many
difficulties and trials and difficulties and in those difficulties he
prays out to God. And here he is praying that the
Lord would reveal to him clearly that God was indeed his salvation. Say unto my soul I am thy We
come, begin a new year with all that lies before us we do not
know. But we look to the Lord to go before us and surely this
is what David felt. Whatever he had to face with
Saul's unreasonableness and hunting him as a partridge upon the mountains,
For no real good reason, yet David wants to know that God
is his God. Say unto my soul. You see, it's
not just another person saying this. He wants God to say it. If you look in Psalm 33 verse
9 it says, For he spake, that's talking about God, For he spake
and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast. You see here David wants the
word of a king. He wants the word of one whose
word is powerful and will be put into action. Say unto my
soul. You see it's not idle words. He wants God to speak and he
knows that if God speaks with that voice that said, let there
be light as there was in Genesis 1, so as he is able to say, say
unto my soul, this is what David wants, I am thy salvation. This is what David desired and
you see The soul is that part of us. We read that the Lord
Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 16 saying that what can a man
give in exchange for his soul? If we gain the whole world but
lose our soul, that is, what gain is that? If we gain everything
here below and do not have our soul. So David realised the value
of his soul and he wants God to give him that sweet assurance
that God was his God. And though the enemies came against
him, though they fought against him, though they were so unfaithful
to him and unreasonable at times, Yet you see if you look later
on in this chapter in verse 11 it says, false witnesses did
rise up. They laid to my charge things
I knew not. They reward me evil for good
to the spoiling of my soul. And so David pours out his prayer
to his God. This is what he wants. He wants
to know salvation, saving from all the evil, the evil of sin. The sin does so easily beset
us. David knew that too. David knew
though he was a man after God's own heart, he also knew what
it was to have that sin and how he pleads for mercy, have mercy
upon me. Oh my God! You see, say unto
my soul. He wants that witness. in his
innermost soul. Though his body was in danger
obviously as he was chased by Saul, yet if his body is in danger,
in a sense his soul is in danger too because if he dies then he
has got to be ready for eternity. And he wants to be ready. He
wants to be right. He wants to be prepared so that
whatever happens, it's well. Say unto my soul, How does God do this? How does
God speak to his people? Well, the Word of God. It is
a great blessing to the people of God to read the Word of God
and to hear the preaching of the Word of God that that may
come with power. As the Word comes with power
to their souls, it is the speaking of God to their hearts. Also we read in Romans chapter
8, the witness of the Spirit so that the Spirit witnesses
with our spirit that we are the children of God. You see, David
realises that what a blessing it is, what a privilege it is
to have assurance. And as we come at the beginning
of the year with many unknowns, we do not know what lies ahead,
we do not know what will come, but it's well with them that
fear God. It's well. If God is our salvation,
it is well. It's such a sense of when we
truly have this sweet assurance, it changes everything. Everything
you see is in its right place. Because if God is our God and
God can do everything, what have we to fear? You see it puts a
different perspective on everything. unto my soul. David wanted this
personal. He didn't just want to know that
God had a salvation but that it became his salvation. We read
that in that chapter in Isaiah, in the second verse of chapter
12, Behold God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and song. He also is become. my salvation. So here it is saying,
and this is quoted three times I think in the Bible, this particular
phrase, starting off with Moses, he has become my salvation. He wasn't, but he has become
it. As the Spirit has worked in my
heart and revealed Christ to me, then salvation has become
mine. What greater blessing could we
wish for any of you here during this year than that you would
be able to have that true evidence known and felt in your heart
of salvation and to be able to know it, to truly be able to
say, he is my salvation and have that sweet assurance Sweet assurance
you see is rightly understood. It does not lead to carelessness.
You see sweet assurance is the heart of one that wants to serve
God with everything for what He has done for them. It does
not lead to laziness. Say unto my soul, speak personally,
come where I am. like that good Samaritan as he
came where the half-dead man was on the side of the road,
poured in the oil and the wine, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. I, the am is in italics, not
really in the original. It's I thy salvation. God is
our salvation. He has been and he will be forever
the salvation of his people. to save his people from their
sins. He came to this earth and this
is what he came to do and this is what he will do. And you see,
David realised that he needed such a God. And we today need
such a God from all the enemies that surround us both externally
but also internally. The sin which has so easily beset
us to be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation from
all our guilt, from all our sin, from all our pride, from all
that militates against God and godliness. That we may not be
given this year to unbelief but that we may be given to faith,
to salvation, to delight in that salvation of the Lord. That it might be a reality to
us, not just a doctrine that we have officially to believe
that our church has this stance, but something that is in our
working Christian life, that it affects our daily walk, salvation,
that we know it and that we feel it and that we live it out in
our lives. Say unto my soul, I am, I, the
great I, the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the
everlasting arms. That God is our God. And David's prayer was this,
Lord speak to me that it might be mine by able to be in laying
hold of. You see if we don't lay hold
of it then it does us no good. But to know that God is our God
and to know that salvation is ours and to be able to then worship,
you see, and that's what the prophecy of Isaiah says in verse
12, chapter 12, he also has become my salvation. What's the result?
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. Surely is that not what we pray
for, one another in this year, to draw water out of the wells
of salvation with joy, to delight in God, to delight in his people,
to delight in his ways, to delight in his kingdom, to delight in
the fervence of the Gospel, to delight in seeking to engage
with others, to show them something of God's great salvation. The market stall, the Sunday
school, the preaching here, as it goes out on the internet.
What has it all come down to, surely? Therefore with joy shall
ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, surely? If we do
not see the beauty of our salvation, if it's nothing to you, then
surely we've lost the plot. We want to have that joy. If there's no joy in it, you
see, we've lost it. We need to see that there's a
joy in salvation. David saw it. David knew it.
Even in his darkest hours, that Psalm 51, he still speaks about
joy. And that's so important. for God's people to know the
sorrow and to know the joy, the joy of thy salvation. And then there is praise you
see. In that day shall ye say praise the Lord, call upon his
name, declare his doings among the people. There is a testimony.
Make mention that his name is exhorted. Well, say unto my soul,
I am thy What may that be? May God bless us with that knowledge,
that sweet assurance that it might perfume our lives this
year with that knowledge of Christ, that we may walk it out, that
we may live it in our lives and that we may realise this truth
that God has done for us. May the Lord have His blessing.