Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. If you have your Bible with you
this morning, I would like to invite you to turn with me to
Psalm 18. And I want us to begin this message
by looking at the heading just under the title. Just under Psalm
18, it says, to the chief musician. To the chief musician. Now, I
love music. I always have. I've spent most
of my life studying music. I know a little bit about music
and I respect a musician who has truly mastered his instrument.
I know how much time it takes. I know the effort it takes to
be able to play an instrument well. I've always loved this particular
verse of scripture in Psalm 33, It says in verse one, rejoice
in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the
upright. Praise the Lord with harp, sing
unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of 10 strings.
Sing unto Him a new song, play skillfully with a loud noise. Don't you love that? Play skillfully. with a loud noise. If that's
what God commands, I can't help but think about his choirs of
angels, his players, his singers. Some may recognize harmony. There are some people who sing
well and they might have an ear for harmony. And we think we've
heard some good harmony before. But can you imagine when that
heavenly host appeared to announce the Savior's birth, crying, hallelujah,
praise the Lord, glory to God in the highest? Can you imagine
that? The answer is no. The truth is we could never imagine
that. In 1 Corinthians 2, the Apostle
Paul said, I hath not seen nor ear heard. We cannot imagine
what we've never heard. The Apostle Paul said, I heard
it. I heard it, I was carried up
into the third heaven, I heard it. And it's not possible for
it to be described by man's mouth. It's just not possible. Now I know that David, under
the inspiration of God, he wrote Psalm 18 with the intent of handing
it to the song leader, the chief musician, to lead the congregation
in worship. But the fact of the matter is,
our Lord is the chief everything. He's the chief everything. He's the supreme one in everything. He has the preeminence. That means first. He is the first. In music, if you're top of the
class, you get first chair. Well, he's the only chair. He's
first, he's chief. Paul said he's the chief cornerstone. Peter said he's the chief shepherd. David said to the chief musician,
he's the chief everything, he's first. And being the chief musician,
I can't wait to hear him. I have to admit that, I can't
wait to hear him. On a psaltery, on an instrument
of 10 strings, I can't wait to hear him sing.
I cannot wait to hear our Lord sing. Look with me over at Matthew
26. In Matthew 26, verse 26, It says, as they were eating,
Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to
the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he
took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink
ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New
Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until the day when
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they
had sung an hymn, they sung a hymn. I have a center margin in my
Bible that says they sung a psalm. When they sung a hymn, they went
out into the Mount of Olives. They were singing a psalm. After
our Lord gave His table, the ordinance of His table to His
disciples, they sung a psalm. And those disciples knew they
were singing about Him. They knew that. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever. They were singing about him.
They were listening to him sing about him. Could you imagine
being in on that song? Could you imagine hearing that
song? Those that our Lord preached to, they said no man ever spake
like this. We've never heard a voice like
this. Never even heard anybody speak
like this. Can you imagine hearing Him sing?
Can you imagine? Back over in our text in Psalm
18, The heading says, To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David. That's the spot where we can
insert our own name. If God the Father has chosen
us, if God has placed His faith in
us, if God has given us the ability, if He has caused us to believe
on Christ as our only hope of eternal life. Then that's the spot where we
can place our own name there. By God's grace, by his gift,
by the blood of Christ, I can say to the chief musician, a
Psalm of Gabe. Lord, these are the notes of
my heart to you. That heading says, to the chief
musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. Now at this
moment in time, David was the king of Israel. He was the king
of Israel. But right here he gave himself
the highest title he had ever acquired. The highest honor he
had ever received. He said, this is a psalm of David
the servant of the Lord. Is there any greater calling
that we could attain in this life than being a servant of
the Lord? Is there any higher calling in
life? Every child of God, every believer
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what he's called to be. That's
all he wants to be. David was the king of Israel,
but he said, that's not my heart's desire. Being the king of Israel
is not my heart's desire. He said, one thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord forever, forever. He said, if God would just let
me be the doorkeeper, if he would just let me open the door for
his dear saints as they walk in." He said, that would fulfill
all my heart's desire, all my heart's desire. The heading says,
to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, the servant of the
Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the
day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies
and from the hand of Saul, and he said, I will love thee, O
Lord, my strength. I will. You have made me love
you, and I want to love you. I will. I will. Are those moments not so overwhelming,
just so sweet, so precious, so overtaking? When you feel like
all hope is lost, all hope is absolutely lost, and then all
of the sudden, God swoops in. God swoops in and helps. God comes in and supplies everything
I needed at this exact moment in time. This is what David is
saying. To the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant
of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in
the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his
enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, I will love
thee, O Lord, my strength. Now who did the delivering, David?
David said, God did. God did, I didn't deliver myself. This was not my doing. Salvation
was not in my hand. My heart is indicting a good
matter. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer and it's all to you, oh Lord, my strength. Oh Lord, my strength. The Apostle
Paul said, when I'm weak, I'm strong. You know why that is? It's because when I'm weak, He
is my strength. When there is nothing left in
me, I see everything to be in Him. He's my strength. Verse two says, the Lord is my
rock. The Lord is my rock. There's a song and it says, the
Lord's our rock, in him we hide, a shelter in the time of storm. Secure whatever ill be tied,
a shelter in the time of storm. Another song says, my hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly, completely lean on
Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. If all of our eternal hope is
in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, then we're standing
on the firmest foundation that has ever been laid. That's the
truth. God said, no man can see me and
live. But he said, there is a cliff
in the rock A rock that has been broken for you. And as long as
you're in that rock, you're safe. You're safe. Verse two says,
the Lord is my rock and he's my fortress. This was written back in the
day when the sword and the bow and arrow were the weapons of
war. And I'm sure we've all seen movies
where one army is in a big rock castle, and another army is storming
that castle. And they're firing their arrows,
and those arrows come up and they hit this big rock wall. And all those arrows just bounce
off. They just bounce right off. Well,
let me show you something. Go with me over to 1 Peter chapter
five. 1 Peter 5, verse 8 says, be sober,
be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. The worldly enemy of Jesus Christ
and his followers, they are the least of our concerns. The ones
that we can see on this earth, they are the least of our concerns.
The adversary is constantly seeking which of God's children he may
devour, constantly. Now look with me over at Ephesians
6, verse 16 says, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. We are constantly having the
adversary, the wicked ones, fiery darts fired at us. But listen
to this, if we have the shield of faith, what's that? It's Christ himself. Faith looks
to Christ. It's not my shield. I'm not gonna
pick up my own shield. Christ is my shield. If we have
Jehovah as our fortress, as long as we are in him, every single
one of those fiery darts are just gonna bounce right off.
They're gonna hit him, not us, and bounce right off. Back in
our text in Psalm 18, verse one says, I will love thee, O Lord,
my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer. What did he deliver us out of?
What did he deliver all of the sinners that God chose to give
to Christ, to put in Christ? What did he deliver us out of?
Actually, the question is, what did he not deliver us out of?
He delivered us out of the clutches of Satan. He delivered us out of that cesspool
of our own sin. He delivered us from our blindness,
our deafness, our deadness. He delivered us from ignorance,
not knowing who God is, not knowing what we are by nature, not knowing
where salvation is truly found. He delivered us from our own
religion, our own self-righteous works. He delivered us from the
wrath to come. How did He do that? He washed us in His own blood. He washed us clean, white as
snow, in His own precious blood. Verse one says, I will love thee,
O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God. Jesus Christ is my God. He's our God. By God's grace, I'm not afraid
to go meet God. And the reason is because Jesus
Christ is my God. The one who loved me and gave
himself for me is my God. That's who we're gonna stand
before. And he has already loved us and he has already given himself
for us if God chose to put us in him. If we belong to him,
then we have nothing to fear. David said in the middle of verse
two, he is my strength in whom I will trust. He's my strength
in whom I will trust. Let me give you something you
can absolutely bank on. You can absolutely bank on this. Over in Proverbs three, Proverbs
3 verse 5 says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Do we need someone to trust? Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. We can absolutely
trust Him. And He's the only one we can
trust. We can trust Him and Him alone. Not one word of our God
will fail us. Not one word. Not one word. They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. Forever. Back over in our text
in Psalm 18, David said in verse two, the Lord is my buckler. A buckler was a shield that curved
around the body, around the front of the body. And if they were
at the wall of the fortress, they could turn that shield around
backward and make that shield wrap around them and cover them
all the way around, all the way up to the wall of the fortress.
And David is saying, I'm safe. I'm safe from the front, the
side, and the back. I'm safe. He's my buckler. He said in verse two, the Lord
is the horn of my salvation. The word horn means glory. He's the glory of my salvation. He is the glory of my salvation. When it comes to my salvation,
I have nothing to glory in but him. Nothing. And he said he's my high tower.
He's the one who has lifted me up. I am lifted up in him only
because of him. Look over with me at 1 Samuel
2. 1 Samuel 2, verse one says, and
Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord, My horn,
my glory, is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is
there any rock like our God. Talk no more exceeding proudly,
Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a
God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. The bows
of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded
with strength. They that were full have hired
out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased. So that the barren hath born
seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The
Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them
among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for
the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he hath set the
world upon them. He will keep the feet of His
saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by
strength shall no man prevail. the adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces, out of heaven shall he thunder upon them, the
Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give
strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed." That's
the same thing David said, isn't it? That's the same thing we
all say. Christ is exalted. Our glory is in Him. Our glory
is in the anointed of God Almighty alone. He must be exalted. All our glory is in Him. Well,
back in Psalm 18, verse 3 says, I will call upon
the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved
from mine enemies. To say that I shall be saved
is to say I need to be saved. I'm a sinner with no hope outside
of the blood of Christ. I need to be saved. And because our trust is completely
in the Lord, that's the only place a man can truly put his
trust. Because it is completely in the
Lord, David said, we shall be saved. We shall be saved. And all that we have to give
him in return is praise. You know that? That's all we
have in our hand, no price we bring. We can't give him anything
but praise and thanks. He said, I will call upon the
Lord who is worthy. He's worthy throughout all eternity. We're gonna be crying, worthy
is the lamb that was slain. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. John the Baptist said, I'm not
worthy. Oh, I'm not worthy to unloose
his shoes. And every single child of God
that has been given to Christ and given faith to see the truth,
given faith to see God, and given faith to see his own sin, every
sinner who has had his eyes open, that's exactly what he'll say.
I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. My works are
not worthy. I've been trying to work my way
to heaven all my life, and now I see that it's all worthless. We're not worthy. We're not worthy
of anything. All worthiness belongs to Him. All worthiness belongs to Him.
belongs to Christ. Christ alone, verse three says,
I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall
I be saved from mine enemies. All of our salvation is in him.
Every bit of it. We have nowhere else to turn,
do we? All of our salvation is in the Lamb that was slain. We
plead His blood alone. We plead His blood alone. All of our salvation is in Him.
If every bit of it, every bit of it, if all of our salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, If all of our hope is in the
Lord Jesus Christ alone, then David said, we shall be saved. That's a promise of God. That's
a sure mercy of David, not only to David, but to every child
that has been given the same faith and the same hope that
David has been given. Every child who cries, God be
merciful to me, I'm a sinner. David said, you look to the Lord,
you put all your trust in Him, and he said, you shall be saved.
Until next Sunday morning, may our Lord bless His Word to our
hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.