Turn with me back to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. I was thinking about
some things for tonight. Monday, in general, is a pretty
big day for our family. We have a lot going on that day.
It's a pretty busy day. Tuesday is about the same. Wednesday, for us, and me especially,
ends up being about the same. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday, all of those days are the same. It's always the same. And after Hannah has cooked all
week long, and especially if we have a big Sunday lunch, a
big Sunday meal, whether we eat at home or out somewhere, I always
eat a big one. By Sunday night, after the service,
when we go home, We love to just relax. I mean,
to us, that's our time. I love to just relax on Sunday
night. And we look forward to not having
a big, complicated, formal, sit-down meal. We sit down on the couch,
and we enjoy something light. And just enjoyable, something
easy, light and easy. Popcorn and cheese is our favorite.
That's what we do almost every Sunday night. That's our dinner,
popcorn and cheese. Tonight, spiritually speaking,
I was thinking we could have one of those nights. We've been
going through some deep things and started studying. Monday, I was going through Acts
and I think I found a message in Acts. But then I got to a
place where I thought, I think I'd like to have something just
light. Let's relax tonight. Let's just
relax and enjoy something simple. In the next 30 minutes here,
I want us to praise the one who is worthy to be praised. That's
all I want us to do. Just 30 straight minutes of praising
the one who is worthy to be praised. And I want us to start with the
heading of this song, of this psalm. Just under Psalm 18, it
says, to the chief musician. That's who this is to. It's to
the chief musician. Now, I love music. I've always loved music. I hear
certain chords together. I hear chord progressions, chord
arrangements, and certain chord arrangements send chills over
me. Hannah's always acknowledged
the fact that I listen to the music before I listen to the
words. What's it saying? I don't know, but I love that
song. It just sends chills away. I love, I've spent my whole life
studying music. I respect a musician who has
mastered his instrument. There are some people on this
earth that, buddy, they have, they've mastered their instrument.
I know how much time it takes. I know how much effort it takes
to truly play an instrument well. And there's a verse of scripture
here that I've always loved. Look at Psalm 33 with me. Psalm 33 verse 1 says, 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 ten strings. Sing unto him a new song. Play skillfully with a loud noise. I've always loved that. If you're
going to do it, if you're going to do it, then play skillfully
with a loud noise. If that's the command that God
gives, if that's His command to His subjects, can you imagine
hearing His subjects? Can you imagine hearing His players?
He has players up there. I was thinking about some of
our loved ones who are already there. Some of the loved ones
we are so close to who are already there. Can you imagine what they're
hearing? I think about when the heavenly
host appeared to the wise men announcing the Savior's birth
and they were crying, Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Glory to God
in the highest. Can you imagine what that sounded
like? First Corinthians 2 says, I hath
not seen nor ear heard. We've never, we can't imagine
what we've never heard. We can't imagine what we've never
heard. The Apostle Paul said, I heard
it. He said, I was caught up there
and I heard it. And he said, what I heard, it is not possible
for a man's mouth to describe. It's not possible for a man's
jaw and a man's tongue and a man's lips to describe. And I compare
that to a dog. You know, a dog can speak, but
he can't speak like this. He said, I heard things that
are not possible to describe. 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. That's why these psalms were
written, songs to lead them in worship. But the fact of the
matter is, our Lord is the chief everything. He's the chief everything. He is the supreme one in everything. He has what the scripture calls
the preeminence. And what that means is He's first. He is first. In music, if you're
the top of the class, you're first chair. He's the only chair. He's first. He is first, chief. Paul said
he is the chief cornerstone, isn't he? Peter said he is the chief shepherd. I love that. Man, we who have
been called to preach to God's precious flock, I think about
the fact that if the Lord doesn't speak, oh, I don't want anybody
to be in my hands. You don't want to be in my hands.
And we struggle, and we try, and we study, and we pray, and
all those kinds of things. But one of these days, the chief
shepherd's going to appear. And we're all going to get to
just be in his fold. He's the chief of everything.
To the chief musician. Being the chief musician, I cannot
wait to physically hear him. I cannot wait to hear him. I
want to hear him on an instrument of 10 strings. I cannot wait
to hear that. I cannot wait to hear him sing. I can't wait to hear him sing.
We have different ones. We buy tickets. Oh, yeah, we're
going to go hear him sing. Oh, they're great. You ever heard
her? Boy, he's something. Wait till you hear him sing.
Turn with me to Matthew 26. Matthew chapter 26, look at verse
26. And 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. I love that. Drink 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 the fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. And when they
had sung an hymn, after he did that, the Lord took bread and
he said, this is what I'm about to do for you. I'm going to break
my body. And he said, here, it's for you.
And he said, this is the blood that's going to run out of my
body. It's shed for you. Here, you drink all of it. You
can have all of it. And after he told them that,
it says in verse 30, when they had sung an hymn, they went out
into the Mount of Olives. I have a center reference in
my Bible next to the word hymn. It says, when they had sung a
psalm. That's what they sang was a psalm. They were, these disciples, they
were singing this psalm. And these disciples knew, here
they stand, singing about Him. They knew that. They were singing
about Him. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless His holy name. O give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. Can you imagine
being in on that song? Entering in on that song, they're
listening to him sing about him. Those that he preached to, this
is what they said. No man ever spake like this. No man ever spake like this. We've never heard a voice like
this. I've heard some men preach the
gospel and I've thought, take me now. I've never heard anything
like this. Wait till you hear him preach.
Wait till you hear his voice. Wait till he sends the Spirit
without measure. No man ever spake like this man.
Can you imagine hearing him sing? If nobody spake like this, can
you imagine hearing him sing? Go with me back to Psalm 18. The heading says, to the chief
musician, a psalm of David. Now that's the spot where you
can insert your own name. That's where you get to put your
own name. To the chief musician, a psalm, a song of Gabe. This is my story, this is my
song. These are the notes that my heart
sings to you. He said 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. He gave himself the highest honor
he'd ever received. He said, this is a psalm of David,
the servant of the Lord. Is there any greater calling
in life than being a servant of the Lord? Is there any greater
calling in life? Every child of God, every true
believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what he's called to be. That's all He wants to be. We
go through this life and we do things, you know, we study, we
learn, we work, we grow, we make, we provide, we this, we that,
and one day, all of a sudden, the Lord Jesus Christ comes along
and He calls us to Himself. And as soon as He calls us, He
calls us from this moment on to be the servant of the Lord.
That's what we do. We're the servant of the Lord.
Why do I earn money? To serve the Lord. Why do I get
up in the morning? To serve the Lord. Why do I have this voice? To
serve the Lord. It's to serve the Lord. That's
all a believer wants to do, serve the Lord, if the Lord will enable
him to do that. David was the king of Israel,
but he said, that's not my heart's desire. That is not my heart's
desire. He said, One thing have I desired. Can you say this? Can you say
this? One thing have I desired, that
will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. Forever. David said, if God would
just let me be a doorkeeper, if he would just let me hold
the door, if he would let me stand there and just open the
door as God's saints come in, pat them on the back, say love
you, and then wait on the next one. If he'd just let me be a
doorkeeper, that would fulfill all my heart's desire. The heading
under Psalm 18 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. You've made me love you. You have made me love you. I want to love you. I will. Yes,
I will. Are those moments not so overwhelming? You know what I'm talking about.
Just so sweet, so precious, so overtaking. When you think all
hope is lost and God swoops in. Is that not a wonderful time? David said 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. He thought, I'm a goner
today. And 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. 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. I'm just I don't even know how
to put it into words. That's why I love the word. Hallelujah.
I think that's the best word to just say, this is what my
heart is crying. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Oh Lord, my strength. The Apostle
Paul said, when I'm weak, I'm strong. When I'm weak, I'm strong. You know why that is? It's because
when I'm weak, He's my strength. That's what it is. When I'm weak,
He's my strength. Weak is when you're in that moment
where you know you're weak and you wish you weren't weak. You
know that it's for your good that you're weak, but you're
still so weak you can't rejoice in it. You're just so weak. You're
just weak. At that moment when you're crying,
if it's not you, it's nothing. He said, when I'm weak, He is
my strength. He is my strength. Verse 2 says,
the Lord is my rock. The song says, the Lord's our
rock, in Him we hide. Don't you love the thought of
hiding? Wouldn't you love to hide every now and then? I wouldn't
mind just getting away and hiding. I wouldn't mind hiding until
this life is over and all the troubles are over. I'd love to
just hide. The Lord is our rock. In Him
we hide. A shelter in the time of storm. Secure whatever ill be tied. He's a shelter in the time of
storm. The song says, My hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. I used to be standing on something
else, and it turned out to be quicksand. All other ground is
sinking sand. But He pulled me up, He pulled
me out, and He set me on the rock. And now I'm standing on
the rock. If all of our eternal hope and
our All of our salvation is in the blood and the righteousness
of Christ. If He's all our hope, if He's all our hope, we are
standing on the firmest foundation that has ever been laid. We're
standing on the firmest foundation. Verse 2 says, The Lord is my
rock and He's my fortress. This was written back in the
time when the sword and the bow and arrow were the weapons of
war. And we've all seen the movies
where one army is in a castle, this big huge rock castle, and
another army is storming the castle. And here they come and
they all fire their arrows. And they all come up and hit
this big rock wall and they go, tink. Right? Let me show you something. Go
with me over to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. And look at verse 8. It says,
Be sober. That's not talking about alcohol. This is a dire warning. This is a vital life and death
warning. He's talking about mind, body,
heart, soul. He says, be sober. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary,
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he
may devour. That's how he spends his time. the worldly enemy of Jesus Christ
and his followers, the ones that we can see on this
earth. They live in certain countries
and this and that. They are the least of our concerns. They are
the absolute least of our concerns. The adversary is constantly seeking
which of God's children he can devour. The Lord told Peter,
now here is Peter standing by God. And he said, Peter, Satan
hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. And
I'm going to let him do it for a little while. And then after
he's, I let him have his moment and I convert you you go strengthen
your brethren right now we're in Peter we're in the book of
Peter right now and Peter said brethren be sober be vigilant
because our adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour now go with me to Ephesians chapter
6 Ephesians 6 verse 16. It says, Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked, the wicked one. our adversary. We are constantly, constantly,
constantly having his fiery darts shot at us. Constantly. Constantly. But listen to this. Jehovah is
our fortress. And with every one that he fires,
if we are in Christ, they all go, How do we be sober and be vigilant? I need to be in Christ. I need
to be in Christ. Go with me back to Psalm 18. Verse 1 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 has He not delivered us
out of? What has He not delivered us out of? He delivered us out
of the clutches of Satan. That's where we were. We were
born into this world right there and He delivered us out of that.
He delivered us out of the cesspool of our sin. Here, you know, wallowing
in the miry clay, you know what that is? That's the cesspool
of our own sin. He delivered us from our blindness,
from our deafness, from our deadness, He delivered us from our ignorance. He delivered us from our religion.
He delivered us from the wrath to come. He delivered us. 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. This
is so simple. Yet it brings me so much happiness.
I'm not afraid to go meet God. I'm not afraid to go stand before
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 going to stand
before. And He's already loved us and
He already gave Himself for us. He's my God. David said in the
middle of verse 2, He is my strength in whom I will trust. Let me
give you something you can absolutely bank on. What do I do with my money? Put
it right here. You can bank on this. Go over to Proverbs chapter
3. Proverbs 3, look at verse 5, it says, 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. You trust in the Lord with all
your heart and don't lean on your own rationale. And in all
your ways you acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Where will He direct you to?
Him. He'll get you through. I don't
know what all is going to happen to us in the rest of this life,
but I guarantee you if you trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And you don't lean to your own ways, and you don't lean to your
own works, and you don't lean to all those things. You acknowledge
Him. You call on Him in everything. He will lead you straight to
Christ. He will lead you straight to
the throne of God. You'll get to the end of this
whole thing and say, Here I am. He brought me here. We can absolutely
trust Him. We can trust Him and Him alone.
We cannot trust our politicians. I don't care who the next president
is. It does not matter. That man is not going to be our
Savior, and he's not going to be our Redeemer. Not one word,
though, of our God is going to fail us. Not one word. They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever.
Go back with me to Psalm 18. David said in verse 2, the Lord
is my buckler. That was a shield, it was a round
shield, it circled the body. And if they were at the wall
of the fortress, they could turn it around backwards. And David's
saying, I am safe from the front, I'm safe from the side, I'm safe
from behind. I'm safe. And he said in verse
2, the Lord is the horn of my salvation. The word horn means
glory. He is the glory of my salvation. And he said, He's my high tower.
He's the one who's lifted me up. I am lifted up in Him. I'm lifted up only because of
Him. Look over with me at 1 Samuel chapter 2. 1 Samuel chapter 2, this is Samuel's
mother Hannah. 1 Samuel 2 verse 1 it says, And
Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, my horn
is exalted in the Lord. 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 so 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 borne
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. He shall give strength unto his
king and exalt the horn of his anointed." That's the same thing
David said, isn't it? He's my rock. He's the one that
lifted me up. All their bows are going to be
broken. That's the same thing every child of God says. Back
last time to Psalm 18. Verse 3 says, I will call upon the Lord who
is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. To
say I shall be saved is to say I need to be saved. I need to
be saved. And because our trust is completely
in the Lord, David said, we shall be saved. We shall be saved. And all we have to do in return,
all that we can do in return is praise Him. That's all we
can do is praise Him and give Him thanks. We just state what
He's done and we give Him thanks. I will praise Thee. He said, I'll call on the Lord
who is worthy. He's worthy. Throughout all eternity,
we're going to be crying, worthy. That's what everybody's going
to be saying, all with one accord, a number no man can number. They're
all going to know it right now, at the same time. We're not going
to have to synchronize it. They're all going to say, Worthy is the lamb that was slain. John the Baptist said, I'm not
worthy. He said, I'm not worthy to even unloose his shoes. I'm
not worthy of anything. All worthiness belongs to Him. Every bit of it. Verse 3 says,
I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall
I be saved from mine enemies. All salvation is in Him. Every bit of it. And when that's
where our salvation lies, salvation comes. I shall be saved. All
right, let's stand together.