Psalm 62. Title of the message that I gave
it tonight. A lot of titles here. Someone
titled it the only psalm because that word is mentioned several
times in this psalm. But as I was studying this psalm,
the thought kept coming to me What is God to me? What is God to me? David mentions
what God is to him throughout this psalm. And as I read it,
I thought, is God these things to me? My rock, my fortress,
my salvation. You can ask this question to
several people and you get several different answers, depending
on who you ask. To some, he's their helper. To
some, he's this. And to some, he's that. But to
the believer, to one who believes God, he's their all in all. He's absolutely everything to
me. He's my life. He's my light. He's my bread. He's my drink. He's my breath. He's absolutely
everything to me. He's my all and end all. He's
all my salvation. He's all my defense. He's my
sustainer. There's nothing that you can
think of that God is not to me and to you as believers. Now
in verse 1 and 2, David gives a declaration of his faith in
God. And he starts out here and he
says, Truly, and you can change that word to only, because that's
what it means here in another translation, it's only. But truly
my soul waiteth upon God It waits upon God. It waits for
direction. It waits for communion. It waits
for fellowship. You ever not know which way to
go or what to do? Wait on the Lord. David said
in another place, wait on the Lord. I say, wait on the Lord.
Henry sent me that. Back when I very first heard
the Gospel and I started writing to him and talking to him about
the ministry and preaching, back when I was 22, 23 years of age,
and he sent me that one verse, "'Wait on the Lord,' I say, wait
on the Lord." You know, if you don't know what to do, wait on
the Lord and don't do it until you know. If you don't know,
don't do it. Just wait on Him. Be patient
and wait on the Lord. Wait on Him as a servant waits
on his Master for direction. Wait on Him to reveal His mind
and will to you. I tell you this, if you really,
really want to know the will of God, He'll make it known to
you. But if you don't, He won't. It's not just like, well, let's
see what's going to happen. No. If you're willing to do God's
will, He'll reveal His will. He'll make it known. You just
wait on Him. Wait on Him for help in time
of trouble. He's never late. Our God is never
late. We think so at times, but He's
never late. He's already there. That's what
we need to realize. He's already there. The help
is already there. You and I would absolutely crumble
if He weren't already there with us. And the word here, listen,
the word truly means only, and the word here, MY SOUL WAITETH,
it also means silent. My soul only waits on God in
silence. This is submission. Submission to the will of God
in whatever the matter is. My soul waits in silence, not
complaining. What was Israel's number one
problem? in the wilderness, murmuring,
murmuring, complaining, always complaining. We had it better
in Egypt. Wish we would have stayed in
Egypt. Always complaining. And he says here, my soul only
waits on God in silence, in submission. That's confidence now. That's
confidence and trust in God. He's coming. Help is coming,
He said He would. Call upon Me in the day of trouble,
and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. He said
He would deliver me, now wait." Let's wait. It means to be calm,
to be calm, not fretful. And here's the reason to wait.
From Him cometh my salvation, or my deliverance. In whatever
situation I find myself in, my salvation, my deliverance, comes
from God. Now, I know that the Lord uses
second means, He uses second causes, He uses men, He uses
whatever He will use. But God's the first cause. My
deliverance is always of God, always. In every situation, from
Him cometh my salvation, whether it be for time, or listen, or
whether it be for eternity. It comes from Him. You know, the Scripture here
speaks of the Deliverer shall come out of Zion. And that's
what the word here means here. It means Deliverer, Deliverance. God has sent us His Son to deliver
us from the bondage of sin, the bondage of Satan, the curse of
the law. He's delivered us. And He will
deliver us. And He will yet deliver us when
life is over with. He'll deliver us from the grave.
He's going to deliver this body from the grave. What a hope we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was telling my dad this, I
was telling him, I said, I have nothing but good to look forward
to. He was talking about dying. I said, we have, as believers,
we have nothing but good to look forward to. I don't look forward
to dying, I look forward to living. I'm about to live. I'm about
to get rid of all this dying bit. I'm about to get rid of
all of it. I'm about to live without the
cloud of dying or death ever being over my head again. He's
delivered me from that. He's delivered me. He's delivered
you who believe from the sting of death, the power of the grave. He's delivered us. We are delivered
people. We are delivered people, already
delivered. My strength, He says, He only
is my rock, in verse 2, and my salvation. We recognize, as I said, the
second causes, but God is my salvation. God's my salvation,
and He's my strength, He's my salvation, He's my strength.
It is through Him that I'm able to do anything. You know, he
gave us the strength to be here tonight. He gave us strength
to be here. There's some who can't be at
the Lord's house. They don't have the strength
to be there. That's sick. You know, remember Boat was,
he couldn't be here all the time I've been here. He was only here
one time. He couldn't. He didn't have the strength, but God's
given us the strength. He gives us the strength to endure.
I tell you this, I recognize this as I get older and older
and I want to tell those who are younger, don't ever trust
in the arm of the flesh. It's always God. God is always
our strength. He's always our strength at all
times. God and only God, He only, that's
a very important word, add anything to it and you destroy it. You
destroy faith, you destroy salvation, you destroy everything about
it when you add anything to the Word only, other than God. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. That word means
fortress. He's my fortress. You know, men
have built some impressive fortresses. You know, they've built some
really impressive fortresses, but when you think of God as a fortress, no one can penetrate that fortress.
No enemy can climb over that wall. It's too high. It's too
strong. It's too thick. It's too deep. The foundation goes, it's infinite. The foundation is infinite. The
height is infinite. The breadth is infinite. What
a fortress we have in Almighty God. We ought to sing this psalm
every day. This is a psalm we ought to put
to memory and put to song and sing it every day. He is my fortress,
I shall not be greatly moved. I'm moved at times, aren't you?
I'm still in this flesh. I'm moved at times. There's times
I'm afraid. There's times I have been fearful,
very fearful. But I tell you what, I'm not
greatly moved. In other words, and I can say
this from people that I have known over the years and I've
watched them elderly, older than me, that's grown in faith and
they've been around a lot longer than I have. Most of them are
gone now because I've been around longer. But I've watched them
as trials, what I call heavy trials come on them, and I watch
them just get quieter. They just get quieter. And I've
learned that even by experience, that when the trials are heavy,
it seems like the peace is greater. That's hard to explain unless
you just experience it. The greater the trial, the greater
the peace. The greater the comfort. That's why Paul said, when I
am weak, then am I strong. When I'm weak, I shall not be greatly moved.
Moved, yes, but not greatly moved. You know, I used to, before I
came here, before I came down here, I used to do a lot of kayaking.
And there was this one place called Greenbow Lake I would
go to, and I could put the anchor out on the kayak and fish, and
that kayak would float around with the wind. But I stayed right
there. I mean, I didn't go down the
lake. It would just be like in this
little circle. I'd move around, but Christ is
our anchor. We are anchored in the rock Christ
Jesus. Yes, we do get moved at times.
We do get knocked down at times. As one prophet said, Rejoice
not over me, O my enemies, for though I fall, yet shall I rise
again. I'm going to get back up. I'm
going to get back up. I'm moved, but not greatly moved. And then the question is asked,
And he turns his mind here in verses 3 and 4 to his enemies,
to the enemies of Christ, which are our enemies also. The world
is the enemy of Christ, and it's our enemy. The world's not our
friend. The world's not my friend. He that makes friendship with
the world, the Scripture says, the love of God's not in him.
He doesn't know God. That's what the Scripture tells
us over in 1 John. How long will you imagine mischief
against a man? And he's speaking here like Paul.
Paul said, I knew a man who went to the third heaven. Paul's speaking
about himself. And here David is speaking about
himself. How long will you imagine mischief against me? Everything
you think of me is to destroy me. And this can be applied especially
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisees, the scribes, and
the Sadducees, and the general population of the Jews, their
thoughts, especially toward the end of His ministry, was to get
rid of Him. It was to cast Him down. It was
constantly plotting to destroy Him. And even though we can't
see it, The spirit of darkness that rules this world, that's
over the children of men, the whole spirit of darkness is for
the destruction of the Lord's church. That's what it's all
about. It's not about one party against
another party. It's all about the whole spirit
of darkness is to bring you down. It's to cast you down from your
excellency. We'll see that here in a second.
But how long will you imagine mischief against a man, against
me? The plotting and planning of the wicked never ends. Satan
continually seeks whom he may devour. And he's not talking
about a drunk. He's talking about you who believe. He's not concerned about the
unbelievers out there. He's concerned about those who
bring glory to God. Those are the ones he wants to
bring down. Have you considered my servant Job? He said, yeah,
let me have him. He said, I'll prove, I'll show
you what he is. And I'm sure that's not the only
person he's ever asked about. That's just the one we have written
about. There's just no rest for the
wicked. There's no rest. They are like, but he says here,
they are like a bowing wall and a tottering fence ready to fall. They have no foundation. And
sooner or later, you've seen a bowing wall, haven't you? You
see a wall where somebody's built it to hold back the dirt, whatever,
but they didn't put any weep holes in it. Next thing you know,
that wall was bowed out. And I tell you what, in a little
while, that wall's coming down. And I can tell you right now,
this human race, in a little while, it's coming down. It's
coming down. It's nothing but a bowing wall
and a tottering fence. Don't ever get impressed with
any human being on this earth, outside of Christ, because that
person is nothing more than a bowing wall and a tottering fence. I
don't care how rich they are. I don't care how successful they
are. God made them that way for a purpose. And when he's done
with them, they'll be gone and they'll be broke, penniless the
second they die. They're like a bowing wall and
a tottering fence, badly built, no foundation. And he says here
in verse 4, listen here, they only consult to cast him down
from his excellency. As I said, they plotted and planned
against Christ to cast him down. But listen, they plot and plan
to cast you down from your excellency, from your hope in Christ, from
the foundation that you have in Christ. All that we have in
Christ, Satan would love to cast you down from your excellency. Paul speaks of the excellency
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ in Philippians 3. Satan would
love to cast you down from that knowledge and put a question
mark on it, and all of a sudden you start to doubt the Lord,
doubt His love, doubt His care. Does He not see me? Does He not
hear me? Does He not see what's going
on with me? Oh, the excellency of your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't ever be cast down from
it. The whole planning of the human
race is to bring down the godly from his excellency. You remember Christ's temptation
in the wilderness? That's exactly what Satan was
trying to do. His hope and faith in God, as
a man, he believed God. And he tried to get Him to worship
him. He said, just bow down and worship me and I'll give you
all the kingdoms of the world. Well, who said they belonged
to you? God never gave them up. The earth is the Lord, the fullness
thereof, and they who dwell therein. Anytime Satan opens his mouth,
a lie is coming out of it. I'll give all these to you. You
liar, they don't even belong to you. First time I read that,
never realized it before, but it wasn't too long ago, and I
read that, I thought, he's standing there lying. He's just a liar. He couldn't tell the truth if
he's He can't tell the truth. He's a lie. Just like Jesus Christ
is the embodiment of truth, Satan is the embodiment of a lie. Anything
that comes out of his mouth is a lie. Anything. He can't tell
the truth. And he tried to get our Lord
to worship him, tried to get him to cast yourself. If you're
the son of God, prove it. Cast yourself down. And our Lord
never bowed to it. Not like the first Adam. The
first Adam did. First Adam did, but the second
Adam didn't. But now David, after making a
few comments in verse three and four of the wicked, he gets back
to God. Don't dwell too long on the wicked.
Don't think too long on the world out there. Don't think too long
of what's going on with men and you're watching them. Don't think
too long of that. It'll depress the life out of
you. Think upon God. It's His. It's His. It's going exactly
like He's purposed it to go. And He's bringing us home. He's
molding and conforming us to the image of Christ through all
of this. It's what's happening. But David
gets back here to his strength. His thoughts return to his hope.
like the dove that returned to the ark." Remember that? Remember
how Noah let that dove out and it found nothing for the sole
of his feet to rest on? And it flew back to the ark,
and Noah put his hand out and took it into the ark? This is
what David's doing now. He's returning back to the ark,
the place of comfort and rest. He says here in verse 5, again,
he says, My soul. It's good to talk to yourself. It really is. Depends on what
you're talking about, but it's good to talk to yourself. It's good to encourage yourself.
Good to encourage yourself. I used to do that. When I played
a lot of racquetball before I moved down here, and I would get behind
in a game, and I would be talking to myself, I'd say, come on,
John, come on, you can do this, come on. And I would, I'd do
that through the whole game, I'd push myself. And that's what
David's doing here. Spiritually, he's saying, my
soul, my soul, wait thou only upon God. Don't turn your mind,
don't let your thoughts get strayed away, don't let your hope get
strayed away. My soul, the very core of me,
my soul. And he does this to encourage
himself in time of trouble. Don't complain, encourage yourself.
Encourage yourself. Set yourself down and speak to
yourself. Say, now come on, my soul. Wait thou only upon God. He speaks to himself of God and
the hope he has in him. And he says, my soul, wait. That is in silence. In silence. Because, you know, we know more
than start to wait in silence. And then that old nature starts
to raise its ugly head, doesn't it? And he's encouraging himself
again here. My soul, wait in silence thou
only upon God. Why? Why? For my expectation
cometh from Him. Whatever expectations we have,
if they're not grounded upon God, upon God and Christ, you
and I are going to be disappointed. We are going to be disappointed.
But if our expectation is founded upon God, we will never be disappointed. You will never be disappointed.
You'll never be put to shame. If your expectation for forgiveness
is founded upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ,
you're going to have it. If your expectation is to be
satisfied when you awake with His likeness, you're going to
have it. You're going to have it. For my expectation is from Him. Now here's the question. What
is your expectation? What is my expectation? You expect to be successful in
business or be successful in work? Well, you're going to be
disappointed. Because sooner or later, those
things, you got to let them go. You get old, you got to retire. I mean, you got to let them go.
I know a man right now that my son was telling me about. He's
70 years old. Well, he's almost 70, and he's
being forced out. In two years, they're going to
force him out. They already gave him notice. They're forcing him out. He's been with this company for
years, but they're going to force him out. They need fresh minds
in there, you know. And he's got to go. But I tell you what, if your
expectation is of God when they tell you you got to go, bye-bye. Bye-bye. Just turn the page to
the next chapter. See what the Lord has for me.
That's the attitude we need to have as we pass through this
life. Our lives are in chapters. To me they are. That's the way
I look at it. I'm in another chapter down here. I moved down
here four years or so ago, and it's another chapter. And in
one of these days, there's always a last chapter. And I know how
that's going to end. I've already read the book. Oh, wait in silence thou only
upon God, for my expectation is from Him.
And then here in verse 6, David speaks of God's reliability.
He said, He only is my rock and my salvation. He can be counted
on it. God is immutable, my rock. He's
my rock. He's my rock and my salvation.
He mentions this again. He said that in verse 2, He only
is my rock and my salvation. If it's worth mentioning the
first time, it's worth mentioning the second time. And he says
here, he only is my rock and my salvation. He's my defense,
my fortress. I shall not be... This time he moves in another way. But first
of all, let me, before we get to that, let me see where I... I got something written down
here I want to read. 2 Samuel 22. Look over here in 2 Samuel 22,
verse 32. I'll give you time to get there.
I already marked it. I want you to read this. This
is how the prophets of old spoke of God. And this is how we need
to speak of Him. This is how we need to see God. Look in verse 32. For who is
God, save the Lord, And who is a rock save our God in 2 Samuel
22? God is my strength and power. Boy, would to God did He make
every one of us know that. And you know for Him to do that,
He's got to strip us down, doesn't He? He's got to break us for
us to know this. God is my strength and power
and He maketh my way perfect. Look over in verse 47, "...the
Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God
of the rock of my salvation." I don't know why David keeps
saying that over and over. In God. In God. That's my salvation in
God. You know that in Christ, I'm
in God. You're in God. In Christ, you're
in God. Outside of God, there's no salvation.
Outside of Him, He's a consuming fire. Outside of Christ, who
is God, He's a consuming fire. In God is my salvation and my
glory. Now, everybody glories in something.
Everybody glories in something. Until we knew the Lord, until
the Lord saved us and made Himself known to us, we gloried in something
besides God. It wasn't God. It was one thing
or another. It's different with each person.
But after God saved you and God saved me, my glory is my God. I don't have no glory of my own. I have none. My glory is my God. And my God is the God of heaven
and earth. My God is the eternal God. My
God's the Creator. My God is the only Savior there
is. My God. My God. And we'll see here in a minute.
My God is the God of all power. He dispenses power. Power comes
from Him. No one gives Him power. He is
power. He's the one who keeps the sun
burning. He's the one who keeps that big
ball of fire burning. He's the one who keeps everything
in orbit by the word of His power. He just tells it to do what it's
doing and it does it. That's power. Power is not what
you can lift. Power is not what you can physically
do. Power is what you can say and
it happens. That's power. As that one centurion said, Lord,
he said, I'm a man of authority. I have people under me. I can
say to one, go, and he goes. I can say to another, come, and
he comes. Lord, all you need to do is speak the word, and
my servant will be healed. Now he understood something.
He understood that standing before him is raw power. The very power
of God standing before him. All you've got to do is speak.
When God created the heavens and the earth, He didn't put
part A with part B and mix it together. No, He just said, let
there be light. And then He created the heavens
and the earth and the trees and the moon and the stars, I mean,
everything. He just spoke them. They were in His mind and when
He just spoke them, they come out and we see what they are.
Everything we look at was in the mind of God, especially you. Can you imagine that? I was in
his mind, you were in his mind. When you especially think about
God saving you, you were in his mind to save and to make you
like his son before the earth was ever created. That is just
mind-blowing to me. Now those are the things that
are mind-boggling to me. He only is my rock and my salvation."
This is true faith, and it comes out in time of trouble. But notice out here how his faith
grew. The first time it was not greatly moved, and here it's
not moved. Spurgeon said, it's amazing how fast faith can grow.
But here's something I think he's talking about. I shall not
be greatly moved in trials, okay? But I shall not be moved because
He's not going to allow me to be moved off the gospel, off
my hope in Christ. I cannot lose what I have in
Jesus Christ. I cannot lose it. The salvation
I have, the forgiveness I have, the atonement I have, the righteousness
I have, I cannot lose it. I shall not be moved from that.
I can't do it. He is my fortress, I shall not
be moved, and nobody can take it from me. The Scripture says
over in Colossians, I believe it's in Colossians, your life
is hid with Christ in God. God told Satan, you can touch
everything he has. But the one thing Satan could
not touch was his life. Because Christ is his life. Christ
is His life. Christ is our life. In God is my salvation, in my
glory, He's my glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge
is in God. My refuge in times of storms,
in times of trouble, I take refuge in God. You people hear about
these tornadoes that came here last week or so in Alabama and
up through there, they took shelter. They took refuge and you take
refuge. Now, if you're going to take refuge, it's got to be
a very strong place, a place where the storm can't destroy
it. God is our refuge. A very present
help in trouble. And then he speaks now, and he's
been speaking to his soul. Now this really applies to me
strongly. If I do not commune with my heart
and meditate upon the Word of God, how in the world am I going
to stand here and talk to you? You see, right now, in verse
8, now he turns from speaking to himself and encouraging himself.
He says here, "...now trust in him at all times, You people,
the congregation." Now he's saying, trusting Him at all times. I
mean the times you can't find Him, trust Him. Trust Him. The times when it seems like
it's so dark that there's no light at all, trust Him. God
never changes. He is who He is. So you trust
Him all the way through. Trust Him at all times, you people. And listen here. Pour out your
hearts before Him. We can't do that with each other,
can we? I can't just open up my heart
and just let it all roll out. You say, I ain't listening to
Him next week. We can't do it. We cannot just completely open
up and let it out with each other because you and I are so sinful.
We're just so sinful. That's why we confess our sins
to God. We don't confess them to one another, but we can't
forget them. Can you? You can't forget them. Somebody
tell you something. We confess before God our sins
because he can put them away and forget it. He's cast them
behind him, behind his back. But we can pour out our heart
before God. It's like in the imagery here,
it's like taking a cup of water and emptying it out. Just emptying
it out. Empty out your heart at the throne
of grace. Just don't leave a drop in it. I would to God that we could
come to the point where we had that kind of fellowship and communion
with God that we could do that. The reason we don't do it because
we don't have that kind of fellowship and communion with God. We don't
have it. And it's our fault. It's our
fault. The door is wide open. The door
is wide open. We usually got something else
on our mind or something else we want to do. And here's what's a shame. He has to drive us to the throne
of grace. Isn't that something? You've
got to drive us to the throne of grace through trials and hardships
and heartaches. Trust in Him at all times, you
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God's a refuge for us. He's a refuge for us. Surely
men, here in verse 9 and 10, he turns his thoughts here. But
he's speaking to the people. Now listen, he's speaking to
the people. He's speaking to us. Because we get impressed
with men. I mean, look at the athletes. They make stupid amount of money,
stupid amount of money to throw a basketball in a hoop or run
a touchdown across the gold line. We pay millions of dollars to
do that. I mean, I guess if you're stupid enough
to do it, then have at it. But surely men of low degree
are vanity." He's saying, put men in the right place. What
he's saying, put them in the right place. Men of low degree
are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie. They'll go around,
you know, act like they're somebody. High degree, you know, they're
successful. They're like, they're a bunch of liars. He said, they're
lying. They're lying. Listen here, "...and to be laid
in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity." And you
know what he's saying here? You take all men, all humanity,
you've got to scale here. You know what that is. You put
the whole human race here, all their philosophy, all their education,
all their wisdom, all their wisdom of words, and you put God over
here. And he says, they're lighter
than air. They don't even move. They don't even move the scale. It's like there's no comparison
to God and men. So don't trust men. Don't get
caught up in being impressed with men. I don't care how successful a
man is. God said, I make the rich and
the poor. I make the rich and the poor. They're all together lighter
than vanity. Trust not in oppression. Don't use force to get what you
get. There's a lot of people who use
force to make people give them what they want. And it comes in many different
forms. He says, don't you be like that. Don't you be like
that. Trust not in oppression and become
not vain in robbery. If riches increase, don't set
your heart upon them. Solomon said riches have wings
and they fly away. They fly away. Don't set your heart upon them.
Set your heart upon Christ. Set your heart upon things above
where they don't fly away. God, listen here, God has spoken
once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Pilate said, don't you know I
have the power to release you? And I have the power to crucify
you. I bet he was feeling pretty big at that time. And our Lord,
you know, up to that point, our Lord never said a word. He never
spoke a word. But when he claimed to have power,
he corrected him. He said, you could have no power at all
against me except to be given you from above. And that same
applies to every child of God. What applies to Christ applies
to us. No one has power against us except to be given to them
from above. Power belongs to God. Christ
said, you give me power over all flesh and I should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given me. Also unto thee, and I'm going
to close, also unto thee, O Lord, belongs mercy. He has the power
to subdue. He has the power to deliver.
And He's merciful. Mercy belongs to God. Sovereign mercy. We've been looking
at that in Romans the last couple of weeks ago. Sovereign mercy. It belongs to God. God saves
whom He will, and He passes by whom He will. And that's the
way it is. That's how it is. That's the truth. That's a true statement. That's
not a mean statement. That's a true statement. That's
a biblical statement. God is God. And he says here,
Lord, and also unto thee, O Lord, belong with mercy. Mercy. David knew that the mercy that
God had on him was sovereign mercy. He knew it could have been flipped,
and he could have been in Saul, and Saul could be in his place. And He's going to render it to
every man, every human being, according to His work. I want the Lord to deal with
me according to the work of Christ, to the merits of Jesus Christ. Not my works, but to the merits
of Christ. And if anybody wants to stand
on their own works, well, God said He's going to render it
to every man according to His work. In other words, it all stops
with God. It all began with Him, and it
all stops with Him. It all stops with Him. Can we say, can I say, can you
say, with full confidence, God only, is my rock, my defense,
my refuge, my salvation. In Him will I trust.