to let the world to love me anyway. And love me as you should. Psalm 18 now. Psalm 18. If someone were to ask you what
our statement of faith is, what would you say? I know you've
heard the tale of different statements of faith. Philadelphia Confession
of Faith, London Confession of Faith, different professions
or confessions of faith. statements of faith, what we
believe. What would you say if you were
given one sentence, one short statement to make, what would
you say? What is your statement of faith? I believe that every
true believer can use Jonah 2.9 as their statement of faith.
Jonah 2.9. Salvation is of the Lord. That is our statement of faith,
very short, very concise, very all-inclusive statement of faith. Salvation is of the Lord from
start to finish. The Lord God is the author and
the finisher of our faith, of our salvation. The other gospel,
a false gospel, says that salvation is a cooperative effort. between
God and man. Not so. Every true believer says
that salvation is of the Lord from start to finish. Start to
finish. Every true believer, every truly
saved man or woman or young person wholeheartedly confesses that
statement. Wholeheartedly. Believe beyond
a shadow of a doubt in the heart that salvation is of the Lord.
But if I'm to be loved by God, accepted by God, allowed by God
into his heaven, saved by God, though I'm unworthy, if I'm to
be granted all those things, he's going to have to do everything
necessary for me. He'll have to do it all. Right? And if I'm to make it to heaven
someday, God's going to have to do everything to get me there.
Now, an unsaved man, The unbeliever, the man out on
the street who cares not at all for God or doesn't look into
the things of God, the natural man thinks that if he'll just
do what's right and do right by others, that surely someday
it will account for something. That surely God will accept him
or receive him if he does what's right. He just doesn't believe
God is all that holy as we say He is. The difference between
a true believer and a religious hypocrite is found in that one
statement. It's found in that one statement,
all included. A true believer says, salvation
is of the Lord. A true believer says, I feel
so weak, so frail, so sinful, so full of doubt, so helpless,
so ignorant. about the things of God, so faint,
so ready to quit all the time, so unbelieving, so full of unbelief. It's not my faith. If God doesn't
do everything for me, I'm a goner. Right? That's what the true believer
says. Take heart if you feel that way.
Take heart. Every believer feels the exact
same way. And all of that is, all you're
saying in all of that is salvation is of the Lord. If I'm going
to be saved, I can't keep myself in one area, one area. But the hypocrite says, now that
I'm a born again Christian, born again, tongue talking, spirit
filled, you know, I'm living a victorious life. I'm full of
faith and never doubt, never sick, never sin. I'm as sure
for heaven as if I'm already there. That's not so with a believer. So you take heart if you feel
like that you don't have any of those things. That's the way
all of God's people believe. I've given you this illustration
several times, but it's one of my favorites. It's one that the
Lord used early in my, when he was dealing with me early on,
to bless me just beyond explanation. John Bunyan gave this illustration
one time. He said in talking about the
wiles of the devil. No, no, it was not John Bunyan.
It was William Gurnall. That's who it was. William Gurnall. He said in talking about the
craftiness of the devil. See, we're not wrestling with
flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness
in high places, rulers of the darkness of this world. We're
not wrestling with flesh and blood. We're wrestling with someone
much stronger than we are. who knows us inside and out and
can turn us inside and out. Thank God there is a stronger
than he, though. But he said, Bunyan said that
Satan is so crafty, he's so, so crafty, so subtle, he'll take
a man or a woman who is resting in their own religion, who is
Trusting in their morality, the fact that they've never drank
liquor or smoked or been in church or been a good citizen, been
a good husband, a good father, a good wife, a good mother. And
resting in that self-righteousness, you know, smug in their feeling
good about themselves. That's a false refuge. That's
a refuge of lies, right? Because the scripture says it's
none that doeth good, no not one. There's nothing acceptable
about us, what we do. He said, Grinnell said that Satan
will take such a woman who's resting in that false refuge
of lies, not looking to Christ, and just leave him alone. Not
bother him. He won't smite them with sinful
thoughts and temptations. Bombard them with horrible blasphemous
thoughts. Leave them alone. He's got them
where he wants them. And they're sure for hell as
if they're already there. He's got them where they want.
And they don't have any trouble. That's what David said, didn't
he, in Psalm 73. They're not troubled as other
men. They don't seem to struggle with sin like I did. No. They're
in a false refuge, a refuge of lies. God sent strong delusion.
Plus Satan's so crafty, he leaves them alone. He's got them right
where he wants them. You see? Then he said, with Satan
in his craftiness, he'll take that believer who's looking to
Christ, who's trusting Christ alone, and realizes there's nothing
good in him, and who's looking to Christ and Christ alone. for
his salvation, trusting him and him alone, and he'll bombard
her with evil, false blasphemies, corruptions, temptations, trials,
just fill them full of iniquity, where that they think, I'm too
sinful to be saved. Is that you? Do you feel that?
He said he'll take that person who is in a false refuge and
leave them alone, And they think they're too good not to be safe.
Well, I'm too good not to be safe. And take that person who's
resting and trusting in Christ alone and fill them so full of
temptations and wicked things that they think I'm too bad to
be safe. Take hope. Take hope. You know, our religion, today's
religion, is based mostly on feelings. Why do you think all
of this is going on in the name of religion? You know, come on,
y'all. Come on, get up. Let's get up and clap your hands
and dance a little bit. And don't you feel it? There's
nothing like the anointing, you know. Don't you feel it now? If you don't have it, you're
just missing it. All of this cheerleading and pep rallying.
Let's feel something. Do you feel it? Everybody quiet.
You don't want to disturb the feeling. Do you feel it? And
all of this stuff that goes. Feel it. Right? Religion today
is looking for peace and hope and spiritual and feelings. Listen to the words of Martin
Luther. Feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. Very deceiving. See that which
is flesh is flesh. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings
are deceiving. Your hope better be in the Son
of God. There's nothing else worth believing. Can't be trusted. Can't trust
your feelings, can you? I've often heard many times from
men more mature and been around a lot longer than I, they say
the time when you feel the farthest from God may be the time when
you're the closest. The time when you feel the closest,
you may be the farthest. You know that they're seeing
the temple thought he was closed and he's up front. He thought
he was up he thought he was closer to God I'll tell you the man
in back was closer one. I thank God I feel so good about
my religion man in back said I feel so bad about myself. Who
was closer to God. All of my hope, you better say,
the believer says this, all of my hope of being loved by God,
of being well pleased, pleasing to God, of being accepted by
God someday, living with God eternally, all of my hope of
eternal life is based upon the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Do you love that name? I heard Brother Maurice Montgomery
preach on the name Jesus one time, and he said, I just, there's
something about that name. He said, I'd love to hear that
name. The Lord Jesus Christ. He said, it's just sweet to my
mouth when I say it. Verse one of our text says, I
will love thee, O Lord. I will love thee. I love the
Lord. Now, I don't say that presumptuously. Can you say that? You say that,
Barbara, Jeanette, Virgie? I don't love him like I want
to. I don't love him like I ought
to. It causes me great grief and pain. I don't love him like
I'm going to. He said here, I will love thee.
One of these days, I will love thee like I ought to. See thee
as thou art and see myself as I was, really was. But I do love
him. And I only love him because he
first loved me. There was a time when I did not love him. When
I was altogether unlovely and did not see his altogether loveliness.
And I'm still altogether unlovely. But thank God I do see something
of his loveliness. And I do love him. I can say
with Peter. I can say it more with more conviction
sometimes than I can others. But I can say at all times If
asked, do you love me? Yea, Lord. Yea, Lord, thou knowest. The days that I feel that he's
given me the witness of his spirit, the
bear witness of my spirit, that I'm his, Psalm 35, 3, when he
says unto my soul, I'm your salvation. Yea, you. Those are days when
I, oh, I love you, little boy. And this is not something to
say in public and brag and boast of. You don't do that. I don't
make a public display of my love for my wife. I don't think that's
right. I don't think that's right. Any
more than you make a public display and brag and boast of your love
to the Lord. But it shows. If you do, it'll show. You can't
hide it. But you don't brag and boast
of it. You don't go around and say, oh, how I love Jesus. You
know, that's so false, isn't it? That's so false, it's so
hypocritical, but I can say that I do love him. And the times
that I don't feel like I love him very much, anyway, I say,
Lord, you know. You know. Can you say that? I'll remind you what Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's going to hell. Boy, that's getting plain. Any
man woman young person does not love the Lord Jesus Christ they're
going to hell. Joshua twenty three eleven he
said you better take heed on yourselves that you love the
Lord your God it's not an option you know you don't love and God
is not an option it's a commandment thou shalt love the Lord thy
God didn't he say that with all nine heart with all that so with
all them that option. He said, if y'all feel like it,
if you feel disposed to do so. Why should I? Why should we love
the Lord? I gave that illustration, Nancy.
I don't think you were here that night or that woman say he ain't
done nothing for me, you know. He's done everything for me.
Everything. If he did anything for me, it'd
be much more than I deserve, wouldn't it? Anything this side
of hell is mercy. And he didn't have to give that.
Because what you have, you have received. That's why you ought
to love the Lord. Everything you have, you have received.
Because by the Lord's providence, your very life is sustained every
day. By His grace, you are what you
are, you have what you have. By His grace. I mean it. Free
gift. You didn't earn a thing. Not by your own industry or strength
or anything. Not one thing that anybody in
here earned or worked for and got that the Lord did not give
to them. Grace, by his mercy, were not
consumed. He maketh us to differ. Terry
Kinsley, why are your children well fed and fat and sassy? And a man over in Africa's children,
he's watching them die in front of his eyes. Their bellies are
full, or their bellies are big, all right, but with hunger, bloated. dying right before my. Why you. And not me and one of the places
where you born where you're born who might be. Who. Who. Let me tell you some reasons
very briefly why I love the Lord same things they say it was a
man after God's own heart and. I hope I am. I hope you're a
woman Jenny after God's own heart. It better be. Every believer
is. A woman, a man, after God's own heart. And you ought to be
able to say the same things that David said here. Why do you love
the Lord? Verse 1. He's my strength. Now, Steve, us men, we like to
act strong, don't we, buddy? Especially in front of the little
lady, you know. Danger comes around, I can probably
take care of it. Inside you're shaking like a leaf. Aren't you,
buddy? Come on, come right out and say
it in front of our children. Daddy, I'm scared. You know,
at nighttime, I heard a noise. I'll take care of it. Oh, what
if there is somebody down there? Right, Stan? I'll take care of
it. Where's my 357 Magnum? We like that strong, don't we?
Huh? But I'll tell you the truth,
and I'll admit it right in front of my daughter. I'm a weakling.
I'm a weakling. I'm scared plumb to death. I'm
scared plumb to death. I'm a crybaby. When nobody's
looking, I'm crying. Right? I don't let my wife see
my tears or my daughter, but when they're not looking, buddy,
I'm crying. What about the rest of you men? Real men cry. The
Lord did. I'm totally dependent upon my
daddy. You know, when she calls on her daddy, I start calling
on my daddy. Abba, Father, help my strength. I'm helpless, but
the Lord says, yeah, but I'm strong. I'm strong, I'm almighty,
I'm omnipotent. He says, I'll strengthen thee,
yea, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by my gracious,
omnipotent hand. Salvation of the righteousness
of the Lord, he is their strength in time of trouble. Verse 2 says,
another reason I love the Lord, because he's my rock. There's
that word again. I didn't count it. I meant to
count how many times it talks about the rock in the scripture,
the lock, the rock. Christ Jesus my Lord is the firm
foundation upon which I rest my soul. I build my house. I place all my confidence and
trust in that I will never fall. I stand upon him. My hope, what
about you? My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame or feeling, but wholly lean upon Jesus' name. That's what his name means, Savior,
doesn't it? Christ, Messiah, Lord, Ruler,
Sovereign, King. Holy lean on his name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. And I tell you another thing,
his oath, his covenant, his blood, it supports me in these overwhelming
floods. When all around my soul gives
way, he then is all my hope and stay. What about you? On Christ,
the solid rock, I stand. Not more than a song to be sung,
and that's the confession of my heart. Other found what? Why do I trust in Christ so long?
Because other foundations can no man lay than that which is
laid. Who laid it? God laid it. Said, better build
your house on that foundation. There's no other. The rest of
them will fail. Jesus Christ is that rock of
ages. Verse 2 goes on, I love the Lord because He is my fortress,
my safety, my hiding place, my dwelling place. When I read scriptures
that convict me of my sin and my wickedness, and I hear about
the overflowing scourge of God's wrath that's going to come through
and consume the wicked, and I see my own wickedness, you know what
I do? You know, I think I count myself
among the wicked. When I hear when I read scriptures,
Ellen, when I read scriptures that talk about the wicked shall
be consumed by the breath of his nostrils. God is angry with
the wicked. I put myself right in there.
I'm wicked. You know what I do when I hear
about him going to destroy the wicked? I run to a rock. Run to the cleft of the rock.
I know I told you that story about the ants one time. I was
burning them up with the flare, you know, and one ant got under
the rock. And I said, you stay there, buddy. You're safe. You're
safe. I will not burn you. I will not
burn you. Stay, stay right there under
that rock. Get out. You're a goner. You're
a goner. Christ is my fortress. I love
that verse of Scripture that says your life is hid with Christ
in God. God can't even see through the
blood. The naked eye, the all-seeing eye of God Almighty, that everything
is naked and open before His eyes, God doesn't see through
the blood. My sins are covered. Where are
you going to be? Where are you going to be? I'm
going to be in the rock of Christ, the rock of ages, that fortress
of mine, my safety. He's my deliverer. Verse 2, He's
my deliverer. Oh boy, the Scripture says, all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It says, thou
art weighed in the balances and found wanting. And that's me. I step on the scales. It says
you're lighter than the dust of the balances. Dust. Dust doesn't
make the balance scales go down at all. Neither would I if I
put my whole self on it. It wouldn't even register. I've come short of the glory
of God. I'm head over heels in debt.
I have naught to pay. Head over heels in debt, but
Christ says, I'll pay. It's as if I owed 100 billion
trillion dollars. That's my debt to God Almighty,
to His glory, and the sins against Him. And Christ comes up and
just says, I'll freely all forgive. Wipe the slate clean. In bondage,
I'm in bondage, seems like most of the time, to Satan, sin, and
self, and Christ comes and says, turn him loose. He's mine. I
bought him. I got the payment here to show
for. I got the receipts paid in full. He's mine. Turn him
loose. Satan, he's mine. I bought him with a price. And
when my feet well and I slip, like David said, when my feet
well and I slip, I feel like I'm going down into the pit like
the rest of this world, I hear a proclamation, Terry. I'm going
down. He ought to, yes, but deliver
him. Who? Him? Yeah, him. That one right
there. Got blood on him. Deliver him.
I found a ransom. I found a ransom. And I love
him because he's my deliverer, and he's, verse 2, my God. Jesus Christ is my God, and I
defy anyone to say he's anything less. He's very God, a very God. And this is not just a question
of theology. May the whole of my salvation rest upon it. This is not just a question of
differences in statements of faith and denominational differences.
My salvation rests upon it. Isaiah 25 9, I quote it quite
often. It says, Lo, this is our God.
We've waited on him. He'll save us and we'll rejoice
in his salvation. This is the Lord. We've waited
for him. Who's that talking about? unless God came down in human
flesh. And he did, John, he did. Only God can justify me. Only God can save me. The Pharisees
said, Who can forgive sins but God? That's right. And Christ
came and said, I freely forgive. He's my God. Only God can save
me. Only God can justify me from
all things which I cannot be justified by the law, the law
of Moses. My strength. He says he's my
strength again here. Why? Because I just don't have
any. I need a double portion of his
strength. He's my strength. My rock. It doubles that up too,
doesn't it? He's my rock. My strength. In whom I will trust. Y'all trust
me. You're shaking your head like
that. Don't do it. Now, you know, I can say as a
man, I want to earn your trust and so forth. When it all comes
right down to it, don't put any confidence in the flesh. You
understand what I'm saying? I appreciate your trust. And
I want to be trustworthy, but I'm not. A man said to me not too long
ago, your motives sure are pure. I said, whoa, you don't know
me. But I know who you can trust. I know who you can trust. Put
no trust in any man. The Scriptures even said don't
even do it in the wife of your bosom. Keep your lips from... I'll tell you who to go to. Put
no trust in friends, family, especially yourself. Only he's trustworthy. He's the
only one trustworthy. He's a nail in a sure place.
You can hang the weight of your soul upon and trust that he'll
hold you up. He can keep the confidence. He
can keep the confidence. You can confide in him. All right,
go on. He's my buckler. He's my buckler. You know what a buckler is? We
studied this before. A buckler, you've seen these
old pictures of these knights in shiny armor, you know, One
big shield in his left arm, it protects their whole body. And
then over here in their right hand, they've got a sword, a
helmet, armor and all that. But on their right, on their
sword hand, on their sword hand to protect, see if a knife or
something, they're fighting with this hand. And if somebody swung
a blow at them and cut their sword hand, then they couldn't
fight anymore, could they? So they've got on their hands
what's called a buckler. You see those little bitty shields
around there? A buckler. And not only do they fight with
a sword, but they also fight with their fists. They drop their
sword, they can bash them with that buckler. A buckler. It's a small shield used for
protection as well as fighting. It's usually on the sword hand. Well, Christ is not only my protection,
my shield, but he's my strong arm. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might, the scripture says. I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me. I fight against, yes I, fight
against sin, Satan, and self through faith in Christ. Right? Yes. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent, how do they take it? By force. It's a big door. You're going
to have to have something to protect your hand when you're
knocking on it from day to night, right? Let me in. I will not be denied. And you
won't. I've got the blood and the righteousness of Christ.
Let me in. I've got to get in. I have a
desire. One thing have I desired and
that will I seek after let me in. I will not quit knocking. Do you let me. Use that butler
to do so the blood and the righteousness of Christ and you will not be
denied and the horn of my salvation. The Lord is the horn of my salvation. You deer hunters. This is talking
about the horn of an animal is used several times in scripture.
A male deer called a buck you know he's got antlers. And he's
not much to look at, nor is he much of a threat to anybody until
those antlers grow, right? A rhinoceros as big as he is,
he's no threat to anybody if he doesn't have that horn, right?
That horn. And animal strength, honor, and
protection is in that horn, right? Without it, they can do nothing. Christ is the horn of my salvation. Without him, I can do nothing,
nothing, nothing. This is just one of the many
ways to say salvation is of the Lord, of the Lord. He's my helmet. He's the horn of my salvation. He's all my strength. He's all
my power. Without him I can do nothing. It's also alludes, Henry,
this is interesting. Do you remember back in the tabernacle
inside the Holy of Holies on that altar wherein was contained,
not inside, but outside where the The animal was slain. Do you
remember what was on the four corners of that altar? Horns. Horns. And if a criminal, Terry,
if a criminal, a fella got caught red-handed, no matter what it
was he was doing, he got caught red-handed, if he could get to
the tabernacle and lay hold on the horns of the altar, nobody
could get to him. The laws, God said, don't touch
him, as long as he's got a hold of those horns of that The Lord
is the horn of my salvation. I'm not going to let go. Thank
God he's not. I love him because he's my high
tower. I love these ocean, these pictures of these coastal scenes
where you have the waves crashing in on this rocky shore and up
there on that beautiful green rocky precipice there's a big
lighthouse you know standing there and that light shining
out to sea all those ships you know that are they're trying
to make it in the land safe and what is all of their hope what
is all their safety what is all what are they looking to huh
they looking down no you get seasick you throw up are they
looking to one another what are we going to do captain what are
we going to do look for the light Look to the light. Christ says,
look unto me and be ye saved. I'm that lighthouse. You'll not
be shipwrecked if you look to me. Lighthouse in a storm, lighthouse
in a storm. Also, this has a special, a special
meaning to me, this high tower. This is probably what prompted
this message, other than just reading through this passage.
When I used to work for the railroad, We would, it was, I was an engineer
on a railroad and used to pull long trains, sometimes over 200
and some cars long, 220 or 230 cars long. Some of them, those
cars weighed 120 tons apiece. That's over 20,000 tons behind
you pushing you. And I was just, it was a scary
thing. I was all the time on pins and
needles. Brother Joe Parks, other men who've driven trucks, know
what it's like to have a full load behind you, and traveling
down the road, and you're just on pins and needles. And a lot
of times there's a heavy fog. That scares you to death, doesn't
it, Brother Charles? A heavy fog, rain, thunderstorm,
whatever. And my destination was from Russell,
Kentucky, to Columbus, Ohio, with the same route every time. And upon entering into the rail
yard there in Columbus, Ohio, with that big heavy train. Well,
I was never so glad. It's just 113 miles, but it seemed
like a thousand to me at times. I'm just shaking like a leaf,
drinking coffee, and get there finally, especially in a fog
or something. You know, when we come into that yard to our
final destination, there was a place in that rail yard, and
we come in. And we didn't know where we were
going, what tracks. This yard had literally hundreds
of tracks. It looks like a maze all over
the place. And there were passenger trains,
there were trains, switching trains every which way. And you
just thought, if I get into something, I'm fired immediately. I just,
you just, you know, where do I go? What do I do? There was
a place, Steve, in that rail yard that was called, the railroad
I worked for was C&O, just speaking of Ohio. And there was in that
rail yard what was literally called CNO High Tower. And buddy, coming into that yard,
we'd get on that radio. About two miles from the rail
yard. Come in, High Tower. Come in, High Tower. I'm coming
in, I need help. Come in, High Tower. And buddy,
I was never so glad to hear anybody's voice in my life when I heard
CNO High Tower. What do you need? This is so-and-so,
engine number, we need a track. Go in track 43, it'll be open
for you and we'll tell you what to do from here. He guided me
every step of the way. And buddy, when I heard his voice,
when I knew he was on the line, when I knew he had his eye on
me as I was coming in there, kick back, you know, start packing
my grip, you know, we're here boys, nothing to worry about.
My high tower is up there. The Lord is my high tower. And
I call, you know, there's times when I'd be coming to that railroad
and I'd be calling, he'd be busy. Come here, Hightower. And he'd
be busy. And I wouldn't quit calling.
Well, he must not be there, you know, I'll just come go where
I see fit. No, come in. Finally, he'd answer. I didn't
feel like he'd ever answer at times, but he did. Scripture
says keep calling. Keep calling, keep calling, though
he does not answer you at times. Keep calling, he'll finally answer.
He's your Hightower. He's got his eye on you all the
way. He'll guide you every step of the way, and you'll be safe. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, the Lord your high tower, shall be saved. So that's what I'm going to do.
I don't know about you. Verse 3, I'm going to call. And
I'm going to call. And I'm going to call. I called
this morning. I called this morning before
I began preaching. I called when I started preaching.
I called after. I called this afternoon before
I started preaching again. I called when I got up here,
and I'm going to call later on tonight, and by God's grace,
in the morning, I'm going to call again. I will call upon
the Lord, whosoever shall call. It doesn't say one time thing
and quit. Make a profession years ago and
stop. No, keep calling. Right? Keeps calling. Why do
we ever call on the Lord? Because he first called us. And
how will we ever keep calling if he keeps calling us? And here's
the title of my message. I'll call upon the Lord who is
worthy to be prayed. He's worthy to be called on,
and I'm going to call upon him, and so shall I be saved. No other way. That's how I'm
going to be saved. He's my strength, my rock, my
fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I trust,
my butler, the horn of my salve, my high tower. I'm going to call
on Him. I'm going to call on me, and I'm going to call on
you. I'm going to call you all up,
do I? Call on Him. I'll call on the
Lord, and so shall I be saved. All right, let's stand together,
and I'll dismiss this in prayer.