Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. This psalm, a little
bit of background to this psalm, this psalm was written by David,
who spake unto the Lord the words of the psalm in the day that
the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from
the hand of Saul. So this is a psalm speaking of
God's great power, and we see a praiseful and prayerful heart
of David, an acknowledgement to the great things that God
had done. Let's start in verse 1 here. I will love thee, O Lord,
my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust,
my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who
is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine
enemies. The sorrows of death compassed
me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows
of hell compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me.
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his
temple, and my cry came before him. even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled.
The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because
he was wroth. Then went up a smoke out of his
nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled
by it. He bowed down the heavens also,
and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon
a cherub, and did fly, yea, he did fly upon the wings of the
wind. He made darkness his secret place. His pavilion round about
him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness
that was before him, his thick clouds passed, hailstones and
coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the
heavens, and the highest gave his voice. hailstones and coals
of fire. He sent out his arrows and scattered
them and he did shoot out lightnings and discomfort them. Discomfort
there is vanquished. He vanquished them. Then the
channels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world
were discovered. or uncovered at thy rebuke, O
Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from
above, he drew me out of many waters, out of many troubles
and distresses. He delivered me from my strong
enemy and from them which hated me, for they were too strong
for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the
Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into
a large place. He delivered me because he delighted
in me. What a wonderful portion of scripture. And we see, just in that little
bit that we read, how mighty our great God is. How mighty
He is. And how He defends His people.
He defends His people from their enemies. Let's read verses one
to three again. I will love thee, O Lord, my
strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust,
my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who
is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine
enemies. These are the three verses which
we'll look at tonight. Three wonderful verses from this
psalm. There's so much packed into these
three verses right here before us. The believer in Christ loves
Christ for all that he has done for us. He saved us from our
sins. He's delivered us from the law
of God and the wrath of God, both which had a rightful claim
upon us. He's delivered us many times
from trials and tribulations. Oh, what trouble we could get
in if the Lord didn't restrain us, right? If he didn't restrain
us. And here in the first verse of
our text, the psalmist, after being delivered, now remember
he's been delivered from the hands of his enemies, strong
enemies. He said, enemies are too strong
for me. And our enemies are too strong
for us, aren't they? They are. Think of that. The
world, the flesh, and the devil alone. They're too strong for
us. We're no match for any of them,
but oh, our great King. He's overcome the world. He's
crushed Satan's head, right? And he's the one who's going
to preserve us to the end, giving us victory over our own flesh.
What a great God we have. What a great God we have. So
here in the first verse of the text, The psalmist, after being
delivered from the hands of his enemies, proclaims these wonderful
words, which we're going to look at tonight here, these first
three verses. And I would encourage you to
read the whole psalm at home, because this whole psalm proclaims
the absolute sovereignty of God. Just proclaims it. Just wonderful
to read in any time for the believer, any time for the believer. And
it shows us the sovereignty of God in all things. Look what
David, the psalmist, sings in this first verse. I love to think
of these. These psalms are psalms. David used to sing these psalms.
They're wonderful. Look at this first verse. Is
this not the cry of a believer's heart? I will love thee, O Lord,
my strength. I will love thee. I will love
thee, O Lord, my strength." Now think of this, the love spoken
of here is a hearty affection. It's a hearty affection, a clinging
affection. And do we not have a hearty love
for our Lord and a clinging love? Because we know without Him,
we can do nothing. We know that He's the vine and
we're just the branches. And without being attached to
the vine, the branch withers and dies. And he told us in John
that without me you can do nothing. So we see here, I will love thee. Now think of this, there was
a time when we didn't love the Lord in our natural state. What
a miracle of grace that a believer can say this, can say I love
the Lord. That's a miracle of grace. God
takes a rebel at heart who curses his name or uses his name in
vain. And then he takes that rebel,
he regenerates them, they're born again in the Holy Spirit
of God, and now they cry out, I love you, Lord. That's a miracle.
That's a miracle of grace, beloved. Look, David says, I will love
thee, O Lord, my strength. Again, this love is an intimate
love. It's a love of the deepest kind. It's an agape love. Well,
God loves us with an agape love, and then the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts. Now, we love the Lord, don't
we, by that love that has been put in us by God, the love of
God which has been shed abroad in our hearts. And it's a deep
love. It's the deepest kind. And it's what our great God deserves,
isn't it? He deserves to be loved in that
way. He deserves it. He deserves it from his elect,
because what? He alone is worthy of it, isn't he? He's the only
one worthy of our praise. He's the only one worthy of our
love, this love spoken of here. Now, we love our family members,
and we love our friends. I remember years ago, my daughter
saying to me, when she asked me one time, she said, she said,
Daddy, who do you love the most? And this is after the Lord saved
me. And I said, I love God the most. And she said, but don't
you love me the most? And I said, my love for you is
different than my love for God. I said, I love you, mom. And
I love you, brother. And I love you. But my love for
the three of you is different than my love for God. It's different. And the believer says these words
with true affection. I love thee. I love thee, Lord. John Trapp says that this in
the Hebrew means I will love thee dearly and entirely. Now,
everything we do is tainted with sin, but this love here, again,
is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, beloved. And from
the very, he goes on to say in the Hebrew, it means from the
very root of it, the very bowels of us. And bowels in the scripture
is our heart. So this is a true love from a
regenerated heart. A true love for God from a regenerated
heart. And it's very affectionate. It's
like a tender-hearted mom who loves her baby. That's the kind
of love that's spoken of here. And you ladies who have children,
you know what that means. That's a deep love that can't
be broken. My mom used to say to us, and we never tested her
on it, but she said, you could do anything and I'd still love
you. That's true. That's true. And this is the
kind of love that the believer has for our great God now. And it's, again, it's something
that Satan can't counterfeit. He cannot counterfeit this love.
The triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all have
a claim upon our love. We love God the Father, we love
God the Son, and we love God the Holy Spirit. We love them
all because all of them are involved in our salvation, in its planning,
in its execution, and in its application. So this love that
we have for God is for the whole Godhead. And Lord in our text
here, I've mentioned this before, is translated the self-existent
one or the eternal one. Jehovah. We've seen it many times
in our studies in the Old Testament. This is the great I Am David
is speaking of. And the psalmist in this first
verse proclaims a truth that all of God's people know. Now
the psalmist again is proclaiming the truth that we all know. I
will love thee, O Lord, my strength. Every believer knows that. As
I said, that could be something that could be said by every believer.
I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." The Lord, and the
Lord, we see here, my strength. It doesn't take us long in our
Christian walk to realize that he's our strength. He's our strength. And then the older we get as
we walk in grace, the more and more is manifest to us that he's
our strength. And the psalmist here confesses
that Christ is my strength, which is being strong in the sense
of being powerful in all things, in our salvation and in all things
that come our way. He is our strength. God is the
strength of our lives as believers. He's all our hope. Everything
we trust our eternal soul to and in is wrapped up in Christ
and Him alone. We're not trusting anything we
can do. It's only in Christ, because we know not only what
we used to be, but we know what we are now. We were lost sinners,
now we're saved sinners. But one day, praise be to God,
we'll be without sin. That's something to look forward
to, isn't it? That's something to look forward to. So God's
the strength of our life, and He alone is our redemption, isn't
He? Not one of us could save ourselves. No one on this earth
can save themselves. But for the believer in Christ,
Christ is our redemption. He's everything to us. He's our
strength, and he's not, don't forget this too, he's our strength,
not just through our walk in the Christian life, but through
all our trials that come our way, through all the tribulations
that come our way, through all the times we fall, because we
do. Right? Because we're sinners. He gently
picks us up. You know what he does too? He
keeps us on the narrow path, doesn't he? I was thinking about
this this afternoon. Vicki mentioned the narrow path.
And I was thinking about this this afternoon. How quickly,
if we were left to ourselves, would we wander off the narrow
path? Wouldn't we? But he keeps us
on that narrow path. He keeps his people. Oh, it's
wonderful. He's our strength. And looking
at this as the Lord is my strength, we quickly realize how weak we
are as believers. Men like to pride ourselves on
strength. But as we get older, our strength
wanes, doesn't it? We cannot do the things we used
to do. Now, sometimes in my mind, I think I can do the things I
can do. And for about two or three days later, I find out
I couldn't do that. Right? Because you're stiff and
sore because you went and did it. But oh my, He alone is our
strength. Now, let me preface this too
by saying that the list is endless why the believer in Christ should
love Christ. It's endless. You could write
all the reasons we should love Christ and it would be endless. We're gonna just hit on a few
things from the scriptures here, why we should love Christ, why
we as believers should love Christ. And we do love Christ. The first
thing we've seen here is He's our strength. Let's read verse
2 now of Psalm 18. The scripture says here, The
Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my
strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my
salvation, and my high tower. Look at these. We have right
here in this verse reasons why we should love Christ and why
we do love Christ as believers. First is here, the Lord is my
rock. He's my rock. The Hebrew word
here, translated rock, refers to a cleft in a cliff, a cleft
in a cliff, in which one may hide from their enemy. Remember
David hid in caves? Couldn't find him. He was hiding
in caves. That's how we are in Christ.
We're hidden, hidden from our enemies. It's also translated
as stronghold of Jehovah. And this speaks of David's security
in our great God. And that's something that we
need to be reminded of, isn't it? We need to be reminded, because
I remember one preacher telling me, why do we have to keep hearing
the Gospels? Because we forget so quickly.
And we do. And so each time the Gospels
are preached, we're reminded of the great things that Christ
does for us each day, even. Not only what he did at Calvary,
which is magnificent, but we're reminded of what he does for
us each day. He's our strength every day.
He's our rock every day. Believers are hidden in their
God from the strife of tongues and the fury of the storm of
trouble. The clefts of the Rock of Ages are safe abodes for the
believer. We're kept safe in the Rock of
Ages. We're kept safe in Christ. And
what a rock we have in Christ. The believer refers to Christ
in this sense when he sings, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself. in thee. O Lord, hide me under
the shadow of your wings. Remember we saw that last week?
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storms of life are passed.
And this same word is translated rock in Isaiah. Turn, if you
would, to Isaiah 32, 2. But keep your finger in Psalm
18, because we can go right back there. This same word is translated
rock in Isaiah, chapter 32, verse 2. Look at this. And this speaks
of Christ. A man shall be in hiding place
from the wind, in a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water
in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
Now let me tell you, when folks used to travel in the desert,
and even now, when they saw a great rock, oh what a welcome sight
that was. Because under the shadow of that
rock is coolness. Coolness. Often wondered why
there's trees in the middle of the fields around here. Somebody
told me, I don't know if it's true, maybe Brother Neil can
tell me if it's true, but it was for people to rest from the
heat. It makes sense, if it's true,
to be able to rest at noontime after plowing and stuff back
in the days. But look at this, as if a shadow
of a great rock. Same Hebrew word there. Oh, let
me hide myself in thee, O Lord. It's a shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. And is this not this world a
weary land? Is it not a desert? We're sheltered under the great
rock of the Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back to
our text. We'll look at verse two again.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress. The second reason for the believer
to love Christ is because he's our fortress. He's our fortress. Now again, this is just a short
list of reasons why we should love Christ. It's endless. But these are just what we're
looking at tonight. The Hebrew word here for fortress
is translated stronghold. So the Lord is my stronghold. The English definition for fortress
is this, a military stronghold, especially a strongly fortified
town fit for large garrisons, a heavily protected and impenetrable
building. Isn't that wonderful? That's
what Christ is for his people. Now we get tossed and round by
the storms of life, but never forget Christ is our stronghold. He will never let us go. What
does he have to do to the trials of our life? All he has to do
is say, peace, be still. This is nice and calm, isn't
it? But as I said today, how we grow in grace is when we go
through these storms in life. So we're just like Scott Richardson
said, we're either going into trouble, we're in trouble, or
we're coming out of trouble. And it just keeps continuing.
It just keeps continuing, beloved. But never forget these precious
truths before us. During all those times, the believer
can say, the Lord is my rock and my fortress. my deliverer,
my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and
the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." We can say that
through all the myths of these things that come our way. So
here we see the Lord is our fortress, a stronghold. What a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ for the believer. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is the believer's fortress now, right now. He's our fortress. And all who are in the fortress
are kept safe. Are you in the fortress that
is Christ? That's the question. Because if you are, he's an impenetrable
building. He's a city that cannot be breached.
Never. Scripture declares this about
God's people, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Kept. Why are
they kept? Because they're in the stronghold,
beloved. They're in the stronghold. Let's look at our text again.
It says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. Here's another reason for the
believer to love Christ. He's our deliverer. He's our
deliverer. You know, Savior means rescuer. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
believer's rescuer. He's our deliverer. And not only
does our great God and King protect us all through the trials and
troubles of this life, but He delivers His people from each
one of them. And during the believer's hour
of peril, the Lord is our deliverer. What has He delivered us from?
What has He delivered us from? Well, here's just a short list,
because again, it would be endless. He's delivered us time and time
and time again from our trials. Whether they be trials of health,
whether they be trials in this world, whether they be trials
amongst family members or unsaved loved ones or friends, He has
delivered us time and time and time again. What else has He
delivered us from? Well, praise be to God, He's
delivered the believer from all our sins. All of them. So much so that the Lord says,
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. That's a
deliverance, isn't it? We remember our own sin. God
says, if you're under the blood of Christ, I don't remember your
sins. Hallelujah. What a great God
we have! What else has the Lord Jesus
Christ delivered us from? Well, He's delivered us from
the wrath of God. Many times you've heard me say
that the wrath of God that was due us fell upon Christ in our
place. And that's something that would
have consumed us. Just consumed us. And we read in the scriptures
what the wrath of God when it fell upon people or when it fell
upon places. Remember Korah and his gang,
the earth just opened up and swallowed them up. And then it
closed. And they went right down into
the pit, the scripture says. Could you imagine Moses and the
others seeing that? Well, that would give you a reverent,
healthy fear of God, wouldn't it? I tremble just when I read
that. And then think of all who were
outside the ark. They laughed when the rain started.
They mocked Noah. After a while, when the fountains
of the deep were opened up and rain was just coming down in
buckets, They started screaming, didn't they? But it was too late.
The wrath of God fell upon them. Sodom and Gomorrah, a whole city
burned up by the wrath of God. My, we've been delivered from
that wrath, beloved. In Christ Jesus our Lord, He
paid it all. He paid it all. And one day,
This hasn't happened for us who are still upon this earth, but
for our brothers and sisters who've gone on to be with the
Lord. One day we will be delivered by God's great power from this
body of sin. And what a glorious day that'll
be. We're gonna see, because of the mercy and grace of God,
we will see God. face-to-face. We will see our
Redeemer with His nail-pierced hands, face-to-face. And we will be without sin. And
we will join in with the heavenly choir, praising His mighty name,
because He's alone is worthy, isn't He? Everybody in heaven
knows that God alone is worthy, that Christ alone is worthy of
our praise. We know it while we're here on
this earth, but oh how we know it when we're in glory, beloved.
Oh my. And weep not for your Dear loved
ones who's gone home to be with you. I know it's hard for us
We do weep though, but they do not want to come back here. They
are praising the Lord in glory They are an endless song and
full of joy unspeakable Praise in the Lord. And one day, and
it won't be long, because again, the life is like a vapor, we'll
be there with them, we who believe. We'll be singing salvation song
along with them. We'll be singing to the one who
alone is worthy of all our praise. Oh my. And we'll only be singing
that praise because of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord continuously
rescues His people, delivers His people from trials and tribulations
which come our way. No matter what the trial that
comes our way, and we are no match for them, He is mightier
still. He is mightier still. Look here
in Psalm 18 here, verse 6. Look what David proclaims here.
In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God.
He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before
Him even unto His ears. Our God is the true and living
God. He hears the prayers of His saints. He hears the beloved. And then look at verse 46 to
48. None, think of this too, none
can deliver but God. None can deliver from our sins
but God. None can deliver us from the
wrath of God but God. None can present us to the Father
faultless before His throne but through God the Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look what it says here in Psalm
18 verses 46 to 48. The Lord liveth and blessed be
my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted. Let him
be exalted. It is God that avenges me and
subdueth the people under me. He delivereth me from mine enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above
those that rise up against me. Thou has delivered me from the
violent men. And every believer can cry that.
Every believer. Look at that. The Lord liveth
and blessed be my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted. Oh, is that not our cry? He lives. He's the true and living God.
He's the one true and living God. And let him be exalted.
And he's my rock. Is he yours? He's my rock. He's
my fortress. He's my deliverer. Is it so for
you? Praise his mighty name if it
is. And if He isn't, I pray that God would make it so. Be His
will. Oh, I pray it would. Let's go back to our text in
Psalm 18, 2. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my strength, and whom I will trust. Look at that, He's
my God. He's not just my God by creation. No, He's my God, too, by regeneration. I'm born again by the power of
the Holy Spirit, and so are you, by His almighty power. He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He's granted us
faith to believe in the one true living God. He's revealed Himself
to us. He's my God, and each believer
can say that. He's my God. My Elohim there. He's my Elohim. He's my strength.
He's the mighty one. Now look what it says, the Lord
is my strength. Here's another reason for us
to love Christ, because he's my strength in whom I will trust. Now there may be a time in our
past when we trusted in our own strength, or we trusted in religion,
or trusted in a certain church, or people nowadays they trust
in their baptism, or they trust that they were born of Christian
parents. Men trust in their wealth. Men
trust in their strength. Men trust in their intellect.
Those are all false refuges. Those are all false refuges.
For the believer, the Lord is our strength. And the word here
translated strength is not the same as the Hebrew word is in
verse 1. The word strength in verse one
means powerful or strong. Here, the word strength means
rock. He's my rock. When we lived in
Oregon, we used to go to the coast. And let me tell you, there's
some big rocks off the coast of Oregon, huge rocks. And Vicki
and I like to just sit there by the beach and watch the waves
crash in. It was just incredible. You just see the majestic power
of what he's made. And I had read Spurgeon one time,
and he said, the waves clap in adoration to the Lord. That never
left me. Every time I went to the coast,
I just Creation's just clapping in adoration of the Lord. But
there used to be these huge rocks just off from the coast, maybe,
I don't know, two, three hundred feet off there, sometimes further.
Huge rocks. And I used to watch those, and
the water would just pound against those rocks, and they're not
moving. And I always thought that about
our king. That's the kind of rock, when I see this, that's
the kind of rock I think about. That water's just crashing, the
storms of life are just crashing against that rock. It's not moving.
The water drips off it, runs down back into the ocean, and
off it goes. And that rock is still there
and hasn't moved at all. This is our God. He's our strength
in whom I will trust. He's our rock. And this again
denotes Christ being our hiding place. He's our hiding place.
He's our refuge. And never forget that Christ
is a refuge that is sure. He's a sure refuge. Other refuge
have I none hangs my lowly head on thee. He's the only refuge. He's the city of refuge. That's
why the city of refuge is such a clear picture of Christ. It
breaks down in the sense when there's multiple cities, but
if you look at the city of refuge and you go into that city and
you're safe, that picture's Christ. Here comes the accuser of death.
Once you get in them doors, the accuser of death has no claim
on you. Now think of this too, when the high priest dies, our
high priest died for us, then the The person that's in the
city of refuge is released. Go free. Christ died for us,
beloved, and we're set free. If the Son shall make you free,
you'll be free indeed. Free indeed. Oh my, then Christ
is our rock. He's our defense. And we march
forward under His banner. Look at the same Psalm here,
Psalm 18. Look at verses 31 to 36. This
was a reality for David. We see this further down here
in this Psalm. Psalm 18, verses 31 to 36. For
who is God save the Lord? Jehovah. There's no God but Jehovah.
None. Who is God but Jehovah? No one.
He's the one true living God. Or who is a rock save our God,
save our Elohim? There's no other rock. It is
God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He
maketh my feet like hinds feet and setteth me upon high places.
He teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken
by mine arms. Thou hast also given me the shield
of thy salvation, and that's Christ, and thy right hand hath
holden me up, and that's Christ. and thy gentleness hath made
me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet
did not slip. Now the gods of the heathens,
little g's, they're just rock. They're just dumb idols. They
can't speak. They can't move. They're just
idols, dumb idols, shewn out of rock. And when they want to
be moved, they don't just start waddling away. No. Those who
worship them, And think of this, too. Think of the blindness.
And I can't say anything because I was blinded, too, by all this
stuff. When, say, the owner of that piece of rock wants to move,
well, he's got to take his god off that mantle. He's got to
put him in a bag or something and carry him away. Nothing but
a false idol. False idol made of rock, or stone,
or wood. Nothing. Our God is the rock
of ages, the one true living God in whom we trust. And David
says here, in whom I will trust. And every believer says that.
whom we will trust. Deuteronomy says this, 32, 31,
for their rock is not as our rock, little rock, the first
one, for their rock, small r, is not our rock, capital R, even
our enemies themselves being judges. Deuteronomy 32, 31. Christ
is the only one we can trust for the salvation of our eternal
souls. He's the one true and living
God. Scripture declares this, that
will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee
because he trusteth in thee. The believer in Christ, although
we are like this in life, right? Up and down. We have a peace
though, don't we? That we're given by God and that
peace comes from God. He keeps us in perfect peace.
There's times that I go through now that I would have freaked
out in before the Lord saved me. I'm not kidding you. And
now the Lord gives me a peace that I can't explain. Now, do
I still give anxiety and get worked up? Oh yeah, I'm human,
of course. We do, don't we? As you heard
me say many times, the first thing, what's the first thing
when a situation comes up? Oh my, what am I gonna do? And
then we get convicted, and we're like, Lord, this is out of my
hands. I come to my senses. I like to
say that. I come to my senses. OK, Lord,
the battle's yours. It's not mine. It's yours. And
He's our rock. He's proven it time and time
and time again that Christ is the strong and mighty one. He's
proven it to us, hasn't He? Time and time and time again.
And for the believer, we know He is the only one who's able
to save. Him alone. Christ and Him alone. There's
no other Savior but Christ. None. He's the covenant Savior,
Redeemer, and surety of His people, whom the Father gave Him in eternity.
And we say, praise his mighty name. Let's go look at verse
two again. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my
God, my strength, and whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn
of my salvation, and my high tower. Now here's another reason
for us to love Christ. The Lord is my buckler. Again,
I think I mentioned this last week, that the buckler was a
small round shield that was carried by light infantry in ancient
days. And it was carried by light infantry
because they were quick, mobile, reactive soldiers. So they would
get flying in, and they could act quick. And with a light shield
and a sword, they could react very quickly. But they, of course,
had light armor on, so they were susceptible to different attacks.
So they would go in, say, after the arrows were shot, then goes
in the light infantry like that. And he carried a small shield
called a buckler. Look at verse 30 of the same
psalm. It says, as for God, his way is perfect. The word of the
Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those
that trust in him. He's our shield. And he quenches
all the fiery darts of the wicked one, doesn't he? Yeah, he does
it. If we didn't have him as our
shield, we'd be done. He's our shield. Look at that,
to all those that trust in Him, have you trusted Him? Do you
trust in Him right now? Oh, I pray God make it so. And
how is the Lord our shield? Well, think of this, think of
this. Oh my, think of this. Christ shielded us from the wrath
of God. He shielded us from the wrath of God. You know, in the
old days, they used to go with their shields before, and the
Romans would actually lock their shields together. And they became
almost an impenetrable wall. And in the gaps, they would stick
their swords out through the gaps and close it up again. And
those enemies, they would just beat upon those shields. Think
of this, how Christ, the wrath of God just fell upon him and
we're like behind the shield, which is Christ. And not only
did it all fall upon him, he consumed it. in our place. Oh,
what a mighty shield is our King. What a mighty shield. He shielded
us from the wrath of God. He shielded us from the justice
of God when He died in our room and place as our substitute.
He died in the room and place of His people on Calvary's cross,
and He did it willingly. He willingly bore the wrath of
God as a shield for His people, willingly. Look at verse 35 of
the same psalm. Thou hast also given me the shield
of thy salvation. That's Christ. He's the shield
of our salvation, beloved. And thy right hand hath held
me up. That's Christ. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father. He's the right hand of God. And thy gentleness
hath made me great. We're kings and princes, beloved.
All because of Christ. Think of this too. Think of the
fact that Christ is the shield and he has consumed the wrath
of God for us. And none that are behind that
shield, which is Christ, shall ever suffer condemnation. Never. because all that was due us fell
upon Christ, our buckler, our shield. What a Savior. The next
reason we see in this text here for us to love Christ is because
he's the horn of my salvation. Lord is my rock and my fortress,
my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler
and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. Just builds
up to a crescendo, doesn't it, beloved? The horn is to animals
the means of defense. It's an instrument of power to
animals that have horns, and their strength lies in their
horns. Hence the word here is used in this way as elsewhere
to represent that which we owe our protection and our defense
to. See, we as believers are powerless
against our enemies in ourselves. But what we've seen here is Christ
is our defense. Christ is our shield and buckler.
And God is David's strength. God is David's strength. God
is David's power. God is David's defense. And Christ
stays with eternal, immutable power, unchanging power. And His salvation is just as
immutable, just as eternal as He is. I remember, I think I
mentioned this last week too, I'm going to mention it again.
Robert Murray McShane said that the believer in Christ is just
as secure as those in glory. The believer in Christ on this
earth is just as secure as those in glory, just we haven't been
translated yet. We haven't walked through death's
door yet, but as far as secure in Christ, we're just as secure
as them. Isn't that amazing? Sinners,
saved sinners are just as secure as those in glory. Yep, because
we're all in Christ. That's amazing. And the reason
we're just as secure as the saints and glory is because our salvation
is in no way dependent upon us. In no way at all. It's all dependent
upon Christ. So none who have Christ for their
shield shall ever suffer condemnation or defeat. And all we can say
is praise his mighty name. Let's look at the next reason
in this verse we see to love Christ. It says here, the Lord
is my rock, my fortress, my God. my strength, in whom I will trust,
my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."
We see here that the Lord is our high tower. Now the Hebrew
word here is defined as a high place. A high place. A place
of refuge. A secure place. A secure height. A retreat. That's what it all
is in the Hebrew. A stronghold. Now this Hebrew
word is translated defense seven times in the Old Testament, and
refuge five times, and tower three times. Christ is the believer's
high tower. He's our refuge. He's our defense.
So what comfort and what peace the sinner can find in Christ
and Christ alone. What a refuge we have in Christ.
We have a refuge from the law of God. We have a refuge from
the wrath of God. We have a refuge from our own
sins. We have a refuge from the trials
and tribulations of this world. And beloved, we have an eternal
refuge, an unchanging refuge. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's unchanging. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. So as our refuge, he's an eternal
refuge, isn't he? He's an eternal refuge. Turn
if you would to Hebrews chapter 6. What a refuge we have. And all who have fled the Christ
have found a refuge like no other. Because Christ is a sure refuge. Again, he's an eternal refuge.
Those who trust in their strength, or their riches, or their intellect,
are trusting in things that will fade away. They're only temporal,
but Christ is eternal. He's eternal. He's an eternal
refuge for his people. Hebrews chapter 6, let's read
verses 17 to 20. We're in God willing more abundantly,
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before
us." Well, who's the hope set before us? That's Christ. Christ
is the hope set before us. And look at that how it says,
who have fled for refuge. Isn't that wonderful? We fled
for refuge to Christ. Why? Because we were made willing
in the day of God's power. He gets all the glory. He gets
it all. Which hope we have is an anchor
of the soul. When I was little, we had a little
14-foot aluminum boat. We'd go on the channels in Ontario,
go fishing. My dad would say, drop the anchor,
Wayne. So I'd be at the front of the boat there. This thing
was huge to me, but it wasn't really that big. But to me, as
a little guy, it was big. Six or seven years old, I grabbed
that anchor. He'd be chuckling in the back,
you know, you grab the anchor and you drop it, you almost go
over with it. But you drop it in the water
and you know what that anchor held down there? And we just
floated around in a circle as the waves moved us. We didn't
move from that place. That anchor was sure. What a
picture of Christ. He's a sure anchor. He's a sure
anchor. If you have Christ as your refuge,
you have a sure anchor, beloved. You have a sure anchor, which
we hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil. Whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek." Our Lord has gone on before us. He's our high tower. He's in
glory. He's so far above us right now. He always has been so far
above us, but He's in glory. And where the head is, the body
soon falls. So one day we're going to be
with Him. We're going to be with Him. My, and look at verse 3
here. Look at verse 3 here in Psalm
18. David, the psalmist, closes with this, I will call upon the
Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine
enemies. He says here, I'll call upon
the Lord. Well, he cites two reasons why he calls upon the
Lord here. Number one, he's worthy to be
praised. Our great God is worthy to be
praised. He's the only one worthy of our
praise. There's no one else worthy of our praise but God. Second
reason is, so shall I be saved from mine enemies. And oh, how
we've been delivered from our own sin. How we've been delivered
from the law of God, which had a rightful claim on us. How we've
been delivered from the wrath of God. How we've been delivered
constantly in this life from trials and tribulations, which
come our ways. How we've been delivered. Says,
I will call upon the Lord, that's Jehovah, who is worthy to be
praised. So shall I be saved from mine
enemies. Note, our Lord alone is worthy
to be praised. And he's the only one who's worthy
to be praised. And note here, too, I was struck
by this as I read John Gill on this, that John Gill brings up
the fact that the psalmist here, no, actually it was Spurgeon
in his commentary on the Psalms. He brings forth here how David
mixes prayer with praise. He says, I will call upon the
Lord, there's the prayer. Who is worthy to be praised,
there's the praise. He mixes prayer and praise together.
And do we not do that when we cry out to our God too? We mix
prayer with praise, don't we? There'll be some times where
we just pray unto the Lord and all of a sudden, we just start
praising him. We just start praising our God.
as he lays upon us the great things he's done for us. I will
call upon the Lord, and the only way we do that is by God's grace
and mercy. Never forget that. Isn't that
amazing? That's God's amazing grace at
work. Who's worthy to be praised. Now in this verse, the psalmist
resolves to invoke the Lord in joyful song. In joyful song. Believing that all future conflicts
that he goes through, that God's gonna deal with them. What'd
Brother Drew say? Stand back and watch the sovereign
work. That's true. That's something
for us to remember, isn't it? No matter what comes our way.
It's hard for us to remember that sometimes when we're going
through things, but it's a good thing for us to remember. And
this is a good verse for us. I will call upon the Lord. When?
All the time, no matter what situation I find myself in. Because
He's worthy to be praised. And so shall I be saved from
my enemies time and time and time again. It just never stops,
does it? And then one day, we'll be delivered
from the great enemy of death that has no sting anymore. And
we'll be in glory forever with the Lord. Oh, my. And this all
comes about by the Lord's power, by his almighty power and strength.
And we who believe, again, have seen this happen time and time
and time again. And David had such faith that
he could fight singing. Spurgeon said this. David had
such faith that he could fight singing and win the battle with
a song still upon his lips. May that be true for us, knowing
that the Lord is ever going before us. And you know what? I'm going
to close with this. We receive fresh mercy every
day. You know that? Scripture says
the Lord's mercies are new every morning. We receive fresh mercy
every day from our great God. And that's why he's worthy to
be praised. That alone is why he's worthy
to be praised. What a happy thought to think
that we receive fresh mercy each day. And we already have a heart
that's aware of the mercy which we've received from our great
God. But we can enjoy this mercy,
can't we? We don't have to walk around
with long faces. That's one thing before the Lord saved me when
I was younger. Some religious people, and now I know why they
had faces like that. They walked around with faces
that were all down. Well, no wonder they were so
burdened with things they had to do. Man, the Lord fills us
with joy, doesn't he? May God make us joyful people.
May we be reminded that he alone is worthy of our praise. No fear
or doubting with Christ on our side. We hope to die shouting,
the Lord will provide. and he provides dying grace,
don't he, to his people. He provides grace every day in
our lives, and then when death comes, he'll provide us with
dying grace, beloved. Praise his mighty name.