Let's turn back with me to Psalm
62. The title of the message this evening,
Christ Only. What I hope we see tonight is
the exclusivity of the gospel. The exclusivity of our hope of
salvation. I want us to see that in just
this one word, only. Only. That word is repeated several
times in this Psalm only. There is only one gospel. And
that gospel is only about the Lord Jesus Christ. God's servants,
wherever you find them, only preach Christ. The faith of God's
elect is only in Christ. The person and the work of Christ
is the only thing that matters. I want to see if I can't show
you that from our text this evening in three points. And my first
one is this. Salvation is in Christ only. Verse one. Truly, my soul waiteth
upon God. From him cometh my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. And he says the same thing in
verse six. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. David begins
here with the word truly. And normally when we hear that
word truly, we think of something that's done in truth without
hypocrisy. And the believer does truly,
without hypocrisy, wait upon God. Without hypocrisy, the believer
worships God and seeks God. Without hypocrisy, truly, the
believer believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But the word truly
translated truly here is normally translated only the exact same
Hebrew word is translated only for other places in this song.
And this is what David is saying. I only wait upon God for my salvation
because salvation only comes from God. I only wait upon God
for salvation because salvation is only in Christ whom God has
sent. From beginning to end, salvation
is only in Christ. Salvation of God's people began
with God's election of those people. He chose those people
to save. And sinners love election. And maybe I should rephrase that.
People who know they're sinners love this doctrine of election
because only God would choose to save sinners. Nobody else
would choose to save sinners. If it was up to you and me, who
would we choose to save? We'd save good people, wouldn't
we? We'd save our friends. We would never choose to save
our enemies. We would never choose to save
horrible people, but God did. Sinners love election. Only God
would choose to save sinners. Sinners would never choose God.
So the only way a sinner can be saved is if God chose them
first. That's why sinners love the doctrine
of election. Now, only God would choose to
save sinners, and God's election of those people to save is only
in Christ. Christ is God's first elect.
In Isaiah 42, verse 1, the Father calls Christ, Mine elect. Christ was the first one chosen
of the Father, and all of His people, all the rest of them,
were chosen in Christ. And that's the way it has to
be, doesn't it? Sinners could only be chosen in Christ. We can't
be chosen because of any good in us, can we? It has to be in
Christ. Look at Ephesians chapter one. God's election of a people is
in Christ. He chose those people. He loved
those people before time began in his son. Ephesians one verse
three. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. See, God's election of a people
is all in Christ. That's where salvation began
in God's election. But then salvation can only come
to sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, salvation comes
only from God in his purpose, in his will. But salvation only
comes from God in this sense, too. only God could send His
Son to accomplish His purpose, to redeem His people from their
sins. Our salvation comes from God because He sent Christ who
is our salvation. See, salvation is not a person
or not a thing, it's a person. So salvation is only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. It was Christ
who came to bring salvation to His people. He came from heaven
bringing redemption to his people. And only Christ could do it.
Only the Lord Jesus Christ could obey the law perfectly and produce
a righteousness he'd give to his people. He's the only man
who's ever done it. You and I can't produce a righteousness because
we can't keep any law. Christ kept it all. So righteousness
is only in Christ. And just like salvation is not
a thing, righteousness is not a thing. Righteousness is a person. If you want righteousness, go
to Christ. It's all in him. And then only Christ could pay
the redemption price for his people. Because only Christ had
perfect sinless blood to offer as payment for the sin of his
people. You and I have nothing that we can use to pay for our
sin. So redemption is only in Christ. See, salvation can't
be bought by our religious doings. Salvation can only be had by
Christ doing everything we cannot do and everything that God requires. It's all in Him. And then only
God the Holy Spirit can apply God's salvation to the heart
and give life in the new birth. You and I can't give ourselves
spiritual life. We couldn't give ourselves physical life. We certainly
can't give ourselves spiritual life because we're already dead
in trespasses and sins. We can't do anything, positive
or negative, we can't do anything. The only hope we have is God
the Holy Spirit will come and give us life in the new body.
That's our only hope. If you look at Matthew chapter
17, how do I know if the Spirit has
given me life? How do I know if He's giving
me eternal life? Spiritual life is seeing Jesus
only. It's believing Christ only. If
the Spirit ever shows you Christ, you'll see Him only. It's all
of your salvation. And here's a good illustration
of it, Matthew 17, verse 1. And after six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high
mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold,
there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then
answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it's good for us
to be here. If thou will, let us make here
three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.
And while he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them,
and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my
beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when
the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore
afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and be not
afraid. And when they lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Now that is salvation. That is the new birth when the
Spirit shows us Christ only. It's not in the law. It's not
in the ceremonies. It's not in the prophets. It's
only. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we'll look at this in a little more detail in just a moment.
This is election that's only of the Father. Redemption that's
only in the Son. Life that's only in the Spirit.
But you know, this is true too. Only God can keep and preserve
His people as they walk through this world, bring them all the
way to glory. Only God can glorify His people and make them like
His Son. Only God can do that. And that's
why, truly, without hypocrisy, the believer only waits upon
God. We only look to Him for salvation
because there's nowhere else to look. You can't look to men
and expect to find salvation because there's no salvation
in them. There's nothing but vanity in them. Look at verse
9 in our text. Surely men of low degree are
vanity, and men of high degree are a lie. To be laid in the
balance, they're altogether lighter than vanity. Now, salvation requires
that the scales of justice be balanced. We've got a bunch of
sin on one side, don't we? That's weighed this thing down. Well, what's going to pay for
that? Well, nothing a man can. Man is lighter than vanity. Man
is lighter than the small dust of the balance. You know, the
small dust of the balance was just the dust in the air that
got on the balance, and they didn't bother wiping it off.
They just didn't bother. Because it wasn't going to affect
the scale. That's us. We're all together lighter than
that vanity. We can't even those scales of
justice up. Salvation requires that there
be no sin left in the center. The only thing that can be there
is righteousness and holiness. Well, man can't produce that.
Because we are only sin. Remember Genesis 6 verse 5? God
looked down upon earth and he saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth. And that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. Only evil. We're only sin. So there's no reason to look
to man. To look to anything a man can
do for salvation. Because there's nothing there.
Salvation is only in Christ. So look only to him for everything
you need. Don't trust in anything that
man says is riches. Verse 10. Trust not in oppression. Become not vain in robbery. If
riches increase, set not your heart upon them. Now this applies
to both earthly riches and spiritual riches that we think we can produce.
Now you, everybody here surely knows this. You're not redeemed
with corruptible things. It's silver and gold. If God
blesses you materially and you get a bunch of silver and gold,
don't you trust in that vanity? Now you know better than that.
We're not redeemed with those corruptible things. But this
is also true. We're not saved with those spiritual
riches. Those things that we think that
we can produce by our good works and make us rich before God,
we can't be saved by those things either. You men often get materially
wealthy by oppression and robbery, don't they? They oppress people
by not giving them their money's worth. If they don't give them
their money's worth, they get to keep what they are rich. Or
they rob them. They rob them by force or they
rob them by trickery. They rob them by setting up a
system that they cannot prosper in. It's all leaned to one way.
That's how men get wealthy. I mean, not always, but sometimes. Well, trying to earn a righteousness
before God with our works, that's oppression and robbery. And that's
what David's talking about here. We're trying to oppress God and
not give Him His money's worth. That's what we're trying to do.
We expect Him to give us full salvation without us paying the
full redemption price. Just doing the best I can do.
I saw a car, they were saying how this car used to sell for
a million dollars. Well, you know, I could go down
to that dealership and say, I want to buy that car. Now, I can't
pay a million dollars, but I'll do the best I can do. Nobody
would expect them to accept those terms, would they? Nobody. Why
do we thank God for it? He won't. That's oppression.
It's robbery. It's trying to get something
from God without paying the full redemption price for it. They're
trying to rob God of some of His glory so we get some of the
credit for it. And David warns us now, don't
trust in those things. There's no salvation in that.
Trust only in Christ. He's the only one that can pay
the redemption price, so trust Him. Trust Him only. Only God
has the power to save sinners. Look here at verse 11. God has
spoken once. Twice, if I heard this, that
power belongeth unto God. I always find that interesting.
God spoke once and then He says twice. God should only have to
speak once, shouldn't He? But He spoke twice, so we know
this. Only God has the power to save
His people from their sin. Only Christ has the power to
bear the sin of His people. And only Christ has the power.
There is power in His blood. Only Christ has the power to
put that mountain of sin away. So only trust Christ. He's the
only one with the power to save you. And only God has the mercy
to save sinners. Verse 12, also unto thee, O Lord,
belongeth mercy. For thou renderest to every man
according to his work. Now only God would have mercy
on hell deserving sinners. Just like God would only choose
to save sinners, only God would have mercy on hell-deserving
sinners. Now, if we were going to have
mercy on somebody, we would have mercy on somebody who's done
some things right. You see a man put in jail for
a 50-year term. After about 30 years, they say,
you know, we're going to have mercy on you and parole you.
for good behavior. Well, that's giving mercy to
somebody who's done something to earn some of it, isn't it? That's what we call mercy. Only
God would have true mercy on people who have done nothing
right. That's the people that God shows
mercy to. Only God would show mercy to
people who have only sinned, who have never done anything
good. But it also says here, Mercy belongs to God. But he
also says here, for thou renders to every man according to his
word. Now, this is real mercy. Mercy
of the mercy of God that saves sinners. When God is merciful,
God is also just. God does give to every man according
to his word. Every man. God gives the wicked
exactly what their works deserve. They want a just wage, God will
give it to them. Eternal damnation. The wages of sin is death and
God will pay that debt. Give them exactly what they deserve.
But God gives his people exactly what they deserve too. He's given
the believer, he's given his people the righteousness of Christ.
Christ came and did all of the work and gave it all to them,
all to his people. So when God gives the believer
eternal life, He does it in justice because that's what Christ's
work deserves. And if you look over a few pages
in Psalm 71, this is the hope of every believer. This is the
only thing that we want to talk about. Psalm 71 verse 15. My mouth shall show forth thy
righteousness and thy salvation all the day. For I know not the
numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of
thine only." That's the only righteousness we can talk about.
That's the only righteousness we can praise God for because
Christ is the only righteousness a sinner can have. So trust Him. And then the end of everybody
who trusts in Christ, the only end of everybody who trusts in
Christ is eternal glory. Verse 7, back in our text, Psalm
62. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength
and my refuge is in God. In God is my glory. Now, glory
is to be where Christ my glory is. Now, the only thing we can
glory in is Christ. He is our glory. And glory will
be to be where He is made just like Him. That's the only end
of anybody who trusts in Christ. They must be glorified together
with Him. So that's my first point. Salvation
is in Christ only. But here's a word of comfort
for God's people. You know, you'd think that that faith, that that
belief, that that knowledge, that salvation is in Christ only
would carry us all the way to glory and never have another
cloudy day. Wouldn't you think that? That's
not the way God ordains the lives of his people here on this earth.
So he gives us a second word here. The only place of safety,
the only place of comfort for your heart is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look back at verse two again.
He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. That Christ is our only defense.
He's the only place where we can hide from the wrath of God
against our sin. That God's wrath against sin
must be poured out on every sin, without exception. Throughout
all time, God will pour out His wrath upon every single sin. Action, thought, word, every
sin. Because God's holy, He must punish
every sin. Well, the only refuge that won't
get swept away by that overflowing scourge of God's wrath is the
Lord Jesus Christ. You can hide in Him. Every other
refuge will be swept away, but you'll be safe in Christ, secure
in Him. And that's what the elements
of this table represent. Christ was sacrificed for the
sin of His people. God's wrath against the sin of
His people was fully poured out upon our sacrifice, on our substitute. His body was broken under the
crushing wrath of His Father. And His blood was shed. His blood
was forced out of His body, just like juice is forced out of a
grape when it's crushed. He was crushed. His blood just
didn't... You know, an IV just kind of
slowly trickle out. Oh, he was just like a butchered
piece of meat. His body was crushed. His blood
was forced out of his body in suffering God's wrath against
the sin of his people. And then he died. That precious
body died. Now, I can't explain that, but
he died. He died to satisfy God's holy
requirement of death for sin. Sinners like you and me have
got to have the death of that substitute. He's got to die as
my substitute because our death could never satisfy God's justice
because we're sinners. Our blood couldn't satisfy God.
It's full of sin. It's polluted with sin. God's
wrath against our sin, if poured out upon us, will cause us to
die the second death, eternal death, because no matter how
long we suffer, it'll never satisfy God. But at Calvary, Christ suffered
all of the wrath of the sin that was laid upon Him, and He died. Three days later, He rose again
from the dead, because His sinless sacrifice put sin away and justified
His people forever. You hide in Him. Run to Him and
hide in Him. He is the only refuge from God's
wrath. You hide in Him. God's wrath
is still going to fall against your sin, but it will all fall
on Christ yourself. If you're hiding down here, just
hide in Him and all that wrath is going to fall on Him and you'll
be sheltered. Not one drop will fall upon you. Christ, your refuge, will take
it all and keep you safe and secure in Him. Now hide in Him. Hide in Him. He's the only refuge.
And this is true also. Christ is also the only place
to hide from the storms of this life. When the storms of this life
would overwhelm you. It seems like life has just given
you more than you can handle. It's just too much. I cannot
handle it. Stop right there. Flee to Christ. Flee to the rock that is higher
than I. The storms of trial, the storms
of heartache and loss and sickness and uncertainty will never sweep
us away if we're hiding in Christ, if we're hanging on to Him. Those
storms, if we just try to endure them by our own devices, those
storms will wipe us out So completely, it'll look like we never were
there in the first place. But if we hide in Christ, we're
safe from all those storms. Now, listen, listen to me. I'm
not saying that those storms won't stagger us. I'm not saying,
well, we run to Christ and then there's no more pain, there's
no more sorrow, there's no... No, I'm not saying that at all.
I'm saying that the storms will stagger us, but they won't sweep
us away. I'm saying we won't be moved
away from Christ if our hope is in Him. We'll be moved but
not removed. And this is the only illustration
I can think of. We'll be moved as much as the
wind and the waves can move a ship that's anchored to the rock.
It can only move as far as that chain will allow it to go because
it's anchored to the rock. That ship, the wind and the waves
can turn that ship every which way, but loose. Because it's anchored to the
rock. And that's the way it is for the believer in this life.
The trials and the storms of this life will turn us every
which way. They'll turn us inside out, they'll
turn us upside down, they'll turn us every which way, but
loose. They'll never shake us loose
from Christ because He's our rock. And our rock and our anchor
will never give way. Look at Hebrews chapter 6. We won't be turned loose if our
anchor is secure. Hebrews 6 verse 17. Wherein 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, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. See,
this is the hope that a believer has. It's the anchor of our soul.
It's sure and steadfast because our anchor is in heaven itself. Our soul is anchored in heaven
itself. So hold fast to Him. Hold fast
to Him. Just hang on to Christ and keep
hanging on to Him. And by experience, the faith
and confidence that a believer has in Christ will grow over
time. I believe that's what David's
showing us in our text in verse 2. He says, I shall not be greatly
moved. But look what he says in verse
6. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense.
I shall not be moved. At first he says, I shall not
be greatly moved. Then he says, I'm not going to
be moved at all. I'm not going to be moved of
wind. These storms are going to move
all around me and they're going to move me. But they're not going
to move me off Christ the rock. They're not going to move me
off him because he won't let me go. He's my anchor. He's my
rock. He's the anchor of my soul. He'll
defend me from every storm. He'll defend me from every enemy,
both foreign and domestic. From the sin without and the
sin with me. He'll protect me. And that's our confidence. So
hide in him. And that's the kind of refuge
that I need because I have no strength of my own, none whatsoever. The only strength I have is Christ. And that's what David says his
strength is. Verse 7, in God is my salvation and my glory,
the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. See, if
Christ is my strength, I'm secure no matter what dangers are around
me because He's my strength. He's stronger than every enemy.
He's higher than every enemy. He's the rock that's higher than
I. He's higher than me. He's higher than all my enemies
too. He's stronger than me and stronger than all my enemies
too. Then trust Christ only. Just cast your soul upon Him.
And trust Christ only. All the time. Christ is our only
refuge. So trust Him all the time in
every situation. Trust in Him at all times, ye
people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. Now this is so comforting. There
is never a time we can't hide in Christ. In times of sorrow,
in times of joy, hide in Him. In times of poverty, in times
of plenty. If you're on a mountaintop or
you're in the valley, hide in Christ only. And there's never
a time that we can't call out to God and be heard. No matter
where you're at, no matter the circumstance, just pour out your
heart to God. Just pour it out. He's the only
one who can hear you, so call to Him. He's the only one who
can help, and He promised He would, so pour out your heart
to Him. See, the only end of anyone who's
hiding in Christ is eternal life. You can never die. You can never
lose your salvation. You can never be swept away if
Christ is your rock and your refuge. But here's a third point. We wouldn't do God's word justice
if we skipped it. Here's a third point. Those who
don't trust Christ only hate Christ. That sounds hard, doesn't
it? But that's so. There's no in
between. We either trust Christ only or
we hate Him. If I don't trust Christ only,
it's because I hate Him. That's right. If we trust Christ
plus something that we've done, plus anything, that means we
hate Christ. If we don't trust Christ only,
it's because we hate Him. We don't think He's enough. I
must need more than Him. If we trust Christ plus our works,
Christ plus following certain ceremonies, Christ plus our morality.
We hate Christ and don't want him to have all the glory. We
want some of it our own self. Now that might sound hard, but
that's what God's word says. Verse four, they only consult
to cast him down from his excellency. They delight in lies. Oh, they
bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. See, anyone who
doesn't trust Christ only has only one desire. is to cast Christ
down from His excellency, to take Him off the throne, to take
Him away from His excellency, to be the only Savior, the only
potentate. Now, I know that they talk about
loving Jesus. I know that they've got a real
good religious exterior. I understand that. But God's
Word says their talk is not truly. It's filled with hypocrisy. Their
talk is not only Christ. Because what does God say? God
who knows the heart says, you know, I hear what their lips
are saying, but their heart is far from me. Saving faith is
trusting all of my salvation to Christ only. It's only His
will, only His purpose, only His sacrifice, only His calling,
only His keeping. It's Christ only. So the only
end for those who trust Christ only, you trust Christ like that,
their only end is eternal glory. But the only end for those who
do not trust Christ only is eternal destruction. Verse three, how
long will you imagine mischief against a man? You should be
slain, all of you, as a bowing wall shall you be and as a tottering
fence. Now they might last a long time,
humanly speaking. They might last a long time in
human years, but they're going to fall. And eventually they'll
be destroyed. A wall that's bowed or a tottering
fence, it can stand for a pretty good while. It can. But all it
takes to topple it over is a change in ground temperature or just
a wind. Or just lean on your fence and
talk to your neighbor. If it's a tottering fence or
a bowling ball, just fall over. It doesn't take much. It might
stand a while. But it's going down. It's going
down. Now, in all that going on around
us, let's close with this word from our Master. You remember,
Jarius came and told our Lord, my daughter's very sick. She's
dying. Would you come and lay your hand
on her and heal her? And the Lord said, I will. And
while they were going to his house, the Lord got interrupted
with a woman with issue blood come and touch the hem of his
garment. She said, if I can only touch the hem of his garment.
Only touch it. And Lord, turn and talk to her,
deal with her. Can you imagine old Jairus over
there just two foot, just want him, go to my house, go to my
house. And they came to him and told
him the worst that happened. Jairus, your daughter's dead.
Don't trouble the master anymore. Before Jairus could say a word,
our master stopped him and told him, Be not afraid. Only believe. All this going on around us.
Be not afraid. Only believe. If we would only
believe Christ, we'd have no reason to be afraid. If we would
believe Christ only, there'd be no reason for fear. Now, if the elements of this
table represent to you the only way that your sin can be paid
for. You've got to send that, and the only way it can be paid
for is the precious blood of Christ this wine represents.
If the only way that you can be saved, the only way you can
have life is Christ dying for you, His body broken for you,
and His body dying for you, if that's the only way that you
can have life, then this tape is for you, because that's what
it represents. All right, Wayne, you mean if you would distribute
the bread.