We're back to Psalm 62. God is our rock and our salvation. God is the God of creation, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. We've been studying through Genesis. The God who parted the Red Sea, God who sent his Son into this
world, is our salvation. Our salvation
is not a system. It's not a system. Our salvation
is the living God of heaven and earth. That ought to put us to
sleep tonight with comfort and peace. God is my salvation. He says, truly, only, sincerely,
my soul, speaking to himself, truly my soul, waiteth. You know that word there translated
means silent. So I know this was not written
by a novice, because a novice does not wait silently. You know
when We are born again, we are babes, babes in Christ. And it takes a while, it takes
trials, it takes time, it takes growing to learn to sit still
and know that I am God. He says be still and know that
I am God. It takes a little while to do
that. It takes a little while. And so what he's saying here,
truly my soul waiteth in silence. upon God, knowing with full confidence
that He is my salvation, that He is going to bring me out of
this. This could truly be said of our
Lord. He truly waited patiently, silently upon God. Not murmuring. Never murmured.
And this is the position that we are to take. to wait silently
upon Him. Before a man is brought to faith
in Christ, he does not wait silently upon anyone. Not at all. He feels he has to do something.
Got to do something. But after the Lord gives a man
a new heart, and He gives him faith, This person, this sinner,
begins to learn to wait in silence upon the Lord. He'll deliver. He'll deliver. The scripture
says, In your patience possess ye your souls. A believer waits upon God as
a servant waits on his master for instructions. Speak, Lord,
thy servant heareth. In Genesis 46, I was reading
that today, and God reveals Himself again to Jacob before He goes
down into Egypt. And Jacob says, Speak, Lord.
He says, Jacob, Jacob. And He says, Here am I. Speak. The believer waits on God. And
this takes time. Some of these things that I'm
giving you, it takes time. But it happens. It happens. He
waits upon God patiently. He waits upon God expectingly.
Expecting God to show up. Expecting God to deliver. Expecting
Him to do it. Based on His Word. He's promised
to do it. I'll never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. Lord, You said that. You know,
we can expect Him to do just as He said He would. There's
nothing wrong with that. We ought to expect God to do
just as He promised. You know, to do that is to honor
Him. That's faith. Faith is nothing short of just
expecting God to do what He said He'd do. To keep His promises. And we wait knowing that from
Him cometh our salvation. Our salvation. Abraham said,
to Isaac, son, the Lord will provide. It does not matter how
dark the hour looks, the Lord will provide. That's a promise. But now the man who trusts in
the arm of the flesh, he has no faith in God, he's not going
to see God's salvation, an empty profession. That won't get the
job done. That won't get it done. Only
those who look unto God for salvation, only in Him, only in Him will they find it
in Him. Our God is faithful to His promises. He has said, I'll never leave
thee nor forsake thee, and He's faithful to that. Waiting upon
God at all times is a mark of faith. True faith in the heart. Waiting upon Him at all times.
The mark of sonship. Now, there are four things mentioned
in this psalm concerning God's relationship to His people. First of all, it says here, God
only. And it has to start here. Only. God only is our salvation. Don't overlook that little word,
only. This one little word, now listen,
this one little word will determine whether you are truly a believer
or not. Only. Add anything to it, in
any way, shape or form, and you're lost. You've left the grace of
God. You've left the gospel of grace.
God only is my salvation. This is the heart of the gospel.
This is the heart of the gospel, that God only is our salvation. This is the sum and substance
of the whole Word of God, that God only is our salvation. The Scriptures teach us that
salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. If we are to
be saved, God will have to do it, and God alone will have to
do it. I cannot save myself, nor can
I help Him save me. It's Him and Him alone. No more
than a dead person can help you take Him to the graveyard. You
can't do it. God and God alone has to do it.
One writer said this, that which is wrong with any religion is
adding to the merits of Christ. Adding to His merits. Bringing
in our works That is what ruins it. It just
ruins it. Trying to complete the work of
the Redeemer is foolish work because it's complete. The Scripture
says you are complete in Him. Now, in what way is God our salvation? In what way is He our salvation? Well, first of all, it is God
who has delivered us from the house of bondage. It's God who
delivered us from this sin that we're born into. It is God who's
given us a new nature. It's God who's given us a new
birth. It's God who's done that. We come into this world as slaves
to sin and Satan. We come into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. That's the way we come into this
world. We are totally, 1000% depraved. Depraved. ignorant to our true condition
before God, and how to change it is not in us. We just, as
the leper, the scripture says, as a leper cannot change its
spots, neither can ye which are accustomed to doing evil do good.
That's our condition. That's our condition by nature.
God has to do something for us and in us. He has to make the
change. He has to do the saving. We can't
do it. He's the one who has to lift
us out of this pit of corruption that we're born into. We can't do it. And you know
what? We don't want to do it. The Scripture says that man drinks
iniquity like water. I like this water. You know,
probably by the time we're done here, I'll drink most of this
water. I like it. I thirst for it. I want it, I
crave it, I desire it. And that's the way the flesh
is with sin. It loves it, craves it, it desires
it. And God has to save us from that.
He has to deliver us from that. He's the one who has to do it. Let this doctrine ring loud and
clear that God only is our salvation. God only. It is written in Romans
11, verse 26, And all Israel shall be saved, as it is written,
There shall come out of Zion, listen, the Deliverer, the Deliverer, and he shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob. Who is that? Who is that Deliverer? Well, you know who it is. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent His Son to deliver us
from this pit of corruption. The Father chose Him before the
foundation of the world to be the Mediator, the only Mediator
between God and men. He's the only one. And He stands
as a Mediator to deliver what God the Father requires. He is the Deliverer. He's the one who came into this
world and became boner by bone and flesh of our flesh. In this
flesh, as a man, he kept God's law on behalf of his people perfectly. Absolutely perfect. Every jot,
every tittle. He loved God as we ought to love
God. He obeyed him as we ought to
obey him. He did it perfectly. And then he came into this world
to deliver us by the sacrifice of himself. He's the sin bearer. He's the
one who put it away. He's the one who put our sins,
he purges from our sins, says over in Hebrews chapter 1, by
himself. By himself. And then he delivered us as our high priest. It says over
in Hebrews 7 verse 25, Wherefore he is able also to say then to
the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. He makes intercession for our
Lord, pleads his blood. He pleads his righteousness for
his people. That's what he believes. God
never looks on us with any pleasure or anyone else with any pleasure
outside of his Son. Not outside of his Son. Not at
all. It is always in his Son. It's always in His righteousness,
always His blood that He sees. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. That's what He sees. It's always
His sacrifice. Christ is the sweet savor that
is sweet smell unto God. He's the one. This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. He's that deliverer. He is. Christ is our deliverer from
death. O death," it says over in 1 Corinthians
15, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Where is it? And Paul says in
verse 57 of that chapter, but thanks be unto God which gives
us the victory. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. through him. And then secondly, in this chapter,
God is our rock. He is set forth as our rock,
a firm foundation. A rock is a firm foundation. We're not talking about a little
stone here. We're not talking about a little pebble. We're
talking about a rock. A rock. An immovable rock. Now rock is a firm foundation,
unlike the shifting sands. I remember when I was a kid,
I haven't been down to Florida for a long time, but I was probably
a teenager last time I was down there, but we'd go out to the
beach and we'd get out there and stand in the sand and the
waves come in and when they go out, you'd feel that sand go
out from under your feet. You can just feel it just going
out from under your feet. We don't have that in Christ.
We have in Christ a firm, unmovable foundation. We have in Christ
a foundation that never, never changes. Never changes at all. A firm foundation. Those who build their house on
the rock, that house will stand. That house will stand. But those
who build it on the sand, It will be gone when the storm comes.
Christ is a sure foundation. He said to Peter, upon this rock,
Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And
he said, upon this rock I will build my church and the
gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now if he built that
on sand, the gates of hell would prevail against it. If it's built
on anything but Christ and Christ alone, The gates of hell will
prevail against it. I'm telling you, if this church
right here, this body of believers, if this is built on the rock,
the gates of hell will not prevail against it. No matter how much
God allows us to be tried, it will not prevail against us.
It will not break it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Because
he promised it won't do it. God is our rock. And he is our
rock on which we stand. right now and in the future. The message here never changes.
Christ never changes. The gospel never changes because
that rock never changes. That rock never changes. We find in Him all we need. We find in Him all the safety
we need, all the shelter we need. We find in Him everything we
need. And in Him we hide. God said to Moses, He said, I'm
going to put you in the cleft of the rock. And when I pass
by, I'm going to show you my glory, but you're going to see
my back part. But I'm going to put you in the
cleft of the rock. And that's what He's done to
us. He's put us in the rock, cried Jesus, and He's revealed
to us something of His glory. I mean, there's a lot. You know,
somebody, I think, quoted back here a while ago about, we see
through a glass darkly. We do. We see God's glory through
a glass. We see something of it. But,
oh, my soul, one day we're going to see it. The veil is going
to be taken back. We are going to see the glory
of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And it'll be amazing. It'll be amazing. And He is our
rock and that He's unchanging. Unchanging. That's what it says
in Hebrews 13.8. Jesus Christ the same. Yesterday, today, and
forever. I'm sure glad, I am so glad that
there is one that does not change. I'm so glad there's one that
you can take him at his word and it won't change. It never
changes. He said in Malachi 3.6, I am
the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. You're not consumed because God
does not change. And He is our rock and that in
Christ we find rest. We find rest. He is the shadow
of a great rock in a weary land. In a parched land. In a desert
land. Where the heat is burning down.
The heat of the sun is just scorching. And you find that big old rock
and you get on one side of the shadows And you just sit there
in the shade. He is our rock. Our Lord is. He keeps us from the heat of
God's wrath. He shields us from that. And then thirdly, God is our
defense. You see in verses 2 and 6. He
is the wall around us. He is the high tower. God is. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Oh, let the charges come. Let them come. Let Satan accuse
us before God. We have no condemnation to fear. None. In Christ, the Scripture
tells us in Romans 8.1, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in this rock, who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. It says in verse 34 of Romans
8, Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. It
is God who justifies us in Christ. Now if he has received Christ
as our substitute in his life and in his death, then who can
condemn us? No one. No one's above God. And if the judge of all the earth
says justified, I'm telling you what, you're justified. And no
one's going to change it. I can't even change it. If he
has justified me in Christ, I cannot change that. No, I'll tell you
what it does. He changes me. He changes me. There's no one greater than God.
If we have His favor, we have nothing to worry about. Nothing
to worry about. And the Scripture goes on to
say in Romans 8.34, it is Christ that died. He died as a substitute. He died for a people. It is Christ,
the Son of God, that died, yea rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercessions
for us. Oh, he stands before God as my
defense counselor. He does. He's my defense counselor. He's never lost a case. Never. And never will. If God Almighty defends me, what do I have to worry about?
If the living God, if God is my salvation, if God is my rock,
if He is my defense, what do I have to worry about? And then fourthly, God is our
refuge. He's our refuge. He is our shelter
in the time of storm. Christ is God and He is our shelter
in the time of storm. Now for a refuge to be a refuge,
for it to be a real refuge, it must be a strong place and it
must be a safe place. And it must be a place where
you can get food and drink during the storm. where it's not much of a refuge.
Christ is our refuge. He is our food. He is our drink. And those who have fled to Christ
are safe. Safe from the wrath of God. Safe. Our lives are hid with
Christ in God. It's safe. You need not worry. You are safe from the manslayer. In the Old Testament, there were
six cities of refuge for a man to flee to if he accidentally
killed someone. And he would stay there until
his case was determined and he was justified, cleared of all
charges. And the manslayer, the man that
wanted to slay him, to kill Could not touch him in that place. Could not touch him in that city.
God provided those cities. God provided those places. God did. When that man entered into that
city of refuge, I don't care how mad, how upset the manslayer
was after him, he could not go into that city and get him. Couldn't
do it. Couldn't do it. Christ is our
city of refuge. Don't you think the law on Satan
and sin, if we were outside of Christ, would get us? Now, it
would. But in Christ, can't touch us. Safe. Safe in him. He's our refuge. And then last
but not least, God is our glory. He's our glory. Now I know that the glory of
many are their looks, and boy does that fade as time
goes by. Our strength, and that fades
too. Riches, Solomon said riches have
wings and they fly away. You can be rich today, and I'm
telling you, poor tomorrow. It's so fickle. So fickle. Ancestry? And I can go on and on with what
people glory in. But the glory of a believer,
I mean one who is born of God, is God. It is God. It's not faith. It's not our faith. It's not
our obedience. It's our God. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Who is like unto our God? That's
what it says over in Isaiah. Who is like unto our God? Think
about it. Our God is sovereign. Our God
rules over all. There is none, the Scripture
says, to be compared to Him. None to be compared to Him. He's
almighty. He appeared to Abraham as almighty
God and Jacob as almighty. He's almighty. He's holy. He's merciful. He's gracious.
He's eternal. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. And this God
is our God. Man, what rest we ought to have. What joy, what comfort to think,
to sit down and meditate upon this, that God in all that is. You know, I watch these nature
programs. They'll show the universe, well,
what they can show of it. And you look at the vastness
of it. And all those, I'm not going to say billions of stars,
but it's innumerable. Just innumerable. And then you
look at creation. And you look at all that God
has created. The vastness of creation. I was reading an article the
other day where they found a new species of a lizard. I mean, it was a five foot long
lizard. How in the world did you miss that? This lizard was
five foot long and they did a test on it. It's a new species. Here
we are, 2010, and I forget, they gave a number
of how many new species of insects and things like that they find
every year. And here they found a five-foot lizard. God made
all this. And this God of creation is our
God. And He's the God of our salvation.
David said in one place, God is become my salvation. God is. He himself, he himself became
a man. Try to wrap your mind around
that. The God Almighty, one who has
unlimited power and wisdom and knowledge, he became a real man
that he might save worms like you and I. that He might save enemies. We were enemies in our minds
by wicked works, Scripture says. And this God who became a man
is Jesus Christ. And this man is seated at God's
right hand right now, ruling, reigning over everything for
us. Nothing comes our way accidentally. or just happens along. You know,
everything that I will ever experience was purposed of God before the
first thing was ever created. The first thing. Before the first
thing was ever created. He purposed that whatever comes
my way, I go through it. And He's promised. He's promised
a safe delivery home. Safe passage home. That's amazing. It just amazes me that God, in
all that He is, has become my salvation. He only, He only, and don't add anything
to that, and do not take anything from it, He only is my rock and
my salvation. Spurgeon called this the only
song. He said this is the only song. God only is my salvation.