Let's look again at Psalm 3. We read it, but now let's look
at it a little more in detail. The title of the psalm tells
us exactly when David wrote it and why he wrote it. It says,
The Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom, his son, his own
son, Oh my son Absalom, David cried. In 2 Samuel chapter 15,
you don't need to turn there, but you have the record of that
occasion. And we read there in verse 12,
the conspiracy was strong, that is Absalom's conspiracy to overthrow
his father. The killing, the conspiracy was
strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. And as more and more went over
to the conniving Absalom's side, less and less stood with David. The rebellion of Absalom was
like a snowball going down a hill. It just gets bigger and bigger
as it goes. Now, Remembering that, the occasion
of the psalm, it helps us maybe appreciate more what David says. For example, again, verse 1.
Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? They're all
going over to Absalom. Many are they that rise up against
me, some of his own very familiar friends. But a greater than David
is here. A greater than David is here.
as our Lord said more than once, especially after his resurrection,
when he appeared to his disciples. He said, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled. All things must be. We like that,
don't we, Billy? We just like that dogmatism. Must be. There's just no question
about it. must be fulfilled which were
written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms
concerning me." The Word of God is about God the Word that was
made flesh and dropped among us. Indeed, that's a sad story
of David's flight from his own palace that night, in the middle
of the night, when he crossed the brook Kidron. and went with
a few faithful followers to hide himself for a while from the
fury of his rebellious son. In that, too, he was a type of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he, too, passed that
same brook in the middle of the night when his people had rebelled
against him. And he, too, had a feeble band
of followers when he entered the garden of Gethsemane. Just
like David. John 18 and 1, when Jesus had
spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook
Sidron, or Kidron, where was a garden into which he entered
and his disciples. Let's look just for a moment
at Psalm 2. This too, we found David as a
type of our Lord. It speaks of David's exhortation. You remember at first, Saul did
all that he could to prevent David from ascending the throne.
But Psalm 2 shows us the royal dignity of one greater than David,
the son of David, our Redeemer. Look at verse 1 here in Psalm
2. Why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed, saying, Who else could that be but the Son of
God? Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords
from us." That's exactly what happened when our Lord was delivered
to Pilate. But what did that all come to?
All the conniving, plotting of Saul concerning David, And all
the conniving and plotting of the religious powers, the Pharisees,
the Herodians, concerning the Son of God, all that plotting,
all that conspiracy, all that hate, and all that rebellion,
what did it accomplish after all? You know what it accomplished?
The very thing they sought to stop. Oh, thank God for His marvelous
providence. It accomplished by the hand of
God the very event they hoped to prevent. God used it. God used it to bring to pass
that very work they so much hated. Concerning David, God still placed
him on the throne that despite everything that Saul could do,
Psalm 18 speaks about that, the stone which the builders refused,
the same is made the head of the corner. This is the Lord's
doing and it's marvelous. It's marvelous in our eyes. Look at verse 4 here in Psalm
2. He that saideth, this is God now, he that saideth into heaven
shall laugh. Laugh. The Lord shall have them
in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. He took
off the chariot wheels, didn't he? Yet have I set my king upon
my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The
Lord hath said to me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me. Is this God's promise
to his son? Ask of me, and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Again, in Psalm 2, this type
of David, or David as the type, showed us the royal dignity of
the Son of God, does it not? Our Redeemer, though there was
no beauty that they should desire of him, he's still altogether
lovely, to those who have eyes to see. Here in Psalm 3, by the
example again of David in distress, we're shown the security of the
redeemed. The security of the redeemed
and how safe they really are. See-la, see-la. Think about that,
let that sink in for a moment. How safe they really are. Here
we have the first use in Psalm 3, the first time the word Psalm
is used in the Word of God. The word Psalm means praise. Praise. The book of Psalms is
a book of praises. That's why it was used so much
in the worship of God. It's God's book of praises. And children of God, we have
good reason to praise Him, don't we? We have good reason to praise
him. We'll take verse 8 as our text.
Here's the conclusion of the psalm. After all the dust is
settled, not only then, but at any time, in our day as well. After all the dust is settled,
that is what we thankfully desire, this is what will be left. What's
really been true all along, always has been. Salvation, verse 8,
belongs unto God. Salvation belongs unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah. Selah. The title of our message is Salvation
Belongs to God. If you've had the opportunity
to look at the bulletin, that's the title of the article. by
Mr. Spurgeon. That wasn't his, that was mine.
I gave that to him so I don't feel too bad about using it.
Salvation belongs to God. That's worth singing about, ain't
it? Psalms are psalms. If we can't rejoice in this,
that salvation belongs to God, we're in a sad state indeed.
If we can't rejoice in that, we're in bad shape indeed. David
gives God the glory and takes to himself the comfort God gets
the glory. Oh, but what a comfort it was
today, but the great blessing of that great salvation of our
great God that David tells us here is sure, is sure to all
God's people. I still enjoy Matthew Henry. I've had people tell me, oh,
he's, I've outgrown him. Well, how do you do? I haven't. I like him. Is this what he said
concerning this psalm, he said, and David speaking from personal
experience. Old Henry said, those speak best
the truths of God who speak experimentally. So David here speaks of the power
and goodness of God and of the safety and tranquility of the
godly. David wasn't no armchair theologian
when he wrote this. No, he by experience learned
of God's amazing grace. In the very midst of Absalom
seeking his life, David said, I lay down and took a nap. Salvation belonged unto God. I like what Brother Henry said
along this line, something to this effect. He said, you can
no more tell of something you've never experienced, any more than
you can come back from where you've never been. Is that not true? Taste and see
that the Lord is gracious. Until you do, you can talk about
it and sing about it and study about it, but until you experience,
you don't have a clue. David speaks from experience.
Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. It better. That's our first
thought. It better. If not, if not, no
one will ever be saved. You said, Larry, everybody knows
that. Well, when you visit with your family and friends and relatives
in the next week or so, keep your ears and listen and see
how many things that say. That salvation is all of the
Lord. Be nice if that's all you would
hear, but you won't. If salvation is not of God, no
one will ever be saved. If the salvation of a sinner
is not of the Lord altogether, In every aspect, not only will
no sinner ever be saved, no sinner has ever been saved. What about
in the Old Testament? They were saved by the same grace
God saves sinners by the day. No one will be saved on any other
grounds. There never has been not one
time, not one time, since God created man even one sinner,
not even one exception to the rule of salvation by grace. And that grace that saves only
comes from the God of all grace, nobody else. And that grace that
only comes from the God of all grace flows from one channel,
flows from the throne of God through the fountain of only
one person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace that
truly saves a sinner has never, never, never, and I'll tell you
what, I would emphasize that probably even more because I
think of certain people who believe that this is so in my family.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ has never, has and never will
come through a Catholic priest or a Pope. But not only that,
it's never come through the hand of a Baptist preacher either.
Grace comes from one man. And that's the God-man. And that's
not a pope, and that's not a preacher. That's the Son of God. He's the
God-man. Look unto me and be ye saved. The Lord Jesus Christ. That man
is the one from whom grace comes. Romans chapter 4, now I don't
mind if you turn and look at this with me. Romans 4, verses
6 through 8. I'll give you a minute to find
it. Of course, what Paul says here
is a quote from Psalm 32, verse 6, Romans 4. Even as God also
describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works. Oh, that's a blessed man. The
Pharisees didn't know nothing about that, did they? They were
trying to do the very opposite. Saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven. Wow! whose sins are covered. Wow! Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. My soul! It's God's righteousness. There's
so much we could say from these few verses. But let's just say
this, we learn, it's God's righteousness, not man's. Notice what we read
there, it's the righteousness of God. God gives the righteousness. There's nothing man can produce.
And this righteousness being imputed from God without works
plainly shows that it's God's free grace and not man's merit
or free will that's the cause of receiving it. Nothing in the
receiver being the cause but wholly by the grace from the
giver. Salvation has always belonged
to God. Here's another thought. His salvation
belongs unto the Lord. Again, it's better because we
can't save ourselves, can we? We can't save ourselves. We usually
try that, don't we? I did. I did. I think it's probably
common. When God first begins to deal
with us and gets us lost, You know that old-fashioned truth
they call conviction that you don't hear much about anymore,
but the Word of God says you're going to be brought down before
you're ever exalted. God's going to strip you before
He ever closed you, you know. But anyway, when God first begins to strip
me, bring me down, first thing I did was try to work the pleasing.
I got me a Bible. I went to my grandmother. She
professed to know God About like that lady told Henry, I've been
a Christian all my life. It's too long. Grandma, I'm lost. What must I do to be saved? Larry,
what you need to do is get that hair cut. I was a hippie. I'm not making this up, Pete.
Isn't this sad? I was as lost as Don would say,
as a goose in a snowstorm. And the only Christian I knew,
or claimed to be a Christian, told me, you need to get a haircut.
And you need to get your Bible. That's what I did. Went and got
a haircut. There were old men ahead of me,
so I waited to get a haircut, but when they waited after they
got, they waited to watch me get that mop cut off. So I got
me a haircut. They said, oh, you look good.
You look like a man now. They got me a Bible. I heard of a
friend of mine that I had in high school that God had saved,
I found him and he said, go to church with me. I went to church
with him. They said, come up to the altar. You know the story. Just works, works, works. That
very night, the first time I went up to their altar, they slapped
me on the back. I repeated the prayer. I went
through the whole hoops. Slapped me on the back and told
me I was saved and what a great thing I had done for God. And I'm sitting there thinking,
at the very time they're saying it to me, I thought, man, are
you serious? Bobby, I was ignorant as I could
be, but I thought, you're telling me I'm saved, how come you know
it and I don't? How do you know? I don't. I don't. You talk about being miserable.
I mean, people saying, you're saved, you're saved. And God's
saying, no you're not, no you're not. You're lost, you're lost.
I laid in at night and God said, you're lost, lost, lost. Come down, sinner. You've not
come down far enough. Come on down. Oh, thank God that
salvation belongeth unto him. Because with us it's impossible.
Those very metaphors. in scripture that we find that
compares salvation to show us it's beyond the power of man.
It's called the resurrection. Salvation is a resurrection.
It's a quickening. You had he quickened, given life,
who were dead. You're dead, now you're alive.
Who made you alive? Nicodemus is being born again.
How can I do that, this religious Pharisee said, didn't have a
clue. These very words and phrases
teach us salvation must belong to God if it's that great and
marvelous of a work. And people on every hand today,
every church in Sylacauga, if it's mentioned at all this morning,
if they can find time to even mention it, among all the nonsense
that'll be going on, they'll tell sinners and try
to convince sinners, it's easy. It's easy. I look at you and
say, it's easy. If you're lost this morning,
let me tell you, it's easy. It's not a problem. Would that
concern you? If I told you, if you were lost
and I told you how easy it was and how it's all up to you, would
you be alarmed by that? That would have the very opposite
effect. That would just make me lay back even more and say,
if it's all up to me, I'll just wait till I'm ready to die and
say, God saved me and he'll do it. No, it's not easy. How dishonoring. What a slander
to the son of God. It's not easy. It's called the
creation. What can we create? What have
we ever created? The same one that created man
in the first place must recreate man when he's born again. Give him a new nature. A new
nature. That's something out of this
world. That comes from above, Nicodemus. You gotta be born
from above. You don't been born here, but you gotta be born from
above. Creation work is only from God.
They were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. Therefore, if any man be
in the Baptist church, he's a new creature. If any man be in the
Five Points, he's a new creature. No, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. There's no question about it.
All things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Huh? I get tired of hearing God's
great work of salvation belittled and brought down to ABC and you
take the first step. Hogwash! That's a lie. That's a lie. That dishonors
the God of all grace. All things become new. Who else
but God in the flesh can do such a wondrous that? He that sat
upon the throne said, Behold, I, nobody else can. Behold, I
make all things new. We're mighty great sinners. And
we've sinned against a mighty, holy, and just God. And we're
mighty helpers to do anything about it. How good to hear what
John the Baptist preached, there cometh one after me mightier
than I. You're gonna listen to him. Mightier
than I. Nobody else could help me. And
that is the one our text speaks of. Salvation belongeth unto
the Lord. We began by saying, it better,
it better. And that's our second thought.
It is. Hallelujah, it is. Salvation
belongeth unto God. We've been seeing and hearing,
you'd have to bury your head in the sand not to A lot more
than usual, certain verses of scripture read and sung and written
and plastered all over creation. More so this time of the year
than at any other time. Everybody thinks they're doing
God a little favor. A lot of folks will go to church
next Sunday. That's only one of the two times in a year that
they'll go. You never see them after that.
clown or pat him on the back and say, well, thank God you're
here. We're so happy you took time out of your busy schedule
to give God a crumb. But this is one of the verses
we'll see in here. Joseph, she shall bring forth
a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. Oh, what a glorious, glorious
proclamation. And here's another one we'll
see everywhere. And the angel said unto them,
this is Luke 2, of course, fear not, this was the angel's message
to the shepherds, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people, Jew, Gentile,
for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, a savior, he's born
a savior. He was a Savior when he came
into this world. He didn't come to be a Savior,
he was a Savior. A Savior which is Christ the
Lord. And here's the tragic thing. All those glorious verses are
true. Thank God they're true. But the
tragic thing is, without even seeming to realize it, people
will then begin to tell us why those things are not true. They'll read those verses, sing
those verses, do plays, put on pageants, just do all utter nonsense,
and then tell us why they're not true. What do you mean, Barry? This is what I mean. Matthew
1 and 21 says that without a doubt, without a doubt, without any
stipulations, without any contribution from anybody, and without even
a hint, of it not being done, this blessed glorious gospel
message of call his name Jesus, he shall save his people from
their sins, they'll say that could not be done unless you
allow God to do it. What's that do to that message?
It's worthless. But that's not what the message
was, was it? Nothing could be more emphatic when we read those
words. Nothing could be plainer, nothing
could be more certain. If you read anything else, if
you pick up a newspaper or a book and read something written so
plainly, you wouldn't question it. You wouldn't have any doubt
about it. And yet, that verse will be read,
sermons will be delivered on it, and then they'll say that
it really isn't so, because it's only effectual if you make it
effectual. He'll only save his people from
their sins if they let him do it. Thine God, that's not true. Thine God that salvation belongeth
unto the Lord. The message of the angel to the
shepherds, telling them that very night a savior had already
been born, would be no reason at all to sing about. And praise
God for and be joyful if that savior only came to make salvation
available. that the success of his coming
would depend upon the will of man. Oh, thank God. What is there in such a truth
as if that were the truth? But thank God it's not. He came, Jesus Christ came on
a mission of mercy, sent here by his Father, made like unto
his brethren, for an express purpose, to save his people from
their sins. He did not come to set up an
earthly kingdom. He didn't do it then. He's not
doing it now. He come to set up his kingdom
in the hearts of his people. And the success of his mission
depended on nobody but himself. He, bless God, he shall save
his people from their sins. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem. Not to take a stab
at it, not to try, not to offer it, to redeem them that were
under the law. God put that great and glorious
work that was utterly and entirely impossible to anybody else into
the hands of his son. He committed it into his hands. That's where it was put. 700 years before the message
to Joseph concerning the birth of the Son of God, God himself
said this, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect in whom
my soul delighteth, This is Isaiah 42. I have put my spirit upon
him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. Does that sound iffy? He shall
not cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking
flax shall he not quince. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. Shall, shall, shall. He shall
save his people. He shall not fail. I like that. He shall not fail. Larry Criss
doesn't do much else but fail, but he, Jesus Christ, he shall
not fail nor be discouraged till he hath brought judgment in the
earth and the owl shall wait for his law. Now, when I read
that Jesus Christ shall not fail, then I know he accomplished whatever
he intended to accomplish when he came into this world. And
if he purposed, if what we hear from everywhere else is true,
if he purposed when he came to save all men, if his purpose
was to save everybody in this world that should ever live,
when he came, then since he shall not fail, I expect everybody
in the world to be saved. And if I believe that, that's
what I would preach. That wasn't his intention, was it? He shall
save his people. Jesus Christ did not fail. We rejoice that he did. Last
night at the house, about 5.30, the power went out. We were right
in the middle of fixing some hot dogs. It got dark. Got some flashlights. I don't
have trouble finding my mouth, so we ate. Got a text. No, Robin called the power company.
Got a recording. What's going on? It'll be back
on at six o'clock. Well, everybody else's came on
at six o'clock, so what do I do? So got another text. Well, this
is a bigger problem than we thought. We're needing more resources.
It'll be nine o'clock. At nine o'clock, she got another
text. It's going to be 11 o'clock. It was getting cold. And I was
finishing my notes just by the light of my iPad, but no power. Robin said, well, you know, you
could light the gas stove. I said, there you go. She went
in there. It wouldn't even work, because
the ignition, the pilot light, I guess the electrical tip. And
she said, well, maybe I could use a match. I said, well, I
don't know. Maybe it might just blow us all out in the street
there. Maybe you should. And I said, well, If that should
happen, we all get blowed out there on Logan Street, that'd
be okay, because then we'll go to him that has all power in
heaven and in the earth, and Alabama can just keep their power. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. The truth of salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine
of the word of God. Salvation doesn't belong to the
free will of man. Salvation from first to last
in every iota belongs to the free grace of God. It's not of
him that willeth, aren't you glad that's so? Or of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Here's the last thing. Look at the second sentence or
clause of the text there in verse 8. Thy blessing is upon thy people,
Selah. Selah. Again, emphatic, dogmatic,
without question. Thy blessing is upon thy people. God's people were blessed in
Christ, they're blessed through Christ, and they're going to
be blessed with Christ before long. It flows from grace, it
is ensured by the oath of an everlasting faithful and covenant
God. Again, the bulletin article of
Mr. Spurgeon, he deals on the last sentence of this text. Thy
blessing is upon thy people. Neither, Spurgeon said, neither
upon Egypt, nor upon Tyre, nor upon Nineveh. Thy blessing is
upon thy chosen. Thy blood bought thine everlastingly
beloved people. Selah, selah. Lift up your hearts
and paws and meditate upon this doctrine. Thy blessing is upon
thy people. Divine, discriminating, distinguishing,
eternal, infinite, immutable love is the subject for constant
adoration. Thank God for His grace alone
that makes us the different. I'll tell you what, I am such
a proud creature by nature. I mean, even as I preach that
I know only God's grace has made me different, made me to differ
from that wino that woke up in the gutter, yet sometimes God
will send something or do something that'll just remind me, oh, Larry. Remember, remember. Well, I thought
I did, oh. How can we, that God is saved
by his pure, free grace, look down our nose at anybody? That's
wrong. That's just wrong. And I sometimes
think that if I really believe the message that I preach, that
God is sovereign, there's not a rebel he can't bring down.
That should be a reason to witness. Sometimes we're timid about wisdom.
Well, I've talked to them for so long. Well, do it again. Invite
them again. Pray for them again. Witness
to them again. God may be pleased to bring them down. If we really
believe that he's mighty to save, oh, God help me to act like him. Isaiah chapter 45 verse 16. God's speaking of his people.
Those who aren't his people and then those who are. They shall
be ashamed and also confounded, all of them, all of them. that
shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols." But
that's not everybody. Verse 17, "'But Israel shall
be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall
not be ashamed, nor confound the world without end.'" Before
I finish, before I turn you loose, let me exhort you, little flock,
Make your calling and election sure. Larry, why do you do that? I'll
tell you why. Because as God said, the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? That's why. That's why. I hope to see you again, the
Lord willing. But the truth is we just never
know, do we? This might be the last time I
ever speak to you. This very well may be the last
time. You may be gone when I come back. It's happened before with
some of us. So this might be the last time
that I speak to you. So let me ask you. Have you personally experienced
the Lord's salvation? May we learn this experimentally,
for our proud flesh won't allow us to learn it any other way.
I pray that each of us for ourselves had tasted that the Lord is gracious. There's a lot I don't know, but
I know whom I have believed. Oh, that we've come to this fountain
so rich and sweet have plunged in and know that we've been made
complete. The other evening, I was reading again Spurgeon's
testimony concerning his own conversion, the account of his
conversion as a 15-year-old boy on that cold winter morning when
he went down an alley because he couldn't get to this church
he was going to and slipped into an old primitive Methodist chapel. under conviction, seeking peace
and finding none. And as I read it again, I've
read it many times, but boy, it made my heart rejoice. Because
I wasn't thinking about Spurgeon, I was thinking about Larry. And
I tried to read a little bit of it to Robin and Roger, couldn't
hardly do it. That was the text that God used
to reveal Christ to Spurgeon. And he never forgot it. He never
forgot it. It's written on the tomb where
he's buried. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth, for I am God. I am God, and there's none else. Oh, aren't you thankful that
God opened your eyes to behold his Son? The Spirit and the bride
say, come, and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is
athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely. I want to read you a few sentences
on this psalm by old Robert Hawker. He said, reader, this is from
his commentary, reader behold from the pursuer of this sweet
and blessed psalm, What must be your confidence now in your
nightly slumbers? And what alone will be your confidence
then when lying down in the long slumber of the grave, even sleeping
in Jesus? You need not be afraid. I like that. You need not be afraid. In the
recurrence of every night to drop asleep, If so be your soul
is sustained by its union with Jesus Christ and a consciousness
of the same interest in all that belongs to him. We'll be the
well-grounded security when the body falls asleep in Jesus until
the day of the resurrection. Selah. Selah. Amen. God bless you.