I'd like to draw your attention
this morning to one short phrase which you'll find in Psalm 35
at the end of verse 3. David says, say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. I am thy salvation. It very much draws out the essence
of this psalm and the great plea of David to his Lord. In the face of great persecution,
surrounded by enemies on every side, experiencing the reality
of being rejected by others, and knowing the great hatred
which others have for him because of his love for the Lord and
his ways. David cries out to his God to
deliver him from his enemies, to deliver him from them that
persecute him, to save him from those that hate him without a
cause, to deliver him from those who have dug a pit for him and
would throw him down into a pit without cause. He goes on to
describe the hatred and the adversity which he receives at others'
hands. And throughout it is a plea to
the Lord to vindicate him, to save him, to scatter his enemies. His experience is in common with
others in the scriptures. And speaking of the pit, which
his enemies devised for him and threw him into, were reminded
of that pit that Joseph of old was thrown into by his brothers. Without a cause they hated him
just because they were jealous of him, jealous that his father
loved him. And they were turned to hatred
and they threw him into a pit. David knew the same reaction. He says in verse 1, Plead my
cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me. Fight against
them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear and stop
the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation. Let them be confounded and put
to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought
to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the
wind. and let the angel of the Lord
chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery
and let the angel of the Lord persecute them. For without cause
have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause
they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him
at unawares, and let his neck that he hath hid catch himself
into that very destruction let him fall. And my soul shall be
joyful in the Lord, it shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, Lord,
who is like unto thee? which deliverest the poor from
him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy,
from him that spoileth him. So he cries out unto God to save
him, to save him, to save him from his enemies, to save him
from destruction, to save him from these who hate him without
a cause, He cries out, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. I am thy salvation. Here is the essence of what David
really needs, of what he truly cries out for, and of what he's
brought to know. He needs to hear his God say
unto his soul, I am thy salvation. If God saves him, then he can
fear nothing. If God delivers him, then his
enemies are as the wind, they'll be blown away. If God is his
salvation, he has nothing to fear. and everything the hoping. As God said unto your soul, I
am thy salvation. Have you heard God's voice in
the gospel, saying unto you as he said unto David, to you in
particular, to you in person, saying unto you by name, has
he come unto you in the gospel? and said unto your soul, I am
thy salvation. Have you ever been brought to
cry out unto him, to call unto him, to plead with
him that he should be your salvation? Have you been brought into the
state that David was in that you need saving. You'll know
nothing of salvation, nothing of a saviour, nothing of this
deliverance and nothing of this speech unto your soul until you're
brought somewhere like David where you need and you know you
need to be saved. where you have enemies and you
know you have enemies where you're hated without a cause where trouble
is on every side now David had enemies who he could see enemies who
were people enemies who literally sought his death Saul sought
to put him to death. There were those others who hated
him, who hounded him, who spake evil of him, people. Now you
may say, well, there are those that don't like me. But I'm not
sure that I'm in the state that David's in. But there are other
enemies. There are other enemies that
seek your destruction. They may not be those people
you can see, but there are still people, there are still forces,
there are still enemies that seek your soul, that hate you
without a cause, that would seek to destroy you. We have all sinned
and we have all gone astray. And our sins have brought down
the anger and the judgment of God's wrath. And our sins, left
unanswered, will one day damn us. And there is a great enemy
of our soul, the adversary, Satan, the devil, the great red dragon,
the serpent. There is a great enemy of our
soul. That loves to see us sin. That loves to see us trapped
by our sin. That loves to see the wrath of
God kindled against our sin. That loves to see us trapped
and blinded by our sin. That loves to see us remain in
our sin. That loves to see us have no
answer for our sin. And that loves to see us damned
by our sin in the end. We have an enemy and his legions
of angels, of fallen angels whom he sends out to do his bidding. We have enemies all around us
that we cannot see but who rejoice in our downfall, who would love
to see us remain. blind to God's salvation who
would love to see us remain in darkness and would love to see
us go to our grave still lost in our sins. We may not see this
enemy or these enemies but they're all around us and they have dug
a pit for our soul and they are waiting for us to fall into that
pit. There is a pit into which the
wicked will be cast on the last day. It's dug and it's ready
and it's bottomless and there's no escape. and there are those
enemies that stand around it waiting for you and for I to
fall into their pit without a cause they have hid for me their net
in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soul
now our folly is that naturally we're blind to this the world
in which we live today would scoff at any mention of the devil,
of Satan, of his angels, of a spiritual realm that you cannot see. They'd
scoff at the reality of this pit into which we might fall. They'd scoff of the reality of
heaven and of hell. They scoff at the reality of
God and of his righteousness and of judgment to come. And
they tell you that the only enemies that you have are those that
you make or those that come upon you in this world. The only trouble
you have is from those that you can see. Don't worry about your
sin. Don't worry about what happens
when you die. Don't worry about the devil. They'd blind you to these things,
they'd shut you up from these things. They'd cause you to go
through life merrily, heading to destruction, when all around
there are those unseen enemies preparing for the day when they
can see you fall. Plead my cause, O Lord, with
them that strive with me. fight against them that fight
against me take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for
mine help draw out also the spear and stop the way against them
that persecute me say unto my soul i am thy salvation you and
i need almighty god to fight against these foes that fight
against us Satan and his legions are stronger than any of us,
stronger than you and stronger than I, and except the Lord fight
against him, except the Lord deliver you, you will fall. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. That's what David was brought
to cry. And if God opens your understanding,
or if God opens my understanding, to know that all around there
are enemies seeking our destruction, then you and I will call with
David, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Have you heard?
Have you called? What has this God said unto you
in answer? I am thy salvation. What are you trusting in? Are
you trusting in self? Are you trusting in your own
self-righteousness? Are you trusting in man? Are
you trusting that one day you'll be delivered from these enemies
by something that you can do or think or say? Or have you
found that there's no hope in any of these things? And your
only hope is in he who says unto the soul, I am thy salvation. I am thy salvation. David does not say, say unto
my soul, I have saved you, or I will save you. He does not
simply say, say unto my soul, I will save you, David. But he says, say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation. Nor does he say, say unto my
soul, I am thy saviour. But I am thy salvation. It's
not, I am thy saviour, though his Lord is his saviour, and
though his Lord did save him. But it's more than just that.
He says, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Not just that
he's been saved, not just that God is his saviour, but that
God is his salvation. It's not that God is the saviour
and salvation is something that God performs for David. But he says unto the Lord, say
unto my soul, I am thy salvation. God, Christ, is his salvation. He is. Christ isn't just a saviour. He doesn't just deliver us, but
He is our salvation. To be saved from our enemies
is to be one with Christ. Is to have Christ, is to know
Christ, is to be wed to Christ. He is our salvation, if we know
Him. Not just our Savior. not just
one who has performed an act which saved us, but he is our
salvation. To be lost is to not have Christ. To be saved is to have Christ. I am thy salvation. This is what salvation is. He
is. God is. Christ is. He is our salvation if we've
saved. I am thy salvation. I am. It is divine. It's God
that David cries to. It's the Lord he cries to. It's
Christ he cries to. There's no salvation in man. There's no hope in man. There's
no hope in you, in me, or in any man that you can go to. There's
no hope in a preacher, though a preacher will be sent, a true
preacher will be sent of God to you with God's message of
salvation which he speaks in the Spirit. But there's no hope
in the preacher himself, he's but a voice piece, he's but a
messenger. There's no salvation in man.
Salvation is of the Lord. We read in Jonah. It's of the
Lord. Entirely of the Lord. Man can't
save you. You can't save you. Nothing you
can do or decide will save you. You need God to say unto your
soul in person, in particular, I am thy salvation. because only He can save you. Only He is a saviour and only
He is your salvation. You either have Him or you don't. You either know Him or you're
lost. You either hear Him or you remain
deaf and blind to the truth. I am thy salvation. You must
hear His speech unto your soul. You must know Him. Salvation
is of the Lord, not of man. He doesn't come unto us in the
gospel and say, I have wrought salvation. Do you want it? He doesn't come unto us in the
Gospel and speak of Jesus Christ and His death and say Christ
died for sinners that they might be saved if they will receive
Him. He doesn't present a salvation
that is there for the taking if you but will, because you
but won't. if that's salvation then you
are lost because it stays over there neither you nor I will
ever go and receive it because by nature we're dead and blind
in our sins and we don't care and we don't seek nor can it be earned he doesn't
present salvation and say there it is if you can buy it if you
can earn it If you just walk right and walk before me and
do these things, there it is, I'll reward you with salvation. It's not a reward for your doing
because if it is, you'll never match up to the standard. That's
the lesson that God taught his people. He gave them the law
when he delivered them out of Egypt. to show them that they
had no part in this matter, that they couldn't live before him
aright, that everything was by grace. He gave them that law
after having delivered them. They already knew what it was
to be lost and bound in captivity in Egypt. They were already hopeless
and helpless. They didn't rescue themselves. They didn't get out of Egypt.
They didn't make a decision to say, right, we're heading off.
They didn't do the work of organizing the people and heading out. God
delivered them. Pharaoh wouldn't let them go.
God sent plagues, terrible plagues and still Pharaoh didn't want
to let them go. God had to use mighty power before
Pharaoh eventually said go and even when they went he came after
them pursuing them trying to bring them back again. God delivered
that people but he showed that people having delivered them
that it is not your doing He had to teach them and their children
and future generations that nothing they did would match up. They were given a law to show
them that they were wicked. Even having been delivered from
Egypt, they weren't suddenly a righteous people just because
God had separated them under Him. By nature they were sinful. And their righteousness was found
in Christ alone. There's nothing that you can
do to save yourself. You can't bring yourself out
of Egypt. God had to send Moses unto the
people, his mediator, to deliver them. A picture of Christ. God was their saviour and he
said unto their souls, I am thy salvation. And if you're ever
to be delivered from your sin, you need to hear his voice saying
unto your soul, I am thy salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Of
the Lord, it's divine, it's of God. But it also is the Lord. I am thy salvation. It's to know
Him. It's to hear Him. It's to be
one with Him. It's to live in Him. In Him we
live and move and have our being. Outside of him we're dead and
carnal. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. But if he quickens us unto life
by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, if he brings us to life,
if God comes unto our soul and says, live, if he speaks unto
us in the grave like he spake unto Lazarus and says, come forth,
then he breathes life into the soul and he is our life. I am. thy salvation. In Isaiah 62 we read of the great
promise of God's salvation coming unto his people. Behold, the
Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the
daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his
reward is with him and his work before him. And in so promising,
behold thy salvation cometh, God, through the prophet, was
not just speaking of their salvation as an act, as an event, but he
was speaking of the coming of his Son. He was speaking of the
entrance of the Son of God into this world. Not just that the
Son of God would come to save them, come to bring them salvation,
but that He was their salvation. Behold thy salvation cometh,
behold His reward is with Him and His work before Him. He is
your salvation. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Behold thy salvation
cometh. I am thy salvation. He is. You cannot be saved except
Christ is your salvation. To be saved is to know him, is
to love him, is to hear him, is to see him, to behold him,
is to sit at his feet, is to walk with him, is to adore Him. Salvation is to be with Christ. We know that when our lives reach
their conclusion that we will head either for heaven or for
hell. But there are many in this world
who hearing the gospel or some presentation of the truth would
love to avoid hell. People don't want to die. You probably don't want to die. You don't want to think of being
plunged into the fires of hell for eternity. You would love
to escape the destruction and the judgment of God that your
sins have earned you. But the natural man, though he
doesn't want to be destroyed, he doesn't want to be with Christ. He doesn't want Christ. He might long to be spared from
hell and he might long to go to a place he calls heaven, where
there is no suffering and no sorrow and where he can have
whatever he dreams of. But he doesn't want Christ. And
heaven, truly speaking, is Christ. I am thy salvation. Either heaven
to you is Christ and that is the greatest gift and the greatest
joy and all that you could wish for, or the alternative is hell. There is no heaven without Christ.
Heaven is Christ. I am thy salvation. say unto my soul i am thy salvation
i am thy salvation thy it's personal it's addressed in person to david
here say unto my soul i am thy salvation david not I am the
saviour not I am salvation but I am thy salvation he doesn't
just want to hear that God is a saviour of his people he wants
to know if he's amongst that people He doesn't just want to
hear that Christ delivered his people from their sins. He wants
to know if he's amongst the ones whom Christ delivered. He doesn't
just want to know that God saves. He wants to know that God saves
him. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Now you may have heard the gospel,
And you may be able to tell others facts of the gospel. You may
be able to say, I know that God created the heavens and the earth.
I know that he made man upon the face of the earth. I know
that man fell and rebelled. I know that I fell and rebelled
in him. I know that I'm born a sinner.
I know that the wrath of God burns from heaven against my
sins and I know that God sent his son into this world and I
know that he lived as a perfect man and I know that he went to
the cross and I know that he was nailed to the cross and I
know that he laid down his life in the place of sinners I know
that he suffered under the wrath of God I know that he bore the
sins of his people I know that he died I know that he was laid
in the grave. I know that he rose again. You
may be able to say all of those things but did Christ die for
you? You may know those things, you
may acknowledge them to be true, you may know there are those
that know that for themselves, but did he do it for you? Has
he said unto your soul, I am thy salvation? This is personal, it's addressed. And we've no right to presume
upon this salvation. We've no right to presume that
Christ died for us unless He comes to us in His Gospel, unless
He comes to us by His Spirit and says unto our soul, I am
thy salvation. We must know Him and hear Him
personally. David did. David heard. David saw. David knew. As others in the scriptures saw
and knew. They knew. They beheld him. They heard him. They held him. In Luke and chapter 2, the mother
of Jesus, mother and father of Jesus, took Jesus having been
born in the city of David they took him to the temple and we read in Luke 2 verse 25
and behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon
and the same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation
of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him And it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before
he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took he him up in his arms. and blessed God, and said, Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light
to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken
of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother,
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of
many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Yea, your sword shall pierce through thine own soul also,
and the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Simeon. beheld the Lord Jesus. He took him in his hands. He lifted up the Son of God,
the one for whom he had waited, waiting for the consolation of
Israel. He came by the Spirit into the
temple. When the parents brought in the
child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took
he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. He saw him. It was personal. He was brought into the very
place where he was. He came into the same place.
There was the Lord Jesus. There was the Son of God. There
was God's salvation. And he picked him up. He was
seen, personally. Having been promised, personally. God said under his people, he
sent prophets to his people, he sent promises that his saviour
would come. In Habakkuk 3 in verse 13, we
read, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
even for salvation with thine anointed. That wound is the head
out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation
unto the neck. Here's the promise of his coming
that he would go forth for the salvation of his people, even
for salvation with thine anointed. God would send his anointed,
he would send his son. The same son. that Simeon took in his hands. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Have your eyes seen his salvation? Has your soul heard him speak? I am thy salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. He
will bring it to us. He will tell us. He will speak
unto us. He will come in his gospel unto
our soul and say to us in person at a time appointed at an hour
that only he knows. when he's prepared the ground,
when he's made the way plain, when he's worked in our soul
and brought us to cry and to know that we have a need, when
he's brought us to that point of knowing we need saving like
David cried, help me Lord, hear me, deliver me. say unto my soul
I am thy salvation when we've been brought there then at the
hour that God appoints then he says by his gospel by his spirit
unto us in person I am thy salvation as he said it to you finally
i am thy salvation salvation oh what a word oh what depths
and riches there are how synonymous with christ the savior he is
our salvation if we know him. He was David's salvation. But what a salvation! And how David through the psalm
speaks of it in so many ways. What a salvation! He delivered
him from all his enemies. He delivered him from his physical
enemies, those that would put him to death. He delivered him
from his spiritual enemies. Satan tried to destroy David
but God would not allow it. Satan tried to destroy the disciple
Peter, Simon Peter. And Jesus told him that Satan
wanted to sift him, he wanted to attack him, he wanted to destroy
him. But Christ wouldn't allow it.
He delivered him from all his enemies. He delivered him from
the great enemy of his soul, sin that was within him, and
the sins which he'd committed which damned him. Salvation brings
the forgiveness of our sins, of all our sins, past, present
and future. They're blotted out by the Saviour. They're washed away by His blood. They are no more when God in
justice and judgment comes under His people on the last day. He'll
come unto them and look upon them as He looked upon David
and He'll look upon him and He'll see blood. no sins, none whatsoever. Will he come to you and will
he look and see the blood of Jesus Christ washing away every
sin? Will he say I am thy salvation? Salvation delivers us from sin
itself. That iniquity within our hearts
that causes sins to bubble forth which prevents us from being
able to walk righteously. We can't control it. Every day
sins flow forth. Every day there's hatred. Every
day there's animosity. Every day there's selfishness.
Every day there's self-glorying. Every day there's doubt and unbelief. Every day there's pride and arrogance. Every day sin bubbles to the
surface but salvation, Christ delivers us from sin itself,
he's destroyed it. He's taken it away, he was made
sin, he was slain, he was burnt up, he was consumed that God
might deliver us from our sin. Salvation delivers us from the
judgment. because the judgment came down
from heaven upon the Son of God upon salvation itself upon salvation
in the person of Jesus Christ the judgment poured down upon
Him the fires of God's wrath poured down upon Christ Salvation
pays a ransom, a ransom price that those who are bound, that
those who are slaves to sin might be set free. And that price was
the blood of Jesus Christ. Salvation brings redemption,
a price paid to free the sinner. We're redeemed by the blood of
Christ. Salvation justifies those who
in themselves are full of sin. It says unto the sinner though
they've done nothing but sin and though they can't prevent
themselves by nature from sinning it says unto them not guilty. The law was broken every moment
of every day by everything we've done, but if God is our salvation,
if he has said unto our soul, I am thy salvation, then that
salvation brings with it a sentence not guilty. There's no sin, you've
done no wrong. I've taken it away. Salvation
brings in righteousness. The very righteousness of God
in Jesus Christ. When God looks at us in Christ,
He sees Christ. He sees the righteousness of
God. He sees perfection. Salvation
brings sanctification. It takes the sinner. and it sets
him apart and delivers him from the world in which he once was
and says he's a holy thing separated unto me separated unto God this
wretched sinner you perhaps salvation says of wretched sinners like
you and I they are a holy thing separated unto God, they're mine. Salvation delivers us from all
our enemies. Salvation is all in Christ. It's all in him and it is all
him. it's all to be found in him and
because of him and performed by him and it is all in him. We read that verse from Isaiah
Say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation come, if
behold his reward is with him and his work before him. He was the one that did all the
work to deliver his people from their sins, he went to the cross,
he loved them so greatly that he laid down his life for them. He wrought righteousness upon
the cross for them. He took their sin and blotted
it out and made them to be righteous in Him. His work was to deliver
them from their sins, to take the judgment of God and to drink
the cup of God's wrath to the dregs. His work is before Him. But His reward for doing that,
for dying in their place, is with Him. His reward is His bride,
is His people. is those He saves, His reward
is with Him. Salvation is all in Him. If we're His, we're in Him. It's all in Him and it is all
Him. so united are his people unto
him that they are depicted as the bride with the bridegroom
they're one flesh they're one person they're united they're
one with christ say unto my soul i am thy salvation i am thy salvation
it's all in Christ. Zechariah 9, the prophet writes,
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold thy King cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass. and upon a cot the foal of an
ass. O daughter of Zion, O daughter
of Jerusalem, O sinner, has thy King come unto thee? Has he who is just and having
salvation, as he who is lowly and rides forth upon an ass,
upon a colt the foal of an ass meek and lowly nothing in the
sight of the world but glorious in the sight of the sinner has
he come unto thee thy king thy salvation has he in the gospel
said unto you in particular said unto your soul i and thy salvation. In life you will meet various
people. There will be encounters that
change your life. One day you might meet a man
or a woman that becomes your husband or your wife. There will
be people you meet that change the course of your life. But
you can meet no one like this King. If you meet anyone, oh,
you need to meet He who says unto the soul, I am thy salvation. I am thy salvation. Amen.