Coming back now to Psalm 62,
a very familiar, very familiar psalm. I've preached from this
psalm many times here and other places, but it's a blessing every
time I look at it, every time I read it. It's a blessing to
me. I'm entitling the message from
this psalm, from this word that's repeated over and over, only. He only is my rock. He only is
my rock. My soul wait thou only upon God. Verse six, he only is my rock,
my salvation. He is my defense only. We only
have one God, one mediator, one way of salvation. And that word
only is repeated at least four or five times in this psalm. Now this psalm has been one of
my favorite psalms. for many, many, many years. I preached from this psalm several
times over the years. I hope to be able to bring you
a study from this psalm this evening. And I pray, as always,
that the Lord will bless his word to my heart and to your
heart, and that it'll be a blessing unto us. by the power of God
the Holy Spirit that he give us an interest and ears to hear,
an interest to hear his word and ears to hear it as it is
in truth the word of God. And may Christ be exalted in
my heart and in yours. as we seek to worship him and
to exalt him. In Luke 24, the Lord Jesus said
to his disciples as he was departing back to glory, we read it a moment
ago, he said, all things must be fulfilled which are written
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. So the prophets, they're all
about Christ. The law, That is Genesis, those
first five books of the Bible, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy,
Numbers. Our Lord said, had you believed
Moses, you would have believed me. Moses wrote about me. So Moses, to him give all the
prophets witness, the law, the prophets, the Psalms, the whole
book. is about a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. A description of who he is, a
description of what he has done for us. In that same chapter,
Luke 24, that we read earlier, remember when the Lord met with
those two men on the road to Emmaus and preached the gospel
unto them? and then they said one to another,
didn't our heart burn within us when he opened to us the word
of God? Wouldn't that be a special blessing
to each of us here as we look at this psalm if the Lord would
open our understanding that we might meditate and to think upon
him and to worship the Lord as he ought to be worshipped? That's
why we come this evening, isn't it, to hear a word from him?
Now, let's look at verse 1 and verse 5 together. Psalm 62 verse
1, truly or only my soul waiteth, my soul waiteth upon God. Talking about God who is God,
from him cometh my salvation. He's a God of my salvation. Now
look down at verse 5, he only is excuse me, verse 5, my soul
wait thou only upon God for my expectation, my expectation,
the certainty of the expectation of salvation is from him, salvation
of the Lord and salvation is from him and salvation is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 1 and verse 5,
we see a threefold lesson is given unto us as believers resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what saving faith
does. The faith of God the elect is always looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not looking in here, but looking
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon whom do we wait? God who
is almighty God, God who is truly God. We wait upon God. Now, isn't he worth waiting upon,
waiting for, looking with expectation unto him? God who is truly God. You remember from our study in
the book of Isaiah, many times we read this statement where
he says, I am God, beside me there is no other. He's the only
just God and Savior, and that being so, he said, look, look
to me and be saved. all the ends of the earth. He
is God, and beside Him there is no other. He's a God of all
providence, of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
He's too wise to error. He's too holy to do wrong or
to make a mistake. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Yes, he will. And everything
he does, it is right. What happens in time, we call
that God's good providence. God had decreed from all eternity,
and what happens in the fullness of time only comes to pass because
God Almighty had decreed it. He's a God of all providence. He's a God of all power. All
power belongs unto the Lord. How much power does He have?
Absolute power. All power in heaven and earth.
He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature, knowing that I have all power in heaven and in earth. And he said, lo, I'm with you
always. He has all power. Power belongs unto the Lord. Therefore, he's too strong to
fail. God cannot fail in anything he
does. He's not a failure in fulfilling
all covenant promises. He's a surety of the covenant
promises. He's not a failure in any aspect
of salvation or redemption. The scripture says of him, another
one of my favorite scriptures, Isaiah 42, 4, says he cannot
fail. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will and purpose. So He's a God of all providence.
This is the God we trust, the God of all providence. He's a
God of all power, and He's a God of all salvation. Salvation is
from Him. He's a God of all grace, and
He's a God of all mercy. You remember that scripture?
Let me read it to you. I didn't write this down, but
let me just read it to you. He's a God of all mercy and he's
a God of all grace. In 1 Peter 5, 10, but the God
of all grace who had called us unto his eternal glory by Christ
Jesus after that you have suffered a while make you perfect establish,
strengthen, settle you to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. He's a God of all grace. He's
a God of all mercy. He's a God of all comfort. He's
a God of all salvation. He's all and in all. So the question
being asked, upon whom do we wait? God who is God. Now secondly, what do we wait
for? Truly, How do we wait, rather? How do we wait? Truly with sincerity
of heart, submission of will, we wait silently, resigned and
surrendered unto his will. Truly my soul waiteth, waiteth
upon God. Look at verse 5, my soul wait
thou only upon God for my expectation, my expectation of every spiritual
blessing is from Him. So how do we wait? We wait in
submission, resign to His will. You remember over here, turn
with me if you want to, over here in Psalm 27, Psalm 27 verse
14, Wait on the Lord and be of good
courage. He shall strengthen thy heart.
Wait, I say, upon the Lord. Now, aren't his blessings worth
waiting for, being resigned and submitted to his will, to his
purpose? Surely they are. Our Lord taught
us to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. Lord, thy will be done. Now,
what do we wait for? Thirdly, from him cometh my salvation. All expectation of all spiritual
blessing are in him and they come from his hand, from his
hand, from his heart. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenly in the Lord Jesus Christ. All hope,
all hope is from him. He is a God of hope, all expectation. The hope we have in Christ is
a good hope through his grace. He's given us an everlasting
consolation and a good hope through his grace. All hope, all expectation,
all salvation is from the Lord. My expectation of any blessing,
of any hope, of any righteousness, any redemption, any pardon of
sin is from him. Salvation is of the Lord. It
comes from Him. Look at verse 2 now and verse
6. He only, He only is my rock. That's my foundation. He's my
rock and He's mine. I like the word my rock, my salvation. He's my defense. Therefore, I
shall not be moved or not greatly moved. Look at verse 6. He only,
He only is my rock and my salvation. He's my defense. He's my refuge. It is all in Him. All in Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
rock. and He is our Savior. That's
the sum and substance of the gospel and that's the sum and
substance and subject matter of all the Word of God, Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, who He is and what He has done. Christ is the only rock the Lord
Jesus Christ. God has only provided one foundation
for sinners to find shelter, hope, and refuge, and that rock
is Christ. Look back one page, Psalm 61,
look at verse 2. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. For thou has been my shelter,
a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide
in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings. So God is our God. He is the rock That's a sure
foundation. You remember from our study in
the book of Isaiah, God said, behold, I lay in Zion for foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And then you remember from our
study in 1 Corinthians 3, where the apostle Paul said, other
foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid, and that
foundation is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
that rock of ages. He is that foundation that never
moves. He is that foundation that certain
and secure. He's the anchor of our soul.
It cannot be diminished. It cannot be lessened. It's the
eternal rock that we rest upon. Christ alone is our rock and
then he is my rock. He is my salvation. I like what
David said in Psalm 27, the Lord is my light and my salvation
whom shall I fear. He only, he only is my foundation. He only is my salvation. He only is my rock, my salvation,
my defense. Therefore, I'm not moved. Now get this picture. Here's
this rock of salvation. The rock of ages, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The believer had been fastened
to that rock. We're on that rock. And we cannot
be moved because to move the believer, you've got to move
the rock. That rock ain't moving. That
rock is Christ. That rock is certain and sure,
never changes. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Christ alone is that rock, that
foundation, and Christ alone is that Savior. He's the Savior
that really saves his people from their sin. As a messenger
from heaven said, call his name Jesus. He is what he's called,
Savior. He shall save his people from
their sins. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Is there? Know the name under
heaven, give them a name whereby we must be saved. Remember from
our study in the book of Acts. The whole of salvation is of
the Lord. He's the Alpha, He's the Omega
of it. He's the beginning of it, and
He's the end of it. Salvation is of the Lord in His
planning, From all eternity, God determined to save the covenant
people. Salvation of the Lord in His
performance. He performed all things for us. Righteousness honored. The law
satisfied. Justice honored. Sin put away
by His performance, not ours. Salvation of the Lord in His
purchase. He bought us with His own blood. God bought the church
with his own blood. We're redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. He says you're no more your own,
you're bought with a price. And salvation of the Lord in
its perfection, predestinated to be conformed to the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what predestination is
all about. That's what the Word of God teaches. Believers are
predestined to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ alone is our only
defense. Our only defense. These attorneys over at the courthouse,
they always want to have a strong defense. When they're trying
to defend the client, boy, they work at it real hard. They want
to have the best defense. My friend, we have the best defense. We have the best mediator and
advocate. It's the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We have Christ being our defense. He's never lost a case. Everyone
that he defends before the throne of God's justice, he said, loose
him, let him go. I paid the price. I have paid
the price, not guilty. I paid his debt in full. Think about it. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our advocate. One God, one mediator, the Lord
Jesus Christ. John writes, my little children,
these things. I write unto you that you sin
not, but when you do, we have the advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. He's our advocate, our mediator. He ever lived to intercede for
us. Boy, that's good defense, is
it not? He provided it for us. He's given it unto us. He is
my defense. Therefore, I cannot be moved. Because to move me, you've got
to move him, and that ain't going to happen. The believer resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be charged with sin. There is,
therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect if it's God that justifies? Who is he
that condemns? Well, it's Christ who's already
died. Yea, rather it's risen again
who's even at the right hand of God. Who can separate us from
the love of God? Would you do in the Lord Jesus
Christ? The believer Trusting Christ can never be disowned
as a son of God, can never perish, and can never be removed from
Him. We're one with Him eternally. He gives us eternal life. He's
a paying for us eternal redemption. Beloved, now we're sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but when he shall appear, we shall be with him,
for we shall be like him as he is. Our Lord said, My sheep can
never be removed from his hand. No man can pluck them out of
my hand. I, my Father, are one. I call that the certainty of
salvation in Christ. That's where assurance comes
from. It's resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our assurance. He is our salvation. Now look
at verse 3 and 4. Look at verse 3 and 4. How long
will you imagine mischief against a man, against a believer resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ? You shall be slain all of you,
those who oppose the gospel, those who stand in opposition
to the rock of ages of the Lord Jesus Christ. You shall be slain
all of you, those who do not believe the gospel, the wrath
of God abides upon them. You shall be slain and all of
you shall fall like a bowing wall or as a tottering fence
ready to collapse over, they only consult to cast him down
for his excellency, they delight in lies, they bless with their
mouth, but they curse inwardly. What does God say about our enemies?
Turn that back over here to Psalm 2. Believers, enemies are real,
but they're defeated and they're marked out for destruction. as
sure as a burly wall, as sure as a tottering fence. Look at
Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage, verse
1, 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, let us break their bands
asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sinneth in the
heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. God is
not upset. God is in control of all things,
even the enemies, the gospel that rail against us, that rail
against God, God will have them in derision. They're under his
complete control at all times. Nothing out of control in God's
universe. Everything is working according
to exactly as God has decreed. They delight in lies, it says
there. They don't delight in the truth.
They delight in lies, for they may give acknowledgement, blessing
with their mouth, but inwardly, their heart's not right with
God. That's what he's saying there. Now look down to verse
7. In God is my salvation, and He
is my glory. He is my glory. He's the rock
of my strength. And my refuge is in God. Now, the language here is real
clear, isn't it? God is everything in our salvation. Talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ who is God our Savior. Let the enemies rail against
us as they will. It does not change the fact that
salvation is of the Lord and that we stand complete In Him,
of His fullness, have we all received grace upon grace. We stand complete in Christ.
In Him dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ
believers stand complete. Notice carefully, salvation is
not only from Him, and all spiritual blessings are from him, but they're
in him. In God is my salvation. Salvation is not in a church
or an experience. Salvation is certainly not in
a water. Baptism isn't. Salvation is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the surest marks of our
salvation is that we glory only in Christ alone and find all
of our hope in Him. You want some evidence that you're
one of God's elect, believing and resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ? The evidence is we glory only
in Him, not anything else. That's why Paul said, God forbid
I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Paul could have glory in a lot of things. But he said, I count
them all done, ruined and lost, that I might win Christ and be
found in Him. Remember from our lesson Sunday,
Christ is all of our salvation. He is God, our Savior. I really enjoyed Brother Henry's
TV program Sunday evening. I trust that some of you watched
it. But he quoted this scripture from Luke chapter 1, where it
said, Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the lowest
of his handmaiden. For lo, behold, from henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed. Blessed in God my Savior. For He that is mighty hath done
great things, hath done to me great things, and holy is His
name. His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He has showed strength with His
arm. He has scattered the proud in their imagination of their
hearts. He put down the mighty from their seats and exalted
them of low degree. He has filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich He sent them away empty. We rejoice
with Mary and with Hannah. Hannah said the same thing in
her prayer. My soul doth magnify the Lord, and I rejoice in God
my Savior. Thomas the Apostle said the same
thing, my Lord and my God. Christ is the rock and strength
of our salvation. And God is my salvation, my glory,
the rock of my strength. What's the strength of that foundation
we rest upon? It's Christ, is it not? And my
refuge? The refuge we have is not a refuge
of lies. It's a refuge of truth. Christ
Himself is our refuge in which we hide, being accepted in the
Beloved. Look at verse 8. Now, all that
being so, trust Him. God put everything in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All mercy, grace, blessing, redemption,
salvation is all in Him. Now, trust in Him once in a while. Trust in Him at all times, you
people. Pour out your heart. Oh, just
pour it out. Empty out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. And that word Selah, that means,
just pause a minute and stop and think about that. Trust in
Him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. Seeing that our God and Savior
is the only refuge given and provided for us, it would be
utter foolishness to trust in something else or someone else,
would it not? In times of plenty or in times
of poverty, trust in Him. In times of loneliness or times
of fellowship, trust in Him at all times. In times of sickness
or health, in times Good times and bad times, funny times and
lean times. Trust in Him at all times. Look
over here at Psalm 31. You remember this Psalm? We studied
it not too many weeks ago. Psalm 31. My times are in thy
hand, verse 15. My times are in thy hand. Deliver
me from the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute
me. Make thy face to shine upon my servant and save me. Lord, save me for thy mercy's
sake. Remember what the publican prayed,
Lord, have mercy upon me, thee sinner. And the Lord said that
man went down to his house justified rather than the other. And then
he says, pour out your heart, verse 8, back in Psalm 62. Trust Him at all times, ye people,
ye people chosen of God. We're called the sheep of His
pasture, the people of His hand. Trust in Him at all times, ye
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. So we, thy people, and the sheep
of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever and ever." Trust
Him at all times. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Now,
what a privilege God gives us to pray unto the Lord and just
unbury your heart. Just unbury your soul and your
heart and cry out to Him. Pour out your heart, as Paul
says in Philippians 4, we're going to look at that on Sunday. Make your request be made known
unto God. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is our refuge. God is our righteousness. God
is our redemption. God is our reconciliation. Pour
out your heart before Him. You need help? Pour out your
heart before him. He said, come boldly to the throne
of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. Look at verse 9 and 10. Surely, this is true. Surely, truly, men of low degree
are vanity. If you go to the other end of
the scale, men of high degree, they're a lie. To be laid in
the balance, they're altogether lighter than vanity or nothing. Psalm 39 verse 5 says, remember,
man at his best state is altogether vanity. Vanity. I was thinking
of this scripture earlier today found in Daniel 5. Verse 27 where
it says, thou art found in the balance and found that thou are
weighed in the balance and found wanting. And then another scripture
comes to my mind. Let me just read it to you. Found
over here in Isaiah 40. He said, behold the nations are
the drop of a bucket. and are counted as a small dust
of the balance. He taketh up the isles as a very
little thing. Isaiah 40 verse 15. And Lebanon
is not sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient
for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as
nothing. They are counted to him less
than nothing and vanity. You see what he's saying here?
What really counts? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely men are vanity, high or
low, they're nothing but a lie, and laid in the balance of God's
justice, they're not going to tip the scale. They're nothing
but vanity. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Then it says verse 10, Psalm
62 verse 10, Trust not. Now he told us to trust the Lord.
Now he tells us what not to do. Trust not in oppression. Become not vain in robbery. If riches increase, set not your
heart upon them. So trust not in the sinful flesh,
yours or anyone else. Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man, that maketh flesh his arm, whose hearts departed from
the Lord. Would you trust in that which
God said is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked?
Don't trust yourself, trust him. Trust not poverty or plenty. Being a poor man is no evidence
of grace, nor is being a rich man evidence of the Lord's blessings.
Set not your heart upon worldly gain. If riches do increase,
don't trust them. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient. You want to read that with me,
let's turn to read and read that. I believe that's Psalm, rather
Proverbs 30, Proverbs 30 verse 8. Verse 7 and 8, Proverbs 30. Two things have I required of
thee, deny me them not before I die, remove far from me vanity
and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with
food convenient. Now look at verse 9. Lest I be
full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? or lest I be poor
and steal and take the name of God in vain. So I don't want
to trust in poverty or riches. I want to trust in Him. At all
times, you people, pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge
for us. In closing, look at these two
verses, 11 and verse 12. God has spoken once. Boy, he
doesn't need to speak anymore. God has spoken once, and that's
a blessing. Everything God speaks, it shall
be forever. Heaven and Earth are going to
pass away, but His Word will not pass away. The spoken Word
of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, the spoken Word and the written Word. God has spoken,
and He has spoken to us by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But
He said, Hear twice, have I heard this. What does He want to hear
twice? Power. Power belongs to God. Now I know people and politicians,
they think they have power. Certain kings in certain countries,
they think they have power. Remember what our Lord said to
Pilate? You don't have any power at all over me except that which
my father gives you. God has all power in heaven and
in earth. He said all power is mine. Power
belongs to the Lord. That's what I've heard. I've
heard this more than once. I've heard it twice. I've heard
it 200 times. I've heard it 2,000 times. Haven't
you? 200,000 times. Salvation is of
the Lord. All power, he said, given to
me in heaven and earth that I should give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given to me. God has spoken once. What a blessing. But twice, I've heard this. Power
belonged to God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth
mercy. He's a God of mercy. God who
delights to show mercy. For God will render to every
man exactly what he deserves. Those resting in Christ will
get exactly what Christ deserves, all honor and glory and blessing.
Those resting in the flesh will get exactly what they deserve,
for the wages of sin is death. But here's what I want you to
see. Power and mercy. When you put God, who is God,
who had power over all things, and you marry that with His mercy,
what do you have? Sovereign mercy. He will have
mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will harden whom He will
harden. Power and mercy belong to the
Lord, because salvation is of the Lord.