Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleThe Only Psalm
Bible TextPsalm 62:1-12
Synopsis God-given faith rests upon God only. Listen
Date23-Apr-2020
Series Psalms 2011
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: The Only Psalm (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: The Only Psalm (128 kbps)
Length 46 min.
 
Series: Psalms 
Title: The Only Psalm 
Text: Ps 62: 1-12 
Date: April 23, 2020 
Place: SGBC, NJ


The same Hebrew word is translated three ways six times in this Psalm: “truly”, “surely” and “only.”  Mostly it is translated “only”.  For that reason, some call this the “only psalm.”  That is our title, The Only Psalm. 
  
Psalm 62: 1: TRULY [margin: only] my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation2: He ONLY is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. 
     3: How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall…a tottering fence. 4: They ONLY consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. 
     5: My soul, wait thou ONLY upon God; for my expectation is from him. 6: He ONLY is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. 7: In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 8: Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. 
     9: SURELY [only] men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.  10: Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. 11: God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. 12: Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.
  
Proposition: God-given faith rests upon God only. 
  
To rest partly on God and partly on myself is to not trust God at all.  True faith rests upon God only.  God only is our power, strength!  In God only is mercy!  God only is the salvation of his people.  Is it so with you my friends? 
  
TRUE FAITH WAITS ONLY UPON GOD
 
Psalm 62: 1: TRULY my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.  
 
In our inner man true faith waits only upon God.  There are three ways we can look at this verse and all are true.  
  
One, our translation is true—Truly my soul waiteth upon God.  For a sinner sanctified by God this is true.  It is no lieOur inner man is created of God, after God, in “true” holiness.  Therefore truly my soul waiteth upon God.  We have to wait on God because God is never moved by the things that move us.  The things that disturb us do not move God.  God moves everything but God is not moved by anything. 
  
Two, another truth is when we look at this with the Hebrew word translated “only”—Only my soul waiteth upon God.  God’s saints only wait upon God in the inner man.  Our flesh profits nothing.  Our sin-nature is impatient, impulsive, worrisome, rebellious, sinful—Only my soul waiteth upon God.  That is one reason David says in verse 2—I shall not be greatly moved.  In my flesh I am moved.  But in my new man, by God’s grace, I wait upon God.  Therefore I shall not be greatly moved.
  
Three, the literal translation is also true.  If it were translated literally from the Hebrew it would read—Only toward God is my soul silent.  Only toward God do I look and wait and in my inner man I do so silently, patiently.  No matter how the storm rages around us, by God’s grace, in our new man every child of God knows “it is well with my soul.” 
  
Why do we know that?—from him cometh my salvation.  Believer, how many times has God saved you? Our "salvation” involves everything.  God has saved me is saving me and shall yet save me—from him cometh my salvation.  In the fulness of time, when the Son of God came down from heaven and took flesh and worked out everlasting salvation for his people—from God came my salvation.  When God made the gospel cross this sinner’s path—from God came my salvation.  When the Spirit of God gave me life, faith, all things that pertain to life and godliness—from God came my salvation.
  
In every trial we face in this life—from God comes our salvation.  Do you know what God is teaching us each time he sends a trial and makes us wait on him then saves us from it?  He is teaching us—from God cometh my salvation.   As God teaches us that in this trial then in the next trial, even when we cannot possibly see how this will turn out for our good and God’s glory, we have this faith with this attitude—Truly, only, my soul silently waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.
  
With each trial, God is preparing us for the greatest trial.  We have dear, dear brethren who right now are truly, only waiting on God.  Some are aged believers.  Others are weak with sickness.  But they are close to finishing their course.  In the past, God has sent them trials and taught them over and over by experience.  So now, having everything God requires of them in Christ, they can say—Truly, only, my soul silently waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.  That is what true faith does by God’s grace. 
  
TRUE FAITH RESTS ONLY UPON GOD
  
Psalm 62: 2: He ONLY is my rock and my salvation; my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. 
  
Christ is the Rock—the only Rock—upon which God the Father builds his church. 
  
Isaiah 28: 16: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
 
Christ Jesus is a tried stone.  He was tried under the law, tried by satan’ temptations, and tried by the fiery cross.  Yet, he was found faithful and true. 
  
The Lord Jesus is a precious corner stone.  It means he is rare.  He is the only one like him.  He is precious to God.  He is precious to his believing people.  The apostle Paul said, “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  He is the one and only foundation, our precious corner stone. 
  
The Son of God our Savior is a sure foundation.  Christ said if a man builds on this foundation he is a wise man.  No storm can sweep him away.  The Spirit of God makes his people say—He only is my rock!  
 
We sing “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land.  He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock and covers me there with his hand.”  Other times we sing,  “On Christ the solid rock I stand.  All other ground is sinking sand.”  Another song we sing is, “Rock of ages, cleft for me.  Let me hide myself in thee.”  God’s children cannot stop singing about Christ our Rock! 
  
What does it mean that Christ only is my Rock?  It means—He only is my salvation.  My salvation not only comes from Christ, salvation is not only of the Lord, Christ only is my Salvation!  Christ gives me wisdom but Christ is my Wisdom.  He gives me his righteousness but Christ himself is my Righteousness.  Christ is my sanctifier but Christ is my Sanctification.   He is my redeemer but Christ is my Redemption.  One day Christ shall resurrect me but Christ is my Resurrection.  On and on we can go.  Christ is my Way, my Truth, my Life, my Door, my Shepherd, my Salvation, my All!  I am not looking to Christ plus something.  Christ only is my salvation.  He only is everything I need and he only is my Heaven! 
 
The Lord Jesus is—My defense, my only defense.  It means Christ is my secure high place; my lofty stronghold; my unassailable high refuge.  No enemy can touch me in Christ: not the devil, not worldly men, not my own sin-nature, not the law, not death, not hell.  Christ only is my Defense. 
  
Therefore, “I shall not be greatly moved.”  Again, my flesh may and shall be moved.  But Christ is the Life of my inner man.  He is all these things to me.  Therefore, I shall not be greatly moved! 
  
Hebrews 12: 28: Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29: For our God is a consuming fire. 
  
Do not forget our proposition.  To rest partly on God and partly on myself is to not trust God at all.  True faith rests only upon God.  Christ only is my salvation! Do you need salvation!  Christ only is Salvation!  
  
OUR ENEMIES SEEK ONLY TO CAST US DOWN FROM CHRIST
  
Psalm 62: 3: How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. 4: They ONLY consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
 
Brethren, like Christ and like David, we have many enemies.  Our enemies are our own sinful flesh, the devil, wicked angels, powers and principalities of darkness and reprobate men.  Here is a question to all our enemies.  This is God’s question to all who think they can oppose Christ and win.  This is to all who think they can oppose Christ’s people and win—how long will ye imagine mischief against a man?
  
Oh, yes, David was only a man.  Christ’s preacher is only a man.  His redeemed are only men.  But we are God’s men!  When Israel travelled through the wilderness, they passed from enemy to enemy, but God said, “Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm!” So how long will ye imagine mischief against a man? Here is the answer, God says—ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall and a tottering fence.  The literal translation says—ye are slain all of you.  Christ has already conquered all our enemies on the cross and he shall bruise satan under our feet shortly (Rom 16:20). 
 
Still. believer be sure to get this.  The enemies of Christ have only one objective—They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.  In David’s day, as it was when Christ walked this earth, is how it is in our day: our enemies only desire to cast Christ down from his Excellency! And they desire to cast us down from Christ who is our Excellency! 
  
They delight in lies.  Oh, some may appear religious and they may appear to be your friend—“they bless with their mouth but they curse inwardly.”  Some irreligious are bold enough that they would have you think Christ was only a man—but he is the GodMan, Mediator!  They want you to believe he died and was buried remains in the grave—but he is Risen!  They jokingly call him the “old man upstairs”—but he is God who is Reigning victorious! Others who wear a disguise of religion want you to think Christ died for all men so they can make it up to the will of man to make his work effectual.  They want you to think he is trying to save all men but can save none unless men allow it so that they make man god rather than God.  Some say Christ does part of the work but there is some part up to you.  They delight in lies!
  
Sadly, sometimes, a fellow brother may appear an enemy.  He may be the cause of another brother’s trouble.  But be sure to get this.  It does not mean that that brother is an enemy.  It means that brother is himself being troubled by the enemy.  The trial is for that brother as well as the one he is troubling.  When God sends one brother a trial, the whole church is in a trial.  We all suffer.  But God is teaching us all to wait on him.  So what do we do?  Here is our next point.
 
TRUE FAITH WAITS ONLY UPON GOD BECAUSE OUR HOPE IS FROM HIM
 
Psalm 62: 5: My soul, wait thou ONLY upon God; for my expectation is from him. 6: He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. 7: In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
 
In verses 1 & 2 he was talking about within us.  He was speaking about God making us, in our inner man, wait only upon God.  Since in addition to our new nature, we also have a sin-nature which is moved, he said, “I shall not be greatly moved.”  Here is speaking of our expectation, that is, our hope which enters into the veil in God’s presence in Christ.  Our expectation comes from God.  Our hope comes from outside of us in God.  This is in relation to our enemy whose desire it is to cast us down. 
  
Our expectation is that God shall come and he only shall be my Rock, my Salvation: my Defence.  Our hope is that Christ shall not allow the enemy to cast us down.  This is what we expect God himself shall be and do for us.  This is fulfilled by God It has nothing to do with us.  Therefore, without a doubt, we can say “I shall not be moved!”  By the power of Christ my Rock I shall not be moved away from Christ.  Our enemies shall not prevail to cast us down from Christ our Excellency! 
  
Here is why—In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.  We have no strength.  My strength is in ChristIn God is my salvationIn God is my gloryIn the rock is my strength.  My refuge is in God.  He only is my Excellency from whom I shall not be cast down.  And the reason Christ is the Power who keeps  me is, as the apostle Paul said, “that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us” (2 Cor 4:7).
  
Brethren, I am not speaking in theory when I say this.  And I am saying it only by God’s grace.   The best place for us to be in this life is when God brings us to see we have no strength.  We hate being in that place.  But it is the best place for us to be.  Where all we can do is call upon our Lord Jesus.  Where all we can do is wait on him to come and be our salvation!  This is what Paul was taught.  God taught him that God’s grace is sufficient.  Being brought to this state of total weakness so that we are forced to wait only upon Christ from whom our hope comes is what Paul meant when he said “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me…for when I am weak”—when I am only trusting Christ—"then am I strong” (2 Cor 12: 9-10). 
  
THE LESSON
  
Psalm 61: 8: Trust in him at all times
 
David knew this.  He said, “My times are in thy hand…” (Ps 31: 15).  The time we were born, the time we were born-again.  All times of prosperity, all times of adversity.  Times of darkness, desertion, and temptation as well as times of joy, peace, and comfort.  The time the trial comes, the time it ends.  What time I live, what time I die.  All is predestinated by God, brought by God, ordered by God, and ended by God.  But you and I do not know “the times.”  So we must trust in him at all times and wait on God. 
  
Psalm 61: 8:…ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
  
As we trust and wait on God let us call upon God.  Someone said, “Turn the vessel of your soul upside down in his secret presence, and let your inmost thoughts, desires, sorrows, and sins be poured out like water. Hide nothing from him, for you can hide nothing. To the Lord unburden your soul…if we unload our hearts at [the Lord’s feet], we shall obtain a sympathy as practical as it is sincere, as consolatory as it is ennobling.”  God is a refuge for us.  Selah.
 
Psalm 61: 9: SURELY men of low degree are [only] vanity, and men of high degree are [only] a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether [only] lighter than vanity. 10: Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them
 
If you have ever been to a feed store to buy corn for chickens then you have seen a scale where they weight it.   What you probably did not notice is the dust left on the scale after they weight out the corn.  No one notices the dust.  No one bothers with the dust because it weighs nothing.  It is worthless.   That is all men—lighter than vanity.  It means all men are only less weight than weightlessness.  It matters not if they are men of low degree or men of high degree.  Trust not in man. 
  
Therefore, also trust not in man’s vain wayTrust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.  We dress sin up in a three-piece suit, saying things like, “He is a shrewd business man.” God calls it robbery.  Do not trust in pressuring others.  Trust not in manipulation.  Trust not in harsh dealing.  The world calls such men valuable.  They say, “Oh he carries so much weight!” Oh no, God calls them worthless—become not vain in robbery.
 
If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.  How do I know if I have set my heart on earthly riches?  Can you quit that salary?  Can you sell those items? Can you give it all to the poor?  That was Christ’s test for the rich young ruler.  More people fall away from prosperity than poverty.  If worldly riches increase—if you get that big salary increase—set not your heart upon them.  Here is why.
 
Psalm 61: 11: God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. 12: Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.
 
Remember God is all our provisionGod renders to every man according to his work.  If a man trusts in oppression and robbery, if he is hardhearted, unmerciful, unforgiving, if he lives by the sword then if he be not God’s elect God shall render the same unto him.  If you will not forgive others, Christ says, then ye shall not be forgiven. If you will not show mercy then you better hope you never need mercy from God!
  
But if by God’s grace we trust Christ only, God shall render to every man according to HIS work.  Christ’s works will be imputed to us as our works through faith in Christ.  Christ shall render to us the full provision of his righteousness, the full provision of earthly needs, full protection and it shall all be by Christ’s power.
 
Therefore, as he said in verse 5, so let us preach it to ourselves.  Let us remind ourselves and say to ourselves, My soul, wait thou ONLY upon God; for my expectation is from him. He ONLY is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. 

Amen!