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 salvation. 2: 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
lie. Our
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 Christ. In God is my
salvation. In God is my glory. In 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
way—Trust 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 provision. God 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!