I invite you to turn back in the word of God with me to the book of the Psalms, chapter 62. The book of the Psalms, chapter 62. I like to read verse 1 and 2, verse 6 and 7. Listen as we read God's word. Truly my soul waiteth upon God. From him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. Then in verse 6 and 7, he only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. May the Lord be pleased this morning to give the spirit of utterance to the preacher and the ability to hear on the part of those that hear this message today. I want to talk at the outset here this morning a little bit about the Lord being our rock and then our subject this morning is God alone the salvation of his people. God alone the salvation of his people. He only is my rock and my salvation. How noble a title this is. It's so sublime and suggestive and overpowering. My rock. My rock. It is a figure that's so divine that to God alone shall it ever be applied. My rock. My rock. We regard the rock with reverence. For we remember what stories that rocks could tell if they had a voice. They have been here, you know, since the dawn of creation. And rocks could tell a story if they could but talk. Even so is our God preeminently Ancient his head and his hair are white like wool as white as snow For he is the ancient of days and were always taught in the scripture to remember that he is without beginning of years Long before creation ever took place from everlasting to everlasting He is God my rock. Well, what a history the rock might give you of the storms to which it has been exposed and and the thunders which have disturbed the skies above its head. It has stood unscathed by tempest and unmoved by the buffeting of storms. So with our God, how firm he has stood, how steadfast has our rock been. through the nations, or though the nations have reviled him and the kings of the earth have taken counsel together against him, by merely standing still with motionless grandeur, if you please, like a rock, he has broken and scattered the armies of his enemies at driving them back in confusion. This is our rock. Look at that rock again and see how firm and unmoved it stands. It does not move around from place to place. It stands fast. Other things have changed. Islands have been drowned beneath the seas. Continents have been shaken, but see the rock. It stands as steadfast as if it were the very foundation of the world. So with God, how unswerving, how unchanging, how unalterable is his decrees. How faithful he is in his promises. Yes, David says, he only is my rock. He's the same. His kingdom shall have no end. So our God is a sure defense, and we shall not be moved, the psalmist said. If he set our feet upon the rock, beloved, this is true, because the rock is himself, and God is fixed. And if he set our feet upon the rock, he's established our goings. And so, beloved, we stand firmly upon him. And too, many a giant rock is a source of admiration for its elevation. If you get up on many giant rocks or climb to the summit of mountains, We can see the world outspread below like a map. Rivers and streams are like veins of silver inlaid in emerald. If we could see in the distance, the sea would appear to be just like a basin of water held in the hand of a mighty giant. I'm talking about the Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty God of whom David speaks. is just such a rock as this, our high tower, our observatory. We stand on him and look down on the world, counting it to be just a mean thing. We can see across the world of storms and troubles to that bright land of heaven, that land that's unknown to the eye and ear of man, but which God the Holy Spirit has been pleased to reveal unto his people. This mighty rock is our refuge. As I suggested, it's our high observatory from which we see the unseen and have the evidence of things yet which we've not enjoyed. We see many things because we're on the rock, Christ Jesus. Well, I must stop talking about the rock, but let me say this last thing about the rock, and that is that He is my rock. David said, He only is my rock. He is my rock personally, and how glorious the thought, and how safe and secure the people of God, beloved, are, because they can rejoice in the fact that when they on Jordan's stormy banks stand and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where their possessions lie, that they know that when they must wade through Jordan's stream, that he will be their rock. The living God will be their rock. We shall not have to walk on a slippery foundation, but on Him who cannot betray our feet. The Lord is our rock. And that's my testimony to you this morning about this rock. Let me proceed on to the subject this morning. God alone is the salvation of His people. Now, He only, David said, is my rock and my salvation, and I want to talk about three things here this morning in connection with my text. Verse 2, here, the first part of the verse, and that is, first of all, I want to talk about the doctrine. that God alone is our salvation, the doctrine. I know that not many folks like to hear doctrine, but I preach doctrine because it's just simply the teaching of the Word of God. And also I want to talk about the experience. the experience to know and to learn that, that salvation is of God alone. And then thirdly, I want to talk about the duty, the duty that is involved for the people of God, and that is to give all the glory and all the honor and place our faith and trust on Him only, who is our rock and our salvation. And so I want to talk about those three things this morning. First of all, let's talk about the doctrine that God only is our salvation. Now if any of you this morning were to ask me what I would choose as a motto as a preacher of the gospel, I think this morning that I would reply God only is our salvation. That would be my reply to you this morning. God only is our salvation. Now the sum and substance of Calvinism is that salvation is of the Lord. God only is our salvation. If anyone ever asked you, what do you mean by a Calvinist, then you tell them that he is one who says, God alone is our salvation. You tell them that salvation is of the Lord. That's what a Calvinist believes. That's what a Calvinist preaches. I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this, can you? If you've examined the Word of God carefully, you must have come across this doctrine that salvation is of God, it's of God alone. It's the very essence of the Bible. He only is my rock and my salvation. Now you tell me a heresy, And I'll find its essence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rocky truth that God is my rock and my salvation. That's where heresy goes astray. What is the heresy of Arminianism? but the addition of something to the perfect merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bringing in of the works of the flesh to assist us in justification. Well, what is it? But the addition of something to the complete work of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this heresy of Arminianism is all about. It is adding to the complete and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ something. Make it whatever you will. If you attempt to add something to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ will become of no effect unto you because you're adding something. Christ alone will have all the glory and the honor. And David said, He only, He only is my rock and my salvation. Now you'll find that every heresy that's brought to this life that it'll discover itself here and it departs from this, this text of scripture here in Psalm 62, he only is Moroccan salvation. Now by salvation I understand deliverance from the house of bondage wherein by nature I'm born and being brought into the liberty wherewith Christ Jesus makes us free together with a putting of us on the rock and establishing our goings. I think this is what salvation is. This I understand according to the text is to be holy of God. And I do not think that I'm wrong here. I know this is right based upon what the Word of God teaches that God alone is the salvation of His people. Because I find in the Scripture that man is dead in sin and how can a dead man assist in his own resurrection? We believe that salvation is a resurrection from the dead. Men are dead in sin and when they're born of the Spirit of God, they are raised from spiritual death. They pass from death to life according to John chapter 5 and verse 24. God's people are raised up. Can these dry bones live? The question was asked to the prophet Ezekiel. And he said, God thou knowest. Salvation is a resurrection and salvation is a creation. It's a new creation if any man be in Christ. He is a new creation and all things pass away and behold all things become new. I find that man is utterly depraved and he hates the divine change. And Jesus said in John chapter 5 and verse 40, ye will not come to me that ye might have life. The enmity in the heart of the sinner is such that he will not come to Christ on his own. He will not come. Oh, it's an act of His will. He won't come. How can a man then work that change which he himself hates? If a man hates God and he will not come to the light because his deeds are evil, then how can you expect that that man will come willingly, voluntarily, apart from the power of God working in his soul? unto the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that man is utterly powerless in the work of his salvation. He's utterly powerless. He cannot break his own heart. He cannot give himself a disposition whereby he hates sin and loves righteousness. Beloved, the disposition, you see that repentance is more than an act. It's a receiving of a disposition from God wherein an individual is able to love God and able to love righteousness and where he can hate iniquity. And until you receive this divine operation whereby God plants in you His divine Spirit and His very nature, then you're not a child of God. Now then, let me further add this, that the very plan And we hear people talk about the plan of salvation. Beloved, this is so very important that we understand that salvation is not necessarily in a plan. Salvation is in a person. It's in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me talk just a little bit. If you want to talk about a plan, let me say a couple of things about this. This plan is entirely of God. It is entirely of God. No human intellect and no created intelligence assisted God in the planning of salvation. Who aided Him? None. Where were you when the morning stars sang together? Where were you? Were you back yonder in the council halls of eternity when God the Father, God the Son entered into eternal and everlasting covenant on the behalf of His people to save His people by the work of redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ? Where were you then? Well, my friend, listen, I'm telling you, salvation is of God in the planning of it. Salvation is older than creation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. That's what Jonah found out in the College of the Whales belly was that salvation is of the Lord. When he was down yonder in the deep, And whenever the weeds were wrapped about his neck, in the belly of the fish, he cried out and said, Salvation is of the Lord. He knew if he ever got out of there, God would have to deliver him, and the Lord did, sure enough, deliver him. Now, as it was of the Lord in the planning, and we've shown you that no created being assisted God in the planning of this great work of salvation. As it was of the Lord in the planning, so it's of the Lord in execution. I mean by this that God has done it all himself. The banquet of mercy is served up by one host, and this one host is that one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. It's that one who opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. None have contributed to the gospel feast, that royal banquet, has been supplied by God Himself. And everything you find on that table, that banqueting table of the gospel, was provided by your God. David says, He only is my rock and my salvation. That royal bath of mercy wherein black souls are washed was filled from the veins of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not a drop was contributed by any other being. No blood of martyrs mingled with that stream. No blood of noble confessors and of heroes of the cross entered into the atonement. No, the atonement is the unaided work of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone. He was solitary, the solitary conqueror in the garden of Gethsemane. He was the solitary conqueror on the cross outside of Jerusalem who came to fight single-handed and his own arm brought salvation. None other can receive the honor, none other can have have the glory because He Himself single-handedly won our salvation and bought it by the shedding of His own blood. Why would I say salvation is of the Lord as to its provision? It's because I believe that everything that God demanded of the sinner, He provided in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, Son, and Spirit has provided everything. I would cease to preach if I believed that God in the matter of salvation required anything, whatever of man, which he himself had not also engaged to furnish. I would quit preaching because I'd have no hope for sinners like you and sinners like myself. If we had to furnish something, because really and truthfully, if it's necessary to have a pure, absolutely pure, unadulterated thought in order to be saved, you and I would be hopelessly ruined, hopelessly damned for all eternity. because we're bent to sinning and we come forth out of our mother's womb speaking lies and there's nothing about us which is not detestable unto a thrice holy God. Our sins have separated us from God and our natures are bent on destroying ourselves and if we could, if we could get to God, we'd take a butcher knife and put it in his back because we're at enmity against God. We're sinners and we would drink iniquity like a dog lapsed water out of a mud hole? We're sinners! And we're dead in sin, dead as doornails, and we're blind as bats, and we have not the ability to come to God on our own or to provide anything! that a holy God would demand of us. Christ has done it all. Now the sinner, somebody says, must do something. The Armenian says, well now, listen, is this of the Lord? You say this is of the Lord in provision and planning and execution? Do you think it's also of the Lord in application? Well my friend, I believe that salvation is of God alone in application also. No, says the Armenian, it is not. You're not going to tell us, are you, that God does more in some men than He does in others? Let me tell you this, my friend. Unless God does more in you than He does in Judas, you'll go to hell just like Judas did. And if God does not do more in you than He does in those that are lost and left in their sins, to die in their sins, to be separated from God throughout a Christless eternity, then, my friend, you will perish. God works in his people, his salvation. Christ, the Armenian says, has done all he can do, and now the sinner must do something. He must do something. Well, tell me, my friend, what can you do? What can you do? Well, I read a couple of illustrations. One of them was about King Charles in Carisbrook Castle. And he was imprisoned there, and his loyal followers They got busy and they made every provision that they could make for his escape. And they had a boat, they had supplies, they had a plan, they had everything laid out. There was just one thing that had to be done. King Charles had to escape from Carisbrook Castle. And there's where the problem was. He was never able to escape. The plan was well laid. Provisions provided. A boat provided. And he could have swiftly been taken away. But he couldn't get out of the dungeon. He couldn't get out of Carisbrook Castle. And that's like, of course, the sinner. The sinner is in a... he's in a cell. And the door is locked. And the key's not on the inside, my friend. You say, well, I think it's on the inside. No, it isn't. The key is in the hands of a sovereign Christ. Salvation is not a human project. It's God's work. And it's in God's hands to save the sinner. And it's not in the cell with the sinner. And the Lord must sovereignly walk the aisle of the prison and come to your cell and turn the key in the lock or else you'll be damned for all eternity. A pardon, an everlasting pardon, can only come from the God of the Bible, can only come from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Christ. And then the Romanists, they tell a story about, it's a lying legend of course, about Saint Dennis. that after his head was took off, that he picked it up and carried it in his hands and walked 2,000 miles. 2,000 miles? No problem! No problem! If you can just tell me how he took the first step. How did he take the first step? My friend, if God requires of a sinner, dead in sin, that he take the first step, then what God requires makes salvation as impossible under the gospel as ever it was under the law. The sinner is not able to take the first step toward God. He is dead. He's dead in sin. Seeing man is as unable to believe as he is to obey and is just as much without power to come to Christ as he is to go to heaven without Christ. I'm telling you, the sinner is not able to save himself. I'm talking about the doctrine that he only is our salvation. The God of the Bible only is the author and the finisher of our faith. Now then, let me talk to you a little bit about this experience. We've had the doctrine and now a little about the experience. Now this is very important. I want you to understand with me a couple of things. The Bible says in John chapter 17 and verse 3, it says that this is life eternal, that you might know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. This is life eternal, that you might know. Now this is talking about an experiential knowledge the Lord Jesus Christ of the God of the Bible and of his son the Lord Jesus and also in 1st John 5 12 and 13 The record that God has given of his son is eternal life and this life is in his son and he that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life and these things are written unto you that you might believe on the name of the Son of God and that you might have life through faith now then also in the 20th verse It says we know that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we might know Him that is true, even Jesus Christ who is the true God. Now beloved, this experiential knowledge, do you know God, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been brought by a sovereign act of God to know the Lord Jesus Christ, to be experientially acquainted with Him? Do you know Him in your heart better than you know your husband, better than you know your wife, better than you know anybody on earth? Do you know Christ? Has He been joined to you? Have you been joined to Him? Have you experientially been brought in to the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, beloved, there's many, many people who profess salvation who doesn't know the first thing about an experience in grace, a true experience in the grace of God. Now then, this is the problem that we have in preaching to people and this is the problem we have in witnessing to people is that so few know nothing of God's salvation experientially. They know nothing about it. It is much easier to do something than it is to trust God to do His work. And many people go out and that's the reason why there are so few fellow workers with God and there are so many workers for Him. is because people have the idea, you see, that we can just get people to do something and we can get them to make a move. We can get them to come forward in the service. We can get them to go into the inquiry room. We can get them to pray. We can get them to a mourner's bench. We can get them to an altar. We can do this or we can do that. We can get a profession out of them. And after all, if we do that, that's salvation. Well, my friend, let me tell you something. Salvation is not in a profession. It is in a person. It's not in a profession. Salvation is not in you making a move and coming forward in the church. Salvation is not in you making a profession or going through the motions. It's not. Salvation is an experiential knowledge of the God of the Bible, it's to know Him by the work of the Divine Spirit. Now, then, let me say a word about this. We would far rather work for God than to believe that He can save sinners. We'd rather, you know, we just say, well, we'll just go out there and we'll get some sinners saved. We'll do something. Do I believe that God can do what I cannot do? Do I believe that? Do you know, my friend, that I've never known a preacher that could give life to an insect, much less a soul, a living and eternally bound soul? I've never known a preacher that could give life to anybody. And a preacher can't do it. Do I believe that God can do what I cannot do? I despair of men in the degree in which I have never realized that God has done anything for me. I look around and I see men steeped in sin. I look around and I see men chained in the bondage of sin. I see rebels against God all over the face of the earth. I see men and women who are astray. Somebody said, well, has God done anything for you? Well, yes, let me tell you that the God of the Bible has done something for me. The God of the Bible has been pleased to work a miracle in my soul. He's been pleased to open my sin-blinded eyes and to show me His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been pleased to give me faith, enabling me to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust Him. as my Lord and Savior, and He's been pleased to break the shackles of sin. I'm not perfect, but He's been pleased to do whatever has been done that is God-glorifying and God-honoring in my life. The Lord's been pleased to do that. Has He done anything for you that makes you hope for other men and women? You say, well, you know, it's going to take a pretty smart preacher to get that fellow to make a decision. My friend, you missed it. You know nothing about the experience of He only being my rock and my salvation. You know nothing about it. Is my experience such a wonderful realization of God's power and might that I can never despair of anyone that I come in contact with? That I must believe that whatever be a man or woman's position or state in sin, that God can do something about it. Listen, if you've been brought up, if God has brought you up, if he's lifted you out, if he's been pleased to deliver your soul from the pit, if he has been pleased to save and rescue your soul, then surely you know something about the experience and you can have hope in you that there's hope for anybody you meet. There's hope for the worst sinner out of hell, my friend. There's hope for the blackest sinner out of hell because God saved me and if He can save me, He can save anybody. There isn't anybody He can't save. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners and God saved me. God had mercy on me and God saved me. Now then, is your experience such a wonderful realization of God's power and might that you'll never despair of anyone that you see? Well now, the degree of panic is the degree of the lack of personal spiritual experience. You get folks that come in the building, and they come in week after week, and somebody said, Preacher, they'll never be saved unless you give an invitation. Preacher, they'll never be saved unless you personally go to them and deal with them. You've got to go to them and you've got to give an invitation. You'll have to sing at least five verses. If you sing any less, nobody will ever come. You've got to give an invitation, preacher. Well, beloved, listen, you panic if you want to, but I will not panic. I will not panic because I know how God saved me. And I know how God saved some others around here, and I know that it's not necessary for us to give a long, drawn-out invitation and try to coax men and women to come and make a profession. They make a profession and then just go out on to hell like they were before. But if God Almighty does something in them, if they become experientially acquainted with Christ, if Christ reveals Himself in their heart, and Paul said that's the way he got saved, was that the Son of God was revealed in his heart. And that's the only way you can be saved. And you must understand this. Well, how did you become a Christian? The scripture says, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves. I'll open your graves. John 5 and 24 said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. The hour is coming, and now he is. And now is when they will hear the voice of the Son of God and they'll come forth. God's children are, as it were, in the graves and God brought them out. Behold, O my people, I'll open your graves. This is the work of God. How did you come to be a Christian? You see, this is your problem. How did you come to be a Christian? Charles Spurgeon said on one occasion when he was a very young believer, He said he went to hear a preacher. He said he didn't believe a thing the preacher said, not a thing. And he was sitting there under the sound of that sermon as the preacher was telling a lie, and he began to question in his own heart, how did I become a Christian? And he said, well, he said, I know that I sought the Lord. And then he said, well, how did you come to seek the Lord? How did you do that? And so he was meditating and he was talking to himself as it were, preaching to himself as this preacher was up preaching things that he didn't even believe himself. And so, he said this, he came to this conclusion that the power of God had made him to seek the Lord because no man seeks the Lord by nature. God alone is the salvation of his people. All I know is that whatever I have, the Lord had to give it to me because I didn't have anything myself. Do I have faith? Well, I think I do, but I once was a faithless soul. There was a time when I didn't have any faith. Didn't have any faith. Do I now see? Well, I was blind as a bat once. But I see. Am I a liar to God? Well, I was dead in sin once. I want you to look. Turn to John 9 with me, if you will. Turn to John chapter 9. I want you to look at this. This story here in this chapter is about the man who was born blind. And the Lord Jesus came and healed him. And the Jews didn't believe concerning him that he'd been blind and received his sight until they called the parents of him that had received his sight in verse 19. And they asked them, saying, Is this your son who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind. But by what means he now seeth, we know not. Or who hath opened his eyes, we know not. He is of age, ask him, and he shall speak for himself. And then notice, if you will, in verse 24, He then again Then again called they the man that was blind and said unto him Give God the praise We know that this man is a sinner And in verse 25 you listen to this He answered and said whether he be a sinner or no, I know not One thing I know that whereas I was blind Now I see now beloved. That's the experience of salvation. That's it All I know is I was blind, but now I see. I know now that God's opened my eyes. And so at the present, if your experience be that of a child of God, I believe that you'll trace all to Him. You'll trace it all back to Him. Here you are sitting here in your seat this morning, and I want you to review where you stand this morning. Do you think that you'd be where you are now if it were not for the grace of God? Would you be where you are now if it were not for the grace of God? My friend, this is a very important question. Think about it. You're where you are this morning because in the experience of salvation, God touched you. Salvation came. Faith cometh and it came to you. It was God doing it. It was God's work. Have you anything good in your heart that grace did not give you? I said anything good. Do you have anything good in your heart that was not a gift from God? Who hath made us to differ? What hast thou that thou hast not received? If you have received it, then we ought not to glory as if you had not received it. Anything you got in you that's good came from God. Because all good and perfect gifts come down from the Father above with whom there is no variables, neither shadow of turning. If I thought for a minute that I had a grace that did not come from God, I'd throw it down and I'd trample it under my feet because it's counterfeit. And unless it comes, unless all of the grace in us comes from the mint of glory, then we must destroy it, throw it away. It's not worth talking about. What you've got, if you didn't get it from God, then throw it down here in the building and they'll sweep it out when they sweep the rest of the rubbish out. If you didn't get it from God, where did you get your salvation? Where did it come from? Say, my mama wished Jesus off on me. That won't do. That won't do. You say, well, the preacher, you know, he was pretty persuasive. He might have been, but you'll go to hell unless you get salvation from the hand of God. Experientially, have you been touched by the spirit of grace and the spirit of glory? Christian, can you say of all things past and present, He only is my rock and my salvation. Calper wrote these words, Since the dear hour that brought me to thy foot, and cut up all my follies by the root. I never trusted in an arm but thine, nor hoped but in thy righteousness divine." What a testimony. Well, so much for the experience. I must get here lastly to the duty. The duty that's involved. We talked about the doctrine, we talked about the experience, and now we must talk about the duty. The duty is If God only be my rock and my salvation and we know it and have by experience this morning the ability to understand what God has done, are we not bound? by this, to put all of our trust in God, and give all honor and glory to God, and to set all our hope upon God, and to spend all our life for God, and to devote our whole being to God. Are we not bound to do this? And the believer, the true believer says, Amen, I'm bound to do it. He only is my rock and my salvation. But to those of you who would hesitate, I want to bid you now, as God has put all salvation in Himself, to bring all things to God. Bring thyself to God. Bring yourself to God. What do I mean by this? Well, we read in John chapter 3, I think it's in verse 5 or 6, where it says that the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands. And my friend, if you love the Son, the Father loved the Son and he gave everything over to his hands, and if you love the Son, Then turn yourself over to Him. Give up yourself, lock, stock and barrel unto the Son. Give yourself over to the Son of God any way you know how. Just give yourself to Him. Go to Him and tell Him, Lord, here I am. as a blank sheet of paper. Stamp upon that paper whatever you would have me to be. Make me what you want me to be. Make me all that a resurrected in throne Christ can make a man in this world. Make me that. Give yourself wholly to Him. Now then, what do I mean? I mean never join anything with Christ. Practically, what do I mean? I mean never join anything with Christ. Don't stitch your old rags into the new garment that He gives. Don't put Christ Himself together. That's putting Christ and a worm together in a harness. Never. Never. Christ and man together, Christ in company? No. It can never be. He must be all. Christ must be all. All and all in your salvation. If He's not your Lord, and if He's not Lord of all, He's not Lord at all in your life. If He's not Lord of all, you come to Him and you give all over to Him. He must be all. Christ will never tolerate or bear to have anything else placed with Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. You think those are just empty words that David... He wasn't writing like some of the Puritans used to write. They used to get paid a penny for a word. And you can read chapters after chapters and they could have explained what they were going to say in one paragraph. And they wrote chapters and chapters because they got paid a penny a word. You see my friend, listen, in the Bible that's not the way it is. David said, He only, He only is my rock and my salvation because it was true, desperately true. And you must come to that in your heart. Now then you'll have your whole heart trusting Him, your whole soul to love Him. You'll have that your whole life to honor Him. That's what's involved in this business of He only being our rock and our salvation. Christian, Let me tell you this morning that it's a sin to keep anything from God. It's a sin not to love Him with your whole heart, not to trust Him with your whole heart and soul and for your whole life to be given over to honor Him. It's a sin. Now then, the poet said, yet if I might, make some reserve, and duty did not call, I love my God with zeal so great that I should give Him all." Now my friend, that's just the testimony of somebody that loves Christ. Somebody that loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody who has given all over into His hands. That's what we should do. Just what the Father did. We should do the same. Now then, we must not grieve or vex our Master, the Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must not vex Him who is the very companion of our soul. We must not grieve the Spirit of the Living God. He is so fond of us that He is jealous of our love. He is jealous of our love. He only is our rock and our salvation. And he is jealous. The Bible says that God is a jealous God. If we're looking at anything else, we cannot see Christ as well as we could if we had a single eye toward Him. And that's why we will not frustrate the grace of God around here. If righteousness come by the law, Christ is dead in vain. Quit looking at the law and look to Christ. Christ alone is our salvation. And you can't see Christ very well if you listen. No man can look at two objects at the same time and see both distinctly. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Christian, look only on Him because He's your rock and your salvation. Christian, never let anything come between you and Christ. Nothing. Nothing. Now then God has sent out a search warrant One old preacher said, against all of us, and do you know what he told his officers to search for? Do you know? Well, I'll tell you what he told his officers to search for. He has told them to search for all our lovers. He has told them to search for our treasures and all of our and all of our helpers, and all of the usurpers of his throne in our lives. That's what he said. That's what he's told them to do. He said, go out and get them. God's jealous. He's not going to have you leaning on, trusting, letting something else come between you and God. Listen to me, there's people in this world that I dearly love. But I'll tell you this, when it comes to Christ, They just have to stand aside, because I don't want anybody to get between me and Christ. Nobody get between me and Christ. I've left all and followed Him, and nobody is to get between me, my soul, and Christ. Because listen, I'll tell you this, that there's nothing in this world That if you let it, I'm talking to believers, children of God, there's nothing in this world that if you let it come between your soul and God that shall not be hung upon a gallows higher than Haman's. If you let it come between your soul and God. If you love your house better than Christ, He'll make it a prison to you. If you love your job, if you love provisions, if you love the blessings that God's given you in this life more than you love Christ, He'll make the drink bitter in your mouth, and He'll make your food like gravel stones until you wholly come. to worship Him and love Him and adore Him and to testify of Him that He only is your rock and your salvation. It's a very important thing. You don't just call God your rock and your salvation and that be the end of it. You go on your merry way and do as you please. No, no, no. There's duty and obligation involved with this. Now there's nothing that you own. which cannot be turned into a rod for your back if you love it better than Him. Don't rob Jesus Christ of His rightful place. Christian, always keep your eye on the cloud and not on the rain. Keep your eye on the cloud, not on the rain. Don't look to the sunbeam, but look to the sun. Don't look to the gift, look to the giver. Don't look to the blessing, look to the blesser. You got to keep your eyes on the Lord. He only, I'm talking about the duty of it, He only is my rock and my salvation. Well, listen, trace your mercies to God, all your mercies to God, and worship Him. as the first cause of everything. If you ever get this right, honey, let me tell you something, you'll quit cussing second causes. Yes, you will. You'll quit cussing second causes. This'll do to live by, and it'll do to die by. If you ever get your heart right, if he ever becomes, if he ever becomes your rock and your salvation, it'll solve a whole lot of problems in your mind and in your heart. If you ever get this loyalty straight, than your children. And let me tell you this, that we gotta be careful about our children. I mean if you let that daughter, if you let that son come between you and Christ, I'll tell you what, that child will become an adder and sting you in the breast. I'm telling you, you've got to keep your heart bright. Let nothing come between you and God. He only Our expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. Well, just a word now to the ungodly. You've heard what I've said this morning to the people of God here. You've heard what I've said about the doctrine, the experience, and the duty. Well, I think this morning that this is a good doctrine for you. I think it is. The reason I say that is because You don't have anything. Do you? Do you have anything? I mean, could you bring something in your hand to the Lord? No. Could you contribute something to the banquet of salvation? No. No, you could not. You have nothing to commend you to God except your sin. You're a poor, lost, ruined sinner. You don't have anything. And further, let me tell you this. Glad, glad tidings. You don't need anything. You don't need anything. Don't need a thing. Say, Preacher, I thought I needed something. No, you don't need anything. Everything you need, He provides in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Just kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. Bow to the Son. Worship the Son. Cry to the Son. Receive any way you can the Son. Receive Him. Believe on Him. Trust Him. Because Christ has all. Christ has all. Christ is the substitute for all things, but nothing is a substitute for Him. Christ is everything. He's all in all. He's the all in all of a sinner's hope. Christ, I point you to Him. He only is my rock. and my salvation. May God be pleased to own this morning the message and to bless these truths to our heart, the doctrine, the experience, and the duty. May the Lord be pleased to give his own results from the preaching of his word. You've been very attentive and you're very good listeners. May the Lord bless you. Mike, could you