Key verse:
In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. – Psalm 62:7-8
Introduction
All Christians should be filled with a level of pride in their Lord – I know that I certainly do. There is a certain level of joy that Christians should also be filled with when it comes to God – I certainly have all kinds of joy in my God. No matter what it is that we are going through or dealing with, we should always take pride in God and be filled with joy. Who are you that takes no pride in the Lord or have no joy in the Lord? If you are not quite there in pride and joy, I pray that today’s message lifts you up.
My Salvation
David says, in our key verse, “In God is my salvation.” I would love to put an exclamation mark behind what David says there because that’s exactly how I feel about God being my salvation! Salvation is preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss. In other words, David is thinking of the Lord as his preserver and deliverer from harm, ruin, or loss. Today, I tell you that God is a preserver of life; the Lord is a deliverer from the world, sin, Satan, the Lord’s wrath, and second death – this is the power of God. Who besides God can deliver you from the world, sin, His wrath, and the second death? Who can preserve you (your soul)?
There is not one man walking this earth presently, in the past, or the future that can bring you salvation. Man wouldn’t even know where to begin on bring salvation to the world! Once man found out what it took to bring about salvation to the world, no man would want to do it! If salvation depended on man, we would be living in a world where there was absolutely no salvation. Thank God that we have salvation in this world today!
David said, “in God is my salvation,” and David had no idea who his salvation would be (Jesus), yet David still called God his salvation. We have something in common with David – we have never never seen nor met Jesus, yet we believe in Him as our salvation. You see, Jesus loosed the shackles in hell and set free those old patriarchs that were there so that they could be with the Lord. We too also have been set free! We have been set free through His resurrection! He freed us from those same shackles of sin! Jesus us freed us from this ol’ world! Thanks to Jesus, we don’t have to suffer the wrath of God! This is why I can proudly shout out, “in God is my salvation!”
My Glory
David then said, “in God is my glory.” Do you feel where David is coming from? Who do you give the glory? Who do you give your honor? If you still don’t quite feel where I am coming from, I am asking you, who do you give your praise? Let me say this, do not give men your glory! Don’t give no man your praise!
What has man done for you to earn your glory and praise? What has man done for you? I seriously ask this question to you, and I want you to seriously think on this question! Why? Because I am always seeing man, woman, boy, or girl, glorifying or praising another person – you have heard this from me before. Personally, I have no problem with giving respect and due to a person for something they have excelled at. Lebron is a great basketball player, but I am not going to praise the man like he’s some kind of god. Tom Brady, great quarterback in my opinion, but I am not going to sing this guy’s praises like he’s some kind of god. What has man done for you?
When you really think about the things that man has done you: man is certainly the reason why we all live in sin, thank Adam for that one. Thanks to man, some of us have to work 8 and 12 hour shifts, don’t we? Because of man, and man’s economy, you can barely get any time off from that 8 and 12 hour shift. In fact, we you do get time off, you eventually have to go right back because man has bills, and you better believe that man is going to collect! Because of man, we still have to stand up and fight for the right to live freely in 2016! Now, you tell me, what has man done to earn your glory? Why does man deserve your honor? What has man done?
A few weeks back I preached a sermon, “Knowledge is Power“, and in that sermon I discussed man’s willingness to give another man his praise. Do you know that man is limited? The powers of man is limited! Don’t go about glorifying, honoring, and praising the limited capabilities of man! I give all of my glory, honor, and praise to the God in heaven! You see, my God is limitless – this means that my God has absolutely no limits! My God can do anything for you! In other words, my God is worthy of your glory, honor, and your praise!
My strength
David said that the Lord is “the rock of his strength.” Let’s remember who David was for a brief moment. David was the King of Israel. David became King, then marched to Jerusalem and conquered the people of that land (2 Samuel 5:6). David had his armies and men that were loyal to him. David had a kingdom, riches, and wealth but none of these things David considered to be his strength! David clearly says that the Lord is his strength!
We should ask ourselves, what is the rock of our strength? What is the rock of your strength? Is it the money? Is it the wealth? Is it family and friends? Is it the job position or maybe even the position you have in the local church? Is it how many folks that follow you on Twitter or how many friends that follow you Facebook? What is it that is your strength? Answer that question, today! If you feel that these things are your strength, just remember that these things are temporary.
The Lord is my strength! He gives me strength to continue fighting on with what I go through and deal with daily. If not for the Lord’s strength, I’m not really sure how I would make it. One of the nurses that take care of me during my dialysis treatments told me of her chemo treatments. When she thought back on the time and dealing with cancer, she could only say, “by the grace of God I made it through”. I know exactly what she means by that! Through God’s strength I made it through the hardest days of my life – right after pop passed. Through God’s strength I am able to deal with the anxieties and stress that may come along. Through God’s strength, I am slowly but surely conquering what I am going through. Have you gone through some things and come out of those things because of God? God is your strength!
My Refuge
David called the Lord “his refuge”. God, a refuge. A refuge, if you’re not quite sure what that is, is a place of shelter from danger. David felt safe in the Lord and compared the Lord to a place of shelter from danger. If you understand anything about David, you will know that he always felt that his enemies were around him. Literally, his enemies did indeed surround him but he said he was in the refuge of the Lord – who or what can harm me in the refuge of the Lord is what I imagined David thought.
When it storms my dog, knows how to quickly get into his house, which is his refuge during the storm. When the storms of life begin to thunder and roar, what is your refuge? I can tell you that I have made the Lord my refuge! Through all the storms that have come about, I haven’t gotten wet! The severe winds of those storms have yet to knock over my refuge because those walls are able to take the worst winds! I am protected from all the dangers that life may bring because I have taken refuge in the Lord!
What is your refuge? Think about it. Have you taken up refuge in the Lord? Where do you go when the dangers of life come calling – you better believe that those dangers will come calling. When those dangers and storms come, I hope that you have not decided to take refuge in this world. So many people take refuge in the world and worldly things, thinking that somehow the world or worldly things can provide protection.
Refuge in the world, or worldly things, is such a terrible idea because this world and the things of it is temporary. You may think that you’re surviving the storms, but cracks are slowly forming in the walls and the foundations; sooner or later the walls are going to come crumbling down. Let me tell you that God, as a refuge, never fails! The walls of God can take a beating and never crack! The Lord can take on the most powerful storms of life and He shall never crumble!
Your pride and joy
The Lord, my God, the God of heaven, should be your everything! I tell you that God is my everything! God is my salvation! God is my glory! God is my strength! God is my refuge! Take pride and joy in the Lord, all you children of God. If you are not a believer, try God and you will see that He is worth of your glory, honor, and praise. Pray to no man! Pray to the One with both power and might in His hands.