Clean Transcript

I Will Serve the Lord

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• Let's open our Bibles today then to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. And those of you who were here last week will remember that I began a message entitled, "I Will Love the Lord," or "I Will Love Thee, O Lord," as the scripture says. And I want to take just a few minutes to review. And those of you who did not hear the message last week, I would really encourage you to get a copy of the tape and listen to it, because I believe it's not only one of the most important, but one of the most practical messages in the sense, if you look in Psalm 18, verse one, David said, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." Then look in verse two. "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation, my high tower." And then he says in verse three, "I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised."

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• "So shall I be saved from mine enemies." So the message last week, I just dealt with this phrase. "I will love thee, O Lord." And I showed you David's determination. David is determining that he is going to love the Lord. And may I remind you that we cannot love him first. We can only love him because he first loved us. And so I dealt with my first sub-point, that is, David's response, because David's love can only be a response to God's love. And I pointed out three key elements in love. Attitude, affection, and action. Our attitude must be right. Our affections must be right. And then, of course, our actions will demonstrate and manifest whether or not our affections and our attitude are indeed right. I pointed out that love, according to the Bible, is the fulfilling of the law of God. That's what the Bible says in Romans 13 and verse 10. Love is the fulfilling of the law. So I pointed out that love can be summarized in one word, and that word is obedience.

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• If we love the Lord, we will obey him. And I went through the Bible and the Old Testament and the New Testament and showed basically the same principle. Our Lord said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." So very obviously, love is indeed the fulfilling of a law. It is obedience. It is not sentimentality. It is not feeling. It is not some abstract thing floating around the universe somewhere. It is obedience.

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• Now, let me give you just a paragraph of one author when he's giving a comment on verse 1 where David says, "I will love thee, O Lord," and he says this, basically, "with a strong, hearty affection, I will cling to thee as a child to its parents or a spouse to her husband. The word is intensely forcible. The love is of the deepest kind. I will love thee heartily and with my inmost bowels."

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• "Here is a fixed resolution to abide in the nearest and most intimate union with the Most High. Our triune God deserves the warmest love of our hearts. Father, Son, and Spirit have a claim upon our love. The solemn purpose never to cease loving naturally springs from a present fervor of affection." And you know, you and I sometimes smile when someone says, "I will love thee heartily with my inmost bowels." And we forget to the Hebrew mind and even to the Greek mind, love came from the deepest recesses of your being. And so "I will love thee from my bowels" is indeed a biblical expression.

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• Now, having shown you David's determination in verse one, I want to continue with that thought today and show you not only David's determination and his response to God's love, but I want you to see David's reasons why he is determined that he's going to love the Lord. So he says in verse one, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." Now, there's a passage in Psalm 116 and verse one that goes like this. "I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and inclined his ear to my supplications." I've read that verse innumerable times. I've preached from that verse. But you know, the thing that really hit me every time I read that verse, David said, "I love the Lord because" and you could just literally stop right there and begin enumerating reasons why we should love the Lord. And you could be here the rest of your life, he said, "I love the Lord because." Certainly, there are innumerable reasons why we should love the Lord. But here in Psalm 18, David lists several reasons.

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• In fact, in verse 1, he says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." And then he goes on in verse 2, look at it, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, and whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."

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• Now, before I explain these two verses, I want to give you two quotes from two commentators. Now, I want you to listen carefully because these are very important quotes, OK? The first one is going to be from John Calvin and the second one from John Trapp. And they're just making comments on verses one and two. Listen to what John Calvin says. "When David thus heaps together many titles by which to honor God, it is no useless or unnecessary accumulation of words." Let me just stop there. When David starts calling the Lord my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, Calvin is saying it's no needless or useless accumulation of words.

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• There's a purpose for it. He continues, "We know how difficult it is for men to keep their minds and their hearts stayed in God, they either imagine that it is not enough to have God for them, and consequently are always seeking after support and succor elsewhere, or at the first temptation which assails them, fall from the confidence which they placed in Him. David, therefore, by attributing to God various methods of saving his people, protests that, provided he has God for his protector and defender, he is effectually fortified against all peril and assault. As if he had said, those whom God intends to succor and defend are not only safe against one kind of danger, but are, as it were, surrounded by impregnable ramparts on all sides, so that should a thousand deaths be presented their view, they ought not to be afraid even at this formidable array." Now, to me, that's a wonderful... All he's saying is this, if you understand why David is giving all of these attributes of God, he is saying it doesn't matter what you and I are facing, if we are safe in our Lord, then we're fully, totally protected.

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• John Trapp goes on and he says this, "He is all in all for my preservation. Ten words say the Hebrews. He here heapeth up in reference to ten signal victories, or rather because his thankful heart was so enlarged that he could never satisfy himself in saying what God had been to him and done for him. And hence this congeries, or heap of holy expressions, and all to show that God is a rock of refuge, a firm fortress, a receptacle of rest, a sanctuary of safety to all his saints in times of trouble. David had had his share and had been put to his shifts, glad to hide himself as he could in rocks and strongholds that sheltered him from the storm. To these he alludeth when he calls God his rock, his fortress, etc." Now, I do not know, and I certainly could not prove, that each one of these descriptions of God that David lists here would represent a signal victory in his life. Maybe Trapp has some information that I do not have.

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• However, we do know that David often hid himself among the rocks, the sheep coats, the mountains, and the fortresses, especially when he was hiding from Saul and his multitudinous enemies. But I'm just going to tell you very pointedly today, when David lists all of these names and attributes of God, if you understand what David is saying, it will greatly encourage your heart to trust in him and in him alone. David said, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." So let's begin by looking at verse one at the first title or name of God, and that is "my strength."

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• Now, let me ask you a question. Did you know that the name "strength" or the word "strength" is a name for God in Scripture? Let me just show you very quickly. Look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 15 and verse 29. Hold Psalm 18, but look in 1 Samuel 15 and verse 29. Look what Samuel says to Saul. 1 Samuel 15 and verse 29. You remember that Saul has sinned against God. He's not kept the law of God. He's not obeyed the commandment of God. He's allowed Agag, the king, to live and many of the sheep and the oxen. And in 1 Samuel 15 and verse 29, Samuel says this. In fact, let's begin with verse 28.

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• "And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent." So here then is a title of God, and God is called "the strength of Israel." Now, when God is called "the strength of Israel" in the context of 1 Samuel chapter 15, it indicates that God cannot lie, for lying is weakness. And the Bible says in Hebrews 6 and verse 18 that it is impossible for God to lie. God is not weak. God is strength. And here's another thought in light of this context. In light of 1 Samuel chapter 15, when God is called "the strength of Israel," it refers to the fact that God's judgment against Saul is basically irrevocable. That is, the judgment will not come off Saul. God does not vacillate. God is immutable. He is unchangeable. And God protects His name, His honor, His glory, and His people.

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• Now, David said, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." When you and I contemplate our weakness, our helplessness, our powerlessness, it should encourage us to know that we have a Father who is strength incarnate. You know, I've often thought about the fact that younger people never ever really think about how weak they really are. I mean, when you're young, you think you're going to live forever. And you think you have all power and you can do anything and everything you want.

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• Until you begin to hit about 50. And then all of a sudden, you know, those aches and pains catch up with you. I remember what Roy asked me one day, he said, "Pastor," he said, "why didn't you tell me getting old wasn't all that much fun? You just get the miseries every now and then." I mean, that's all there is to it. And when you begin to think what you cannot do. And when you even begin to think about this in a spiritual sense.

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• Look how many people you would like to straighten out. But you don't have the power. Look at the people that we would like to help, that we would like to heal, that we don't have the power. Look at the people that we would like to reach, but we don't have the power. The point I'm trying to make is we are helpless in and of ourselves, but our God is the omnipotent God of the universe. He cannot fail. We may fail, but He cannot fail. We may fall, but He cannot fall. We may be powerless, but He is powerful.

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• David said, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." And what David is saying is this, if I have God as my protector, if I have God as my strength, I'm then fortified against all peril and against all danger.

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• Now, let me just ask that you turn in your Bibles to Psalm 18. Some of these things I want you to see, but some of them I'm going to quote just to save time because I've got an awful lot of verses to share with you today, but look at Psalm 18 and verse 32 after David says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." In verse 32, he says this. "It is God that girded me with strength and maketh my way perfect." Look in verse 39, "For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me." Look in Psalm 19 and verse 14. "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." Look in Psalm 22 and verse 19. Psalm 22 verse 19. "But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me." Look in Psalm 27 and verse 1. Psalm 27, verse 1.

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• "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Look in Psalm 28 in verse 7. "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him." Look in verse 8. "The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed." And then I want everyone to please turn to Psalm 71 and look at verse 18. I love this passage. I've quoted this passage innumerable times. Psalm 71, verse 18. And some of us who have gray hair will understand this verse a little better than some of those who do not have gray hair. But in Psalm 71, verse 18, David says this, "Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come."

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• So God was David's strength when he was young, when he was a mature adult, and now that he's gotten old, he said, "Lord, now that I'm old and I'm grayheaded, allow me still to show thy strength unto this generation." Now, what in the world is David saying when he says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength"? He is naming God as the sovereign, omnipotent God of the universe. Do you remember that passage in John 15, in verse 5, when our Lord said this, help me out now.

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• He said, "Without me, you can do how much? Nothing." And do you remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4, in verse 13? "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." When David says, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength," he's saying, "Lord, You are everything to me. It is Your strength I depend upon. It's Your strength that I will go in. It's Your strength in which I will stand. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength."

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• Now, go back to Psalm 18. Because in verse 2, he goes further. He says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." And then he says, "The Lord is my rock." When David declares that God is his rock, he uses the Hebrew word sela, which literally means to be lofty. It is translated as rock, a stronghold, a cliff, a crag, a place of safety. How many times David hid in the rocks, I do not know, especially when Saul was chasing him before he was able to have a real army. But the Bible says this in 1 Samuel 24 and verse 2. "Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats." So David then oftentimes hid in the rocks. And now David is saying, "The Lord is my rock." Now, when David was hiding among the rocks, what David was doing was basically this. He was viewing those rocks as a temporary place of safety or as a temporary expediency.

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• What he is saying is these rocks are just a picture and a type of the rock who is my real protection. Now, let me tell you something else that you may not know. The word "rock" is another name for God in Scripture. Look back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 32 and verse four. Deuteronomy 32 and verse four. David is using not only the names of God, but the attributes of God to fortify himself. Look in Deuteronomy 32 in verse 4. In fact, we'll look at several passages here. Deuteronomy 32 verse 4, David says—I mean Moses writes—"He is the Rock." Capital R. "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." He is the Rock. That is God. That's a title for God. Look in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 15. You'll see it again.

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• "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." Once again, God is called the rock. Look in verse 18, same chapter, Deuteronomy 32, "Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee." Here again, the word rock is a name for God. Look in Deuteronomy 32 verses 30 and 31. Verse 30, "How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." God is called the rock. Did you realize in 1 Samuel 2 in verse 2, I'll just quote it, the scripture says, "There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God." Then if you will turn over in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 23.

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• 2 Samuel chapter 23. And notice, if you would please, verse 3. Look what David has said. I want you to see this title again. In fact, let's read verses 1, 2, and 3. Because David says this, "Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." So here in one passage, He's not only called the God of Israel, He's now called the Rock of Israel as well. In Psalm 28 in verse 1, David said, "Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock." God is the rock. Look in Psalm 31 very quickly. Psalm 31, I'm just showing you that these titles are not a useless and needless accumulation of words, as Calvin pointed out.

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• Notice, if you would, in Psalm 31 and verse 2, David says this, Psalm 31, verse 2, "Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me." Be thou my strong rock. Look in verse 3. "For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me." Let me just quote Psalm 62 and verse 6. "He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence."

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• "I shall not be moved." Psalm 62 and verse 7, "In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God." Now, since we know that in the Old Testament the name Rock is a name of God, do you understand the play on words in Matthew 16 and verse 18, when our Lord said to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"? Now, wait a minute. What did our Lord just say? He said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." Now, listen carefully. Peter is not the rock. Peter is not the head of the church. He never was. There's a play on words. The word Peter in the Greek is the word Petros, which means a small or little rock. Our Lord said, "Peter, thou art a little rock, but upon this rock I'll build my church." What rock is he talking about? Well, don't you remember in verse 16?

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• Our Lord asked, "Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" Well, some answered, some say that you're Elijah or Elias or one of the prophets. Our Lord says, "But whom say ye that I am?" And Peter said this, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And that is when Jesus Christ said, "Thou art Peter. And upon this rock," that is, Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ, Thou art the Anointed One, Thou art the Messiah, Thou art the Son of the Living God," "Thou art Peter, a small rock, but upon this rock," the rock of Peter's confession, "I will build my church, that I am the Son of God, I am the Savior, I am the Anointed One of Israel, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Do you remember what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 4? You know what Scripture says there concerning Christ? The Bible said, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them."

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• Are you listening? "And that Rock was Christ." Wow. What is David saying? "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. You're my God. You're my rock. You are my salvation." John Gill makes this statement concerning God being our rock. He says, "to whom the saints have recourse for shelter and safety, for supply, support, and divine refreshment." Remember the water came from the rock. "And in whom they are secure and on whom they build their hopes of eternal life and happiness and so are safe from all enemies and from all danger. Christ is called a rock on all of these accounts." What did David say? "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. My rock." And then he says in Psalm 18 in verse two, "and my fortress." Stop and think about God as a fortress. You know, whenever I hear the word fortress, I cannot help but think of Psalm 46 verses one and two.

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• Let me just quote it for you. In Psalm 46 verses one and two, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." You say, what's so important about that? Well, it was that passage from which Martin Luther wrote that mighty hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, a bulwark never failing." David said, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, my rock, and my fortress."

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• Now the word for fortress in the Hebrew is metzudah, and it refers to a castle, a stronghold, a fort, a strong place, and a place of defense. Now, although the word fortress is not a name of God, like rock and strength, God is often called a fortress in Scripture. For instance, in Psalm 31 in verse 3, David said, "For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me." In Psalm 71 and verse 3, David said, "Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress." In Psalm 91 and verse 2, David said, "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." And then in Psalm 144 in verse 2, David said, "My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me." Hmm. Jeremiah also uses the word fortress in reference to God.

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• He says in Jeremiah 16 and verse 19, "O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction." Spurgeon made this comment concerning the word fortress, he said, "dwelling among the crags and mountain fastnesses of Judea, David has escaped the malice of Saul and here he compares his God to such a place of concealment and safety. Believers are often hidden in their God from the strife of tongues and from the fury of the storm of trouble."

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• "The clefts of the rock of ages are safe abodes." So David is saying, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, my rock, and my fortress." I hope you're beginning to see why David is saying that God is all that he needs for his protection. Then in Psalm 18 in verse 2, he goes further. He says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer." Wow.

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• Now, the word deliverer is the Hebrew word palat, which refers to someone who enables or causes an escape. It means to be delivered. It means to be brought into safety.

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• Now, I want you to see what David is doing. David is building upon all of these descriptions of God. He's just said that God was his strength. God was his rock. God was his fortress. And now he says that God is his deliverer. Let me just point out the fact, humanly speaking, rocks and fortresses do not always deliver. There have been plenty of people who've escaped to rocks to mountain fortresses only to be starved in submission by a waiting enemy below. David says, my God is not only my strength and my rock and my fortress, he's also my deliverer. In other words, he not only provides safety, he provides security as well.

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• Do you not remember that a deliverer is one who interposes and helps in an hour of peril? And so David says, in my deepest hour of peril, he's not only my place of safety, he's the one that delivers me. I suppose we could stop and I could preach all day on the fact that our Lord has delivered us from sin, from self, from Satan, from death, from the wrath to come. He is indeed our deliverer. Let me show you.

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• I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 40 and look at verse 17. I want to emphasize this and I'll show you why in just a moment. Look at Psalm 40. Verse 17, David says, "But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God." In other words, he says, "Lord, I'm in desperate straits. Make no tarrying because you are my deliverer." Look in Psalm 70 and verse 5. Psalm 70, verse 5. He says the same thing again. Psalm 70, verse 5. "But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying." And then if you look in Psalm 144, and then I want us to go to the book of Romans. Look in Psalm 144, and notice if you would please verse 2. Psalm 144, verse 2, David says this, "My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me."

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• Now, turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 11, and verse 26. It's interesting how David continues to talk about his deliverer. In Romans 11, and Romans 11, verse 26, look what the Scripture says, "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer. Who is the Deliverer?

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• None other than Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ, according to Hebrews chapter 2, has delivered us out of the hand of the mighty, because Jesus Christ is the Almighty. I like what Mark 3 and verse 27 says. Our Lord says, "No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man." So there's got to be someone stronger than the strong man. And our Lord is stronger than the strong man. And he bound him and spoiled his goods and delivered us and brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light. According to Colossians 1, we were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. So David says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my Deliverer." And now, fifthly, he says in verse two, "and my God." Now, David uses a name for God that sums up just about everything that he had previously stated. The word translated God in Psalm 18, verse two, refers to power, might and strength.

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• It is also translated as Emmanuel. You remember that passage in Isaiah 7, "thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." The name implies that God is a strong God. He is the mighty God. He is the one who is able to say he is the covenant God and father of his people. Spurgeon made a beautiful comment on the name of God from Psalm 18 in verse 2. Here's what he said. He said that the name is "all good things in one."

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• "There is a boundless wealth in this expression. It means my perpetual, unchanging, infinite, eternal good. He who can truly say my God may well say my heaven and my all." So that's exactly what David was saying. He's my strength. He's my rock. He's my fortress. He's my deliverer. He's my God. And notice, if you would, how he connects this, because in Psalm 18, he says, "in whom I will trust." Notice Psalm 18, verse two, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust." Now, when David calls God his strength in verse two, it is not the same word as the word strength in verse 1. Actually, the word strength in verse 2 is most often in our Bibles translated as rock. It's the Hebrew word tsur, which is translated as rock or strength or mighty one or strong one. It refers to a strong rock or a boulder, a place of refuge. And David says, "in whom I will trust." Now, the word trust implies a seeking of refuge.

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• It is fleeing for protection and having one's hope and trust in God. Now, look in your Bible since we're close there to Psalm 5. Let me just show you how David uses this. Psalm 5 verse 11. Psalm 5, verse 11. He says, "my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I trust." Now in Psalm 5, verse 11, he says this, "But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice."

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• "Let them ever shout for joy." Why? "Because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee." Notice this God in whom we trust, this God in whom is our strength, He defends us. Look in Psalm 7 and verse 1, "O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me." Let's look in Psalm 9 and verse 10. "And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." Notice, if you would, David is saying, he is my trust. I like that passage in Psalm 20 and verse 7. Listen to this. David said, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." It's not the armies. It's not the defensive or offensive weaponry. It's our God. Now in Psalm 18, look at it in verse two again, David goes further and remember, David is not just needlessly and uselessly accumulating words.

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• He says in verse two, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler." Now, if I were to ask you, what is a buckler? How many could answer? One or two, three or four. That's good. The Hebrew word for buckler is the word magen. And it refers to a very large shield or an instrument of defense. There is a difference between a shield and a buckler. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles, hold Psalm 18, but look in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 12 and verse 8. 1 Chronicles chapter 12 and verse 8. Just to show you there is a difference between a shield and a buckler. 1 Chronicles 12 and verse 8.

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• "And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains." So these Gadites were men that could handle shield and buckler. So what's the difference? Well, a shield could be a small instrument and you could put it on your arm and you could maybe ward off blows. But a buckler was a larger, heavier instrument in which you could get behind and shield your entire body. You may have to kneel or squat, but the buckler then covered your entire body. David is saying the Lord is my buckler. In 2 Samuel 22 and verse 31, David says this, "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him." He's a buckler.

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• If you look in your Bibles to Psalm 91, Psalm 91 is a wonderful psalm of protection. And look at it, if you would please. In fact, let's read the first four verses. You could read the entire psalm. It's a wonderful psalm. Psalm 91, verse one. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust."

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• "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." God protects the entirety of our bodies, minds, spirits and soul because He is our buckler. The Bible says in Proverbs 2 in verse 7, "He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly." What does that mean? That means if we want God's protection, we walk in obedience to Him.

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• And you know what David is doing in Psalm 18? He is basically glorying in God's sovereign protection. If you go back to Psalm 18 in verse 2, David also says this. Look at it. "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation." What in the world does that mean, "the horn of my salvation"? The Hebrew word for horn is translated horn in our Bible 75 times. It is translated hill one time.

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• There have been numerous interpretations of this phrase, "the horn of my salvation." But I want you to listen to a comment made by John Brown, lived in the 1600s, on this phrase, "the horn of my salvation." Here's the explanation. He says, "The allusion here is doubtful. Some have supposed the reference to be to the horns of animals by which they defend themselves and attack their enemies. God is to me, does for me what their horns do for them."

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• "Like the rhinoceros, for instance. Others consider it as referring to the well-established fact that warriors were accustomed to place horns or ornaments like horns on their helmets. The horn stands for the helmet, and the helmet of salvation is an expression equivalent to a saving, protecting helmet. Others consider the reference as to the corners or handles of the altar in the court of the tabernacle or temple, which are called horns." You remember there were horns on that altar. "Others suppose the reference to be the highest point, or lofty and precipitous mountain, which we are accustomed to call its peak. No doubt in the Hebrew language, horn is used for mountain, as in Isaiah 5:1. A very fertile mountain is often called a horn of oil."

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• "The sense is substantially the same whichever of these views we take, though from the connection with shield and buckler, I am induced to consider the second of these views as the most probable. It seems the same idea that expressed Psalm 140, verse 7, 'thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.'" And so John Brown is saying probably the most accurate interpretation would be the helmet of salvation.

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• Now the interesting thing is David is calling God his horn of salvation. Here is where it gets interesting. Here is where this gets interesting. When David refers to God as the horn of his salvation, the Hebrew word for salvation is yeshah. It is translated salvation or safety and deliverance. Yeshah. The Hebrew word for Jesus, Joshua, is Yeshua. Salvation. David said that God was the horn of his salvation. Yesha, Yeshua.

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• Hold Psalm 18 and turn in your Bibles to Luke 1. Luke 1. And let's begin reading with verse 67. Here is the prophecy of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Notice Luke 1 verse 67. Remember now, Yeshua is salvation, Yeshua, Jesus Christ. And the Bible says this, Luke 1 verse 67, "And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying," Now he's prophesying concerning the birth of Jesus Christ, OK? And he prophesied, saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies"

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• "might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." And he continues to talk about Christ, "and thou, child," talking about John the Baptist, "and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord," that is Christ, "to prepare his ways." But notice, if you would, John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, is prophesying concerning Christ and he says that God has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation. That horn of salvation is none other than Jesus Christ.

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• You remember what David said in Psalm 140, "thou hast covered my head in the day of battle." Do you realize in Isaiah 59 in verse 17, talking about Christ, listen, "For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke." And then in Ephesians 6 and verse 17, the passage that all of us know, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." When David said, "he is the horn of my salvation," he had reference to the Deliverer, Jesus Christ, who is specifically called in the Bible, the horn of salvation. And when we put on the helmet of salvation, we're putting on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now, go back, if you would, to Psalm 18, because in verse 2, there is another name. He says in verse 2, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."

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• "My High Tower." Spurgeon said this concerning the High Tower. He said, "A citadel, high planted on rocky eminence, beyond the reach of my enemies, from the heights of which I look down upon their fury without alarm, and survey a wide landscape of mercy, reaching even into the goodly land beyond Jordan. Here are many words, but none too many. We might probably examine each one of them had we leisure, but summing up the whole, we may conclude with Calvin that David here equips the faithful from head to foot."

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• In other words, basically what he is saying is Psalm 18 verse 2 is the equivalent of that passage in Ephesians chapter 6, where once again our armor is listed. You remember I told you earlier, Psalm 144 in verse 2, David said, "My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower." In Psalm 61 in verse 3, David said, "Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy." One of my favorite passages that I've quoted for years is Proverbs 18 in verse 10. The Bible says "The name of the Lord is a strong tower."

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• "The righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Have you ever stopped to think about that? The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. Here is what Calvin said that Spurgeon agreed with. "My high tower, such is the name of the Lord, whither the righteous run and are safe, and where they are above and out of the reach of every enemy, it is added, and my refuge, my Saviour, thou savest me from violence."

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• "These various epithets show the fullness of safety in Jehovah, the various ways he has to deliver his people from their enemies and secure them from danger, and the psalmist beholding and claiming his interest in him under all these characters rendered him exceedingly lovely and delightful to him, and each of them contain a reason why he loved him and why in the strength of grace he determined to love him. God may be regarded in all these characters by Christ as man." So every one of these descriptions, he says, fits Jesus Christ.

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• Now, I haven't showed you this, but I'll tell you later. In Psalm 18, there are verses in this psalm that are applied directly to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. So David says, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I trust, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, my high tower." Two applications. Look in verse 3 of Psalm 18. Now that you understand the greatness and the power and the majesty and the providence and the protection of God, you can understand why David says in verse 3, "I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies." How could you not be saved if God is all of these things for you? No wonder David said, "I will love thee, O Lord. Look at all you've done for me. Look at how you've delivered me time after time after time." Here's a second application. Remember, in the context, David is listing some reasons why he will love the Lord.

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• "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength." And then he goes on, "my rock, my fortress." He names all of these. I believe that he's listed sufficient reasons for us, for you and I to love the Lord the way David loved the Lord, especially when we understand that he is our bulwark, our place of safety to those who love Him and serve Him. Do you realize that one of the reasons that you and I are so ungrateful to our God in our life is we don't think about everything that God has done for us.

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• You remember those ten lepers that were healed? How many came back to give our Lord thanks? And what did our Lord say? "Where are the nine? Did I not heal ten? Where are the nine?" Do you realize that God has protected us innumerable times? And we don't even realize it. The very fact that you are here today and are alive and well demonstrates God's sovereign protection in your life. I could stand here today and tell you that I know of numerous close calls with death in my life. And how God just sovereignly... Even when I did not even know him. Let me just tell you one. This is unbelievable. I don't know how old I was. I know I was probably six or under, because when we lived in this one place, I started first grade. So I was either four or five or six, probably. But out in front of where we lived was a huge chinaberry tree, exceedingly huge. My sister and I were climbing in that chinaberry tree.

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• Underneath was a red clay bank with rocks all in it. Hard red clay. Most of you know I'm right-handed. I barely do anything with my left hand. I'm just right-handed. But I was going to out-climb my sister. And I did. And I got to the very top of that chinaberry tree. Very top. And the limb I was on broke. And I remember falling, screaming, closing my eyes, and grabbing. And with my left hand, I caught the last branch on that tree. And when I opened my eyes, my feet were about three or four inches from the ground. And I just dropped onto the ground. I never thought anything about that as a kid.

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• But you know, once you get grown, you think, you know, I could have broken my neck. I could have broken my back. I could have been killed. How many of you have been almost in horrible wrecks and yet you've escaped? I'm just saying God has protected us so many times and many times we don't even realize it. He's restrained the enemy. If we learn to love the Lord and see what He has done, it will enable us not only to be more grateful, but to love Him with more fervor and more zeal. "I will love Thee, O Lord." When you find out how God provides for you and protects you and preserves you, you must determine you will love him.

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• Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we want to acknowledge the fact, Lord, that you are our strength, you are our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our God, our strength, our trust, our buckler, the horn of our salvation, and our high tower. And Lord, help us to call upon Thee more, for Thou art worthy to be praised. And as we call upon Thee and trust Thee, so shall we be saved from our enemies. Give us grace, O Lord, that we may acknowledge that Thou art our All in all, and with Thee is sufficient protection. We cry to Thee for mercy. Help us to honor Thee. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:31:43Z