Okay, Psalm chapter 16, let's
read through this together. There are 11 verses, I think.
Yes, 11 verses. Preserve me, O God, for in thee
do I put my trust. Notice how the psalm actually
opens up underneath the heading of the psalm in my Bible, at
least. I don't know if it does in yours. It says, Mictam, M-I-C-T-A-M,
Mictam of David. And then it opens up immediately
with these words, preserve me, oh God, for in thee do I put
my trust. This is obviously a prayer to
God by the one who is speaking here. He trusts in him. Verse
two, O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, to Jehovah, thou
art my Lord, my master, my Adonai is the actual word here, the
one who is my sovereign. He says, thou art my Lord, my
goodness extendeth not to thee. Verse three, but to the saints
that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all
my delight. So the one speaking here says
that his goodness does not benefit or does not do something for God. It does
something for the saints on earth to the excellent in whom all
of his delight is. Verse four, their sorrows shall
be multiplied that hasten after another God. Their drink offerings
of blood will I not offer nor take up their names into my lips.
The one speaking here will not take the names of those who seek
after another God on his lips. He will not even mention their
names. Verse five, the Lord is the portion of my inheritance
and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. He's
saying here that his inheritance, his lot, the allotment God has
given to him, God himself maintains it. Verse six, excuse me, verse
six. The lines are fallen unto me
in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. Verse seven,
I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My reigns also
instruct me in the night seasons. The reigns here means his inward
parts. And sometimes in scripture, if
you look at that word, it refers to the bowels of the person and
really applies to the deep seated affections and desires of his
soul. He says, my reigns, my inward
parts instruct me in the night seasons. Verse eight, I have
said the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and
my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope.
So he and his body will rest in hope, expecting his anticipation. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
that will show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness
of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. All right,
so if you look at this psalm, you probably recognize immediately
this is also quoted in the New Testament. I want to take you
to the New Testament where this is quoted in Acts chapter two.
In Acts chapter 2, the apostle Peter, preaching on the day of
Pentecost, refers to this psalm and he explains, by the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, that this psalm is actually talking about
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you pick it
up in Acts chapter 2, in verse 23, it speaks of the Lord Jesus.
He says, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken the Jews to whom Peter
is preaching here. They took Jesus. It says, you
have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom
God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holden of it. It was not possible
for Jesus to die and to remain dead. He explains why. Verse 25, For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. Now
these words, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, are the
words from Psalm 16. He says, I foresaw the Lord always
before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved, Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue
was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast
made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance. men and brethren. Peter now is
talking, after he quoted that from Psalm 16, he says, men and
brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David,
that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us
unto this day. Now the reason he mentions that
here is because David, being dead, could not have been the
one that was being spoken of in Psalm 16 because in Psalm
16 he said, you will not suffer your holy one to see corruption
and David all obviously being dead and buried saw corruption.
So he says that to prove Psalm 16 is not speaking of David. Verse 30, therefore being a prophet
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the
fruit of his loins, in other words, his descendant, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He, David, seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. And then
he explains, this is Peter now speaking further, he says, this
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of his father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth
this which you now see and hear. So Jesus Christ is the one the
psalmist is speaking of in Psalm 16. He now has been raised up,
Peter says, and because he was raised up and was seated on God's
right hand as the psalmist said and prophesied, he, Jesus Christ,
shed forth or gave the Holy Spirit of God at this time when Peter
is preaching in order to allow, enable Peter to preach about
Christ to these people who crucified him. He says in verse 34, for
David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself,
the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand. Now that's
from Psalm 110. David is saying in that Psalm,
the Lord Jehovah said unto my Lord, David's Lord, sit on my
right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that
same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. So now
he explains what Psalm 16 is talking about in the clearest
possible exposition, that is speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the Apostle Paul also did
this in Acts 13, if you want to turn to Acts 13. In verse
26 of Acts 13, The apostle Paul said, Men and brethren, children
of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God,
to you is the word of this salvation sent. Notice, Paul is preaching
about salvation to these people who are the children, the physical
children of Abraham. He said, verse 27, for they that
dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him
not, knew not Jesus, nor yet the voices of the prophets, they
didn't understand what the prophets were talking about, which are
read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning
him. So the children of Abraham actually
fulfilled the prophecies because they didn't understand they were
speaking of Christ and they fulfilled them by putting Jesus to death.
Verse 28, And though they found no cause of death in him, yet
desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled
all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree
and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead,
and he was seen many days after them, which came up with him
from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
Verse 32, and we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the
promise which was made unto the fathers, what promise? Verse 33, God has fulfilled the
same unto us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus
again. That was the promise, that he
would give Christ, he would be crucified, and he would raise
him again. As it is written also in the second Psalm, Psalm 2,
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. So those words
from Psalm 2 are about the resurrection. Verse 34, And as concerning that
he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. And that's from Isaiah 55, verse 3. And verse 35 says,
wherefore he saith also in another psalm, that's Psalm 16, the one
we're about to read, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was
laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, because he was raised from the
dead. That proves that now the forgiveness of sins is to be
preached in His name because Jesus Christ, the man David prophesied
of, was raised from the dead. In verse 39, and by Him all that
believe are justified from all things from which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses. All right, now we fully see here,
if you turn back to Psalm 16, that this psalm cannot be speaking
of any but the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not speaking of David.
Not only was it David who spoke, he spoke as a prophet, but even
though it's called a psalm of David, it was not speaking about
him in particular. Rather, it was speaking about
God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So this helps us to understand
the psalm. Now let's go back and go through
the psalm verse by verse in Psalm 16. He says, first of all, it
says at the beginning, Mictam of David. Now the word Mictam
here hasn't been used yet in the psalms. It is used later,
but here is the first time it's used. And what it means is a
special treasure or a golden treasure. And so what we find
here is that David, in writing this psalm, under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, says this psalm is a special treasure. And it's special because it's
a golden treasure or a precious treasure because of the one of
whom it speaks. It speaks about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because it speaks of Him, it's precious. It's a golden
hymn. And also, not only does it speak
of him, but he himself is the one speaking in the psalm. And
so it's speaking about him. But notice, he says, preserve
me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. So what does this mean? Well, it means that the Son of
God took our nature as man, and as man, Though he is still the
son of God, as man he prayed to God, and he prayed as a man,
asking God to preserve him. Preserve me, O God, for in thee
do I put my trust." Notice how it speaks here of his need. God must preserve him. Secondly,
it speaks of his trust. God is the one he trusted. God
had to not only, he not only made him, but he sustained him,
and he enabled him to carry out the assignment, the will that
God gave him to do, to fulfill the work God put in his hands.
And what was that work? Well, in John chapter 10 and
verse 15 through 18, it says that he, as the good shepherd,
was given this commandment of his father to lay down his life
for the sheep and to take it up again. So in laying down his
life, he would save the sheep. In taking it up again, they would
be brought to God through his resurrection. And that's what
he's speaking about here. He's saying he's addressing God
as his God and asking him to sustain and preserve him, not
only in life, but also in and through death. Because that's
what the psalm is about, the resurrection of Christ and the
glory that should follow. But he says, in thee do I put
my trust. And by this we see that Jesus
Christ as one of us, In our nature and with all of the needs that
we have as people, He also trusted God and He identified with us
as one who also trusted God. Therefore, He knows what it means
to stand in need. He knows what it means to depend
upon God. He knows what it means to be
utterly dependent upon God and therefore to trust Him. This
is called the faith of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter two,
he says these things when he proves that Christ was made like
his brethren. He quotes it from the Psalms,
not this one, but he says, I will put my trust in him. He's not
ashamed to be called brethren with his people, and he declares
his father's name to them. And then he also says in Hebrews
2, and he also says, I will put my trust in him. How endearing
it is that Jesus Christ, as a man, depended upon God to sustain
him through life and through death. And so this teaches us
that not only did he share our nature and share weaknesses that
we have and undergo the same kinds of trouble that we have,
but it also says something very important here, and this is what
I want to get to, is that he stood in this place as a man
for his people. He didn't just do this as a man
so we could look at Him as an example, but He did it for us. He acted as us in our place. He fulfilled what God gave Him
to do for us. And this is what's seen in the
New Testament. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And this is just
one example where this is clearly declared, but I'm going to use
this one because it is so clear. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
the Lord Jesus Christ took our nature, made himself, was made
like his brethren, was made under the law in order to fulfill for
them what God gave him to do, to save his people from their
sins as the good shepherd, to lay his life down for the sheep
for our sins. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. He
says in the first verse, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel, which I preached to you, which also you have received,
and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep
in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed
in vain. The Apostle Paul is telling the
Corinthians, I'm declaring the gospel to you. The gospel is
the way you're saved. What's done is declared in the
gospel. Who accomplished it and what
he did is the way we're saved. In believing the gospel, it evidences
the fact that God has saved us by his work. And so that's what
he's saying here. If you keep it in memory, keep
in memory what Christ has done, who did the work, and what he
finished in doing that work, what he accomplished. Notice
in verse 3, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how, that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. and that he was seen,
and so on. He's going to say how his resurrection
was testified by many witnesses. So, the Gospel is what Christ
did. It was a historical accomplishment
outside of our personal experience. what he did then, accomplished
something then, and obtained something then, and that is declared
to us now. You see the time references?
Then and now. Christ did something then and
obtained salvation for us then, and that's what's now declared
to us. This is what we read throughout
scripture. For example, in Hebrews 9, 12, it says, He obtained eternal
redemption for us. When He offered His blood to
God, He then obtained eternal redemption for us. Hebrews 9,
verse 12. Or Hebrews 1, 3. When He had
by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of God.
then he purged our sins then, and then he sat down on the right
hand of God, and now the gospel is declared to us. But because
it was done then, we contributed nothing to it, nor can we contribute
anything to it, and because what he did then forever perfected
those for whom he died, then we know that the gospel is a
declaration of Christ and his work for us, And that's what
we believe. We believe that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Son of Man, did all the work God gave Him
to do to save us from our sins. That's the gospel. Now, looking
at 1 Corinthians 15, go on over to verse 16. He says, for if the dead rise
not, then is Christ not raised? So obviously, if there is no
resurrection, then Christ wasn't raised. And if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. Okay,
so this tells us clearly that unless Christ rose, we would
be in our sins. And that's why Paul preached
in Acts 13 what he did, that now is declared to you the forgiveness
of sins because Christ rose. He rose that proves that he actually
put away our sins. Does that make sense? Because
the debt was paid and God accepted full payment, He raised His Son
from the dead. Because He established our righteousness
in His death, therefore we are justified by His blood. Okay? Righteousness brings life. The reward of life is given to
the righteous. And Jesus Christ, by his death,
obtained that eternal life for us. Okay, but read on. He says, if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins, then they also
which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
Truly, that is the case. But verse 20, notice. Now remember,
Psalm 16 is about Jesus Christ, the man, who not only shared
all of our need and dependence upon God, saying, preserve me,
O God, for in thee do I put my trust, but also, as man, he acted
for us. In covenant relation, he says
here, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become, what?
The firstfruits. of them that slept." In other
words, because He rose, we rise. Because He died for our sins,
our sins are forgiven. Because He rose from the dead,
we're justified by what He did that caused God to raise Him
up again from the dead. Look at verse 21. For since by
man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.
How did death come by man? By Adam. Adam sinned and death
entered in the world. And all sinned in Adam and therefore
all die because of their sin in Adam. But notice he said,
but because by man came death, by man also came the resurrection
of the dead. And that man is Jesus Christ,
the second and the last Adam. Verse 22. For as in Adam all
die, in other words, all who are born and descended from Adam,
They all died when he sinned. They committed the sin and they
died when he died. Now that's a then. When did we
sin? When did we die in sins? When
Adam sinned. We died when he died. We sinned
when he sinned. His sin was our sin. His death
and our death are because of our sin in Adam. as in Adam all die. Notice, even
so in Christ, in Christ shall all be made alive. As we stood
in relationship to Adam, so that what he did, we did in him, and
the death that he received for what he did, that sin that he
did, that guilt and that condemnation of death, passed on us, even
so in Christ, All who are in Christ obeyed, when he obeyed,
fulfilled righteousness, when he fulfilled that righteousness,
and when he died, they died to sin and to the law, and when
he was buried, they were buried, and their sins were put out of
God's mind, out of remembrance of God, and when he rose, they
were raised with him. So he says here, in Christ shall
all be made alive. Because they were risen with
him as their covenant head, then they rise with him in their physical
body at the resurrection of the last day. Finally, he says in
verse 23, but every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Who was the first one to rise
from the dead? Jesus Christ. Afterward, they that are Christ
at his coming. Who rise from the dead because
he rose? Those that are Christ's. When
do they rise from the dead? At his coming. So these things
are very clear, and if you go on and read in 1 Corinthians
about the resurrection, you see that it is because of our relationship
to Jesus Christ, and because of what he did as man in that
relationship, that we are saved. He was our covenant head. Now,
go back to Psalm 16. So when he prays this prayer,
he is praying, though he is the son of God, he is praying as
the son of man. He is completely dependent upon
God and he asks his God the one he has put his trust in to preserve
him in life and in death with the work God gave him to do to
fulfill that work and to raise him again from the dead. Do you
see how much significance there is now in Psalm 16? Christ as
man, praying as our covenant head in order that he might save
us from our sins. In this way, And we're going
to see this in the next verse. Jesus Christ acted as a servant. Notice, look at verse 2, Psalm
16. O my soul, now Jesus Christ is
praying here. O my soul, thou hast said unto
Jehovah, or the Lord, his Father, his God, thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to
thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the
excellent in whom is all my delight. So when Jesus prays this prayer
in Psalm 16 and verse 2, he speaks to his soul. He's saying, O my
soul, thou hast said unto the Lord from his inmost being, He's
speaking to his God, he has committed himself in trust, and now he
is committing himself in what? In submission. He not only trusts
his father, but he submits to him. Thou art my Lord, my sovereign,
my ruler, the one I love and obey. That's what he's saying
here. Thou art my Lord. And then he goes on, my goodness
extendeth not to thee. Now, as a servant here, because
here he speaks as a man who is serving his God, he's committed
himself to serve him, my Lord, the one he trusts, he asks him,
he doesn't depend upon his own ability, he depends on God's
ability to preserve him, he says, my goodness, my merit does not
reach to you. Jesus did not do what he did
to bring any merit to God, to improve God, to add to God. He didn't do it for that reason. Why did he do it then? Why did
Jesus Christ become a servant? Why did he trust God? Why did
he ask God to preserve him, to enable him, to sustain him in
the work God gave him to do? because he acted as our representative
head, our covenant head, the second and last Adam. He took
upon himself all that was required to save us and to bring us to
God. And in doing that now, he says, all that I do doesn't add
to God. It isn't for him. It's for the
saints. You see, the benefit of what
I do is not for God. It's for us. Now, what does this
immediately bring to your mind? Well, it teaches us that God
here, the one who gave his son like this, and Christ, who made
himself a servant, to us, to give Himself a ransom for us.
In all of this, God is seen as the giver only. He's only giving,
giving, giving. God the Father gave His Son,
Christ gave Himself, He gave His Spirit when He was exalted
on high, as we read in Acts chapter 2. What does that say about God? We live on the abundance, the
generosity of God's grace and His mercy. God is the giver. God is the one who provides and
gives to us all grace in our salvation. Notice, he says in
verse 3, My goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints
that are in the earth, to the excellent in whom is all my delight.
Who are the saints? The saints are the sanctified
ones. And he says, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight.
Why are they called saints? Why are they called excellent?
Did they make themselves holy? Did they make themselves excellent?
No. Christ did this. The saints were
made saints by the electing work of God the Father. He preserved
them, according to Jude 1, verse 1, He preserved them in Christ
Jesus. He gave them to His Son. He committed
their eternal salvation to His Son to do this for them, to set
them apart by His own blood. So He set them apart. God the
Father did this. He made them saints. He made
them holy by His electing love. And they're called the excellent.
Excellent here means nobles, or you could think of it as princes
or kings. And what does that bring to your
mind? Well, it causes us to remember that Jesus Christ has made us
kings and priests to God. Now, as kings, we have access
to the very throne of God by Jesus Christ. Remember Hebrews
10, verse 19? Therefore, brethren, having bold...
How does it say it? having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." You see
the connection? By the blood of Jesus we have
access into the holiest, into the throne room of God on his
throne by the blood of Jesus, the very holiest of all, and
it's all by the blood. Therefore, as giving As by the
blood of Christ, we're not only washed from our sins, forgiven
of our sins, and all the blessings of God in salvation are given
to us by his blood, but we have access to God. We're made kings.
We're made the heirs of God and the joint heirs of God with Jesus
Christ. That's a high and excellent relation
we have to God, isn't it? He says this in Revelation 1.5,
unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
and he made us kings and priests on the earth. As kings, we have
access to the throne of God, and as priests, we bring to God
what he has offered, his son, what Christ has offered. By faith,
we come by the blood of Jesus. So all this is tied up in these
words here. Christ's merit, what he did by
the will of God to save his people, is for our salvation. It is for
the saints, it is for the excellent, those chosen in Christ, the elect
of God. Notice at the end of verse three,
in whom is all my delight. Jesus Christ's delight, his desire,
his affections, his love, is all for his people. What does
he love? He loves his bride. What did
he do because of his love for his bride? He gave himself in
life, in death for her. Ephesians 5 verse 25. He purchased
the church with his own blood. And so that's his delight. It
was his desire to do this. Now verse 4. Psalm 16 verse 4. He turns his attention for a
moment to consider those who have nothing to do with his God.
He says, their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after
another God. Their drink offerings of blood
will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. So
the Lord Jesus is saying here, there are those who attempt to
come to God by the animal sacrifices. But in Hebrews 10, it says, let
me read it to you. I know it's very familiar, but
I want to read it just like it says it here. Hebrews 10, verse
4, he says, it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God.
So this is the will of God. God gave him to fulfill the Old
Testament sacrifices by offering himself for the sins of his people.
He gave himself to take away our sins. And he says here in
verse 5, Psalm 16 verse 5, that, I'm sorry, verse 4, that those
who have another God, those who try to come to God by the mere
offering of animal blood, and not the blood of Jesus, he says,
I will not take up their names into my lips. In other words,
they have no intercessor. They have no advocate. Christ
is not going to intercede for those who try to come to God
another way. There's only one way to come.
It's through the blood of Jesus. There's no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. But those who do come
by the blood of Jesus, what do they have? The Lord Jesus Christ
takes them to the Father when he goes. When he goes, he comes
and he mentions their names. He remembers them to his Father,
as the thief on the cross said, Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. He speaks of them before his
Father. He answers for them. He advocates
for them. He is the propitiation to God
for their sins. And so he says that here, those
who have another God, not the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
not the God who offered his son, but who think they can come by
their own offerings, I will not make mention of their names on
my lips. Verse five, Psalm 16, verse five. In contrast, he says, the Lord
is the portion of mine inheritance and my cup. The Lord is Jehovah. What is Jesus Christ saying here
as a man? All of his treasure, all of his
inheritance is the Lord himself. Not only is that his treasure,
but God has given himself to him. And these are the words
of a covenant. He says in the covenant, the
new covenant, he says, I will be a God to them and they shall
be my people. And in Song of Solomon, he says,
I am his and he is mine. There's this union of covenant
union that we have with God where he has committed himself to be
our God and we are his people. Now, this is Jesus Christ taking
these words on his lip. The Lord is a portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. Look
at John chapter 20. In John 20, Jesus Christ shows
that this covenant promise, that God is our God and we are his
people, was fulfilled when he offered himself and rose again.
In John 20, he says in verse 17, Mary Magdalene came to him and
it was as if she was going to touch him and she said and he
told her don't touch me verse 17 Jesus said to her touch me
not for I'm not yet ascended to my father but go to my notice
my brethren What condescension? Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
as a man, stands in relation to His people as their brethren.
In the same relation they stand to God the Father He stood. My
brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father,
and to my God and your God. Do you see that? So back in Psalm
16, he's saying, the Lord is my portion, the portion of my
inheritance and of my cup, thou maintainest my lot. If God is
our inheritance, what do we lack? Remember Romans 8.32, if God
delivered up his son to death for us, that He will give us
all things freely with Christ, won't He? If He gave His Son,
then He will give us everything. So if the Lord is our portion,
we have all things, don't we? We have everything. If we have
the Lord Jesus Christ, If we stand as Christ in relation to
God the Father, as our God and our Father, and He as our Brother,
we have all things with Him. And this is what 1 Corinthians
3 says, And I'll read that to you also. 1 Corinthians chapter
3, he says, let no man glory in men, for all things are yours,
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death
or things present or things to come, all are yours. Why are all things ours? He goes
on. You are Christ's and Christ is
God's. All right, here the Lord Jesus
Christ is told to, is said to be God's, and we are Christ's. We belong to Christ, he belongs
to God. As man, he belonged to his father. God was his God, God was his
father. We also have God as our father
and our God, and we have Jesus Christ as our covenant head,
our brother in this covenant. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is saying the same inheritance that he has, all that God has
given to him, God gave to him, not as a private man, not as
an individual man, but as a public, a representative man, one who
stood in relation to his people so that all that he did and all
God gave to him was done for his people. He lived, he died,
he was buried, And he rose again, and he ascended and was seated
on the right hand of God, not by himself, but with his people. And in the same way, all that
God gave to him and will forever give to him, God gives to him
with his people. I'll read one more verse like
this. In Ephesians chapter one, he says it this way. Paul the
Apostle begins the prayer in verse 16, he says, I cease not
to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him, of Christ. That the eyes of your understanding,
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His
calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints, and what is, notice, Notice this, what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us who believe according to the
working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand
in the heavenlies far above all principality and power and might
and dominion in every name that is named not only in this world
but also in that which is to come But notice, goes on, and
has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church. Do you see it? God gave everything
to him as the head to the church. Everything that this Christ has
given to his people and is for him. The last verse, verse 23,
Ephesians 1, 23. Which is his body, the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. This is incredible. God the Father
has made Christ in relationship to us so that he is the head
of the church. We are members of his body. Everything
given to the head is given to the body, the church. And so
when he speaks in Psalm 16, in verse 5, of the Lord being his
portion, of his inheritance, of his cup, and that he maintains
his lot, then we know that everything God gave to his Son here in this
chapter Chapter 16, verse 5, is given to his people with him.
It's a promise to Christ with his people, a promise to Christ
for his people, because all that he did, he did in their name,
in fulfillment of God's will. Alright? Psalm 16, verse 6. The
lions are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly
heritage. What is his heritage? Well, For
the Lord Jesus Christ, His inheritance is not only God as His God, but
also His people. The people that were given to
Him are His inheritance. We are called the inheritance
of Christ. We are Christ's, as it says in 1 Corinthians 3, I
just read a minute ago, verse 23. We are Christ and He is God's. He is ours and we are His. We belong to Him, He belongs
to us. He's given Himself for us, He
gives Himself to us, and we belong to Him by the purchase of His
blood. What an intimate relationship here. Nothing comes from us. All comes from God the Father,
from Christ, God the Son, and from the Holy Spirit, given to
His church. We are recipients only. All that
we can give in thanksgiving and praise comes first of all from
Him. Our faith is His gift. The love
that we have to Him is because He first loved us. The Spirit
of God in us is that gives us the grace in order to believe,
in order to love Him. Nothing that we have is of our
own. We can only give God what he has first given to us. Life
and breath and faith and all things. And so it says here,
the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places. I have a
goodly heritage. Christ looks at his people and
he says, this is my desire. This is my delight, as he said
in verse three, in whom is all my delight. They are his people. He laid his life down for them,
that he might have them, that he might purify them, and then
he goes on in verse seven. I will bless the Lord who hath
given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in
the night seasons. What is the counsel that was
given to him? Who gave it? God, as his father, gave Christ,
as the son of man, the counsel of his covenant, the counsel
of his purpose of love to have a people and save a people by
his own blood. And because he understood that
counsel, Then he laid his life down in order to justify his
people by his own righteousness in shedding his blood. As it
says in Isaiah 53 11, by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. And so he does. God the Father
gave him this will to do. He fulfilled that will and because
of his understanding of that will, He is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption. And then he says in the last
part of verse 7, my reins are my inward parts, my heart, everything
that is in me. My desires also instruct me in
the night season. Not only did God give him this
to do, it was his delight. Verse 8. I have set the Lord
always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved." Who can say, I have set the Lord always before me
but the Lord Jesus Christ? Who but this one who was the
perfect man, the holy man, the one who acted for us, could say
this? I have set the Lord not only
in trust, but he viewed his Father only. He had a single eye. There
was no complicity. There was no What's the word? There was no
compromise. He only had one heart's devotion. He loved the Lord, his God, with
all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. There was no idolatry
here. He didn't want or trust another.
The Lord is the one that was at his right hand. Not only was
that his affection toward the Lord, but he knew that his God
had made him the object of his love. And he had given himself
to that, and so he had no doubt in what follows. He says, I shall
not be moved. Verse 9, therefore my heart is
glad, and my glory rejoices. Now, when it says my glory rejoices,
this is explained in Acts chapter 2, which I read a minute ago.
In Acts chapter 2, He says in verse 26, therefore did my heart
rejoice and my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope. So in Acts 2 in verse 26, he
explains what is meant here in Psalm 16 where he says in verse
9, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. What was his glory? It was his tongue. It was what
he said. In other words, he was able to
declare what he could boast in. He was boasting in the Lord and
in the fact that God had chosen him and favored him and set him
up and would raise him again from the dead because he had
made him his servant to bring his people to himself. And so
he's declaring that. He's declaring that in triumph
over his enemies, in triumph over death, in triumph over our
sin, he says, my heart is glad and my tongue or my glory rejoices,
my flesh also shall rest in hope. He anticipated, in expectation,
that his father would, without fail, raise him from the dead
because he trusted his faithfulness, he trusted his power. And that's
why we read in Ephesians 1 and verse 19, the exceeding greatness
of His power toward us. Because not only did He raise
Jesus Christ from the dead when He raised Him from the dead,
but He raised up all of His people in Him. As in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. And then he says in verse
10, he explains it in more detail, for thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Here the Lord Jesus Christ identifies himself. He's the one who is
the holy one of God, set up by God to save his people. Thou
wilt show me the path of life. Meaning, the resurrection, he
was the firstfruits of all who raised from the dead. In thy
presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures
for evermore. What a prospect of hope now is
set before every believing child of God. Because just as Christ
experienced the fullness of His joy when He stood in the presence
of God at His right hand with all the pleasures, think about
this. God the Father cannot give Christ enough for what Christ
did for his people to save them from their sins when he offered
himself in sacrifice of blood for them who were sinful and
the enemies of God. And yet God in his will of grace,
in his love and purpose of grace, set his love upon them to save
them from their sins and to bless them and make them his sons,
his heirs, joint heirs with Christ by the Lord Jesus Christ, their
champion, their captain, their covenant head, their representative,
their surety, their mediator, their redeemer. their prophet,
their priest, their king, all that he was set up to be in relation
to his people and that God gave him to do, he did it so that
they also might know the fullness of joy in the presence of God. And so he says in the next chapter,
at the end of the chapter, he says, as for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with
thy likeness. That is the delight of everyone
is to know this great joy of being in the presence of God
and standing in His presence because of Christ, His grace
given to us, everything given to us by God, given to us. We
were recipients. We were ill-deserving, hell-deserving,
had no merit. helpless in our sins. And God,
by his Son, has done all for us. And when he raised him from
the dead, he raised up his church with him." What a tremendous
blessing this is. And no wonder this psalm is called
Mictam of David, a golden psalm, a secret treasure, something
to be held in the highest esteem because it speaks of Jesus Christ,
our Savior, who took our place as man and stood in relation
to God His Father in the covenant relation He made with Him before
the world began to do all things for us and to give to us the
very inheritance, the reward God gave to Him in that covenant. It's a covenant in His blood
and we're given all things because of Christ our Savior. That is
grace. Father, thank You for this promise,
these promises of the Lord Jesus given to us. We know, Lord, that
we are born Again, because of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because he rose from the dead, we are made the
children of God. What an amazing grace this is
that Jesus Christ would do all this for us and fulfill the covenant
in his own blood. And this prayer is so precious
that it's called a golden treasure. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.