Psalm 16 this evening will be
our study. Psalm 16. And you notice just
under where it says Psalm 16, it says Mictam of David. And
if you look at the marginal center reference, it says a golden psalm. You see that? A golden psalm. That's what Mictam means. It's
a golden or precious, precious psalm. So the title of this psalm
is Mictam, which means golden or precious, or precious jewel,
and all these are fit descriptions and proper descriptions of the
Lord Jesus Christ. To you who believe, he is golden. To you who believe, he is precious. We have the exceeding great and
precious promises revealed in the gospel. You remember from
our study in the Song of Solomon, where it says there in chapter
five that he is altogether lovely. He is golden, isn't he? In his
person, he is a precious jewel sent from heaven, from God's
throne to accomplish our salvation. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
us. Redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us. Without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness, God. God was manifest in the
flesh. That's a miracle, the miracle
of God's mercy, God's grace. God the Holy Spirit gave these
words to David, by Holy Spirit inspiration, and both Peter,
the apostle, in Acts chapter two, and Paul, the apostle, both
quote from this psalm and make direct application to the Lord
Jesus Christ. This psalm speaks of him, as
all 150 psalms do. So as we read down through this,
this is the words of Christ about his about his faithfulness unto
death. This psalm and all other psalms
talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read many times in Luke
chapter 24, he said, all things must be fulfilled which are written
in the law of Moses, in the prophets, to him give all the prophets
witness, and in the psalms, concerning me. It's all about Christ, isn't
it? Now we're going to divide this
psalm into four parts, four parts, and this will serve as our outline.
Now let me just give you the outline, four things. The Lord
Jesus, first of all, we see the Lord Jesus praying unto the Father,
the prayer of faith. This is the Lord Jesus interceding
for us. Secondly, in verses two down
through verse five, we see the confidence of his faith in God
the Father alone. God the Father alone, he said,
I put my trust in thee. and then the contentment of his
faith, verse six and seven, and then the assurance of his faith
in his own resurrection glory, verses eight down through verse
11. Now let's look at the first thing
then. He says in verse one, preserve
me, that is keep me, hold me, oh God, For in thee, in thee
do I put my trust. The Lord Jesus Christ, as a God-man
mediator, had full faith and confidence in God his Father. Full faith and confidence in
God his Father. Here he prays as a righteous
servant of God, the mighty one, help of the Father, as the man
Christ Jesus. He was a real man. God manifests
in the flesh. He prays, Father, preserve me,
or hedge me about, and keep me as the apple of thy eye, that
I might accomplish all your purpose in saving your people. Guard
over me, watch over me, as the surety of the covenant. This
was God's promise to him. We read in Psalm 49, thus saith
the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, in a day of
salvation have I helped thee. God says to the Son, God the
Father says to God the Son, I will preserve thee and give thee for
a covenant of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit
desolate places. This promise was fulfilled to
him in the days of his ministry in the flesh. God sustained him. in the days of his ministry in
the flesh, didn't he? Even as an infant, God preserved
him. Remember Herod, when he heard
the wise men asking, where is he that's born king? Remember
what Herod did? All those children, two years
old, he killed them all, but the Lord sent a warning to Joseph
to flee down to Egypt. And Joseph and Mary took the
babe, the infant, down to Egypt. God preserved him even then when
he was an infant. And then he was preserved from
Satan's temptation in the wilderness. Forty days, forty nights, Satan
beat up on him, the God-man. But the Lord preserved him, didn't
he? The angels of God came and ministered to him. He's preserved
in his earthly ministry from all harm. Many times they sought
to kill him before he went to Calvary Street. Remember, in
his hometown church in Nazareth, when he preached the gospel to
them in Luke chapter 4, and he declared unto them the sovereignty
of God in salvation. Remember what happened? They
were angry. They rose up in wrath and took
him to the brow of the hill, the edge of the hill, and would
cast him off headlong But the Lord preserved him. He walked
right through that crowd. He was preserved and helped and
strengthened in Gethsemane's garden. You remember, he became
exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, and God preserved him. He sent a ministering angel to
minister unto him, to strengthen him. Even preserved from corruption
of flesh in the grave, he saw no corruption. God preserved
him, didn't he? God preserved him. Thou will
not leave my soul in hell, in the grave, neither wilt thou
suffer thy holy one to see corruption. God preserved him. God protected
him all the while as our surety, the surety of the everlasting
covenant, as our great high priest who accomplished salvation for
us. And then he says, For indeed, indeed do I put my trust. Turn
back one page, I think it is. Turn back one page to Psalm 9. I was looking at this earlier,
Psalm 9. Look at verse 8. and he shall
judge the world in righteousness. He shall minister judgment to
the people in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge
for the oppressed, a refuge in the times of trouble. They that
know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord,
hast not forsaken them that seek thee. He will keep us. He will
preserve us. He will protect us. Job said
this, though He slay me, yet I'll trust Him. I'll trust Him
at all times. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
you think about faithful men that's revealed in the Scripture.
You think of Abraham. You think of Moses. You think
of David, Samuel, Samson, all those faithful men. And they
were faithful. But they had faults too, didn't
they? Who was the most faithful man
we read of in Scripture? The Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful
even unto death. He's the only one that really
trusted Him at all times. The God-Man Mediator. Think about
that. The God-Man Mediator is the only one who fully trusted
His Father all the time, perfectly. And the thing about that, it's
a blessing to us. His faithful obedience unto the
Father is our righteousness. That's imputed unto us for righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ is my personal
righteousness before God, reckoned and imputed to me. We do trust
Him at all times. That's our desire, that's our
hope. But do we really do that? No, there's too much doubt and
too much sin. The Lord Jesus Christ trusted
his father always perfectly. Now here's the second thing,
the confidence of his faith. So there's a prayer of his faith.
Here's the confidence of his faith in verses two down through
verse five, the confidence of his faith. Look at verse 2. My soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord. I like what Thomas said. You remember the risen Lord appeared
to those disciples and Thomas wasn't there at first. And he
said, I won't believe until I see those nail prints. And when the
Lord appeared to him, you remember what he said? My Lord and my
God. Oh my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, now notice that's capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah, thou art my
Lord. Jehovah's my Lord, my God, my
Savior, my goodness. My goodness doesn't extend to
the Lord. Now what's he saying here? Verse
two. Thou art my Lord, the Lord Jesus, as a surety and advocate,
mediator and intercessor of the covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ
bowed himself to do service under the Father. On the behalf of
his sheep, he laid down his life for us, didn't he? Yet no man
takes it from me. He said, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work. He said,
I've glorified thee on the earth, I've finished the work you gave
me to do. In the garden he prayed, not my will, but thy will be
done. And then the second part of that
verse, thou art my Lord, my God, my strength, my help, my hope,
my goodness does not extend, my goodness extendeth not to
thee, that is, The faithful, righteous obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ added nothing to God the Father. Did it? Not at
all. The righteousness of Christ,
the goodness of Christ, his perfect and faithful obedience does not
add to the glorious perfect character of God. It reveals the Father's
love, but does not add to it. It reveals the Father's mercy,
but does not add to it. Here is love, not that we love
God, but He loved us. You see what he's saying there?
He said, my obedience and my faithfulness, my righteousness
doesn't add anything to God, not God the Father. But here's
the blessing for us. But to the saints, look at verse
three. But to the saints that are in the earth, His goodness,
His mercy, His love does extend to us. Does extend to us. Now, who are these saints? By
nature, what are we? We're sinners. What are we by
grace? Saints. How many times did we
read in Paul's introduction in his epistles where he writes
to the beloved of God, the saints of God at Corinth or Ephesus
or Galatian were sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ, were set
apart and made holy in Him, regarded as holy in Him. To the saints
of God, His beauty, His righteousness does extend to us. That's our
hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We are set apart by divine election. God chose us from all eternity. We are arrayed in the fine, clean,
white linen, for that fine linen is the righteousness of the saints,
and that's Christ. Revelation 19 tells us, made
righteous by his atoning death. His blood put away all our sin.
regenerated and made new creatures in Christ. Believers are complete
in Him. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and we're complete in Christ. He's made
unto us everything I need to stand before God, we have in
Christ. Our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption, that we might glory where? Only
in, only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of His fullness have we all received
grace, grace for grace. Now look at the second part of
verse 3. My goodness, my righteousness
does not extend to the Father, but extends to the saints. given
to the saints that are in the earth. We are sinners saved by
the grace of God and to the excellent, to the excellent. These saints
are excellent in whom is my delight. God Almighty gave to the Lord
Jesus Christ a people called his bride. called his church,
in whom the Lord Jesus Christ, he delights in his people, doesn't
he? Behold, what manner of love the
Father bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. He loved the church, his bride,
and gave himself for it, didn't he? We read in the book of Ephesians,
the saints have the weakest thoughts of themselves, Lest in the least
of all the saints, chief of sinners, O wretched man that I am, but
the Lord Jesus Christ delights in his bride in his church."
The Lord loves his people so much, he laid down his life for
them. He delights in his people, delights
in his church. Look at verse 4. Talking about the sorrows, their
sorrows shall be multiplied. Their sorrow 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. Here the Lord Jesus Christ strongly
condemns idolatry and false religion, doesn't he? Their sorrow shall
be multiplied that hasten after another God. Another gospel. Paul talks about another Jesus,
doesn't he? Another spirit. And then he writes
in Galatians chapter 1 about another gospel that's not the
gospel. You see, they're just one Lord.
They're just one faith. They're just one way. And Christ
is the sum of all that, isn't He? The same blessed Savior that
is quick to open up to His people, quick to close, quick to open
up to His people, He's quick to close again and condemn the
idolater. Sorrow shall be multiplied against
those that seek after another God. You remember Isaiah talks
about they pray unto a God, they fashion out an image and idol
of their own imagination, and they pray unto a God that cannot
save. That's what's going on in religion
today. We have much religion everywhere,
don't we? Not much truth. And the Apostle Paul writes that
those who preach another gospel, though we are an angel from heaven,
Preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached,
let him be damned, is the word. Let him be accursed. Salvation
is not just the mere changing of doctrine, it's the changing
of gods. We've been turned to God, as
Paul writes, we've turned to God from our idols. to serve
the living and true God. This book strongly condemns idolatry
and falsehood and the lies of men. We've been studying that
in 2 Peter chapter 2, haven't we? They shall bring upon themselves
swift destruction, swift destruction that speak evil of the truth.
Now look at verse 5. The Lord, talking about His people,
His saints, the Lord is a portion of my inheritance. And this is
also, this is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah is
a portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my
lot, the lines, the lines of God's providence. Now you think
about the Lord Jesus Christ praying for us. This is the confidence
of his faith. The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance and of my cup. You maintain My cause, my lot,
my purpose, the lines of God's good providence are falling out
onto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. The Lord Jehovah is the portion
of my inheritance, and that portion, that word there, portion, means
my part, my inheritance. Like the Old Testament Levitical
priesthood, you remember Jacob had those 12 sons? And when they
came out of Egypt back into the land of promise, back into Canaan
land, all those different places were divided. The land was divided.
The lines had fallen out to me in pleasant places. They were
all divided to Judah, to Reuben, Issachar, all the different tribes. The tribe of Levi had no inheritance
in the land. You know why? Christ is their
inheritance. The Levitical priesthood had
no inheritance in the land because Christ alone is their inheritance. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
His total joy and complete pleasure within the Lord is God. To always
please His Father. To be about my Father's business. He was always about doing the
Father's will. Doing the Father's business.
And truly this is, David is called a man after God's own heart.
And he was. But not like the God-man mediator. He is really and truly the man
after God's own heart. perfect obedience, perfect faithfulness
unto God. But believers can say this too,
the Lord is my inheritance. The Lord is my inheritance. We've
been made heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We've studied in Peter about our inheritance that's incorruptible,
undefiled, that fades not away, that's kept for us and reserved
for us in heaven. We're kept and preserved in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord maintains, I like what
it says there, the Lord, the Lord is my inheritance, the Lord
is my cup, the Lord is my portion, thou maintainest my salvation. Now, did you know a lot of people
in religious circles, they say, well, they were saved by grace,
but they maintain their salvation by what they do. That's not what
this teaches. This teaches that He maintains
us. That He keeps us. That He preserves
us. We're kept by the power of God. Now here's the third thing. We see the contentment and satisfaction
of faith in verse 6. The lines are fallen out unto
me, not by chance, not by luck, not by fate, but by purpose."
Purpose. The lines of God's providence,
His good and sovereign providence, are falling out onto me in pleasant
places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. Again, applying this to the Lord
Jesus Christ. The lines of the Lord's good
providence have fallen out to the Lord Jesus Christ in pleasant
places. Although the Lord Jesus Christ
was called a man of sorrows, a queen with grief, He delighted
much in accomplishing the will of God. He found the way of obedience
to be pleasant unto Him. Now don't turn. Let me just read
this to you. I quote this all the time. I
think I read this Sunday, but when we think about what the
Lord is saying here and His contentment and satisfaction in God's purpose,
His lines are falling out in pleasant places and it brings
great joy. Listen to this verse. This is
Hebrews 12. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
Him, the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising
his shame, and is set down on the right hand of God. The joy
that was set before him, there was great joy in his heart accomplishing
that eternal purpose of God in saving his people from their
sin. He said, I delight. Turn to this
one. Turn over here to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Look what it says here in Psalm
40. Verse 6, Psalm 40, Sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened, burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then, said
I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me, I delight to do thy will, O my God, thy law is within my
heart. The Lord Jesus Christ delighted
in doing the Father's business. He said, my will is to do the
pleasure of Him that sent me. Look at verse 7. I will bless, I will
bless the Lord. Again, Jehovah Almighty, I will
bless the Lord who has given me counsel, my range or my heart,
also instruct me in the night season. When I'm by myself alone
in dark places, the Lord Jesus Christ had counsel from His Father,
Almighty, Almighty God. Verse 7, I will bless and praise
the Lord. Praise as well as prayer was
presented unto the Father, as God, as Jesus, God, he is the
mighty counselor, but as a God-man mediator, he's counseled of God. He's taught of God. Though he
were a son, Hebrews 5 verse 8, though he were a son, yet he
learned obedience by the things which he suffered. As a God-man,
he received instruction from the Father. He said, the father
which sent me, he had gave me commandment, what I should say
and what I should do. He was instructed of his father. Now here's the last part of this.
Verse eight, down to verse 11, we see the assurance of faith
in his resurrection glory. The Lord Jesus Christ knew exactly
what was gonna happen. When he came here, before he
came here, he's a lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. Remember, he told the men, the apostles, I must go
to Jerusalem. I must be betrayed. I must be
delivered to the Romans. I must suffer. I must die. I
must be raised again. The Lord knew exactly what was
going on. And here we see the assurance
of his faith. These verses here are quoted
both by Peter and Paul as we read in Acts chapter two and
Acts chapter 13 and applied to the glorious resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how important is his resurrection? If there be no resurrection,
if he's not raised up, we are yet dead in our sin and we have
no hope. He was delivered from our offenses
and raised again because He justified us. Had He not come forth from
the tomb that third day, we would have no salvation. But thank
God He did. He said, I am He that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys
of hell and death. Christ is the first fruit from
the dead. Many more to come. It says in
1 Corinthians 15. He's the first fruit from the
dead with many more to come. Many more to come. Look at verse
8. The Lord was not moved from His purpose to lay down His life.
Look at verse 8. He said, I've always set the
Lord before me because He's at my right hand. I shall not be
moved. I shall not be moved. We've been
studying in the book of Matthew the Lord's purpose and everything
that He went through. He said, do you remember one
time there in Matthew 26, thus it must be? How shall the Scripture,
He told Peter, put up your sword. How shall the Scripture be fulfilled?
Thus it must be. It must be. God's eternal purpose. And we read from Isaiah 50, He
said, He set His face like a flint. headed toward Jerusalem, headed
toward Calvary. They couldn't deter him from
his purpose. His purpose was an eternal purpose
of God. Look at verse 9. Therefore my
heart is glad. My heart is glad. My soul, my glory, or my soul
does rejoice. My flesh shall rest in hope. Now that's true, we can say that
that's true of every believer. When we take our dear loved ones
and put their body in the grave, we put their body in the grave.
Believers are with the Lord. But we put that body in the grave
and We have a hope, a good hope of
a new body, don't we? A resurrection hope, a real hope. It's not a make-believe thing. It's a real resurrection. The Lord Jesus Christ came forth
from the tomb that third day in a real body. You remember
He said, I'm not a spirit, I'm not a ghost. See, my hands, my
feet touch me and see, behold, it's me. He had a real body,
didn't He? glorified body, we're going to
be just like Him. Just like Him. Let me read this
to you. You can turn with me if you want
to. Over here in 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. Turn there. 1 John chapter 3. Here's what He's saying. 1 John
chapter 3 verse 2. Beloved, now are we sons of God,
And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that
when he shall appear, you see that? When he shall appear, 1
John 3, 2. When he shall appear, we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. Every man that hath this hope
in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Are you going
to raise us up and make us conform, predestinated to be conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ? Thank you. One other
scripture here, if I can find it. Well, Conversation, Philippians
3, 20. For a conversation is in heaven,
from which we look also for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who shall
change our vile body, and fashion it like unto His glorious body,
according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue us. We bury our loved ones in hope,
a resurrection hope to be just like the blessed Savior when
He returns. I like what David says here. Look just across the page. It's
Psalm 17, verse 15. Psalm 17, verse 15. You see it?
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, And I shall be satisfied when
I awake with thy likeness. Therefore my heart is glad, my
soul does rejoice, my flesh shall rest in hope. He says there in
verse 10, he said, for thou, he's talking about the Lord,
Jehovah, thou will not leave my soul in the grave, Neither
wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt
show me the path of life, and thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore." Evermore. The Redeemer has complete and
total confidence in the Father's promise and power to do all that
He had promised. My flesh shall rest in hope.
And it does, doesn't it? Look at Psalm 30. I believe it
is Psalm 30, verse 3. Turn over there. I've got this
written down here. Psalm 30, verse 3. O Lord, Thou
hast brought up my soul from the grave, Thou hast kept me
alive, that I should not go down to the pit. The Lord really died
for our sin, according to Scripture, and He was really raised again
the third day. according to the Scripture. And
he ever lives right now to intercede for us. Back to Psalm 16, verse
10. I will not leave my soul in the
grave, to be absent from the body, to be present with the
Lord. Now they took his body down from the cross and they
put it in Joseph of Arimathea. He came to Pilate and begged
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was buried in that new tomb.
His body was, but his soul wasn't. Remember he told that dying thief,
the repentant thief, what did he say to that repentant thief?
Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. So Lord Jesus Christ,
to be absent from the bodies, be present with the Lord. Thou
will not leave my soul in the grave, neither wilt thou suffer
thy holy one to see corruption. As I said earlier, When our body,
this robe of flesh, drops, corruption sets in immediately. But not
so with the Lord Jesus Christ. His body saw no corruption. David,
when he died, his body saw corruption. We read that. But when the Lord
Jesus Christ died, he saw no corruption. Because he thoroughly,
completely put away our sin. There's no corruption in him.
completely satisfied God Almighty. And He opened up the way for
us, didn't He? Satisfied God, His holy justice
delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification.
Thou will not suffer the Holy One. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's the Holy One. He's a just
one. Had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. He was made sin for us, but having
put away our sin, He saw no corruption. He had to be raised from the
dead. Death had no more claim on Him. Now look at verse 11.
Thou wilt show me the path of life. What is the path of life? Christ. He said, I'm the way,
I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man come to the Father but
by me. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures,
pleasures forevermore. Turn to this last scripture. Our forerunner as for us entered
into glory. Look over here at Revelation
20. In thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. What kind of pleasures
are we talking about? Read with me here in Revelation.
It's 21. Revelation 21. Look at verse
2. Revelation 21 verse 2. And I, John, saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. He will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them
and be their God. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, No more crying,
neither shall there be any more pain. Former things are passed
away. He that sat upon the throne said,
behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, write. For
these words are faithful, these words are true and faithful. It is done, he said, I'm Alpha
Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that
is the thirst, the fountain of the water of life freely. He
that overcometh shall inherit all things. I will be his God and he shall be my son. What
a blessed hope we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. At thy right
hand, Christ is enthroned at the right hand of God. Our pleasures,
pleasures forevermore. We have true pleasures, don't
we?