Okay, this evening, we're going
to take a look at Psalm number 16. And notice just under Psalm
16, it has a subtitle, Mictam of David, which means, as the
center reference has, a golden psalm. Now, there's 150 psalms.
All of them are golden psalms, in my opinion. because all the
150 Psalms tell us about the glory and beauty of our Lord
Jesus Christ. So it's the Psalm of David, but
more than that, it speaks of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That word miktam means golden or precious or precious jewel. All these are a fit description,
a proper description of who? of our blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and his glorious gospel. We read in 1 Peter 2,
to you who believe he is precious. Do you believe he's precious?
To many, the Lord Jesus Christ is nothing. Remember in the book
of Lamentations where it says, is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by? To most people, the Lord Jesus
Christ is nothing. Talking about the true Christ
of God now, the true Christ of God. We studied in the Song of
Solomon a couple years back. Probably need to go back through
that book again. He is altogether lovely. The Lord Jesus Christ,
he's altogether lovely. He is golden and precious in
all of his person. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God. He's God our Savior. He is a
precious jewel sent from God, from God's throne to accomplish
all our salvation, all of our salvation. In the fullness of
time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. He is golden and
precious in his person and in his work. All of his work is
precious. He accomplished all our salvation. So much so that he said it's
finished. It's done. Salvation's a done
deal. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ
not to attempt to put away our sin. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to make a death and an atonement for all the sin of God's people.
God the Holy Spirit gave these words to David by inspiration. But also we find that Peter at
Pentecost in Acts chapter two and the Apostle Paul when he
preached his first sermon in Acts 13, both Paul and Peter
read this Psalm and quote this Psalm and make direct application
to the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. His
resurrection glory. Certainly we know that The book
of Psalms and the prophets are all about the Lord Jesus. The
whole book is. It's his book. It's his book. It's all about him. It's all
about him. He's the Alpha, the Omega. He's the beginning and the end.
Remember our risen Lord said to his apostles in Luke 24, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. All the word of God is about
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Now, I want to divide this psalm
into four parts and use that as an outline and think about
this psalm as it's the psalm of David, that's true. David
was a believer, that's true. We can also make this our psalm
because like David, we do believe the gospel. But more importantly,
this is a psalm about the greater David the greater David, the
Lord Jesus Christ. So here's the four points in
this outline. The Lord Jesus Christ, in verse
one, we see the Lord Jesus Christ praying unto the Father, the
prayer of faith, the prayer of faith. And we'll come back to
that in just a minute. The second outline point is this,
the confidence of his faith in God, the Father, alone, in verses
two and three. And then the third point being
the contentment of his faith in verse six and seven. His providence
has fallen out to me in pleasant places. And then the fourth outline
point is this, the assurance of his faith in his own resurrection
glory. He said, the Lord will not leave
my body in the grave. He will not. leave my body in
the grave. Shall not, will not, cannot.
The Holy One cannot see corruption because he put away our sin.
Now, let's look at point one. Look at verse one. Preserve me
or keep me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. Now, can't
you pray that? That was David's prayer, wasn't
it? And that's our prayer, too. Lord, preserve me, keep me, hedge
me about, protect me, preserve me. But we can also say that
this was the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ that was heard and
answered as the God-man mediator. Preserve me, O God. Here, our
Lord prays as a righteous servant of God the Father, the one mightily
helped of the Father, as the God-man mediator. Now, as God,
he need no help. You remember we studied Psalm
89, God had laid help upon one that is mighty. Now, as God,
essential, he need no help, need no assistant. But as a God-man
mediator, he did. And we'll see that in a minute.
The father preserved and hedged him about, kept him as the apple
of his eye to guard him, watch over him as a surety of the covenant. This was God's promise unto him. In Psalm, or rather Isaiah 49,
we read these words. In an acceptable time, thus saith
the Lord, I've heard thee in the day of salvation have helped
thee And I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant
of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit the
desolate heritage. Now that was a prayer that the
Lord prayed and he was heard. He was heard. This promise was
fulfilled to him in the days of the ministry of his flesh.
For he was in harm all the time, wasn't he? But he was preserved
and kept by the sustaining power of God. Let me give you some
examples. We're gonna study in a few weeks,
when we get through the book of Revelation, we're gonna be
looking at the book of Matthew, studying through the book of
Matthew again. But if you read in chapter two, and I was reading
through the book of Matthew today, Remember when the wise men came
to Bethlehem to find the Savior, the promised Savior, and when
Herod found out about it, and he asked those wise men, well,
where is that child at? And when you find him, you come
back and tell me, because I want to worship him too. Well, he
was lying. But the wise men didn't go back.
They went another way. When they found the Lord Jesus
Christ, they went back another way. They didn't go back and
tell Herod. So you know what Herod did? He
took all the children, two years and under, and killed every one
of them, thinking that he would kill the Messiah. The angel of the Lord came to
Joseph and said, Joseph, you take Mary and that child, and
you skedaddle out of there down to Egypt. The Lord preserved
him even in his infancy, the Lord protected him. Again, he
was preserved from Satan's temptation. When he was tempted 40 days in
the wilderness, the Lord sustained him. The devil left him after
all those temptations, and the angels came and ministered unto
him. You see how God helped him and
sustained him even in his infancy? even in the beginning of his
ministry, who was preserved in his earthly ministry from harm
of those religious men. When he preached the gospel in
Luke chapter 4, and he said, this day this scripture fulfilled
in your ears, they didn't want to hear that because they didn't
believe he was a Messiah. You remember what they did? They
led him by the brow of the hill and would throw him off the cliff
and he simply just walked right through the crowd. They couldn't
lay a hand on him. How come? Preserve me, oh God. And he did. He was strengthened in Gethsemane.
by an angel came and strengthened him. When he prayed, Lord, not
my will, thy will be done. And the burden of our sin being
made known to him caused his body to bleed through his sweat
pores. His blood pressure just, it must've
been high. It caused that blood to ooze
out through his pores. And the angels of God came and
strengthened him. You see, he was preserved until
he said, my hour has not yet come, my hour has not yet come.
And then he said, finally, father, the hour has come. Time for me
to lay down my life. And he was preserved from the
corruption of his flesh in the grave. Laid three days in the
grave. His dead body, they took him
down from a tree, laid him in a tomb. and saw no corruption. The Lord preserved him. Preserved
him. As one with him, the elect of
God likewise are preserved in him. When he lived, we lived.
When the Father preserved and protected him, we were preserved
and protected in him. You see, we are one with him,
seated together in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. When
he was exalted, when he came out of that tomb, when he died,
When he lived among men as a faithful, obedient servant, we were in
him. His righteousness, his faithfulness
and obedience is our righteousness before God that's freely imputed
unto us. When he died upon Calvary Street,
he didn't die as a private man, he died as a public head, a federal
head, and we died in him. And they took his body down from
the grave and put him in the grave. We went with him. We see,
we were one with him, a vital union with him. When he came
out the third day, we came out with him. And we ascended to
glory on the 40th day and sat down. What does it say in Ephesians
chapter 2? When He ascended to the heavenlies,
we ascended in Him and are seated in the heavenlies in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I call that preserved, don't
you? I call that kept, don't you? I call that headed about,
don't you? Preserve me, O God, for I put
my trust in Thee. In Thee do I put my trust. Can
you trust anything else? We have even written on our currency,
and they've been trying to take this off for years, what's written
on our currency. I guess it's still there. I usually
don't have any dollars in my wallet, but in God we do trust. Isn't that still on the dollar
bill, $5 bill, $10 bill? At some point in our government,
somebody had enough sense to put that on there. But the believer
can truly say, as the Lord Jesus Christ said, in thee, oh God,
we put our trust. My pastor used to say, use this
illustration this way, we put all our eggs in one basket. We
put all our eggs in one basket. We trust him to accomplish all
our salvation. We don't put our eggs over here
and our eggs over there. We don't go out and hide our
eggs. We put all our eggs in one basket. We commit the total
commitment of our salvation and responsibility of our salvation
unto the Lord Jesus Christ 100% all the time. Indeed do I put
my trust. You remember what Job said? Though
he slay me, yet I'll trust him. I will maintain my own ways before
Him. And then Psalm 62, you remember
that Psalm I call the only Psalm, Psalm 62? Because it uses that
word only over and over and over. And it says, trust in Him always,
you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. He's the only one we can trust. Would you trust water baptism
to save you? Would you trust church membership
to save you? Would you trust your own morality
to save you? Both things are all corruptible
things. We trust the uncorruptible God. Trust him at all times,
you people. Pour out your heart before him.
God is a refuge for us. We trust him. I do put my trust
in him and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he was a real man, tempted
and attested in all points like as we are, yet without sin. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the only man, the real man, that had perfect
faith. Now think about that for a minute. He's the only man, you know,
we can say, Lord, I believe. What's the other part of that?
Help my unbelief? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that had perfect faith. He did love God with all of his
heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now here's the second thing.
The confidence of his faith in God the Father alone. In verse two, down to verse five. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord. Thou art my God, thou art my
Lord, my goodness extendeth not unto thee, but to the saints
that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all
my delight. To the saints, to the excellent
one, the confidence of his faith in God his Father. The Lord is
my light, the Lord is my salvation. David said that, and we can say
that as believers. But the Lord Jesus Christ, as
a God-man mediator, can truly say unto Jehovah his Father,
notice his capital L-O-R-D, all capitals, Jehovah, thou art my
Lord. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
My soul has said, thou art my Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ,
as a surety, and advocate and mediator of the covenant, the
Lord Jesus Christ bowed himself to do service unto the Father
on behalf of his elect. All the time he was about doing
the will of God. He said, not my will, thy will
be done. Now notice the second part of this. Thou art my God. I came to accomplish thy will. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me. He prayed, Lord, I've finished
the work you gave me to do. Now glorify thou me with thine
own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. Now watch the second part of verse two. My goodness extendeth
or added nothing to thee. The righteousness of Christ and
his perfect faith, perfect goodness, perfect 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. One old preacher said this, God
would have remained the same in his holy character If no atonement
were made for our sin and we perished in our sin, he would
still remain God. He still would be perfect in
his character if no atonement was made for our sin. You see,
nothing adds anything to the Lord Jehovah. He's eternal self-existent
God. Now look at verse three. But to the saints, These are
sinners saved by the grace of God. If you're sitting there
this evening trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for all of your
salvation, you're a sinner. You'd be the first one to admit
it, right? But you're also a saint. Well, how can you be a sinner
and a saint? You figure it out. That's what he says. I believe
what he says. We are saints, sanctified and
set apart in that eternal covenant of grace made holy in Christ.
In the flesh, O wretched man that I am, in Christ, holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight. But to the saints that are in
the earth and to the excellence, the excellency of his mercy and
love, in whom is all my delight. To the saints, sinners saved
by grace, his beauty does extend to us. His righteousness does
extend to us. We're set apart by divine election. We're made righteous by the atonement
of Christ. God made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord imputes righteousness. Without works, we're regenerated
and made new creatures in Christ. We are complete in him. His goodness
doesn't extend to the Lord, our God, but His goodness and His
righteousness does extend to us. We need that, don't we? He's able to meet all our needs
according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
But to the saints that are in the earth, and to His excellent,
is all my delight." You remember the Father speaks from heaven
and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. God says that of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God the Father says that of the
Lord Jesus Christ and every son of God in him. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
sons of God. Although the saints have the
weakest thoughts of themselves, Look at Job, a wretched man that
I am. Isaiah, woe is me. The Apostle
Paul, chief among sinners. The saints have the weakest thoughts
of themselves. We are weak and frail, but we
have the highest regard for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord delight
in his bride, his church, his elect. He loved us with an everlasting
love, and he has drawn us unto himself. He loved us and washed
us from our sin in his own blood. In Isaiah 62, the bride of the
Lord Jesus Christ is called his delight. His bride, we studied
that in Revelation 19, haven't we? She's all arrayed in a glorious
robe. She is my delight. No longer
is she called desolate. She's my delight, Isaiah 62,
three and four. And then he says of her, she
shall be called Beulah. Remember that song years ago,
Beulah land. You know what Beulah means, married. You're married to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now look at verse four. Now here's
a warning. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after
another God. Don't expect any good thing to
happen if you seek after a false God and pray into a God that
cannot see. Their sorrow shall be multiplied
upon, multiplied upon eternal condemnation to those who hasten
after another God. Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, it will not
satisfy me. Nor, he says, nor will I take
upon their name, nor will I take their name upon my lips. The
Lord Jesus Christ doesn't pray for those for whom he did not
die. It's generally thought in religious circles that the Lord
Jesus Christ died for all the sins of all men. That's heresy. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the sin of his people. He said in John chapter 17 verse
9, I pray not for the world, I pray for those you've given
me. The Father hath given him a people. The Father hath given
him power over eternal, power, all power over all flesh, and
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given to
him. But notice the, The condemnation
about those who seek after another God. He didn't die for them. He didn't, and he does not pray
for them. He does not live to intercede
for them, nor does he mediate for them. He's not their mediator.
He's not their savior. They hasten after another God.
They hasten after what the Apostle Paul called another gospel, another
spirit, and another Jesus. You know, there's a lot of people
called Jesus. Jesus! Go down to Mexico. Everybody's named Jesus. There's
a lot of them down there. But this religious world has
got a Jesus that they have manufactured in their vain imaginations, and
they pray unto a Jesus that cannot save. The Christ of God is Almighty
God that cannot fail. That's whom we trust. Would you
trust a Savior that cannot save? Call His name Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sins. He is what He's called. The Savior
of His people. And He saves them with an everlasting
salvation. Now look at verse 5. So there's
a warning. Don't hasten after another God.
Find out who the God of the Bible is. Find out who the Christ of
God is. And trust Him. and throw away
everything else. Count everything else done, ruined,
lost, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Our Lord doesn't
even pray. He said, I don't take their name
into my lips. Salvation is not just a mere
changing of doctrine. It's changing of masters. It's
the changing of God. We've been turned to God from
our idols to serve the living and true God. Now look at verse
five. The Lord, the Lord is the portion. The Lord is the portion
of my inheritance. Notice again, it's capital L-O-R-D. The Lord is my portion. What
does that mean? He's my part. The Lord is my
part. He's the part and the portion
of my inheritance and of my cup. You remember what David said
in Psalm 23, my cup runneth over, my cup runneth over. We have
an abundant portion of all of salvation by the grace of God,
the free and sovereign grace of God. We have an eternal inheritance
in the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? Heirs of God and joint heirs
with the Christ. And he blesses us with all spiritual
blessing and then he maintains us. Now, a lot of people have
the crazy idea that they make a decision for Jesus, and they
think that they call that salvation, and they think they maintain
their salvation by what they do. They maintain their salvation
by their obedience or by their good works. Again, that's heresy. It says, he maintains the lot. Now, we have a lot, this property,
that this building's built on is built on a lot. And we maintain
it, don't we? I mean, when it floods, we clean
out the mud. And when the grass needs mowed,
we mow the grass. And when the wheat eating needs
done, we maintain the lot. We don't maintain our salvation.
He maintains it. Salvation is of the Lord. He
gives it and then he maintains it. Aren't you glad it's that
way? Aren't you glad that you don't have to? And that's what
makes religious people so miserable. I mean, they got just enough
religion to be miserable because they think salvation is maintained
by, you know, I can't, I can't. In the religion that I grew up
with, you couldn't drink coffee. You couldn't drink tea. My goodness,
you couldn't use alcohol or tobacco, tobacco. You know, sin's not
in a box or a bottle. Think about that. It's not in
a box or a bottle. Salvation is in Christ. Sin is
what we are. Sin's in nature and principle
of the heart. It's not so much the action of the hands, that's
just a reflection of what's in the will of the heart. So he
maintains, by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourself, not of works, lest any man should boast. What did
we study in Titus 3, 5? Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. What does 2 Timothy 1, 9 say? God who saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works. Preacher, why do you make so
much about that? because it's the very truth that's being denied
in our community. It's the truth that's being denied.
If you don't stand up where the gospel being attacked and you
don't stand up on that part of the gospel where it's being attacked,
you're not taking a stand. Not taking stand. Now look at
verse 6. The lines are fallen unto me. It's the lines of God's
good providence. You think of the Lord Jesus Christ
and David, and every believer can say this, and especially
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The lines are fallen out unto
me, and he's talking about the lines of God's sovereign providence,
have fallen out unto me in pleasant places. Now think about the Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary's tree being nailed to the tree. Pleasant
places? If we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose, It's a pleasant place. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the appointed savior for the appointed people at the
appointed time. Calvary didn't sneak up on the
Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Acts chapter 2, him
being delivered by the determinate counsel for knowledge of God.
We studied in Revelation 13 verse 8, where it talks about the lamb
slain. From the foundation of the world,
the Lord Jesus Christ came with the expectation of dying for
his people, and he called it the lines of God's providence,
it's pleasant unto me. You know it's pleasant to do
the will of the Lord? pleasant unto me. Yea, he said,
I have a goodly, goodly, goodly inheritance in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's the contentment or satisfaction
of faith in God's perfect will, in God's sovereign providence.
Lord, not my will, thy will be done. The lines of God's good
providence have fallen out to the Lord Jesus Christ in pleasant
places. The Apostle Paul, as he sits
in prison, In Rome, he said, I've learned in whatsoever state
I am to be content. Although the Lord Jesus Christ
was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, he delighted in accomplishing
the will of God. He found the way of obedience
to the Lord pleasant. Pleasant. Hold your place there
and let's turn to Psalm 40. Psalm 40, turn over there. Psalm
40, verse six. Sacrifice and offering, thou
didst not desire my ears, hast thou opened burnt offerings and
sin offering, hast thou not required? Psalm 40 verse 7. Then said I,
lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written in me. I
delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my
heart. He delights to do the will of
God. He came for that purpose. He has a goodly, goodly for the
joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising
his shame, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The last part of verse six says, yea, he said, I have a goodly
heritage. What did he purchase on Calvary's
tree? A goodly heritage. We are the Lord's portion. We
are his people. He bought us with his own blood. the church, his bride, innumerable
multitude of sinners, saved by his grace." Boy, that's a goodly
inheritance, isn't it? We are his heritage. We are partakers
of a divine new nature filled with the fullness of God. We
shall dwell with him forever, and there shall we ever be with
the Lord. And then he says in verse 7,
he says, well, I will bless the Lord. I will bless the Lord. I purchased a church. I have
a bride. I will bless the Lord who has
given me counsel. He is the mighty counselor himself. My heart, my reigns also instruct
me in the night seasons. Look at verse eight. I've set
the Lord always before me because he's at my right hand. I shall
not be moved. Verse nine. Therefore, my heart
is glad. We are glad. Aren't you glad
that God is God? Beside Him there is no other.
I've set the Lord always before me. The eyes of faith are always
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's true of our God-man
Mediator. He was always looking to the
Father to sustain Him, to bless Him at all times. Therefore is
my heart glad. My soul rejoices in the Lord. My flesh also shall rest in hope. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, he
went to Calvary's tree on purpose. No one could turn him from that.
He said, my face is set like a flint. When he told his disciples
that he was going to Jerusalem and to die, you remember Peter
said, no, no, no. Oh, you got it wrong. And the
Lord said, get out of my way, I must go, I must lay down my
life. My heart does rejoice in the
Lord, and my flesh shall rest in hope. He knew he was going
to die, he knew he was going to purchase his people, and he
knew that the Lord was going to raise him from the dead, his
father, He said, no man takes my life from me. I have power
to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received in my father. He knew full well. He said, as Jonah was three days
in the heart of that whale's belly, so shall the son of man
be three days in the heart of the earth and he shall come forth. Thou will not leave, verse 10,
my soul in the grave, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One
to see corruption. Not at all. My heart is glad. My heart rejoices in the Lord
Jesus Christ. My flesh shall rest in hope.
The Holy One shall not see corruption. Now, think about this. When life
goes out of this body, what happens? Corruption. You all remember
Bob Pruitt, my brother Bob. We love brother Bob. He was a mortician for 40, 50
years. I mean, he embalmed and bombed
thousands of bodies. But one of the things that he
learned and he told me about, he said, when life goes out of
that body, corruption sets in immediately. When the Lord Jesus
Christ was made sin for us, And the law and justice of God demanded
his death. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
fully put away our sin, death had no claim on him, the law
had no claim on him, and corruption, the corruption of sin had no
claim on him. Why? Because he put our sin away. His soul was separated from his
body at death for three days. to be absent from the bodies,
to be present with the Lord. He told that dying thief, today
you'll be with me in paradise. But his fleshly body saw no corruption
because he fully and totally put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification. Isn't that good news? The Holy
One can't see corruption. He died guilty under our sin But having put away our sin,
death had no claim on him. The law had no claim on him.
The law already killed him. God raised him from the dead.
Delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification.
Now, the good news to us, because God, our Lord said, because I
live, you shall live also. In him we live and move and have
our being. His resurrection is a guarantee of yours. We take
our dear loved ones. And all of you have done this.
When we take our dear loved ones, your dear brother, your dear
husband, your dear husband, your dear wife, your dear wife. I mean, we just go around the
room and when we take the body of our dear loved one and put
him in that prepared coffin and lower him down in the ground,
It was the full expectation of their resurrection glory. Every
time I go by that big cemetery there on Route 23 and look up
and see all those graves up there. And I've planted a dear sister's
body on that hill too. But I think about when the Lord
Jesus Christ comes back and the dead in Christ shall be raised
up. Oh, man. We're going to plant
this old body in the ground, but it's not going to stay there.
We're going to go, the soul is going back to the Lord immediately,
but our body is going to be raised up. We're going to have a new
body just like the Lord Jesus Christ, holy, without corruption. Look at verse 11, I've got to
quit. Thou wilt show me the path of life. I want to know the path
of life. It's life in Christ. He that
hath the Son hath life. In thy presence is fullness,
in thy presence is a fullness of joy. Now didn't we read that
in the Revelation somewhere recently? No more death, no more sorrow,
no more pain. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. Right now, all our departed loved
ones, there with the Lord right now
rejoicing, waiting for the redemption of their body. You see, He redeemed
us body, soul, and spirit. At thy right hand are pleasures
forever, forever and ever. We'll enjoy the fullness of our
blessed Lord like we can't even begin to explain
or even think about glorious, glorious, glorious.