Good evening. Let's open this
evening's service with hymn number two from your spiral gospel hymns
hymnal. Number two, Lord, we come before
thee now. Let's all stand together. Number
two. So, Lord, we come before thee now. At thy feet we humbly bow. Oh, do not our suit disdain. Shall we seek thee, Lord, in
vain? Lord, on Thee our souls depend,
In compassion now descend. Fill our hearts with Thy rich
grace, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise. in thine own appointed way. Now we seek thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to go till
a blessing thou bestow. Send the message from thy word
that may joy and peace afford. Let thy spirit now impart Christ's
salvation to each heart. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me please to John, Gospel of John chapter 12. That hymn we
just sang is so clear and simple and God-honoring and soul-stirring. I hope the Lord will answer that
prayer and he'll visit us tonight, speak to our hearts. I meant to announce Sunday that
this Saturday is Armita's 94th, I think, 94th birthday. She's
gotten very frail and just want to encourage you to reach out
to her, maybe text her in Aldo or something, wish her a happy
birthday. Probably won't. Be here for another one, I don't
know. I may not be here for another one, but she's very, very frail. We miss having her here. John chapter 12, and we'll begin
reading at verse 23. And Jesus answered them saying,
the hour is come that the son of man should be glorified. Nothing glorifies the Son of
Man like the cross. Lift it up. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Now who's that corn of wheat?
That's Christ. His death and burial and resurrection was necessary
for the fruit of his labors to be seen in the salvation of his
people. He that loveth his life shall
lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servants be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?
No, but for this cause came I into this hour. Father, glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The people, therefore, that stood by heard it and said that it
thundered. Others said an angel spake unto
him. And Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of
me, but for your sakes. Now is the kingdom of this world. Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. Notice that the word men is in
italics. All my people are gonna be drawn
to me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. And
the people answered him, we have heard out of the law that Christ
abideth forever, and how saith thou the son of man must be lifted
up? Who is this son of man? Then Jesus said unto them, yet
a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the
light, lest darkness come upon you. And he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whether he goeth. While you have light, believe
in the light. that you may be the children
of light. These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide
himself from them. Our merciful heavenly father, we do pray that you would speak
to our hearts tonight, that you would reveal to us once again
the glory of thy dear son Show us just another glimpse of his
mercy and his grace and his glory. Cause us Lord to have hope and
peace in him. We thank you for the revelation
that you've made of his successful work of redemption. And oh Lord,
how we pray that you would enable us to rest our hope in his resurrection
for the hope of eternal life. And Father, we pray for Amita
and we ask Lord that you would just be gentle and gracious and
merciful to her and draw her heart near to thyself and comfort
her in these days of difficulty. We thank you, Lord, rejoicing
for the time that you've allowed us to know her and to be with
her. And Lord, just pray that you
would strengthen her and give her grace in Christ. For it's
in his name we pray. Amen. Number 268 from the Hardback
Tymnal. 268, how firm a foundation. Let's
all stand together again. ? How firm a foundation ? Ye saints
of the Lord ? Is laid for your faith ? In his excellent word
? What more can he say ? Than to you he hath said ? To you
who for to Jesus hath fled. Fear not, I am with thee, O be
not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my gracious, omnipotent
hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow. for I will be with thee thy troubles
to bless and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress When through
fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, Thy grace all-sufficient
shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
thy only design, Thy draughts to consume and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. Please be seated. Never, never, never, never forsake. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. We're going to be looking at
Psalm 16 tonight. But before we turn to that passage, I'd like to read a passage out
of 1 Thessalonians. Well, it might be easier if I
get to 1 Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter four.
You know, so much of the emphasis in religion today is put on temporal things. You
know, how to survive in this world, how to have a better life,
how to be happy, how to conquer certain temporal issues. The gospel of God's grace in
Christ is all about eternal life. And the hope is that when the
Lord gives you peace about your eternal life, then all of a sudden
everything in this world begins to make sense or it begins to
be okay. It's okay. Jake and I were talking
before the service. Jake's going to be baptized this
Sunday. And I'm so thrilled about that. And we were just talking
about how, you know, having hope in Christ gives me peace in my
circumstances. And that's the way it is. Psalm 16 was quoted by Peter. in Acts chapter 2 when he preached
that first gospel message on the day of Pentecost. And then
in Acts chapter 13, the Apostle Paul quotes extensively from
Psalm 16 when he preaches probably the longest recorded sermon we
have of his to the church in Antioch. And in both of those places, Psalm
16 is clearly about the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, both of those
men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to quote from that passage of
scripture, say explicitly, this is not about David. David is
dead. David is in the grave. David
saw corruption. David was not raised. This, this,
David was speaking prophetically about the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the reason the scripture
says, if there be no resurrection, we are of all men most miserable. We're to be pitied. We're just,
we just have unrealistic expectations if there be no resurrection.
And I've heard people say, well, you know, if there was no life
after death, I'd still want to live for Jesus. That's not what
the Bible says. Bible says there'd be no life
after death. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you shall
die. You know, indulge yourselves in the pleasures of this world.
You see, it's all about life after death, isn't it? It's all
about the resurrection. It's all about what the Lord
Jesus Christ did to conquer the grave and to conquer death. And
if we know him, we have hope that this world is not our home. And that's why Paul said to the
church in Thessalonica, look what he says in verse 13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope. They have no hope. They're just
living day by day. They're just trying to make themselves
a better world, a better life. They have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, this is on the authority of God's word,
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent them which are asleep. Now the believers We're expecting
the return of Christ in their lifetime. And now some of the
believers are beginning to die and they're wondering what's
happening. What about them? For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel
and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words. Comfort, what comfort
we have in knowing that the grave's been conquered. Death has been
put away. We have the hope of knowing that
because the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied the father and the
father rewarded him, by not allowing His Holy One to see corruption.
That's Psalm 16. Therefore, we have hope. And knowing that just as God
raised Him from the dead, so we're raised from the dead. Jake
and I, again, we're talking about baptism. And I told him, I said,
you know, baptism is your testimony that you've been buried with
Christ and raised again to walk a new life in Christ Jesus. You
died with Him. And you were raised with him.
He was offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our
justification. We are justified through the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and we have the hope,
the hope of eternal life. Nowhere does God promise us that
he's going to give us a life of ease in this world. That's
not what the gospel is about. Now, He'll give us peace in our
circumstances and He'll give us hope in our circumstances,
but that hope is grounded in the hope of eternal life. Turn
with me, if you will, to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Now, as you know, the titles
of these Psalms, which normally in your Bible is written in real
small script, maybe in your Bible it's not, but it ought to be
because it's part of the text. And this psalm is called the
Midstam of David. And that word has been translated
precious, gold, and jewel. And this psalm is a precious
jewel and it is golden in what it says about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Again, David's not talking about
himself. How much did David understand? I don't know. You know, Peter
speaks of that. Turn with me to 1 Peter before
we get into this psalm, 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse 10, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you." Now, David was a prophet. And when David
wrote Psalm 16, he was writing prophetically about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he was searching diligently
for the meaning and the time when this would be fulfilled.
searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ,
which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And that's what Psalm 16 is about.
It's about the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but
unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you by them that have preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look
into." So the angels are wondering what these things mean. The Old
Testament prophets, when they wrote these things, how much
of it they fully understood, they don't understand what we
understand. We're post-resurrection. We have the fullness of revelation
made in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why
the writer of Hebrews said at sundry times and in divers manners,
the prophets spoke to your fathers or God spoke to the fathers through
the prophets. But in these last days, he has
spoken unto us by his son who is the express image of his glory. So, We've got the full understanding
now. And that's why when Peter stood
up to preach on the day of Pentecost, he quotes from Psalm 16. Let's
turn there. We're gonna get to Psalm 16 in
a moment. Let's look at Acts chapter two. We'll begin reading in verse
25. For David speaketh concerning
him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved.
Now that's Psalm 16. So Peter is saying very clearly
when David prophesied in Psalm 16, he wasn't talking about himself.
He was talking about Christ. Therefore did my heart rejoice
and my tongue was glad, more also my flesh shall rest in hope. That's Psalm 16. So the Lord
Jesus Christ is speaking, my flesh is going to rest. I'm going
to the grave in hope that God's going to raise me from the dead.
He's going to, what greater hope is there in this world? What
greater hope is there in life? To know that when we close our
eyes in death, that we're going to open them in glory. That's,
nothing else really matters, does it? Verse 27, Psalm 16. because thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy
holy one to see corruption." So there's the Lord Jesus Christ. God was obligated to raise him
from the dead. His works went before him. His
works recommended him to the Father. The resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ was part of the covenant promise. that the
Father had made to Christ. I'm not going to lie to you.
And the Lord, when he bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross
and said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, he knew
that just as he had been faithful to the Father, the Father was
going to be faithful to him. And so this first gospel sermon
that's preached to the world after the coming of the Holy
Spirit, Peter quotes from Psalm 16 more than any other passage
of the Old Testament. Now these early preachers, as
true of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, could only have the
Old Testament to preach from. There were no New Testament books.
So he's preaching the gospel the first time, inspired by the
Holy Spirit, to reflect back on Psalm 16. How golden is this
psalm? How precious is it? made known to me the ways of
life verse 28 thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance
that's psalm 16 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. Therefore, being a
prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ." So he knew something
of what he was talking about, didn't he? That his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption, this
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses, therefore
being made by the right hand of God exalted and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth
this, which you now see and hear, for David is not ascended into
heaven, But he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou here at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. That's what
Psalm 16 is all about. All right, turn with me to Acts
13. Paul is preaching in Antioch,
and we'll begin reading in verse 32. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second
Psalm, thou art my son, this day I have begotten thee, and
as concerning that he raised him from the dead, now no more
to return to corruption. For he said on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore, he saith also
in another Psalm, thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see
corruption. That's Psalm 16. For David, after
he had served his generation by the will of God fell on sleep.
and laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God
raised again saw no corruption." No corruption. It wasn't dust
to dust for him. He was raised from the dead.
And the hope of our salvation is in his resurrection. Had God not raised him from the
dead, we would have no hope. that what he accomplished on
Calvary's cross was pleasing to the father, satisfied the
father. And when God raised him from
the dead, that's why Paul said, oh, that I might know him and
the fellowship of his suffering, that I might have the hope of
my salvation in that when he suffered on Calvary's cross,
I fellowshiped in his suffering. I was there, I was crucified
with Christ. and the power of his resurrection. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised with him. And the fact that he is seated
at the right hand of the majesty on high, and that he ever lives
to make intercession for me, we have an advocate with the
father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Therein lies all my hope. All my hope. So that whatever
God has ordained for me to have in this life, this life is not
my life. This world is not my home. What
great hope, comfort ye one another with these words. All right. Turn with me now, if you will. You see, in Hebrews chapter 12,
it says there's going to come a day when God's going to shake
the world. And everything that's been made
will be shaken. And only that which was not made
will not be shaken. Now, when, that means everything
physical in this world is going to be destroyed. And only that
which is spiritual, only that which is eternal is going to
remain. And all the things that men think
that they've made, In terms of making their peace with God and
making their prayers and making their salvation and making their
good works, all those things are going to be shaken so that
that which has not been made, what's not been made? Only that
which is eternal has not been made. Eternal is something that
never had a beginning, never has an end. So the covenant of
grace and the salvation of God's people, that's the hope of eternal
life that we have. It wasn't made. It was ordained
and purposed in the heart and mind of God for all eternity
and accomplished in the land that was slain before the foundation
of the world. That's what was not made, and
that's the only thing that's not going to be shaken. That's
the only thing that's going to stand. Everything else is going
to be destroyed. That's what Psalm 16 is about.
So let's go to Psalm 16. And we can pray these Psalms
only as we understand them relating to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
pray them as we see ourselves in Christ. And so when we say,
Lord preserve me, we know that we're as dependent upon God's
mercy and grace to keep that. This word preserve is the word
Keep, keep. Now, you know, oftentimes we
look at words when they're first used in the scriptures and this
word is first used in Genesis chapter 2 verse 15, when God
put Adam in the garden to dress it and to keep it. Now was Adam successful in keeping
the garden? No, he lost it, didn't he? He
lost it. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I came to restore that which I took not away. So when God
gave man an opportunity to keep something, he didn't keep it,
he lost it. And now David says, Lord, you keep me, you preserve
me. What you've been entrusted with
I know will be kept. The second time that word keep
is used in the Bible is found in Genesis chapter 3 verse 24
when the Bible says that after God put Adam and Eve out of the
garden, he put a cherubim at the east gate of the garden with
a flaming sword to keep the tree of life. And that tree of life
we know is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God's keeping
it. He's keeping it for his glory.
And it's kept, isn't it? Kept successfully. And then the
third time that word keep is used in the scriptures is found
in Genesis chapter four, when God confronts Cain. And Cain, you remember says,
what am I, my brother's keeper? No, you weren't very good at
keeping your brother, Cain. but I'm gonna keep you. I'm gonna
keep you. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is crying out to the Father, keep me Lord, preserve me, preserve
me, reward me for what I've accomplished. And we pray, Lord, keep me. I'm more dependent on you for
your grace now than I've ever been in my life. Paul, towards
the end of his life, said, I am the chief of all sinners. And
as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the more light of the gospel that comes, the more it exposes
the evil of our own hearts and lives, doesn't it? And makes
us more dependent upon the Lord for grace so that we don't go
around proudly boasting in our righteousness or in our accomplishments
like religious people do. particularly reform people, you
know, where you just, they like to think, you know, they have
hierarchy of holiness and progressive sanctification, all that kind
of stuff. Oh, no, no. Lord, I'm in need of being kept
now more than ever before. Keep me from falling. Present
me faultless before your throne. Lord, if you don't keep me, I
won't be kept. I will fall away. I need you to keep me. David said in Psalm 17, verse
eight, keep me. as the apple of thy eye. Oh, to be kept by the power of
God and to be presented faultless before him with great joy. Listen
to this verse in 1 Samuel 2, verse 9. He will keep the feet
of his saints. Now that's God's promise. He
will keep the feet of his saints. He's gonna keep them following
after Christ. They're gonna keep looking to
Christ. And every time they look away, They're going to be smitten
by the Holy Spirit and convicted to look back and to come back. The wicked shall be silent in
darkness. The wicked shall be silent in
darkness. When the wicked finds himself
without the light of the gospel, they're not crying out for mercy.
Why? Because they've never had the light. He will keep the feet
of the saints, but the wicked They'll remain silent when they're
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. We're not
gonna prevail by our own strength, not by might nor by power, but
by thy spirit, saith the Lord. We're completely dependent upon
his spirit. And so this prayer is our prayer. Preserve me, keep me, oh God. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ
praying for us. He prayed in John chapter 17
on several occasions in that high priestly prayer when he
intercedes for us. He says, Father, keep them through
thine own name. Lord, I've kept them, but you
keep them now. Keep them not, don't take them
out of the world, but keep them from the world. All those which
thou hast given me. And the Lord makes it clear.
He said, I'm not gonna lose one of my sheep. I'll leave the 99
and go after one. Wandering in the wilderness,
not one of my sheep's gonna be lost. Don't you love it when
Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt? Picture
of the church being saved. And the scripture says that not
a hoof was left behind. Not a barking dog, not one sheep,
not a hoof of a sheep was left behind. They all came out. Lord,
preserve me, keep me. And he causes us, he causes us
to persevere. Why? Because he kept Christ. He preserved Christ and all those
who were in Christ and all those for whom Christ lived and died. The Father preserved him. Look
with me, Psalm 16 verse 1, preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put
my trust. And we do. We've got no other
place to go. We can say with the disciples, Lord, where can
we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. Lord, you've
converted me. You've opened my eyes. You've
given me faith. You've caused me to believe.
I've got no other choice about it. But the Lord Jesus Christ,
now that is our heart's desire, and yet how many times in a day
we're not trusting Christ, we're worried about our circumstances,
we're looking here and looking there, and yet the Lord Jesus
Christ was faithful to trust the Father from his heart. You remember Psalm 15 from last
Wednesday night? Look at it, look at it. We looked
at it again Sunday. Who is it that can come before
his holy hill? Who is it that can approach the
throne of God? He that walketh uprightly and
worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. By the
way, you see how the King James ends verbs sometimes with E-T-H? That's not just old English language. That's the way in which the translators
put that verb that I mentioned to you last week, a continuous
unbroken action. So every time you see a verb
with ETH at the end, that's the verb that's describing an unbroken
continuous action. And there's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did. From his heart, he walked uprightly all the time. He trusted the Father from his
heart. He spoke the truth in his heart
all the time. And so he's able to say, preserve
me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. Now, what did Peter
and Paul say? David wasn't talking about himself.
He was speaking prophetically about that one who would be called
the son of David, that one who was born in his lineage after
the flesh. that this would speak of. Oh my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord. My goodness to extendeth not
unto thee. Now what does that mean? Well, What it means is that the
goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that the Lord
Jesus Christ did, did not add to His Father. God can't be added
to. He's the eternal, infinite, glorious
I Am, the self-existent One. You can't add to Him. He's immutable. You can't be changed. Who hath
been his counselor? To whom will you liken God? If I were hungry, I would not
tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. And
the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, God, the things that I accomplished
in this world, they didn't extend to your goodness
or your glory. You can't be added to. You're
already infinitely, eternally glorious, immutably glorious. And so, though he was making
an offer to the Father to satisfy divine justice, to put away the
sins of his people, he wasn't living a holy life in order to
help God out or make God something more than he was before. God
can't be changed. He can't be added to. He can't
be taken away from. And so the Lord says, Christ
is saying, thou are my Lord. My goodness extended not to thee,
but to the saints that are on the earth. That's who it's for. That's who my goodness is for. Oh, all my righteousness comes
to me through Christ. All my acceptance before God,
comes to me in the Lord Jesus Christ. All my justification
before God comes to me in the Lord Jesus Christ. What Christ
is saying here in Psalm 16 is, Father, I didn't do this to make
you better. I did this for the saints that
are on the earth. My goodness, it extends to them. And all the goodness of God that's
in Christ is extended to all his people. As he is, so are we in this world. And she shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. And he that sanctifieth and they
that are sanctified are all as one. Wherefore he is not ashamed
to call them his brethren. All the goodness of God is extended. You see, we're the benefactors.
That's a good word. God is not the benefactor. He's
glorified, but He's already full of glory. But He's not the benefactor. We're the benefactors. We're
the ones that the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ extends
to. And the only goodness that we
have is found in Him. Our adoption, our holiness, all
our forgiveness comes to us from the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
he says, but to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom
is all my delight. Now who's the excellent? That's
the father. That's the father. And so what
is, what the Lord saying is my goodness does not benefit God. He's already full. My goodness
is for the benefit of my people, but I did it. I did it because
my delight is in the Father. All my delight. He is all my
delight. I think I brought this out recently,
I only saw it some time ago, but often you hear me quote 2
Samuel chapter 23 verse 5, David's last words, although my house
be not so with God, and that is our testimony. But here again,
David can be heard in that verse speaking for Christ. the Lord
Jesus Christ saying to the Father, although my house be not so with
God. The Lord saying, I know my church
is not like it ought to be. I know my family, my children,
they're not like they're going to be. Yet he, the Father, has
made with me, the Son, an everlasting covenant. And that everlasting
covenant is ordered in all things. And it is sure, the sure mercies
of David, As sure as I'm going to ratify the covenant and accomplish
everything necessary to make that covenant, this is sure.
This is all my salvation, all my desire, though we make it
not to grow. You know, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the same size right now as it was before Adam
was created and as it will be for all eternity in heaven. Same
size. Church growth is a big thing.
in religion, you know, reaching people for Jesus. And we want
to see, we want to see God's people come to Christ. I mean,
we know they will. We know they will. I was talking,
Adam and I were talking today, and talking about a lady that
we were talking to, and I said, you know, we agree, you never
know. You never know who the Lord's people are. But you can,
you can share in confidence, you know that there's still some
lost sheep out there, because we're still here. And so you
can speak to people in confidence knowing that, you know, perhaps
this is one, you know, maybe she'll hear. But the church isn't
going to grow. It's the same exact size. God has elect people that he
chose in Christ before the world ever began. And so I did this
because I delight in pleasing my father. That's what he's saying. All my delight is in him. There
was never a question or hesitation concerning his commitment to
the father. He said, my meat is to do the will of my father. That's my meat. That's my sustenance. That's my whole objective for
living and for being here is to delight in my father. Now, my goodness extends to my
children. but I'm doing this out of delight
and commitment to my Father. And that, you know, we're talking
about something now we can't even begin to enter into, can
we? The relationship that God the Father had with God the Son.
Oh, it's, that was perfect. And that's what the Lord's saying.
I'm delighted in my Father. Look at verse four. Their sorrows
shall be multiplied that hasten after another God." Oh, if you
go after another God, all you're going to do is just bring sorrow
to your own heart and destruction to your own soul if you go after
another God. There's but one God. Their drink
offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names
into my lips. Now he's talking about those
Jews in the Old Testament that trusted in the shedding of animal
blood for the hope of their salvation. Now the blood of bulls and goats
did not take away sin. For those who made those sacrifices
looking beyond the sacrifice to the Lamb of God, their faith
was not in the sacrifice, it was in the one that that sacrifice
pictured, represented. The Lord's saying, I'm not going
to be like them. I'm not going to trust in the
shedding of blood of an animal, and I'm not going to take their
names upon my lips. What was the name that they used? We be
Abraham's children. They looked to their physical
lineage, didn't they, for the hope of their salvation. They
looked to their sacrifices and to their dedication for the hope
of their salvation. The Lord says, I'm not going
to do that. That's another God. That's another God. In Galatians chapter
1, Paul makes it clear, another gospel is no gospel at all. And if an angel from heaven comes
and preaches another gospel other than the one I preached unto
you, let him be accursed. There is no other gospel. Verse 5, the Lord is the portion
of my inheritance. He's all I've got. He's all I
need. He's all I want. He's the portion
of my inheritance. He's everything to me. And we
can say that in faith. We can say that looking to Christ
and know that, but in the same way that he did, he's all my portion, he's all
my inheritance and my cup, thou maintainest my lot. The Lord
Jesus Christ is looking to the Father to maintain His lot. The lines are falling unto me
in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. Now what is His heritage? What
is the inheritance that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to receive
as a result of His faithfulness to the Father? This is all about
Him being faithful to the Father. And he's trusting the Father
to reward him, not only with his own resurrection, but with
the resurrection of all those for whom he lives and dies. And
those are his heritage. That is his seed. That's his
inheritance. And so God saw the travail of
his soul and was satisfied and saw his seed, his seed. I have a goodly heritage. I will
bless the Lord who has given me counsel My reigns also instruct
me in the night season. Now, you'll see this word reigns
used often in the Old Testament. Actually, it means kidneys, if
you can, kidneys. And it was often the Holy Spirit
uses different parts of the physical body to describe something spiritual. And the thing about the kidneys
is it's the lower abdomen where we feel our emotions. And so oftentimes, most of the
time for us, what we feel emotionally and what is true actually is
different, isn't it? You know, we sometimes fear things
that don't happen and we, You know, we're happy about something,
but with the Lord, all of his emotions, all of his emotions
were in perfect sync with what the truth was. So that when the
night season came, when did the night season come for the Lord
Jesus Christ? It started in the garden, the
garden of Gethsemane. When he went into that garden,
And he prayed to the Father, Father if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be, nevertheless not my will
but Thine be done. And he sweat great drops of blood
and he agonized there in the garden and then all that night,
all that night suffering, beaten, the next morning taken to the
cross. That was the night season. And what were the emotions that
he was feeling in his reins? sorrow, shame, separation, and they weren't
just emotions. They were consistent with the
truth. And so he says, in the night
season, all my reigns were identified for what the truth was, and they
gave me counsel. They gave me counsel. I realized
what was happening, all the sadness, all the sorrow, all the shame
that took place as a result of me bearing their sin became my
counsel. And so he says, I have set the
Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall
not be, you see that word move, that's the word shaken. And this
verse We read it in Psalm 2, Acts 2, that Peter quotes this
verse. He's at my right hand. I know
the Father's there. Why? Because we agreed in the
covenant of grace that he would not leave me, that he would not
leave me in the grave. And that's the next verse, that
he was gonna raise me and reward me for what I'm doing. Though
I felt that separation from the Father on the cross in the night
season, my emotions were true to my reality. My God, my God,
whyst thou forsaken me? Yet my hope is that the Father's
not going to leave me. He's not going to leave me. Therefore,
therefore, my heart is glad, oh, that God would give us dying
grace to go to our death bed and go to our grave with this. My heart is glad and my glory
rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope. My flesh will rest in hope. That's
what Job said. Job said when worms have eaten
this flesh, yet I know that I'm going to see him in the flesh,
in the body. And that's what Paul said in
1 Corinthians chapter 15, that the corruptible must be made
incorruptible, the mortal must be made immortal. We've got to
die in order to be raised again. The corn has to go into the ground
and die before it can bring forth life. And it happened for him,
it happens for us, and the hope of our resurrection is bound
up in his resurrection. And he says, for thou will not
leave my soul in hell, neither will I suffer thy holy one to
seek corruption. The Lord Jesus Christ could not
be corrupted. Why? Because he is holy. He's
holy. And because of his holiness,
we have the hope. We have the hope of being holy
in the very presence of God. What else is there? What does
this world have to offer? What hope is there beyond this? He's all my salvation and all
my desire. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. Christ is the path of life. God's
always pointing us to Christ, isn't He? That's the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. I pray that when I preach, that
I'll preach Christ. I pray that when we pray and
when you study the scriptures and when we're just walking through
our lives in the daytime, that the Spirit of God will point
us to Christ. That's what He said He'd come,
the comforter when He comes. He'll lead you into all truth
and He'll speak of me. He'll speak of me. that will
show me the path of life in thy presence. In thy presence is
fullness and joy. And at thy right hand, there
are pleasures forevermore, forevermore, forever and ever and ever and
ever. Pleasures like we don't know.
You know, we enjoy the pleasures that God gives us in this world.
But the pleasures we're gonna have forevermore at His right
hand, oh, they can't be compared, can they? Cannot be compared. That's what the Lord said. The
sufferings of this world cannot be compared to the glory that
shall be revealed in us. And that's what the Lord is saying.
I have my pleasure at the right hand of God. And I know that
He's going to reward me for what I've done. I lay my head down
in rest with hope. Looking to the Lord Jesus Christ
and believing on Him, we have reason for the same hope, don't
we? Same hope. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for the ministry of Your Spirit that leads us
into all truth, causes us to see Christ in thy word. Lord,
we pray that you would continue to direct our steps and cause
us to follow after him, to look to him, to rest in him. For we ask it in his name, amen. Number 224, let's stand, 224. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed me for his own. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how this saving faith
to me he did impart, nor how believing in his word brought
peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing man of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, creating
faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before his face I see. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able To keep that which I've committed
Unto Him against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
At night or noonday fair Nor if I walk the vale with Him Or
meet Him in the air But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him
against that day. Okay.