I please almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in his holy word. Let
us turn to the book of Psalms and Psalm 16 and we'll read verses
five and six. The book of Psalms, Psalm 16
and reading verses five and six. The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The lions are fallen unto me
in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. it's good sometimes to just ponder
and meditate upon the Word of God and the truth of the Word
of God and the implication that the Word of God has. And here
in this Psalm of David we see how he was led to recognise the
relevance of eternal things and how he was able to tell us that
the reality was, very simply, the Lord was his portion. The Lord was his portion. The
Lord was what and who he desired to see and who he desired to
know. And it was this great God, the
Lord Almighty, that helped him, that Lord God who maintained
him. And it would be good for us today
to realize that we're following in the same steps that David
did. Because it's clear here, he tells
us, the Lord is a portion of mine Inheritance. Well, a portion
of our inheritance. I wonder what our inheritance
is. I hope our inheritance is that
which is before us as that place of glory, heaven at last. And to realize here, David's
able to explain to us very clearly that in glory, in the inheritance,
the great blessing will be to view and to be with the Lord. The Lord is that portion of his
inheritance. We live in a day when people
have very strange views, really, of the glory at last, of what
the inheritance will be. And the position is they often
bring it down to a natural level and expect therefore heaven,
the inheritance, to be that which is taken up with natural things,
where of course it's very different. Heaven indeed, the inheritance,
is a holy place. And the great favour and the
great lot of the Church of God is to look forward to that inheritance
which the Lord has very clearly told us when he said, I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. So that's the glory of the inheritance,
to be with Christ, to enjoy Christ forever and ever. Not to enjoy
the vanities of this passing world. They will be forgotten. They will be behind us. They
will not reoccur. They will be finished. Indeed,
as we know, this world as we know it, will vanish and be burnt
up, but the Lord remains. Our God remains. Heaven remains. And therefore, as we journey
through life, it would be a wonderful blessing, therefore, if we are
given faith to look beyond the things of this world, to have
that very clear position in our hearts. This is not our rest
to realize as we read in Micah, it is polluted, this world is
polluted. We only have to look around today
and recognize that the world in which we live becomes worse
and worse and worse. An ungodly place in which we
find ourselves living. So many things to distract us
away from the things of God. So many things to direct us to
the things which are vanity of vanity. But what a mercy it is
if God gives us that faith, that faith to look forward, that faith
to believe, that faith to have the wonderful evidence in our
own hearts and then us realize true godliness is personal, True
godliness is that revelation from God to our souls that he
is the one who is the portion of his church. That's why David
is able to come and say, the Lord is the portion of my inheritance. It's a very personal statement
he's able to make. And it's not just David that
is able to make that, but all of the true Church of God, by
the grace of God, by the wonderful favor of God, are able to look
forward and to believe indeed that the Lord is our portion. And if it's that great and glorious
God who's given us the wonderful gift of eternal life, There's
no one else that can give us that. And yet, that which is
given is what it says, never fails, never fades, ever bright,
eternal. The Lord is a portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup, thou maintainest My Lord. Well, we read, don't we, in just
a further couple of Psalms, again, the Psalm of David, where he
tells us in the fifth verse of the 23rd Psalm, he says, my cup
runneth over. The Lord filled his cup, filled
his cup with blessing. filled his cup with mercy so
that he was able to record what God had done for him. And it's
good as we read what David was able to write about God. He tells
us, the Lord, no one else, no one else, and that should be
the same in our lives, no one else, the Lord, said, David is
my shepherd, the one who was leading, the one who had led
him, the one who was directing him. And of course, he was well
equipped and able to give the illustration of a shepherd because
he'd been a shepherd himself. And he looked after the sheep
and how he guided the sheep. And therefore, he was able to
then draw the analogy and tell us that The Lord is my shepherd. And again, we see there the personal
element brought into God's word. The Lord is my shepherd. And so we have the statement
here, the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. We do want
to have very clear views in our own heart, in our own testimony,
that these things have a personal application to each one of us.
and to look forward to the inheritance because God is our shepherd,
because God is our portion. It's not something which is vague. It's not something which is unintelligible. It's that which God has made
over to us by personal revelation. Left to ourselves, we are at
darkness. When the Lord shines, The heavenly
light, the heavenly light shows to us the great and glorious
Saviour. What a mercy then for us today
to be able to comprehend and able to understand that that
glorious light has shone into our hearts to realize that this
gracious God is our portion and he is our shepherd. And because
of that, as David says, I shall not want. Now you see, you're
looking beyond the things of natural life. There are many
things that people want naturally, perhaps many things that you
and I want naturally, but in reality, they are irrelevant
by comparison with eternal realities. And then he just itemizes how
the Lord was with him and how the Lord blessed him. He tells
us, he makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me
beside the still waters. It's a very peaceful scene, isn't
it? Well, it's a great blessing when God comes and blesses us
with peace. And that peace is only to be
found in and through what Christ has done. There's our peace. Our peace is what He's done.
And it's good, therefore, if the Lord comes and makes us,
He brings us, He makes us to lie down, to come aside, to rest
a while, to come aside and meditate upon the glory of His finished
work. Oh, that's a place of green pastures,
It's a place of still waters because why is it still? Because the work is done for
us. It's not something that we do.
Christ's work is done. Yes, it's complete. And what
a mercy if it's done on your behalf and my behalf. And therefore,
we can say with a positive position, through the grace of God, And
because of his love and mercy toward us, the Lord is my shepherd. He does make me lie down. He does lead me. Mercy, isn't
it? Mercy to be led by this great
and glorious God who is our portion. You see, if God is to be the
portion for us in glory, he will be our portion this on this earth
we won't be a stranger to our God we will have by his wonderful
love and mercy to know that union and that communion as the Lord
does lead us beside the still waters and we're told here not
only that but also he leads us in the paths of righteousness
for his name's sake And what is it? It's to bring honour and
glory to the name of Almighty God. What a favour that is. And
he says also, before that, he says he restores my soul. Perhaps that's something we understand. We may have wandered away. We
may have gone into the broad way. And the Lord has graciously
brought us back. He's brought us out to the broad
way, into the narrow way. And what is that? It's a restoring
of our soul. And then he says, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Why would he fear no evil? Because
he had a good prospect. Because he had a good prospect
of an inheritance, which was indeed, as Peter says, incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. And so he says, thou,
yea, thou walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will
fear no evil for thou art with me. If God is for us, if God
is with us, we have nothing to fear, do we? The devil will try
and make us fear. The devil will try and turn us
away from the truth of God, from the great and glorious promises
of God. But here they are, set before us here, as he says, the
Lord is my portion, the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Yes, it's the Lord that blesses
us with these spiritual realities. Thou maintainest my lot. He maintained him, he enabled
him to hold on his way, and he does still today. to the living
church of God. He maintains us, he strengthens
us, he feeds our soul. He gives us that which is needful
for us. Perhaps we expect to have a wonderful
feast sometimes, the Lord does, but generally speaking, it is
a crumb here and a crumb here, sufficient to enable us to continue. Strength, sufficient. for the
day, not a great excess, but strength sufficient, strength
sufficient to hold on our way. He tells us, now prepare us a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Now anointest
my head with oil. All these blessings, all these
favours. And it's a wonderful favour for
us to realise that here we have the Lord who is our portion and
we meditate upon these great truths. And they are a comfort
to us. They are a blessing to us. And
we're able to say, my cup runneth over. Runneth over with blessings. Runneth over with the favour
of God. Runneth over with his mercy toward
us. Runneth over with his love toward
us. It's a wonderful blessing, isn't
it? When the Lord draws us aside, comes to us, where we are. He knows where we are on our
little journey of life. He knows exactly where we are.
He knows how far we've got. He knows the roughness of the
way. He knows the difficulties. And all through that, He goes
with us and He leads us. anoints our head with oil and
our cup runneth over and then you see finally they were to
come and tell us in confidence surely surely and it's true if
you and I have tasted that the Lord is gracious the Lord has
touched our hearts the Lord has remembered us with that favour
he bears to his people, then surely we can also have a humble
confidence in what God has done and in what God is doing to be
able to say, surely because of that, I can say, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And he looks
forward. And he looks forward. And with
the evidence in his heart, he's able to say, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. That's why David is able to say
again in this psalm, the Lord is a portion of my inheritance,
because he looks beyond really this life to that inheritance. where the Lord was his portion
in this life, and the Lord will be his portion in glory, in that
inheritance, which is to come. What a mercy, my friends, if
that is our situation. And what a blessing it is if
we realize that we today, many years after David wrote this,
and yet we today, by the grace of God, worship the same Almighty
Lord God and that One who comes and controls our little lives. And so he carries on in this
sixth verse and says, This statement is perhaps a little difficult
to understand but it really means The place for us is marked out
by Almighty God. You look back at Israel of old,
we read in that 115th Psalm how the Lord led his people about. Yes, he knew what he was going
to do, he knew how they were going to be directed, he knew
the path that they were going to be led and directed in. And he says, and we're told in
that psalm, he says, which covenant he made with Abraham and oath
unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and
to Israel for an everlasting covenant. You see, the truth
of God doesn't fail. It is everlasting. We can rely upon it, an everlasting
covenant. The promises of God are yea and
amen. They will not fail. And therefore
we are told, and confirm the same unto Jacob for a law and
to Israel for an everlasting covenant saying, unto thee will
I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance, the
place that God had promised to them. natural way. They were
promised to come into that land of Canaan. That was their inheritance
naturally. And God promised it to them and
they arrived safely. And it's true today with regard
to the Church of God. There is an inheritance and it
is promised to the Church of God. What a mercy it is to realize
it's promised to us today. And therefore the lions have
fallen unto me. He says again, come back to the
personal application to each one of us. Those lions are fallen. God's arranged it. They're in
place for us as we journey on through life. It's not something
that we'll find is a strange and difficult situation because
that fall unto me in pleasant places." You may say, well, I'm
not sure if it is pleasant. Well, let me tell you this. It
is pleasant if God is there. And if God is there, and in that
place that God directs us to in a spiritual way, He leads
us into those places which are truly pleasant. You may say,
well, what do you mean by that? Well, I believe He leads us to
see the glorious life of the Saviour. And He leads His people,
He leads them to Gethsemane. Why does He lead them there?
To see the cost of our salvation. To see what the Lord Jesus Christ
agonised in and over because of that which He had to endure
on our behalf. Well, we can itemise it and say,
yes, by the grace of God, to my soul, it's a pleasant place
because by faith I view the Saviour suffering for me. What a mercy
then, if the Lord has given us this blessing. The lions have
fallen unto me and to you and to me. And the Lord leads us
into these places, these places ordained by Almighty God. Pleasant place, a spiritual place
of blessing, a solemn place. But what a mercy when the Lord
shows us the cost of our salvation, not something trivial. You see,
the inheritance is a most glorious place. A place where there is
no sadness and no sin and no sorrow. And that's what the Lord
has gone to repair a place for us. But in order to do that, He had to fulfil that which Almighty
God saw fit to lay upon him, that he would indeed be your
Saviour and my Saviour, the one who paid the price for our redemption. Pleasant places, because it is
by faith they are pleasant to us, they're glorious to us, as
the Lord leads us there. not only to Gethsemane, but to
the judgment hall and to see how Christ was beaten there and
mocked, humiliated. He bore the curse for us and
then led to Calvary and bore that terribly painful death in
order that you and I might receive the wonderful gift of eternal
life. He says, the lions have fallen
into me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. A goodly heritage. And if we
are able to consider that, the Lord leads us into these situations,
we will realize that glory, the portion of God's people will
be to be with the Lord. That's why he says, the Lord
is the portion of mine inheritance, because there, by the grace of
God, we will be able to praise him forever, forever, for what
he's done in blessing us. What he's done in maintaining
us. He maintains us, you know, through
our little life on this earth. There's many times of opposition. The devil shakes us. The devil
harangues us. The devil surrounds us. The devil
tries to turn us out of the way. He brings before us every temptation
he can. But you see, by the grace of
God, he will not overcome us. Because we're told, thou maintainest
my lot. The Lord maintains us. The Lord strengthens us. The Lord holds us up and enables us to look beyond
this little life and to look forward to this goodly heritage. I wonder if you do sometimes
observe the goodly heritage which God has prepared for his people. A place of bliss, of eternal
happiness. nothing to mar that perfect scene
and yet to have that confidence and David had that confidence
he said I have a goodly heritage and we should not make an issue and pretend that
we don't know you see if God has touched our hearts if God
has shown us just a little of his wonderful love to such unworthy
sinners. If the Holy Spirit has blessed
us with that spiritual life, that spiritual quickening, made
us alive, we must not deny it. The devil would endeavour to
shake us out of it, but what God has given cannot be taken
away. Because it's written, as it were,
with an iron pen in the rock. Can't be changed. God has done
it. What a mercy it is, then, to
have this great and glorious God. What a mercy it is to think
of these great Jews. You know, the Apostle Paul was
full of them, really. You only have to read through.
his epistles and you can recognize there what he tells us how God
was good and kind and gracious and merciful to him unworthy
as he felt himself to be as indeed we will likewise feel to be unworthy
but we're told in the first epistle through the epistle to the Ephesians
in the first chapter he tells us this in verse 11 in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance is done, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory, who
first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. great words go home ponder them
first of Ephesians verses 11 12 and 13 it spells out very
gloriously the confidence that the Church of God have the confidence
that the Apostle had my friends therefore he tells us of these
great and glorious truths. And earlier in this chapter,
he says, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, to himself, yes, the children of
God, a child of God, of the Most High, according to the good pleasure
of his will, Isn't that amazing? The good pleasure of his will,
the almighty will of almighty God to the praise of the glory
of his grace. Renith made us accepted in the
beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace. You know, that's
the glorious gospel, is it not? The wonderful mercy and wonderful
favor. And you see, with those truths,
can we not come and say humbly and honestly and truthfully and
not to deny, you know, there's a tendency to deny the work of
God in our souls. And yet you, what a blessing,
my friends, to be able to honor God. It's not our work, it's
God's work. And he's brought us into these
places. And I would say that the lions
are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly
heritage. The Church of God do have a goodly
heritage. Every member of that Church of
God have a goodly heritage. And my friends, you and I either
have a goodly heritage or we do not have a goodly heritage. There's no gray area. There's
no middle line. My friends, it's black and white.
The apostle knew it by the grace of God. David knew it by the
grace of God. He was able to thank God and
to wonderfully rejoice in it. Well, I hope tonight or I hope
this morning that you and I can also rejoice in it. You know,
Moses tells us when he wrote the book of Deuteronomy, the
Lord's portion is his people. Isn't it humbling to think we
are God's portion? Unbelievable, isn't it? Unworthy
sinners of the earth. Yet through the grace of God,
Moses was able to write that great truth when he wrote the
The Book of Deuteronomy, and he wrote it, of course, so that
Israel would have a wonderful record of God's goodness and
mercy toward them. He didn't want them to forget.
He didn't want them to not know it. And of course, by the grace
of God, it's been handed down through generations. And we today
are still able to read that great truth. The Lord's portion is
his people. And my friends, what a mercy
to think that includes unworthy you and
unworthy me. What a blessing. What a favour
it is to think that we have such a kind and such a wonderful and
merciful God who looks upon us and deals with us in love to
our souls. Aesop uses very similar words
in the 73rd psalm, which is a psalm of Asaph. And he tells us, towards
the end of this psalm, he says, Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Thou hast holden me up by my
right hand. It is only God that holds us
up. No one else. We should fail otherwise. We
should fall. We should disappear. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Well, that was many
years ago before the Lord spoke those words in the upper room. He will come and receive us unto
himself. Whom have I in heaven but thee
and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. It's
good, isn't it, when our religion comes down to that wonderful
statement, wonderful positive statement. Whom have I in heaven
but thee? Who do we have in heaven? Is
it our blessed saviour? Is he there waiting to receive
us? and there is none upon earth,
says Esau, that I desire beside thee. Well, that's a good expression,
isn't it? Isn't it wonderful if God leads
us and brings us by his grace to realize Jesus is the one thing
needful. He is the all-glorious one. So he goes on to say, my flesh
and my heart fadeth. Yes, we deteriorate naturally,
but God is a strength in my heart and my portion forever, forever,
forever. Don't forget that. It's not something
which fades away. It's something which lasts forever
and inherited. What a mercy, a heritage. The lions are fallen unto me
in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. Well, that
was the testimony of David. It was the testimony of Asaph. It was the testimony of the Apostle
Paul. And I believe by the grace of
God, it is the testimony of the Church of God. And my friends,
let us not therefore despise God's word. Let us not despise
the day of small things. Let us not despise the little
hope that you and I have by the grace of God. But may it be that
which is our confidence, that which we truly come and praise
and thank God for. that he hasn't cast us away as
a cumbra of the ground, that which we deserve, but his mercy
has come to us. His mercy holds us up. His mercy will bring a safe home
to glory. Well, this morning, may we ponder
these words and may we think upon them and have that humble
confidence to believe and be able to say, as David did, Because
David wrote these words with a humble confidence. He knew
where his strength lay, but he had that confidence in his God.
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. And of my cup thou
maintainest my lot. The lines are full unto me in
pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. Amen.