Turn back to Psalm 119, we will
pick up in verse 57, the title of the message, the
Lord is my portion. That word can also mean my inheritance. He's my inheritance. He's my
portion. The natural man's portion is
this life. His fame and his fortune, his
family, his career is his portion. That's his portion in this life.
And when he dies, he leaves his portion to another. It will not go with him. His
honor will not go with him. His riches will not go with him.
His family will not go with Him. There is one thing that will
go with Him. His sins. His sins will go with Him. They'll
go with Him before God to be judged by the judge who will
by no means clear the guilty. You die guilty, you perish. It's too late. But not so the
believer. His portion is the Lord he does
not say my portion is of the Lord it is the Lord my portion
is the Lord as David says here in verse 57 thou art my portion
oh Lord above all else and all others the Lord is my portion
above my family above my job The Lord is my portion. He's
my portion. If he's not, you're in trouble. But the Lord is my portion. This
is the language of a satisfied soul. This is the language of
a content soul. This is the language of a soul
saved by the grace of God. The Lord is my portion. David
did not consider his wealth or his fame his portion. He said the Lord is my portion. He's my portion. David knew that
to possess God was to possess everything. If I have Christ,
who is the Lord, who is my portion, I have it all. That's a reality. I want to live by God's grace. I want to live and I want you
to live in the reality that in Christ, all things are yours.
I possess all things in Christ. I lack nothing. Listen to Genesis
15. God speaking to Abraham. And
after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in
a vision. saying fear not abram i am thy
shield and i exceeding great reward people look for rewards in heaven
you know who i'm looking for i know who and i know who you're
looking for the lord the lord he's our reward he's our portion
he's our inheritor david said this in psalm 73 25 whom have
i in heaven but thee People get sentimental. They
want to go to heaven to see their mother. They want to go to heaven
to see this one. They want to go to heaven to see that one.
David said, who do I have in heaven but you? You're the one
I want to see. It's not that I don't want to
see these others, but I want to see you. You're my great interest. You are my greatest interest.
Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. David had a lot. I mean, he possessed
at that time, he possessed as much as anyone on this earth
could possess. He said, I don't desire any of
these. My desire is you on this earth and in heaven. And listen
here in Psalm 73, 26, my flesh and my heart failed. But God
is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. That kept
me, that keeps me going. Knowing that no matter what I
have and may lose, I actually, when it comes down to it, I lose
nothing. I lose nothing. Paul said, I've lost everything
for Christ's sake. I suffered the loss of all things
for Christ, for the excellency and the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ there in Philippians 3. You haven't lost anything
until you lost your life. And the scripture says your life
is hid with God in Christ. You can't be touched. God said
to Satan concerning Job, you can't, don't touch his life.
You can't touch his life. Isn't that good? People spend,
I mean, billions are spent on trying to live one more day.
One more day, billions of dollars are spent. Our life can't be touched. It
can't be touched. My house can. My body can. But my life can't. It's safe. It's in Christ, who is my life. This world is not the believer's
portion. It's not our inheritance. I've
watched families split over inheritance. I've seen them split over money,
over inheritance. I know one that can't, they can't
get along, can't get together because over a picture that one
didn't get. Have it all, take it. The Lord's
my portion. The Lord's my portion. Paul said,
for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. He said he had suffered the loss
of all things for Christ's sake. And he counted it but done. All
of his achievements, all of his possessions, he was a rich man.
Many think he was that young rich man that came to the Lord.
And the Lord told him to keep the commandment. A lot of them
think that was the Apostle Paul when he was younger. I don't
know. But I do know this, all that
Paul had, he lost it. And he said it was nothing but
dung anyway. That's all it was. In 2 Samuel 19, Mephibosheth
said to the king when he came back, and the king told him and
Saba to divide all the material things. Mephibosheth said unto the king,
yea, let him, let Ziba take it all. For as much as my lord the
king is come again in peace unto his own house. I have the king.
The king is my portion. You're all I want. You're all
I want. God make that to grow in us.
That Christ is all we really want. Whether the believer has
little or much, the Lord is his portion. It says in Psalm 16, 5, the Lord
is the portion of mine inheritance. He's a portion of mine inheritance
and of my cup. Of my cup. Thou maintainest my
life. And this being so, every believer
can say with Jacob, I have enough. Do you have enough? I have enough. I don't need anything else. I
have enough. Whatever my lot is in this life, the Lord is
my portion and I have enough. I have enough. As my mother said once, she said,
all this is just stuff. It's just stuff. Charles Spurgeon, quoting Thomas
Brooks in his sermon, said this, we could answer every temptation
with the reply, the Lord is my portion. If he truly is our portion,
then we look for satisfaction of no carnal fulfillment. The Lord is my portion. And Davis
says, because the Lord is my portion, I have said that I would
keep thy words if the lord is your portion his word is precious
to you his word is precious to you anyone who can take the word
of god and just leave it upon the shelf cannot say the lord
is their portion because they don't they are not separate you
can't know the lord apart from his word you can't commune with
the lord apart from his word you can't do it You can't even
know him. If the Lord is my portion, then
his word is my guide, my meat, and my drink. His word. You know, Christ said, if you
love me, you'll keep my word. He said, if you love me, you'll
keep my word. A man's portion is proven, and
I thought about this today. man's portion is proven by what
he gives himself to what you give yourself to that's what
you count as your portion here david is saying that he is consecrated
to the lord and to walking in the light of his word listen
what job says in job 23 12 neither have i gone back from the commandment
of his lips i have esteemed the words of his mouth more than
my necessary food. You know that the written word
is the words of His mouth. We have it. These are just like
the words of His mouth. He's speaking to us through His
word, by His Spirit. And if the Lord is our portion,
His favor is of the utmost importance. There is absolutely nothing that
rivals God's favor. God showing to me mercy, having
mercy on me. His mercy following me all the
days of my life. Nothing rivals that. If the Lord
is our portion, His favor is of the utmost importance. Verse 58, I am treated thy favor. And that word favor also means
face. And the face reveals a person.
Now, if he entreated the face of the Lord, the Lord's real
to me. He's real. I am treated that favor with
my whole heart. If the Lord is our portion, we
seek His face in prayer and in His Word here in this. And when we come together to
worship and to hear the preaching of the gospel, we seek His favor.
Lord, speak tonight. If I have found favor in Your
sight, speak to my heart. Teach me. Grab my attention. Instruct me out of Your Word
by Your Spirit. That's in treating God's favor.
That's in treating His face. And we do so with the whole heart.
We seek his presence, we seek his mercy, and we do so, listen,
according to, he says here, according to thy word. This is not guesswork. We come to God for mercy, for
forgiveness, based on the gospel promises. Come unto me, all you
that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. That's a promise. Lord give me rest according to
your promise according to your word that's learning how to pray that's
learning how to pray and we do so listen we do so we entreat
his favor with urgency that's what that word means I entreated
if you'll notice as we go through this the urgency in this song I am treated seeking the Lord
is never casual. He's never casual. Don't ever
take for granted seeking the Lord. Don't ever take for granted
his favor. Let us never do that. My soul, you know, the Lord's
mercy is sovereign mercy. Let us never take that for granted.
And if the Lord is our portion, We will think on our ways, we'll
examine ourselves. He says, the Lord's my portion.
I entreated his favor. And then what does he do? He
says, I sat down and I meditated. I thought upon my ways. You know,
one of the things I thought today, that's one of the things that
sets us apart from the beast of the field. We can think upon
our ways. We can think, meditate, reason. And that's one thing that separates
me from my dog over there. That's one of the few things
that separates me from him, but we can think on our ways. And
that's what David says here, I thought on my ways. There's
two things here. It's like a craftsman. You take
a real craftsman. He takes what he has made and
he looks at it, he examines it, he looks at all over it for any
defects in it. And it's like David is saying
that he looks over his life, he examines his life and he finds
those defects and he seeks the Lord for mercy and forgiveness
and for help to overcome it. Listen to what Paul says in 2
Corinthians 13, examine yourselves. This is one of the hardest things
to do, to really examine ourselves, to examine our motives, to examine
our conduct, to examine our language, to examine everything about us,
to examine everything about me, to sit down and contemplate and
examine and think upon it in light of God's word, in light
of God's word, in light of the gospel. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you're
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be reprobates. Give serious thought to this.
What motivates you? What has your greatest interest?
What drives you? What has your affection? examine
it but this is also the beginning of true repentance this happens
when the lord saves a sinner there is an examination of your
life you look at your life and you realize guilty that's one
thing you realize guilty you realize like that sinner lord
be merciful to me the sinner as if he were the only one When we study the Word of God
and when we hear the Gospel, it will cause us by the Holy
Spirit to think on our ways and turn to the Lord for mercy and
forgiveness. You see, naturally, our ways
are destructive, aren't they? There is not the animal world. The animal world does not try
to self-destruct like the human world, the humanity. Humanity
is self-destructive. If God Almighty If he did not
exercise his sovereign constraint over the human race, it would
have never made it past the first millennium. We self-destruct. We literally would self-destruct
in no time. Our ways are naturally destructive,
sinful, they lead away from God. You know, here's what's something
that's very interesting. The higher the learning, you
see this in colleges, the higher the learning, the further away
from God they go. That's amazing. Science of all
people, of all people on this earth who ought to be convinced
of the being of God are the ones who promote evolution the most. That's crazy. But that's how
dead we are by nature. The higher the learning, the
further away from God we go. It says in Proverbs 16, 25, there
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. You know, the way that seems
right to a man is to try to do things to please God, try to
do something to get God's favor. You know, you give money and
say, Lord, you take notice of that. That only gives to give
for the wrong motive, the wrong reason. There's a way that seemeth right
unto man, that works, that works religion. That way seems right. It seems right. It just seems
right. To keep the Ten Commandments, doesn't that seem right? Go ahead,
they'll kill you. Because you can't keep them.
He that hates his brother without a cause is a murderer. He that
looks on a woman the lust after has committed adultery already
in his heart. Either God didn't let him do
so or the opportunity just never came around right. Spurgeon said this, this is good.
Only when we come to the Word of God do we come to ourselves. You know, when the Lord put that
demonic man, he was possessed with legion. It says that he
was in his right mind. You know who put him in his right
mind? The Word of God. Christ, the Word of God put him
in his right mind. And not only when we come to
the Word of God, do we come to ourselves, said Spurgeon. And
many go through life and they never consider their ways. They never consider it. They
go through life like it's a circus. I mean, why do you think TV is
so, really, why is it so, why is it so popular? For one reason,
entertainment. We love to be entertained. We
love it. And people go through life, they
want to be entertained, they want to be everything except
right with God in the right way. And many go through life, they
never consider their ways until it's too late. Like that rich
man who lifted up his eyes in hell being in torment. He said,
go warn them, go warn my brothers about this place. No, don't go warn your brothers
about that place. Go tell your brothers about that
man, Jesus Christ, who saved sinners from their sins. And they don't end up in that
place. And here's a result of a spiritual
examination. He said, I thought upon my ways,
I thought upon, meditated on. I looked at my life and every
area of my life. I didn't just look at one area.
He said, I just examined myself from head to foot. And you know
what I did? He says, I turned my feet to
your testimony. I turned to you to turn to God's
testimonies to turn to the gospel is to turn to God is to turn
to him is to turn to Christ who is the gospel. He said, I turned
my feet unto thy testimonies, which really, it has a meaning
that his feet must have been going in another direction. If
you turned them, you had to be going in another direction. And
he said, when I really looked at my ways, I turned my feet
to the Lord. You know what repentance really
is? most people think repentance is a lot of just feeling bad
and you know weeping there is such a thing as mourning over
your sins but the true the true definition for repentance is
turning from and turning to it's to turn from your sins and turn
to god it's to turn from your ways to his way the lord jesus
christ it's to turn it's to change your way of thinking the way
you think upon God, yourself, upon Christ, it's a complete
change of your thinking. He said, and I turned my feet
unto thy testimonies. David wrote in Psalm 119, 105,
thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. This
word right here, in the hands of the Holy Spirit will guide
us safely, safely all the way home. It's all the light we need. I don't need a higher education.
I'm dumb enough as it is. I don't need a higher one because
that would just take me further away from God. Listen here in Proverbs 6, 23,
for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light. And I thought
this was interesting. And reproofs of instruction are
the way of life. Reproofs of instruction. That's
how God instructs us. By his word, by his spirit, and
by reproofs. Chastening, the chastening rod. And then he said here in verse
60, he said, I examined myself, I examined my ways, I turned
my feet to thy testimonies, and I made haste. I made haste and delayed not
to keep thy commandments. Those who have been awakened
make haste to flee to Christ, the city of refuge. I heard someone
say this, and I think it's so. Usually when the Lord saves somebody,
they hear the gospel and they, I see. It's usually not a year's
process. It's usually they hear, I see,
I see. Those who have been awake and
make haste, they flee to Christ. Procrastination is sure death.
It's sure death. It's definitely sure death to
conviction. Who said you were going to hear the gospel again? Who said you were going to wake
up in the morning Who said who gave you that promise?
That you can wake up on this earth in the morning, you might
wake up dead. That might be how you wake up. Now, those in Christ, that's
a good day. That's the Lord's mercy on you.
Those who have been awakened, they make haste. They do not
trifle with the truth. They don't trifle with their
soul. They flee to Christ when they've been awakened. And what are His commandments?
David said, I made haste to keep that commandment. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Here's a commandment in Acts
1730. In the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. He commands every person to believe
and repent. And then he says here in verse
61, the bands or the cords of the wicked have robbed me. They've
robbed me, but I've not forgotten thy law. You know, no doubt David had
experienced this, the cords of the wicked had robbed him. Our
Lord, you know, he was, he could say this, he could say this,
the cords of the, they robbed him of his, While he was here,
they told lies on him. They robbed him of his character. They said he's a wine beaver.
He's a gluttonous man. And he wasn't. He was God. He is God manifest in the flesh.
But I thought this concerning myself and us. I have been robbed
by sin. My mind has been robbed. Too
many thoughts of the world creep in. You know, I watched my mother
have dementia. Her mind has been robbed. It's been just taken
away. My mind has been robbed. Too
many thoughts of the world creep in. My affections have been robbed.
I'm too often drawn to pleasure or profit. Too often I'm drawn
to that. Too often I'm drawn to what has
to do with me. I've been robbed by sin. That's a sin problem. Turn over
to Romans 7. Let's put this in New Testament
language. Look in verse 14. The Apostle Paul writing, But what I would, that do I not,
but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now then, it is no more
I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For the will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that,
I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in
me. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil's present
with me. For I delight in the law of God,
the word of God, after the inward man. But I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. That's why I say sin has robbed
my mind. It's robbed my mind. I mean,
you're sitting there right now trying to listen. How many times
have you had to rest your attention and pay attention and get yourself
back to listening again? Your thoughts begin to wander
off. That's due to sin. Sin has robbed us of that. In
glory, that won't happen. We'll be able to use our full
mind in the worship service. We'll be able to use our full
mind in singing His praises. But now we can be singing in
our mind, it'll go somewhere else and it's just gonna bring
it back. I see another law of my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bring me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my memory. Oh, wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ. Our Lord,
that's who. That's who. So then, with the
mind, I myself serve the law of God, the gospel, but with
the flesh, the law of sin. Sin has robbed me. It has robbed
me. And then I've been robbed by
Satan. He robs me of my peace. He robs me of my faith. The Lord
said to the disciples so many times, why do you doubt? Why
are you so fearful? Why do you and I ever get anxious
and worrisome? Doubt. The very root of that
reason is doubt. We begin to doubt God, His power,
His love, His faithfulness. We begin to doubt Him. Satan
has robbed us of our peace and of our faith, but listen here.
However, by thy grace, I put this in here,
by thy grace, I have not forgotten thy law, the gospel, how the
Lord has saved me. I've not forgotten your promises.
I've not forgotten your word. That's by grace. That's by grace. If the Lord is our portion, we
will rise even at midnight and pray and give thanks. We will
even at the most inconvenient time, give thanks, not complain,
but give thanks. Our Lord did this. Sometimes
he prayed all night. He prayed all night long. We have a tough time praying
for five minutes. I know this, I know this. But
our Lord, there was no time that he would not pray. He was in
constant prayer. No time is inconvenient to thank
the Lord. No time. Midnight prayers show
devotion. It's not easy to get up and pray,
is it? Once you go to bed, to lay down, it's not easy to do
that. I mean, if one of us leave a light on and we go to bed,
he said, you leave the light on, did you? And I said, forget
it, that light stays on all night. Nobody's getting up to turn it
off. It's just going to stay on because I ain't getting up
and she's not getting up. But he says, here, I get up. Even
at the most inconvenient time, he's laying there in bed. You
know, they didn't have the entertainment that we have now. You know, you
stay up at midnight watching TV, but they went to bed early.
And he's laying there and he's meditating. He's thinking upon
his ways and he's thinking upon the Lord and the Lord's portion.
He's thinking upon what God's done for him and his mercy and
his grace and how he has kept him. And he gets up out of bed.
He said, I gotta, I gotta get up out of bed and praise him
and thank him, give him thanks. Spurgeon says it doesn't matter
whether you lay in bed or you're out of the bed, but getting out
of the bed shows, it shows more devotion. You're really devoted
to thanking him. You just, you get up and you,
Lord, thank you. Thank you for saving my soul.
You know how many people drop in hell every day? Thousands. Thousands leave this
world by the minute and face God. And if you and I die tonight,
we are going to go out of this world rejoicing. That's something
to thank Him for. No sins are going to follow us.
No sins. And there's the reason for such
thankfulness. He says, at midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto
thee because of thy righteous judgments. When we consider the
righteous judgments of God, Calvary, Calvary is the one we are most thankful
for. There at Calvary, The righteous
judgment of God fell on Jesus Christ in my stead, and I give
thanks for that. Lord, thank you for living for
me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for rising for me.
Thank you for interceding for me. Thank you for being my advocate. Thank you for being my high priest.
Thank you for being my sacrifice. Thank you for shedding your blood
for the atonement of my sins. Thank you for being my king.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Now, if the Lord is our portion,
it'll show up in our companions, who our companions are. You know
that? It'll show up in the people we
run around with, we are associated with. Someone said a man's character
can be seen in the people he hangs out with. That's a man's
character. That's where you can see it at.
Not in this room. Not in this room. It's where
you see, it's who you see him hanging out with, him or her.
He says in verse 63, I am a companion of all them that fear thee and
of them that keep thy precepts. I am a companion of them. And
this first applies to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not ashamed
to call us brethren. And he's our companion. He's
the companion of all that fear the Lord. He's our companion.
He's with us. I'll be with you to the end. Here's the question. Who are
your friends? Who do you feel the most comfortable
with? You know, I've learned this.
You just watch somebody. You watch a person. You can tell
which crowd they're the most comfortable with. That's where
they're the most free and loose. That's the one they're most comfortable
with. Who our friends are says everything
about who you and I are. It says everything. Listen what
James says in James 4.4, and this is what he calls them, you
adulterers and adulteresses. here's why he calls him this
know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with god whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of god i was trying to think of a song
i stand here trying to think of this song why can't we it
was an old song Why can't we all just live together? I can't.
Oh, who signed it? Who signed it? I can't think
of the guy's name. Why can't we all just live together?
Well, light and darkness can't. Light and darkness cannot walk
together. That's just so. Turn the light on. When you come
in this room, it's dark. Turn that light on. The darkness
got to go. It has to go. You can't have one half of the
room dark and the other half light. Darkness has to go. David, you know, David, David
is king. He's king here. You know, he
says, I'm a companion to them that fear thee. He's a king,
but he considered all who believed on the Lord to be his companions,
no matter their rank, you know, their, their status. Turn over to Matthew chapter
12, and I'll wind this down here. I want you to see this. In verse 47 of Matthew 12, Then
one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand
without desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said
unto him that told him, Who is my mother and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples. He goes like this. He just he
just pointed in that direction. He said, And he stretched forth
his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and
my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which
is in heaven, the same is my brother, sister, and mother,
my companion. These are my companions. You're
the only people I want to hang around. I'm telling you the truth. You're the only people I want
to hang around. You're my companion. And then last of all, the earth,
O Lord, is full of thy mercy. Teach me thy statutes. You know,
we are so prone to complaining about the wickedness going on,
aren't we? The government? The government? We're so prone to be complaining
about that, that we don't see the earth is full of the Lord's
mercy. Isn't that something? God has
a people on this earth, therefore it's full of his mercy. The sun
shines a day for you. The earth produces for you. This place to come to and worship
together is for you. He makes wars to cease for you. The earth is full of His mercies. So let's just take a break. Let's
take a break of looking at the world and complaining about the
wickedness of it. It hasn't changed. It's the same. It's as perverted
as it ever was. We just hear about it more. But
it's as perverted as ever. Man hasn't changed. But let's
start recognizing the mercy of the Lord. the homes we have, jobs. It's the mercy of the Lord. It's
his mercy. And teach me, it's just like
he said, he just looked over past the troubles, over past
all of being robbed by the wicked. He looked past all that. He says, this earth is full of
your mercy. It's so full of your mercy. And
I think he's saying this, and when he realized this, he said,
teach me thy statutes. Lord, teach me. I'm so dumb. I'm so spiritually dumb. How
could I miss all these mercies? Teach me thy statutes. Be my
teacher. Lord, be my teacher. When I look into your word, give
me understanding. Teach me thy statutes. Open them
up to me. Open them up. Open up your word.
Don't let it just be another book. Open up your word to my
understanding. Make yourself known to me. Reveal
yourself to me. Let me see you. Lord, let me. Moses said this, Lord, show me
your glory. Have you ever asked that? Have
you and I ever really asked God to show us His glory in the face
of Jesus Christ? To really let us see it before
we die?