Turn to Psalm 16. Back to Psalm 16. The title of this psalm is, A
Golden Psalm for Believers. A Golden Psalm for Believers. If you'll see there, it says,
Mictam. It means golden. or a cover. And most everyone I've read on
this psalm called it the Golden Psalm. And as I read it, I thought
it's the Golden Psalm for believers. It's for us. But it's also a
psalm that is to be applied, first of all, to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Peter refers to this psalm in
Acts 2, verses 25-32. Peter refers to this psalm, "...thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell." And then Paul in Acts 13 refers
to this psalm and quotes from this psalm, the same thing that
Peter did. So it applies to Christ, but
it also applies to us in Christ. What applies to the head applies
to the body. And Christ being our head and
we are His body. And as I read this over the last
few days, as I read this, I thought, Lord, enable me as much as possible to have this
kind of attitude. He had it perfectly. I want it
as much as I can. Enable me to have this kind of
attitude. David wrote this psalm, and he
wrote this psalm from his experience. Whatever he was going through,
God used it to move him to write this psalm. So a believer wrote
this psalm. and it's in reference to Christ,
but it belongs to us also. Now, he starts out here and he
says, Preserve me, that is, keep me safe. Boy, we need that, don't we?
We need that. We need God to keep us safe.
Keep us safe. Preserve me. Oh God, and the
name here is El, E-I or E-L. It means Omnipotent One. David is speaking here to the
Omnipotent One, and the greater David is speaking here to his
God. Spurgeon said this, and I wanted
to write this down, and this really This really struck me
because this is something that I have thought of over the years,
and more so lately. But when I read this, I thought,
that's so. We need to learn this. Spurgeon
said, It is well to study the name and character of God. You
know, in the Scriptures, God is presented in different names.
And he says, "...it is well to study the name and character
of God, so that in our straits we may know how, and by what
title, to address our Father who is in heaven." He's the Lord
our righteousness. Jehovah said, Kennu. He's the
Lord we'll provide. He's got all these names. And
every one of His names will fit a situation in our life as we
go through this life and to find in Him all that we need. And He has a name that fits it.
He has a name that fits every need I have. That's amazing that
God has a name to fit every need I have. And Spurgeon said it'd
be well to learn the names of God so whenever you come into
a straight, you can apply to that name, that part of God that
you need at that time. It says in Psalm 9 verse 10,
Those that know thy name will put their trust in thee. Those
that know thy name. The Scripture says He's the faithful
God. Here He's God Omnipotent. And those who know thy name,
they will put their trust in thee. But He's saying this here
too, Preserve me or guard me as a shepherd guards his sheep.
Our Lord, The man, Christ Jesus, asked His Father to continually
guard and keep Him. And I thought, well, if He did
that, how much more should I do that? This is the man, Christ Jesus,
asking His Father to preserve Him from the evil one and the
evil people. And it's also David. And it's
the prayer of every believer asking for preservation. Preserve me. Preserve me. This world is an evil place.
I tell you, the older I get, when I was young, when I was
young, when I was like these young people back there with
Rebecca's kids, when I was young, the world was a playground. It
looked like a playground. I don't mean to disappoint you
kids, but it's a graveyard to me now. Seriously. Seriously, I realize
that something has died on every inch of this earth. It might be a fish worm, but
something has died on every inch of this earth. And I see it. I see it more and more as I grow
older for what it is. It's an evil place. Evil place. When we preach Christ, as I said
here, this is the man Christ Jesus praying, and when we preach
the Son given, we preach His deity, we preach Him as God,
as God over all, blessed forever. But when we preach the child
born, we preach His humanity. And I thought of this today,
preach Him as a man. a man without sin, but a man,
a real man, a real human being with a real soul, just like me,
except he knew no sin. He trusted in God. He says here,
For in thee do I put my trust, or take refuge. I was thinking about this. Who would you If you were asked the
question, who do you think the greatest believer was that ever walked on this
earth? Who would you think of? Would you think of Abraham? Over
in Romans, it speaks of the faith of Abraham? David? It just dawned on me today as
I was reading through this again, the greatest believer to have
ever walked on this earth is Jesus Christ. He believed God perfectly. Not
one time did he doubt his father, his father and our father. He
said, I go to my father and your father. And not one time did
he ever doubt his father. He is our example of faith. His enemies charged him with
this. He trusted in God. He trusted in God. I thought,
can my enemies, can those who would stand against me, can I
be charged with trusting God? Could I be charged with that?
Those who know me, would they charge me with trusting God?
He trusted in God. That was one of the greatest
compliments ever given to him. The enemies of Christ gave him
the greatest compliments not meaning to. He said he trusted
in God. Another place he said, this man
receives sinners and he eats with them. What compliments! He said, for in thee do I put
my trust. God has never failed any who
trust Him. Never failed any who trust Him. And he says here in verse 2,
Oh my soul, Thou hast said unto the Lord, because this is where
faith begins, it begins in the heart, and it's toward God. Christianity
is not just a profession, it's a real living union between God
and a sinner. And he says here, O my soul,
thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Thou art my Lord,
my Sovereign." You see here He says, Thou art sent unto the
Lord, capital L-O-R-D. Thou art sent unto Jehovah. Thou
art sent unto Jehovah, the One who exists by Himself. Thou art
my Sovereign. The Lord came into this world,
took upon Him flesh, became a man. He is now Lord of lords and King
of kings, and He's our Sovereign. We have a Sovereign. And here's what our Lord is doing.
Our Lord vows allegiance to His Heavenly Father, complete dedication
to God. What did He say one time? My
meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. My meat. And you and I get upset
when things don't go our way. Our Lord never got upset. He
bowed to His Father's will Continually. Constantly. And He avows allegiance to His
heavenly Father. You're my Lord. You're my Sovereign. He's avowing full commitment
to His Father in all matters. He's about to go to the cross.
He goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and He says, Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from Me. But... Not what I will, but what you
will. What you will. Oh, my soul. Can't you just hear
David, and you can hear David's Lord, the greater David, saying,
oh, this is, I mean, this is reaching into the heart. This
is reaching into the very depth of his being. Oh, my soul, you
said to the Lord, Thou art my Lord. I'm committed to you. You're mine. I am His and He
is mine. And look here, and my goodness
extends not to thee. Our Lord is saying this to the
Father. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ added nothing to
God. He said, My work here on this
earth adds nothing to you. You are complete without it.
God is complete. God is happy. God is full. The work of Jesus Christ added
nothing, zero, to God. It added nothing to Him. Listen to Job 35, 7 and 8. If thou be righteous, what givest
thou him? If you're righteous, what do
you add to God? Or what receiveth he of thine hand? What have you
ever given God that He hasn't given you? Well, however much you may give,
God gave it to you. He gave it to me. Thy wickedness may hurt a man
as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the Son of man, but
it does nothing for God." God is unaffected. Here are the real beneficiaries
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but to the saints. that
are in the earth and through the excellent. We, you and I,
are partakers of the work and death of Jesus Christ. We are
the beneficiaries. It doesn't extend to God, He
doesn't need it, but it sure does extend to me and you. It does us. In His righteousness,
we are righteous. And notice what he says here.
He said, My goodness extends not to thee, but to the saints
that are in the earth, and to the excellent. That word excellent means the
majestic and noble of the earth. That's who you are. Now you and
I don't feel that. We don't feel that. Not if you're
born of God, you don't feel it. You feel your sins. You feel
it. You feel your helplessness. You
feel your weakness. You feel that. I know you do
if you're born of God. But he says here that, he says,
My goodness extends to the excellent, the noble, and the majestic of
the earth, God's children. Now are you the sons of God? My soul live in the reality of
that. I'm a son of the King. You know, I can honestly say
to any person, my father made this. My father created all this. My father owns all this. And
I'm telling the truth. I'm telling the truth. Christ was never impressed with
the rich and the mighty of the world, but the publicans and
the harlots, the ones whom He saved, they are the excellence
of the earth. This world is not worthy of you.
You know that? Of whom the world is not worthy,
it says in Hebrews 11. The world is not worthy of you.
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
You are the reason God has not annihilated this place yet. You
realize that? Oh, my soul. These are the things we need
to live in reality of. In whom, listen, in whom is all
my delight. We are all His delight. That the God of heaven and earth
would actually take real delight in me. In me. Not everybody takes delight in
me. Not everybody is going to invite me over or ask me to go
somewhere with them. But God takes delight in me. God takes delight in you. He
delights in you. It pleased God, Samuel said,
to make you His people. It pleased God to make you His
people because He took delight in you. Here's another lesson. This jumped
out at me again today as I was reading this. "...in whom is
all my delight." Because I want the same attitude. I want this
attitude. I want this attitude to grow
in me that was perfect in our Lord. I find it troubling in me and
in others who confess Christ and find their delight among
the ungodly. and those that hate God. Christ
is saying here, I find in whom is all the saints of God, the
excellent of the earth, they are the ones I find all my delight
in, they are the ones I have pleasure meeting with. Where
two or three are met together, they are in the midst of Him,
and He delights to be there. He delights to be there. I know
this, like runs with like, doesn't it? What's the old saying, birds
of a feather flock together? They do. We are the company we
keep. That's the truth. We are the company we keep. And
our Lord says this, I keep company with those who are the noble
and the excellent of the earth, which are God's children. He
did not take delight in the ungodly. He did not take delight in those
Pharisees. He didn't take delight in them. Listen to what James says in
James 4.4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Making friendships of the world
and hanging out with the world and the world being your company?
He said, The world is enmity with God. Whosoever, therefore,
will be a friend, that is, make friendships with the world, is
the enemy of God. And I thought of this. Why am I speaking to myself? I apply these things to myself
when I read. Why would I delight in those
whom the Lord delights not? Why would I delight in those
things which the Lord takes no pleasure? "...in whom is all my delight."
And you know, James calls it, he said, "...ye adulterers and
adulteresses." What is an adulterer or an adulteress? It's someone
who is unfaithful to their spouse. And James is saying here, you
profess to know God and love God, and yet you're unfaithful
to Him because your heart is with them and not with Him. "...in whom is all my delight."
Listen to what Isaac Watts wrote, "...oft have my heart and tongue
confessed, how empty and how poor I am, MY PRAISE CAN NEVER
MAKE THEE BLESSED, NOR ADD NEW GLORIES TO THY NAME. YET LORD,
THY SAINTS ON EARTH MAY REAP SOME PROFIT BY THE GOOD WE DO.
THESE ARE THE COMPANY I KEEP, THESE ARE THE CHOICEST FRIENDS
I KNOW." That's a good writing there. And then he gives out a word
of warning here. He says, As for those who go
after another god or another gospel, Paul said they'll come
with another gospel, like they did in Galatians. Their sorrows
shall be multiplied that hasten after another god, little g,
idol. They hasten after their idols.
Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up
their names into my lips. He's saying here, false professors
only add sorrow to themselves by their false profession. Just, you know, being religious
is not salvation. It's not salvation. Everybody's
religious. That's not salvation. Better
not to profess than to profess a lie. An empty profession is a useless
profession. A false profession is an adulterous
profession. And the Lord says that their
sorrows shall be multiplied. They go after another God. Instead,
the only God there is. And it's amazing. It's amazing what actually can
get a hold of you and you don't realize it. until God removes
it. And then you realize, whoa, that
had more of a hold on me than I thought. And then the Lord says something
here that's interesting. First of all, He says, their
drink offerings of blood will I not offer. In other words,
back in that time, especially, some of them offered up human
sacrifices. He said, I'm not going to partake
of that. But here's what he's saying. He said, I will not partake
of their worship service. It's the worship of devils. Somebody's right and somebody's
wrong. And I believe we have the gospel
here. We have the gospel, we have the truth. And one of the
ways I know that is that Jesus Christ gets the glory when it's
over with. It's who's getting the glory when all is said and
done. The Lord's getting the glory.
And I'm not going to participate or join with other places who
do not preach the gospel. I'm not going to do it. I'm just
not going to do it. And our Lord says this, I will
not even mention their names from my lips. The Lord Jesus
Christ never patronized false gods. He never patronized them. He told those Pharisees, he says,
you're of your father, the devil. Now, if you tell somebody down
the street there that they're of their father, the devil, you're
going to find out what persecution of the gospel is. I told a man
one time years ago, I said, you and I don't worship the same
God. We do not worship the same Jesus Christ. And he thought
that was overboard. That was being too dogmatic. No. No. And our Lord says here, listen,
I will not even mention their names from my lips. Let's be
careful not to give any credit to another gospel. And here's something interesting.
And back in the old times, back then, to mention the name of
another God, just to mention it, just to let that name roll
off your tongue was considered homage to that God. And the Lord said, their names
won't even roll off my lips. I won't even take their name.
I like what Spurgeon said. He said, don't let it come off
your lips lest the poison of it leak into your heart. lest the poison of it leak into
your heart. Don't you sit around and even
discuss it. That's what he's saying. I'm
not even going to sit around and discuss it. You know, the Lord never sat
around at all and discussed a lie, did he? No, he didn't. He didn't debate over a lie,
over what's true. He told the truth and that was
it. I've learned one thing. If you're
right, you don't have to argue about it. You don't, if you're right. I'm just going to go on home.
I'm not going to sit around and argue
about it. You know, this is something here.
Let me throw this out at you. He said, here, their sorrows
shall be multiplied in haste after another God, their drink
offerings of blood I'll not offer, I won't even take them up on
my lips. There was a man some time ago, a man who's been around
the Gospel, I mean, didn't preach the Gospel, but he's professed
to believe the Gospel for a long time. He got sick. And he was
telling me somebody, I believe it was a Catholic man, He said, let me pray for you.
And he let him. He told me, that man prayed one
of the best prayers, and he said, I have to believe that God heard
that. I want to just slap him when he said that. You can't be serious, because
he threw out some nice words, and some words that he read in
his Bible, and this man believes a false god and a false gospel,
and is a liar, and you think God heard him? When I said I wanted to slam
him, I wanted to wake him up. I just wanted to say, you need to wake
up. No, God did not hear that man. He did not hear that man. That man's smooth words just
fooled you. And I was so taken back by that. I was not only taken back, I
was so disappointed. Really, my heart just sunk when
he said that. No, He didn't. No, God did not
hear that. But notice here how quickly our
Lord turns back to His real joy. After verse 4, verse 5, He says,
Here's the Lord, Jehovah. Jehovah is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. He's all I want. You know, people
have, you know, the parents leave inheritance and the kids are
looking for that inheritance. That's what they want. They want
to get that land or that money or get what's left. And he's
saying here, the Lord's mine. The Lord's mine. Mephibosheth
said, Ziba, he said to David, give it all to Ziba, give it
all to him. He said, I got the king. That's
what he's saying. The best thing God could ever
do is take everything away from you except Christ. And you realize,
I've got it all. I've got it all. I don't own
anything. But I have everything. I have everything. Christ was content with having
God. as his father. He needed no more
than he possessed in his God, in our God. As God said to Abraham,
I am thy exceeding great reward. I am. The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance and my cup. Could you have a greater inheritance
than God? You can't have a greater inheritance
than God. You know, I told my parents,
you know, they made me the executor of their will. It's like, pfft. You know, I got to deal with
that, because, you know, we got a big family. And I told them,
and they was talking about some things, giving out, you know.
And I said, you know what? I said, you have nothing I want.
I said, you gave me good memories, and that's all. I said, that's
enough. That's enough. The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance. When Israel defeated the armies,
the nations that were there in Canaan, I think it was seven
of them or something like that, and they drove them out and they
defeated them, then they divided up the land by lots, by lots. And you know what he's saying
here? The Lord is my lot. He's my lot. You can have the material things.
The Lord is my lot. Oh, the Lord is the portion of
my inheritance and my cup. He's my all in all. He's my meat
and my drink. He's everything to me. He's everything
to me. And not only is He the portion
of it, He maintains my lot. He keeps it. You know, at no
time do I keep my lot, my lot in life. He keeps it. He keeps it. You know how many
people would take away what you have? I mean, the government
would be the first one to take it away, if they could. He maintains
my life. He maintains it. Nobody takes anything from me
but the Lord. Job didn't say the devil took
it from me. He said, the Lord taketh and the Lord, the Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh. He didn't say the Lord giveth
and the devil taketh. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh. And in doing this, he's maintaining
my lot. He's maintaining my lot. Our Lord delighted that the Father
was always with him. He knew that he was never alone,
and he knew that God was the maintainer of all that he had,
of all that he went through, of all that was coming. God was
his portion. God's my portion. I've got to
read something to you. Numbers 18. Now remember this. We have been made kings and priests
under God. We have been made kings and priests.
Now I want you to turn to Numbers 18. I want you to look in verse
20. And the Lord spake unto Aaron,
Thou shalt have no inheritance in the land, neither shalt thou
have any part among them. I am thy part and thine inheritance
among the children of Israel. Underline that. I'm your inheritance." He said, you have no part, you're
not going to own any land. That doesn't mean that you can't
own land here, but what he is saying here, I'm your portion.
I'm your portion. I'm your inheritance. Now, brethren, if we put anything
before that, we've got a problem, a serious problem. And he says here, the lines are
falling unto me in pleasant places. Can you say that? Can you look
at your life? And I know that there's some
rough, some deep valleys in some of your lives. Some of you have
had some deep valleys. But can you look, and our Lord
is about to go through a deep valley. Here in Matthew, we're
going through Matthew, he's about to go through a deep valley.
He's about to go and be put to death, be crucified, tormented.
And yet, in light of all this, he says, the lions have fallen
to me in pleasant places. And he's making reference here
to when they divided the land, they lined it off. And he's saying
here, the portion that I have been given is pleasant. I'm content. I'm content with
what the Lord's given me. God, being His portion, was pleasant
to him. He's the one who makes it pleasant.
He's the one. In all his sorrows, he found
real, constant joy in God. Yeah, he said, I have a goodly
heritage. He says here, my heritage, my
heritage is beautiful. It's beautiful. Now listen, you
are his heritage. He's talking about you. He's
talking about you. You bunch of rascals and a mess
and no good. And he says, you're beautiful.
You're beautiful in your mind. You know, over in Song of Solomon,
whenever the Lord describes, He describes the Shulamite, His
bride, boy, she doesn't have a blemish in her, does she? She's
beautiful. Christ's people are His heritage
and they are beautiful to Him. And it says here, I have a goodly
heritage, not only do I have them, But I have the presence of God
forever and ever and ever with them. Listen to John 17, 24.
Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with
Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast
given Me, for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the
world. I want them to be with Me. I want them to enjoy what
I enjoy. I want them to see the glory.
I want them to behold what I behold. He says in verse 7, I will bless
the Lord who giveth me counsel. Oh, he said, I thank God for
His counsel. Brethren, if you ever really
need counsel, get it from the Lord. It's never wrong. He's my counselor. He's taught me to choose Him.
He taught me to follow Him. Christ always thanked God for
guiding Him. Always. Our Lord said this one time,
as I hear, I speak. He's counseled me and I'm telling
you what He said. As a man, He was taught of God,
as we are. I'm going too slow through this,
aren't I? My reigns also instruct me in the night season. From
the counsel I've been given, when the night time comes and
you're laying in your bed and it's quiet, He says, my reign, my very innermost
being instruct me in the night season. His innermost affections,
his love for God, his love for his people guided him in prayer
and submission in the darkest hour. What guards you in the
darkest hour? When you're laying in bed at
night, and the night is long and the tears flow, where do
you go? Where do you find guidance? Same place he found it, in God. In God. You know what's interesting
is those long nights and those tears that are flowing, they
are God's counselors. You're being taught even though
you don't even realize it. And he says, I have set the Lord
always before me. Oh, how important this is. How
important this is. I have set the Lord always before
me. Now, there's always something
set before us. It's either a job or the kids. And we're always
setting something before. He says here, I've always set
the Lord first. First. Seek ye the kingdom of
heaven first. Christ's Father was always the
object of His faith at all times. If He is our focus, we can never
miss the mark. You can't miss the mark if He's
your focus. Now, because He's at my right
hand, He's my advocate, I shall not be moved. Christ knew His Father was always
near. Do you know that? Do I know that? Our Lord was confident that God
was always for Him and always with Him and that He would not
fail in His work of redemption. We're not going to fail. I can't
fail. You can't fail. The work is done. It's done. Oh, what God-honoring faith He
possessed. Lord, give us this faith. Therefore, because God is at
my right hand, my heart is glad. Always having His Father at His
right hand made His heart glad. Live in awareness of that, it
will make your heart glad. My glory rejoices, that is my
innermost being, my soul rejoices, and my flesh also shall rest
in hope and safety. We have to die. I don't know what age that we will
die at. Not all of us are going to live
to be 90 years old or whatever. I don't know what age we'll die.
We want to die. You go to a cemetery, there's
graves that long, and there's graves that long. But our Lord says here that My
flesh, not just My soul, because He's speaking here of His resurrection.
You know, when the Lord raises us from the dead, The whole person
is coming out. Job said, I'll see Him with my
eyes and not another. We will see Him in the flesh. They're going to put this body
in the grave, but there's a new body coming out. And I'm going
to rest in that grave in safety. Safety. Our Lord knew He was going to
come out of that grave victorious, and you and I are too. The grave
became a resting place. It's a resting place for the
body. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell or the place of the dead. That's what He's talking about.
neither wilt thou suffer thy unholy one to see corruption."
Now listen, our Lord never went to hell. Now He suffered the
hell of God's wrath, but He's saying here, you will not abandon
me to the place of the dead. You'll not leave me there. And
corruption or decay will never take hold of my flesh. I thought
of this, holy and corruption don't go together, do they? Christ
was holy. He could see no corruption. He
could see no corruption. He could experience no corruption.
There was no sin there to corrupt. And when you see something that
decays, that's because of corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. Our Lord knew He'd be raised
from the dead. He knew the path of life went
through the grave. And the same is for us. Our Lord has given
us life, but we know this, to go into internal life and enjoy
it, we're going to have to go through the grave. Unless He
comes back and puts an end to all this. Now show me the path of life.
Not the path of death, that's over with. Life. In Thy presence,
and I'll close, in Thy presence is fullness of joy. At Thy right
hand there are pleasures forevermore. Our Lord found all the fullness
of His joy in His Father's presence." Oh, that God would make us to
experience that. That we would find some of that
joy, a good measure of that joy in our Father's presence, that
He would be that real to us. We find joy in things, but the
fullness of joy we find in Christ, in His presence. He says here, at thy right hand
there are pleasures for evermore. Holy pleasures, eternal pleasures,
evermore, never-ending pleasures. Good pleasures. It's a golden psalm for believers,
for us. All right.