We'd ask in the previous hour
that the Lord would be with us. He would give His Spirit in abundance
to us and allow us to see Him. And we just ask again. Why? It's a new hour. A whole lot
of frailty and weakness took place between that last hour
and this one. He needs to be with us now. We
looked this morning at Abram. He wasn't satisfied where he
was. He wasn't content because of
a trial the Lord sent him, a grievous famine that was sent to him. And so he left for Egypt. That
was a horrible trial that took place. We don't hear much of
it. The Lord doesn't explain it in depth to us of what took
place there while his wife was away from him. How long it was,
we don't know. But that was a hard trial. It
was a heavy trial. And he was forcibly returned
to the house of God. Pharaoh made him get out. Take everything you leave and
you go back to where you came from. He was forced to the house
of God and he worshipped God fully satisfied. Not in himself. Not in all the great and wonderful
things he did. Oh, no, no. He was satisfied
in the Lord's grace. and his word and his promises. I sent this out with a bulletin
this morning. Chris Cunningham was in a message
he preached and I said that's just so good I'm going to type
it up and make it an article. I guess I would have asked him
before I put it in the bulletin but I sent it out with the bulletin. He said when
a heavy trial comes to the child of God and the Lord would be
pleased to put in us Not, how can I get out of this? How can
I make this trial be over? But if he was pleased to put
in us, how can I honor Christ in this trial? Our lives would
be forever changed. That's a whole new creature,
that's what that is. If I'm laying in a dentist chair
and that novocaine just didn't kick in all the way. I'm about
to take an arm off of it. If I thought, how can I honor
my Lord in this? Boy, that's a whole lot different than screaming
owl, isn't it? Make it stop. Big difference. Psalm 16, we'll begin in verse
6. We're in Psalm 16, verse 6. The lions are falling unto me
in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage.
I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reigns also
instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before
me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and
my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope."
The man writing this portion of scripture is content. He's
satisfied. He's relaxed. He's fulfilled. He's filled full. He's calm.
He's content. Is that how you normally are?
Is that how I normally am in my daily walk in this world?
Is that how it is with most people? Are most people content? They're
satisfied. Good, bad, or ugly. No matter
what's happening, rain or shine. That's all right. They just call
them. Usually the people who seem like
they ought to be the most satisfied and the most content are the
ones that always complain about how bad everything is around
them. I'm reminded often. We look around
this world, and they say, well, money can't buy happiness, but
it's a lot better to cry on a Mercedes than it is on a bicycle. And
I can understand that a little bit. But we look around us worldly-wise,
and there's people way better off than we are. And as David
said, their eyes bug out with fatness. What are they complaining
for? What's wrong with them? till we go to the house of the
Lord." Then David understood, didn't he? And boy, how often
do I need to be reminded when I'm complaining and murmuring
and kicking rocks and whining, but everything's just wrong with
me. Boy, how good do I have it. How wealthy has the Lord made
me in His mercies and His grace to me. So often I complain to
someone else who's in a worse condition than I am, unknowingly. I want to know what it's like
to be happy like this man in our text we just read. Do you
want to know that? We can. Before we apply this
to us, before this hits us where we live in shoe leather, we need
to know who this happy man is. Who this man is. We read there
in verse 8. It says, I have set the Lord always before me, because
He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. If the
Lord is at my right hand, I ain't going to be moved. Period. If
He's with me. But have I always set Him before
me? You always set him before you. Always. I mean night and
day. Why are you sleeping? Has every
dream you've ever had been honoring to the God? Well, I don't think
that's me. Who is this? Peter told us. He
said in Acts 2, Peter said, For David speaketh concerning him.
David's writing about the Lord Jesus Christ. I foresaw the Lord
always before my face for he is on my right hand that I should
not be moved. What's this verse about? Good,
I'm thankful Peter told us. That's all the commentary I need.
It's about the Lord Christ. This is who's speaking. This
content, happy man in Psalm 16, that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man. Always happy, content, settled,
sturdy. What was his circumstances in
this life that he came into? Was he just had a wonderful life? Was everything so easy and smooth
on him? That wasn't his lot in life. That's not the lines that
were cast down upon him, is it? It said in Isaiah 53, he was
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. As it were, we hid our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. He didn't
even own a piece of property on this earth. Everybody hated
him. He went to his own, his own received him not. He came
here for us and we his enemies with him. And he didn't own property. But he says here in verse 6,
the lions are falling unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have
a goodly heritage. Well, he had a bunch of friends,
didn't he? We've been looking at that at length, those 5,000
he fed. All those thousands and thousands
of people. No, he'd come down to 12, and they left him when
he needed them most. He had a wine press to tread, and he did it
alone, didn't he? But he says here in verse 9,
My heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth. His sorrows are so
much greater than ours." What a thought that is. Anytime I'm
in a heavy trial and I'm drowning, I don't know what I'm going to
do. I don't know how I'm going to get out of it. And when's this ever going
to be over? I think, boy, think of the trials our Lord went through.
Think of the grief and burden He went through. I've never resisted
unto blood striving against sin. No man has. In great likelihood,
I'll never be hung on a cross. I won't suffer that Roman death.
And I'll certainly never have to bear the sins of all my brethren
in my body. We who believe will never have
to suffer the wrath of being forsaken by the holy God we offended. Our affliction is so light compared
to what he had to suffer, wasn't it? And if Christ, who suffered
more than anyone's ever suffered, more than anything imaginable,
if He could have this inward contentment, this inward satisfaction,
it must be possible for me. If He can have all that, it must
be possible for you, couldn't it? To have the same. Our lives
aren't nearly as bitter as His was, so we could have the same.
So what's the secret of this happiness? What's the secret
of this contentment? How do we get that? Where does
that come from? What does that look like? Look here in verse 5. It says, the Lord is the portion
of mine inheritance. And it's to have the Lord as
our cup. It says in verse 5, the portion of my cup. And it's
to trust that the Lord maintains all of this. Thou maintainest
my lot. That's the three breakdowns,
three divisions for us. contentment, happiness, being
settled, is to have the Lord as our portion for our inheritance. The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance. To help us understand what the
Lord means for us, what God's going to do for His people, the
Spirit of God moved David to write this like in a metaphor.
He compares this inheritance of the Lord like an earthly inheritance.
We understand that. Someone had to die for you to
get that. You didn't work for it. You didn't
earn it. You didn't do nothing with it. And someone had to die
and it was given to you. And you have to take it. And
then a daily cup. We understand a cup. Got one
right there. It's filled up. I know what that
means. He gives us these things, these
portions. Portion here means to set apart, separate it out. What was given. The Lord was
Christ's part in two ways. First he says he's a portion
of mine inheritance and then he says and of my cup. The Lord
is my inheritance. That inheritance, that gift,
God gave himself to be Christ's portion, to be his inheritance. What you gonna get? Him. It's a person. Our inheritance
is a person. He said the Lord is a portion
of my inheritance. This God-man, the mediator between
God and man. He is the most complete contentment
and happiness in the Lord God and from the Lord God. His inheritance
was from Him and it was in Him that He was content. Christ's
happiness was looking forward to the future. What was to come,
that great eternal inheritance of His Father. He's going to
be glorified with His Father, honoring His Father, He's going
to be with his father forever. The Lord was Christ's inheritance.
That's why Christ says he had to be about his father's business.
He's 12 years old. Where were you? Mary and Joseph
come back. He said, don't you know I got
to be about my father's business? And I said, Joseph, did you tell
him to do it? He didn't get it, did he? Looking at his father
from conception on, when the Holy Ghost came to him, he was
about his father's business, looking at that mark set ahead,
setting his face like a fin, flint, looking to him. And then
whenever, that did not stop. That didn't stop his whole life,
33 and a half years, until he hung on that cross and he yelled,
it is finished. It's finished. Then he's with
the Father. Then he went to, his inheritance came. He came
to him, what's our inheritance? What do we have to look forward
to in this life? Is there something, is next week
going to really be that better? Will there be a next week? Every
year of my life, I think, boy, last year I was just a fool and
everything was so bad. But this year is going to be
great. I got my act together this year. Bet you $5 what I
say next year. 2022 is horrible. Boy, I was
an idiot. But boy, this year I got it together. No. Our inheritance, our comfort
is knowing what eternity has to offer. And it's a person.
It's not of this world. It's not next month. It's not
the next state to move to. It's not the next country. It's
not the next war we're being over with. It's Him. It's Him.
Turn over to Numbers 18. You can just leave a marker here in Numbers
18. We see this pictured in this
Levitical priesthood. You wouldn't think so, but bear
with me, and I think the Lord might show us something. The
Lord being Christ's inheritance, it shows us that Christ is the
great high priest. We need one of those. We're Gentiles. We don't know what that means.
We didn't grow up around that. That's vital. We must have a
high priest, and he's the high priest of his elect, and all
that believe on him. We're made priests by him. by
the one that is our inheritance. He does that for us. And we see
this picture here in this Levitical priesthood. They're in Numbers
18, verse 20. It says, The Lord spake to Aaron,
Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt
thou have any part among them. I am thy part and thine inheritance
among the children of Israel. Aaron, that high priest, he pictured
the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest. And Aaron and all
his brethren and all those Levite priests under him, they had no
inheritance in the land like all the other tribes did. They
didn't own nothing. It wasn't theirs because God
was their portion. He was their inheritance. And
it pictured Christ and all of us in Him, all His elect that's
put in, and we're made priests with Him. And together with Him,
with our high priest, we have no inheritance in this land,
on this earth. People say, well, I own my property.
You do until you don't pay your tax bill. Everything I got is paid for
until I die and it's gone. Somebody else owns it. It ain't
mine. I just happen to be here. That's gonna go away. And children,
they're mine until they move out, until they're gone, until
the Lord takes them. A wife's mine until the Lord takes her.
Just passing through. There ain't no inheritance here
because God is our part and our inheritance. Because the Lord
is Christ's inheritance, who He desired, who He wanted to
see glorified, because He's our High Priest, because He finished
the work that God gave Him to do, because He fulfilled all
righteousness on our behalf. And that way, God is just to
pour out grace and mercy to His people. As our mediator, our
great intercessor, God is right and holy. He is just in pouring
out grace and mercy to His people. He justified us, and He's just. Because of this one. Because
it's content, man. Isn't that something? That's
who our representative is. If I had to go to court, and
it was some heinous crime I committed, and I needed an advocate, I needed
representation, do you want the cheapest one you can get? No,
I want the best one out there. We understand these things in
a court of law, don't we? Oh, if we come on our own, that great
judge is just. He won't accept imperfection.
It can't be in his presence. And there is only one mediator.
There's only one advocate man can have and succeed. Christ
our advocate. That's the only hope we have
is Him. He said in Hebrews 9, Christ being come a high priest
of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that's to say not this building, Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us." This intercession that He made,
this mediation He made between us and the Father, it's done. He's obtained redemption. Well,
He'll own you if you'll let Him. No, I didn't want to say that.
He possesses, right now, His redeemed people. He owns them.
He's got a hold of them. And therefore, every believer,
throughout time, born of God, born of the Holy Spirit, given
faith in Christ, we're fully righteous. We're fully holy. We're made as He's made. Because
we must be holy to be in God's presence for Him to receive us.
How are we accepted to Him? We're accepted in the Beloved.
in Him, being put in Him. It says, "...for by one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." You who believe, we are His inheritance. It's a peculiar treasure. He's
His chosen people, His spiritual Israel. We're His. We've been
bought with a price. He owns us. But He is ours. I am my beloved's and He is mine.
That's what we looked at before in creation. The Lord made the
heavens. Capital H. Why it's a fantasy. Everybody
wants to go to heaven. A fool doesn't want to go to heaven.
I don't care to go. An atheist wants to go someplace
nice. That's a person. Wherever he
is, that's where I want to be. Why? He's my inheritance. And
knowing he's our inheritance, what do you think you're going
to get? Who's the judge that's going to divvy it up? It's already
divvied up. You get all of him. You get all of it. What about
this other believer? You get all of it. How is that
possible? I don't know. Ask him when we're
in glory. I'm his and he's mine. We're made one with him. We're
one body. Does that give you any contentment? Car break down, quits working,
tax bill comes in, don't know how I'm going to pay it. When
this life's over and it's all going to burn. The Lord said
the elements will be dissolved. He'll burn up everything. I have
an inheritance. It's secured by the one that
is my inheritance. We get that? Alright. That's the first reason a person
can be content. The second one is knowing that
the Lord is a portion of my cup. He's my inheritance, but He's
also the portion of my cup. He's that eternal inheritance
we'll have in glory forevermore. Never to be tarnished. Never
to be taken away. Forever with Him. And He's the
portion of my cup. How would the Lord tell us both
of those? We need to be told both of them. We need eternal
comfort and confidence in Him, and we need something for today.
I won't drink that water, and it's going to be empty, and I'm
going to need that water filled back up again. I need something for today,
don't I? Christ is our portion. Because
the Lord was His portion of His cup. And He knew that every day,
every hour He was alive on this earth, that every wonderful thing
that happened, every joyous thing, every time He got to spend time
with one of His children, that was that day's portion that the
Lord gave. He'd given that. Anything good,
I have. Anything. We're about to go eat
back here. And this tastes so good. Boy, it's delicious. Who
gave it? The Lord did. He gave that. He
gave every sweet and rich blessing we have throughout our day. If
it gets too hot, go push a button on the wall. It cools off. If
it gets too cold, push the button the other way. Who gave us that? Electricity. Alexander Graham
built it and gave us a telephone so we could communicate with
one another. God gave that. That's the means he used. All these
little things. I've got shoes on. Walked through
a gravel parking lot and my feet don't hurt. He gave that. That's
a portion of my cup. He gave that to our Lord. There
in Numbers 18, verse 21, it says, And behold, I have given the
children of Levi all the tenth of Israel for an inheritance.
You ain't going to own no land. You ain't going to have everything
everybody else has, but you're going to have a tenth of Israel for their
service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle
of the congregation. God gave all his priests a tenth
part, all the produce, all the wheat, the barley, the oil, the
wine, everything they needed. And that was the least of the
tribes. I was the run of the litter. And God had provided abundantly
for them. People get wrapped up in tithing
because they're so worried about works. You know what a beautiful
picture of grace that is? How many tribes were there? Twelve.
One of them was Levites. They don't have to pay no tithes.
And everybody else gave a tenth. How much is that? 110%. How much
do you need? The Lord will provide more, provide
an abundance, won't He? God's given us our inheritance,
just like those Levites. They didn't work for that. They
didn't own nothing. We didn't work for our inheritance. Not
for our daily blessings, not for our eternal blessings. And
the Lord gave it. He provided. He gave us what was His. All
those Levites, they ate the sacrifices, the burnt sacrifices, didn't
they? That was God's. He gave the animal. He sustained
the animal. And then He said, this is what
you're going to eat. Why? Physically, we need sustained.
But that's all a picture of Christ, our sacrifice. He endured the
flames of wrath for us, didn't He? What are we going to feast
on? He said, take and eat. This is my body. I broke it for
you. You didn't break it. I hit. And
that's for you. And He's our daily bread. He
taught us to pray that, didn't He? How the Lord teach us to
pray? Is it a seventeen book assembly and you've got to study
for six years? No! He said pray like this. Here's
a man you pray. Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy God, your holy. Give us our daily bread. Who's
the bread? Christ is the bread. Lord, you'll
feed us. You know that. You know I need
to eat. I need Him today. He's my inheritance forever and
He's the portion of the cup I need today. If I know, confident,
if I walk out that door and I say, if a plane falls out of the sky
and lands on my head, I'm going to be with the one that I love
forever. I walk across the parking lot and I'm content eternally. What about right now? I see Him. I need a high priest and he is.
And you know what he does? He intercedes for us and he tells
us about it. Thank you Lord, let me see you in this. Let me
see your tender mercies one more time. Tell me at Salvation of
the Lord one more time. You think I've heard that a couple
times in 41 years? Once or twice. Tell me again.
I don't think I, maybe I didn't hear it good enough last time.
Tell me you do all the work and I'm safe in you and all my security
is in you. I need that daily. How's a man
going to be content? How's a woman going to walk through
this world satisfied? Apart from Christ, you ain't.
You can build all the houses you want, buy all the Ferraris
you want, get all the sailboats you want. It's going to rust,
it's going to get old, and you're going to get tired of it. Vanity
of vanities. What if I say, I can see Christ
today. I want to honor Him today. Lord, show me yourself today.
I don't deserve it. But you delight to show mercy.
He delights to show mercy. Well, my cup's got something
in it now, don't it? What a pleasure. What a comfort
that is. He gives us all these things
in our cup that's wonderful, but He also gives us a cup of
sorrows. Christ said, the Lord is a portion
of my cup. He meant not just the blessing,
but also the sorrows and the suffering. Christ knew the things
that caused Him sorrow, was measured in that cup by His Father. And
Christ took that cup and He drank it. He drank it. If you're thirsty
and tired and needy and you walk through the desert and I say,
here's cold water. Oh, you drink it. Eagerly, don't you? You slap
my hand if I try to take it from you. That's mine. Is it so with
a cup of suffering? Not for me. Now for me, so quick,
like I read that article, how fast can I get out of this trial?
What can I do to make this over right now? I want to end this.
It says in John 18, Simon Peter, having drew a sword and smoked
the high priest's servant, cut off his right ear, the service's
name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, put
up thy sword and thy sheath, the cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? What happens every time I get
a cup of suffering put in front of me? Pull out the sword and
get mad. Get mad. Isn't that the case?
A cat does that. A dog does that. If it's wounded,
better watch out. Why? It might bite you. If Kevin's
wounded, look out. I hope I don't bite you. I may.
I don't want to. But that's my nature, isn't it?
We don't want to drink that cup. We want to do like Peter, wield
our sword out, and Christ said, my father gave this cup to me,
I'm going to drink it. Shall I not drink it? Contentment
and happiness, it's not an outward in the flesh, it's what God gives
in the heart. When He gives that cup of chastening,
when all the trials are around you, and we see Him, the trial
may not go away. If it's in the body, if it's
in sorrow and sadness or whatever it is, the trial may not go away. But whenever that daily portion
of our cup, we see Him, boy, you can breathe in. Now, who
gave me this trial? God did. What's this for? It's for His glory and it's for
my good and the good of my brethren around me. What's the end state
of that? I'm going to be with Him in glory.
That was the first point. He's my entire inheritance and He's
my portion for today. That's what He is. Now we start
calming down, don't we? Lastly, contentment and happiness
and being relaxed and steadied is known the Lord will always
maintain our lot. That eternal inheritance, what
do I have to do to keep it, polish it, go to it? Nothing. He'll
maintain it. What about today? I know what
a sinful wretch I woke up and looked at in the mirror this
morning. And I know what I was looking at. It was me. And I
don't deserve a portion for today. And I'm too much looking at myself
to have enough sense to call out to God to give me a portion
for today. He has to give me grace to ask for grace. He has
to give me mercy for me to cry out for mercy. He has to maintain
that. He maintains my eternal inheritance,
and He maintains my daily portion. He maintains our lot. It says
in verse 5, Thou maintainest my lot. In Psalm 16. Christ knew that after He bore
our sins away, after He suffered in our place, that the Lord would
justify. He knew that. He faced that winepress
alone. Went to tread it alone. He went
to that cross. At any point, they said, you
Him? He said, I am. And 500 of them fell flat on
their backs. At any moment, could He have not went to that cross?
If that was the Father's will, of course, yeah, He could have
killed everybody right then. Locked them off the face of the earth, done
anything He wanted. He's God. But He willfully went. Because
He knew the Father would honor His word. He knew that covenant
they entered into of grace way before we ever came on the scene.
He knew it was true. He said, you're going to be the
substitute for those people. And they hate you, and it's going
to be nothing but grace because they didn't do nothing to earn
it. And we're going to show them nothing but mercy because they
don't deserve it. And you're going to stand in their stead.
I'm going to make you them, and then I'm going to make them you.
And I'm going to have a whole population of people in glory
made just like Christ. And whenever you go into that
ground, I'll raise you again." And our Lord said, all right, I will. And He come to this earth to
do the Father's will. And their will was one. He was with Him. And He
knew the Father would raise Him from a grave. He said in Isaiah
50 verse 6, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to
them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from the shame
and spitting. For the Lord God will help me,
therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." What
does He promise us? You believe on Christ, you're
going to be ashamed? Are you going to wind up wanting? Not
so, is it? Because He said it not so. He
said, He is near that justifieth me. Who will contend with me?
Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him
come near to me. All those that are against him,
run to the one that first trusted in the Lord, that honored him
fully, that honored him totally throughout his life. Run to him.
Come to him. Stop fighting. And the Lord did. The Lord honored him. He said
in Psalm 9, For thou hast maintained my right and my cause, thou saddest
in throne and judging right. What a thought. When you suffer
wrongly, There's times I've suffered and I think, well, I didn't deserve
that. Why are they doing that to me? Why did that happen? Somebody
got the wrong number that day and they got mad at me. Crazy. The thought of 1 Peter 3, not
rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise.
Oh, on the contrary. That is mean to me. Eye for an
eye, right? I'm going to smack back. I'm
going to rail back. Oh, but contrary-wise, blessing.
Knowing that ye are there unto call that ye should inherit a
blessing. How did Peter say that? How can
I bless those that curse me? Knowing that ye should inherit
a blessing. Well, if I do something good,
I'll get no, no, no, no. What's that eternal blessing?
What's our eternal inheritance? What's our portion for today?
Lord, may I show you Christ today. You need something different?
That's a one thing needful today and forever more, isn't it? We
might see Him. Who's going to maintain all that?
The Father maintained the Son. We're maintained by Him. It says
in Deuteronomy 32, when the Most High divided to the nations their
inheritance, He separated the sons of Adam, and He set the
bounds of the people according to the number of the children
of Israel. For the Lord's portion, His portion, is His people. Jacob
is the lot of His inheritance." That's what the Lord tells us
here in Psalm 23, for His name's sake. What's the surety of all
this? What's the one that maintains
the lot? The one whose lot it is. The
one who made the lot, put us on the lot, and it's His lot.
Why? It's for His name's sake. It's
His inheritance. That's the security of it. The
name of the Lord. His honor and glory forevermore
hinges on Him keeping His Word. And what'd He say? He goes, I'm
your inheritance forever. You're going to see the bread
today. I'll provide for you today. You'll
see Christ today and I'll maintain all of it. What's left for man
to do? Praise Him and thank Him. Thank
You, Lord. Thank you for everything. I didn't
deserve any of it. And in spite of myself, like
Abram going to Egypt, in spite of myself, you were gracious.
You were merciful. So when we go home today, and those trials come, and that
wandering comes, that look into the world comes, whatever it
is, the Lord's the portion of my inheritance. He's the portion
of my cup, and He's the one that maintains my lot. It says in
verse 6, if you believe Christ, if you believe He's the one that
does all this, He is the man, He's the blessed man, He's the
content man. You say in verse 6, the lions
are following unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly
heritage. How good's our heritage? How
good their inheritance. No foe that's formed against
thee shall prosper, said in Isaiah 53. Every tongue that surrives
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. Knowing all these things. It
says in verse 8, I've said to the Lord always before me, If we need comfort and being
steadied, if we want to relax, set the Lord before us. Think on these things. Dwell
on His Word. Dwell on Him. But look to Christ and Him crucified.
Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. We'll be
settled then, won't we? We'll be content and stable.
Look into Him. Look around this world. Boy,
them waves and the wind just go. We start sinking. Look to
Him and be steady. We shall not be moved. That's
the secret. That's contentment. Amen.