The stars alone speak all the
promises. Oh, might I hear thy heavenly
tongue, but whisper thou art mine. Those gentle words should
raise my song to notes of most divine song. Oh, might I hear thee say, Thou
art mine. That's what David said in one
of his psalms, didn't he? I am thy salvation. I love that
verse. Go back now to Psalm 16 with
me. Psalm 16. If you looked carefully at this,
right before the first verse, it gives a little, in small print,
A word, mictum, it says. Do you see that? Do you have
that in your Bible? Mictum, of David. The margin
calls it a golden psalm. And the same title is given to
five or six other psalms, but this is the first, a golden psalm. Or, as David said in another
psalm, Thy word is better unto me than thousands of gold, better
than fine gold, he said. It's more enriching, and it certainly
perishes not. So may we esteem this psalm tonight
as more than fine gold. This is a Messianic psalm. Peter and Paul quoted this psalm. and they're preaching. And there's
no doubt that this psalm speaks of Christ. Christ speaks in this
psalm, clearly. But listen to what Mr. Spurgeon
said, and this was a real blessing to me, and I'm putting it in
the bulletin on Sunday. Listen to this. He said, it often
happens in the psalms that you can scarcely tell if it's David
speaking or if it's Christ. or if it's both. He said the
Holy Spirit is letting God's saints know that there's a mysterious
union between Christ and his people, so that almost all things
which can be said concerning Christ may be said also concerning
them, those who are in him. And because John said, as he
is, so are we. in this world. So we're going
to look at this. And I looked at different writers, Gil, Matthew
Poole, Matthew Henry, John Trapp, Hawker, a bunch of them. And
some use one and some use the other. We're going to look at
both, OK, as it speaks of Christ. Now, He must have the preeminent.
And we need, above all things, to look to Him, don't we, to
see Him. So we will see this as Christ speaking and his people. The title and the theme is found
in verse 6. The last line, he says, yea,
I have a goodly heritage, a goodly heritage, or a good inheritance. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks
and says, Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. One of the most blessed things
that we can think about is that the Lord Jesus Christ, as a man,
lived by faith. He really did. God was manifest in the flesh. And as our substitute, he lived
by faith, 100 percent by faith, for all things. He depended upon
his God, as we do, for all things, food, everything, raiment, shelter. He took faith See, faith takes
God at His Word. Faith believes God, believes
the Word of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ believed
God. And faith honors God. When you
take someone at their Word, just at their Word, and believe them,
it's honoring to them. And you say, I believe you will
do what you say you will do. That's honoring to that person.
And the Lord Jesus Christ honored his God more than anyone else
by faith. He lived by faith. And so he
proved to us, and he proved to us, God can be trusted. He didn't tell us to do what
he didn't do himself. He says, trust the Lord. Trust
God. He did. Preserve me, O God. And he did, didn't he? They wanted
to slay him from his birth until he finally submitted to it. Who preserved him? His father
did. His father did. And we say the
same thing, don't we? Oh God, preserve me, oh God. If the Lord does not preserve
us, if the Lord does not keep us, we will not be kept. But
let me ask you, where else could we put our trust but in this
sovereign Lord? We've talked about how that there's
no fear in a God who's not in absolute control, even your breath
and all your weapons. But why would you trust a God
who's not that weapon? You don't need him. The God who
is absolutely sovereign over all things, Jehovah-Jireh, you
can trust him, the God who reigns. And he said in one psalm, none
of those that put their trust in him, none of those that look
to him, trust means depend upon him, trust means believe him,
none of those, he said, that put their trust in him, No matter
how simple, no matter how whatever, none of those that put their
trust in him will be desolate, will be guilty, will be forsaken. They'll all be preserved. So
why not trust him? Our Lord did. As a man. Oh, my soul. Verse 2, he said.
Let's read verses 2 and 3 together. Oh, my soul. And the Lord is
communing with his own heart here as he tells us to do on
our bed. Oh, my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, Thou art my Lord, my Lord. And he says, But my goodness
extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth,
and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. Now, the Lord says unto thee,
This is the Lord. You remember when Peter quoted
at Pentecost, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right
hand, Psalm 110. Well, here, my Lord says unto
thee, Lord Jehovah, thou art my Lord. And that Lord hath made
this Lord, Lord. Is this confusing you? There
are two different persons, but they are both reign and rule.
But as a man, our Lord Jesus Christ, he said, as a man, by
faith, thou art my Lord. He tells us who, see this is
eternal life, to know the true God. And he tells us that Jehovah,
Jehovah is the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. is the one true God. And he says
in verse 2, he says, To God my goodness extendeth not to thee,
but to the saints that are in all the earth. The Lord Jesus
Christ is goodness personified, isn't he? When the Lord told
Moses on Mount Sinai, he said, I'm going to make all my goodness
pass before you. I'm going to proclaim the name
of the Lord. What was he talking about? You know what he was talking
about. Rather, who? All the goodness
of God passed before us, walked this earth. His name? Jesus Christ. He's the goodness of God. The
goodness of God. But he said here, Now my goodness
extendeth not to thee, but to the saints, verse 3, that are
in all the earth. and the excellent in whom is
all my delight. He was well-pleasing to God,
but his goodness was for our benefit." God knew he was good. God was well-pleased with him. Said it out loud twice. But his
goodness was for our benefit. He was the goodness of God, and
his goodness was for our benefit. He lived for his people, the
saints, in the earth. One of the writers said about
this, the saints that are in the earth. He said, you know,
well, I'll go ahead and say it. He said, Catholicism doesn't
like to call anybody saints until they're dead. But God's Word
does. The saints that are in the earth.
At any rate, the Lord, His goodness was for them. His righteousness
was for them. He kept the law. for them on
their behalf. And look at what he calls them,
the excellent. He said, My goodness extends
to the saints, the excellent, in whom is all my delight. He
calls the saints excellent. In other words, they excel all
others. He said, our Lord wrote this,
he said, They are the salt of the earth, the light of the world
and our Lord said that you are the light of the world. He said
the salt of the earth. He said of whom the world is
not worthy. That sounds like Christ and that's
why they are like that. That's why they excel. You don't
say that about yourself, but you say this that about these
brethren. Don't you think you're among some excellent people? Oh, my. Why? Because they're
like Christ. And our Lord, listen to this.
This blessed me so. This is one of the things that
made me want to deal with Him. He said, My goodness extends
to the saints, my service, my life, my everything is to the
saints in the earth, the excellent in whom is all my delight. I delight in them. Brother John,
you just read that. He said over there in Numbers
14, if the Lord delight in us, then won't he bring us into the
land? Yes, he will. Yes, he does, and yes, he will.
It says so right there. His saints, he delights in his
saints. Delights in his saints, his children,
don't you? Do you delight in your children? Delight means they give great
joy, satisfaction, and you get much pleasure in them. It pleased
the Lord to make you his people. He delights in you. Don't hang
your head. This is cause to lift up the
head. It says he delights in you. For whom the Lord, listen
to this, for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father
the son in whom he And the Lord is delighted with
his saints, and are you not delighted with him and them? Do they not
delight you? Do not the saints delight you?
Aren't you delighted to see them when you see them? My little
granddaughter right now reacts with great delight to see me. And, you know, I almost see the
same reaction in many of you upon hearing Christ exalted and
upon seeing one another. Can't you say that by this shall
all men know you are my disciples? It's not a put on. You don't
tell each other you love them all the time. You don't go around.
But it sure shows. Something or anything you delight
in, it really shows, doesn't it? And in your presence we delight
in his saints as we do the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to David.
David said in Psalm 1, 1974, they that fear thee will be glad
when they see me. Now that's Christ talking, isn't
it? Without a doubt. But that's David too. And Jonathan,
wasn't Jonathan glad to see David? He delighted in it. He loved
him. They loved each other more than said they loved it. How do they say it? Between a
man and his wife. They loved each other. They were
glad when they saw one another. Yay, delighted. That's why all
this hugging goes on around here before and after every sermon. I thought about this too. You
think about this. Do you think the Lord will be
as delighted to see us in glory as we will be him? How much more? Huh? How much more? Who ran to see
whom when the prodigal was coming home? It says the father was
waiting and ran and fell on his neck. The Lord Jesus Christ told
that of the Heavenly Father. Good to see you. Can you imagine
that, Nancy? He's going to be more delighted
to see you and have you with Him than you are Him. That excellence,
of whom I delight. Oh, my, my, my. And then our Lord says in verse
4, Their sorrows shall be multiplied and hastened after another God.
But God who is not God Oh, you're trusting the wrong one, aren't
you? A God who doesn't want things to happen, yet they do anyway?
Oh, that's not a God to be trusted, is it? Why would you trust a
God like that? Huh? Oh, my. Another Jesus, the one who's
outside, wants to come in, can't unless you let Him. Why would
you trust anybody like that? Aren't you glad that your Jesus
is Lord, not in name only? Not a figurehead, but he really
is reigning and ruling. And when he said, I'm coming
in, he came in. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
he violated your will? Aren't you glad? Oh, their sorrows
are going to be multiplied. They're going to say, we did
this, we did that, we did many wonderful things, only to hear
him who is Lord. that they don't know, and who
did not know them, say, depart from me. And there's going to
be weeping, sorrows multiplied, meaning sorrow that they have
never experienced here before. Oh, my. See why the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom? This true fear will cause you
to worship God as God. And it will cause you to look
to Christ and Christ alone. It really will. Really will. Their sorrows will be multiplied
and hasten after another God. And he says, our Lord says, their
drink offerings of blood will I not offer nor take up their
names into my lip. I'll not take part in their worship
at all. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
worshiped with his disciples. He was an outcast like they were. Didn't he? Wasn't he? He said,
The disciples not above his master. They hated me. They'll hate you.
They called me Beelzebub. They'll call you hell. They'll
cast you out of the synagogue. They cast me out. But that's
all right, he said. And we, like the Hebrew says,
we must go unto him without the camp. You're not going to take
part in this, all this that goes on today. You're not going to
take part of it. No, we're not. who will go to
him without the camp, bearing his reproach, and glad of it."
Well, look at verse 4, 5. He said, our Lord says, the Lord
is the portion of my inheritance. Jehovah is my inheritance. He said, He is my cup, the portion
of my cup, and He maintains my lots. or my destiny. He maintains it. He ordains it
and maintains it. My destiny. Now listen to this.
The Lord Jesus Christ had no place to lay his head. No. He said the Son of Man had nothing
on this earth. No earthly home, yet he was perfectly
content. Why? He really did have a city
whose builder and maker is God. He really did. And he looked
for that. He had one in the heaven. Our
Lord often went without food and drink, literally. The Lord
went without eating. His cup was empty. His earthly
cup was empty. They would say to Him at times,
Lord, eat, knowing He hadn't eaten. But yet He would say unto
them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. And truly the Lord could say,
my cup runneth over. There's no physical water. When
the Lord went to that well and he told the woman to
give him drink, remember? Remember it said he was weary
with his journey? He never took a drink. He never
did take a drink from that well. When he was hanging on the cross,
he said, I thirst. He never did get water. He did
that on our behalf. And his cup runneth over. The Lord Jesus Christ committed
himself to him who maintained his lot. Thou maintainest my
lot, my destiny. He who predestined all things. The Lord Jesus Christ as a man
committed himself completely. to the God who had ordained everything
in his life. And he was content with whatever
came. And it's so with us, his people.
He says the Lord is the portion of... Remember Abraham and Lot,
the story of Abraham and Lot? They came to an impasse, didn't
they? They had so much. Here's why they parted. They
had so much between them. But remember, they came to that
place and Abraham said to Lot, you take whatever you want. And
Lot looked and it says he beheld, and here's what it said, he beheld
the well-watered plains. It said there in that text in
Genesis that it looked like the Garden of Eden. It was so beautiful. These well-watered plains and
the cities of the plains were so beautiful. There's that gorgeous,
look at that beautiful city that has everything a person could
desire. It's called Sodom. And Lot said, I'll take that.
Oh, it looked good to his eye, didn't it? What was the end of
all that? Well, Abraham, he's just a man. And what he ended up with, Kelly,
was he had to head to the hills, head to the mountains. What did the Lord say to him?
Abraham, I'm your portion. Well, it didn't look good to
the eye, but what was it in? You know, a lot ended up in the
hills with Abraham. And Lot said, I know what he
said, he said, this place never looked so good to me before.
This is where the Lord is. He's my portion. Oh, haven't
we got a good portion? Huh? A good portion. And aren't
you glad he chose our inheritance for us? You know, he gives the
world what the world wants. He gives most people what they
want, whatever they're after, he gives it to them. He chose
your inheritance for you. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thee." Ah, boy. You know, we have food raiment
more than we need, don't we? But blessing of blessings, we
have Him. We have Him. And truly the Lord
maintainers are a lot our destiny having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself. Everything
about us working together we have an inheritance listen to
this we have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away reserved maintained reserved in heaven for you who are kept
by the power of God. unto salvation, ready to be revealed
the last time. Yes, the Lord maintains our lot,
our destiny. My, my. The lot is cast in the
lap, but what? The whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. Well, look at our Lord, what
He says in verse 6, "...the lions are fallen unto me in pleasant
places." You read it? This refers to measuring lines
back when they were dividing up the land among the tribes
of Israel. They would use ropes and lines
and the plummet and so forth, measuring the temple and all
that, but these measuring lines to measure out the portion for
His people. And the Lord Jesus Christ says,
the lines, the direction is falling unto Me. in pleasant places. It's pleasing to me. Now you
think about this. What fell out to the Lord here
on earth? Sorrow. A man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. The weight of all the people
of God on his shoulders. It fell out unto him. And in
the end, he was to be made sin which his holy nature bled. He bled physically in thinking
about it. And he was to be made sin, but
it said in the scripture, for the joy that was set before him,
he endured the crowd, pleasing to him. It pleased the Lord God
to bruise his son. Imagine that. The only way you could make you
His people. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. And the only way He could do
that was to bruise His Son in our state. And it pleased the
Lord to bruise Him. You know what? It pleased the
Lord Jesus Christ to take that whipping, to take that bruising. That's what it says there in
Hebrews 12. I'll never forget the first time it really hit
home when it says, He thought nothing of the shame. who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, that means he didn't think a thing about it, hanging
stark naked, ridiculed, mocked, all of that,
forsaken of God. Why? For the love wherewith he
loved his people. Yet pleased the Lord to bruise
him, will it please Christ to take the bruising? Now isn't
that something? My, my, my, the lions have fallen
out unto me, Christ said, in pleasant places. Well, listen
to this. You're going to like this. He
said, yea, I have a goodly heritage. What was the Lord's heritage
for doing what he did, for coming here? What did he get? When he
came here, what did he get that he said, I have a good inheritance? Well over in Psalm 2, the Lord
God, Lord said unto my Lord, ask me and I'll give you the
heathen for your inheritance. He said, I'll take them. He said, I have a goodly heritage. What? I have a good, what you want?
You know old Jacob over there at the beginning, Jacob said
to Laban, you give me the ring-striped, speckled, brown, and spotted
cows. I'll take them. That'll be fine.
You take the best. And our Lord God said, you give me the ring-striped,
speckled, spotted, and brown ones, and I have a good heritage. You want that harlot on that
auction block, Hosea? You want her? Look at all these
fine women down here. You want her? I want her. And
I have a goodly heritage. You want that chief of sinners?
Huh? You want that thief hanging on
the cross? What good is he to you? Not a whole lot, but I'm
good for him. But he's going to bring me glory.
Oh, I'll get greater glory. Yes, I have a goodly heritage. Thank you. Now, some of you parents with
wayward children. Tell me, can you not say from
your heart, I'm glad I had them and I wouldn't trade them for
anybody? Can you? How much more? Our Lord who said,
I got the heathen and I'm glad of it. I got a good Oh, my. How about us? Have the lions
fallen under you in pleasant places? Huh? Nancy told me one time,
a woman she worked for, told her one time in bitterness and
complaining, murmuring, that the woman owned the business
that Nancy was working for, mind you. And she said to Sister Nancy,
the Lord ain't done nothing for me, didn't you? Oh, my. Our sister Nancy, who was her
servant, can say from the heart, can't you, the lions have fallen
unto me in pleasant places. The Lord has done everything
for me whereof I am glad. Everything. The lions have fallen
unto me in pleasant places. Can you all say that? I thought
about my lot. Here I am in this place. I wasn't
called to the first Baptist place of or whatever, Roanoke, with
its mega buildings and budgets and doctors and lawyers. Here
I am in this little brown building in the wilderness with things
that are not, that is, a bunch of nobodies, and I just feel
like the lions have fallen under me at a pleasant place, a pleasant
place. I wouldn't trade it for twelve
cathedrals. No, sir. The Lord and his people,
that's a pleasant place to be. Lines have fallen unto me in
pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage." Look at verse 7, "'I
will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel, who my reigns
instruct me in the night season.'" I've got to hurry. The Lord Jesus
Christ took his orders in a covenant
given to him by God the Father before the world began. which
he must fulfill in every jot and fiddle." Recorded, written
down for us to read. And he did just that. He said,
he had given me counsel, and he came to fulfill it. Listen
to this. I was reading in the book of
Joshua today, and this is Christ, where the Lord said unto Joshua,
He said, You be strong and courageous. The book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day
and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is
written therein. And then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." And
that's our Joshua, our Lord Jesus Christ, who given counsel or
a covenant by God. He says, my reigns instruct me
in the night season. That reigns there means the inner
person. The word's actually kidneys. Kidney, vital, a vital organ. You can't live without. And that's
that vital principle or inward man within, that new creature
within that instructs us in the night seasons, it says. in the
night season, when things seem dark, the Word of God is a light
shining out of darkness. His Word. Let's go on. He says
in verse 8 and 9, I have set the Lord always before me, always
conscious of my Lord and my God before me. Thou God seest me. And because he is at my right
hand, I shall not be moved. And he says, therefore, my heart
is glad. and my glory, my innermost being
rejoices, my flesh also shall rest in hope." As we said, the
Lord Jesus Christ lived by faith. He had his heart and his mind
stayed upon Jehovah. What does the scripture say about
those who are stayed upon Jehovah? Thou wilt give him perfect peace
whose heart is stayed upon thee. For in the Lord Jehovah is strength,
the rock of ages." He really did stand on the rock, the Lord
Jesus Christ did. Perfect peace, perfect rest.
He said, I am so glad, and I will not be moved. Gladness, rejoicing,
hope. His flesh rested in hope. He
didn't lose any sleep in the midst of the wildest storm. known to man a perfect storm.
He was perfectly and soundly straight. Mark the perfect man.
He has rest. He has peace. Oh, my. And his
flesh rested. And what about up? What about
up? You look to the Lord, the Lord
who reigns and rules, the Lord Jesus Christ who is at the right
hand of the majesty on high, you'll not be moved. You'll be
grounded. You'll be settled. You'll not
be moved. If you're seated with him, you
can't be moved, can you? Your heart will be glad. You'll
really be glad he reigns. Your soul will rejoice in glorious
hope. Your flesh will rest. You won't
lose sleep if you know that he who keepeth Israel never slumbers
or sleeps. Your flesh will rest now. And
it will rest in the grave someday. And look at verse 10. You know
this is Christ speaking. He says, For thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
seek corruption. Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell. The Lord Jesus Christ went through hell. I don't believe
that he really went to that place called hell. He certainly didn't
preach to those in hell like some misinterpret or misquote
the scripture, but he went through hell on the cross. What is that? The closest we can come to understanding
that is at the cross, hell. It's separation from God. All
mercy, God. All love, all grace, all goodness. the light of His countenance,
left alone. My, my. See, all the world right
now, people say things like this, oh, I've been through hell. No,
you don't have a clue. You don't have a clue. But our
Lord did. He did. And He went through the
equivalent of hell on the cross, which is separation from God. Why? So we don't have to. You see why this speaks of Both
of them. He will certainly not put us
in hell. That's why he put Christ in hell.
He won't forsake a righteous man. You say I'm not? Oh, yes you are. In Christ, for
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made righteous. Right. He cannot forsake a righteous
man. He will not put his people in
hell because Christ suffered it for them. Neither, he says,
wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. The Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless
one, his body did not suffer corruption, but he rose from
the grave. This is what Peter was preaching
at Pentecost. David's body you'll find in that
grave, he said. and all of ours will be found
there for a while. They will suffer corruption.
Yes, Christ did not. But he said this corruption,
your corruption even, will not suffer eternal corruption. What
will put on incorruption, that mortal shall put on immortality. That dust, you know, you came
from it, you're going back to it. Well, that dust, mystery
of mystery, is going to rise again. Yes, the same body only
glorified. He will not suffer us to see
that full and eternal corruption because He did not. Because He
lives, we live also. Because He arose, we rise with
Him. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. And then we will meet them in the air. He says, our
Lord says, thou wilt show me the path of life, meaning Christ
arose from the grave and Christ lived. And he says, and in thy
presence is fullness of joy. He who was a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief is right now, joying and rejoicing in
his people at the right hand of the majesty on high. And he
says, we will be too. That's why we will be, because
where he is, That's where he said we may be also. And it says
there, at thy right hand, and I'll quote this in closing, at
thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. This is what Peter,
this is how Peter quoted that. In Acts chapter two, here's how
Peter quoted it. And God gave him the liberty
to paraphrase it. Peter says, Thou hast made known
to me the ways of life, and Thou shalt make me full of joy with
Thy countenance. Meaning, where you are, just
to see you is going to fill me with joy. You know, we do take pleasure
in the Saints, don't we? We do delight in them, God's
people, because they're like Christ. We enjoy being around
them, don't we? But because they're sinners,
like us, after a while, you want them to go home. In their presence, you enjoy
them and so forth. But now, the altogether lovely
Son of God, And this is how we're going to stand to be around each
other for eternity. We'll be like him. The altogether
lovely son of God in whose presence is fullness of joy. You'll never
want to be away from him. Never want to take your eyes
off of him. Pleasures forevermore. Always with him and always glad
about it. Like a wife who is just so enamored with her husband.
so completely in love with and enamored with her husband. She
never, ever wants to leave his side, never needs to depart. That's what we want. We won't
depart. We'll be with him, our Redeemer,
our husband, our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Christ, our
Lord. And then when we see, then when
we see just what the Lord has done for us, how he's maintained
our lot, then we'll really be able to say, when we see him
as he is, when we see that inheritance that's waiting for us, then we'll
really be able to say, oh my, the lines have fallen under me
in pleasant places. Oh, I have a goodly heritage.
And it's the Lord's doings and it's marvelous in our eyes.