I don't much like to sing specials
by myself, but I enjoy singing that song in particular. All
right, we'll turn back to Psalm 16. This is a wonderful psalm. I
thoroughly enjoyed studying it. The title, if you'll notice,
right underneath where it gives the number of the psalm, every
psalm has a title under it. And that's significant. It says,
Mictum of David. And if you have a reference,
center reference, The word means a golden song. a golden psalm. I believe because of the subject
matter, David calls it gold. He said concerning all of God's
word that it is more to be desired than gold, yea, than fine gold. Or it may have been a favorite
with David, this particular psalm. But it's a golden psalm. And
this is a messianic psalm. Meaning that these are the words
of the Messiah, or this speaks of the Messiah. Verse 10, look
down there at verse 10. Verse 10 clearly proves that
these are the words of Christ himself. Verse 10 says, Thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to seek corruption. So that clearly tells us that
Christ is the speaker here. Christ is the one, he is the
sweet psalmist of Israel, okay? And these are words spoken by
the believer, too. You know, whatever Christ says,
the believer echoes, or says, Amen, and can say it to a degree,
okay? This psalm was quoted by the
Apostle Peter at Pentecost. He quotes nearly all of this
psalm at Pentecost. And the Apostle Paul, when he
was preaching at Antioch, he quoted this psalm. This is an
important and blessed psalm. All right, let's look at it.
Psalm 16. Again, I say Christ is praying
here, and he says, Preserve me, O God. For in thee do I put my
trust, preserve me." Christ is praying for preservation. Now, somebody may say, does Christ
need to pray to be preserved? Did Christ need to pray for,
the word is faith-keeping, preservation. Did Christ need to pray to be
saved? Well, not from sin, for he had
none. But the scripture says he was
made a little lower than the angels. He was given a body for
the suffering of death. I want you to turn over to Hebrews
2, rather than me quote all of that to you. Hebrews chapter
2 speaks of our Lord's humanity. And these words in Psalm 16,
this prayer of our Lord, is the prayer of his humanity. You see,
the Son of God became the Son of Man, and he lived as a man
for men, as a man for men. Now, we get a real blessing here,
considering that Christ did not have to to do this, but he voluntarily
limited himself to a body. That's what Psalm 8 says. He made him a little lower than
the angel, a little lower than the angel. Christ limited himself
to a body of flesh. He didn't have to. He confined
himself to a body of flesh while on this earth as our great high
praise." Now look here at Hebrews chapter 2, look at the several
verses with me that tell us this. Verses 9 and 10, we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor. Verse 10, For whom are all things, and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make
the captain," it was the coming of him, to make the captain of
their salvation perfect through suffering. Look at verse 14.
For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same. Look down at
verse seventeen and eighteen. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. I like this
verse. But in that he himself had suffered
being tempted, he's able to succor or help them that are tempted. Turn over one more page. We can't
leave these verses out. Over in Hebrews 4, look at verse
15. Oh, I love it. We have not an
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
One that's hidden away in some monastery or one who's secluded
from us, but he came down, was tempted in all points like as
we are, yet without sin, without sin. In verse 2 of chapter 5,
he can have compassion, seeing that he himself is encompassed
with infirmity. Now back to the text. So Christ
came here and took a body to live as a man for men. As a man for men. Christ our
substitute. He had to live by faith. Christ
had to live as a man by faith, because the scripture says, the
just shall live by faith. He had to live by faith, just
like us, just like us. He had to trust God as a man. That's what that verse 1 says,
doesn't it? Look at it. Preserve me, O God, for in thee
do I put my trust. He had to trust in God as a man. Nancy, he never did anything
for his own help or provisions. He looked to God for it. Why? He's my representative. He's
my high priest. He's touched with the feeling
of my infirmity. We love that Psalm 103 that says,
he remembereth our frame. Why? Because he had one. He took upon himself that frame. And do you know He lived by faith, trust in God. And he says here, preserve me.
Those words, preserve me. He's praying here. And Christ
needed preservation as a man. He did. Because his soul, he
was sought, he was pursued, he was the enemy. No one was ever pursued as he
was, the enemy, from cradle to the grave. Right? Herod, at infancy,
Christ needed preservation at infancy. When Herod went about
to kill every newborn, Christ needed preservation, didn't he?
In the wilderness, remember when he went out into the wilderness
and was tempted by Satan? God sent his angel after that
to strengthen him. The three and a half years of
his ministry on this earth, when everybody sought to kill him
at every opportunity, he needed preservation, right? Now this
does not diminish his glory, not at all, not at all. It is
a comfort to me, a comfort to me. He trusted in God, and the
scripture says, blessed are all those that put their trust in
him, blessed. And none of them that put their
trust in him will be desolate, none. You know something, I don't
trust God like I should, but he did. That's the reason I love those
verses over in Romans and Galatians that talk about us living by
the faith of the Son of God. You see, it was his faith as
a man that was imputed to me. Isn't that right? That's what
my faith is. That's where my faith lies. All
right? All right, verse 2. So Christ prays for preservation.
He says he trusts in God. Oh, my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord. Thou art my Lord. My goodness
extendeth not to thee." Now, this is further evidence that
this must be Christ speaking. No mere man can talk about his
own goodness, right? Scripture says there's none good,
no, not one. When they came to Christ one
day and said, good master, what did he say? He said, why do you
call me good? There's none good but God. Well, here the psalmist says,
my goodness. Well, who's speaking? It must
be Christ. And he says here in verse 3,
he says, My goodness extendeth not to God, the Lord, but to
the saints that are in the earth. Now, what is this? You know what
that is, don't you? That's imputed righteousness.
That's exactly what that is. Christ came down here to live
a holy life, and he didn't do it just to prove that he could. He didn't need to. He did it
on my behalf. He did it on the behalf of all
believers. That goodness. God made his goodness
pass before us. Christ, the goodness of God.
God made him pass before us, and he passed that goodness on
to us. That goodness extends to us. Read on. It says, "...to the
excellent, in whom is all my delight." I love that Proverb
8 that says that he dwelt, he was in the inhabitable parts
of the earth and his delights were with the sons of men. It
pleased the Lord to make you his people. If you're one of
his own, it pleased him. He delights in you. So much so
that he came down into this cesspool and did what he did. just for
you. He didn't have to, but we needed
him, and so we did it. He said he delighted. It pleased
him to do it. His delights were in us. All
right, verse 4. And you know something? Like
I said, these words apply to all the believers. All believers
can say to a degree what Christ said here. We pray for preservation
daily, don't we? Lord, save me. Lord, preserve
me. Lord, keep me by your power. We pray, Lord, I put my trust
in you. You're the only one I trust,
the only one I lean upon. Oh, my goodness, I don't have
any. But if I have any, if you give
me all the works you perform in me, let them be extended to
the saints. That's what we say, don't we?
We can't do anything for God, really, can we? Can we give anything
to God? Can we add anything to God? Job
said no. No. But we can do something for his
body. So let our whatever we do be extended to the saints,
because we delight in them, don't we? We delight in them. That's
the verse that really caught my attention when I was reading
it. That's why I wanted to look at this psalm. The saints are
my delight. Aren't they yours? I love that verse in Psalm 119
that says, I'm a companion of them that fear thee. They're
my companions. That's who I want to spend my
time with. Another psalm says, those that fear you will be glad
when they see me. Are you glad to see me tonight?
Those feelings are mutual. We delight in one another, don't
we? I was glad, David said, when they said unto me, let's go to
the house of the Lord. Why? Because that's where God
is and that's where God's people are. And that's where I want
to be. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. How amiable. I feel like, you remember that
story I told you about that Down Syndrome fellow here at the local
developmental center? In case somebody didn't hear
that, they need to hear this. A 50-year-old man, Down Syndrome,
at the developmental center. We worked with him in the Special
Olympics. And one day he came up to us.
He'd got a job. They'd given him a job, and he
came up to us and he said, I get to go to work. He didn't say, I have to go to
work. Did you get that? He said, he was so excited, a
big smile on his face, I get to go to work. And he said, you
know what? And they paid me too. Now, if
we all had that attitude, well, I do feel that way about coming
here. Don't you? Honestly now, I don't say, oh,
I have to go to church. Do you? Honestly, I feel when
I come here, I get to go to church. And he pays me, too. Unsearchable riches. Well, how
amiable, I tell you. My delights are in the people
of God. All right, verse 4. Again, Christ
is praying here, and he says, Now their sorrows, and I'm not
talking about the saints, but these here he described, their
sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God. Those who have trusted in a false
refuge, those who do. Those who make their works or
their religion or those who trust in another Jesus. Their sorrows are going to be
greatly multiplied. Who don't worship the true and
living God and his Christ. And read on, he says, their drink
offerings of blood will I not offer. Their drink offerings
of blood, and men offer many things. You know, Brother Todd Nybert
and I were speaking on the phone just yesterday, and he brought
this up to me. He said, you know what would
happen in the Old Testament if someone tried to offer the blood
themselves without the high priest doing it for them? So what would
happen? Well, you know what would happen.
Remember, there were some that did it, tried to offer up strange
fire and so forth, and God killed them. The blood could only be
offered, the sacrifice, the acceptable sacrifice could only be offered
by the high priest and that ordained by God, right? And Christ is
the high priest of sinners. He alone must offer up his blood. And Brother Nyberg pointed this
out. You know, this is what men are saying today about the blood. They're saying that Christ shed
his blood for all men and women without exception, and it's up
to them to make the blood effectual. It's up to them. What they do
is offer the blood to God. No, no, no. Christ by himself
offered that one sacrifice for sin. When he had by himself purged
our sin, he obtained eternal redemption for us. He did it.
And my faith is a result of that. You see? You see what Brother
Nybert was saying there? It's subtle, but it's so blasphemous. Christ says, I'll not offer up
anything anybody has to offer except my blood. My blood's the
only thing. My blood. And our praise, he'll
accept. The only thing we can offer is
a sacrifice of these lips. That is praise to our God. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but by works of righteousness he hath done,
and his blood. Read on. Nor take up their names
into my lips. I won't take up their names.
Many people like to throw out names, don't they? There's only
one name God will hear. Only one name God will accept.
one name, one mediator, one Lord, one Savior. And for me, I say
these same words, as for me. I don't want anything to do with
present-day religion. Do you? I don't. Nor take up their names into
my lip. This is the reason we're so hesitant
to use the name Jesus here. Because this world so carelessly
uses it and abuses it. Right? Let me use Brother Nybert
again as an illustration. Someone came to hear him preach.
And they noticed something about his preaching and his conversation
afterward. And they brought it to his attention.
They said, you know, I noticed that you don't call the Lord
Jesus. You always refer to him as the
Lord or Christ. That's right. We always use his
title, don't we? We always use his title. That's
what distinguishes the one we worship from the one they're
worshiping out there. You see what I mean? That's how we distinguish
from the false one, the other one. I told you how, you remember
how the Mexicans pray, how they start out their prayer? They
start out senor, senor. That means sir, sir. And we address the Lord of glory
always as sir, sir. All right, let's go on. The Lord,
so the Lord is praying here and he says this in verse 5. He says,
the Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. Christ says, God is the portion
of my inheritance. Turn to Psalm 73 very quickly. Psalm 73. You know what I'm going
to read, don't you? The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
was on this earth, He said the foxes have their
holes and the birds have their nests,
but he said the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. No
where to lay his head. He owned no property. And you
know he didn't desire to own any. He didn't desire to own
any. be like us buying a house that
we know is getting ready to burn down. Why would you want that? But here in Psalm 73, but our
Lord says here, he said, I have a good portion, a good inheritance,
a good lot. Psalm 73. Look at verse 3, I
was envious, have been envious at the foolish, when I saw the
prosperity of the wicked. Verse 7, their eyes stand out
with fatness, they have more than their hearts could wish.
Verse 17, until I went into the sanctuary, until I heard the
word of God, until I heard the gospel, Until I found out and
understood their end, he set them in slippery places. I couldn't
help but think of Abraham and Lot when I read about the Lord's
Lot. You remember the story. Abraham
and Lot, there was a strife between their herdsmen, and Abraham said
to his nephew Lot, he said, you just take whatever you want and
I'll take whatever's left. And Abraham took the well-watered
plains of Sodom, didn't he? He took the prime land. He got
to live in Sodom. What'd he get? He about got destroyed
with it, didn't he? What'd Abraham get? Well, that's
what Abraham asked in Genesis 15. He said, Lord, what are you
going to give me, seeing I go on childless? He said, Abraham,
you got me. I am your portion. He said, you
get me. You get me. And that's what every
believer says from the heart. Can you say with David here in
verse 25 of Psalm 73, can you say this from the heart? I believe every believer can.
Verse 25, whom have I in heaven but thee? Who do we desire to go and see
but him supremely? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. The Lord is my portion, the portion
of mine inheritance, a joint heir with Christ, and my cup.
And boy, it's running over. Thou maintainest my lot. Thou
maintainest my lot, and he says in verse 6, back in our text,
Psalm 16, he says in verse 6, Thou maintainest my lot, and
he chose my lot for me. And boy, the lines are falling
under me in pleasant places. I've got a good view. Yea, a
goodly heritage, a goodly heritage, my, my. Verse 7, let's go on. He says,
I will bless the Lord. I will bless the Lord, who hath
given me counsel. Where does the counsel of the
Lord come from? It all comes from his Word. It all comes from
God's Word. Christ said that he took counsel
from God. He took counsel from God. He
said in one place in John's gospel, he said, the words that I speak,
they're not my own, but the words of the Father that sent me. He
said in one place, he said, the son can do nothing of himself,
but what he sees the Father do, that's what he does. Now, if
he said that, Christ wouldn't be a father. how much more us,
who are so accomplished with infirmity, without whom we can
do nothing. Christ said he took counsel of
God. He'd given him counsel. Look at this, I like this. My
reins also instruct me in the night season. My reins, my bowels,
my inward part, instruct me. My heart gives me instruction
in the night season. What's he saying there? Well,
there's a psalm over in Psalm 119 that says, Thy word have
I hid in my heart. The word was truly hidden in
Christ's heart. He is that blessed man in Psalm
1 who liked to meditate in the law of God day and night. And he says, They instructed
me, my reign. Do you understand what I'm trying
to say there? The law was written on his heart, God's word. He
said, I delight to do thy will, O God. Now, how is it we get
instruction? How is it we know what to do?
Same way. Same way. Be conversant with
God's word. The more of God's word we ingest,
the more instructions we'll find. Right? When we need it. When
we need it. He said in the night season,
all believers go through night seasons, don't they? Dark times. Troublesome times. What's going
to be your help then? What's going to be your strength
then? What's going to instruct you? Who's going to instruct
you then? Hide the Word in your heart. Hide the Word in your
heart. All right, verses 8 and 9. He
says, I set the Lord always before me. I have set the Lord always
before me." Truly, Christ's affection was set on things above, wasn't
it? That's where I want mine set,
on things above. He said, I have set the Lord
always before me. Because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved. I shall not be moved. Because
Christ knew that God was at his right hand, he could not be moved
or shaken. It says he set his face steadfastly
toward Jerusalem. And neither should we be moved,
because we are seated with him in heavenly places, aren't we?
And he says here, My flesh, verse 9, Therefore my heart is glad,
glad at what? That the Lord is at my right
hand. My heart is glad, my glory rejoiceth, my heart rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope. Rest in the Lord. Rest. It's
good to rest and wait patiently. Rest. My flesh shall rest in
hope. Think about that. We worry about unseen dangers,
don't we? And truly, Dad and I were talking
about this today, how many dangers are around us that we're unaware
of. Who was it? It was Elijah's servant
that looked out and saw all the enemies surrounding him, he and
the prophet. Was it Elijah or Elisha? I forget
which one it was. The servant saw all the enemies
surrounding him, and he got scared. We don't have any idea, really. We don't have any idea. David
said, a host encamps against me. But we worry about unseen
dangers, don't we? But we don't know the half of
it. And then we lose sleep. Don't we? We lose sleep over
it. Christ knew every danger, and he went to sleep. You think about that? Huh? That little ship? Oh my, you
don't trust in a ship. My, my. He went to sleep. Where
was his trust? Who was he resting? In the everlasting
arm. No comfort in that ship, nor
is there any comfort anywhere but in his arm. He says, My flesh
shall rest in hope. He giveth his beloved sleep. Christ slept, because he knew
that he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Verse
10, and here is that wonderful verse. For thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell. Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Christ could face death with
confidence, knowing that God was going to raise him from the
dead. Right? And so should we. So should we. God's not going
to send me to hell. Why? Because I'd be give his soul in hell, but because
he rose from the grave, proving that his sacrifice was accepted,
there is therefore now no condemnation of them that are in Christ. And
he'll not send me there either. There's no such place called
purgatory either. Not at all. Oh, no. Because Christ went there for
me. Wherever he went and deposited
our sins, it was the equivalent of hell. And now I don't have
to go there. And Christ arose and went back
and ever lives to make intercession for us. In verse 11, that's what
he's saying here. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. Christ passed from death unto life, didn't he? And in
Christ we do the same. We'll do the same. We have done
the same and we'll do the same. Passed from death unto life.
And in thy presence is fullness of joy. Fullness of joy. Christ is in the Father's presence
right now with joy unspeakable, and so shall we be. And at thy
right hand are pleasures evermore, he said. Pleasures evermore at
the right hand of God. And that's where we'll be someday.
Pleasures evermore. Those are your words, the very
words of Christ. You see, Christ is our representative
in all that he says. We say, too, he prays for us. He prays with groanings that
cannot be uttered. We don't know what to pray for.
He does. And so we tell him, Lord, teach
us to pray. All right, pray this way. He says, the way I pray,
he said, you pray this way. All right. I hope the Lord bless
that, too. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. I have a problem, we thank you
for the psalms. David, the man after your own
heart, is the man after our own heart.
He speaks the very words of our heart, the very desires of our
heart, because he speaks to David. He said those things in the name of Christ, the Son
of David. He said those things, and Christ, our mediator, our
intercessor, did all things and said all things to you. And so
we plead these things for our sake. We plead His love, His
righteousness, and His intercession on our behalf. O Lord, preserve
us, for Thee do we trust. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. It's so true, it's awesome.