Psalms chapter 16, Preserve me,
O God, for in Thee do I put my trust. O my soul, Thou hast said
unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord, 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, their sorrow, shall be multiplied
that hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood
will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The
lines are fallen 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 rejoices. My flesh also shall
rest in hope for thou will not leave my soul in hell. Neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt
show me the path of life, and thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore." Now, be turning to Acts chapter 2. Be turning
to Acts chapter 2. This psalm is This psalm, the title of it,
if you can see it in your Bible, it says, Mishtim, a Mishtim of
David. And that simply means it's a
golden psalm. I can't remember how many there
are, 12 or however many there is, but this was a special psalm,
special to David perhaps, by reading this. And obviously,
this psalm points to Christ, because we see specifically,
it says, for thou will not leave my soul in hell, Neither wilt
thou suffer, thine Holy One, to see corruption." And we're
going to see that that's quoted by Paul and Peter, referring
to this specific psalm as it is messianic. But this is a golden
psalm, surely because it means special or precious or a favorite
psalm of David's. But this is special and this
is golden because there is much of Christ in this. His accomplishments,
His Father's help to Him, in time of need, and it speaks of
His blessed resurrection, and thereby all who own Christ, all
who know Christ, our resurrection is guaranteed from this life
to the next. Or as one old writer put it,
this psalm, it's a little of David and a lot of Christ. A little of David and a lot of
Christ. Turn with me now to Acts chapter 2, Peter speaking in
verse 25, Peter is speaking. He says, For
David speaks concerning Him, Christ. I foresaw the Lord always
before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice
that my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." This is a
direct quote from our text in Psalms, Psalm 16. And then if
we go down a few more verses, Acts 2 and verse 29, No, is that right? Yep, 2 verse
29, Men and brethren, let me speak freely of to you the patriarch
David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is
with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne. He's saying David wrote of this,
he was as a prophet and he spoke of this. He's seen this before,
spake of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh should see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. So you've got John, you've got
Peter, you've got Paul, speaking of this psalm, back to our Psalm
16, speaking of Christ out of this psalm. So we're going to
just go through a general read, a general perusal of this psalm,
but there's two verses I want to get to, and these two verses,
they all speak of Christ, but they speak more to the believer. a little of David and a lot of
Christ. But let's just go through a perusal. Let's look at the
first two verses, and I'm sorry, we won't turn there now, but
those two sections in Acts chapter 2 were by Peter. If you want
to write it down, Acts chapter 13, verses 35 through 39, Paul
quotes the same thing. We won't turn there. But Paul
says he's saying the same thing. But that's first, Acts chapter
2, that was all Peter. In Acts chapter 13, Paul says
the same thing. So we know without question the
Holy Spirit inspiring these men to write what David wrote of
here in Psalm 16. Verses 1 and 2. Preserve me,
O God, For in Thee do I put my trust. O my soul, Thou hast said
unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to
Thee." Now this is Christ in our nature. This is Christ speaking
in our nature. He would seek preservation and
aid from His heavenly Father, as well as daily communion with
His loving Father. We have a tendency to forget
some of these Psalms that they're messianic, but they're speaking
as Christ as He spoke when He was on this earth. Christ was
truly flesh, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He had to
become man The Word had to become flesh and dwell among us. So
some of these things as well, and it does apply, David wrote
these things. And so they apply to David, to
the normal, to the believer. But in the greater, I guess the
greater thought would be that Christ is speaking here. Verse
3, But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent
in whom all is my delight. Now we know from Proverbs chapter
8, I don't have to turn there, that the sons of men, and that
means sinners, sons of men, daughters, boys, girls, man and woman, were
daily the son's delight, as they were daily the father's delight.
So he says, these saints, whom is all my delight. Truly, as
we see in Proverbs chapter 8, his sheep are daily his delight. Both the son's delight and the
father's delight. And perhaps yet not only are
we His delight, but also this could be the reason for that
greatest truth ever to be told. God in Christ, reconciling sinners
unto Himself. The fact that He delighted. He
says in another place, He is angry with the wicked every day,
but He does not delight to send them into hell, or however that's
phrased. He is not overjoyed. His delight is His Son. And because
we are placed in His Son by electing love and predestinating grace,
He is our delight. We're His delight. And so, that
greatest truth, perhaps this is why, it's not only in the
mind and purpose of God, we don't know for sure, but I know from
the scriptures, and I know from many other scriptures, that the
believer is His delight. And that's amazing, that's amazing
grace. Verse 5 and 6, the Lord is the
portion of mine inheritance. and my cup, thou maintainest
my lot." The Lord, the Father, the Son was always about the
Father's business, and He maintained His Son because He was God, yet
He was man, so He maintained His lot. The Son's lines were
fallen unto pleasant places. He has a goodly heritage. Everything
that the Son was to do was preordained for Him to do. He didn't come
down to earth and then just shoot from the hips, so to speak. The
Lord is the Savior's portion. He came to do His will and a
body thou hast prepared for Him. And again, He did this, prepared
a body for the Lord God, the Lord, the Son to do God's will. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 5. And
this scheme to rescue fallen man, the whole disposing of it,
the whole disposing of it was from God before the foundation
of the world was. The lines are fallen unto me
in pleasant places. That's the lines, and this refers
to, which I'll get to something probably towards the end of the
message, it's basically, it's like a surveyor's line. When
they went into the land, and they divided the land, you remember
how each tribe got certain land? They divided it out. You take
this, no, there was lines laid, plots made. And when they laid
out cities, it's the same thing. They lay them out specifically
according to design. And you don't have to turn there,
but Proverbs 16, verse 33, the lot is cast into the lap. That
sounds kind of random, chancy, doesn't it? The lot is cast into
the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Thou maintainest my lot. If He
did that for our Lord, He does that with us. Definitely. Verses 7, 8, and 9. I will bless
the Lord who has given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in
the night season. 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 rejoices, my flesh also shall
rest in hope." Can you just not hear Christ maybe in the prayer
in the garden? His great high priestly prayer.
Or when He daily communed with His Father. Could you not hear
Him saying these words? But can we not also enter into
this whole psalm as His dear redeemed ones? Can we not mimic
this from that new soft heart of flesh? That's not the heart
of stone. Can we not mimic all these words? Even the resurrection. That will not leave my soul in
hell. This is fulfilled in Christ as
the captain of our salvation. But it applies to every believer.
May we repeat this verses 7, 8, and 9 with loudest anthems
to our kinsmen redeemer, our elder brother, that one who provided
the sweet balm in Gilead. 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 rejoices. My flesh also shall
rest in hope." There's no rest in this world, but there is rest
in Christ. And then in verses 10 and 11,
we see that blessed Scripture, the resurrection of Christ, for
thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption. Because Christ rose from the
grave and led captivity captive, is in Ephesians 4, we shall ever
be with Him in the air, It's promised that we will put
off this mortality and put on immortality. Now, read the whole
thing again at your leisure, at home, and see Christ in here,
and see yourself in here, and just rejoice. But what I want
to look at is two verses that I don't know what it is about
God's sovereignty, about His forward nation, about His providence
in these last couple months, the last half a year, it just
amazes me, overwhelms me. Let us revisit as applicable
to us here this morning, verses 5 and 6. Look with me at verses
5 and 6. Not the Lord plus my good works,
or my money, or my birthright, or the color of my skin, any
of that. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. That's the first point. And then
secondly, Thou maintainest my lot. So first, He and He and
He only must be, A, our portion, and must maintain our lot. First, I ask you and I ask me,
have you and I, have we tasted that the Lord is gracious? Have we tasted that He is gracious?
Has He bankrupted us and caused us to only seek Him as our hourly,
our weekly, our monthly, our yearly portion. This is not a
New Year's resolution. Now this year I'm going to, January
1st, I'm going to serve the Lord. And then like every resolution,
some are more adamant than others, some have a stronger will than
others, whatever, they do it and then, but usually by the
middle of the next year it's gone. He is our hourly, I could put
minute, second, hourly, weekly, monthly, yearly portion. Is He
that to us? The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. Believing sinners are said to
be His inheritance. The Father gave me Christ, gave
me to Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ is my inheritance. The Lord is that portion. Is that portion. Hourly, weekly,
monthly, yearly. There's never a time in our lives
that if we know Christ and we are His and He is ours, we're
His bride, He's our groom, there's never a time that He is not our
portion. Because we have an inheritance. That is, through covenantal agreement,
not by us, but between the Father, Son, and the Spirit, He loved
us with an everlasting love, chose us, and in the fullness
of time, we heard the gospel, we heard the truth, and we came
unto Him, believed Him, repented of what we are, followed Him
in baptism, and walk in newness of life,
like the book of Acts. same in common, same doctrine,
all these things, they had all these things in common. I want this inheritance, I need
this inheritance, we must have this or ere we perish. And the
thought of living here on this earth or hereafter without Him,
I cannot endure. I cannot endure. I can endure
a lot of things. I can endure Unfortunately, family
and friends forsaken us for the Gospel. Sometimes that happens.
I can endure friendship being terminated because of the Gospel.
Because here I stand, says Luther, I can do no other. And we just
can't do that. We can't abide by that. The world
grows worrisome. And the older we get in grace,
the more mature we get in grace, the less we want to... The more
we want to be around God's people, the more we want to be around
the fellowship of believers, and the less we want to be around
the world. We've got to. We have to. The
Lord is the portion of my inheritance. Do we love Him? It is only because
He loved us first, and we ask that He would stir this love
within us As David says, return unto me the joy of my salvation.
There's times that it's like I just don't feel like a believer,
and we feel. I don't know if I'm a believer. I didn't act like a believer
the other day. We could be like Samson. I'm just thinking about
this because we're getting ready to get into Samson and judges.
He slaughtered, I think it was 10,000 Philistines with a primitive
tool. And then, when he was done with
that, he was a little thirsty and he starts whining to God.
Sometimes these little bitty things is what we stumble over.
Sometimes it's that screw that you can't get back in. The digits
begin to work less. And of course, man makes stuff
smaller and smaller because this is for younger generations, not
for older generations. Sometimes that takes you off,
flips you off. Oh, return unto us the joy of
your salvation. Because why? Because you are my inheritance. And you're my portion. And you're
my cup. Secondly, verse 5, Enlighten
my eyes to see that your choosing for me, my lot, is always right,
it's always good, and it's always the best. Thou maintainest my
lot. And this preordination is, like
I said, it's not a one and done principle. It's not a one and
done issue. But He is ever, our Sovereign is ever maintaining
our lot, He's ever maintaining it, nourishing it, sustaining
it. There's no luck here, there,
or anywhere to be found in the believer's life. Thou maintainest
my lot. Isn't that comforting? Look,
it's even better. Verse 6. The lines are fallen
unto me, in pleasant places." Just think Romans 8.28. All things
work together for good. All these New Testament principles
are founded and based in Old Testament principles. The lines
of my life are fallen in pleasant places. Turn to Psalms 31. Psalms
31 verse 15. David says it in another way. First portion of verse 15 of
Psalms 31, My times are in your hands. My times are in your hand. Is there any time that we are
not in the hand of God? In this case, in mercy, through
grace, through the hand of God, through Christ, by grace? No. No. Back to our text, the lines
of my life, the lines, whatever that may be, are fallen unto
me in pleasant places. I've said this many times, and
Melinda and I have talked about this many times, when it comes
right down to the believer, we're back in the corner. We have no
excuse to whine, we have no excuse to murmur, but we do. We have
no excuse to sin, but we do. We have no excuse to be discouraged,
upset, sad, disappointed, but we do, and we are, He says, the
lines are fallen unto me, where? In pleasant places. Well, I looked
at the New Testament, the trial of our soul does not seem to
be joyous. That's true. That's true. but there still are fallen unto
us in pleasant places. Because you back up, we back
up, we back up because we can't see the forest for the trees,
back up and then start with, he didn't have to show me mercy
at all. I could be, I probably know, I guess I know my heart
a little bit, I'd still be in sports, I'd still be doing this,
doing that, until my knees fell apart and couldn't in my back.
I'd be active. I wouldn't be here on Sunday,
wouldn't be here on Wednesday. I would be doing things that
I wanted to do for myself, but I'm not my own. I understand
I've been bought with a price, and that price was the most precious
thing in the sight of the Father, Jehovah God, the death of His
Son. His only begotten Son. Oh, to really believe this verse,
the lines are fallen unto Me. Insert your name there, Me. May
the Holy Spirit insert our names here in pleasant places. It would be correct if it said,
the lines are fallen unto Me. End. But he says, he goes on
and he says, we don't have any reason to complain. Anything,
we have more than we deserve. Melinda and I were talking about
our closets, and I'm sure your closets are just like mine. You
can't fit another pair of pants in the shoes. How many can you
wear? How many dresses can you wear
at a time? One. Nathan and I talked about this
when he first moved here. Life in this United States, we,
of all people, many nations have so much more. It chokes. I won't share it because I can't
remember where it's at, but there's a passage in Scripture I was telling you
about. Oh, the Lord, it's in Psalms, I think 102, probably
verse 16, I remember now. It says, the Lord granted the
children of Israel their request but sent leanness to their souls. So let me ask you this, would
you rather, would you rather have a heavy bank account, vehicles that are,
that aren't gonna, we're about falling down, you get one new
one every two or three years, life in this country, and clothes
and food stored up, stacked up, put away, whatever, for this
or that, or, you know, we might as well just become Mormons and
just put 10 meters of stuff in there. I'm being facetious, but
I'm also being serious. Would you rather have that, a
full belly or a lean soul? Because the Lord does grant,
He says, I granted them their request. And the specific situation
was, they were sick of the manna and they wanted more food. And
so He gave them flesh until it came out their nostrils. So they
were full. But spiritually, they were wanting. Scary. Scary. We all know this. We all know
the love of money. We all know he warns those who
are rich. We all know this. To really believe this, to truly
submit to our sovereign as being sovereign over all things. Melinda
and I are talking about this. That's, that's our problem. That's
my problem. That's our problem is we say God's sovereign. It just flows from our lips.
But then We won't leave here five minutes and we complain
or something ticks us off or something happens. We are acting. Are we truly acting and living?
His lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places. Whether it's
my struggles, whether it's in poverty or increase, sickness,
health, in my younger days or as my days fade like a leaf or
grass, these lines, so called, have fallen from His tender hands
unto my person and your person, and that in pleasant places."
And I'm not saying that struggles are not difficult. I'm not saying
that things are difficult. And I think about the things
of each one of us that have gone through. Some of us have gone
through some pretty tough things. And others have been spared,
but that's of the Lord. If he chooses to set me in his
castle where I can see the king, or if he sets me out to battle
where I'm in the front line and getting whipped all the time,
that's his line. And as a pastor, I can tell you a whole bunch
of other problems that I have that you probably know or don't
know anything about. My complaining and worrying and
whining and this and that. Why does this church do this?
No, no, no, it doesn't matter. This is my line. This is your line. You guys,
the Lord has chosen you for some reason to set you under the slowest,
the weakest, the stupidest pastor of all the grace pastors. I know, first thing to do is
you admit it and then you move on. So see, we all, it doesn't,
we struggle. Who among us, who have called
upon him in truth and humility, have not seen and noted his way
for us, has been indeed best, though rough at times, perhaps
at times unbearable, yet with the temptation, he says, he provides
the way of escape. And this escape is always the
same. It's Christ and Him crucified.
It's always pointing, looking, worshipping, adoring Christ.
Not our puny works or our sinful repentance that need to be repented
of, but point me to Christ, preacher. Point me to the Rock of Ages.
So when the Lord takes me and whoever is here, point the people
to Christ. Pleasant places. Why are they
pleasant? For they lead us to Christ, whom
our soul adores, loves, and cherishes. Then we can say, in the last
part of verse 6, yea, I have a goodly heritage. I have a goodly
heritage. He and his heritage is the best. It's the only one we're talking
about. It's the one thing needful. That's
what our Lord said to Mary. The heritage of Christ and Him
crucified, the heritage of this Word is the most important thing. Now let me close by reading some
thoughts on these two verses, 5 and 6. Take notice, verses 5, the Lord
is the portion of my inheritance. Take notice not only of the mercies
of God, but of God in the mercies. Mercies are never so savory as
when they savor a Savior. You'd have to probably read it.
Never are mercies so tasteful, so good going down, as when we
dwell upon the Savior. The lines are falling to me in
pleasant places, yea, I have goodly heritage. Bitter herbs
will go down very well when a man has such delicious meats which
the world knows not of. The sense of our Father's love
is like honey at the end of every rod. It turns stones into bread
and water into wine, the valley of trouble into a door of hope.
It makes the biggest evils seem as if they were none or better
than none. For it makes our deserts like
the garden of the Lord. And when we are upon the cross
for Christ, as if we were in paradise with Christ, who would
quit his duty for the sake of suffering that has such a relief
under it? Who would not rather walk in
truth when he has such a gracious God to support him? And Mr. Spurgeon says this, the lines,
these probably allude to the divisions of the land by lot
and the measuring of it off by ropes and lines. David believed
in an overruling destiny, which fixed the bounds of his abode
and his possessions. And he did more. He was satisfied
with the appointment of the predestinating God. He maintains our lot, and
the lines are fallen. Therefore, as I said, we have
a good heritage. It is good, what makes this portion
good? The favor of God with it, that
it is from a Father's hand, that it comes through the covenant
of grace, that it is purchased by Christ's blood, and that it
is an answer to prayer and a blessing from above upon honest endeavors. You're a believer, walk in the
light as he is in the light. Bruce, would you close us?