SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 16.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 16, which is all about the benefits of relying on God.
SPEAKER_00: Theologians know very little about the context of Psalm 16.
SPEAKER_00: We know that King David is the author.
SPEAKER_00: We know that it was written during a time of great distress in his life.
SPEAKER_00: And the only clue we are given about the psalm is seen in the title of the psalm.
SPEAKER_00: It says a mikm of David.
SPEAKER_00: The word mikdom, it's a little unknown if you research it.
SPEAKER_00: Some believe it means like golden, like a golden psalm.
SPEAKER_00: Like in modern slang, it's like this psalm is lit, you know, it's fire, it's bussin, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But others believe it means kind of secret or covering, meaning it's a secret psalm.
SPEAKER_00: It's a rare pearl, a gem given to someone in a great time of distress.
SPEAKER_00: Regardless of the historical context, here is what we do know.
SPEAKER_00: David was suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He had a big problem going on.
SPEAKER_00: In being divinely inspired, he writes this psalm and teaches us the benefits of relying on God.
SPEAKER_00: Why should we trust God?
SPEAKER_00: When life gets tough, why should we keep going to Him?
SPEAKER_00: Is He worthy to follow, even when it seems like He's allowing so much trouble in my life?
SPEAKER_00: And what this psalm teaches us is the benefits of relying on God, the sorrows of trusting in dead idols, and how David discovered contentment and great joy in extreme difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: So David begins this psalm with a cry for help.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he's being chased by an enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps tragedy has struck his home, or maybe it's nothing external, perhaps internally he's feeling tormented and miserable and his thoughts are crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever the scenario might be, he goes to God for help and he says in verse one, preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
SPEAKER_00: What a powerful response to adversity.
SPEAKER_00: We are such prideful, stubborn, self-sufficient beings.
SPEAKER_00: We think that asking for help is a sign of weakness.
SPEAKER_00: We ignore God's power and strength because we think I can do it.
SPEAKER_00: I can fix this problem.
SPEAKER_00: And so half of the battle is just getting to this point where we recognize our inability.
SPEAKER_00: We throw up our hands and we say, God, preserve me.
SPEAKER_00: I come to you for refuge.
SPEAKER_00: So what David teaches us right off the bat is the importance of having this preloaded response to adversity.
SPEAKER_00: When you lose all your money, when a loved one dies, when you get a scary diagnosis, when you are persecuted, where do you go?
SPEAKER_00: Where will you turn?
SPEAKER_00: Where will you find refuge?
SPEAKER_00: David goes to God.
SPEAKER_00: Specifically, he goes to God for preservation and refuge.
SPEAKER_00: He places himself under the shadow of the Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: He could have blamed God for his situation.
SPEAKER_00: He could have, you know, shaken his fist towards heaven and said, God, why would you allow this to happen to me?
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: David understood theologically that God's people are not immune to suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And he responds to his trouble by going to the one who can preserve and comfort him through it.
SPEAKER_00: So after crying out to God, David now, next, he declares a powerful reality in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: In his distress, he acknowledges a powerful biblical reality.
SPEAKER_00: He says, look at the verse.
SPEAKER_00: David had a lot of good things.
SPEAKER_00: He was a king.
SPEAKER_00: He lived in a beautiful palace.
SPEAKER_00: In his youth, he had the ability to overcome lions and bears.
SPEAKER_00: He had a lot of power and resources and money.
SPEAKER_00: He was delivered time and time again from his enemies, from Saul and the Philistines.
SPEAKER_00: He was blessed with wisdom and knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: He was very strategic and very gifted in war.
SPEAKER_00: He was even given a promise from God that the Messiah would come through his bloodline.
SPEAKER_00: Where did all of this goodness come from?
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe these good gifts came from his obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he was just a really disciplined, he was a very moral guy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he was smart because he studied.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he was strong because he worked out at the gym.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps David is just reaping the rewards of his hard work.
SPEAKER_00: No, says David.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: David acknowledges that all goodness came from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That every good that is good comes from the God who is good.
SPEAKER_00: So first he acknowledges that the Lord is God.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the Lord is God.
SPEAKER_00: David is not the author of his life.
SPEAKER_00: He was not the one calling the shots.
SPEAKER_00: God is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He's the ruler and the sovereign one.
SPEAKER_00: And then secondly, he acknowledges that there's no good apart from God.
SPEAKER_00: He understood, as James chapter 1, verse 17 says, that every good and perfect gift comes down from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: He understood that he deserved hell.
SPEAKER_00: That he wasn't entitled to anything God gave him, his friends and family, his kingship, his deliverance, the food on the table, the breath in his lungs, his salvation are all good gifts that God had graciously given him.
SPEAKER_00: So why go to God in times of trouble?
SPEAKER_00: Because God is the only source of goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me, what good comes out of trying to control your own life?
SPEAKER_00: What good comes from that?
SPEAKER_00: What good comes from getting all angry and all worked up about your situation?
SPEAKER_00: What good comes from finding comfort in food or stress shopping?
SPEAKER_00: What good comes from ignoring God and doing your own thing?
SPEAKER_00: Like David, go to the Lord who makes all things work together for good to those who love him.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the Lord who can transform tragedies into testimonies.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the God of Israel, who will complete the good work that he completed started in us.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the one who uses trials and tribulations to conform us more into the image of Christ, to build up our heavenly bank account, and to refine our faith.
SPEAKER_00: When times get tough, when life throws you lemons, when nothing makes sense, church, where are you going to go?
SPEAKER_00: The bottle?
SPEAKER_00: Good luck finding deliverance there.
SPEAKER_00: A relationship?
SPEAKER_00: Good luck finding someone on planet earth that won't let you down.
SPEAKER_00: Will you take matters into your own hands?
SPEAKER_00: Good luck finding true justice and maintaining your sanity.
SPEAKER_00: Like David, go to the Lord, who's sovereign over your situation and is the one who can make good out of something bad.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God who loves to help his people, who is sovereign over all things, and is only capable of doing for us that which is good.
SPEAKER_00: And this doesn't just apply to David, it applies to the whole community of saints.
SPEAKER_00: David wasn't selfish in writing this psalm.
SPEAKER_00: He has the entire community of believers in mind.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, right after this, look at verse 3, as for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.
SPEAKER_00: So David understands that this isn't just a me thing, the Christian life, it's a we thing.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He isn't getting special privilege because he's the current king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: What he is proclaiming is true for all the saints in the land.
SPEAKER_00: They, the saints, are the excellent ones.
SPEAKER_00: Excellence means moral virtue.
SPEAKER_00: So someone who reflects God's holiness, why are they excellent?
SPEAKER_00: Why are the saints excellent?
SPEAKER_00: Are they smart?
SPEAKER_00: Are they rich?
SPEAKER_00: Are they noble?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them are poor.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them are social outcasts.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them are born from disgraceful families.
SPEAKER_00: I don't mean to be offensive here, but even as I look around the room here, right, it's like we you don't see a lot of pomp and prestige.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us wear crocs to Walmart.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have tattoos in very strange places.
SPEAKER_00: But the saints are excellent because God has made them excellent.
SPEAKER_00: When God saves a person, he saves that person from their sin and he gives them new clothes, and he covers them in the blood of Christ, and he legally adopts them into the family of God, and he gives them his Holy Spirit, and he applies every single one of his promises to them.
SPEAKER_00: And although they doubt, and although they stumble forward, and although they are weak and they're frail, they are excellent.
SPEAKER_00: Show me the weakest and most pathetic Christian in the world right now, who is at the bottom of the food chain, and we should be able to say that they are excellent.
SPEAKER_00: So David, in his suffering, could have looked inward like many of us do, and he could have just said, Woe is me.
SPEAKER_00: Bad things always happen to me.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, he looks outside of himself.
SPEAKER_00: He looks to the household of God and says, I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_00: God will hold me fast because he is holding all of his people fast, all around the globe.
SPEAKER_00: Christians all around the land.
SPEAKER_00: They're suffering, they're weak, they're frail, and God maintains his excellence in them.
SPEAKER_00: What a great lesson on how to respond to suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look inward.
SPEAKER_00: Don't zoom in on your situation and somehow think that you're you uniquely isolated.
SPEAKER_00: Satan will have a heyday with that.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, look around the world at other believers around the globe who are in trouble, they're being attacked, who are going through horrible experiences, whom God is upholding.
SPEAKER_00: Look at their excellence and allow that to inspire you to trust the Lord, to keep the faith, to press on towards the upward call of God that is found in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So after looking at the saints who are excellent, David now shifts his attention to the misery of those who serve false gods.
SPEAKER_00: Creating a contrast was very typical in Hebrew literature, especially in poetic writings.
SPEAKER_00: So after looking at the saints who are abiding in the goodness of God, David now kind of creates this contrast with people who do the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says in verse 4, the sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply.
SPEAKER_00: Their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.
SPEAKER_00: So in the first category we have saints who serve the true and living God who are excellent, even though they suffer and face trials of many kinds, and the world hates them, they bear fruit, they have joy, they endure, and they're excellent because God holds them fast.
SPEAKER_00: But now David turns his attention to those who do not rely on the true and the living God.
SPEAKER_00: But those who serve, look at the verse, another God, aka dead idols.
SPEAKER_00: What is their description?
SPEAKER_00: They have sorrows that multiply.
SPEAKER_00: False gods are man-made or demonic-inspired entities or images worshipped in place of the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: False gods are not real, they do not exist.
SPEAKER_00: Although demons might, you know, produce a counterfeit miracle or perform kind of signs and wonders to kind of inspire us that they're real, they're not.
SPEAKER_00: They're fake.
SPEAKER_00: False gods, remember this church, false gods overpromise and underdeliver.
SPEAKER_00: They overpromise and they under-deliver.
SPEAKER_00: Worship me and I will give you money.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you happiness.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you success.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you power.
SPEAKER_00: They make these grand promises of peace and security, but they will leave us empty and disillusioned and disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: God hates false gods for this very reason.
SPEAKER_00: On his end, it pulls humanity away from his glory and his splendor.
SPEAKER_00: God alone deserves all honor and praise and glory because he is the creator.
SPEAKER_00: He's the all-knowing one, the source of all life and purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And so he is jealous for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And this does not make him egotistic, because it is what he deserves and what we need most.
SPEAKER_00: When we delight ourselves in the true and living God, we are most satisfied, and he is glorified.
SPEAKER_00: And on our end, God hates it because idols cannot give us anything good.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason in Exodus 20: the first commandment of the Ten Commandments is you shall have no other gods before me.
SPEAKER_00: We rely on and we trust in and we bow down to idols, and it leaves us confused and empty.
SPEAKER_00: It misdirects our inherent need to worship.
SPEAKER_00: It will corrupt our moral character.
SPEAKER_00: It will lead us to spiritual enslavement.
SPEAKER_00: It damages relationships.
SPEAKER_00: It destroys and it degrades.
SPEAKER_00: That is why David says, your sorrows shall what?
SPEAKER_00: Multiply.
SPEAKER_00: So, in light of this reality, David renews his commitment to God.
SPEAKER_00: After reminding himself about the sorrows of idol worship, he now takes a moment to make a resolution.
SPEAKER_00: He says, look at the verse, their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.
SPEAKER_00: So in pagan worship, from what we know, there was a lot of rituals.
SPEAKER_00: If the devil is real, it makes sense that he would want to distort God's truth, right?
SPEAKER_00: He would want to make something that's holy and turn it into something common or ordinary.
SPEAKER_00: So Baal worship, just for example, Baal worship in the Old Testament, it included animal sacrifices, incense, grain offerings, drink offerings.
SPEAKER_00: They had feasts and festivals.
SPEAKER_00: So it kind of mimicked true worship that God gave Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But it was distorted because it was not true religion directed towards the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: So David says here, I will not participate.
SPEAKER_00: And David goes further and says, Nor will I take their names on my lips.
SPEAKER_00: So in Hebrew thought, even speaking the name of a God implied acknowledgement of its power.
SPEAKER_00: And David says, I won't even say the name.
SPEAKER_00: Why would David say this?
SPEAKER_00: It's like he's a godly man, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's a man after God's own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Why does he feel the need to renew his commitment to God?
SPEAKER_00: He's already committed to God.
SPEAKER_00: So why make a resolution here?
SPEAKER_00: Because, church, no matter how mature you think you are, we are prone to idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: Especially when we suffer.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but when life is dark and gloomy, the enemy steps in.
SPEAKER_00: And my flesh kind of flares up and says, Go back to Baal.
SPEAKER_00: Go back to Molech.
SPEAKER_00: The God of Israel, where is he at?
SPEAKER_00: He's clearly not helping.
SPEAKER_00: He clearly doesn't care.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, where is he?
SPEAKER_00: Go find relief in pornography.
SPEAKER_00: Go find, go back to drugs and numb your pain away.
SPEAKER_00: You know, go to this other God who can give you what God clearly isn't giving you.
SPEAKER_00: And we buy the lie.
SPEAKER_00: We fall into this temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Often, when things don't go our way, we are drawn to worship literally anything that isn't the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to, like David, renew our commitment to God and say, no, I will not participate.
SPEAKER_00: I will reject false gods.
SPEAKER_00: I will not bow my knee to created things.
SPEAKER_00: So if David, a man much godlier than probably most of us, felt the need to renew and remind himself of his commitment to God, how much more should we?
SPEAKER_00: The Christian life, it's not just an event.
SPEAKER_00: We don't receive the Lord Jesus Christ and then we move on with life.
SPEAKER_00: Being a disciple is a daily, ongoing, moment-by-moment battle of fighting sin and learning to follow Jesus with greater commitment.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think to yourself, I'm beyond idol worship, I would never do any of that.
SPEAKER_00: You're already deceived.
SPEAKER_00: This is so practical when you are feeling temptation, when sin is just shouting your name.
SPEAKER_00: When you feel your heart gravitating from Jesus towards the things of this world, you can, like David, rise up in the power of the Holy Spirit, look at yourself in the mirror and say, No, I will not participate.
SPEAKER_00: I will not do it.
SPEAKER_00: It will multiply my sorrows.
SPEAKER_00: It will steal my affections away from the God I love.
SPEAKER_00: As Martin Lloyd Jones once said, we need to stop listening to ourselves and start talking to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Because, church, we can be so passive and apathetic.
SPEAKER_00: We just roll around on the ground in guilt and shame and sorrow, letting our flesh have its way, letting the voice of the devil just kind of resound in our minds.
SPEAKER_00: And what we need to do is preach the truth to ourselves, to actively pursue God and renew our commitment to Him and say, God, my commitment, it's to you alone.
SPEAKER_00: I will not turn to idols, I will not do it.
SPEAKER_00: But what does this commitment look like?
SPEAKER_00: This is what David expounds on next.
SPEAKER_00: Committing to the Lord, it's not just rejecting evil, it's actively choosing to trust and delight yourself in and enjoy the true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: So David, he expounds on his commitment to God in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: He says, The Lord is my chosen portion and cup.
SPEAKER_00: You hold my lot.
SPEAKER_00: So David announces that God is both his portion, meaning his possession, and his cup, meaning his provision and joy.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, David is choosing to taste and see that the Lord is good.
SPEAKER_00: When you come to the God of the universe and you say to him, I believe in you, I trust you, I embrace you.
SPEAKER_00: There is a real interaction and experience that occurs.
SPEAKER_00: In contrast to serving dead idols, the God of Israel, he actually gives us spiritual life, lasting satisfaction and contentment.
SPEAKER_00: And look at the last part of the verse: God holds our lot.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God who is in control of our circumstances and destiny.
SPEAKER_00: In every other false religion out there, there's uncertainty because the God is either distant or he's rash or he's unpredictable.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't speak, he doesn't walk, he doesn't talk.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe, like the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings, your God is on vacation, maybe he's using the restroom, maybe he's not listening to you.
SPEAKER_00: How would you know?
SPEAKER_00: But we who are coming to the true and living God, we actually experience him.
SPEAKER_00: And he's unchanging, he's good, he's steady, he's constant, he is alive and he is active, he provides salvation and he doesn't change his mind on it.
SPEAKER_00: He is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: As Romans 11, 29 says, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
SPEAKER_00: He is sovereign over your salvation, he's sovereign over the world, and he is sovereign over you.
SPEAKER_00: He holds your lot.
SPEAKER_00: How comforting.
SPEAKER_00: And next, David expresses a great benefit of serving a sovereign God like this.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 6, the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: Only people who believe in the sovereignty of God can say this.
SPEAKER_00: Even though David is experiencing a tough season, he realizes that God has laid boundaries in his life that are for his greatest benefit.
SPEAKER_00: It's the idea of being within God's bounds.
SPEAKER_00: He's in the fence, so to speak, with spiritual blessings.
SPEAKER_00: We have what?
SPEAKER_00: Redemption.
SPEAKER_00: We have adoption.
SPEAKER_00: We have sanctification.
SPEAKER_00: God is for us.
SPEAKER_00: His promises apply to us.
SPEAKER_00: He is protecting us.
SPEAKER_00: We are in God's bounds, under his government, and it involves what?
SPEAKER_00: Pleasant things.
SPEAKER_00: And part of this package is an inheritance which David mentions here.
SPEAKER_00: All Christians of all time are promised eternal future wealth.
SPEAKER_00: First Peter 1 4, listen to this verse.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says that we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.
SPEAKER_00: And this inheritance is kept or reserved for you in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 9 15 states that through Christ's death, those who are called will receive the promised eternal inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells us in John 14, verse 3, that he goes to what?
SPEAKER_00: Prepare a place for you.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, this has all been made possible through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is why David could say in the Old Testament, as he looked forward to the Messiah, he could say this.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why we claim it looking back on the Messiah today in the church age, that God has prepared for us an eternal dwelling spot with him.
SPEAKER_00: This gives us hope.
SPEAKER_00: It gives us confidence and patience in the present.
SPEAKER_00: My entire life, it might blow up.
SPEAKER_00: My body might fail me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of my best friends might betray me.
SPEAKER_00: This life on this fallen earth may not go in the direction that I hoped, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Because I am within God's bounds, and I have a beautiful, unfading, everlasting inheritance waiting for me in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: What an amazing comfort that is.
SPEAKER_00: Next, David continues to show us what his commitment to God looks like.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 7, I bless the Lord who gives me counsel.
SPEAKER_00: In the night also my heart instructs me.
SPEAKER_00: So David has made a commitment to bless the Lord, specifically to bless the Lord who gives him counsel.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, David is going to bless the one who speaks to him and gives him life-changing advice.
SPEAKER_00: He will praise the one who directs his steps and shepherds him.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we do not serve this distant, faraway, detached God somewhere way up there in the sky, who hides himself.
SPEAKER_00: God, our God, does not play peekaboo, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because of Jesus Christ, who has bridged the gap between ugly sinners and an infinitely holy God, we get to approach the throne of grace and actually hear and receive from our Creator.
SPEAKER_00: David acknowledges that God is his counselor, even in the quiet of the night.
SPEAKER_00: This shows kind of this intimate relationship between David and God.
SPEAKER_00: He says, My heart instructs me.
SPEAKER_00: It suggests that God's counsel is not just external, but also internal.
SPEAKER_00: God's word is shaping David's moral compass and his thoughts during difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: Even in the darkest moments, one can find comfort and direction through divine counsel.
SPEAKER_00: This is worth blessing God for, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: God is going to speak to and help a wretched sinner like me.
SPEAKER_00: I am but dust, a worm at best, and yet the infinite creator of the universe cares so much about me, so much, that he will tell me things that will save my soul and shape my character and change my perspective.
SPEAKER_00: That is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, David expresses his last commitment to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand.
SPEAKER_00: I shall not be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: So David makes this commitment to put God first, to make God the primary focus and highest priority of his life.
SPEAKER_00: Above all other people, possessions or ambitions, even himself.
SPEAKER_00: Whether David was going off to war, whether he was going to work or doing house tours, his commitment was to set the Lord always before him, even during really, really hard times.
SPEAKER_00: And you see what happens when we don't do this.
SPEAKER_00: We know it from David's life, and we know it from ours.
SPEAKER_00: When David doesn't set the Lord always before him, what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Well, women get taken out of the bathing house and their husbands get killed.
SPEAKER_00: So we will not do this perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: So don't hear this command and hear this, see this commitment and be like, man, I don't always put the Lord before me.
SPEAKER_00: But but it's something we want to pursue.
SPEAKER_00: But we will not do it perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: There is grace, there is amazing grace because of Christ's blood shed for us.
SPEAKER_00: We will make mistakes, we will have bad days, but it should be our goal to be men and women who are always setting the Lord before us.
SPEAKER_00: We should be loving the Lord our God, not perfectly, but increasingly trusting Him with your whole life, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness, making His will the rule of your actions, keeping His glory as your ultimate aim.
SPEAKER_00: And we can be confident in this pursuit because look at the last part of the verse, He is at my right hand.
SPEAKER_00: I shall not be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: I know this is a basic truth, but we often forget it.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a child of God, God is always with you.
SPEAKER_00: You have God's favor.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit literally lives inside of you, and Jesus is your advocate.
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to pull kind of the unworthy card here and say, Jimmy, sounds good, but I keep messing up.
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel like God's with me.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I feel the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like God is like so far away from me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, thankfully, the gospel that the apostles laid down for us is not the gospel of human feelings.
SPEAKER_00: We have been given the gospel of grace that is received by faith in Jesus Christ unearned.
SPEAKER_00: So feelings will come and go, seasons of dryness will come and go, seasons of obedience will rise and fall.
SPEAKER_00: But God is with us.
SPEAKER_00: Not because we feel it, not because we deserve it, but because He has said it and He has promised it.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we can say, I will not be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: Sure, I messed up last night.
SPEAKER_00: Sin got the best of me, and life is tough.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is going my way, but this I know because the Bible says, God is with me, so I will not panic or be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: So, church, what are the benefits?
SPEAKER_00: What are the benefits of rejecting false gods and committing ourselves to the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: What are the benefits of relying on God in times of trouble?
SPEAKER_00: This is what David transitions to next.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Therefore, therefore, since I've rejected dead idols and made my commitment to the Lord, therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being just rejoices, and my flesh also dwells secure.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I thought David was in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why is he not losing his marbles?
SPEAKER_00: Why is he not curled up in a ball, pulling his hair out?
SPEAKER_00: Because, as this psalm teaches us, he is actively crying out to God.
SPEAKER_00: He went to the source of all goodness, he rejected all idolatry, and he chose to trust and bless and delight himself in the author of his life and salvation.
SPEAKER_00: This kind of response is impossible if David blamed God for his problems, or accused God of not being good, or if David chose to find comfort and bad habits, or if he trusted in his own ability and willpower, his response would have been dramatically different.
SPEAKER_00: But because he chose to commit himself to the Lord in a time of trouble, he can now say, My heart is glad, but my whole being, it rejoices, my physical body, it's secure.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 says, We are hard-pressed on every side, but we're not crushed.
SPEAKER_00: He says, We're perplexed, but we're not in despair.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, We're persecuted, but we're not abandoned.
SPEAKER_00: He says, We're struck down, but we are not destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: How could a man who's getting stoned often, who lost all of his past employment, who's watching some of his friends get killed, be able to say, I'm okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'm all right.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was drawing comfort, life, guidance, strength from the God of infinite resources.
SPEAKER_00: And he believed in God's ultimate victory.
SPEAKER_00: That which fills the heart will overflow in the rest of the body.
SPEAKER_00: Our whole body will rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: If our heart is glad in the Lord, trust reaches all the way to physical existence.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the verse.
SPEAKER_00: The same God who guards your soul, he guards the body.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this doesn't mean that we won't get sick, doesn't mean that.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that we won't die, doesn't mean that.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that we won't have lower back pain.
SPEAKER_00: We will.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, your flesh can rest securely.
SPEAKER_00: No matter the diagnosis, no matter the pain, God is sovereign not just over your soul, but your body as well.
SPEAKER_00: He's got you.
SPEAKER_00: And this ties into verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: God cares for us now, and his care will extend beyond death.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this verse, if you didn't know this, is messianic, it's prophetic.
SPEAKER_00: Although it applies to us as believers, it is ultimately pointing to Jesus Christ, whose resurrection fulfilled this prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: After Jesus came to earth in our likeness, after he kept the law on our behalf and went to the cross and paid the penalty for our sins and died, Christ did not see decay.
SPEAKER_00: Because God raised him from the dead, demonstrating his faithfulness and his sovereignty over death.
SPEAKER_00: So for Christians, this should give us a foundation for hope and confidence in God's victory over death.
SPEAKER_00: Death, if you didn't know this church, it's one of our greatest problems and one of our greatest fears.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus, in his life, death, and resurrection, he obliterates our enslavement that we have to this fear of death.
SPEAKER_00: He took the keys away from Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 2.15, listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 2.15 says that Jesus also shared in our humanity, so that by his death he might destroy him, Satan, destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery to what?
SPEAKER_00: To their fear of death.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus paved the way for us, he paid for our judgment, he conquered death, we don't need to fear anymore.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to fear God's wrath because it's been paid for, and we don't need to fear death because our faith is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And if our faith is in Christ, we will go directly into the presence of God forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: Our souls will not rot in hell.
SPEAKER_00: And the last benefit David mentions here is revelation and manifestation and eternal pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You make known to me the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: In your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: The first benefit mentioned here is revelation.
SPEAKER_00: God makes known to us the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: God gives his people understanding and revelation.
SPEAKER_00: He opens the eyes of our hearts to his will and his plans, his ways, his glorious path.
SPEAKER_00: It's the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: He has shared himself with us through his word and his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He is a God who gives us transforming insight.
SPEAKER_00: And the second benefit mentioned here is manifestation.
SPEAKER_00: He says, in your presence there is fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: David is saying this in the present.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, hey, when I die someday and I go to see you face to face, there will be fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's true.
SPEAKER_00: But David is declaring this in the present.
SPEAKER_00: We can experience God here and now through prayer, through Bible reading, through worship, through song, through fellowship with the saints.
SPEAKER_00: We can experience the presence of God in our lives right now.
SPEAKER_00: God manifests himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: And when he does this, there is what?
SPEAKER_00: Fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: Ever since Genesis 3, God has been working out his redemption plan through Christ to restore us back to our original design, that we would no longer be men and women who are chasing after all of these counterfeits, lost and abandoned, but rather to be men and women who walk with God, who just simply enjoy his lordship.
SPEAKER_00: We delight ourselves in our Creator because his presence brings us joy.
SPEAKER_00: And the last benefit mentioned here.
SPEAKER_00: Is eternal pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: At his right hand is pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: So historically speaking, whatever was at the right hand of like a king or an empire or anything like that, whatever was at the right hand of a king meant that he had complete authority over and abundance of.
SPEAKER_00: So here we are told that at God's right hand is what?
SPEAKER_00: Eternal pleasures.
SPEAKER_00: God has authority of and abundance of eternal pleasures, pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's interesting about this verse.
SPEAKER_00: If we look at the rest of the Bible, especially in the New Testament, we learn that Jesus, after he triumphed over death and was resurrected, he was exalted to the highest position in heaven, which was where?
SPEAKER_00: At the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: So what I think this verse is suggesting, or foretelling, if you will, is that the eternal pleasures is equated with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: So think about this.
SPEAKER_00: It is through Christ that we have the pleasures of knowing God.
SPEAKER_00: According to Ephesians 1, it is through Christ that we experience every single blessing in the heavenly realms.
SPEAKER_00: According to Isaiah 53, 5, it is through Christ's death that we now have healing, salvation, a clear conscience.
SPEAKER_00: According to John 10, 28, it's through Christ that we have eternal life and security in his purchase of us.
SPEAKER_00: Every pleasure that God has given us comes through and is given by Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Which is why we don't seek the pleasures in and of themselves.
SPEAKER_00: We seek Christ in whom our pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, you will find no true, everlasting satisfaction anywhere else in this fleeting world.
SPEAKER_00: You can ask the author of Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_00: It can only be found in God through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There is a giant, God-sized hole in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And the only thing that can truly fill it is Jesus Christ, because he gives us pleasures that are not fleeting, but eternal and everlasting.
SPEAKER_00: So proclamation church, I'd like to conclude this psalm by asking my original question.
SPEAKER_00: Why should we keep going to God when times get tough?
SPEAKER_00: Is he worthy pursuing even if life doesn't go my way?
SPEAKER_00: The resounding answer is yes.
SPEAKER_00: He is worth pursuing.
SPEAKER_00: Where else will you go?
SPEAKER_00: Is there goodness anywhere else outside of him?
SPEAKER_00: Can other gods, can dead idols give you what you need?
SPEAKER_00: Choose the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let him be your portion and your cup.
SPEAKER_00: Bless his holy name and set him always before you and experience the benefits that come with that.
SPEAKER_00: Your heart will be glad.
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want a glad heart?
SPEAKER_00: Your flesh will dwell securely.
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want that kind of assurance?
SPEAKER_00: You will not see corruption.
SPEAKER_00: What an amazing comfort.
SPEAKER_00: And God will counsel you, He will give you revelation, and He will give you lasting pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: All of these benefits, church, are yours in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's made this possible.
SPEAKER_00: You don't deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know you don't deserve it, but yet, because he is a good God, he has made it possible because of what Jesus accomplished on Calvary.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're here and you do not know Jesus Christ, I urge you to come to him, to turn from your sin, trust in Jesus and get to know him.
SPEAKER_00: And if you do know him, but you've gotten away from him, I urge you to come back.
SPEAKER_00: Come back to your first love.
SPEAKER_00: And don't delay any longer under the lies of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Confess, repent, dust your shoes off, and return to the savior of your soul.
SPEAKER_00: And if you do know him and you're in a season of just being really close to him, guard that, church.
SPEAKER_00: Guard that at all costs.
SPEAKER_00: Do not stray and protect your integrity with him.
SPEAKER_00: Church, life is tough, it's weary, and we will suffer in various forms.
SPEAKER_00: But there is hope because we serve a God who wants us to come to Him.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to rely on Him so that we can experience the benefits of knowing Him.
SPEAKER_00: That is what this Psalm is teaching us.
SPEAKER_00: So may we write it on our hearts this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.