A Sermon by Bill Patton
Sovereign Grace Church Middletown, DE
June 20, 2010

Psalm 16:1-11

Happy Father’s Day to the dads.  What you are doing with your children matters more than you realize.

I recently attended my uncle Dave Patton’s funeral.  He died at just over 80 years old.  At the funeral some of his grandchildren were glorifying God for their grandfather.  As I watched those teens, my mind went back to George and Ruth Patton, my uncle’s parents — and my grandparents.

A benefit of growing older is having a perspective which spans multiple generations.   I knew my grandparents, both born in 1900.  They were serious disciples of Jesus, intent on passing the gospel to me, their oldest grandson.  They were close friends with their pastor, and they were deeply involved in the ministries of their local church, and in supporting foreign missions.  Though George and Ruth Patton raised just two sons, my dad and his brother, many great-grandchildren follow Jesus today.

Fathers let me tell you, nothing you are doing with your lives is more important than what you are doing with your children.  Your investment in them will continue to bear fruit long after you go home to be with the Lord.

Let’s turn to Psalm 16 and pray…

There are seven categories, or genres, of the Psalms:  There are hymns of praise, songs of lament, songs of thanks, songs of confidence, songs of remembrance, wisdom psalms, and kingship psalms.

Psalm 16 is a confidence psalm.   In this kind of Psalm the worshipper expresses confidence and trust in God as protector.

When I read this Psalm I imagine three scenarios.

(1) I imagine David composing it.

(2) I see the church of both testaments confessing it

(3) And I hear Jesus praying it.
So let’s consider the Psalm, thinking first about David, then about the Church, then about Jesus.

I. David –  Composed this Song

David was a great man in virtually every respect.  He was handsome from his youth — the Bible comments on his appearance.   He was a great warrior from his youth — he killed Goliath.  He was a great musician from his youth — he was hired to play music to soothe Saul’s tortured soul.
As he grew up, he was celebrated for having killed more of Israel’s enemies than Saul.  And he was known as “Israel’s singer of Songs” or “The sweet singer of Israel”.

Here’s a guy as handsome & athletic as David Beckman…who can kill as many bad guys as Jack Bauer…who can write and perform music like Bono or Dave Matthews…all of these abilities rolled-up into one guy.  On top of all that, he was a man after God’s own heart.  Its not fair; how can one guy have so much going for him???

David was a handsome, athlete, soldier, rock star — with a pure heart!

No wonder the women sang songs about him!  No wonder Saul was jealous and wanted him dead!  Who can compete with a guy like that — for the affections of the nation?  As you know, David succeeded Saul and became Israel’s most loved king.

Impressive as he was, David was not invincible.  People wanted to kill him his whole life.  I want you to imagine David composing this song.   Let’s read one verse at a time….

16:1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

We don’t know the occasion of his writing Psalm, but we do know David feared for his life.  He cries out to God for protection.  He takes refuge in the Lord.   He flees to the place of safety, to God himself.

Ed Welch, in his book on depression, says that people in difficulty, in misery, stand at a crossroads.  You have to make a choice, he says, and not choosing is itself a choice.  He explains…

“Your decision is between calling out to the Lord, or not.
This is the choice that has confronted those in misery throughout history…
You can sit in silence, or cry to the Lord.
You can cry on your bed or cry to the Lord.
These are the two choices.”

David, in misery, in trouble, chooses to cry out to the Lord.   He seeks refuge in God.

Good move.

Now let me briefly introduce verses 2-6, which we are about to read.  In this section, David is not praying meritoriously. He’s not saying, “God, I merit protection in exchange for my goodness”.  David isn’t depending on his good works for salvation.  He isn’t saying, Lord, I’ve been so good, you owe me protection.

But David is recounting evidences of God’s grace in his life. We often do this when in trouble.  We need God’s protection.  So we do a heart-check: “Am I truly in the good of his covenant? Am I truly walking with him?”  Paul exhorted the Corinthians…”Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.”

As David examines himself, he doesn’t see perfection.  But he does see genuine fruit which has emerged as a consequence of God’s prior work in him.  This gives him confidence that he is truly in the faith.  He see’s evidence that God has transformed the fundamental orientation of his heart.

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

The first thing David observes in his heart (vs 2) is that God is truly his Lord.  “You are my Lord.  You are the one I submit to.  You are my Master.  I am your servant.”  Listen, you can’t expect his protection, his salvation if at the same time, you ignore his commands.  If you are saved, your heart says, with Thomas…”My Lord and My God”.  This is the first step of faith.    Like the prodigal son returning to his Father, we quit trying to rebelliously run our own lives; we fall on our faces before our Father in heaven.  This is the beginning of following God.  We pray, “Lord, You are the boss.  My will is submitted to your purposes.  My kingdom is submitted to your kingdom.  Your Kingdom come.  Your will be done — not mine.  You are my Lord and my God…”

The next thing he observes in his heart is this…

2b I have no good apart from you.”

“You alone are the source of all good in my life.  I’m no longer in vain pursuit of the “good” the world offers or the devil promises.  I’m no longer looking for good apart from you.  I’m no longer looking for good beyond the boundaries you have established.”
Next… David see’s what his heart delights in…and this too is an evidence of God’s saving grace in his life.

3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.

This is remarkable.    Why does David say that he values God’s people and delights in them? What has this got to do with the fact that he’s in trouble and needs God’s protection? What has this got to do with affirming to his own mind that he is in the good of God’s covenant love?

Well, have you ever noticed that people rebelling from God don’t want to hang around Christians?    They don’t want to come to the meetings.  They don’t want to spend time with believers.   They certainly don’t delight in them.     They want to get as far away from Christians as possible.  The rebel can’t delight in the saints while he is rebelling against God.  But David is saying, “Lord, I treasure these people.  They are the ones in whom I delight.
I enjoy spending time with other believers.”  David sees this as evidence that his heart is right with God.

Listen…our attitudes toward God’s people are a reflection of our attitudes toward God. When you don’t want to be with Christians…it can be a first indicator that your heart has drifted from God.

But David’s confidence is strengthened as he see’s evidence of God’s grace.  He delights in the saints!

Now something that might shake an Israelite’s confidence would be if he had mixed the worship of the true God with idol worship.  This was a major temptation in that day.  “Why not have the protection of all the gods, rather than just Yahweh?”  Besides, sacrifices to other Gods could be exciting and very sensual.

But David prays…

4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.

“O Lord, I know that those who run after other Gods…multiply their sorrows.    By your grace, I’m not doing that!  I am not calling on the names of other gods.  I am not looking to idols to give what only you can provide.  I am setting you alone before me.   Lord, no matter how bad things get, I won’t seek relief elsewhere…No matter what, I won’t party with idolaters at their sensual idol feasts.”
David sees this too as evidence of God’s saving work; that he is in the faith

Next David says…

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Under Joshua, Israel crossed into the Promised Land.  Each tribe received their portion of the land, their inheritance.  Each tribe had boundaries.  But the allotments were not all the same size.  Nor were they equally fertile, or equally watered, or equally protected from surrounding enemies.

But whatever land they got – it was far better than serving as slaves under Pharoah, or wandering for another generation in the wilderness.   In view of that, the tribes accepted their boundaries with thankfulness and contentment.

The Levites, with no portion of land, were content to have the Lord alone for their portion.
David drew on this familiar history to express his contentment in God alone.  “I am satisfied in God alone and his boundaries are pleasant to me.”

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

What is David doing here?  Why is he turning to praise?  Well, David, I think, is rejoicing in what God has wrought in him…He gives God credit for having worked these things in his heart.

Its one thing to know his counsel in your mind and be unaffected; it’s another thing to have his counsel deep within your heart.  This is what happens when we are saved.  God awakens our hearts to his counsel and we begin to live accordingly.

“I am not this way on account of myself.  I bless you for what is in my heart.  You have revealed yourself to me and counseled me in the night.

Lets read now to the end…

8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Now…having tested himself to see if he is in the good of the faith, and having passed the test….David voices his confidence.

“Because the Lord is before me (my back is not toward him), because the Lord is at my right hand…I will not be shaken.  My heart will be glad – my whole being rejoices.  Even when I die, I will be safe…my soul won’t be abandoned.  My body will be resurrected.  You will show me the path to walk.  I’ll come to your presence where there is fullness of joy…and pleasures forevermore.”

So that’s David…He evaluates his life.  He didn’t see perfection, but even as he penned the words, he saw evidence that God had wrought a work in heart, and he was confident.

II. The Church Confesses this Psalm

The Psalms were Israel’s song book.  They are also scripture.  Now I want you to imagine God’s people…the church…from David’s time on…singing, praying, reading, and confessing this Psalm.  First….

The Church Prays, “Preserve me O God for in you I take refuge.”

The church is comprised of those people who realize they are in danger on account of their sin.  And they cry out to the Lord to save them.  “Your decision is between calling out to the Lord, or not.”   The church is filled with those who choose to cry out like the tax collector “Oh Lord have mercy on me a sinner”.  We cry out to him to protect us from the coming wrath and punishment for sin.  We cry out for the mercy and forgiveness Christ provided for us in the cross.  The church, God’s people, cry out to him for grace and help every day.
The Church prays, “I say to the Lord, you are my Lord”.
You can’t be in the church, without this confession.  There is no salvation without this confession.  To be saved, we must bow to Christ Jesus as Lord.  We must submit to him.

Apart from this submission of heart, there is no salvation.

It’s not enough to affirm the facts of the gospel.  Christianity is about God’s mercy breaking down our resistance to submit to him.  When his mercy prevails, we receive the forgiveness Jesus offers and bow to God in loving thankful submission.
The Church prays, “I have no good apart from you”.

The church is made up of people who no longer seek blessing or safety outside of God.  We aren’t looking for salvation in ourselves, or in our works, or in any good outside of what God provides for us.

That was Adam and Eve’s sin.  They sought good outside of God himself, beyond the abundance he provided.  But the church seeks its good in God and in within the circle of what he permits.

The Church Prays, “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.”

The church is filled with people who truly delight in one another.  You can’t love God and be ambivalent about God’s people.   If a person doesn’t love the saints, the scripture would ask…is he a believer at all?  The Bible says, “We know that we have passed out of death into life…because we love the brothers.”

Let me ask you…do you delight in the saints?   Do you love the brothers?  Do you regard them as the most excellent ones in the earth?  Do you realize they are the apple of God’s eye?

Jesus said: “Whatever you’ve done to the least of these, my brethren, you’ve done to me.

You give them a cup of cold water…you’ve given it to me!  A cup of cold water…that’s a little thing!  Jesus receives every meal you provide for a fellow Christian, every chair you set up for one of his disciples to sit in, as if you did it for him personally.

These are the excellent ones, the glorious ones, the majestic ones.  Do you see each other as excellent?  majestic?  glorious?

Oh…don’t look at your fellow believers “after the flesh”.   It does not yet appear what they shall be!  They will be glorious, excellent, and majestic !
Sometimes when I encounter less attractive Christians…the socially awkward…those always depressed…or those whose personalities or habits grate on me…I remember this verse.  I find myself thinking, “Hmmm…It does not yet appear what that brother or that sister will be.  She will be glorious.  He will be majestic.  Surely I can offer that person a little attention, a hearing ear, a kindness, a prayer, or a meal.”

The church is filled with people who resolve to not participate with idolaters in their sins.

Do you know your generation’s idolatries?  Are you aware of their pull on you?  Have you resolved to not participate in their sensual idolatries?

The church confesses, “The Lord is my portion; the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places”.

The church is full of people content with the boundaries God has set for them.  We chaff sometimes when the Lord draws a line.  “My family’s lot is not as big as that family’s lot. “My family’s lot is not as delightful as that family’s lot.”  We are all tempted to envy.

Do you see your boundaries as pleasant?   Do you view your inheritance as beautiful?  Let me tell you, your boundaries are in pleasant places.  Maybe all your dreams have not come true.  Maybe you have been deeply disappointed.

Maybe, like me, you have been surprised at where the Lord drew the lines for you. I want to tell you –God has been very good to you – and me.  The boundaries have fallen in pleasant place for us.  We have a beautiful inheritance.

This is what you see in the church through the ages…You see people who say:

“Jesus is Lord.  We aren’t seeking good beyond God’s boundaries.  We love God’s people.  We do not participate in idol worship.  We are content with his providences and boundaries.  We give God credit for the change in our hearts.

Look, none of us has fulfilled these things perfectly.  That’s OK.  We are not saved by our works but by Jesus’ works.  But when we see these fruits as evidence of his saving activity work in our lives…it gives us great confidence!

We have confidence in trial — “I will not be shaken”.   We have joy — “My heart is glad”.  We have peace at the prospect of death — We confidently say, “My soul will not be abandoned; my flesh will dwell secure”.

Finally….

III. Jesus – This is Jesus’ prayer when he was in trouble.

Have you ever read Psalm 22, where the Psalmist prays, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”, then realized — wait a minute — that’s what Jesus prayed on the cross!   Well, I’ll tell you a secret…the Psalms are the prayers of Jesus too.

“David composed many of the Psalms, the Israelites sang them, the church has recited them, and they all point to Jesus.  Ultimately, they are all his songs and you are being taught to sing with him.  Jesus is the divine Singer, and now the songs of the Son of God have been given as gifts to the children of God.” (Ed Welch Depression p.58).

So Jesus prays this Psalm.  I want you to imagine Jesus in Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion, as he went to pray.
Jesus prays, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge”.
Here is Jesus, in trouble.  In his trouble he cries out to the Lord, his Father.

Jesus “says to the Lord, “You are my Lord.”

He prays, Father, “You are my Lord”.  Jesus lived a perfectly holy life.  He is the only man to have fully submitted to the Lord, as Lord.  And here is his greatest test of all.  Will he submit to the Lord, even to the point of death on a cross?  Will he obey even to that extent?  Yes!

When the Father will not remove the cup from him….Jesus prays, “Not my will, your will be done”.
Jesus prays, “I have no good apart from you”.

He looks to the Father alone for deliverance…

Jesus says to the Father, “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

Here is Jesus saying to the Father, “The ones you gave me…the ones you set apart…
the saints, are all my delight!  You love them and I treasure them.  I will serve them by going to the cross.  I will drink the cup of your wrath and offer them a cup of living water.  I will relieve their thirst in a sin parched world.

I will take their sins upon myself and give them my righteousness.  I will be beaten and die for them.  I will take the full brunt of the penalty they deserve.  I will save them.

Now I want to ask you, Why? Why?  Why would Jesus do that?  Here’s why:

“Because, these are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight!”

How can he call us excellent?  How can he delight in us?  Why would he set his affections on us?  We don’t know.  But please, whatever you do, don’t doubt the Lord’s love for you today.   If you have believed in him, he delights in you and rejoices over you with joy.
Jesus confesses, “The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.”

“Father, I have followed you fully.  As I evaluate my walk, I have never once yielded to idolatry of heart.”

Jesus prays, “You are my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.”

“Into your hands, I commit my spirit.  You hold my lot in your hands.”

Jesus says to the Father, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

Folks, if anyone could complain about where the lines of providence were being drawn, it was Jesus.  If anyone could complain of injustice in God’s sovereign plan, Jesus could!  By God’s sovereign design he was being punished for wrongs he had not done!

But Jesus never complained about going to the cross.  He was content.  He accepted his Father’s sovereign will with absolute trust in the wisdom of his plan.  He trusted the pleasantness of God’s lines — even in this, for he knew there awaited him a beautiful inheritance.

Jesus praised his Father, “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.”

Now Jesus praises his Father for the counsel he received many nights – and that night — in the midst of his agony.  Then he rises up confident.

Jesus is the only man who can stand after praying these verses, fully confident in his own righteousness.  He was the only perfect, sinless man.    David could not fulfill the righteousness of this Psalm.  He fell short.  No member of the church can fulfill the righteousness of this Psalm.   We fall short.

Jesus is the only man worthy in his own righteousness of God’s protection.  He is the only man worthy, on account of his own merit, to ascend to the right hand of the Father where there are pleasures forevermore.  Jesus utterly, fully, completely, and uniquely fulfills this Psalm.

Now observe his confidence as he gets up from prayer.

Jesus says, “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”.

Jesus went to the cross for you and me confident, unshaken in his absolute holiness, resolved, and full of love.

Jesus confessed, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices”.

For the joy set before him he endured the cross.  He despised the shame.  But his Father had set joy before him.  Confident in that future joy, he endured the horrors of bearing the Father’s pure wrath.

Jesus prayed to his Father, “My flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”

Jesus was confident in the safety of his soul.  Jesus was confident in the resurrection of his body.

Peter cites this verse in Acts 2 showing that it points uniquely to Jesus.  David’s body rotted in the grave.  Jesus’ body did not.  The Spirit was prophesying through David all those years before about the resurrection of Christ.

Jesus prayed, “You make known to me the path of life.”

Even though he was going to die, the cross was the path of life.

And Jesus prayed, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Jesus was confident that he would ascend to the Father.  Where is Jesus right now?
He is at the right hand of the Father where there is fullness of joy.

Do you see that the whole Bible is about Jesus and what he did on the cross?  Even a song written 750 years before Jesus came, points clearly to the Savior.  God wants us to believe in Jesus!

Conclusion

David was a great man, but he did not live this Psalm perfectly.  The church confesses this Psalm but cannot fulfill it.   Jesus uniquely fulfills the Psalm in every respect through his life, death, resurrection and ascension – for us.

Folks, when you have Jesus as your Lord, when you look to him for all your good, when you delight in his people, when you reject idolatry and refuse to participate in it, when the Lord is your portion, when you are content with the boundaries God has set, when you know God’s counsel to your heart at night, when He is ever before you….

The Lord will be at your right hand.  You will not be shaken.  You will be glad.  You will be preserved through every trial and you will be carried to His presence where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

PRAY