Lifted for Fullness of Joy

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Psalm 16 if you don't have a Bible you can raise your hand We have plenty of Bibles in the back and we would love to bring one to you Would love for you to be able to follow a line along verse by verse today in Psalm 16 and so Psalm 16 is a ramp to the resurrection and Most are unfamiliar with Psalm 16 being in conjunction with the resurrection So I want to say to you something that we say all the time around here that if you rake you get leaves But if you dig you get diamonds Well today you're gonna dig and get some gold because this is a golden hymn of David This is a hymn that has a title to it. And if you look above Psalm 16, the title is Mictum, which is a golden hymn of David this is a golden hymn because of the contents inside of the hymn and As we dig into it, you will see that this has some rich information for us today And so as I explained to you why this is such a golden hymn Just know that from the Septuagint that interprets this title as a title that should be inscribed on a pillar perhaps Overlaid in gold it is this valuable. This is a hymn of all hymns This is a psalm of all psalms and this is today for our resurrection Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ And so I'll read Psalm 16 to us and then we'll dive into it verse by verse Line by line and see what it has not only by way of glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ But also how it applies to your everyday life Psalm 16 verse 1 says preserve me Oh God for I take refuge in you and I say to the Lord you are my Lord I have no good besides you as Saints who are in the earth they are the majestic or the noble ones in whom is all my delight The sorrows of those who have bartered for another God will be multiplied and I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood Nor will I take their names upon my lips The Lord is the portion of my inheritance in my cup You support my lot the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places indeed my heritage is beautiful to me And I will bless the Lord who has counseled me indeed my mind instructs me in the night I have set the Lord continuously before me because he is at my right hand and I will not be shaken Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices my flesh also will dwell securely For you will not abandon my soul in sheol nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay? You will make known to me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy and in your right hand There are pleasures evermore Pray with me if you would dear God. Thank you for this him David wrote it down for you. Help us to understand it how it's been intended for us to Understand give us this understanding we pray Illuminate the truth to our mind help these truths to sink down deep into our heart and change the way that we are Change us for your glory conform us into your image and then Lord may we leave today? Changed in such a way that we will live out these truths in Christ name. We ask you in Jesus name, amen

Psalm 16 again is a golden psalm and it's beautiful because of where it goes Not only is it a ramp to the resurrection, but it also Contextually or you can say historically it is a psalm that David accredits God for all goodness all preservation all delight his full inheritance in the fact that he is Supported by God and he recognizes that God is the holder of everything beautiful everything Wonderful all strength and stability is from God all gladness all glory all security of soul from hell Lies in the hand of God his strong right hand the future resurrection of the body is within God's control the future path to heaven is within God's control in the power For fullness of joy is by God's hand So David recognizes these things and as you go through the psalm you can see that that's contextually that's historically Let's think about it messianically If you read this from a christiological standpoint as if these are the words of Christ Then you would then reinterpret this in a more meaningful way and say that this psalm is Christ's prayer of confidence to the father for everything meaningful such as the preservation of the saints and the fact that Christ delights in the saints and that all goodness lies within the Godhead and that God is the sustainer and redeemer and the giver of himself a counselor the almighty strong one The one who is on the throne and who is? unshakable and here you also see from a christiological standpoint that Christ acknowledges that the one who secures Eternity is God himself and he is the resurrector of souls the revealer of life He's omnipresent and he encompasses fullness of joy and his Eternal blessing is to give away his saints to Christ And now this psalm then goes from desperation To the resurrection it goes from what could be known as the body Decaying then to being resurrected and rejoicing and so I would say to you who do you then listen to? Who do you listen to when it comes to all of these meaningful and wonderful things in your life? Who do you listen to for joy? Who do you listen to for health? Who do you listen to for even to see correctly? I've had two different eye doctors tell me don't ever don't ever get context You've got a stigmatism in context You only get context and I've had another eye doctor tell me that that you can who do you listen to? And then I've also had doctors tell me don't eat eggs cholesterol bad. I've had other doctors say yes He eggs good cholesterol back and forth. Who do you listen to nutrition? Doctors, who do you listen to? Well, you also have not only these earthly Points of wisdom, but you also have prophets. Who do you listen to? Do you listen to the prophets that are on television? Or do you listen to the prophets that are in the book? Do you listen to the prophets that are warning your money or do you want to listen to the prophet who is pointing you to? The master I would say to us today. We need to listen to this psalm We need to listen to the prophet of this psalm David is a prophet and as he prophetically preaches and prays and proclaims Christ in this psalm. I would say to us all Listen to him. He is the prophet of the psalm David speaks in Psalm 16 as a prophet Which is speaking the very words of Christ Now some may say hold on a second Psalm 16. Well, perhaps Psalm 16 is by David. I get you preacher I understand that so may say but what how do you read this? Christologically, how do you read Christ into the Old Testament? Some are skeptical I get it. They say now David was not a prophet. He was a king. He was a king He's a king of a nation Israel and they may have some doubt We may have some skeptics in the midst of us today to think that maybe David was just a king not a prophet Okay Well, let's take and listen to what the word has to say turn with me if you would hold your place in Psalm 16 and turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 23 2nd Samuel 23 verses 1 to 2 and see for yourself 2nd Samuel 23 1 and 2

is David just a king or is he more than the king? Is he a type? Is he a shadow? Is he pointing to something? Who is David? When 2nd Samuel chapter 23 verses 1 and 2 you see the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me and His word was on my tongue 2nd Samuel 23 2 this verifies that David indeed held the office of a prophet because God spoke by him. He speaks by his prophets. His word was on his tongue. You still may be a bit shaky I get it. You may be saying oh, well preacher. I don't know about this Some things in the Old Testament are descriptive and some things in the Old Testament are Prescriptive I hear your Christian language. You've been listening. You've been learning and you're correct Some things most certainly are just descriptive of what happened in the Old Testament and other things are Prescriptive as to prescribe what we are to be and do in life Where's the difference then? Well, David might have been even Delusional you might say because at this particular time he was an old man. He's fixing to go to the grave himself He's dying. He's delusional. He he may have said he was a prophet, but he wasn't really a prophet He's in his old days and I say well you definitely have been reading your Bible 2nd Samuel chapter 23 verse 1 says that He was in his last days Okay I get it some are skeptical and they're seeing that maybe that this may not be able to be read the Psalm 16 be By way of a prophet that that David is speaking Christologically don't take my word for it And if you're still hung up just a little bit on whether or not David was a prophet and a king Or if he was just a king Let's continue to let the scriptures speak for themselves Hold your place in in Psalm chapter 16 and let's turn to the New Testament and let's see for sure Let's nail this thing down so that you have no doubt in your mind Acts chapter 2 is where you want to go to see whether or not David was truly a prophet Was he delusional when he said he was a prophet was he speaking by the hand or was he speaking by the hand of God? in Acts chapter 2 You're going to get the answer for yourself and I want you to see it in verse 29 and 30 acts 2 29 brethren I Confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David That he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us this day And so because he was a prophet you see that highlight that circle that David was also a prophet not just a king and so what he said in the Old Testament by was by way of The inspiration of God and so he was both a king and a prophet and he's a prophet and go on to see this this is so Rich and wonderful in verse 30 and so because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on the throne he looked ahead and spoke of what the resurrection of Christ get this David in the Old Testament Looking forward spoke of the resurrection of Christ. And so now you see we are not

Placing Christ in the Old Testament. This is not our will. This is not what we do. We are Recognizing what is in the Word of God? We are recognizing this scripture We are recognizing that Christ was foretold to be one who would be resurrected by the Prophet David This is a true and wonderful point but not only that the David look ahead in verse 31 and spoke of the resurrection of Christ and He was neither abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh suffer Decay. Oh Wait a minute. I think we just heard that in Psalm 16. Are you listening? Are you following so you have a preacher here in the New Testament? His name is Peter. The Apostle Peter is preaching and he is leveraging what has been said in the Old Testament actually Psalm chapter 16 By way of preaching in the New Testament to drive home the resurrected Savior He is proven the resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Old Testament. And so you say okay prove it. Well, sure Just look right above what I've just read in chapter 2 in chapter 2 verse 20 25 acts 225 It says for David says of him I saw the Lord always in my presence for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken Therefore my heart was glad in my tongue exalted moreover My flesh also will live in hope because you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor allow your holy one to undergo decay and you have made known to me the ways of life and You will make me full of gladness with your presence

This is a direct quote from Psalm 16 verse 8 verse 9 verse 10 and verse 11 Hear the high point of Peter's preaching here in this particular passage that David is not speaking of himself in Psalm 16

He is not talking about himself. He is the mouthpiece of God These are Christ's very words in Psalm 16 as a prophet David is the mouthpiece of Christ in Psalm 16. Psalm 16 is Christological and it's beautiful

and if you go back to Psalm 16 and Read this from a common man centered way the way that the majority

of shallow congregations would understand this Psalm they would Be all discombobulated Theologically, they would be all over the map if you read this in a man centered way You see you cannot place yourself in the place of David and read this Psalm as if this Psalm is about you It's not about you. It's not about you It by interpretation then application applies to you. Oh, but we need to do our homework We need to dig just a little bit deeper so that we could see what actually applies to us in this song I don't know about you, but I am worn out By all of these man centered messages that are so common on the internet. I'm worn out by shallowness That short changes you and me of the richness that we have in Christ. I'm worn out by it We need to study to show ourselves approved unto the Lord the Bible says in 2nd Timothy 2 15 We need to rightly divide the Word of God to be able to see what is true to have discernment I saw something the other day. We had four predominant pastors in America praising Paula white. I wanted to throw up. I Wanted to throw up they were justifying. Oh, she may have just a little bit of differences Theologically, but she's doing the greater good her story. Oh, it's so beautiful. It's so wonderful It's it's captivating. Listen to me you and I must discern scripturally and Where these false prophets get to you is through heartwarming? Stories they're gonna tell you a story and you're gonna fall in love with them instead of him And so I'm telling you today. This is not only Christological because we've done our homework and now we see that it's true But we need to know which truth throughout the entire Bible so that we're not fooled by these shallow man-centered Messages and so it's important to be able to see what Psalm 16 really is From the on start from the very beginning and so let's read this wonderful Psalm Psalm 16 starts with a prayer and this is Christ Praying to the Father Christ is wholeheartedly saying to the Father preserve me oh God

Preserve me Oh Lord For I take refuge in you

Jesus Christ is saying to the Father Keep me Protect me Oh Lord guard care for me God use all of your goodness and all of your angels and all of your might to keep me in the center of your will Your will be done not mine. And so now Christologically least we see Christ praying to the Lord and then in verse 2 it says I said to the Lord You are my Lord now This is to fall in love with God to have a father that is loving and true to say this this is Truly the fact that Christ wholeheartedly loves God as the one true God as the one whom he is trusting in with all of his heart with all of his soul with Oliver's his might and strength and from a humanistically standpoint Christ is saying to God you are the one true God and In the flesh God incarnate Jesus Christ is the only one who truly can fulfill What this psalm says that you are my Lord you see We know the scripture in the New Testament in Mark chapter 12 and verse 30 We've memorized this verse before and you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart with all of your soul with all Of your mind and with all of your strength But did you know that that is actually an indictment against us because none of us Have loved the Lord our God

with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our mind and with all of our strength We have not measured up But Christ did for us He came and he loved the Father with all of his heart not one moment of idolatry Not one moment of idolatry Not one moment of covetousness not one half shady lie Not one moment that he sin and so he can truly say that he has Loved the Lord with all of his heart soul mind and strength Preserve me Oh God for I take refuge in you. He is the only one who can actually say I truly Take refuge in you you and I don't We believe our money is going to get us out of a out of a jam Don't we we believe our human strength can work us out of a corner? We believe we can think our way through problems. We believe we can figure it out I can do this in our humanness we sin

We don't love God with all of our heart soul mind and strength We need to be crucified

Thank the Lord Thank the Lord that he sent Christ his son to fulfill what we lack So that in him were covered by his grace in him were covered by his blood in him We're safe against a God who punishes sin

With all of who he is he's holy holy holy and his wrath wrath wrath is intense intense intense as much of God is In holiness and in love as the same God is who he is in his wrath and his discipline

Jesus Christ is the only one whom from verse 1 can truly say I take refuge in you David couldn't say that David might have been the agent for which Was to pin and write down this song but David could not say I take full refuge in you I'm I'm not I'm not saying anything more about David than is true David failed Misherably in so many different ways one time he decided to take a census of his army out of the flesh He wanted to depend upon numbers instead of a strength of God and boy did God ever scorn him for that Just a lack of faith switched from having God as his God and his strength and his refuge and whom he depended upon and He displaced God in his life and he said I'm gonna take a census that I'm gonna lean upon the strength of the Israelite army to accomplish God's will and Old God punished David for that Not only did he punish David he punished 70,000 people who died because of that and did you know that your sin doesn't stop with you when you sin against an almighty? God the punishment that God places upon you doesn't stop with you

When you're disobedient to an almighty God it affects those around you

when you are disobedient to a Wonderful and precious God and then he leans in and disciplines you or punishes you the people around you agonize And all they hurt with a godly hurt Because they are connected to you

When you hurt others hurt I hurt when you're happy and glad in Christ We have also the benefit of having that same rejoicing We are interconnected brothers and sisters in Christ Don't be like the prophet Jonah who was reluctant and resistant and rebellious towards God went the other way To preach the death in the burial in the resurrection Yes there's another reference for you if you're looking for references in the Old Testament for the death and the burial and the resurrection Jonah chapter 1 verse 17 whoo-hoo one verse death barrel in resurrection pictured and Verified by Christ in Matthew chapter 12 verse 40 if you want verification for these things look it up for yourself And see that the death and the bear on the resurrection is something beautiful that we can see not only from the Old Testament But it be verified in the New Testament. Oh, we love these truths Like David we fail many many times, but I thank God that at the end of this Psalm Psalm 16 he too was lifted up into the presence of the Lord as one who would Be the recipient of God's goodness, but let's keep reading Christologically in verses 2 through 4 you see a pledge of loyalty and so you first of all you have a prayer to the Lord a Prayer to the Lord in verse 1 and then now we're going to look at a pledge of loyalty

In verse 2 it says I said to the Lord you are my Lord I've mentioned a little bit of this already, but let me dive just a little bit deeper into this Christ is speaking not only from a Human standpoint to acknowledge that the Lord is Lord But when he says the Lord is my Lord it is worth looking into these words in the original language Because when you see the word Lord in all caps, I mean you have translations that have already translated that to the word Yahweh the legacy translation does that you're smiling and yes, amen, and I see that that's wonderful And the word Yahweh is pointing to the fact that he is the master of all But then he also says that you are my Lord with just a capital L And then the rest of Lord is lower case and that is perhaps at an eye pointing to his sovereignty And so this pledge of loyalty is simply saying I am loyal to my sovereign Master if you want to put this into a concept then Christ is saying I am loyal to my sovereign Master you are my Lord verse 2 and then in verse 3 he transitions to talking about the saints And verse 3 as for the saints who are in the earth these saints. These are set apart ones These are holy ones According to Leviticus chapter 19 in verse 2 To be holy is to be set apart and now we are set apart ones You are set apart from the world. You're different from the world because you follow the Word of God You believe that the Word of God is authoritative and so you align your life With the Word of God you believe what the word says and you behave like the Bible says to and so you're different from the world Because the world does not have the Word of God as its authority You have an authority and you like Christ can say you are my Lord and that pledge can be yours in verse 3 as for the Saints who are in the earth They are the majestic or the noble ones in whom is all my delight Isn't that beautiful now this pledge moves to being able to say that it is the godly people in whom? Make me glad Christ is saying Christologically Christ is saying it's you that makes me glad you who are faithful to God It's you who make me glad Christ is saying you and you you who study the Word of God and you who read the Bible And you who love the Lord and you who worship the church who keep his ordinances? who value

The essentials of the local church Who takes seriously the command to fellowship who takes seriously the command to pray? corporately who takes seriously the command to be underneath preaching to preach the Word of God to teach the Word of God to hear teaching to Hear preaching to be all about the Apostles teaching to be all about acts chapter 2 verse 42 to take seriously what God? instituted because these ordinary means of grace for ordinary people equal all that God has for you in your life if you want to reduce your life in Christ then Drink back from the local church the local church is God's design For you in the fullness of God the fullness of God in you Christ in you is the hope of glory How do you do that except for obeying? What he said to do this is so clear when you see that God delights in Saints holy ones the ones who revere him in his word the one who the ones who take seriously What the Bible says who deny themselves and take up the cross and follow him who live across like lifestyle? Who could go do something else? But yet they deny themselves and they go do what they're supposed to do they discipline themselves for the purposes of godliness They don't flirt with the world and then come and pretend the fellowship and sneak in and out once in a while. They're dedicated disciples dedicated disciples Christ died for the church Who of you would treat it cheaply? Christ died and we're here several celebrating the resurrection But I'm saying to you when we get it when we get the picture when we get the whole thing Then our mind is captivated with Christ. Our heart is captivated with Christ our souls been saved by Christ and our entire willpower is Given to what God says why second Corinthians? Says that it makes it is aimed to be pleasing to the Lord

Is It your aim to be pleasing to the Lord Do you aim to please God with all of your heart soul mind and strength? Are you giving it your best or you just flippantly choosing this to keep Christianity as a side note?

Last I checked Acts chapter 2 verse 36 says that Christ is both Lord and Savior not just Savior. He's Lord and Savior

Christ delights in faithful Saints holy ones and According to Hebrews chapter 12. He disciplines Those who are children and yet disobedient

Hey, I don't know about you

but I want to mimic Christ in this song and be ones whom are pleasing and If you're going to be pleasing unto the Lord, you can be fully dedicated to what the scriptures say I'm not making this up. This is exactly what is

And so you who are faithful are the majestic ones. I think it's beautiful. You're noble You're Christ like and you make God happy joyful infused with this Splendor as he observes your life you deny the flesh to take up the cross you serve Christ about the self

Now he switches gears here This switches gears from delight to actually looking at those who are of the opposite of what makes him delight Look with me if you would in verse 4 of the sorrows of those who have bartered for another God

Hmm will be multiplied Did I tell you that we serve a God who is just holy holy holy and is going to render to each of us? what we deserve This is so true these sorrows these pains these injuries these wounds these sorrows of those who have bartered or perhaps partnered

With another God a false God will be Multiplied. Oh, this is actually Horrific in New Testament terms in Galatians chapter 1 verse 9. It's a curse those who would go to a different God and Submit themselves to a different God. They have been bamboozled. They've been swayed. They've been cursed. They've Been drifting to drift is to be disciplined in here The Lord actually laughs at the wicked turn to Psalm 37 with me Psalm 37 13

When it comes to these who would be wicked and Christ for their own benefit the ones who would take it says I shall not pour out their drink offerings Okay, so they're actually taking the offerings that should be offered to the Lord and they're offering them to false gods This is the context wicked people Psalm 37 12 and following Psalm 37 12 says this the wicked Plots against their righteous it gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him It's almost like it's laughable to see that a rebellious person could think that they could do anything Not only against God but do things on their own that would be ungodly Lord is laughing like what are you doing? I'm God. Who do you think you are?

And he gnashes his teeth at them The Lord laughs at him and he sees his day is coming the wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy to slay those who are upright in conduct their sword It's going to enter their own heart and their bows are going to be broken

It is so wonderful to know the protection of God and you know that when you're faithful

When you're pleasing to the Lord. Oh my

Nothing that forms against you will prosper it is Incredible to have security of soul

to be stabilized in Christ Faithfulness produces this But for those back in Psalm 16 who have sorrows multiplied to them according to the verse it's those who have taken drink offerings and offered it to false gods and

According to the Levitical law They should have offered their drink offerings To the Lord, but now they are participating in false worship It was it can happen in just a moment as soon as Moses went up on Mount Sinai and he came back down with the Ten Commandments What were the people doing? They were engaged in grotesque sins

We got to watch ourselves and we don't fall into the temptations of this world We can fall away from Christ so fast and and fall into a valley of depth of sin so fast We gotta watch ourselves to keep ourselves close to Christ

Here Christ is saying that those stubborn Israelites

Or you could say those stubborn religious ones in our context today

They have taken what should have gone to the Lord and they have offered it to false gods And this is Shameful that they would go from worshiping God to idolatry and this idolatry equals empty pain Bill worship is accompanied with child sacrifice cutting

Self-punishments all kinds of debasements that lead in a downward way Depression is just the onset of knowing that you're drifting from God

so these

Sorrows will be multiplied for those who are working against the Lord They are a wake-up call for us to repent and run to Christ

And so I guess it's true to be able to say that we either delight in God or depart from Him We're ones that are either day by day delighting in the Lord or leaving the Lord We're departing from Him and His presence For the ones who delight in the Lord and please Him joys will be multiplied the ones who depart from God sorrows will be multiplied

And so Drifting is sinking

You know it says But as for me being Christ I am so satisfied with God that all the temptations and false gods will not even be mentioned by my lips That's my short summary of the last part of verse 4. It says nor will I take their names upon my lips I will not even Honor false gods by saying their name I'm not going to not only Take the offerings and offer them to false gods not going to worship false gods. I'm gonna take from God What is his I'm not going to take the money that is due God and give it to myself

I'm not going to put it in my bank. I'm not going to offer it to another God who would rob God God's own people would rob him And it's not like God needs money But how many have made money an issue? How many have idolized money has money become a problem? With you in your life to a point to where it is severed relationships or caused you a problem with the church how many of you have Idolized something to the point to has caused you to drift you have taken a drink offering According to the Levitical law and then given it to yourself or given it to a false God made in an idol

Jesus is so Unpleased with this and so he spends time in the text in delighting in the saints and also showing how displeased he is with those who are rebellious in Verse 5 it says that the Lord is the portion of my inheritance and now he switches back to speaking about the Lord This is very common in Hebrew thought to be able to give contrast because contrast make clear And when you see it clearly in one direction what Christ delights in Then you can also see it clearly and what he is is is it would cause him to be

very disgruntled on the inside Things become very clear with contrast and so the contrast starts when one direction goes in the other from the saints to the ones who are not saints and now back to the Lord in verse 5 the Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup and the cup What a wonderful word this is it means God's divine will God's divine will Lord take this cup from me He prayed as he was looking from Gethsemane over to the cross Lord take this cup take this cup It's too much for me. Have you prayed that before what's happening in my life? It's too much take it from me nevertheless Not my will But your will be done Just as Christ prayed so should we and the Lord is there not only our portion Oh, it's just wonderful to see the portion here is the Lord himself and Christ here is speaking from the standpoint of being a priest priests don't have an inheritance of land

their inheritance is actually God himself and so from a Human standpoint as a priest Christ says priests don't receive a portion of the land God was there portion and now God is my Inheritance I'm satisfied in that numbers 1820 proves this point now Christ is speaking as a as a priest and is expressing his affection for God and that he wants his delight in a Satisfaction to be in full communion with Christ and so Christ himself has the father as an inheritance But more than that it goes on and trickles through what we see in Psalm chapter 2 verse 8 Ask of me and I will surely give the nations to you as your inheritance And now so you see Christ has not only inheritance of God and God is his portion But also his inheritance is the saints is the people you are Christ's Inheritance God grants Christ a gift and that is believers as a reward for his Willingness to be subject to the death and burial and resurrection Christ delights in you your obedient

Nature your your obedient life he delights in that as he sees you deny the self and take up the cross of all He made the lights in that he loves that Third John chapter 1 and verse 4 talks about how even when you're walking in the word

It causes him the fullness of the light there's no greater joy than when you are studying your Bible for Christ Seriously, there's no greater joy. We want God to have full enjoyment The fullness of joy that is that is for his children to walk obediently Parents don't you feel that way when your children are walking obedient with Christ It's just simply no greater you say to yourself. I could die right now and I'd be just fine because my kids are in Christ

There's no greater joy in the same for God the Father And so now you have an inheritance subject come up and a cup subject come up in a portion subject come up and Then it goes on to say you support my lot. This is what God is upholding the lot here

now in verse 6, it's very Fascinating how it brings up this word called lines lines are Commonly understood as border lines, but these Lines that are brought up in verse 6 these lines have fallen to me and the pleasant places indeed my refuge Or my heritage is a beautiful one What are these lines? Like I said, sometimes they were interpreted as boundary lines but these boundary lines are not physical or International they're spiritual. This is a Christian centric song This is not a boundary line This is a boundary line for what God has granted Christ within God's boundary lines within God's will for Christ's life

This is where the pleasant places are Metaphorically speaking the pleasant places and some would say oh I see what this is saying This is literal. I say no, it's spiritual because it's the same word in verse 11 Pleasant places in Hebrew is the same word in verse 11 for pleasures evermore And so these eternal pleasures evermore in the same Hebrew word concept is talking about spiritual blessings within God's will and You have these boundary lines that have fallen to me these these things these

Guardrails so you say God is not going to allow you to go too far to the right or too far to the left He's going to keep you in the center of his will Christ has prayed for that you are seeking that you are walking with the Lord and within these boundary lines are Pleasures evermore. This is where it is life Indeed life in Christ. These these are this is where it's at. This is beautiful life in Christ and so it's not necessarily we're speaking of the Land of Israel it is talking about this typologically in that this is a spiritual fulfillment of what is Heavenly, this is your delight in Christ. This is where it's at you walk with the Lord There's nothing better than Being right with the Lord. So in verse 7 I will bless the Lord who was counseled me indeed My mind instructs me at night verse 8 I have set the Lord continually before me and so Christ is prioritizing the true God perpetually and so as Christ has prioritized God's will God's cup and to stay within the lines that God has provided he has

Prioritized God's will not his own will and this is Superbly important to be able to take his counsel and to walk within these set boundary lines Christ took counsel from the Lord in verse 7 and he continues to set the Lord Before him and then it says because he is at my right hand I will not be shaken not just for a moment if you would humor me and

Look at this from a man-centered perspective Let's say that we're not reading this as if David wrote the psalm say we're not reading this as if it is Christological say we're reading this trying to find something that's going to be for me like I'm coming to the Word of God I'm going to do a quick shallow devotion I'm gonna read the word and I open up my Bible and treat it like a magic book and I find a verse and I said Because he is at my right hand. I Will not be shaken

what as if you have dethroned God and You're on the throne and You've moved God to the side and you're not going to be shaken Because he God is at my right hand You see how messed up it gets so fast When you're not rightly interpreting the Word of God, I mean we can read into the scriptures anything we want

If we read this way But if you read and observe what is and interpret the truth and then apply it to your life you get a whole different message and so Christiocentrically Because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken since God is my Strength he is my stability Christ is looking ahead Knowing God's will for him To walk that V de la Rosa to take on that scourging to have his beard ripped out to be marred beyond recognition to have every bit of flesh stripped off of his back to not be able to carry the cross beam on his own to walk to that cross and fulfill God's will for his life he is looking forward and He is not shaken

Being God Because the Father is at his right hand helping him through in verse 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices that this means his inner being is Rejoicing and he is seeing the splendor set before him You say is this gladness of heart too soon? Is this verse out of order is Christ rejoicing before the crosses this can't be How in the world do you apply that to your life to rejoice before a trial? How in the world do you comprehend what Christ is saying right it it must be out of place?

Brothers and sisters this is not out of place

in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 2 & 3 is this for the joy set before him he endured the cross

Charles Spurgeon said of this verse Oh That we would have the faith to rejoice before a trial comes knowing that it's coming oh That we would have the faith in God that he would keep us stable

Ho to be like Christ to know that the cross is coming And to be able to know that the the joy for enduring such things are coming That is strengthening that'll help you get through a terrible Circumstance that'll help you

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices You say glory is the cross glorious

There ain't no way Yes the way in Matthew and the sea

somewhere around here

John chapter 12 and verse 23

Says that the cross is glorifying

In John chapter 12 and verse 23 and Jesus answered them saying the hour has come for the Son of man to be what?

glorified

Now when you get to the point to where you can view your trials as Glorifying to the God now you are getting Christocentric now you've apprehended the biblical worldview of Christ and now you are getting to the point to where you're getting a biblical worldview on suffering when you are able to say that suffering is glorifying I own it and I'm going to live it out when the sufferings are Viewed from a cross standpoint from Christ's standpoint not from your standpoint You would never say of suffering. It's glorifying you would never say bless the Lord. Thank you so much for crushing my soul today Thank you for pulling the rug out from underneath me. Thank you that I lost my job. Thank you that I got a night car wreck Thank you Lord. You would never say that without having first developed a biblical worldview of suffering without Studying be illogically a Perspective of the cross from Christ's perspective you would never do that in your own You need Jesus as much as I do and this psalm helps us to be able to see Jesus for Jesus's perspective on these things And so as we continue in this psalm It was right that this psalmist said that my heart was glad before he went to the cross before he went to the grave And then in that therefore in verse 9 my heart is glad and my glory rejoices and my flesh also will dwell securely

Now think about it to be able to say that my flesh will dwell securely as he's looking forward to a cross experience It acknowledges that there is life after the grave In the body it acknowledges right here that there is a resurrection to come It acknowledges right now that the psalmist you can say Christ is confident that his body will be resurrected By the power of God. That's what this verse is Recognizing and then in verse 10 for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol in Psalm chapter 49 and verse 15 It says that God will redeem my soul from the power of sheol It's not just in Psalm 16 where we see pointing to a victorious resurrection Also in Psalm 49 verse 15 God's going to redeem for you will not abandon my soul to sheol My remains will be remade

How you say how will my decaying remains especially Christ remains The body starts to decay and rot and smell how will that happen? It says right here for you will not abandon my soul to sheol nor will you allow your holy one to undergo? Decay and you will make known to me the path of life. Well God will make known to us how he does that one day. I can't tell you scientifically biologically or even spiritually How when you go in the grave into the pit and get buried and your body starts to decay whatever is left It's turned into a glorious body I can't tell you but Christ is the way the truth in the life and he is paving the way for us to get to not only being saved But glory is well, and so as you continue to see this Glorious resurrection by way of necessity nor will you allow your holy one to undergo? Decay which by the way We read in Acts chapter 2 where Peter was preaching the same quote in conjunction with the resurrection Which now leads to this? immense joy I Forgot to give you the title for the message

Now we're to the title the title the message is lifted for fullness of joy and Now that this ramp to the resurrection is Getting us to the point of the passage we can be now lifted to the point of fullness of joy Christ is saying in verse 11 that you will make known to me the path of life When he goes to the cross and he's crucified and he is buried

God's gonna make known to him the path of life the resurrected path the pathway up not only for the resurrection but also for the Ascension and in your presence after the ascension in your presence is fullness of joy

In Your right hand there are pleasures ever more being raised caused Christ fullness of joy

therefore

The cross was necessary before he experienced fullness of joy

This is the bull's-eye of this whole passage now Algetically you may say to yourself. How do we defend the fact that all peoples at all times are always saved by the gospel It's because Old Testament Saints looked forward to the death and burial and the resurrection By faith and were saved and that is so clear all throughout Scripture Abraham looked forward John 8 56 Moses looked forward John 5 46 David looked forward right here in Psalm 16 10 as they look forward to the cross The death and burial and resurrection is crystal clear for those Who would listen who would hear who would dig beneath the surface and really truly get to these truths? It's the foolish ones in a slow of heart that do not believe what the prophets have said Jesus said that in Luke chapter 24 verse 25 is the slow of heart and the foolish that do not believe That these passages point to Christ on the cross. It's the foolish ones who are unsaved It's the unwise ones and so it's not very hard to defend this and now you should ask yourself What does this really mean? What does Psalm 16 mean? Well when you observe that Christ was required of God to endure the cross

Before he could obtain fullness of joy

Then you know how the father deals with his children

For you to get to fullness of joy it's by the way of the cross

Do you see that suffering is granted to you because you're a Christian Philippians chapter 1 verse 29 Do you see that it is a blessing and not a curse? Do you see an American worldview falling short before your very eyes? An American worldview a man-centered worldview would say why is this happening to me? Start crying and complaining and get depressed. He'll say did it do something wrong? It's got punishing me for the one who is holy for the one who is faithful They are confident that God is working all things for good Romans 8 28. Oh They're disobedient. They're shaking in their boots because they have defied the living God and now they are Disciplined. Yes, God will discipline his children if you're defying him But for the ones whom are delighting in him Psalm 1 delighting in the law if you're delighting in him Oh, he delights in you and our father loves to bless his children

And the way he blesses his children is by way of the cross

Take up your cross and follow me said Jesus so therefore

Stop you're complaining right let's stop your murmuring

Stop crying about this road of sanctification If you are walking with God and you're studying your Bible sharing the gospel making disciples coming to church Worshiping him you're participating you are in

Alignment with him you're fully engaged with Christ. You're not treating him as a side note

Then you have all the confidence in the world That trials are working for you and they intend God is God is intending them to produce in you the highest joy that you could ever experience this side of glory

This may be a different view of the cross for you This may be a different view of suffering and trials for you This may be a different way of parenting for you parents. Listen to me. Do not be afraid to let your children suffer

Do not be afraid to let your children experience pain Do not have do not be afraid to not protect your children. Do not be a helicopter mom or dad

Christ is grooming your children. You help them get through trials and glorify Christ in all things

Some of us as parents

need to man up and Put on our spiritual boots and pants and see this for what it is and not enable our children to be weaklings in the faith

We do I'm talking to myself. Not just us all we need to see life

from a concentric standpoint we need to see life from Christ's view of the cross and if you do that then like David you can endure acute trials like as if his own son is trying to murder him and Still say preserve me. Oh God as a fugitive David is saying keep me safe from my own who wants to kill me and The psalm moves from desperation to being one whom is rejoicing and you can do that like David did

He lived in a threatening time and that was so depressing for him But he writes and he praises and he prays and he gets to the point to where he's lifted up when he moves from Preserve me save me his soul is in agony And then he ends with looking at the path of life to fullness of joy And he gets it and just for you you know, not even in birthing pains for women They know that is just absolutely nothing in comparison to the immeasurable joys of having a child

And so you really do get this philosophy. You really do get this picture of suffering You really do understand it And now we got to work hard to keep it and apply it to our lives and not sell ourselves Short in these ways you got marital pains going on

Sometimes the deepest harshest pains in the heart

Are marital

But aren't the joys Equal to the pain aren't the heights of the mountains equal to the depths of the valleys Aren't these things beautiful aren't these things wonderful? And so God has allowed these things for a reason God does these things Keep on with Christ continue in the word. We say it around here all the time

John chapter 8 verse 41 Continue in the word just be faithful continue in the word Just continue in the word

Christ he suffered these temptations in Matthew chapter 4 But then right after the temptations he had what the baptism that started his ministry you see these ups and downs in life and when you See them Conceptually from Christ's perspective like as in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 When he made purification for sin when Christ died on the cross and made purification for sin when he made all things that were undone When he made purification for sin the cross he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high you see it The cross and then the throne and when you see that in life, it's a whole picture God's in control and he's gonna take you down so that he can lift you up then you say well I could do without the highs and I can do without the lows I'm good with just walking through this life, right? You kind of pull back and you say I I'm alright Lord Just leave me be leave me off to the side. This is this too much for me. I'm saying to you. It's not your choice

You've been bought with his blood you're owned and operated by God the trials you don't choose You don't you don't choose these things God chooses these things for you And so now as a blood-bought Christian, you know that God decides not only when you were born but also when you die And according to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 even the service unto the Lord is designed by God Everything is designed by God God claims that he makes the evaporation happened every single particle Everything is within God's sovereign plan and when you see this now all of a sudden the cross is more meaningful So what's your job? Your job then is to be content in him in verse 1 in Psalm 16 It says preserve meal God for I take refuge in you take refuge in Christ. That's your job

You take refuge in you in in Christ and I'm telling you that if by chance which the high the likelihood is very high

if God decides to crush you

Then you must have gotten to the point to where you trust him before the crushing

Would God do that would God crush you would God absolutely ring you out what he would he empty you of everything that you have It's not beyond his personality He did it to his own son in Isaiah chapter 53 in verse 5 But he was pierced through for our transgressions and he was crushed

for our iniquities

In verse 10, but the Lord was pleased to crush him It was God who crushed the Sun you see how God deals with his children

There's a crushing. There's a refining There's an emptying There's a pruning John chapter 15. There's all of these things and when you see them from Christ perspective from looking at the cross You know that God's hand is upon you and you and you give up the Oh poor me attitude

And you rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice like in Philippians chapter 4 verse 4 when Paul is in prison

And So quickly I want to run through three take-home truths with you number one

expressing refuge in Christ strengthens security

Strengthens security if you express your refuge in God It's going to strengthen your security It's going to keep you in oneness with God. You're gonna dwell with the Lord You're gonna be in love with him and you're gonna express this and now some of you say what do you mean by express? well, this is a prayer in Psalm 16 and do you think that David wanted to pray while a prayer of Provision and Thanksgiving while he was perhaps I'm gonna be murdered and sometimes we pray do you want to pray like this? Express refuge in God express this and when you do this, this is a personal lifting This expression will lift you and so you're now going to be lifted With the same resurrection power that God raised his son you will be lifted in a trial if you would start praying correctly and you would say I'm going to express my Refuge that he is my safety net. I depend upon the Lord. I have no good of myself I have no other things that that are going to keep me only God can keep me and then point number two pledge your loyalty pledging loyalty Lips you to God pledging loyalty lifts you to God and Saints who are God's are his delight

Saints are who God does not abandon

Saints are who do not have sorrows multiplied in their life This is all straight out of Psalm 16 Saints are Whom have acceptable worship unto God Saints are who Jesus prays to keep safe

This is so true as you go through the psalm as you read this and see this from the perspective of Christ and if you do like Christ as your example and pledge your loyalty it will lift you to God and then three

Remain in God's profound presence

This equals stability and this equals rejoicing in verse 12 in your presence is fullness of joy and If you discipline yourself to remain in his presence I promise you that the joy not only is it stabilizing and not only is it something that is wonderful but it is something that you can look forward to and enjoy with confidence because God is your helper. And so this is to be lifted up in the fullness of joy Psalm 16 is a gold mine for how to view life and to get through not only trials but to see them Victoriously before you go in them and victoriously after you come through them Because of what Christ has done on the cross for us in the same Resurrecting power that God used to raise him from the dead is the same resurrecting power that is available to us when we fully submit to God in View of Christ all glory be to Christ pray with me if you would dear Lord We do love you and we thank you and like in Isaiah chapter 55 I also ask that if anyone here has never come to Christ, I pray that they would Oh Everyone who thirsts come to the waters and you who have no money come buy and eat come Buy and eat come to me. Listen that you may live Oh this prayer from Isaiah the prophet is reaching for people who have never truly been saved God, I acknowledge that if there's anyone here that has never been saved they could never Enjoy the truths from Psalm 16 They must be saved in order to be empowered by your Holy Spirit to be able to view cross-like experiences from this perspective And I pray that if they are not yet say that you would save their soul Grant them repentance of faith and faith so that they can confess you as Lord and believe that God you raised Christ From the grave. Thank you father for these truths Pray your many blessings upon us as we continue in your word. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen