Now shall we turn to the sixteenth psalm, please. Psalm sixteen. Psalm sixteen, verse one. Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellence in whom is all my delight. Their sorrow should be multiplied that hasten after another God, They drink offerings of blood, but I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup, thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell or in shield, and neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life, in thy presence its fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. May God bless the reading of this word. Should we seek his face? Blessed God, our Father, we thank you for this wonderful book we have in our hands. We thank thee for the messages thou hast for us in it. And whenever we turn in this wonderful book, we can hear thy voice speaking to us. We pray that tonight the Holy Spirit might take the word of God and apply it to our heart. And we ask, Lord, that thou do a work in our hearts tonight for thy glory. Exalt and magnify thy beloved Son. Here we pray thee. And as we gaze upon him, may we unite at thee and individually rededicate ourselves and our lives what there is left of them to him and to his work and to his glory. We thank thee, Lord, for bringing us to many of us here tonight. And we ask all that thou bless us. We seek thy faith in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, the last time I was speaking here on a Sunday night, that was seven weeks ago, I spoke on the eighth psalm, and then a few weeks previous to that, I spoke on the second psalm. That is, we've been trying to take up as a series what we call the Messianic psalm, the Messianic psalm. Now, a messianic psalm is a psalm about the Lord Jesus, which is quoted in the New Testament. Now, in many of the psalms about the Lord, the first psalm, blessed is the man who else could be, who else could it be but the Lord Jesus. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the Council of the Ungodly. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Who else could that be? Of course, it applies to godly men, and I think we did point out some while ago on a Thursday night when we were talking about the first psalm, that in the psalms here we get two men, the righteous man or the blessed man, and we get the ungodly man. And all down through history we have two men. God looks down, as I said, Thursday night, and he sees two men, Adam and Christ. As in Adam, all die, so in Christ all are made alive. But whilst many of the Psalms speak of the Lord Jesus, these Psalms which we call Messianic Psalms are the ones which have been selected by the Holy Ghost and quoted in the New Testament. Now let's turn to Acts chapter two, a moment. Acts chapter two. And Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. And it seems to me he's got one of these new versions of the scripture. Because he's quoting Psalm two. In Acts two and verse twenty five, For David speaketh concerning him, concerning the Lord Jesus. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice. If you go back to Psalm II, you'll find the words in verse nine, in Psalm sixteen, verse nine, it says, Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. Here he says, Therefore did my heart rejoice? And my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope. But obviously he's quoting Psalm II and applying it to the risen Lord Jesus Christ. because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his supplicant is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath, to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ. Psalm sixteen is the resurrection sound. He spake before of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh, left in the grave, neither his flesh did see corruption. Now turn to the thirteenth chapter of Acts. Paul is speaking at Iconium over there in Asia Minor. And I think it's verse twenty-five, thirteen chapter of Acts, verse thirty-five. This is thirty-five, but I'll go back a bit. Verse thirty-two, We declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us as their children, and that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is written in the second psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he says, On this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Psalm sixteen, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption. I think that's pretty obvious that the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of Peter and by the mouth of Paul, tells us that Psalm sixteen is Although it was written by David and can be applied to David, yet there are details there which could not be applied to David. David saw corruption, and he says we've got his tomb with us to this day. But the Lord Jesus did not see corruption. God raised him from the dead. So this is a psalm, a messianic psalm. By the way, I understand that Mr. Tierney's Wilson is writing a new book called Messianic Psalm. I'm waiting for it, but it won't be out for a bit. First one, preserve me, O God, for indeed do I put my trust. Here we get the Lord Jesus as the obedient one. Here we get the Lord Jesus, in his wonderful life of dependence upon the Father. He was the eternal Son. At any moment he had all the eternal power of the Godhead, but he didn't use it. He was subject to the Father. And he kept saying, I only do the will of the Father. I don't do what I want to do, I do what the Father wants me to do. And he left us a wonderful example how we should live in our day as we trust him and believe in God. Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. If the Blessed Son of God talked this way, how much more do you and I have to talk this way? In thee do I put my trust. And we'll see here that day by day and night by night, I've been impressed in reading the Psalms lately, how much the night is mentioned. How David keeps talking about the night. And it comes again in this Psalm. In thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord. Now here the word Lord is in capital letters. Hello, R-D, capital. Whenever you get it in the capitals, it means Jehovah. Jehovah. So you get two words there. Thou hast said unto the Lord Jehovah, thou my Lord, and that's in small letters. Now what that really means is this. He's speaking to his soul, the Son of God, speaking to his soul. And he says, unto Jehovah. thou art my master that's what he's saying thou art my master what a wonderful lesson we have here with son of god the eternal son become man seems to me that if if psalm two the first messianic psalm is the psalm of the king be applied to matthew and if psalm nine is about the psalm eight is about the son of man it could be applied to luke but here it's a servant it's the obedient one and here we could apply it to mark and he says he speaks himself and says unto jehovah thou art my master so the son of god day by day when he came into this world he came to do God's will and day by day he looked up to the Father and he says, Thou art my master. Thou art my master. And I feel there are lessons in this Psalm for us that day by day as we arise in the morning we ought to be praying this way to Jehovah and say, Thou art my master. In all the details of this day I want to do what you want me to do. I don't want to have my will or my way. I see so much sadness amongst the people of God today because so many people go their own way. They do not fully wait upon the Lord. They say they trust the Lord, and they say they want to do the will of the Lord, but usually the plan is they work out a plan, they arrange, they think, well, I've lived here long enough, let's go and find another house, let's go and build another house. Or else they don't like their job and they want another and they go and find another job. Or else a young man or a young woman chooses a partner for life and when it's all done and they say, now, Lord, I hope this is your will and you bless it. But that isn't the way it's done. You've got to have God's will first. Don't go and find a new house unless God's told you to do that. Don't go and find a new job unless God told you to find a new job. Don't choose a partner for life unless God chooses the partner for life. It's no good for you to make the choice or for me to make the choice and say, now, Lord, you bless it. I don't see why you should bless it. And I think there's a lot of sorrow and a lot of problems in the world today amongst the Christian people because they go their own way. But the Lord didn't do that. Morning by morning, he waits to hear God's voice. He says, Oh, Jehovah, thou, my master. But look at the wonderful thing he says. Now, my goodness extendeth not to thee but to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is almighty light. Do you remember in Proverbs eight? In Proverbs eight, we were talking about it some couple of years ago here when we were talking in the Proverbs. We got so far with Proverbs we might pick it up one day and go on. Several have asked me to do that. But do you remember in Proverbs eight we picked out that verse where It says, the Lord says, and there's no question, he is wisdom personified in Proverbs eight, does not wisdom cry, the Son of God is crying. And he says, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before his works of old, before the earth was made or the mountains or the rivers or the oceans or anything. He says, I was with him, daily with him. and he delighted in me. But the Lord says, And my delight were with the sons of men. I like to think of a picture way, way back in eternal ages of the Son of God looking down over the course of time. Here in this psalm he's taking the place of a servant to do the work that God had given him here. But up there in the eternal ages he's the eternal Son of God and he looks down over the course of time and he sees you and me and he says my delight were with the sons of men I always marvel at that I think of the great cities of this world New York gray wicked city Chicago I think of some of the cities I've been in abroad Paris Alexandria and Egypt Some of those great cities rampant with wickedness. I lived for some years in Cairo. And he says, My delights were in the habitable parts of the earth. That's where men dwell, the habitable parts. And the Son of God, back there in eternal age, he took down over the course of time and saw us in the habitable parts of the earth. And he says, My delights were with the sons of men. I used to have a wonderful friend in Greece and he used to preach this way. He said that when the Lord looked down and said his delight, his love upon the sons of men, he said, there must have been a moment somewhere when the Son went to the Father back in eternity and said, I love those people and I want to have them in heaven. And a moment he said, I want to have those people in heaven. The throne of God cried out and said, It can't be. They're sinners, and sin can never enter heaven. They can't come. But he said his delights upon the sons of men. Then if you turn over to Psalm forty, you'll find there came a moment back again, I believe, in eternal ages. In the volume of the books, the volumes of heaven, it's written. There came a moment when the son dedicated himself. And he said, lo I come, I delight to do thy will. My delight, sir, with the sons of men. I delight to do thy will. And here he says, in whom is all my delight? Where is all his delight? To the saints of the earth and the excellent. He came down here to win those in whom he found delight. And he won us to himself. And he saved us. And now we are the saints. And we are the excellent in the earth. His church is the excellent in the earth. And his delight is in his church. And he says, my goodness extends to them. And surely how his goodness extended to his church. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. So his delight, sir, to the excellent. And what wondrous grace if he could call you and me saints and the excellent in the earth. It's a wonderful thing that in this sordid, wicked, rotten world in which we live, full of sin and filth and wickedness, there are those who believe in Him. And there still is in this church, the church, the true, really born-again believers in the Lord Jesus. And amid all the corrupt religions of the world today, there still is one true religion. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, His church, His body, And by one spirit we've all been baptized into that body. And he says, my goodness, he's extended to them. And how his goodness was extended to us. Then look at verse four. He changes now. And he speaks about, we talked about two men in Psalm one and two men in Psalm two and two men in Psalm three and Psalm four. He's turning to the other side now, not to the excellent, not to the blessed man, not to the righteous man, but to the ungodly. Verse four, their sorrows shall be multiplied, that hasten after another God. Dear drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. Those that hasten after another God, idolatry still exists in the world today. True in many foreign lands they still worship idols, but in this great vast country of America, and in other countries where some of us have lived like Great Britain, there's much idolatry. Gold and silver and all the wonders of the inventions of this age of worship. How many men have made a boat their idol? We see them out on the lake here on a Sunday and they just lived for spending all day Sunday in a boat as an idol. Never any thought of going to a church or spending the Sunday in the things of the Lord. No, no. They've got an idol. Somebody told me, I think it was last Sunday, we were talking to, yeah, with Mrs. Wardenburg. She said, when you buy a boat, there are two wonderful days. You enjoy them. That's the day you buy it, and the day you sell it. Because we were sitting there in Wardenburg. Wardenburg's got an apartment up on the fourteenth floor. Beautiful. And when you look out one side, you're looking right over the ocean, and the ocean breezes are blowing in. And on the other side, you sit on the balcony, you look straight down, straight as this, right down, fourteen stories down, and there's the intercostal waterway. And all the boats going up and down, up and down, up and down, all the time, most interesting. So we were talking about boats, and she said, we had one once, but there's two good days, the day you buy it, the day you sell it. Still, I don't know why I'm talking about boats, except men have idols. men have idols and he says they hasten after another god another god and the lord says the lord jesus says no i'm not having anything to do with that i will not offer nor take up their names into my lips Now look at the position of the Lord here. The Lord is a portion of mine inheritance. Israel was divided up. The land of Israel was divided up into lots. And each tribe had its portion and its inheritance. And each family had its inheritance. And that's what they rejoiced in. That was their inheritance. God gave it to them. The Lord didn't, you know. The Lord hadn't got a lovely home. He said, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And Abraham, who had the opportunity of living in a place where I believe in those days they were building their condominiums, I always think of the eleventh chapter of Genesis. When I drive, we drove all up the strip there, the golden strip down in Miami last Saturday night, and there's all the wonderful condominiums. And I always think of, let us make us a name, let us build us a city, and let's build a tower that gets up to heaven. That's what they've done. and Moses and Abraham lived in that time because in the same chapter, the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, pardon, the eleventh chapter of Genesis, they God called Abraham. It says in the twelfth chapter, Abraham had called him out, but in the eleventh chapter it came out. And they said, let us make us a name. I don't know what any of the names were. I don't find anywhere to record any name of those fellows in the eleventh chapter. Their name is nowhere. But God said, you come out, and I will make thy name great. That's what he did for Abraham. And he said, they're building these great vast things. Come out. I don't want you to live in that one. You live in a tent. They went to build cities. And God said to Abraham, you'll be a tent dweller. And I'm going to build you a city. And he looked for a city which had foundations. Whose builder and maker is God. He never saw it. Except by faith. I think he's seeing it now, you know. Now here's a lesson for us. Don't let's get too firmly rooted down here. The Lord said, The Lord is my lot. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. And of my cup. thou may change my lot. Now you can't drink a lot, but you can drink a lot out of a cup. You know that? And he says, the Lord is my cup. That's what you can drink out of. Drink out of him. And God supplied all his need. His cup was full and running over. And the Lord amid all his sorrows and the problems of his life, he rejoiced all the time in God. And his cup was full. A twenty-third psalm, that's about the Lord, too. My cup runneth over. And he says, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and the cup, and my cup, and thou maintainest my lot. I believe what we'll see presently, God has a lot for you and for me, and he had for Abraham. The lines are falling unto me in present places, yet I have a goodly heritage. apply it to the Lord Jesus it's a messianic sound amidst all the sorrows and the problems of that those thirty-three years he lived down here on earth he said the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places how could it be it could only be this way that day by day he did the Father's will and if you're doing God's will then it's pleasant places all right never mind how rough the road or how difficult the lines have fallen unto me in Pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in the night season. The Son of God, it's often said of him, that he was up before the day, or he was up on the mountainside, or he spent all night in prayer, and the Lord Jesus, although he was now, I want to be very careful what I'm saying, but the Lord Jesus, although he was the eternal Son, He learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And the Lord Jesus, although he was the eternal Son, he laid aside his glory when he left the heaven. And he came down here to be a man. And I believe that he learned from the Word of God. Now, of course, he had all eternal knowledge with him. But I believe, and this is a delicate subject which I wouldn't dare touch hardly, but I believe he learned from the Word of God. Morning by morning he says, you open mine here. And he knew the Scriptures. He came down here to be a man like you and me and to live the life we have to live. And he says, I will bless the Lord who gave me counsel, has given me counsel. Well, he had all the counsel. He was the eternal God. But he put himself into such a position down here as a man that he took counsel from God. And he always did the Father's will so that you and I can take courage and go along the same way. He says, I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in the night seasons. As I said, David often talks about the night. What we were reading last week, he said, I'll lay me down and sleep, and he goes to sleep. He trusts the Lord, but there are some nights when he spent the night with the Lord, and the Lord Jesus did that. He knew the book. Of course, he wrote it, but he knew it. I have set the Lord always before me. Now, think of this. It says he set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. God's plan for him was to go to the cross with all the cost and all the shame and all the terrible agony of the cross. He went there to make redemption for you and me and that's why he came. And he says, I have set Jehovah always before me. He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. And when he stood before Pilate, And when he stood before Herod on that awful judgment morning when they were putting him to death, he says, The Lord is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. And he said his face was a flint to go to Jerusalem. We sometimes sing about no turning back. No turning back. The cloths before me, the world behind me, no turning back. This is what the Lord Jesus did. No turning back. And I think, I sometimes think this way. As we get older, I suppose you feel sometimes. Wouldn't it be nice to take it easy? I sometimes feel that way. Wouldn't it be nice to... I sat on that lovely balcony down there with Mr. and Mrs. Wardenberg last night. And I said, the lines have fallen on you in pleasant places. I said, sometimes I dream about something like this where you can get up in the morning and Spend the day just the way you want. But no, that's not, I don't think God's planned that for all of us. I think we've got to go on. He says, I set the Lord before me. I shall not be moved. He was going right on to the end. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope. Now he's talking about his flesh. That's his body. And this is the whole crux of this chapter now. It's the resurrection chapter. His body didn't see corruption. So we're coming now to the theme of the chapter, which is resurrection. He says, Thou wilt not leave my soul. Verse nine. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope. my flesh shall rest in hope his hope was that God would raise him from the dead but that was in God's hands now of course he did say I have power to lay it down I have power to take it up again so he had but as a man that sight he was in God's hands and God raised him from the dead Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. He could look beyond, like Abraham, he saw a city that had foundations, and the Lord Jesus looked beyond to the glory side. Why, in Peter it says that the Old Testament prophets, and here's one of them, David, is one of the Old Testament prophets, they wrote of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And as they went to Emmaus, that Wonderful resurrection day, the Lord Jesus said to those two disciples, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory. And so the Lord Jesus knew the glory lay beyond, but the suffering came first. So he says, My heart is glad, my glory rejoices. My flesh shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave. I take it that's what it means there. She'll, it's the place of departed spirits. Thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave. Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. When Lazarus died and the Lord told them to open the grave, they cried out, Why, he's been dead four days. By this time he stinketh. Because this body soon goes to corruption. There's nothing so foul and awful as a dead body. It's been remaining for a while. When a person dies, you've got to bury them quickly. But the Lord Jesus did not see corruption. I rather think... I rather think it's probably because He did no sin. We're sinners. He was not. However, His flesh did not see corruption. And He says here in prophecy, David writes, Thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. So the same body came out of the grave and they recognized him. And then he looks beyond it all and he says, Thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence, this fullness of joy, at thy right hand. There are pleasures forevermore. in thy presence is fullness of joy. And the Lord was looking beyond Calvary. He was looking on into those eternal ages. He was looking on to the joy not only of the resurrection, but of the ascension and going back to the glory in heaven. And he was looking on to a day, shall let me read it, in Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, and this is the day we look on to. It says, verse five of Ephesians chapter two, when we were dead in sins, he's quittened us together with Christ by gracious saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's where we are now in Christ Jesus. Now, seated in the heavenly places. But look on to the next verse. And you look where Abraham looked. And you look where the Lord Jesus looked. And you look where we should be looking in the next verse. That in the ages to come, in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Well, a wonderful time is coming. Up there amid the eternal joys and glories of heaven. in the ages to come eternal ages he's going to show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us and that's why sound sixteen was written that's why the Lord Jesus came down from glory that's why he said indeed do I put my trust that's why he said unto Jehovah thou my master I'm going to day by day do what you told me to do and I'm going to set my faith and set the Lord always before me. I shall not be moved. What for? My heart is glad. Why? Because I look on, he says. And thou shalt show me the path of life in thy presence, his fullness of joy, and thy right hand pleasures forevermore. The Lord Jesus lived that lonely life of sorrow. The Lord Jesus went to that awful place called Calvary and suffered and bled and died for us. Thank God. God raised him from the dead, and he set him in his own right hand amid the glory of heaven. And in the ages to come, he's going to show his kindness to us, those for whom he came down, the excellent in the earth, the saints. All his delight was in them. Why? Because he looks on to that day. If in eternal ages, if indeed it was so, that the Son went to the Father and said, My delights were with the sons of men, and I want those sinners in heaven. Truly he's getting his desires. I love John, verse twenty-four. Father, I will that they are whom thou hast given me. Back in eternal ages he asked for us. And then when it's all over, he takes his places having accomplished The work of redemption in the seventeenth chapter of John, then he makes his will, his decree. I think his prayer ends in the twenty-third verse and the twenty-fourth verse. He says, Father, I will. This is my will. That they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. So, beloved, there's a wonderful day in front. Let's get cheering up. And don't let's get looking at the things down here and the idols and the little bits of trash and stuff that the world can give us here, but let's keep our eye upon the Christ and go right on to that wonderful day when we shall hear His voice and be called up to see His face and spend eternal ages with Him. Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we thank You for the wonderful example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has left the glory of heaven where He was the son of God, came down here on earth still the son of God, prevailed his glory, emptied himself, and became obedient so that he called thee master. Obedient unto death, took upon him the form of a servant, humbled himself, and went all the way to the place called Calvary, that he might win us to himself. We thank thee he never turned back. We thank thee for these thoughts we've had of him tonight as he trod that lonely road which led to that awful day when he hung upon the cross. But we thank thee, Lord, thou hast answered all his prayers, and thou hast given him a church, and we thank thee thou in thy wonderful plan as put us in the church so that we are thy people. and we look on to that day the age is to come when he'll show the exceeding greatness of his kindness toward us. We thank thee for the work of redemption and we thank thee for thy beloved son that accomplishes it all. We pray thee, Lord, for us in whatever's left of life for each one of us that we might go on and keep going on for thee, for thy glory. Until that wonderful moment when we see thee face to face. We seek thy parting blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.