VanRyn, August: Psalm 16; ~ Psalm 16;

This morning, the sixteenth Psalm. I am not going through the book from beginning with the first one and going consecutively. We may go back to some of the previous ones, but as I was in the presence of the Lord last night and this morning, I believe this is the one that he laid on my heart for today. The sixteenth Psalm. 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 is extended not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied at hasten after another god. Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. Particularly this last portion of the Psalm. The Lord is my port- is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My reins 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 rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. I'd like to think with you this morning, if I may, not only of our satisfaction in God, but of God's satisfaction in us. In this particular psalm, I believe the psalmist looks in four directions, in four different places, and as he looks, he says something about each place which his eyes light on. First of all, in verse one and verse two, he's looking up. He looks outside of himself, outside of circumstances, outside of this world, and he looks into the presence of God. He gets his eyes off from temporal things. He gets his eyes off of the things that are passing away, and he gets his eyes on the one that's eternal. I think that's where we ought to start. We ought to start by looking away from self, looking away from circumstances, looking away from temporal things, which are after all passing away, and looking to the one that's real and that's eternal. I think if we lived the way our Bibles begins, both in the Old and New Testament, we'd make better Christians. The first four words in your Bible read like this, in the beginning, God. The first four words of the Gospel of John read like this, in the beginning, the Word. The beginning of our lives, the beginning of our days, the beginning of every thing which we attempt and do for him in this world, the beginning of it should be God. And as David looks up into the presence of God in the first verse of our chapter, our psalm, he not only looks up to God, but because he looks, he prays. That's the place to receive strength and encouragement. That's the place to draw from what we need in order to be able to live for him in this world. If Christians could get their eyes upward instead of down, if we could get them away from ourselves and from things, and get them on the God of eternity, I'm sure that all of us in our lives would live far better than we ever have before. Start by looking up. As you rise in the morning, lift your eyes away from the day before you, and lift your eyes to the God that controls the day. As you start your day in the morning, lift your eyes away from circumstances and lift them up to the God in whose hands your circumstances are. Lift them away f- from cares and from trials and turn them to the God in whose hands your cares and your trials are. The God that says in the Epistle of Peter, we can cast all our anxieties upon him, for he makes us his care. You as an individual are the care of God in this world, and as you look to him, all cares will vanish. The reason we have so many, as someone has suggested, we cross a lot of bridges we never come to. We seek for ourselves, or we put up for ourselves a lot of difficulties which we never meet. And the reason for it is we're looking down and we're looking around at circumstances, and we're not looking up to God. Start in the right place. Start your day that way. Start everything you do that way. And many of you here this morning are young people. I'd like to suggest to you, start your lives that way. Turn them over to him. I have a very dear friend in the city of Denver, and he has a very large model hanging above his bed and above his desk. And on that model are these four, first four words of the Bible. As he rises in the morning, his eyes fall on that text, in the beginning, God. As he sits down in his office in front of his desk, the first thing his eyes light on is in the beginning, God. That is, he turns his day over to God, and he turns his business over to God. And God has cared for him, not only during his day, but during his business as well. Man, many of you know Dr. Dahan. Many of you have heard of Dr. Dahan if you don't know him personally. I happen to know him personally because he lived in the same town we lived for thirty-some-odd some odd years. And one of the members of his congregation, when he had a church of his own, he doesn't no longer have a church. He has the Back to the Bible, or the not Back to the Bible, but you know what radio broadcast it is anyway. Doesn't make any difference. He had a member of his church who was in the contracting business, and I saw some of the buildings that he built. I hate to tell you how he did it. He'd dig a hole in the ground, and he'd stand in one corner of the basement, he'd take a s- a shovel of cement, and he'd throw it as far as he could throw it over the sand and then set a cement block wall on it. By the time the house was finished, they'd have to brace it or it would fall apart. And it came to Dr. DeHaan's ears, and he went to see him. And this young man was rather outspoken, and he said to Dr. Dahan, he happened to have the wrong party he said it to, but he said to him, well, Doc, my business and my religion don't mix. Dr. Dahan says to him, Russell, if that's the case, you better get rid of your business. In the beginning, God. Start with him. Start your day with him. That's the way everything you see started, and that's the way everything you see is gonna end. That's where you start your life, and that's where you're going to end your life. So lift your eyes away from things, and lift your eyes to God himself. And then the second thing, he looks around. When he looks around, first of all, he looks at Christians. He looks at the saints around them. He looks at the other believers. And if you have lifted your eyes to God first, and then you've looked at other Christians, you'll see God in the other Christians. The reason we don't see God in them because we look at things around us, and we see the things in the other Christians. When your eyes are filled with God, you'll see God in others. That's why you need to look at God first, and then look at your fellow Christians. There isn't a Christian in this world that's worthy the name, if you look at them, you can't see something of Christ in them. That's got to be there for them to be Christians. The trouble is we're looking for things in them when we first looked at things around us. If you lift your eyes heavenward, and then you look at others, you'll see Christ manifested in their lives, if you but look for it. The apostle tells you, whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are lovely. Look on these things. The trouble is we are so constituted that the good things we see in others we forget, and the bad things we remember. Take a good look in the mirror some morning, and take a good look at yourself, and you'll be more lenient with others as you look at them. Our brother Bill McDonald, who was the president of the Emmaus Bible School, we were there for dinner one day, and he has a mirror hanging in his living room. And I'm not very proud of the way I look, but occasionally I have to comb my hair, what's left of it. And I very proudly walked up to the mirror, and I took my comb out, and lo and behold, in the center of the mirror, he has a text pasted on it. And this is what it says, therefore pray. Take a look at ourselves, then take a look at God, then take a look at other Christians. You'll be surprised how much good you can see in others, because the light that you have received from God will be reflecting upon them, and you'll be able to live with them and to get on with them. When something is wrong with another Christian, we seem to masticate it all the time, and we seem to be feeding on it instead of feeding on the good things that we see in others. And when David said he's looking to the saints, he's looking to every saint. Not just one particular company. Not just one certain, one certain clique of Christians, but every saint in all the world, everywhere. He looks to them, and then he looks to God, he prays, and then he looks to the Christians, he works. He serves. When you've looked at the Lord first, you've brought your request to him, then you look at other Christians, you'll start doing something. Because the only way to become active as a Christian is to be filled with what God has for you and what he's done for you. That's where you look to begin with, at God, and then at people around you. And then in verse five and verse six he looks inside. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My reins also instruct me in the night seasons. He finds his satisfaction in God. He finds his satisfaction not in materialism, where so many of God's people seem to be groveling along and attempting to satisfy themselves with them. He finds his satisfaction in what God is to him, what God has given to him. Notice what it says, I have a goodly heritage. Everything that God is, is yours. He has blessed you with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. You are far richer than anyone in this world ever dreamt of being. Mr. Henry Ford, when he died, left nine hundred and sixty million dollars. He didn't take a dime of it with him. When the queen of the country in which I was born died, she died as the richest woman in the world. Over six hundred million dollars, Queen Wilhelmina. When she died, she didn't take a penny of it with her. Thank God she knew Christ as her savior and went home to heaven. I have an inheritance that God has given to me that cannot compare with anything this world has to offer. And when I look in myself, I see given to me and put in me the person of God himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. I have something that nothing in this world can compare with, and so have you. When my wife and I were on our honeymoon some... I make a mistake every once in a while. I have to think how long ago it is. It's thirty eight years ago. When we were on our honeymoon, we went to the city of Detroit, and we went into the largest department store in the city, Hudson's, a square city block. We happened to be there, make the sad mistake of being there on a Monday when they had a sale on. We were being pushed from one side of the aisle to the other. I didn't want to buy anything, but I think they were afraid I'd get some of the bargains. But we went right through the building from one street to the other, and we got out on the other side. When we got out, I said to my wife, the trouble with these people is they don't know who we are. If they knew that we were the sons of the king of the universe, the son of God, that we had an inheritance in heaven reserved for us, and we are being kept for the inheritance, they wouldn't be pushing us around. You can look inside of you, you can see all the wonderful things that God has given to you. You've been blessed not with some, but with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Everything that God could think of, and I say it reverently, has showered upon you as an individual. You can revel in it, you can swim in it. You'll never be able to comprehend it. It'll take an eternity to reveal it to you. As someone has suggested, when one of these birds that are flying around here could fly to this El Capitan and sharpen his beak on it once a year. By the time he'd have that mountain worn down, God will still be revealing to you what you have in him. It's incomprehensible to a human heart and mind, but it's for you nevertheless. And when you've looked around, looked at God first, and then looked at others around you, and you can look inside, you can thank God for what you've been made and what you are. That's where the psalmist looked next. And then in ver- from verse nine to eleven he looked beyond time. He looked into eternity. He looked away from what is to what is to be. He looked away from passing things to eternal things. He looked away from that which is not real to that which is real. He looked away from something he had for a little while to something he was going to have forever. Notice what he says. My heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope. And now, of course, this is a verse particularly applicable to the Lord Jesus. Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. But listen to the last verse of it. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. These are the blessings that God has given to you and me as his people. What should it mean to us? What should be the result of it in our lives? Because everything God's given to us is given to us for a purpose. What should be the effect in our lives as we live for him. Let me think with you of five or six, or six effects that are mentioned in this psalm. First of all, praise. Verse seven, I will bless the Lord. That is, our hearts ought to be bubbling over with thankfulness to him for what he's given to us, for all that he's showered up upon us. When you go back to your home assembly and you sit in the Lord's Day morning meeting and hearts are being raised in praise and thanksgiving to God, are you one of the silent ones? I've been in some large assemblies. I've been in an assembly for thirty years, but it was a hundred and forty in fellowship, and those that ever gave thanks to God, I can count on my two hands, on my ten fingers publicly. When you speak to them, they say they do it silently. I wonder if you're really filled of what God is to you, you couldn't keep still if you wanted to. I will bless the Lord for what he's given to me. I'll shout it out. When I was a boy, I played football for seven years professionally. Now, don't misunderstand me, not what you call football in the United States. That isn't football. That's somebody carrying something all over the field. Mr. Woods knows what football is, I'm sure, and some of you Englishmen do too. You call it soccer in this country. I played it for seven years professionally. And I had lungs. And our team was playing, and I wasn't happened to be playing. I stood on the sideline, and I yelled for all I was. And so do you when you go to a football game of your college or your high school. But I say it reverently again, yell sometimes for the wonderful things that God has done for you. Raise your voice in thanksgiving and praise to him. The result of what God has given to you ought to burst your lungs in songs of thanksgiving and praise. And then next, he'll have fellowship with God because he says, I've set the Lord always before me. He's my companion. Because of what I've received from him, I want to live with him. I want to enjoy his presence. I want to listen to his word. I want to go into my closet and converse with him. I read some time ago of a university student. I've never seen it before, but it was very interesting to me. One of his friends who lived with him in the room watched him as he lived in the university, and he'd be kneeling by his bed and in front of him would be his open Bible, and for ten minutes he'd have his eyes closed, and then for ten minutes he'd have his eyes open, and he did that every morning. And his son finally became curious and said to him, what are you doing anyway? Well, he says, for ten minutes I'm talking to God, and then for ten minutes I let God talk to me. Fellowship with him. That's the next thing we have when we realize what God has made us and what we are in him. And then again, as I mentioned the other morning, you'll have stability, you'll never be moved. A man whose mind and heart is filled with God is sure in this world. You'll be sta- stabilized by him. The, the psalmist says in this verse, in verse eight, I shall not be moved, and I will have joy. Therefore, my heart is glad. The only joyful Christians in this world are the Christians who heart, whose heart is stayed in the Lord and who are praising and worshiping him. You'll have guidance, for he says, thou will show me the path of life. God will lead you if you let him. You'll have hope. In thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. Now, I suppose primarily the last verse of this psalm is speaking of the future, but if I may, I'd like to apply it to you to the present. I believe you can divide it in the center. In thy presence is fullness of joy, and you can be in God's presence now. You don't need to wait for eternity. It'll be completely full then, that you can have fullness of joy in your heart and in your life by being in the presence of God now. And in that day, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. You can have all the fullness of God dwelling in your heart while you live in this world, and you'll be reveling in the pleasures that God has for you when you get in his presence. God grant that you and I, in our days, might start them by looking up and continue them by looking around, looking within, and bursting out in praise and thanksgiving to him for what he has made us in the person of the Lord Jesus for his name's sake.