Sermon Tone Analysis

SLIDE 1 This is a very personal hymn of joy that focuses on the goodness of God.

David used the personal pronoun “my” is used over a dozen times in it.

He talks about his joy in verses 9 and 11 and his delight in verses 3 and 6.

God is his Lord, his portion, and his cup.

David finds his delight only in God and confesses that everything good in his life has come from God.

Some wonder if this psalm was written shortly after God gave David the promise of an enduring throne.

That promise was eventually fulfilled in Jesus, the son of David.

The preface to the psalm says that it is:

A miktam of David.

This is the first use of Michtam in the Psalms and will be repeated in the inscriptions of psalms 56-60.

There’s no agreement to the meaning of the word or else we’d have a translation of the word.

Some think it might mean engraved in gold, to cover, secret treasure, or a poem containing pithy sayings.

For what it’s worth, all six of the Michtam psalms end on a happy and triumphant note.

This is also a messianic psalm.

Peter quoted from it in his message on Pentecost in Acts 2 saying these verses referred to Jesus.

Paul also used lines from this psalm in his sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia in Acts 13.

As David praised God for his grace and goodness, he presented three descriptions of God and all three may be applied to Jesus Christ today.

SLIDE 2 First, God is the Lord of life.

So David prays:

1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.

(Psalm 16:1)

David begins by asking God to preserve him or to keep him safe.

The Hebrew word for “preserve” means “to hedge about (as with thorns); to guard; to protect.”

If it’s true that David wrote this after God promised he’d have a descendant on the throne forever, David wasn’t ask this because he was in danger as we’ve seen in other psalms.

Instead, David makes this request because he knows how much he needs God.

David goes on to list four blessings that are our because of the goodness of God.

SLIDE 3 First, because of God’s goodness we have what we need.

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

(Psalm 16:2)

God is the giver of every good and perfect gift.

Our very lives are dependent on God.

It is God who gives us life and breath.

As Paul said in one of his sermons: SLIDE 4

[God] is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.

Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

(Acts 17:25)

God doesn’t need anything from us, but everything we need is dependent on God.

We are in constant need of God’s care and oversight.

David understood that and so he called on God to keep him.

Perhaps paraphrasing this verse, James wrote that: SLIDE 5

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. . . .

(James 1:17a)

Someone has written that if we have anything that we think is good, and it doesn’t come from God, it isn’t good.

That’s because as James and David are telling us, everything good comes from God.

That also means that apart from God we have nothing that is good.

And we should note that God is our highest good and greatest treasure.

As the psalmist asks: SLIDE 6

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

(Psalm 73:25)

SLIDE 7 Second, because of God’s goodness we have companionship.

3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” 4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.

I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.

(Psalm 16:3-4)

We can’t live the Christian life alone.

We’re part of a great spiritual family and we need each other.

A common verse that’s sometimes used to encourage believers to meet together is from Hebrews 10.

SLIDE 8

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

(Hebrews 10:24-25)

This passage is often used to warn us about skipping church, but it’s not because of what we might imagine.

It’s not because of harm it might do to us, but because of harm it might do to others.

In skipping church we fail to love others.

We think about how we can be blessed when we gather together but the emphasis in this passage is about how we can be a blessing.

It’s not first about getting but about giving.

David says concerning those who follow God that they are his delight.

SLIDE 9

As in previous psalms David describes two groups of people: those who follow God (the saints or holy ones) and the unbelieving worshippers of idols.

The saints are those who trust God and obey his covenant.

They are the ones who are set apart for the Lord.

They take seriously God’s command to be holy.

It’s a command given in Leviticus and is repeated almost a half dozen times in the Bible.

We are to be holy as God is holy.

Israel was to be a kingdom of priests.

God set up the Levites as a tribe of priests, but the whole nation of Israel was to be kingdom of priests before God even as the church is today.

David called them the noble ones.

The NASB says “the majestic ones.”

It was a word that spoke of nobility as in chieftains and kings.

It carries with it the idea of nobility and glory.

Does anyone feel very noble or glorious?

Despite our faults and failures, believers are God’s elite, his nobility on earth in whom he takes delight.

This is how David refers to those who follow God and it should give us an idea of how we ought to relate to each other.

Paul made a similar plea in his letter to the Galatians.

SLIDE 10

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.

But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

SLIDE 11 2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. . . .

SLIDE 12 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

SLIDE 13 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

(Galatians 6:1-10)

We must love one another and use our God-given abilities and resources to minister to the family of God and encourage each other.

SLIDE 14 However, like David, we must not compromise with those who disobey God and worship idols.

If you’re wondering, today those idols take the form of money, success, and fame.

Multiplied gods only bring multiplied sorrows.

As a result, David didn’t even want to speak the names of the false gods or of those in Israel who forsook their covenant with God.

Having said that, we should seek to lead unbelievers to Jesus.

We are not to be isolationists.

Jesus left us in this world to be salt and light; but we must be careful not to be defiled by their sins.

No church is perfect, because no believer is perfect; but we can still give thanks for the people of God and seek to encourage them all we can.

SLIDE 15 Third, because of God’s goodness we have an inheritance.