A Golden Psalm of Triumph-Security

Before I get to my message from Psalm 16, I wanted to let you know that Sandra, Vanessa and I went and saw the movie: Jesus Revolution.

It tells the story of events in our nation that occurred a few years before I became born again in 1971.

It would have been easy to watch the film from the perspective of the young Greg Laurie since I too:

Dealt with anti-war protesters, only I did it from the perspective of being the son of a 3-time Vietnam vet.

I didn’t want the war over because of being a “peace-nik.”

I wanted it over so he could stay home and not be off in a war zone where he could be killed.

And if he came home from Vietnam, he came home drinking more and more — and he was a mean drunk.

I wanted the war over so my dad wouldn’t have to walk through U.S. airports in uniform and be called a baby-killer.

Like Greg Laurie, I saw the drug use of those around me even though we didn’t participate and even had a fellow attender of the church where Sandra and I married die of an OD

Before I was saved (and even after) I was a huge fan of the rock and roll of that time.

Sandra and I saw what the character Lonnie Frisbee talks about — the “desperation” of that generation.

So, I could identified with Greg Laurie in the movie, but, instead, at this time in my life, I zeroed in on the Pastor Chuck Smith played by Kelsey Grammer.

Smith is pastoring a non-denominational church at the time the movie, but he came from a Pentecostal background.

As I thought about the pressures Chuck Smith faced as the pastor of a very traditional church trying to be inclusive of the hippies of his day,

I thought about what a Jesus Revolution might look like in 2023.

It seems to me that the most desperate group of young people in our society are those who have been deceived about their sexual identity.

So, in line with the movie Jesus Revolution, how would WE respond to God bringing in a bunch of transexuals, homosexuals, drag queens and the like?

People who would not change overnight — if at all.

Maybe it is something to think about — to pray about.

Could we love such people?

Could we pull them into our families, into the church family?

Even to the point of giving them a place to live in our homes?

Asbury, as far as I can tell, was a bunch of college students, mostly young women...

Predominantly white, but still a mixture of races.

They are fairly acceptable to us.

But if we had an influx of streetwalkers, prostitutes, cross-dressers, drag queens and the like — how would we respond?

Jesus said: Matthew 25:34–40 (LSB) “… the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

There is a generation of hungry, thirsty, ostracized, sick and imprisoned people just outside the 4 walls of the church.

We will reach out to them?

Will we include them in the family of God?

Frank Viola recently wrote an article that I keep thinking about:

Revival, Reformation, Restoration, and Revolution

He says:

Revivals merely resurrect a dying church back to zero.

Once the revival ends, the churches and chapels that were affected by it continue as they were before.

Same practices, same mindset, and same traditions. It’s business as usual.

Christian community dies, enthusiasm dies, and the functioning of the body of Christ dies.

Reformation speaks to keeping the original, but to make improvements upon it.

This has been true of every reformation that has taken place in history.

But something beyond reformation is needed to meet the heart of God.

We can think of reformation as redecorating an existing house. A fresh coat of paint is applied to the walls and doors, furniture and hanging pictures are updated.

Restoration, however, is completely refurbishing the house. Old appliances are replaced with new ones, new cabinets are installed, bathroom fixtures are updated, old carpets are ripped up and new flooring is put in, etc.

But it’s never gone far enough in dealing with the overall structure and mindset of the Christian populace.

A Revolution is a radical departure from what previously existed.

Revolutions turn everything upside down.

They destroy the “perfect” and enable the impossible. They introduce game-changing, Spirit-inspired innovation.

While reformation redecorates the house and restoration renews parts of it, revolution tears the entire structure down and builds a new one in its place.

Viola says:

“What is needed in the body of Christ is not restoration. It’s not even revival. What is needed is a revolution—a complete and radical change from top to bottom, a new sighting of Jesus Christ and His church, and a change of both mindset and practice. To put it bluntly, we need a revolution in our understanding of the Christian life. We need a revolution in our practice of the church. And we need a revolution in our approach to church planting.”

After the events as Asbury University and other Universities around the country, let’s pray that God will revolutionize His church so that it breaks away from the status quo and becomes all that the Holy Spirit desires.

Prayer

Text: Psalm 16:1-11

My original plan was to only focus on the middle statement of the very last verse of Psalm 16, vs. 11:

“In Your presence is fullness of joy;”

Can you imagine my shortsightedness in trying to get us to focus on just that one drop in the vast ocean that is Psalm 16?

And yet, the reality is this statement has been the focus of several of my sermons over more than 36 years of ministry.

Even when there was so much more!

I will admit that in the year or 2 before my first pastorate I preached VERY few times — in other words, no one wanted me to preach for them.

And I understand — it is a very dangerous thing to allow an unknown, untested person into the pulpit for which God has given you responsibility as a pastor.

As the Apostle Paul told the Ephesian elders in:

Acts 20:28–31 (NASB95) “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

Deeper Into This Golden Psalm

But, rather than only focus on that one part of the last verse, let’s look at the whole Psalm over the next few weeks as it speaks to us:

Of Security

Of Well-being

Of Worship

and

Of Assurance

The depths of this Psalm, like all of scripture, are rarely (if ever!) explored.

Security

So, in addition to God’s Presence and the FULLNESS of Joy found there, let’s begin at the beginning of Psalm 16 and think about our SECURITY IN the Lord.

We are secure in Jesus, because as Verse 1 and 2 say: Psalm 16:1-2 “ Keep me, O God, for I take refuge in You. 2 O my soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord; I have no good without You.””

God is our refuge.

We sang about it in our opening song of Psalm 91

I will say of the Lord, I will testify that the Lord has been and IS my refuge.

He is my place of safety.

Can YOU make that claim?

If not I urge you to put your trust in Him.

As I read the Worldview Magazine and “Nick’s” testimony, I hear a man who feels secure in Jesus.

Even in the tough times.

In fact, very different from us, he is concerned when he is NOT facing hard times.

He says page 25: “Following Jesus is NOT ...”

But even in hard times Jesus is our refuge.

And then Vs. 2 tells us that every good thing that come into our lives comes from His hand — whether we recognize it or not.

Regarding “good” things, I keep emphasizing that we don’t always know how to label things that happen in our lives.

Things that may seem to be horrible, may actually be good for us in the end.

For instance, some of you may have heard that last year, Christian singer and songwriter Amy Grant had a bike accident:

… [She] revealed this past week that her bike accident last summer nearly took her life.

In her recent interview … Grant made the remarkable statement that the accident, as well as other recent health challenges she has faced, has actually benefited her.

“It was good for me,” Grant said of her bike accident. “It forced a kind of simplification of my life I’ve never known.”

Folks, if some event in our life forces us to learn to lean on Jesus for everything…

To make Him our refuge.

Then it is a good thing.

Because God shows up for those who turn to Him and say:

I have nothing left, no other refuge, no place of safety but God.

Dr. George Wood, our former General Superintendent, asks:

How do we cope with loss? What happens within us when we experience abandonment, lose our job, encounter financial ruin, face terminal illness, lose a loved one, or are disowned because of our faith in Jesus Christ?

Psalm 16 is written for people who have nothing left but God.

Dr. Wood reminds us about King David.

David, after he was anointed king, but BEFORE he sat on the throne, went through tough times.

He knew what it was like to lose everything.

Several years after his eviction from Saul’s court, he summarized his situation:

We read in 1 Samuel 26 that David spared King Saul’s life.

He could have killed Saul and ended his persecution.

Listen closely to this — ponder this:

God ENABLED David and Abishai to sneak into Saul’s camp by putting everyone into a deep sleep.

And this was the SECOND time God put David in a place to kill Saul.

Was David being stupid?

What I DO know from the Word of God is that David was absolutely convinced — it is NOT my place to remove Saul — that is up to God.

In 1 Samuel 26 David and Abishai go into Saul’s camp and merely take Saul’s sword and water pitcher to prove they COULD have killed Saul.

Then they run to a place where if they are pursued they would have a head start and get away, but close enough that Saul can hear him as he calls out to the camp.

1 Samuel 26:17–20 (NLT) Saul recognized David’s voice and called out, “Is that you, my son David?” And David replied, “Yes, my lord the king. 18 Why are you chasing me? What have I done? What is my crime? 19 But now let my lord the king listen to his servant. If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my offering. But if this is simply a human scheme, then may those involved be cursed by the LORD. For they have driven me from my home, so I can no longer live among the LORD’s people, and they have said, ‘Go, worship pagan gods.’ 20 Must I die on foreign soil, far from the presence of the LORD? Why has the king of Israel come out to search for a single flea? Why does he hunt me down like a partridge on the mountains?”

Yes, David had lost his wife, his comfortable lifestyle, everything.

Psalm 16 reflects David’s mature response to his loss.

We will have many different reactions to loss.

David’s psalms reflects a continuum of reactions to loss — from denial, despair, anger, hurt, sorrow, and grief, all the way to acceptance.

Psalm 16 shows us what we will feel like when we finally reach inner resolution on our life crises.

At other times, David’s cry for help had been that of a drowning man—loud and desperate.

Now, he emotionally sits in safety and his words testify rather than call for rescue: “Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge” (v. 1).

Further David states, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing” (v. 2).

When we make Christ our Lord, we exclude from our life everything that is not good, and include all that is.

Our security lies not in the things we have, but in our walk with Jesus.

There is no happiness for me apart from Thee.

I pray that we will ALL take Refuge in the security of God.

In EVERY situation.

This past week I was texting with Sarah Farnham:

She shared with me that she was looking to discover what God has planned for her life.

She said, “I suspect it’s something great I would have never expected or could have imagined.”

God told me to tell her, AND I think it something for all of us:

The unexpected is certainly God’s modus operandi. It is the way He NORMALLY works.

Then I gave Sarah this scripture reference: Isaiah 58:8-9

Which is a good scripture,

But I actually meant: Isaiah 55:8–9 (LSB) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares Yahweh. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Surrender to God’s Security

This morning I would like to encourage us to raise our hands in surrender to God.

As the worship team comes …

As the prayer team comes ...

Maybe this morning you haven’t fully and unconditionally surrendered your life to God.

Or maybe there is a particular situation that is causing you despair or anxiety.

As we sing this song, if you need to come forward for prayer, I encourage you to do so.