Trust God - Psalm 16:1-11

Trust God Psalm 16:1-11 20210426 Trust God and by faith live according to his promises Introduc)on I’m just about a week away from taking a trip with Hannah, my oldest child, on her first overseas trip. She is 14, my first Jme to the European conJnent was when I was 16, then Vanessa and I traveled there together when we were in our mid 20’s and before children. My previous two trips both included some Jme in Switzerland where our ancestors hail from. Although this trip will not take us through Switzerland it did have me looking at it as a possibility. With COVID restricJons sJll heavily in place though Hannah and I will go elsewhere. But if you are like me someJmes when you have been thinking about something your mind struggles to drop it, the memories sJr more frequently, related arJcles catch your aVenJon more easily, and so forth. Well, this happened even while preparing for today’s sermon. I came across a short narraJve that will illustrate nicely where it is we are going with the text today. The seXng of the story is the MaVerhorn in Switzerland. Picture the early mountaineering scene, late in the 19th or early 20th century. Reuben Torrey writes: “Four men were once climbing up the slippery side of the MaVerhorn, a guide and a tourist, a second guide and a second tourist, all roped together. The lower tourist lost his fooJng and went over the side. The sudden pull on the rope carried the lower's guide with him, and he carried the other tourist with him. Three men are now dangling over the dizzy cliff. But the guide who was in the lead, feeling the first pull upon the rope, drove his pike into the ice, braced his feet, and held fast; three men dangling over the awful abyss, but three men safe, because Jed to the man that held fast. The first tourist regained his place upon the path, the guide regained his, and the lower tourist regained his, and on and up they went in safety. As the human race ascended the icy cliffs of life, the first Adam lost his fooJng and swept over the abyss. He pulled the next man a`er him, and the next, and the next, and the next, unJl the whole race hung over the abyss; but the second Adam, the Man in the glory, stood fast, and all who are united to Him by a living faith, though dangling over the awful precipice, are safe, because Jed to the Man in the glory.” (Torrey, R.A. The Bible and its Christ; being noonday talks with business me on faith and unbelief 1906 NY Fleming H Revell Co. p110-111) Church, this is at the very heart of our text today, being able to trust in God to do what he has promised to do. The Psalmist, King David, he was promised that he would have a descendent upon the throne forever, God said to him “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Sam 7:16) Do you ever take Jme to reflect upon the promises of God? This Psalm is just such a reflecJon – we need this church – we need this every day in order to stand firm against the evil one. For the promises of the evil one permeate the world systems, the ideologies, and even encroach upon the thoughts taking place inside our own mind – of course the promises of the evil one are lies because he speaks lies conJnually (Jn 8:44). That is why we need to see like David did, we need to see that we can Trust God and by faith live according to his promises. One True God (vv1-4) 1. v1a “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” a. This very first secJon we are looking at laying the foundaJon of trust. If you want to be a person who trusts God and live according to his promises – you have to be ready in your Jme of wantonness say out loud “Preserve me, O God” i. In doing so, saying “Preserve me, O God” you are not saying because of my own righteousness – no, implicit in the cry is: “God, I cannot save myself and I know it!” b. Just take this as a perspecJve on the Holy Spirit inspired David – the author of this porJon of Scripture – God’s human agent if you will. He starts with “Preserve me, O God” the same man who: i. Fled from Saul then once in the land of his enemies, a place where he was ironically seeking refuge – it wasn’t looking good for him so he altered his tacJc and “… changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let spiVle run down his beard.” (1 Sam 21:13) ii. The same man who took the Holy Bread to feed himself and his companions as he fled from Saul (1 Sam 21:1-9). iii. The same man who had an innocent man murdered to cover up his own adulterous relaJonship with the murdered man’s wife (2 Sam 11). 1. In each of these what was David doing? He was aVempJng to preserve himself! I do this so o`en myself it is lamentable. I would venture that you get caught up in various schemes of trying to save yourself. c. Just take one of the above examples from David’s life – the adulterous relaJonship with Bathsheba. This was not what David, the Lord’s anointed leader, should have been consuming himself with…but he was. i. You might be listening right now as one whom God has called into relaJonship with himself through the blood of Christ and your heart has been pricked to think that like David you are caught up in a pursuit that is contrary to what God would have for you. ii. Instead of leading the charge and conquering sin in your life you are dangling over the side of the mountain being suspended over the abyss. iii. All is not lost my friend; in fact, it may be the exact perfect place for you to be - to really place your trust fully in God. iv. Take noJce! The rope aVached to you – it has caught you! The blood of Christ that was shed for you is powerful to save! v. But now what? How do you conJnue on? Let’s just start with the obvious – it is no secret that you are in trouble. You have maybe kept it from some people maybe even all (but you are probably not as clever as you think you are). 1. If you are thinking right now – I got this covered. a. My inner mind is locked and no one has access to my thoughts or the browsing history is deleted or the text messages are deleted or the fake social media account is unknown to anyone or worse yet I have found others who have affirmed my wayward decisions. 2. Whatever it might be just stop and realize you are suspended over the edge of the abyss like those climbers. But wait you are suspended by a rope that is aVached to something. That something is the Rock – the immovable, unshakeable, conqueror of sin and death. Guess what? He is very aware of what is keeping you from falling. You therefore only have one thing le` to do – call out to him! Call out to him like David does at the beginning of this Psalm and just see what happens when you do. Trust God and by faith live according to his promises. The paVern of what takes place is spelled out beauJfully in the remainder of this Psalms’ stanzas. d. v1 “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” It starts with a call out to the One True God – it can even be a desperate cry to him – but in crying out to him you acknowledge your dependence upon him. He is so good church to listen to us and to protect us. Each and everyone of us has sinned against him and woefully we will sin against him again – it is to our shame – but calling out to him is to His glory. e. v2a “I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;” Just briefly - It is bound to happen over and over again but anyone of us who are up here preaching are going to draw aVenJon to how our Bible translators are helping us with the original text. i. I say – the Psalmist is saying – you can pray this prayer – I say to the LORD – that is the all-capital leVers covenant name of God – Yahweh – I say to Yahweh you are my Lord – this second Lord meaning master. ii. The One True God is God and he is my God and I say to him you are my master – you have complete control over my life and you direct my life. iii. This just builds bigger and bigger. Truth upon truth which guides all of life. f. v2 “I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Now acknowledging this first part of the verse we move naturally with the Psalmist to realizing we have no good apart from God. Can you say along with the Psalmist that you have no good apart from Him? This is a probing quesJon and one I would encourage you to journal on and to share with those you trust in community group or if you are married with your spouse. Spending some Jme thinking Biblically on this will be helpful in organizing your life. Everything that you have that is good is from the Lord. This means if you or I believe we are keeping or pursuing our own type of “good” anything other than accepJng God’s goodness for us it might be good to go back to v1 – i. Our heart should be such that this pursuit of God can be arJculated: Ps 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” 2. As we look to the One True God, we also recognize differences across the human landscape. I don’t say this in anyway to say we turn our backs on those who don’t idenJfy with Christ but we can and should be very aware of who we are interacJng with. a. v3 “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” My parents are great about sharing with me their experiences with fellow believers. With their business they are constantly having people coming and going. It is a frequent experience to stop by there for a quick visit to have them share warmly with me an upli`ing encounter they have had with saints in the land. i. Peter took Jme to use powerfully strong language to reminder his readers of this bond. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy naIon, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) b. Contrary to those whom are called saints is another group – the Psalmist describes them in v4 “The sorrows of those who run aKer another god shall mulIply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.” They are clearly pursuing that which is contrary to God. We sJll have a responsibility to share the gospel, to be faithful to the Lord’s commission to make disciples, but we are not to take up their evil pracJces or call out to their gods. i. This can be a difficult task. It may seem easy enough but we, for the most part, are uncomfortable with Jesus’ saying that he did not come to bring peace to the earth but rather a sword (Mk 10:34). ii. That means when we hold to what he held to and act the way he acted we are likely to end up in a similar situaJon – for he said “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (Jn 15:18) iii. Do not hear me say we are to try to be hated – but it will happen when we are living faithfully in a world that opposes God – but that is okay for we have much more to look forward to besides what this world has to offer. Transi)on: Some of that which God’s chosen people get to look forward to will be explored in this next secJon. Fullness of Being (vv5-8) 1. v5 “The LORD is my chosen porIon and my cup; you hold my lot.” If you are like me, when I first read this I wanted to liken “my chosen porJon and my cup” to something tangible, a full plate of good food and a cup of choice wine. However, that is not what is being presented. The LORD is my chosen porJon. GeXng to be part of God’s family, one of his chosen ones – that is my chosen porJon – think of Seth saying “we get God” from one of the sermon’s he preached from Ephesians. That is what is being expressed here. a. Similar to what we saw v2 I have no good apart from you – is the idea here. Being in relaJonship with the LORD is what maVers and the way he directs my life is for his glory. b. I don’t have to have the perfect job or have the best house or even have a house. We work diligently where God has placed us and trust him with the outcome. c. Just because I stand up here and say that doesn’t mean it isn’t a struggle – it is a struggle for me and I know it can be a struggle for some of you as well. 2. v6 “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beauIful inheritance.” As this is being worked through in its course, this Psalm and its line, you see the surrendering nature of giving yourself over to the LORD. a. I’ve already shared some of the not so rosy parts of David’s life – and as you read about him there are more unsavory aspects of his life. b. But what is being highlighted is the increasing trust one has in God as you further discover how untrustworthy you can be. For God is perfectly trustworthy and our future is secure in his working of salvaJon which we know to be in and through Christ his Son. 3. v7 “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” Returning once again to our paVern – surrendering to the LORD vv1-2 acknowledging that all good comes from him – that has to include the counsel that aligns with his word as seen here. a. This isn’t any and all counsel it is counsel from the LORD. This type of counsel may be received from another person, could be a ChrisJan or God could use a non-ChrisJan, could be books and literature, but no maVer where it originates, for it to be deemed counsel from the LORD it must be in conformance to his revealed will - that is the wriVen word of God. b. I have to stress this my friends if our fullness of being, if all goodness we receive from God, including counsel is to be counted as our beauJful inheritance it has to conform to what is wriVen in Scripture. If you are struggling to see if counsel you are receiving, even counsel in the night, or something coming from your own heart is in conformance with Scripture – ask! i. Ask us your elders, we want to help you discern God’s will. We have dedicated a tremendous amount of Jme to the study of Scripture and we want to serve you, all of you. Fathers, mothers, husbands and wives, singles, teens, young children, it is our privilege to come alongside you. 4. Just look at the next verse. v8 “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” This is our aim as the shepherds of the church just as it was king David’s desire as the head of God’s people. For the vast majority of you that is your desire as well. It is a common experience in the ChrisJan life – and praise God for that. a. PracJcally speaking this can be challenging – to slow down in the middle of a conflict or especially difficult Jme of life to focus upon having the LORD always before you. b. But having an unshakable foundaJon is worth the effort! (Mt 7:24-27) c. In our community group this week I intend to look at how Peter incorporated this porJon of Psalm 16 into the sermon he preached on the day of Pentecost. I would encourage us as a church to look at Psalm 16 and Acts 2 – talk about foundaJonal! The day the Church age was literally set on fire a sermon was preached using this as one of its texts. Transi)on: Just reaching this porJon of our passage and thinking about the day of Pentecost causes me to swell with joy. The last porJon of our text before us is on the very topic of joy. God given Joy (vv9-11) 1. v9 “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” This just gets beVer and beVer as we course through this Psalm. It has unfolded in a certain manner. Calling out to God, trusJng God, seeing he knows beVer than we and that as we conJnue to put him before us, and trust the counsel of his word, we come to a place where we cannot be shaken. Joy follows – a heart of gladness – a whole body rejoicing experience. a. Church, each of us are being tossed about – some of us more violently than others right now. But ask yourself where are you finding your gladness? Is it as you come before the Lord? Is it when you come to be with his people? MORE 2. v10 “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corrupIon.” This is our security – our souls will not be abandoned to Sheol – but what about this last porJon of the verse “no corrupJon of the holy one” “Nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay” (NASB) very similar in the NIV. a. This is no longer David speaking of himself but now he is propheJcally speaking of Christ our Savior. b. Paul picks up on this in Acts 13:35-37 where Luke records him preaching “Therefore he says also in another psalm, “ ‘You will not let your Holy One see corrupIon.’ For David, aKer he had served the purpose of God in his own generaIon, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corrupIon, but he whom God raised up did not see corrupIon.” c. We will not be abandoned to Sheol because God allowed his perfect Son to die for our sins – to ransom us from the devil and to destroy his grip of death by the power of the resurrecJon. 3. This leads once again to praise v11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” When we focus upon the work of Christ, when we focus upon the power of the resurrecJon, we recognize our Head – our leader has done this for us. Wow! Yes, He makes known the path of life! Does that alleviate suffering here and now? No – Christ suffered but he did so for an eternal glory. Conclusion So, we like the Psalmist recognize that it is someJmes by the smallest thread that we are rescued. You might be dangling over the precise right now but if your faith is in Christ – it can be that needle of faith in the haystack of refuse that leads you down the path we just took that allows life to be lived: Trust God and by faith live according to his promises.