SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). Good God (verse 1-2)
(2). Good Fellowship (vs 3-4)
(3). Good Heritage (vs 5-6)
(4). Good Counsel (vs 7-8)
(5). Good Hope (vs 9-11)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• There are a number of TV programmes on cable channels called ‘Border Control’;
• The show follows the work of Custom and immigration officers in airports.
• In every episode;
• You encounter people trying to take items into the country that are forbidden.
• Usually they have ticked a card saying they don’t have the item;
• And then it is discovered via a bag search or x-ray.
• On one occasion a man had some expensive gourmet cheese.
• The Customs officer said, “I’m sorry sir, you cannot bring this cheese into this country.”
• The man and the inspector argued for a while,
• Until finally the man confidently said;
• ‘I am going to bring it into this country you just watch.’
• He then assuredly walked to the back of the line with his cheese;
• He then ate the cheese then walked right on through the custom checks.
• I am not sure if that is defiance or confidence!
• But confidence is the theme of this Psalm.
• Notice that sureness of the words David uses throughout this Psalm
• Verse 3: "delight,"
• Verse 6: "pleasant,”
• Verse 9: "glad,",
• Verse 11: "joy".
• In this Psalm there are no trials or tribulations mentioned;
• David simply delights in his life;
• He reminds us that life is good and given by God to be enjoyed!
• Quote: The Wit and Wisdom of Richard Needham:
• "The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, wills".
• I am not sure at what stage of life the Psalmist is at;
• At a guess…probably towards the latter stages, but no-one knows.
• What we do know is that the Psalmist shares with us his secret of an agreeable life.
(1). Good God (verse 1-2)
“Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
I said to the LORD , "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing”.
Quote: The Norwegian theologian Ole Hallesby gives a good definition of prayer
• “To pray is nothing more involved that to let Jesus into our needs.
• To pray is to give Jesus permission to employ His powers in the alleviation of our distress.”
TWO THINGS TO NOTE IN THIS SHORT PRAYER:
First: Safety.
“Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
Ill:
• The story is told of a monastery in Portugal:
• That is perched high on a 3,000 foot cliff;
• It is only accessible by a terrifying ride in a swaying basket.
• The basket is pulled with a single rope by several strong men,
• Who as you can imagine perspire heavily under the strain of the fully loaded basket.
• One American tourist who visited the site got nervous halfway up the cliff;
• When he noticed that the rope was old and frayed.
• Hoping to relieve his fear he asked, “How often do you change the rope?”
• The monk in charge replied, “Whenever it breaks!”
David the Psalmist:
• Was trusting in a refuge that would never break or need changing.
• That refuge was God himself.
• The word ‘Refuge’ is a favourite expression with David;
• One he uses again and again in his Psalms (see Psalms 7:1 & 11:1 & 46:1).
Ill:
• Many of you know that for 10 years I had a market stall in Fareham;
• It was a good way of selling Christian literature i.e. books and Bibles.
• On a wet Monday morning my market stall was very popular;
• The design of the stall (tables in a ‘U’ shape;
• Meant people could run into the middle of the stall and find shelter from the elements.
• A refuge, a shelter from the storm was available;
• And many a shopper chose to pop inside and benefit from the stalls protection.
• David the Psalmist had many times in his life where he was in ‘storms’;
• i.e. he spent many years living as an outlaw ‘on the run’ from King Saul:
• So he knew what it was to be hunted, in danger and homeless.
• For David to have a refuge both physically and spiritually was an important thing.
On many occasions David experienced God as a ‘refuge’;
• The lessons that he learned was not the result of instruction in a classroom;
• He had proved God again and again in the difficult storms of life.
• Quote: Chinese Proverb:
• “Experience is a comb that nature give us when we are bald.”
• I don’t know if David was receding or bold;
• But he had every right to be!
Second: Security (vs 2).
“I said to the LORD , "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
• David’s experience of God was not long- distance:
• It is up close and personal; “You are MY God”,
• He trusts God because he knows God.
• Those isolated nights looking after sheep as a Shepherd boy;
• Where not wasted, he had used them to get to know his God!
• ill: Proof of that is this book of songs called Psalms;
• Written evidence of his relationship with God.
Ill:
• Herbert Hoover was one of the most vilified and maligned presidents in the history;
• Of the United States of America.
• Mainly because the Great Depression began during his Administration.
• Yet despite the treatment he received he did not seem to become cynical or bitter.
• He went on serving his country to the end,
• Maintaining his dignity and serenity.
• His wife once explained it like this:
"Bert can take it better than most people because he has deeply ingrained in him the Quaker feeling that nothing matters if you are right with God."
• David’s experience of God was not long- distance:
• It is up close and personal; “You are MY God”,
• He trusts God because he knows God.
• David would never use the motto ‘God helps those who help themselves’.
• He recognises his total dependence on God: “Apart from you I have no good thing.”
• Quote: C. S. Lewis:
• “He who has God and many other things has no more than he who has God alone.”
Note:
• Don’t forget that whatever is in your life that is good,
• Then it is from God.
• i.e. James chapter 1 verse 17:
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows”.
Question: What do you consider good in your life?
Answer:
• Your house? Your car? Your clothes? Your material possessions?
• Or better yet, your family? Your friends? Your church?
• They all come from the Lord because:
• “Apart from God we have no good thing”.
Ill:
• Dr. S. D. Gordon tells of an old Christian woman who as she grew older;
• Her memory began to fad and she struggled to remember things.
• She had memorised one verse of the Bible by heart.
• But year by year as she quoted the verse she could remember less and less.
• Only one precious bit stayed with her (2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12):
"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day."
• As time went on, she again lost more and more of that verse.
• She would quietly repeat, "That which I have committed unto him."
• At the end as she lay in a hospital bed waiting to be promoted to glory;
• Her family noticed her lips moving.
• They bent down to see if she needed anything.
• As they listened to her quiet whisper;
• They realised she was repeating over and over again to herself the one word of the text:
• "Him, Him, Him."
• She had lost the whole Bible, except for that one word.
• And yet, she had the whole Bible in that one word.
• “Apart from God we have no good thing”.
(2). Good Fellowship (vs 3-4)
“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”
• Quote: Frederick the Great:
• “The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog.”
• Brothers and sisters, if anything, we are in the people business.
• Our lives should revolve around people.
• People should mean more to us than anything else in life.
Ill:
• There's a wonderful story about Jimmy Durante,
• He was an American singer, pianist, comedian, and actor;
• One of the great entertainers of a past generation.
• He was asked to be a part of a show for World War II veterans.
• He told the organisers that his schedule was very busy;
• At best he could afford only a few minutes,
• But if they wouldn't mind his doing one short monologue;
• And immediately leaving for his next appointment, he would come.
• And of course, the show's organisers happily agreed.
• But when Jimmy got on stage, something interesting happened.
• He went through the short monologue but instead of a quick exit he carried on,
• The applause grew louder and louder and he kept staying.
• Pretty soon, he had been on fifteen, twenty, then thirty minutes.
• Finally he took a last bow and left the stage.
• Backstage someone stopped him and said,
• "I thought you had to go after a few minutes. What happened?"
• Jimmy answered, "I did have to go, but I can show you the reason I stayed.
• You can see for yourself if you'll look down on the front row."
• In the front row were two men, each of whom had lost an arm in the war.
• One had lost his right arm and the other had lost his left.
• Together, they were able to clap,
• And that's exactly what they were doing, loudly and cheerfully!
• People matter and you and I as the Church of Jesus Christ,
• We are in the people business.
• Our lives should revolve around people, not programmes or traditions;
• People should mean more to us than anything else in life.
Notice: VERSE 3 SPEAKS ABOUT GODLY PEOPLE:
• David was aware that God has a special place in his heart for ‘his people.’
• And David enjoys fellowship and support from like-minded people.
• That is the ‘saints’ the people of God!
Ill:
• In the book of Acts they met ‘everyday’;
• Too many people in my Church struggle with meeting together once a week!
Quote:
“To dwell above with saints we love,
my won’t that be glory,
but to dwell below with saints we know,
now that’s another story!”
• Fellowship is not an optional extra it is an essential!
• We need each other to support, encourage, pray and worship together.
Notice: VERSE 4 SPEAKS ABOUT UNGODLY PEOPLE:
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
In contrast to David who had found real help in the Living God:
• We have pictured in these verses;
• Those who worship idols; ‘who run after other gods’
• ill: When I work in places like Hounslow in London;
• Many of those contacted are from different religious backgrounds (i.e. Hinduism);
• And in their devotion to God they would bow before and pray to an idol!
Ill:
• Trouble with idols are they are man-made and therefore useless:
• Hideyosh (Hid-e-yo-shi), a Japanese warlord who ruled over Japan in the late 1500s,
• Commissioned a colossal statue of Buddha for a shrine in Kyoto.
• It took 50,000 men five years to build,
• But the work had scarcely been completed when the earthquake of 1596;
• Brought the roof of the shrine crashing down and wrecked the statue.
• In a rage Hid-e-yo-shi shot an arrow at the fallen colossus and shouted:
• “I put you here at great expense and you can’t even look after your own temple.”
• Of course it could not look after itself, for it was only an idol:
• It had eyes that could not see.
• Ears that could not hear.
• It had nostrils that could not smell;
• And lips that could not speak!
David reminds us in verse 4:
• That heathen worship holds no attraction for a true believer.
• Why would anyone swap the living God for an immutable object?
• So David says emphatically that he will not share in their false sacrifices,
• Nor even take their names on his lips.
• In fact he will shun any association which might link him with such false beliefs.
• Because idolatry only increases a person’s sorrows.
• The idol, no-matter how big or well carved is still only a piece of wood or metal.
• Therefore it cannot help you – so it will only increase you anxieties and concerns.
(3). Good Heritage (vs 5-6)
“LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
• In contrast to the inability, the powerlessness to help of false idols:
• The Psalmist can boast in verse 5: “The Lord is my portion and cup”
• This expression refers to the overflowing bounty which God had given him.
• And yet it is not just God’s gifts that he enjoys but God himself!
Ill:
• Remember the incident in Matthew chapter 6 verse 26 and verses 66-67:
• (The New Living Translation):
Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. – At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, ‘Are you also going to leave?’”
• Sometimes we don’t get it. Our priorities get all mixed up.
• Like many of Jesus’ disciples, we follow Him for the food and miracles.
• At times we would rather have the blessings than the blesser.
• Even after all the time they spent together, Jesus still had to ask His disciples:
• “Are you also going to leave?”
• The Psalmist can boast in verse 5: “The Lord is my portion and cup”
• He wanted the giver more than the gifts;
• David looked for, desired, craved after intimacy with God and found it!
Notice the imagery used in verse 6:
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
• The imagery used here by David:
• Is very much linked to God's provision for the Levites:
• Where he gave them (to quote): “A delightful inheritance.”
• We read about it in Numbers chapter 18 verse 20;
• Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 9; chapter 18: verse 1-2).
• God allocated territory for the other tribes, but not the Levites.
• Their inheritance was unique (Numbers chapter 18 verse 20)
“The LORD said to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.”
• Their inheritance was to be different to the other tribes;
• Not land but God himself.
• In this Psalm David I don’t think David is speaking of an earthly inheritance:
• But of God's gift of himself.
(4). Good Counsel (vs 7-8)
“I will praise the LORD , who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Question: How does the Lord counsel us?
Answer: Primarily, through His Word.
• We either hear the word preached or taught or else we read it for ourselves.
• The Word of God counsels us, gives us direction in life, etc.
Ill:
• Steve Auterburn tells the story in one of his book ‘More Jesus, Less Religion’;
• About a Wycliffe Bible translator who worked in a remote village in Papua New Guinea.
• He wrote, “When the opening chapters of Genesis;
• Were first translated into the native language;
• The attitude toward women in the tribe changed overnight.
• They had not realized or understood;
• That the woman had been specially formed out of the side of the man.
• Without even hearing this concept developed,
• These people immediately grasped the ideas of equality between the sexes;
• And began adjusting their behaviour.
• The people heard. They believed. They obeyed. They changed. Just like that.”
Because the Psalmist has enjoyed:
• The Lord’s ‘Counsel’ and ‘Instruction’.
• As well as the ‘Lord’s presence’,
• He is able to testify to the in-working of these truths in his life;
• God had filled his ‘heart’ with joy and gladness;
• And once again he speaks about being secure.
Ill:
• F. B. Meyer wrote about two Germans who wanted to climb the Matterhorn.
• They hired three guides and began their ascent at the steepest and most slippery part.
• The men roped themselves together in this order:
• Guide, traveller, guide, traveller, guide.
• They had gone only a little way up the side when the last man lost his footing.
• He was held up temporarily by the other four,
• Because each had a toehold in the niches they had cut in the ice.
• But then the next man slipped, and he pulled down the two above him.
• The only one to stand firm was the first guide,
• Who had driven a spike deep into the ice.
• Because he held his ground,
• All the men beneath him regained their footing.
• F. B. Meyer concluded his story by drawing a spiritual application.
• He said,
• “I am like one of those men who slipped, but thank God,
• I am bound in a living partnership to Christ. & because He stands, I will never perish.”
As he dwells on the safety he had endured with the LORD:
• It produces yet another song of praise from David (verses 9-10):
• Because David knows that if God has been with him in this life;
• He is confident that he will be with him in the next life as well!
• ill: “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever”
(5). Good Hope (vs 9-11)
“Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
• These verses are some of the few Old Testament verses that deal with resurrection.
• Therefore we should not be surprised;
• That they are quoted in the New Testament in reference to Jesus' resurrection.
• i.e. The apostle Peter quotes directly from this Psalm;
• When he preached his first public sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:25-31).
• i.e. The apostle Paul also quotes this Psalm in one of his sermons at Antioch (Acts 13);
• He quotes directly from Psalm 16;
• And applies the words to the earthly ministry of Jesus and his resurrection.
In Psalm 16 David makes a very definite assertion:
• He says that the LORD will not abandon his life to ‘Sheol’, that is the grave;
• Nor will God let his faithful one see corruption.
• The apostle Peter tells us that David spoke prophetically by the Holy Spirit;
• And he shared his experience he was looking forward to the resurrection of the Messiah.
• His eye is on one of his descendants (see Acts 2:27)
• & his words have a far deeper meaning than the surface reading of them would suggest.
• Note the four personal pronouns mentioned in verse 9-10:
• “My heart”, “My tongue”, “My body”, “Me” (or “My soul”)
• These verses are steeped in the relationship mentioned earlier in the Psalm.
• And because of that special relationship between the believer & his God:
• David the author of the Psalm is confident that he will see his God;
• As will the Messiah who is to come – David’s greater son.
• For the believer - the one who ‘knows’ his God - future is good:
• Verse 9: reminds us that our ‘heart is glad’.
• Verse 9: ‘our tongue rejoices’.
• Verse 10: our hope is sure – we will not be ‘abandoned’ in death.
• Verse 11: we will enjoy God’s ‘presence’.
In conclusion:
• My aim (verse 8):
• To ‘keep my eyes always on the Lord’
• My prayer (verse 1):
• ‘Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.’
• My praise (verse 7):
• ‘I will praise the Lord, who counsels me’
