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Psalms 15, 16, & 17
Psalm 15
A
Psalm of David
“LORD,
who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who
shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that
walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his
heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his
neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but
he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and
changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, not taketh reward
against the innocent. He that doeth
these things shall never be moved.”
(verses 1-5)
“Evening
everyone, we are in Psalm 15, if you’ll turn there. As we pray, we want to pray for Greg Laurie,
he is at the National Day of Prayer in Washington, the Pentagon has asked him
to be there, I think he’s got eight different things he’s doing there. And he was taking some heat from some special
interest groups, accusing him of different things, which he chose not to
respond to, because the accusations were only half-truths, but certainly as we
pray tonight, let’s pray, he starts tomorrow I think, in all of these different
things he’s doing, and they’re really running him ragged there. So, pray for his strength and for the Lord to
be honored there in Washington, he needs a good clean dose of Jesus
Christ. So, ‘Father, we settle our
hearts, we thank you that we can gather this evening, Lord, forgo some of the
formalities, Lord, just sing your praises, we thank you for Rob and the worship
team, what a blessing, Lord, so consistently. And Lord, that we can open the Scripture, Lord. And Lord, as we look into the pages of your
Word, Lord, you see around this room, we all look at these things from slightly
different angles, Lord, you see those of us that are struggling, Lord, those
that are compromising, those that are rejoicing, Lord, those of us this evening
that are broken, that are downcast, those of us Lord that are, Lord, just doing
great Lord, just on top of things in regards to seeking you, Lord, our
fellowship, our study of Scripture. You
know us all, and love us equally. And
Lord, as we have opportunity to look into your Word, Lord, your Word has more
angles than we do, Lord. So let us each
receive our portion. Lord, we commit that
work to you, and trust you to do it, Lord, as we look into these things. And again, for Greg, Father, strengthen him,
keep your hedge about him and Cathy, Lord. Just, as Greg has opportunity, Lord, and you’ve raised him up, Lord, to
speak to rulers, to leaders, Lord, just you’ve given him that mantle and that
position, Lord, just we ask that you’d keep the enemy at bay, Lord, those false
accusations that would surround him, Lord, that he might be your mouthpiece in
the middle of these things, Lord, to speak your love, Father, through Jesus
Christ to a lost world, particularly in our government, Lord. We put these things before you, we pray in
Jesus name, amen.’
‘Who Shall Dwell In God’s House As His Guests?’
The Master Of The House Always Determines The
Terms Of Hospitality
Psalm
15 is as far as we have come, Psalm 14 really looked at the ungodly in some
very pointed ways. Psalm 15 now begins
with a question, “LORD,
who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” (verse 1) and it begins to answer then
in verse 2 where it says “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh
righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” So Psalm 15 is a question about whom will be
the LORD’s
guests, who will dwell in his tent, his tabernacle, who will abide there, and
who shall dwell on his holy hill, Zion. Now we’re not sure of the dating of the Psalm, but tradition says it was
around the time that David brought the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-Jearim
[see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiriath-Jearim]
up to Jerusalem, that whole process in 2nd Samuel chapter 6, because
very interestingly, it specifically mentions his holy hill, which is Zion, and
it mentions the Tabernacle being there, which David placed there to receive the
Ark. For you and I, certainly, the
question is enlarged beyond just the literal historic setting. For you and I it’s just a great question, to
dwell in the Lord’s presence, you know, whom are his guests, if we’re to enjoy
his presence? ‘Jehovah, who shall abide in thy
Tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy
hill?’ To abide means to come
and to stay there, and to dwell kind of amplifies that, to settle down. Whose there? The master of the house always determines the terms of hospitality. He’s going to say, ‘those who are upright, that’s
who.’ The holiness of God
determines the holiness of the worshipper. You know, when I hear of, across our country, when they say ‘Well, we don’t want somebody to do an
invocation for a football game or before a meeting, or in Washington, we don’t
want somebody to do a prayer,’ and it’s because they [those who would be
praying] take some moral stand, and you think ‘What are you talking about?’ The logic is, I assume, that we’re praying to a moral God. An invocation is to invoke the blessing of, I
assume, a moral God. It would be
illogical to seek a blessing from an immoral god, that couldn’t be trusted. If we’re praying, that’s not demanding to do
an opening prayer, it’s to beseech, to ask, the reason you’re beseeching, is
because he is God. And if he is God, and
he’s a moral God, he gets to determine what the standards are. And if he’s a good God and a moral God, we
would ask him ‘Guide our President,’ you know, ‘Keep the kids safe during a
football game, give wisdom to our rulers or military leaders.’ You’re invoking the guidance, the blessing of
a moral God. So for people to stand up and say ‘Oh, you can’t pray to a moral God,’ then what’s the sense of praying? You
praying to the big boobob in the sky, what do you mean, you can pray to the
prankster up there? That’s ridiculous.
And here he says ‘OK, here’s God’s terms, whose going to dwell in his presence? Whose going to settle down there, and be with
him, whom are his guests in his home?’ And
the master of the house always determines the terms of hospitality. And here they are, they’re wonderful, he goes
through this. ‘Who are the ones?’ here
it is, “He” and you can put “she” in
there, “He that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up
a reproach against his neighbour. In
whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and
changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to
usury, not taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” (verses 2-5) So, this wonderful song of
ancient Israel begins with this question, “LORD,
who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who
shall dwell in thy holy hill?” (verse 1) ‘Whose going to be at home there,
whose going to settle in there?’ and he begins by saying “He that walketh uprightly” and he kind of then describes that with
about eleven different pictures. And
listen, some of them are positive, some of them are negative. An upright person is not only known by what
they do, they’re also known by what they don’t do. So he gives us both sides of that. He says, “He
that walketh uprightly” so first of all, the person that’s going to enjoy
God’s presence and be at home there, is somebody who walks uprightly, it’s just
the way they live. It’s a
no-brainer. It’s just you watch them,
they’re not messing around, they walk uprightly. It talks about the walk, the work, the
speaking here. They work
righteousness. So what do they produce? What’s the outflow of their lives? What happens when you’re around them, it says
they “worketh righteousness, and
speaketh the truth in the heart.” They
speak the truth, listen, not audibly, but in his heart. You can just tell the spirit when you’re
around this person, he’s not a phony, you can just tell, this is somebody who
speaks the truth in his heart. He works,
righteousness is the evidence, the product of the way that he lives, and just
in his heart he cares about the things that are right. It says that here “he speaketh truth in his heart.” Because of that it says “He…backbiteth not with his tongue,” that’s
wonderful, isn’t it, to be around somebody who doesn’t backbite. Now look, the church is the perfect place for
us to learn those things, so some are still in “backbiting 101”, they haven’t
mastered it yet, so you’re going to get a little back-bit in the church. And that’s fine, because it says the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, I was hoping I
wouldn’t need that, patience, so, you know, this is an environment for growth in
all these areas, this is the best dysfunctional family going. But it says the right thing to do, the person
who works righteousness, who walks uprightly, who cares about truth in his
heart, the things that he doesn’t do, “He that backbiteth not with his tongue,
nor doeth evil to his neighbour,” he doesn’t do that, you know, you love
the Lord your God will all your strength, and your neighbour as yourself, that
goes without saying. “nor taketh up a reproach against his
neighbour.” (verse 3c) He doesn’t
just take hold of a lie or gossip about somebody else. “In
whose eyes a vile person is contemned;” (verse 4a) you know, we’re making
all kinds of excuses for all kinds of things in the world that we live in. It’s refreshing for somebody to say “Hey man, that stinks.” Isn’t it just refreshing? You know, just for somebody just to speak, it
says ‘he
values the truth in his heart.’ So
a person that’s vile and wicked, “You
know, that guy, he needs to get it together, because that guy is off a wall,
don’t mess around with him, he’s got a few screws loose, you know that guy’s
one brick short of a load, that guy, he’s evil, he’s stalking, he’s doing this
or that,’ it’s wonderful. It says “In
whose eyes a vile person is contemned” he understands, there’s right and
wrong. “But” in contrast, “he
honoureth them that fear the LORD.” The
fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the LORD determines the way we
live. It’s clean it’s going to tell us,
the fear of the LORD is clean, it’s a good thing. “He that sweareth” it says, I’m
sorry, it goes from ‘his tongue, ears, his eyes, in whose eyes a vile person is condemned,
but he honoureth him that feareth the LORD,’ “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” (verse 4c) it’s King James, from the
Hebrew, the idea is ‘he stands by his word,’ “he sweareth to his own hurt,” if he, this person, gives you an oath, he stands
by it, he doesn’t change, he doesn’t flip-flop, he doesn’t say one thing and do
another thing. In other words, he’d rather suffer misery than change what he
said, that he’s given his word. Many of
you can think of a time in our culture and our nation when millions of dollars
were exchanged on a handshake, when you trusted someone, when there were
absolutes in our culture. Now when you
get married, you have to have a contract, for the mistakes your gonna make,
before you make them. So when you fight
over what you have, it’s all prophetically worked out, I guess. It says ‘He sweareth to his own hurt, and changes
not, he stands by his oath.’ “He that putteth not out his money to
usury,” (verse 5a) he’s not looking to take advantage of other people
financially, in other words he’s not charging unfair interest, usury, that’s
not what he’s about, “nor taketh reward
against the innocent.” (verse 5b) that means he doesn’t take a bribe. Imagine living in a culture where people
didn’t take payoffs. That would be
wonderful, wouldn’t it? ‘He
doesn’t take a reward against the innocent,’ here’s the answer to the
question ‘Whose going to dwell and abide in God’s tabernacle, dwell on his holy
hill?’ “He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” I like
that, because everything around us is moving, never be moved. That’s a wonderful thing.
Psalm 16
Michtam
of David
“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 extendeth not to thee; but to the saints that are in the earth,
and to the excellent, in whom is my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not
offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance
and of my cup: thou maintainest my
lot. The lines are fallen unto me in
pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly
heritage. I will bless the LORD,
who hath 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 [the grave, Hebrew: Sheol];
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (verses 1-11)
A Messianic Psalm
The Psalm Explained
“Psalm
16 is a Messianic Psalm, Michtam of David, it means “a golden Psalm” perhaps
because it looks forward to see the Messiah. It you look in verse 10 of Psalm
16, it says, “For thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.” That’s kind of
interpretive for us, Peter’s preaching in Acts chapter 2, he’s filled with the
Holy Spirit, says ‘David speaking concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my
face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved, therefore did my
heart rejoice,’ and he’s quoting the Psalm, ‘My tongue was glad, moreover my
flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption,’ (Acts 2:25-27) and
he goes on, and he speaks about Jesus. And he says ‘David seeing this beforehand spake of Jesus Christ, and he said that
his soul,’ that’s David’s soul [body] that his soul was [would] not
[be] left in hell, neither his flesh, that is the flesh of the Holy One, would
not see corruption. Paul when he quotes
it then in Acts 13, he just quotes the second half of the verse, and it’s
more clear, Paul says ‘Wherefore he sayeth also in another Psalm,
Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption,’ applying them
to Jesus. So, this is a Messianic Psalm,
it is crying out to the LORD, the Psalmist does several
things here. He first looks up to the LORD, in the first two verses, he’s
looking up to the LORD. It breaks down that way. Verses 3 and 4, he looks around, he takes an
inventory. Verses 5 through 8, he kind
of looks within, there’s interspection, he’s talking about what’s going on in
his own heart, it’s a great thing, and in light of all that, verses 9 to 11, he
looks beyond all his present circumstances and distress, he looks beyond and he
looks to the future. So, he gives us
perspective from a few different advantage points. This is David.
Looking To The LORD: ‘Preserve Me, You’re My Refuge’
“Preserve me, O
God:” and the
Hebrew says “Protect me, O God” and of course that’s the idea of
preservation, “for in thee do I put my
trust.” (verse 1) again, it’s literally “for in thee do take refuge.” ‘LORD, you’re my preservation,
you’re the one that has to protect me, and LORD, because it’s in you, LORD, that I take refuge, that I
flee to you.’ “O my
soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my LORD: my goodness extendeth not to thee;” (verse 2) Now he talks to himself a little bit in this
Psalm here, “O my soul,” inwardly, “thou
hast said unto the LORD,” unto Jehovah, “Thou art my LORD:” ‘my Adonai, you’re the one whose
the Lord of my life, you give me direction,’ King James is a little
unclear here, “my goodness extendeth not to thee;” literally
the Hebrew says “you, my good, not beside,’ it means ‘you’re the only good in my life,
there’s none beside you,’ the idea is, ‘I am satisfied in you alone.’ So it is ‘Preserve me, O LORD, O God, for in thee do I take
refuge. My soul has said, Unto Jehovah
thou art my Lord, and my good is alone in you, besides that there’s none, for I
am satisfied in you.”
David Looks Around, Takes Inventory
1st Group David Looks At, The Saints, The Excellent
Looking
around, he says, “But to the saints that are in the earth,” he sees those around him that are believers, “and to the excellent, in whom is all my
delight.” (verse 3) he looks around, and he sees them, he has delight, he
says “in whom is all my delight.” David was surrounded with some good men, he was surrounded with some
godly people, he said he appreciates that, as I know you do, as I do, ‘the
Lord is the center of everything, I am completely satisfied in him,’ it’s
saying here, we’re learning that, ‘there’s nothing that’s good to me but you LORD. Yes, there are those around me, and I take
delight in them, LORD, they are excellent, they are
believers.’
2nd Group David Looks At, Idolaters---Idolatry Today Same Function, Different
Details
But
he says now in regards to the wicked, “Their
sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god:” or ‘other gods,’ ‘Those
who go after other gods,’ David says, “Their sorrows shall be multiplied” and he says “their drink offerings of blood will I not
offer, nor take up their names into my lips.” (verse 4) “their
names” i.e. the names of these other gods. So, looking around, he loves the saints, but he disdains idolatry, he
looks down on that and says, ‘Lord, I’m not even going to mention that.’ Look, idolatry today, is the same in
function, but different in details. I
mean, most of us, you know, today, nobody would worship Ashtorah, you know, the
immoral worship that took place on the mountain tops, [and due to that immoral
worship, a lot of unwanted pregnancies took place, and to help solve that
problem, they sacrificed those babies to Baal, and nothing much has changed,
except we do it with abortion now. To
see what was going on in ancient times historically in Israel, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html and read through that first “html” page] but there are millions sitting in
front of pornography. Again, fastest
growing number of users in the United States, 11-year-olds. One out of three new users of pornography, a
woman in the United States now, the worship of Ashtorah, immoral worship,
images, pictures [and resulting in free-sex, sex free from proper moral
constraints, with the resultant side-effect of unwanted pregnancies, which
again spells abortions, nothing knew from Baal worship]. The worship of Baccus in the Bible, there was
the worship of wine, alcoholism, it’s a plague in our nation, it’s the most
destructive force in America besides abortion. We loose over a million
Americans a year to abortion. Alcohol is
way more dangerous than heroine as far as a destructive force in this
country. Mammon, we don’t bow down in
front of a statue today, but for how many, money is the driving force of their
life, it’s idolatry. Moloch, of course
is the god [by another name, Baal] where they offered their newborn babies in
sacrifice [no different than aborting unwanted babies, they just waited until
the baby was born back then]. We’d never
bow down in front of a little statue, but again, even amongst us, we make something
more important than the Lord, and we do these things, we make mistakes, and
then we have to come back and say ‘Lord,
forgive me.’ We can do it with our
kids, we can be idolatrous, we can do it with our marriage. We hear it all the time, ‘I’ll be a husband who loves his wife as Christ loved the Church, (when
she submits to me the way we should submit to Jesus---or---‘I’ll submit to him
when he loves me the way Christ loves the Church). And there’s clauses in the contract, rainbow
clauses in the contract. He’s Lord of
all, or he’s not Lord at all. And when
we have perfect marriage, as the place where we bow the knee, and it’s not
working out that way, then we think ‘Then
we don’t have to act out our part then, we have a script that’s an
open-book test, it’s all written out, and we think ‘We’re not getting what we want because what I decided what a wife
should be, and she ain’t being that way, so I don’t have to act like a godly
husband,’ that’s idolatry. The
marriage problems primarily are lordship problems. [see http://www.HOWMARRIAGEWORKS.com] And what God asks me to do, is to be his
husband in the marriage, not Kathy’s. Because if I respond to her, that can be good or bad. If I respond to him it’s good. And if she’s his wife in the marriage and not
mine, because…you know, we can get into that rut where we’re not willing to
surrender, we’re not willing to let the Lord be the Lord, and the Word be the
Word, because we’re responding to some other thing on the horizontal, and that
can be idolatrous. We don’t intend it to
be, and it’s lessons we learn as Christians as we come along. But he’s saying here, ‘LORD, you protect me, LORD, my refuge is in you, not in
perfect circumstances, and LORD, my soul, I’ve said unto you,
LORD,
you’re my LORD, and besides you there’s
nobody, you’re the only good thing in my life. I do love good people around me, I do love seeing the saints, there are
those around me that have an excellent spirit. But you know, the wicked, LORD, their problems are going to
be multiplied, because they call on other gods, and I’m not going to offer
their sacrifices, I’m not going to bow to what they bow to, LORD, I refuse to do that, and the
names of their gods are not going to be on my lips.’
David Now Looks Within, Into His Heart
And
he looks now within his heart, David, he says, “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance
and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.”
(verse 5) Not in regards to drinking, but ‘this
is your lot.’ What he’s saying
here is, ‘The LORD himself’ and we’re all going to come to
this place, ‘is the portion of mine inheritance, LORD, you yourself.’ I mean, heaven is going to be
great, you know, streets of gold, walls of jewels [the Kingdom of heaven, which
will end up on earth, cf. Revelation 21:1-23], but it wouldn’t be heaven [the
New Jerusalem] if he wasn’t there. It’s
him being there that makes it heaven [and during the Millennial Kingdom of God,
when Jesus spends it down on earth with all the resurrected saints, it will be
heaven on earth, and then with the coming of the New Jerusalem to earth in
Revelation 21:1-23, it will become heaven on earth for all eternity]. You’re mind is going to be blown by streets
of gold and walls of jewels [within this New Jerusalem], it would be down here,
but up there, those things only reflect and refract the light that comes from
his throne. It says there’s no sun, no
moon, there’s nothing else that gives light, he’s in the middle of it all, and
gold’s just going to be asphalt there, and jewels are just going to be
cinderblocks there [and this is all within the New Jerusalem, which will come
to reside permanently on earth, cf. Revelation 21:1-23], he’s going to be in
the middle. And like the priests of old,
the priests in Israel, they didn’t have an inheritance the way the rest of the
tribes did, their inheritance was the LORD. It tells us in the New Testament that we’re a
royal priesthood (cf. 1st Peter 2:9-10). We’re all that. We all have access now. In the Old Testament the high priest went
once a year into the Holy of holies. When Jesus died the veil was torn from the top to bottom, and we all
have access, we are all now priests unto the Most High God, we can go speak to
him, on behalf of others, on behalf of ourselves. And like the priests of old, in the tribe of
Levi, it says here “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance
and of my cup: thou maintainest my
lot. The lines are fallen unto me in
pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly
heritage. I will bless the LORD,
who hath given me counsel: my reins also
instruct me in the night seasons.” (verses 5-7) “my reins” the deepest part of my being, the Hebrew is “kidneys,” but it speaks of the
thing that is deep down inside, “my
reins also instruct me in the night seasons” ‘when I’m laying on my bed, the deepest part of my being is speaking to me
about you, LORD.’ What a wonderful picture. “I
have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be
moved.” (verse 8) We’re trying to do that. Aren’t we? Sometimes there’s a mental case driving in front of me and I forget the
Lord should be between me and them. Psalm 103 says ‘I’ll set no evil thing between before my
eyes in my house,’ sometimes you want to watch a football game, or just
watch something, and then of course all these commercials come on, and if you
drink beer all these babes are going to be around you [as portrayed in these
seductive ads], you know, he says here, “I
have set the LORD always before me:” (verse 8a) no room then, if the Lord is before you, to sit
there looking at your computer screen at things that shouldn’t be looked
at. “I
have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be
moved.” ‘he is my strength, he is he one
that keeps me.’ So, his internal musings, ‘LORD, you’re everything that
matters.’ Look, and honestly, you know, I love my kids,
I love my grandkids, I obviously I love Kathy, the love of my life, I love you
people here, I love being alive. But as
life goes on, and there are those things that can be threatening, you realize
how frail you are, how temporary you are, and you look around and you take
inventory, you realize ‘Lord, you’re everything,’ because
ultimately, I’m going to be alone when I lay somewhere, when I close my eyes in
a hospice, on a hospital bed, wherever it might be, and you’re going to be
everything, Lord. I’m going to close my
eyes in this world, and I’m going to open them up in the next. And I’m going to do that alone. I love my kids, I love my wife, but I’m going
to do that alone. And David’s saying ‘LORD, you protect me, you preserve
me, LORD,
I’ve taken refuge in you, you’re the one, there’s nobody else but you, LORD. I love the saints, it’s a blessing they’re
around me, wicked people, they can sacrifice whatever they want, I’m not gonna
do it, I’m not going to use the names of their gods. LORD, you’re my inheritance, you’re
my lot, it’s fallen out to me in pleasant places, LORD, I’m going to bless you,
you’ve given me counsel LORD, in the deepest part of my
being speak to me, even on my bed at night, and I’ve set you always before me,
because LORD, you’re at my right hand, I’m
not gonna be moved, you’re my strength.’
‘My Heart Is Glad,’ ‘Guard Your Heart, For From It
Flow The Issues Of Life’
“Therefore my
heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.” (verse 9) The idea is, his heart glories and rejoices,
is the idea carried through there. And
he says “my flesh also shall rest in
hope.” He’s not talking about dying,
he’s just saying ‘With this before me, LORD, my heart, which is inside of
me,’ you
know, it says ‘Guard your heart with all diligence, because from it flow the issues
of life.’ The heart here is not
your physical heart, it’s where desire sits deep in your being [and this would
include romance and your love for another, those things in your life, that need
proper guidance from God]. And when you
start to let yourself desire the wrong thing, the Holy Spirit says ‘Hey
man, don’t do that,’ and then you say ‘Hey, you don’t have to worry about me, there’s other Christians in the
church way weaker than me,’ like the Holy Spirit’s going to go, “Oh wheh! Glad I don’t have to worry about
you.” And it says, what we do is we
deceive ourselves, and slowly we harden our hearts against the Holy Spirit, and
we end up in the middle of the very thing he’d been convicting us of. And our hearts can be deceived, they can go
after other things, we guard them with all diligence, because the heart always
makes a convert of the mind, if you let it wander. You see brilliant people, PhD’s doing stupid
things, because this is a more powerful force [pointing to his chest] than this
is [pointing to his head]. But he says “my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth:” ‘is glorying in you LORD,’ is the idea here, “my flesh also shall rest in hope.” ‘Just, it’s easy on my physical frame, when
my heart’s not envious and grinding after all these other things, and it’s
resting in you, LORD, my flesh also, just my body,
it can rest in hope.’
David Looks Prophetically Into His Future
“For thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell [Hebrew Sheol, the grave, six feet under]; neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (verse 10) Now, the Messianic part here, David all of a
sudden sees into the light. The first
part of this verse is about himself, the second part of this verse is about
Christ. [i.e. ‘you will not leave my body in
the grave, I’ll be a part of the 1st resurrection to immortality’ is what David is saying in verse 10a] That’s why Paul in Acts 13:35 quotes the
second half. Peter quotes the whole
thing [in Acts 2] speaking of the fact that David saw this ahead of time. Here it says “For thou wilt not leave my soul” is ‘You will not abandon my soul to
Sheol’ is what the Hebrew says. The reason that he’s rejoicing, the reason that he is blessed, he says ‘for
thou wilt not abandon my soul to the unseen realm, to the grave.’ Here’s the interesting thing, David’s not
saying ‘Hey, man, we can take it easy and
rest, because when we die we know we’re going to heaven,’ he’s not saying
that here. He’s saying ‘We will not die at all’ [now here’s a Calvary Chapel doctrine based
on their belief that the spirit-in-man component of the brain stays conscious
upon death, and goes to heaven upon death, while the physical body, frame does
die. They base their belief in this upon
a few passages in the New Testament like the parable of Lazarus and the rich
man, which is a parable and allegory, while ignoring what Solomon said in
Ecclesiastes and David said in some of the Psalms, that the spirit-in-man does
go unconscious upon the death of the body, and yes, still goes to heaven, to be
reunited with the body during either the 1st or 2nd resurrection. Which is it? You’ll find out at death, and it won’t make
much of a difference in the final outcome of events.] He says ‘you’re
not gonna die at all,’ he doesn’t say, ‘you
can rest, you can chill, because after you die you’re going to go to heaven’ that’ not what he’s saying. He says ‘You ain’t gonna die at all.’ Jesus said ‘I’m the resurrection and the
life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live, and he
that lives and believes in me shall never die.’ That’s what he’s saying. He says ‘You won’t abandon my soul [body] to Sheol,
LORD,
when I take my last breath, I’m not abandoned to the unseen realm, I’m gonna be
in glory with you, on the other side of that last breath. I’m never gonna die.’
David Looks Prophetically Toward The Messiah
“thou wilt no
leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.” (verse 10) the body of Jesus Christ raised without corruption on the 3rd day. [And this also means that Jesus’
body did not even start to rot or decay at any time during those three days and
three nights in the tomb.] Verse 11, kind of summing things up, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Listen, what it says here is, ‘Thou
wilt show me,’ almost sounds like it could only happen in the future,
it says “you cause me to know” is what it says, something that you have
right now. ‘LORD you cause me to know,’ and certainly he continues to
do that, ‘but you cause me to know the path of life’ isn’t that
amazing? When he saved us, he brought us
from darkness to light. We were blind,
but now we see. He causes us to know the
path of life. You know, man, can you, I
think back before I was saved, how empty it was, how plastic it was, how phony
it was. You know, it was an era, you see
one thing, everybody’s dropping out and turning on [he’s referring to the late
1960s, the period of the Hippie movement and the Vietnam War] and you first
start getting stoned with your friends, you’re laughing, and as time goes on,
it becomes emptier and emptier, and everybody’s scheming, they’re scoring, they
don’t want to share with you, and then all these feelings, and then you gotta
do more and more to get high [applies to alcohol or drugs]. It spirals down, it’s empty, there’s nothing
there, and it gets more and more futile. Of course, the crazy thing is, when you get saved, then they want to
give it to you for nothing, then the [spiritual] warfare switches
completely. But he said, ‘You
have caused me to know the path of life.’ When I first got saved, it blew my mind. I didn’t know what an apostle was or an
Epistle was, I didn’t know the difference. All I knew was Jesus loved me. [But upon receiving the Holy Spirit, he could then understand Scripture,
and started down the path of understanding spiritual truth, much of which is
now contained in his expository sermons. That’s what this “growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ” is
all about. It’s a path of life you start
walking down at the point of conversion, asking and accepting Jesus Christ into
your life, after you have proven that God exists. If you haven’t done that yet, then that’s the
first step of walking down the path of life. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Does%20God%20Exist.html to begin that walk.] All I knew is I woke up, I came from
darkness to the light. I was alive, I’d
never known it. I’d been alive breathing
for 22 years, but I had not been alive. And all of a sudden there was life, I was freaked out, I drove everybody
out of their minds, my old friends didn’t want me around while they were
dropping acid because I was messing around with them telling them about Jesus,
they didn’t even want me around, they called me Saint Joseph, “Get him outa here!” you know, “Saint Joseph’s Aspirin, get him outa here!” It was so different. He causes us, we wouldn’t do it on our own,
he’s so gracious and he’s so loving, he caused me to know the paths of life, he
caused us to see that. Isn’t that wonderful? He could have left us blind. ‘But God so love the world that he gave his
only begotten Son that whoever would believe would not perish, but have
everlasting life, you caused me to know, LORD,’ David said, ‘you
caused me to know the paths of life.’ What a picture. “and in thy presence” LORD, “is fulness of joy;” not
90 percent, fulness of joy. That’s why
he said earlier, ‘you’re my inheritance, LORD.’ he wasn’t afraid to say
that. He’s saying here, ‘LORD, in your presence, there is
fulness of joy,’ “and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
(verse 11c) [Comment: this last part of the verse shows this whole
verse also points to our existence with the LORD throughout eternity too, and
not just in this mortal life.] You ain’t
missing out on nothing. People say, ‘Well, what if I get to heaven, and so and
so’s not there, or I have to look down and see this, or what if I get to heaven
and it’s not gluten-free?’ Wait! Heaven is heaven, it says in the end of
Isaiah the former things will be remembered no more, this is new, it’s new in
nature, it’s new in everything. It says
in Revelation 21 where he creates a new heavens and new earth, the word for
“create” there is bara, he’s creating something from nothing. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Hebrews%2011%201-4.html to see the real heaven where God presently exists is outside of Space &
Time and everything within our physical universe. This is a somewhat scientific, but accurate
view of what heaven really is, where God exists now, as shown in Revelation
chapters 4-5.] That’s affirmed at the
end of Isaiah again, we’re going to be able to watch our Father say again ‘Let
there be light [and see the Big Bang all over again as it actually happened,
see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Genesis%201%201-31.html to get a glimpse of what that will be like, minus the creation of physical life,
that is, unless God wants to create that over again too]. It says in Genesis chapter 1, ‘In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,’ we’re going to be
eye-witnesses of that [all over again]. Because in Revelation 20 the heavens are going to flee away, and he’s
going to create a new heaven and a new earth, and we’re going to get to watch
it. And it’s going to be better than the
first one. And we’re going to see that. Fulness of joy will be there, pleasures
evermore, where there is no lacking, none of that, as David signs off
wonderfully here in this Psalm.
Psalm 17
A
Prayer of David
“Hear the right,
O LORD,
attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the
things that are equal. Thou hast proved
mine heart; thou hast visited me in
the night; thou hast tried me, and that my mouth shall not transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear
me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou
that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against
them. Keep me as the apple of the
eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the
earth; like as a lion that is greedy
of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him
down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: from men which
are thy hand, O LORD,
from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose
belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest
of their substance to their
babes. As for me, I will behold thy face
in righteousness: I shall be satisfied,
when I awake, with thy likeness.” (verses 1-15)
“It
says here as it begins, and it’s in the Hebrew “A Prayer of David”, there’s
only five of those in the Book of Psalms. In Psalm 86 it says “A Prayer of David”, that’s how Psalm 86
begins. Psalm 90 begins saying “A Prayer
of Moses the man of God”, Psalm 102 begins by saying “A Prayer of the
afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD”, so we all want to remember
that one. Right? That’s Psalm 102, A Prayer of the afflicted
when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD”, and Psalm 142 he says
“Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in a cave.” So, there are five Psalms that specifically
say they are A Prayer. In this one we
get to hear David pour out his heart. It
falls into three sections I think, practically. There are different ways to divide it. In verse 1, he says “Hear”, you see that there, he begs God
to hear. Then when you get to verse 5, and he says “Hold”, “Hold up my goings” LORD. Then in verse
8, he says, “hide me under the
shadow of thy wings,” and then he ends with verse 13 by saying “Arise, O
LORD.” But the plea to God is “Hear,” “Hold,” and “Hide,” God will hear us, if he holds
us, if he hides us from evil, the enemy, we’re in good shape. So, it’s an interesting prayer, let’s look at
it and see where it takes us here as we go into this. And look, I want to say, this is probably
when Saul is chasing David, or David’s being accused of things by Saul. And again, we read those stories, but this is
somebody hunting you with an army, through the mountains, wanting to kill you,
for something you didn’t do, you were loyal, you were faithful, you killed the
giant [Goliath], you played music for Saul when the evil spirit came upon him,
you have refused to kill him when you had his life hanging in your hands,
you’ve done nothing but right, and still bad things are coming down. And what we watch David do here, in those
circumstances, is he prays. This is just
good advice. And when I forget it, you
tell me, remind me that I said it, play me the tape. When things are bad, pray. It doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible when
things are bad, worry. Worry never
delivered anyone, and worry never lifted a load off of anyone. Why worry? And for some of us it’s our favourite indoor sport, I know. The Psalms, you know, they’re deeply
emotional, they put these things before us. David here is crying out. And
instead of sitting around worrying, he goes to the LORD. The first
verse says, “Hear the right, O LORD,” the Hebrew says “Hear
O LORD what is right,” The idea
is what he’s putting before the LORD is what is right, that’s the idea. So, ‘Hear O LORD, I’m
going to pour out my heart, you know what I’m saying to you is right, LORD, maybe no one else will
believe me, LORD, you know this is the truth.’ You ever been in that situation? [all the time] ‘They’re saying this about me, they’re
saying that about me, Lord, I didn’t do any of that, none of that’s true, you
know what’s right, Lord,’ and he’s saying ‘Hear, O LORD, what is right, you know, O LORD.” “attend unto my
cry,” so this
is pretty visceral, he’s crying out, it’s coming from deep within, “give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.”
(verse 1) ‘LORD, I’m not being a hypocrite,
there’s no deceit, LORD, this is coming, LORD, with all of my heart, here LORD, as I cry out, there’s no phoniness.’
‘Other People Are Accusing Me, But You’ve Examined
My Heart, You Know What’s True’
“Let mine
sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that
are equal.” (verse 2) i.e. ‘There’s nobody’s that’s going to pass judgment
on me, LORD, let it come from your
presence.’ “let
thine eyes behold the things that are equal.” (verse 2b) ‘what
is fair, LORD, I’m going to let you
determine that.’ “Thou
hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” (verse 3) Now,
interesting, in verse 3 the word “proved” and “visited” are from the same root,
it means to examine. So he says ‘LORD, you, you have examined my
heart. Other people are accusing me, you
know what’s right, you know what’s true, LORD, you’ve examined my heart, and
you have examined me in the night, LORD. When I lay down on my bed, there’s nobody
else there LORD, all things are open and naked
before the One we have to do LORD, I’m there, I’m vulnerable, LORD, you’ve examined my heart,’ he said, ‘you’ve examined me in the
night,’ “thou hast tried” “refined” is the idea ‘you’ve refined me,’ “and shall find nothing; I am purposed that my
mouth shall not transgress.” Now
David is not saying he’s sinless, the same as Job, Job never said he was
sinless, Job just said he wasn’t guilty in regards to what his friends were
accusing him of. And David is saying
here, ‘LORD, I’m not guilty of what Saul’s
accusing me of,’ I’m not saying he’s sinless, he’s saying, ‘This isn’t true, I’m committing my case to
you, LORD, I want to do what’s right,’ and he says, “I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” (verse 3d) And that’s hard, isn’t it? Especially when we’re being accused and we’re
under pressure. We really sit around and
say ‘Alright, Lord, I’m not gonna let it
out, it’s flying around in here, and it’s got all kinds of adjectives and stuff
[delete-expletives] attached to it, and this person’s really got me mad, Lord,
and it’s going in there and going BEEP! but I’m not gonna let it out, Lord, I’m
not gonna do that.’ That’s running
to the Lord and committing yourself to him. And look, I need, when I do that, to find rest in that, because
sometimes I feel like I’m bottling it all up, you know, you don’t want to do
this and get high blood-pressure, and having it building up, building up. You want to be real, and think ‘OK, Lord, you know the truth, I’m gonna
chill, all these accusations, I’m not guilty of any of that stuff, and I’m not
gonna let my mouth go off, I’m not gonna get in the game. I’m not gonna put on the gloves, I’m not
gonna get in the ring. I’m going to be a
spectator and not a participant.’ Once
you put the gloves on and get in the ring, you take it personally. David says ‘I’m not going to do that,’ he said, ‘I’ve purposed, I’m not going to let my mouth get into this mess, I’m
not going to transgress with my mouth.’
‘Your Word Is A Lamp To My Feet, It’s Kept Me Out
Of The Way Of The Destroyer’
“Concerning the
works of men, by the word of thy lips” God’s Word, “I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.”
(verse 4) ‘LORD, it’s been your Word [the
Bible] that’s guided me, concerning the works of men.’ “by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.” ‘Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, it’s a
light unto my path, it’s guided me, it’s kept me out of the way of the
destroyer.’ Psalm 119, you know, there’s many places,
look, it’s always the Word of God. Again, Jesus, “It is written” when Satan tempts him, his answer to the devil, “It is written.” And
wonderfully, he’s hungry, he hasn’t eaten for 40 days and 40 nights, the devil
says ‘If
you’re the Son of God,’ it’s not what he said, the class condition
[grammatically] in the Greek, he said, ‘Since you’re the Son of God,’ he
acknowledged who he was, he said ‘turn these stones into bread. You’re his Son, you can make a bakery out of
the desert, cinnamon buns, butter cake, since you’re the Son of God.’ And again, the important thing about
that lesson is, Matthew wasn’t there, and Luke wasn’t there, the two that tell
us, it was right after he was baptized and driven into the wilderness by the
Holy Spirit, the only ones that were there were Jesus, the devil, and the Holy
Spirit. Which means, somewhere, sitting
around a fire, or sitting in Peter’s house, somewhere when the subject of the
devil came up, Jesus said ‘Let me tell you about the score I settled
before I called any of you. And this is
how I settled it, ‘Since you’re the Son of God turn these stones to
bread,’ I said to him, ‘Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,
Satan I don’t need to be the Son of God to whup you, I just need to be a man
filled with the Holy Spirit, given to the Word of God, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that,’ in each of his answers
Jesus said “It is written.” Here, you know David wonderfully says, he
says, “Concerning the works of men, by
the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.” (verse 4)
“Hold Up My Goings In Thy Paths, That My Footsteps Slip Not”
Now
he changes from “here” to “hold.” “Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” (verse 5) but here’s the condition, “Hold up my goings” notice, “in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” Satan misquoted the Word, started to play back with Jesus, and said ‘Isn’t it written cast yourself down, he’s
given his angels charge over thee, lest you dash your foot against a
stone,’ no, what it said was ‘he’s
given his angels charge over thee to keep thee in thy ways.’ And here it is here. “Hold
up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” Look, if
you’re out doing stupid stuff, compromising, drinking, sexual sins, any of that,
then we pray your feet do slip, pray you fall flat on your face. That’s a good thing. God loves you, he can’t let you be successful
at that. You’re his kid. Haven’t you noticed, before you were saved,
you got away with everything. Since you
got saved, every time you tried to sin, you don’t get away with nothing. Everybody tells on you, you get caught,
nothing works out, that’s because he’s your Father. He can’t let you be a successful sinner
now. But if you walk in his paths, your
foot will not slip, you’re not going to blow it if you’re determined to walk in
his paths. He prays first, “hear me” in the midst of all
this. Now he says, “Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. I have called
upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and
hear my speech.” (verses 5-6) and what he’s asking, and “Shew
thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which
put their trust in thee from those
that rise up against them.” (verse
7) ‘LORD, you save, you keep me, you be
my defense.’ You
know, my pastor, years ago, and I’ve watched it over the years, and sometimes
marveled at it, I’d say ‘Chuck, why don’t
you respond?’ and he’d go, he said, “Look,
I’m 84 years old, the Lord has defended me all these years, if I want to defend
myself, he will let me, he just won’t help me. He [Jesus] just says, ‘Chuck, if you want to defend yourself, go on, and
you don’t need me.’” But he said, “If I don’t defend myself, he does it, and
he does a much better job.” And
here, you know, he’s saying that. ‘LORD, hold up my
goings, hear my prayer, show thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest
by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up
against them. You do it, LORD, you protect, you save.’ And he says, and “Keep me as the apple of the eye,” now we say that today, it’s a
bit of a different meaning, we might say ‘Oh
man, they’re the apple of their eye,’ but in the Hebrew it’s “the
pupil”, you know, it’s the place if you get an eyelash you’re going
like this, or a speck, it’s like the most sensitive part, the idea is ‘keep
me there, LORD, keep me in the center of the
most sensitive part, LORD.’ “Keep me as the
apple of the eye,”
“Hide Me Under The Shadow Of Thy
Wings”
and
the next part of the prayer, now “hide me under the shadow of thy wings,” (verse 8) sounds like a great place to
be. Doesn’t it? “under
the shadow of his wings,” here’s where we’re hidden, under the shadow of
his wings, “from the wicked that oppress
me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.” (verse 9) he
often felt trapped by Saul. “They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.” (verse
10) Now, I know that sounds weird,
doesn’t it. The Bible says ‘rejoice
in marrow and fatness.’ Today
we’re in complete battle against that. In the Old Testament if you had meat on your bones you were considered
prosperous, you were considered doing well. So he says, ‘LORD, they’re enclosed with their
own fat, their own prosperity, their own bragging,’ “with
their mouth they speak proudly. They
have now compassed us in our steps: they
have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it
were a young lion lurking in secret places.” (verses 10b-12) They’re like, you’ve seen the Discovery
Channel where a lion will get down and just crouch, and get real low, and get
ready. He says, ‘LORD, that’s what they’re doing,
bowing down unto the earth, like unto a lion that is greedy of his prey.’ “and as it were a
young lion lurking in secret places.” In Psalm 57:4 David says ‘My
soul is in the midst of lions,’ you know, just an interesting
picture. And in the middle of all that,
now he says, “Arise, O LORD,
disappoint him, cast him down: deliver
my soul from the wicked, which is thy
sword:” (verse 13) ‘cast him down, LORD, the one whose getting ready
to jump on me, LORD, disappoint him, deal with
him,’ is
the idea, ‘prevent his actions, cast him down,’ and “deliver my soul from the wicked, which
is thy sword:” King James
says “which
is thy sword:” and then it says, looking at verse 14, “from men which are” both of those phrases is really, the sense of it is, “by”, so “deliver
my soul from the wicked by thy sword, they have their weapons, LORD, you have yours.’ So, “deliver my soul from the wicked by thy
sword, from men by thy hand, from men of the world,” not “which are”
but it’s “from men, by thy hand, O LORD,” notice what it says here
continuing in verse 14, “from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest
with thy hid treasure:” and
that’s very true. Sounds like a bumper
sticker, doesn’t it. ‘Men
of the world have their portion in this life.’ In Hebrews 11, the writer there who speaks of Moses, and he says ‘rather
than enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, he decided to suffer reproach
with Christ and God’s people.’ But it says ‘Rather than enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season,’ look,
sin is pleasurable. OK? We’re not stupid. There isn’t anywhere in the Bible that says ‘Don’t hit yourself in the head with a
ballpeen hammer.’ It doesn’t have to
tell you that. There’s nowhere where it
says Don’t drive a carpet tack into your
forehead.’ That’s not a
temptation. It warns against women. There’s nowhere in the Bible where it warns
women against men, by the way, but it warns men about women, about greed, about
anger, there are warnings about those things. Because the truth is, in this life there is sin, and it is pleasurable,
that’s why we’re warned about it. But
it’s in this life, it’s for a season, the writer to the Hebrews says. He says, ‘LORD, protect me,’ “from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose
belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure:” and man, they can lay it out
in front of you, they can bate you, they can try to take you along. And the King James says, “and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure:” the idea is, with things you’ve stored up, it reads “what
you have stored up will fill their belly” the idea is, ‘Hey,
they have their pleasure in this life, but LORD, what you’ve stored up [for
them] that’s what’s going to fill their belly, in the final analysis.’ It
says, “they are full of children and
leave the rest of their substance to
their babes.” (verse 14e) Yea,
they’re fruitful, but they leave the rest of their substance to their babes,
they die, and they ain’t taking nothing with them. They had their pleasure in this life, and
they leave behind their substance, to the next generation.
David Looks Forward To Resurrection Morning,
Immortality
Contrast
all of that, “as for me.” Can you write
in there “as for you”? Great verse just
to think about ‘As for me, in contrast to the wicked. As for me, in contrast to the men of the world that have their portion
in this life,’ “As for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness: I
shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” (verse 15) That’s a remarkable statement for
David. “with thy likeness” ‘resurrection morning, LORD.’ That’s
what matters. This is a man who falls
into sexual sin, this is a man who sends somebody to their death, murdered,
this is a man who makes major mistakes. But this is a man who wrestles before his God, he sins before his God,
he repents before his God, he never changes gods. Solomon had all kinds of wives with all kinds
of gods. Again, God would say to
Solomon, ‘Your heart is not perfect before me like the heart of your father,
David.’ ‘You mean, the old adulterer-murderer?’ That’s because David never changed Gods, he
blew it before his God, he repented before his God, he made things right before
his God, he worshipped his God, he died in the presence of his God. Whenever this timing is, he says “As for me, I will behold thy face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied,
when I awake, with thy likeness.” And
remember, it’s the Holy Spirit putting into the pages through David, for us, so
we can see this model prayer, one of five in the Psalms, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy
likeness.” And what will that be
like, in righteousness? We’re glad of
that. We don’t want to see his face in
sinfulness, that’s the wrong place to be, in the wrong throne, that’s the Great
White throne. We will see his face, in
righteousness, “I shall be satisfied,” that’s what we’re really yearning for, that’s what we were made for. People try to fill themselves with everything
in this world, and they end up unsatisfied and empty, and frustrated, “I will be satisfied,” he says. When? Now it’s a good perspective, that way you don’t invest too much in the
present. When I’ll really be satisfied
is “when I awake, with thy
likeness.” And we’re told in
Philippians ‘Our bodies shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body,’ because our citizenship is in heaven. That’s a remarkable thing for David to say, way back then, “I will be satisfied, when I awake, with they likeness.” Good prayer, good
Psalm.
In Closing
Psalm
15, God determines whose in his house, who hangs out there, who his guests are,
he’s the master of his house, he gives the terms of hospitality. Whose going to be there with him? Just a good read there through the list
there. Then in Psalm 16 he lays out,
looking above to the LORD, and then to around what’s
going on, looking in, taking inventory, and then finally looking ahead,
realizing what really matters is all there’s there. And then in this last Psalm, you know, the
cry, ‘Hear
me, LORD,
hold me, LORD, hide me, LORD, keep me,’ because only men are going to
have their stuff now, and I don’t want to sit around and envy that, and say ‘I can’t believe this guy got that, this
guy’s a jerk, why did he get this, he won the lottery, he’s always selling
heroine, and then he wins the lottery, it isn’t fair Lord,’ you know, they
have it in this world. ‘Me,
as for me,’ he says, ‘there’s something different for me there
Lord. I’m going to be satisfied when I
awake in thy likeness.’ That’s a
good place to keep our perspective, particularly as we see the world falling
apart. Let’s stand. Let’s pray. ‘Lord, we settle all these things before you, Lord, and some of them are
very real to us, tonight some of them, Lord, maybe next week, or in a month,
Lord, or in a year, Lord, but these truths. Lord, we pray for the person on our right hand, maybe we know them,
maybe we don’t, Lord, you know them, and maybe we think we know them, but don’t
know them at all, Lord. You hear every
heart that’s crying out to you tonight, Lord, speak to them, reassure them,
Lord. If they’re walking somewhere Lord
that’s not your path, where they’re slipping, Lord, take hold of them, cause
them to know the path of life, put their feet on a Rock, Lord Jesus, heal them,
renew them, strengthen them. The person
on our left, Lord, your son or daughter, blood bought, sitting here under your
Word, Lord, ready to lift their voice, their heart in praise, minister to them,
Lord Jesus. Lord, don’t let this ever be just a Bible study, Lord, let
these verses speak to us, let them take hold of us in different places and
different thoughts and different emotions, Lord. Let us leave with your Word sown in our
hearts, Lord, to bring forth 30, 40, 60, 100 fold we pray, Lord Jesus, in your
name, for your glory, as we lift our voices and our hearts, Lord. Let this be a blessing to you, we pray, Lord,
we love you, we pray in your name, amen.’
related
links:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Does%20God%20Exist.html
http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Genesis%201%201-31.html
http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/Hebrews%2011%201-4.html
http://www.HOWMARRIAGEWORKS.com
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