Series: Psalms
Title: Faith of Christ
Text: Ps 16: 1-11
Date: August 8, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Psalm 16: 8: I have set the LORD always
before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9: Therefore
my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10:
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy
One to see corruption. 11: Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence
is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
In Psalm
16, it is Christ speaking through David. Turn to Acts 2. We will see that the Holy Spirit moved the
apostle Peter to quote Psalm 16, declaring it is all about Christ.
Acts 2: 25: For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw
the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not
be moved: 26: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover
also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption…29: Men and
brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both
dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30: Therefore
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of
the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit
on his throne; 31: He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption. 32: This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we all are witnesses.
Turn to
Acts 13. We will see the Holy Spirit moved the apostle Paul to also quote this
16th Psalm, applying it to Christ.
Acts 13: 35: Wherefore he saith also in another psalm,
Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36: For David, after he
had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid
unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37: But he, whom God raised again, saw no
corruption. 38: Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39: And by him
all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses.
Proposition:
Psalm 16 is Christ speaking through David. Here we see Christ’s faith in God,
as he viewed his approaching sufferings on the cross, his victory over death
and the grave, and his exaltation to the right hand of God.
I. CHRIST’S PRAYER OF FAITH—V1: Preserve me, O God: for
in thee do I put my trust.
Preserve
Me, O God—guard me, be as a bodyguard to me.
God is called in Job 7: 20—“the preserver of men.” And Christ Jesus, as
God the Son, is the Preserver of men.
Psalm 145: 20: The LORD preserveth all them that love
him:
But
when God the Son took human flesh, he took upon him the form of a servant. As
the servant of God, as Man, as the Mediator and Representative of his people,
Christ Jesus needed to be kept from the power of evil, even as we do—so he
prayed, “Preserve me, O God. For in thee do I put my trust.” Christ had God’s promise—his word—that God
would keep him.
Isaiah 49: 8: Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time
have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will
preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the
earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; 9: That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to
them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and
their pastures shall be in all high places.
Application:
Brethren, just as Christ had God’s word, we have God’s word!
Psalm 9:10: And they that know thy name will put their
trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
1 Peter 2:6: Wherefore also it is contained in the
scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he
that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
No
matter who you are, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall not be
confounded or ashamed for doing so. The
LORD has never forsaken one who put their trust in him. Why? Because God is
faithful to the believer who puts all his trust in God!
Christ
used the argument that God will not refuse—FOR
IN THEE do I put MY TRUST. To believe
is to put all your trust in God—not in your works, not in any other thing or
person. God can be trusted above our
nearest and dearest loved ones.
Psalm 27:10: When my father and my mother forsake me,
then the LORD will take me up.
Also,
because this prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ to God for his people, as well as
for himself, because all the elect of God were in Christ.
John 17:11: Holy Father, keep through thine own name
those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
When
God preserved Christ and raised him from the dead to his right hand, all his
elect were preserved in Christ.
Jude 1:…sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ, and called:
The
prayer of faith is—“Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.”
II. THE CONFIDENCE OF CHRIST’S FAITH—V2: O my soul
thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord:
The
confidence of faith is in the innermost part—in the heart God has created anew.
Many say God is their LORD with the lips only. Christ said of the religious men
when he walked this earth.
Mark 7: 6: He answered and said unto them, Well hath
Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me
with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
But Christ Jesus said, “O my soul thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord:”—he believed in his
heart.
The
confidence of faith gives all allegiance to God and owns him as my Lord, my
Master, my God, my Help, my Support, my All—v2: O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord. As the Mediator, made under
the law, he came to serve Jehovah as the Representative and Substitute of his
people—so he owned God the Father as his Master. Christ, from the heart, bowed to
Jehovah—capital L.O.R.D, saying, v2: O my
soul, thou hast said unto the LORD…Thou art my Master—lower case—L.o.r.d – v2: Thou art my Lord:
Application: We have not believed until we have bowed to Christ as
our Lord and Master. That is what Christ said here to God the Father. “O my soul thou hast said unto
the LORD, Thou art my Lord:” This
is the confidence of Christ’s faith. Is
Christ the confidence of our faith? He
said, “Without me, you can do nothing.”
III. WE SEE THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST’S FAITH. v2:…my goodness extendeth
not to thee;
Remember,
this is Christ Jesus the GodMan, the perfectly faithful servant of God the
Father! Yet, listen to his modesty, “My
goodness extendeth not to thee;”
I hear
religious folks strutting like roosters, crowing about their faith, boasting of
what all they have done for God. Of all the sons of Adam, “there is none that
doeth good.” (Ps 14: 1) But Christ is the one and only who is full of goodness—he
can say “My goodness.” Yet, he says, “My goodness, extendeth not to thee.”
Application: True faith is not proud but humble.
The
work of our Lord Jesus did not add anything to God. God would have remained glorious had he let
the whole human race perish in their sins.
We learn about the attributes and character of God by Christ’s work and
by his death at Calvary—but God did not stand in need of Christ’s goodness.
Job 22:2: Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is
wise may be profitable unto himself?
Job 35:6: If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him?
or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? 7: If thou be
righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? 8: Thy
wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son
of man.
Christ’s
goodness extendeth not to God, but here is the good news—Christ’s goodness extends
to his people—v2: my goodness extendeth
not to thee; 3: But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent,
in whom is all my delight.
Christ’s
people are “Saints.” Sanctified, set apart, by God the Father
choosing them in Christ before the world was made—Christ became our Surety; sanctified—perfected—by
Christ goodness--“for by one offering, he hath perfected forever all them that
are sanctified.” (Heb 10: 14); sanctified—made holy—by the Spirit of God effectually
washing us, purging our conscience in the blood of Christ Jesus our Substitute.
Christ’s
people are “the excellent”—his nobles—his
noblemen. True noblemen, true princes
are those Christ has made “kings and priests unto God”, “Princes in all the
earth” (Ps 45: 16). Every believer is robed in Christ’s righteousness. Heirs of
the kingdom of God!
1 Peter 2:9 But ye
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light:
Christ says, “In whom is all my delight!”
Proverbs 8: 29:…when he appointed the foundations of the
earth: 30: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his
delight, rejoicing always before him; 31: Rejoicing in the habitable part of
his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Isaiah 43:4: Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou
hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life.
Isaiah 62:4: Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken;
neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called
Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land
shall be married.
SoS 7:10: I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.
Application: Brethren, if Christ’s people mean this much to Christ—shouldn’t
his people be our choicest delight, too?
1 John 3: 16: Hereby perceive we the love of God,
because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren. 17: But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how
dwelleth the love of God in him? 18: My little children, let us not love in
word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
Isaac Watts wrote:
Oft have my heart and tongue confessed
How empty and how poor I am;
My praise can never make thee blest,
Nor add new glories to thy name.
Yet, Lord, thy saints on earth may reap
Some profit by the good we do;
These are the company I keep,
These are the choicest friends I know.
Let others choose the songs of mirth
To give a relish to their wine;
I love the men of heav’nly birth,
Whose thoughts and language are divine.
IV. WE SEE CHRIST’S FAITH IS JEALOUS FOR GOD
TO RECEIVE ALL THE GLORY--v4: 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
same Lord Jesus who delights in his people is against those who worship other
gods.
Their sorrows shall be multiplied.
They
are made to sorrow by their leaders as
they are forced to make many sacrifices,
to withhold food and drink so their bodies suffer; forced to be up and doing which causes sorrows. Then there are the sorrows from God. Stings of conscience because the wrath of God
lies upon them; it will be bad
enough to meet God outside of Christ but to meet God trusting in your idols
rather than in Christ—they will have a special portion in the lake of fire. True
religion is full of comfort—false religion is full of sorrow and rigor by
Pharaoh and his taskmasters.
They hasten after another god—full of zeal.
Romans 10: 2: For I bear them record that they have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3: For they being ignorant of
God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4: For Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 5: For Moses
describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth
those things shall live by them. 6: But the righteousness which is of faith
speaketh on this wise,…8: But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even
in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10: For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. 11: For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed.
Christ
the Great High Priest stands between the sinner and God—there is no other way
to God but by Christ. Those who come to
God in Christ, Christ represent them to God. He offers himself to God on their
behalf. But when men who come with vain offerings, Christ says—v4: their drink offerings of blood will I
not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
Christ will
gladly represent the weakest of his sheep. He said, “I call them by name.” But
those who worship another god, Christ will say, “I never knew you.” Christ
will not present them to God nor take up their names into his lips to make
intercession for them.
Application: Christ is not in the midst of so-called churches who are
saying that God must wait on the sinner to let God save them. Wherever sinners are being told their will is
free to choose or resist, Christ is not in that! Where the lie is told that God loves
everybody, Christ died for everybody, Christ is not at all involved in that
idolatry.
Jeremiah 23: 31: Behold, I am against the prophets, saith
the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32: Behold, I am against
them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my
people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor
commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the
LORD.
Christ
says, “their offerings will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.”
True
repentance, true faith is not merely changing doctrine—it is changing Gods! True faith has its part—its portion—no where
else but in God. Christ is the Faithful
One. He says—v5: The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup:
thou maintainest my lot.
As it
was pictured in the Levites who were priests—they had no inheritance in the
land because the LORD was their portion. So our Lord Jesus delighted that the
Father was on his side, would maintain his right against all the wrongs of men and
reserve his elect for him, as his lot and reward for ever.
Application: Is the LORD your portion? What are you looking to inherit? His people are looking to inherit the LORD
himself.
He is our portion; he
supplies all our necessities now and forever. Everything this world can
give you will one day be lost—no matter what it is! But by giving us himself,
Christ gives us more than the devil or this world combined could ever offer—and
our inheritance is eternal! By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead,…we have an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Christ said this and we say this with Christ v6: The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a
goodly heritage.
V. CHRIST’S FAITH LOOKED TO GOD HIS FATHER
FOR COUNSEL—v7: I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel:
As man,
Christ spake not of himself but as his Father had taught him.
John 12: 49: For I have not spoken of myself; but the
Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I
should speak. 50: And I know that his commandment is life everlasting:
whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Application: Our Redeemer went to his Father for direction, having
received it, he blessed him for giving him counsel. Brethren, by his grace, we follow Christ and
cease from trusting in our own understanding.
We seek to be guided by the Spirit of God. And we thank him for giving us counsel.
His
guidance is in the heart—v7:…my reins
also instruct me in the night seasons. Someone
said, “Wise men see more with their eyes shut by night than fools can see by
day with their eyes open.” Sinners choose
the night to revel in their sins. The believer finds the night seasons to be quiet
time, when we hear the soft still voices of our Redeemer, speaking into our
heart. "Thine ears shall hear a voice behind thee, saying, “This is the
way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the
left."
VI. CHRIST’S FAITH LOOKED TO GOD HIS FATHER
IN THE MOST SEVERE TRIAL--V8: I have set the LORD always before me: because he
is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Acts 2: 25:…I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
When
his time was come to go to the cross—our Lord Jesus did not set the Roman guard
before his face, he set the LORD his Father before his face; he did not set the
scourging before his face, he set the LORD God before his face; he did not set
the cruel cross before his face, he set the LORD before his face. So by faith, Christ
knew he should never be moved from accomplishing the redemption of his
people. He trusted in the power of God
at his right hand.
Application: Now brethren, let’s learn from this. Instead of focusing our fleshly eye on the
suffering that lies ahead of us, focus the eye of faith on the face of our
Redeemer. Let us rely upon our Head, who
has all power in heaven and in earth and all deep places.
Isaiah 50: 6: I gave my back to the smiters, and my
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and
spitting. 7: For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be
confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall
not be ashamed. 8: He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with
me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to
me. 9: Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall
condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them
up.
Here is
Christ’s word to us who fear God and obey Christ’s voice.
Isaiah 50: 10:
Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his
servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in
the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
When I
rely entirely upon the Lord, by his presence with me:
1) I
have this confidence concerning things without—v8:…I shall not be moved.
2) I have this cheer within--v9: Therefore my heart is glad,
3) I have
rejoicing in my tongue—v9: my glory
rejoiceth:
4) I have good hope for my dying body—v9: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
Psalm 16: 10: For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell;
Our
Savior did not go to the place of the damned. At his death his soul was committed
to his Father, and was that same day in paradise: as he told the thief on the
cross. It means “thou wilt not leave my body in the grave.”
Psalm 16:10: neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption.
It
means his body would not see decay.
Christ
put away sin—so that unlike us—when his body entered the grave—it saw no
corruption in those three days that he lay there—that bears witness to the fact
that Christ put away sin when he said it is finished, I was finished—the end of
sins.
Psalm 16: 11: Thou wilt shew me the path of
life:
By
raising Christ from the dead, Christ was the first to whom the path of life was
shown and the first to ever tread this path. He is the firstborn, the first
begotten from the dead. Others were raised
before but Christ was the first raised to an immortal life. Death hath no more
dominion over him. The view he had of
this through faith, caused great joy and gladness in Christ at the time of his
sufferings and death.
Application: Our Savior knows by experience how to comfort us when our
head lays on that dying pillow.
VII. CHRIST’S FAITH WAS NOT CONFOUNDED--v11: In
thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore.
There
in our human nature he is filled with fulness of joy, with a joy unspeakable
and full of glory (see Ac 2:28)
Application:
As it is with Christ our Head, so it shall be with the members of his body. now
the presence of God puts more joy and gladness into our hearts. But then we
shall enter into the joy of our Lord, into the presence of God in the next
world, then everlasting joy will be upon our heads;
Revelation 21: 3: And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and
be their God. 4 And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon
the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for
these words are true and faithful. 6 And
he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I
will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all
things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone: which is the second death.
Believe on Christ—you shall not be ashamed for doing so!
Amen!