Bible, if you would, to the book of Psalms, Psalm 16. And I'd like to share just a few thoughts along the theme of knowing God. We will read all of Psalm 16. Psalm 16, beginning at verse 1. 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 on the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all 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 reigns 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, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures evermore. I'd like to share with you just a few thoughts along the theme of knowing God. By way of introduction, I'd just like to talk about two types of knowledge, experimental and relational. Then I'd like to give a brief exposition of verse 8. and then close with three applications. By way of introduction, let me mention two types of knowledge. Experimental knowledge is the first one. The single verse that relays to us the type of knowledge is a verse in the book of Genesis chapter 18 and verse 21. The context is the sad case of Sodom and Gomorrah. And God says, I will go down now and see whether or not they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which has come up unto me. And if not, I will know. Here the omniscient Jehovah God says that though he knows a thing intellectually, if I can put it in human terms, yet to really know to experience by way of understanding it with the senses. He had to go down there and see for himself, if you will. J. I. Packer in his book, Knowing God, uses this verse to describe experimental knowledge. God intellectually, God knew what was going on there, but again, in human terms, he had to experience firsthand by way of observation in human terms to gain a knowledge that would impact his heart, that would give him a course of action that would move him, so must it be for our experimental knowledge of God. It has to be gotten by acquisition, by first hand, by understanding, a knowledge that affects us to change us, to move us, to have us have that experience or that enjoyment. It's a knowledge that cannot be gotten by proxy, by third hand, by distance. It's the same type of knowledge that God marks out in Genesis. I will go down there to see so that I can know. That's experimental knowledge. And then again, by way of introduction, relational knowledge, a knowledge that we have by virtue of relationship. Children, you know your parents. You know parents, you know your spouses and your children. There's something, there's a type of knowledge that you can only get by virtue of relationship. I could have read a 300 page book about my wife before I knew her, before I dated her, and it would give me a lot of facts and figures about her, her family. But until I live with her, Until I experience the ups and the downs, not many downs, until I see on a day-by-day basis how she thinks, what she does, how she, I don't have that relational knowledge. I gain that by virtue of living with her. So for the Christian, the relational part of our relationship with Christ gives us that knowledge. How was it that Paul was able to say, speaking about God, in him we live and move and have our being? He goes on to say, as certain also of your own poets have said, we are his offspring. We're his children. And because we know him as such, then in him we live and move and have our being. So this relational knowledge of Him by virtue of the fact that we live with Him every day. Peter, in speaking something about this, said, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. There's a lot of powerful words in that verse. According to his, not human power, but his divine power, he's given us everything that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. He's called us to this tremendous goal line. And through the knowledge of him, that can be worked out in our life. So those two types of knowledge, I just wanted to highlight those by way of introduction. The experimental knowledge and that knowledge by way of experience. There's a relational knowledge. There's an experiential knowledge. There is some overlap in those two. And I just want to mention that because As we go through the application, that'll become important as it's related to Psalm 16 and verse 8. And now secondly, I'd like to give just a brief exposition of Psalm 16 and verse 8. Again, which reads, I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Psalm 16 is a miktam, that is, it's a mystery, there's some secrecy, there's something hidden here that he's writing about. And when David penned this psalm, he was speaking about his experience, his thoughts, his actions, where he was going. But this is a messianic psalm because it has its perfect fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't have time to read Acts chapter 2, but in Acts chapter 2, this psalm is brought forward into the New Testament. And in no uncertain terms, it is explained as the Christ's psalm. He embodied it. He lived it out. He believed it. He worked out the principles in it. and it was here's and what is in view is the Savior Christ as he contemplates giving up his life his confidence in the father that the father would not abandon him to the grave but raise him up and not only would he be raised but he would be ascended to the majesty of the glory on high and know the blessings of verse 11 the path of life in God's presence the fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore. The severest of trial that could possibly be imagined, the whole process of death by the Messiah, the agony as he was poured into that crucible of the deepest woe, he could only go through that, it could only be withstood The Messiah could only get through it as fully God and as fully man if he would set God before him. Because of that lifelong true knowledge of God that came to him, his relationship, father-son, and his experiences of being in the presence of God all the time, only then could his trust be explicit as he looked for deliverance, as he looked beyond death, as he understood what was prophesied about him would ultimately happen, that his soul would not be left in hell. The Holy One would not suffer corruption nor be abandoned. This verse has several parts to it. First of all, he says, I have set the Lord. Again, in Acts chapter 2, verse 25 and 26, that one is preaching and he says, for David speaketh concerning him, concerning Christ, I have foresaw the Lord always, here he changes the words, before my face, for he is on my right hand, I will not be moved. Even death, Gethsemane, Calvary, I will not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. All of that occurring before the ordeal of Calvary or the grave. He was able to rejoice because he knew God. Though God was going to abandon him for that short time, he knew that God was going to work it out. He could trust God because of the relationship, because of his experimental knowledge based upon God's word, the promises, God's love. You cannot help but see the many, many references, particularly in the Gospel of John, where you see the communion of the Father and the Son, where the Christ is praying or teaching or healing or contending with the Pharisees and the scribes. He always had the awareness that his Father was there, that he was in the presence of God, his Father, because he had set God before him. And his experiences were such that his inner man was affected in that very positive way. Next, the word set. I have set the Lord before me. It's a very interesting word. It's a word that means to equalize or to put in a balance. So what is in view is regardless of the circumstances, they all have equal weight to the individual who's walking in the light of God. He could have been on a mountaintop or a valley. He could have been knowing blessedness or sorrow, special events or the mundane and the routine. He could have been in the midst of religious people contending with him. He could have been ministering to publicans and sinners. But the psalmist, David, and the Messiah purposefully set Jehovah God before their face equally in all situations. He would agree with me that there's no situations where you do not need God. Every situation, you need God. So this word set means equally. He set always, that means constant or perpetual. Again, being in the presence of God was something that was always happening, unaffected by circumstances or his thoughts. Next. Where did He set God? He set Him before me. There's a personal nature. There's a personal awareness of being in the presence of God. Every situation or circumstance was an opportunity to learn of God, to be taught by Him. There was that lifelong situation of learning God. Remember what Christ said when he said, take up my yoke upon you and learn of me. The learn of me did not start and stop when the yoke is put on. I am meek and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls. Before him, the psalmist, before him the Messiah, when God was set there, no matter where he was or what he was doing, he was learning, he was understanding, he was relating to God. Joseph knew God when he was unjustifiably thrown into jail. Job learned of God when God allowed him to be tested by Satan. John learned of God when he was exiled to the island of Patmos. The disciples, walking on a road, going up at a mountaintop to pray, whatever it might be, was an opportunity to learn of and learn, be taught by him. Again, in a personal way, not based on someone else's experience, not by proxy, not by third hand. The psalmist is teaching us what the Messiah did was open up to us this little window where we understand in this personal way the mind, the will, the intellect, the emotions, the entirety of man benefiting from this personal relationship with God. Think of the psalmist David. whether he was fighting Goliath, whether he was preparing to fight Goliath, whether he was building the temple, whether he was shepherding his father's flock, whether he was dealing with his family members, whatever it might be, when he had set God before him, he could react, he could think, he could do based on that relationship. There's an aspect or an element of this very personal nature. He set God before him. Not everything we learn, we tell to other people. Not everything we learn by God, we actually understand completely. Sometimes it takes years to be worked out when we understand, oh, God is teaching me this or showing me this, which is why we don't blab everything we know, because we don't know a whole lot often, right? But in that personal place, when we set God before us, sometimes God just has, if I could put it this way, again, very human terms, but God has reserved for you this special set of knowledge as it relates to you that he wants just you to know, just you to understand, just something he can share with you personally. David, he could have written a hundred more books than the Psalms and those portions we read about in Samuel, as I'm sure many of God's people could have. So much more learning in that secret place. So this is what he means when he said God before himself. There were times when he said God before the congregation. There were times when he said God before the heathen, that they might look to God. But the special time was when he said God before himself. Next word, because. There are consequences, wonderful consequences, to an intimate relationship with God. There's consequences to knowing, really knowing, God. If I were to ask you to hold out your hand, and I were to drop a little pebble of pea gravel into it, you would feel a little dink. Consequences to an action. If you set God always before you, it's not going to be a little dink of consequences or because. There will be this commensurate, equal reaction. And again, if you trace through David's life, you could see God really working in and through him as he walked with God. Because there was for David, there was for Christ, there is for us a blessed cause and effect, because He is at my right hand." Did you see the transition? First, he sets God always before him, and now the scripture says, now because He is at my right hand. You see, God has moved, if I could put it that way. Same thought, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. I have set the Lord always before me, because now He is at my right hand. There's this transition. And again, in the book of Acts, as it's quoted, I have foresaw in the Lord always before my face. In other words, intimacy, closeness, nearness. Because this has happened, I will not be moved. I will not change my mind. what I think about God, I will grow, it will be enhanced. So there's a very brief exposition of verse 8. We've talked about two types of knowledge, experimental knowledge and relational knowledge. And then we see it working its way out in verse 8 of chapter 16. Again, the psalmist, but more perfectly Christ. I have set the Lord, that is Jehovah, before me. Set, equal. I have set the Lord before me, and now there's a consequence. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Nothing can happen to me that I will not understand or I will think is outside the will of God. I will know of assurance that he is working in me to will and to do. of His good pleasure. Now three applications. Three applications to this truth. What can it mean for us? How does this impact us? Number one, application given in terms of a question. How can we know God this way, like the psalmist? How can we, several thousands of years later, yet the same God, the same type of knowledge, how can we know God this way? Let me give you two answers. Number one, and this is basic Christianity 101. Number one, get alone with God. Again, it gets down to our private time with Him. It's brought out in our text, verse 8 of Psalm 16 and verse 25 of Acts chapter 2. I have set the Lord always before me. Acts 2, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. In the secret place, Both the psalmist and Christ were in the presence of God, and from that posture of being alone with Him, they were able to have this knowledge of God. There are these things that God would like to teach us, again, that are for nobody else, but are for us. God teaches in a classroom setting. God taught His disciples. He taught in mass. He also teaches individually. The psalmist said, in another place, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Under the shadow, again, nearness, the place of true communion. Sometimes as Christians, we are distant or unspiritual or faint relative to communion because we endeavor to gain that communion outside of that individual close personal way. We live in a world that does not allow us that with all the distractions, with all the surround sound distractions and noise and demands on our time. The imagery I always think of is that high priest in the Old Testament who went into the presence of God. He went within the veil. He was going to reside in the presence of God. It was dreadful, this presence of God. It was elusive. It was only once per year. It was dutiful. He had to sprinkle the blood of propitiation. But the predominant truth, as you think about that whole scene of the high priest once a year going into the Holy of Holies to propitiate the sins of the people, at the Ark of the Covenant was that God would be satisfied, God would be propitiated, God's people would understand that their relationship with God was right, at least in that outward, visible sense as God ordained this ritual. If you were to go into the Holy of Holies today, if such a thing was possible, you would absolutely know that you're in the presence of God. there would be this dreadful, this although blessed, this elusive, this dutiful, but you would have a sense this is not just a religious exercise. I am in the presence of God just as I am. God invites us to the secret place, to that place where deep calleth unto deep, that place where Though much is happening on the outside in the company of believers, he wants each one of us to turn aside to that special place. Being alone with God probably includes the scriptures as we read and meditate. Being alone with God most certainly would include prayer. Being alone with God would include meditation and thinking and reflecting upon who God is. But again, that's the place where alone with God we grow in that knowledge of Him. Secondly, how can we have this knowledge of God as the psalmist, as Christ, we have to see every event, every circumstance as an opportunity to know God. It's not something that just goes by our life and it's gone. Again, the word set always means to equalize, to put in the balance. The psalmist saw, the psalmist understood everything from the vantage point of how God saw it. Everything from the vantage point of God was working to will and to do. God was perpetually, God was constantly working in his life. I think this is one of the applications of John 6, verse 45. It is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard and has learned of the Father cometh unto me, Jesus said. We tend to think God only teaches us in a spiritual setting. God taught Jonah when Jonah was running away from God. God taught Peter in the context of Peter verbally denying the Lord. God taught the disciples when they were just walking on the road to the next town of Emmaus in Luke 24. God taught Moses when Moses had this self-imposed exile to the wilderness for 40 years. God taught the disciples through all those situations, all the miracles, every event, every circumstance was an opportunity to know something about God. What is God thinking about this situation? Why did God allow this to happen? Why did God orchestrate this event? What am I to learn of God through it? So that first application, how can I know God like the psalmist? We set God before us in a secret place, and we set him in that sense where every circumstance, every event in our life is an opportunity to know God. Secondly, by way of application, a problem that everybody has is consistency in the faith, I'm going to guess. Being consistent in our walk, being consistent in the faith. And I believe there is a link between the pervasive problem of consistency and the true knowledge of God. Let me explain it this way. If I were to ask you this past week, were you consistent in your walk? If you were not, you would be thinking something like, I was not consistent because I didn't keep up with my Bible reading schedule. I didn't pray as I ought to pray. I didn't evangelize as I ought to evangelize. We think of consistency in terms of duty. That's what man does. Man's all about works, right? Man wants to take things into his own hand. Man wants to do something. You can be consistent in your duties and be a great Pharisee or scribe or hypocrite, right? And Jesus told the Pharisees, he says, you're hypocrites. You are tithing mint and anise and cumin, but you've omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not left the others undone. I think the emphasis we place on evaluating consistency through the lens of duty is misplaced. I'm not saying duty is wrong. I'm not saying we should dismiss it. But let me give you a different definition of consistency. Where we need to be consistent is in the true knowledge of the Lord. In other words, in the words of verse eight, To be consistent, you have to set the Lord always before me, as David said, as Christ lived out. Duties are a byproduct of knowing Him. Duties are a byproduct of knowing Him. Duties become privileges or blessings. They're not duties anymore. We have to expand our definition of what does it mean to be consistent with the Lord. If you relegate your consistency to duties, you will never meet that standard. You will always be discouraged. You will never, ever be consistent. You cannot repent fast enough. You cannot keep your tongue. You cannot persevere in a mini trial. You cannot speak to another one in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You cannot grow in grace and knowledge of God as you ought to if it is entirely left up to you approaching all of these things from a duty. Try to be consistent with your duties. However, if you set the Lord always before your face, if you set the Lord always before you, if you have the reality that you are actually walking with Christ all the time, if He is at your right hand, you will not be moved. You will not be inconsistent. You will have to be consistent. That is the conclusion. That is the because. That is the outcome of setting Him before you. It's not about a thousand and one duties. It's about one relationship. It's not about a random acts of kindness. It's about a life dedicated to Him. It's a relational. It's an experiential. I'm not saying Bible reading, prayer, duties, evangelism, I'm not saying those are unimportant. Obviously they are. But if you wanna be consistent, don't focus on these pigeonholed duties. Think about that relationship with Christ. We have to be consistent in knowing God. Daniel said, the people that do know their God will be strong and do exploits. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good. In essence is what this theme is saying. You will not be moved away from your duties simply because you have resolved to do them. You will not be moved away from the normal Christian life simply because you have resolved not to do that, but because he has been set before you always. So knowing God is the antidote for lack of a consistent Christian life. That's what the psalmist is talking about. If God is there in my life, if he is at my right hand, I'm not going to be moved away from him. Thirdly and finally, by way of application, we need to cultivate a very high view of the true knowledge of God. I think the Psalm opens up for us something that we probably miss, but it emphasizes the knowledge of God, and it shows the true knowledge of God that we're after. It shows that to us in a different place than we might have been thinking of. Again, in Psalm 16, look at verse 9 and verse 10. Again, this is the psalmist speaking in a very messianic way. This is really fulfilled as Christ is thinking these thoughts and saying these words. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Here is a set of knowledge. whereby the psalmist and the Messiah is able to see that there is hope for them. He will not be left in the grave. There will be no corruption. There will be victory from death. He will be delivered from death. And if the psalm were to stop there, you would think that the Messiah's only thought was to conquer death. that conquering death was the final victory. Being left in the grave would be defeat. But conquering death, mission accomplished. It's all done. It's all over. But he goes on to say something else. And this is where we need the Messiah placing this high value on all of that. But then it goes on to say, God, that is, will show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. There's even something past the grave. There's something past death. The Messiah would not have been satisfied to conquer death, gain the victory for us. I'm not saying that's a minimal or low thing to do, but you see what he's striving after? He wanted to be reunited. He wanted to be back at the Father's right hand. Restoration of perfect fellowship, being in the presence of his Father. That was the desired outcome. The ordeal, he was going to accomplish it, but the end goal, the end thing, was to get to that place where it was the presence of the Father, the fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore. That can only be realized at the Father's right hand. Nowhere else. Not in church. Not when we hear the best sermon Pastor Joe ever preaches. Not when we evangelize someone and they actually on the spot become a Christian. All of that stuff, wonderful good, only at God's right hand. Are there pleasures forevermore? Is this blessedness? Is this joy that is full of glory? Now, brethren, we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now we know in part, but then we shall know even as we are known. Until then, Until then, God wants us to grow in this experimental and this relational knowledge of Him. That's what Psalm 16, verse 8, which we looked at specifically, details out for us. How can we know God that way? Alone time with God and seeing every circumstance or event as an opportunity to cultivate, to understand, to know God. Secondly, consistency. Think in terms of consistency of the Christian faith, not in the realm of duties. Think of being consistent as a child of God in that relationship with him, knowing him that way. And thirdly, the psalmist who sought fellowship with his father as the pinnacle, as the true end, again, is showing for us where that fellowship can be found. He's placing this high view on knowing God to that extent, to that level, where we will have those pleasures evermore, that joy being at the right hand of the Father. May God be pleased to so work within us that kind of a knowledge of Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for its instruction. We thank You for the The perfect example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Might we be able to follow it by thy Holy Spirit, with the help of thy word? Lord, help us to excel in the knowledge of you. Help us, Father, to strive after it. And might our duties follow? Might our duties be in their right place? Very necessary, very blessed, very wonderful. But Father, might they never replace that experimental, that personal, that relational walk with Christ. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.