Well, good morning. It is good to be with the Lord's people on the Lord's Day. If you would, turn with me to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. This is where we will spend most of our time this morning. But before we get there, I would like to read a few passages that will help us to set the tone for the message this morning. The first in Romans 8, a passage we all know well, Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them who are the called according to His purpose, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. And then second, I'd like us to read 2 Corinthians 3.18. It says, but we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And lastly, in 1 John, in chapter two, beginning in verse 28 we read, And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him. as He is, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." What each of these passages put before us is that God's desire for His people is that they would see Christ and that they would be made like Him. And so our goal this morning in Psalm 16 is simply that, to look upon Christ. So I'd like us to begin by reading Psalm 16, and we're beginning with a lot of reading. This will be good for us. Psalm 16, beginning in verse 1, of Mictam, 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 all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God. their drink-offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The Lord is the portion of my 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 forevermore. Let's ask the Lord's blessing on our time together. Our Father in heaven, we ask that you would open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of your law. Oh, let us see Christ this morning. We ask in his name, amen. This morning, I'd like us to walk through Psalm 16 from three perspectives. I'd like us to begin by going through somewhat of the general sense of the psalm, as David has written it. And after that, I'd like us to go back through the psalm again, specifically with reference to Christ. And then lastly, we'll end our time together by making some application of this psalm to the people of God. So first, the general sense of this psalm. David here is praying to the Lord, coming to the Lord for safety, coming to the Lord as His refuge. And we learn a number of things from what David writes. We learn things about God. We learn things about man. In verse one, David entrusts himself to the Lord. He prays to the Lord and asks that God would preserve him. And he asks this because he has placed his trust in God. We learn two things very simply from this verse. One, that God is the preserver of man. But two, that he is not the preserver of man generally, but the preserver specifically of those whose trust is in him. Secondly, we see, as we move forward into verses two through four, we see that as David has placed his trust in God, he has also dedicated his life to the service of God. So we read in verse two, O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord. David asks for the preservation of God, but We cannot count on the preservation of God when we have not yet called God our Lord. We read in the second half of verse two, my goodness extendeth not to thee. What we see in this phrase is that David, no matter what he does, no matter all of his righteous works, he's described in scripture as a man after God's own heart. And yet David, his own goodness, merits nothing with God. His own goodness adds nothing to God. For all that he has, has been given him by God. And so he says, my goodness extendeth not to thee, but verse three, but instead it extends to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight. And so David, in submitting unto the lordship of God, in living a righteous life. His good works, as it were, are not for the benefit of God. He needs them not. They are instead for the benefit of the people of God. And in verse four, we read of David turning away from idolatry, rejecting idols as false. So we see he has entrusted himself to the Lord, He has dedicated his life to the Lord. And then we come in verse five and we begin to see some of his meditations on the Lord as you could see as a result of his dedicating himself to God. So we read in verse five, the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. And we see that David has put his trust in the Lord, and therefore, he is content in the Lord. He finds his portion in the Lord. The memory verse quoted this morning, godliness with contentment is great gain. And we see that all the way back here in the Psalms. Then lastly, we see David praising the Lord for a future hope, that because he has put his trust in God and he rests in the preserving power of God, therefore he has hope for the future, that God will make known to him the path of life. We see David's hope ultimately is in and eternal rest with God. And one thing to note before we move on is that David's hope on the earth that God himself is his portion, that ultimately is exactly the same as his hope for his future, that in eternity God would be his portion. So with that in mind, we will go back through this psalm now with reference to Christ, and this is where we will spend the majority of our time. So back in verse 1 again, "'Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.'" I'd like us to turn quickly to 1 Peter and read something that I think might help us to see how Christ is described by this verse here. In 1 Peter 2, we read this beginning in verse 18. Peter writes, servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it when you be buffeted for your faults? Ye shall take it patiently. But if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Then verse 21, for even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. So as we come back into Psalm 16, all through the Psalms we see many, many times where David prays to the Lord for vindication. He prays for deliverance from his enemies. And we can even just look across the page in Psalm 17. We see an example of this. 17, verse 3, he says, 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. So even in a whole psalm where his prayer is that the Lord would deliver him from the ungodly, he bases his plea on his own integrity. So as we go back into Psalm 16, and we see a plea for preservation, because trust has been put in the Lord, we can think forward to Christ as we saw in 1 Peter 2. And it says that when he was reviled, he did not threaten his accusers. He did not threaten those who were threatening him. But when he was suffering, he entrusted himself to God. And the verses right before that tell us that he committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. So because of his righteousness, therefore, that is the reason why he does not threaten when he is suffering, is because he is righteous and he knows that there is a righteous judge who will vindicate him. So he entrusts himself to God. If David can ask for the Lord's protection and ask for the Lord's deliverance because of his own integrity, how much more so the son of David, whose righteousness is perfect? How much more might he then entrust himself to the Lord on the basis of his own merits? Moving into verse two, we see Christ dedicating himself to God. We know from scripture as we come into the New Testament that Christ in his incarnation submitted himself to the will of the Father. We read in John chapter 5 that Jesus says to the Jews, I have not come to do my own will but to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. He says that he can do nothing other than what He has seen from the Father, and that all that the Father does, He Himself does likewise. And so we see in Psalm 16 then in verse 2, this prayer, O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord. Even Christ, in His humanity, submitted Himself to the will of the Father as our perfect representative. And then the second phrase, my goodness extendeth not to thee, we saw that for David his merits, his works could not earn him favor with God. But have we considered that even Christ, his righteousness was not necessary to God. God did not need the obedience of Christ. Because, one, Christ himself is the eternal Son of God, made flesh for us. But as he says in John 5, everything that he does on earth, he does as the Father has shown him. There is nothing that Christ is doing that is filling up something lacking in the eternal, perfect God. Instead, the goodness of Christ extendeth, verse 3, to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all his delight. So, even as David looks at his own righteousness and says, this righteousness only benefits the people of God on this earth. It does not extend to God himself. Even Christ, in his righteousness, says, My goodness extendeth not to thee, extendeth not to the Father. Instead, my goodness extendeth to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. And truly, if in verse 2, In the first half, if Christ has submitted Himself to the will of the Father, what is the will of the Father? Well, in John 5, Christ says, this is the will of my Father. I should lose none of all that He has given me, but should raise them up on the last day. The will of the Father is the salvation of His people. And so as Christ comes to earth, submits Himself to the Father's will, and He lives a perfect life, that His goodness would extend to those whom the Father brings to Him. As we move on, we come to verse 5. If David who, as we see in scripture, had many faults. If David found the Lord to be his portion on earth, what might we see of Christ in his life on earth? Where was his strength sourced? Where did he find his portion? I'd like us to consider briefly a few verses in John chapter four that may help us to see this. In John chapter four, Jesus has just spoken with the woman at the well and his disciples have gone away to buy food. And they come back and they marvel that he's speaking with this woman. But after the The conversation is coming to a conclusion and the woman leaves to go and bring her fellow villagers to come and see Christ. We read this in verse 31. In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said to them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, hath any man brought him out to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. What a statement, truly. That Christ on earth, one with the Father from all eternity, yet states that it is His meat and drink to do the work that the Father has given Him to do, and to accomplish it. So truly might Christ Himself say, the Lord is my portion. He is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. And as we even see there in John 4, all these themes from these verses are connecting. Because as we see Christ submitting Himself to the will of the Father, accomplishing the work of the Father, and His portion is itself the Father, What does he say in John 4? My food is to do the will of my Father. And so as Christ, even on earth, takes his refuge in communion with his Father, he does so by performing the will of the Father and delighting in it. So as we move, to our last section in the psalm, come to verse 8. I think this may be the richest part of this whole psalm. And this is where we directly see Christ, as in the New Testament we find that these verses were written about Christ. Peter, in his sermon at Pentecost, in preaching about the resurrected Christ, the passage that he turns to to defend that resurrection is Psalm 16. And I don't know that we could do any better than to read what Peter says, but just listen to these verses. Acts chapter 2 and verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should beholden of it. in verse 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. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also 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. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. 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, he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." What a wonderful exposition of a psalm from Peter. We could let that suffice as our whole sermon for today. I want us to note a few things that we see in this this text from Peter. What we see here is that Christ, and we can look back and see this in our psalm too, as in verse one, he prays for the preservation of God, he puts his trust in God. Verses eight through 11, we see that trust come to fruition. We see his prayer answered at the end of the psalm. As his trust is in God, he truly can say that he has set the Lord always before him. Because he was at his right hand, he would not be moved. And we read even in Hebrews of how Christ, for the joy set before him, endures the cross and despises the shame and now is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And so we see in verse 8, the great hope of Christ is that the Father was near Him as He was on earth. And because of that, He would not be moved. And therefore we come into verse 9, and even as Christ is killed by wicked men, Yet because, as we saw in 1 Peter, he entrusts himself to the righteous judge while he is in the midst of his suffering, he can therefore say that though he suffers, his heart is glad. His flesh, though crucified, shall rest in hope because there is a righteous judge who will vindicate him and who will reward his righteousness. And so his hope, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. And what is the grand end of the work of Christ? What is it that takes place after his ministry is accomplished, after he has fulfilled the work the Father gave him to do, after he has been crucified? And after he is raised, we read in verse 11, thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. I want us to consider just for a moment, what is the joy of Christ that he experiences now at the right hand of the Father? We read in John 17, Christ praised the Father, that the Father would restore the glory that Christ had with him even before the foundation of the world. And so I think we can see very truly that the joy that Christ is looking to on the cross, the joy that He sees that allows Him to endure the shame, and the joy that He now experiences at the right hand of the Father, is the full glory of the Godhead, of whom Christ is one of the three blessed persons. Truly the glory that He had with the Father is part of His joy. But there's another aspect to this that I don't think we ought to miss, and I think it will make our hearts glad. We read in Isaiah 53, perhaps the most detailed of all Old Testament prophecies of the sufferings of Christ. But at the end of the chapter, we read this, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Again, we see Christ fulfilling the will of the Father, doing his works. Verse 11, he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. So what are we seeing here? We see Christ in his suffering, in the travail of his soul, and yet we see in verse 11 that he will actually himself see the reward that that travail will bring. The reason that he suffers, he will see what he has accomplished and he shall be satisfied. Then in verse 12, God says, therefore will I divide him a portion with the great. So we've already seen that Christ, even on earth, his portion was God himself. And yet here we see another aspect of the portion of Christ, the heritage of Christ. And that is his people whom he has come to save. We are the inheritance of Christ. What a reality to think of ourselves, we as a sinful man who have rebelled against God, and yet He gives us to His Son and says, this is your inheritance. And more than that, the Son is satisfying. And so we see there in verse 11, Christ says, thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. What is that joy? Surely it's the joy that he had with the Father before all ages. And yet there is another joy of seeing his people saved, seeing his bride purified, standing in heaven. and beholding His glory. In John 17, when He prays that the Father would restore the glory He had with Him before creation, He also prays, almost in the same breath, that those who are with Him might also see His glory where He is. His desire is that we as His people would see Him in His glory, and that we would be with Him where He is. And so part of the joy that Christ experiences is the joy of having his people with him. He is the head of the body, the church, and he delights in his church. Now think back to verse three, when Christ says, my goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. Christ, in all that he did, all his works, He worked the works that the Father had given Him to do, and He did so with delight in the people He came to save. So to go over this one more time, we see in this Psalm, Jesus entrusting Himself to the Father, submitting Himself to the Father's will, being content in the Father on this earth, and ultimately being glorified with the Father. So I'd like us to finish out our time together now by considering what this psalm might have for us and some blessing that we might draw from this. As we saw at the beginning, God's desire for his people is that one, we would see Christ, but then two, that we'd be made like him. So as we see Christ in Psalm 16, we see the things that he has done, we see who he is. I think then we can also use this psalm now to say, how might we be like Christ? What in this psalm might show us how we could reflect him? So to begin, in these first few verses, we noted this at the beginning, but all of us, if we desire to know that God is the one who preserves us, we must put our trust in Him. It's very simple. And yeah, I don't know if we can ever fully comprehend that, That our, as we are on earth, no matter how much we grow in Christ, no matter how much of Him we see, we will always see the ways in which we are. not measuring up. We will always see the ways in which we are still, again and again, transgressing His law, turning away from Him. And so as we read passages in the New Testament that speak of keeping ourselves in the love of God, that speak of not letting our hearts be hardened We come to Psalm 16 and cry out with David, preserve me, O God. For in thee do I put my trust. Our trust is not in ourselves, not in our works. Our trust is in God. And when it is, we have confidence then that he is the one preserving us. And then as we saw in verse two, We cannot claim to have placed our trust in God if we have not bowed to Him as Lord. And in addition to that, that looks like taking part then in extending goodness to the people of God on this earth. We cannot say, as John would write later, we cannot say that we love God while hating His people. We've already seen here in Psalm 16 that Christ Himself delights in His people. How much more ought we then, not how much more, but surely we ought also to delight in His people. We cannot say we delight in Christ and praise Him and then turn around and despise our brothers. So as our trust is placed in God, we also ought to take delight in His people. Because if Christ is the head of the body, and we are that body, then it ought to be that in the church we see Christ. And if we hope someday to see Him in heaven, to see Him in glory, then we ought truly to serve him as we see him visibly in his church. Then we come to verse four. 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. And I want to actually look at verse five first in order to see some of the weight of verse four. But then we come to verse five and it says, the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. You know, at the very beginning, mankind was created to know God, to commune with him, to be with him. to see Him as He is, and yet sin has separated us from Him. And yet in Christ, that purpose of mankind is restored. And once again, God Himself is our portion. And if that's true, the eternal, perfect, unchanging God, upon whom our good deeds have no effect, whose merit we cannot earn, if that God is our portion, and we look to verse four, to hasten after any other God, one, we are going directly against the very purpose for which God has created us. And surely sorrows will multiply in that pursuit. But then additionally, what makes idolatry truly so abominable is that we're not merely doing something wrong that we shouldn't be doing. We are rejecting the eternal God who made all that we see, who created us, who has all power and all dominion, He Himself has said He is our portion. So to turn to any other God, no matter what it is, we are directly saying, we do not want you, God. We are not satisfied with you. We want this. And that can come in subtle ways. It doesn't always look like, in the Old Testament, cutting down a tree and carving out an idol with half of it and burning the other half in the fire. We see that and we readily say, wow, that's foolish. And yet we can still place our affections so often on things that are, even if not sinful, things that are of this earth. and they become our idols. As an illustration of this, just turn over to Psalm 17, it's the next page. This whole Psalm, David is praying for deliverance from his enemies. We read in verse 13, David prays, 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. And listen to this phrase, 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." So here we see that the portion of the unbeliever, really in direct contrast to the portion of the believer, as those who are in Christ, our portion is God Himself. Our hope is a life that is not yet, and an existence where we will be with Him forever and see Him as He is. His portion is this earth. And what this text is not even saying is simply that His portion is sinful things, but simply things that are only restricted to this earth. And so what is it? He says, "...who have their portion in this life." What is that portion? "...whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure." They are full of children. Scripture speaks of children as a blessing from God, and truly they are. And yet, even when those blessings that God gives on this earth, when those become our satisfaction, those become our portion, we actually have rejected God and have rejected His purpose for us. We see in verse 15 then, David says, As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness, no matter No matter how many things of this world that we have, that God has given to us to use, no matter how many things He takes away, His desire for us is that we would be satisfied with His likeness. That we would behold His face in righteousness. And what is the result of that? We know that God Himself is our portion. We see in verse 6 that expresses itself then in contentment in our lives today. Regardless of what we have, regardless of what we don't have, because we are in Christ and God Himself is our inheritance, we can say, the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. In the same way that we are part of the inheritance of Christ, Christ himself now is our inheritance. And it is a goodly heritage that we have. And so what is the result of that? Verse seven, therefore I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in the night seasons When we have come to know satisfaction in God, when we have come to see His glory, our response is a response of praise and worship to Him. It was mentioned earlier that God is seeking those who worship Him in spirit and in truth, and truly it's not until we find our delight in Him that we can worship in spirit and in truth. So as we come then to verse 9 and 10, in the same way that Christ, because of His integrity and entrusting Himself to the Lord, He could say, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer, thine Holy One, to seek corruption. Now we as believers, We are united to Christ. We are one with Him. His destiny is ours. And so just as Christ, as the result and the reward for His righteousness, is raised up and seated at the right hand of God, we now can look to Him and find our assurance there. We are not simply entrusting ourselves to God, hoping that maybe we too will be raised to a new life in Christ. That our bodies, after they die, that they too will be raised eventually. That's not just a possibility for us. Because if we are in Christ, Christ himself is already, right now, seated at the right hand of God. And if we're in him, then we too As Paul says, we too are seated in heavenly places in Christ. And therefore all our hope, all our assurance, is that God truly is the one who will preserve us. And that just as surely as Christ stands before the Father righteous and blameless, we too in Him will stand blameless. So verse 11, thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. We ought to seek to find all our joy and all our satisfaction in Christ himself. Throughout much of the history of the church, Theologians have talked about theology and discussed whether it's a speculative thing or whether it's practical. Is theology something that is primarily an intellectual discipline? Does the Bible speak primarily to our minds? Or is it important because of the things that it will make us do? And in recent days, because we live in a very pragmatic culture, We tend to turn away from anything that we don't readily see the use of. You know, I don't see how this is going to change what I do tomorrow when I wake up in the morning, so how is this beneficial to me? But the answer that many theologians have given all throughout the history of the Church is that one of the greatest benefits of knowing Scripture, of knowing God, is not anything that that then makes us do. It is simply the benefit of contemplating God Himself. of gazing upon His beauty in a day that is very fast-paced. There's always something to be doing, something to be listening to, something to be watching, something to be reading. It is very difficult to take our minds away from those things and simply think about Christ and to simply gaze on His beauty. What we find in this psalm is that that actually is the best thing that we could possibly do on this earth, is simply to gaze on Christ, because He is our portion. And if we don't enjoy and we don't desire to gaze on Him now, then I think that truly we are deceiving ourselves to think that we will enjoy gazing on Him someday for eternity. And so in closing, I just want to make two quick remarks. One, to any who do not know the Lord, this world seeks to capture our hearts. The devil seeks to steal our attention away from the condition of our souls by whatever means he can. And in this day, that's maybe easier than ever before. And it's so easy in a prosperous society to become complacent because we have so much. But we really ought to consider, no matter what we do in this earth, no matter how much that we accumulate, no matter how much good that we do, our goodness will never reach God. It will not earn us merit. It will not change His attitude toward us. In ourselves, left to ourselves, we stand condemned before Him, and yet our hope is that Christ has done that which we could not do. He has accomplished what we could not accomplish, and He has gained the reward that we could not gain. So if you do not know the Lord, look at this psalm and see Christ. Be satisfied with Him. Place your trust in Him. Submit to Him as your Lord. And know, then, that He will preserve you. And secondly, to those who do know the Lord, Let this psalm serve to draw our affections away from the world. That is difficult. There are many, many things, many things that are good things, gifts of God, that we so often let overshadow God himself. Look at Christ. There's one of my favorite hymns the last few years. It was written in the mid-1800s. The title is, Hast Thou Heard Him, Seen Him, Known Him? And the first verse says, Hast thou heard him, seen him, known him? Is not thine a captured heart? Chief among 10,000 own him. Joyful choose. the better part. The next verse is, what can strip the seeming beauty from the idols of this earth? Not a sense of right or duty, but the sight of peerless worth. In the chorus, captivated by his beauty, worthy tribute haste to bring. Let his peerless worth constrain thee, crown him now unrivaled King. Actually, that is the only way as believers that we grow. That's the only way that our affections are drawn away from this world. It's not by thinking to ourselves, I know I shouldn't love these things of the world. I need to stop doing it. It's by turning our eyes. It's by seeing Christ, by seeing His beauty. And as we see Him and are captivated by Him, the beauty of the idols is gone. We don't desire it. We want Christ, and we want him forever. With that, let's seek the Lord in prayer, and we will be done. Lord, our God, truly we have no good apart from you. Our goodness extendeth not to you. But we place all our hope and our trust in the one whom you have sent to accomplish your work and to redeem us. And we thank you for him. We praise you for your grace. Lord, we know that you were in need of nothing Before the world was created, you were perfectly satisfied in yourself. And yet, for some reason, you have chosen to bring men, mere men, into your presence to commune with you forever. Lord, let us see your beauty. Open our eyes to behold your glory. In the face of Jesus Christ. And let us be satisfied in Him. We ask in His name. Amen.