Please take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 16. Psalm 16. And as I thought about preaching this, I knew I wasn't going to get to the whole thing, so I want to focus this morning our attention upon the last four verses, verses 8 through 11 of Psalm 16. I'll read them now. says, I have said the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So, brethren, in Christ there are countless blessings for us, which have been secured through Him. And yet I would ask you this morning, do you experience those blessings in your life? Or, are there aspects of the Christian life that you find doctrinally or theoretically true, but not a present reality in your life? Because in this text we read of stability, and of true and lasting happiness, and of security, unwavering security. Three things I think all of us would say we want to experience that, we want that to be a reality in us. So the question is, are they? Or do you see them not so much as factual or experiential, but as just a possibility? So, of all these things in our lives, we have to ask ourselves, do we experience them? And if not, is it just a matter of faith? Is it a matter of waiting on God? Is it a matter of maturity? If we can possess these things, how do we receive them? How does it go from our heads to Monday through Saturday in our lives? So one disclaimer that I need to give before we go on is this. One of the most difficult, and I've wrestled with this, all week, but one of the most difficult aspects of preaching is to get the main point across without minimizing or compromising any other part of God's Word. And so as we think about what we have today, and we think about the synergistic nature of our sanctification, we have to remember that when Scripture tells us to do certain things, it gives us instruction, it is always in conjunction with God's work in us, and never contradicts our dependence upon Him. Does that make sense? It's not that we are told to do things and that compromises our dependence upon God. It is in conjunction with that. And so what I want us to see today is that we are called to do certain disciplines. We are called to certain things through which we can experience specific blessings that perhaps otherwise we would lack. But that discipline does not minimize the reality that it is God who works in us to will and to work for his good pleasure. So this is what I'm aiming for this morning. As a believer, your great need is to consistently live with an avid awareness of the presence of God. to consistently live with an avid awareness of the presence of God, to have a prevailing sense that God's present, you are always in God's presence, and that will have a transformative effect on every area of our lives. You might say, that sounds a bit too simplistic for a whole sermon. Very well, I'll hit you with Spurgeon. He says this, He says, to recognize the presence of the Lord is the duty of every believer. And to trust the Lord as our champion and guard is the privilege of every saint. To recognize the presence of the Lord is the duty of every believer. So, this speaks of spiritual sensitivity, of spiritual awareness, which perceives by faith that which is true in the spiritual realm. So, biblically, where does this come from? What does Jesus say? He says, Abide in me, and I in you. So, the nearness to Christ will produce an awareness of Christ, which will produce a transformation by Christ. So, the psalmist also says in Psalm 73, he says, but it is good for me to be near God. Why? Why is that true? Because what we read here in this text is that David says, I have said the Lord always before me. And then he follows it up with three conjunctions upon which rests three blessings of experiential blessings that are as a result of this way of life. So, my objective is to look at how we are called to live according to these certain disciplines in order that we might experience in our lives the blessings that David speaks of. Because, brethren, sometimes the reason we fail to experience all that we should in the Christian life cannot be chalked up to, well, God didn't come through for me. You know, this guy over here, he has joy and peace and contentment in Christ, but it's just not my experience. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves, have we, by God's grace, sought to walk in obedience to the instruction that we see in God's Word? So I hope from this text that you would see the connections and the patterns and the promises and the blessings that are given to us as a result of living with an awareness of the presence of God. Because I want all of us, myself included, to be totally dissatisfied with a view of Christ that saves us, that trusts Him to save our souls, but sees Him as inadequate and unable to help us when we have a hard day or a hard week. So that's what I'm going for. So a word of context, Psalm 16, as you know, is a messianic psalm, right? Meaning the New Testament ascribes this and applies it to Christ. So it's expressly true of Christ, but at minimum we can learn from his example, right? We also know that David wrote this. This was a psalm of David's. It was a pattern for his life. So in the broad sense we can say, well in the highest sense we could say it refers, it all refers to Christ. In some sense we can say it refers to David. But in all ways, this is exemplary for our lives. So I want to look at this passage and note three essential disciplines, which are then followed by three experiential or practical blessings. And the first discipline is this, that we must have a determined will. We must have a determined will. If our great need is to live with an awareness of the presence of God, how do we cultivate that? What does that look like? Here's how David answered the question. He said, I have set the Lord always before me. And brethren, this is not an arrogant statement of self-determination or self-reliance. It's a statement of resolve. I have done this. This is my life. Not that I'm going to, or I hope to, or I might. I have. So this is... This is the truth. Walking with God requires an engagement of your will. You're not going to live in the reality of God's presence by just being disengaged and passive. We need to be decisive about how we live. And David said, I have set the Lord before me. I'm dedicated to this. And what we don't want to have is some kind of bumper car version of Christianity. What I mean by this is in our little hick town, every summer we have a carnival that comes and we always take our kids and we get our milkshakes and french fries and they have a couple of rides and it's great fun. One of the rides they love is bumper cars, right? So for a couple of dollars you go in and you ride these bumper cars and you just mash back and forth wherever you have no control over because everybody's wailing on you and you're just kind of being redirected all over the place and it's actually fun. For a bumper car, it's fine. But for spirituality, it is not how we want to live. Just kind of reacting, just getting pushed around wherever we are, gliding through our life with the fatalistic idea, getting redirected and pushed in whatever direction our schedule hits us, or the demands of others, or whatever our feelings are telling us. That is not how we can live and grow spiritually. That's how you spend your entire life and go nowhere spiritually. And so I want to obliterate that kind of mindset. We don't read David of saying, well, you know, I believe in God's sovereignty. And if he wants to show me something, he's going to have to reveal himself. And I'll have to get to that one day. He's sovereign after all, and I'm sure that in his time he'll do something. No. He has identified his great need, which is to live with a pursuit of God's presence, of setting Him always before him. Now, I know determination alone is not the answer. And I don't want to appear, this is what I've wrestled with so much, I don't want to appear as though I'm up here with a hammer beating people over the head with a legalistic view of our Christianity. We depend entirely upon the grace of God. We don't determine ourselves to be saved. We don't determine ourselves to be recipients of God's grace. It is all a work of grace and applied to us by Christ and the Holy Spirit. But at the same time, Our spiritual maturity and our ability to experience these blessings, they don't just happen in a vacuum. There is a collaborative element of our sanctification where God works in and we work out. And we see this all throughout Scripture. One of the most notable theologians in history had this same measure of resolve and determination. You know this. Jonathan Edwards, right? When he sat down to write his resolutions, when he was about to go through them, he knew that determination in itself was not the end, but a means of cultivating a purposeful and intentional life. And so he said this, being sensible, this is so key for us, being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help. I humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions. And then he proceeded to write some 70 extraordinary revolutions that guided his entire life. And so, what I want us to notice is that David is saying, I am determined, I know my need, and I'm determined to be aware of God's presence in my life, and so I've set Him always before me in all that I do. And I might say as an aside, one of the great motivations to live this way is to recognize our neediness. Desperation will cause us to live with a determination that passivity and complacency can't come close to. So perhaps it was David's neediness that made him say, I have set the Lord before. And David spoke this way otherwise. He was a man after God's own heart, and what do we find him saying? He said there in Psalm 119, I promise to keep your word. That was his, that was his, Mindset. And the question is, have we ever spoken that way? Has it ever crossed our lips that we would say, you know what, my highest aim is to set the Lord before me. I would say this, young people, is this Your goal? Is this your lifestyle? Is this something that defines you? We have all kinds of, we determine to do all kinds of things, right? We want to have a job, so we get up early, we work hard, we keep the job. Maybe we want an education, so we work hard at that education so that we can achieve our degrees and achieve our goals. We are determined about many things, but this is the question. What about our walk with God? Where is our resolution to know nothing save Christ and Him crucified? Is this description one of your life and mine? So, a determined will is essential if we're going to live in the awareness of God's presence and experience his blessing. Secondly, a specific goal. So not only a determined will, but a specific goal. He says, I've set the Lord always before me. And what I want us to see here again is that determination and discipline is not the goal. It's just a means to an end. God is our goal, right? Because someone can be very determined and regimented and say all the right things and be very disciplined and lost as a devil. So here's where we need to distinguish what is factual in our lives from what is just theory and just knowledge. Because we all have good intentions. We all want to be like David. But how do we do this in real life? Does it mean we have to make drastic changes? Does it mean some kind of monastic lifestyle? It doesn't, because David was a king. He was a busy and active man, especially Christ. This is true of Christ, and this is how he lived, so no one had more responsibility and more weighing upon him than Christ. David was the king, and so we don't learn from this. We need to disengage from every activity, but rather we need to focus ourselves consistently upon the Lord. The question is, how does it work practically? There's a couple of things that I want to give us for our consideration. First of all, it means that we consciously, deliberately, constrain our senses and our affections and our attention upon God. To see with eyes of faith His love for us in Christ. And faith, we'll get to this. This is only possible through faith. But when we see Christ and we call to mind His promise of faithfulness, we call to mind His compassion for His people, His mercy and kindness and longsuffering and His promises to help us, we just need to flood our minds with truth about who Christ is. It also means that we train our eyes to see God in everything. To set Him always before us is to see God in everything. To see Him in the unfolding events of the day, to see Him in the providential arranging of the circumstances of your life, to see Him by His Spirit meticulously working all things for your good, it's by faith. We need to see Him. It means we exercise our faith in His Word. You know what? We can know all kinds of things. We can know every manner of systematic theology, and it can be no help to us if our faith is not placed in the Word. So it's not just an intellectual exercise, but it's by recognizing His Word and then entrusting ourselves to it. And finally, it just means that we have to set Christ before us. We see Him not just as our ticket to heaven, but as our constant source of help. Time and time and time again, He shows us that we are to live in constant dependence upon Him. I am the vine. You are the branches. We don't live separate from Him. We don't take from Him something at the beginning of our walk with Him and see Him again at heaven's gates. We are to be constantly nourished by Him. In another place in John 6, He says, I'm the bread of life. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks from my blood has eternal life. And Christ is to be our constant nourishment. So, how do you take in Christ? Because I don't want theory, I want real life help. How do you take in Christ? Remember, Jesus' prayer was mentioned earlier, John 17. What does he ask God for? He says, Father, sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth. We receive help from Christ the same way we receive help from one another, by our words. by His truth, by Him speaking to us. So ultimately, when we speak of setting the Lord before us, we don't want to conceive of something that's mystical and mindless and just like this thing that's indescribable. No, it's purposeful and material. We set His Word before us. It's spiritual and practical. Hasn't He promised to give us all we need for life and godliness? then we must eat and drink and feast on all that he has given us in his provision. And so a determined will, a specific goal, and then a consistent lifestyle, a consistent and continuous lifestyle. He says, I have set the Lord always before me. And I think, well, I like the word always because I strongly dislike inconsistency. And perhaps it's because perseverance is something that we have lost so much in our world of instant gratification, right? We want instant results. So that's why we have Amazon, and we have instant coffee, and we have iPhones, and we have fast food, and we have PayPal. And all of these things, you can be ripped in 10 days. All the promises that we have to instant gratification. No one advertises, do this forever and live. That's not a big seller. You know what? The Christian life requires consistency and continuation and discipline. And it is far more rewarding than anything, any hollow promise that some instant gratification of the world gives us. So the word always just means equally. In other words, it means the Lord is before me all the time. Not more on Sunday and less on Tuesday, not more in public and less in private, but always to set His glory before us and to seek to do everything for Him. To set His promises before us and to seek to do everything in dependence upon Him. Consistently. And so those are the disciplines. It's determined will, a specific goal, and a consistent lifestyle. Then the question is, what's the reward? And you can see that. We read this text. But you see, the thing is, you don't read of people devoting themselves to something exclusively without the promise of some type of reward, right? And so David here is speaking of the blessings that he has received as a result of living this way. And one of the things I wanted to remind us of is that the promise of Scripture is not just for the life to come. We're going to get to that in the text. But it is for here and now to be experienced the blessings of God in this life. We're not called to misery and then reward. We're called to experience the blessings of God in this life. And so the first one here is obviously stability. He says, therefore, it says because, because, right? The Lord is always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. I shall not be shaken. David says, I've lived this way and I'm unmoved. Unmoved. And you think about David, pursued by Saul, anointed by the king, and then pursued like a wild animal. Unmoved. I don't know if I would be able to say that, but he was secure. Brethren, I would ask you this. I mean, we know as a body of believers, we are in need of stability. And I'm not speaking of the stability of a big bank account and a comfortable life. I mean, that which is a true palace for your soul. That's what he's saying about, rock of ages. He's a cleft for me. We need that kind of stability so that when stress and sorrow and difficulty, which are inevitable, come to us, we can say, I'm not shaken. We could actually sing genuinely, it's well with my soul. Why? Because he's at my right hand. I'm not going to be moved. Perhaps the words, I will not be moved or I will not be shaken are not as precious to some of you as they are to many of us. Because if you have not walked through seasons of great sickness, or sorrow, or temptation, or anxiety, or suffering, or spiritual warfare, or any manner of opposition, these words are of great comfort. Because many, many among us have stood in the howling winds of adversity and feels like we're just alone. Or we've tasted something of the bitter cup of hard trials. We know what it feels like to have, like, to just be like an experience of an earthquake where everything around us is trying to shake our convictions from us and we don't know we're going to stand. Promise is precious for those who have endured those types of things because our stability is threatened by many things. David's logic is clear. The reason we will not be shaken is because of God's nearness. And I would remind you of Spurgeon's quote when he said, to recognize the presence of the Lord is the duty of every believer and to trust him as our champion and guard. Recognize and to trust. Brethren, I would just ask you this right now. Is there instability in your life? Is there, are you fearful? Are you going to be moved? Are you going to be shaken? Are you going to be separated from the God that you love? Then here's your help. It's very practical. He says, He's on your right hand. Look to your right hand and find that Christ is ever-present. You're ever-present help in need. He's with you in adversity. He's with you in your trials. He's before you and behind you. He is in you by His Spirit. And He has promised to be your help. You are not alone. You ask, in what ways will I not be moved? A few come to mind. One is, I think he's speaking somewhat of fear, right? Fear is often a culprit that, like a sly predator, is always seeking opportunity to snatch us away from our contentment and security in Christ. But what do we read as a remedy to fear? Psalm 23, I will not fear. Why? You're with me. You're with me. And I find that often underneath the outward displays of confidence and all the ready smiles that we give to people, many of God's people live in fear. Fear. And what you fear may not be what I fear, but the point is it creates such instability. So the question is, how does David conquer this? He draws comfort not from a mindless negligence towards all that could cause fear. There's realities out there that we could fear. He conquers it with a complete confidence that no matter what happens, God is near. He's at my right hand. I won't be shaken. So fear, but also temptation means, brethren, we're not going to be moved by temptation. Temptation comes, we know that. Sometimes it comes in great strength. Temptation to doubt God, or to give in to sin, or just sulk at how our lives have turned out. Or to turn our back against what we know to be true. But we have all these temptations. Sometimes it's like, so strong, it's like we're wrestling against ten men. But then we read, God always provides a way of escape. Right? So we won't be moved. We won't be shaken. And ultimately it means apostasy will not shake us. It means we won't be shaken from our faith in Christ and fall into this. Because brethren, I know that when some of these hard things come to life, one of the things that makes us question is do we belong to him? Am I really his? And David would say, we are like stones in a wall, hemmed in before and behind, all guarded by this great cornerstone, and no one is going to get to us. As Christ says, no one can take them from my hand. So, dear Christian, if you are fearful and tempted and unsure of your stability in Christ, It is the practical help that you can find, that you will look to Him, and you will find, as Salma says in Psalm 85, He will speak peace to His people. I will speak peace to you. So, the first blessing is stability. The second one is happiness in the Lord. Listen to this beautiful description of the faithful Christian. What is the result of living like this? Of living with an avid awareness of the presence of God? David tells us. He says, therefore, because I've lived like this, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. The thought of God's nearness and resulting stability, it leads to even a higher blessing, a greater experience, which is, again, not to just be experienced in the life to come, but is for here and now. And that is true, genuine happiness of heart. Notice he says, my heart's glad. This is not just some superficial, circumstantial emotionalism that just comes and goes. This is a heartfelt, soul-satisfying joy in God. Gladness to such degree that it cannot be suppressed or contained. He says, it spills over, my whole being rejoices. That is the soul satisfying gladness that we would all long to experience. Always, right? The question is this, is it a reality in your life? Brethren, I want you to think about this. Is this your testimony? Can you say, My heart is glad. My whole being rejoices. I'm glad in God. Because we know everyone wants to be happy. Everyone seeks after that which is going to make them happy. That's why so many people embark on all manner of pursuits to try to find something to make them happy. And maybe some of you even this morning are seeking that which is not going to give you peace and happiness. It's only going to come from God. And here's why David is able to say, you know, this is my experience. So many of us desire to experience this, and it doesn't come from getting your degree, or getting the perfect job, or marrying the perfect person. True and lasting and soul-satisfying, heartful joy comes from living in the presence of God. It doesn't come from circumstances. And so I hope this is your testimony that my heart is glad because brethren, are you happy in Christ or are you finding it in circumstantial things that come and go? Is there joy in your heart that's derived from God? Not flighty emotionalism where we come and have smiles and pat each other on the back and go home and are miserable. And if you're not able to say this with David, I would ask, what is keeping you from being able to be happy in God? This should be your testimony. This should be my testimony. Therefore, because of what I know to be true, my heart is glad. Yes, there's sorrow, but there's joy. A deep-seated thing. So why would we not experience this consistently? Alexander McLaren said this, He said, God is only ours in reality when we are conscious of His nearness. And it is a strange love of Him which is content to pass days without ever setting Him before us. See what he's saying? Why would we not be happy? According to the text, there's one reason, and it's because we have not set the Lord before us. Perhaps it's because we've lost focus, and we've become content to pass many days without setting the Lord before us, without seeing Christ before our hearts and minds, because if we know little of His nearness, then we're going to know little of David's experience. Right? So, unhappy Christian. Are there unhappy Christians here today? Unhappy Christian, there is a beast for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we would but eat that which has been prepared for us by the Lord Jesus Christ and not be devouring that bitter fruit that comes from the kitchen of the world. I mean, doesn't Christ say, I have prepared table? Are we happy in Him. And if we are not, it is probably because we're looking to circumstantial things that come and go as quickly as the clock moves. But a constant and genuine happiness of soul is ours only in Christ. Brethren, the Christian life is not drudgery. Amen? It's not drudgery. There are countless difficulties, but they only serve to drive us nearer and nearer and nearer to God, where our soul finds that comfort and happiness in Him. And so when God is a source of our joy, and we live in a constant awareness of Him in His presence, then our joy cannot be removed, not by circumstances, or geography, or by our responsibilities, because He's always with us, and we're always receiving from Him. George Mueller understood this, and I commend his wisdom to you. He said, I saw more clearly than ever that the great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how much I might glorify Him, but how I might get my soul into a happy state and my inner man be nourished. That goes back to the question, how do we do that? He didn't do that by looking at himself. He was a sinner. He didn't do that by looking to the world. He lived in all manner of sorrow and difficulty. He got his soul happy in the Lord by disciplining himself to be in the Word and to set the Lord always before him. Do you see how this is a matter of faith? This is a matter of where we know we have to come to Lord and lay hold of Him and trust in Him. That is how we live with this inexplicable joy that the world has no understanding of. I don't think the Scriptures present joy as like this icing on the cake. It is an essential element of our walk with Him. And if you are not glad in God, it is a great indication that your soul is very sick and you must medicate yourself by setting yourself, setting the Lord before you always. This is a testimony of the Christian. Therefore, my heart is glad. And the evidence of this life is because it is the fruit of the Spirit in you. Joy is the fruit of the Spirit, right? And so this is how we live in consistent joyfulness and peace and happiness before the Lord. Thirdly and quickly, stability, happiness, joy, and then security. He says, my flesh dwells secure. Secure in what? Secure in knowing that you will not abandon my soul to shield, right? So we look at what he had before us. He says, you know, he speaks of stability, the balance for our souls. We're not going to be swayed by fears and inconsistencies and all the difficulties of life. And he speaks of the happiness of heart, which is ours, that satisfies our longing for joy. But what of fear of death? What do we do with that? We know our end is coming, right? He says, as for my flesh, I dwell secure. Why? Because even in death, I know the end. David says, in essence, I've set the Lord always before me. Therefore, I know that the Lord will take me to himself, and I will be set before him in the lives to come. Notice this security doesn't come from denying the inevitability of death. David knew what God said to Adam. From dust you have come and to dust you will return. Right? Hebrew says it is appointed to us once to die. We will go down to the grave. But how can we have hope? Because God has made known to us the path of life. We will die, but we know there is a life after death. We can write on this tombstone of any believer, he will not abandon my soul to the grave, right? So death is an enemy, but not a victor. We're going to die, but he's going to conquer that, and our souls will not be abandoned. And David is sure that there is a path of life even after death. I know that when David speaks here of not seeing corruption in verse 10, he's speaking prophetically about the coming Messiah, right? So this entire passage can be applied to Christ, but specifically, this is applied to the person of Christ whose body did not see corruption. It was indeed raised on the third day. And we know this because Peter and Paul both applied this to Christ. Because they said, well David's body is here and buried, so this is of Christ. But in Christ, Christ being the head, all we who are in him could say, that's true of me as well. Christ did not, he was not alone in his resurrection. We read that he was the first fruits of those who had fallen asleep. So we know that we're not going to be abandoned. We know that we will be raised up again to new life and be able to experience that which is spoken of in verse 11. So even in the face of death, David confidently says, you have made known to me the path of life. This is more than the path of our temporal existence. It's a path of eternal life, of fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. And so the reason that we have security in this life is because we're aliens awaiting our deportation, right? We need to go home. Our citizenship is in heaven. We're here for a vapor, a breath, a few short years, and we're gone. So while this text can be applied to Christ, we who are in Christ can say, this is true of me because I am in Him. So friends, when we set the Lord always before us, we can live in peace knowing that we are absolutely immortal until the Lord is finished with us on earth. We can live every day with the fullest peace and security knowing that we will not be abandoned to a grave or to hell or to separation from God. Not only will we be brought from the grave, I want to look briefly at the experience we will have upon arriving in our eternal home. Let's just quickly consider a couple of descriptions, and then we're through. First, in verse 11, he says, in your presence is fullness of joy. There will be a fullness of God's presence. We've spoken of living with an awareness of the presence of God in this life that is perceived by faith. When we open our eyes in heaven, John says, we shall see him as he is. Paul says, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. That is a promise for us in the essence of heaven that we shall live in the presence of God for eternity. And I wonder how long it's been since you thought about your first second in heaven. When you wake up, when you pass through the valley of the shadow of death, the instant you awake, you will behold the Lamb of God, the Christ, the Savior, your friend. And that should be a comfort to you, whatever you're facing right now, because none of us have security. for years and years, but we have the security of knowing what is to come. So the fullness of God's presence, the fullness of joy will also be our experience. When you are in the presence of Christ, this will be our experience. We will have instant and infinite and perfect joy. I spoke of gladness of heart here and now in this life. But think about what is conveyed in those words, fullness of joy. No one has ever experienced that in this life. So much is crammed into that little phrase. It's not just a measure of joy, but it is described as fullness of joy. Here we only have deluded joy because we have it mixed with sorrow and trials and hardships. We can experience joy, but it can't be described as full. But there in heaven we have the pure and full joy that knows no inhibitions of any kind. And so when we think of our eternal home, we must think not only of the absence of pain or sorrow, but of the presence of full and perfect joy. Forgive me for quoting again, but Thomas Brooks said of this, in heaven there shall be no sin to take away your joy, no devil to take away your joy, no man to take away your joy. The joys of heaven never fade, never wither, never die, are never lessened and never interrupted. Christian hears that and his heart leaps in anticipation for that. And then finally, our joy will be eternal. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Can we measure the word evermore? Can we weigh that out and know what it means? There's no way to grasp all that is contained there or to comprehend the mind of the Lord and what God has prepared for those who love Him. But we have to just think about the promise. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures for evermore. And brethren, how can we ask for anything better than fullness of joy? And how could it be more perfect than happiness that never ends? Who can comprehend such wonderful perfections that never fade, or decrease, or cease? We're secure in this life because we know what the next life has. And as we set the Lord always before us, even in death, we know the reward for the believer is instant, inestimable, inexhaustible, and infinite joy. So please understand in closing that my aim for this message, I don't want anyone to feel an unnecessary burden of duty because brethren, We all stand before God as justified. We cannot add one thing to our justification. But my hope was to remind you, to point us to the realization that if we desire to experience the blessings which Christ has promised to us, then we must also understand this synergistic nature of our walk with God, and that we are called to work out our salvation, we are called to press on to the mark, we are called to discipline ourselves for godliness, and none of these things are antithetical to a life of faith and dependence. So I'm calling us today to not be passive in our walk with God, in our discipline of setting the Lord before him, that we would constantly and consistently live with an avid awareness of the presence of God, to set our gaze of faith exclusively upon Christ and apprehend something of his nearness and recognize the blessings which belong to us as a result of that. But, if you are outside of Christ, then none of the blessings that I have spoken of are yours. They are all out of reach. You have no stability in this life, certainly no lasting happiness, certainly no security, but you are likewise exhorted to act upon what you know to be true. And what you know to be true, if you are an unbeliever, is that you are a sinner. Your conscience screams at you. You know this, and you have no hope in and of yourself to save you. It will be to no avail. And so today, you are called not to clean yourself up and present yourself as worthy to be saved, but to repent of your sin, to look to Christ, to set the cross before you, and call upon him for salvation. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would do what only you can do, and that is to take whatever has been spoken in this last hour and to apply the truth to the hearts of your people and to disregard any misrepresentations of you or your word, that your people might be helped. Help us this week, Lord, in our daily walk. Every day when we wake up the responsibilities that we have. Help us Lord, we look to you. We ask for your help by your spirit and guiding us by your word. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.