The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Path of Life

Episode Date: May 15, 2022

I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” – Psalm 16:2 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply… – Psalm 16:4 The insatiable human soul can only be satisfied by the everlasting God.

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Doing good? You look great. Who's ready for Beach Baptism Sunday? You ready for this? I think we're going to baptize like 600 people today. And as soon as we go down here, we should all head out there.

And if at the end of the day you're ready to get baptized but you didn't go to a class, whatever, then when you leave here and go there, there'll be a red tent right when you get there and just walk up and say, I'm ready to be baptized. We'll put you in the express lane of the baptism class and we will get you in the water today. Now, some of you may be thinking, well, look, I was back. as a little baby, should I do it? The answer is, if you have never been baptized as a believer, then your first step of obedience is to go public with your faith.

If you got baptized as a baby, it was cool, man. What your parents were doing on your behalf was a very noble thing. And if you get baptized as a believer, you're not stiff-arming what they did for you. What you're doing is actually fulfilling what they were praying for you when you got baptized as a little baby, okay? Because they were hoping and praying that you would come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And when you were a baby, you didn't get to decide anything. And now you get to walk out into the water, and we're going to ask you, who is Jesus to you? And as loud as you can, you will say, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. And we will say upon your public declaration of Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my Christian brother or sister in the name of the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit. And then we will bring you back because you were saying, I am dead to myself. And it is symbolizing that you are dead and buried and that the water is like the blood of Jesus. Jesus washing over to you. Now listen, man, that baptism doesn't save you. That water is not holy.

It's Jacksonville Ocean Water. It's real unholy, okay? But what it's symbolizing is an outward invisible symbol of an inward reality that you have already been cleansed by the blood of Jesus as your Savior. And then we put you under, we hold you under the water, depending on how sinful you are, determines how long we hold you under. Just kidding. We'd still be there from last year. And then we bring you up out of the water and just like Christ rose from the grave, you are resurrected from the grave, and you walk in a newness of life

and your life has changed forever. If you've never done that, you need to do it today. It's going to be awesome. And then the rest of us all standing on the beach, we joined with the angels and celebrate that all of these people, these 600 or something people were lost

and now they're found, they were blind, now they see they were dead, and now they are alive. It's the coolest thing you've ever been to. Hope you'll go. All right. Grab your Bibles. we're going to be in Psalm 16. We've read it, we've sung it, now we're going to study it.

By the way, if you have not downloaded the Shane's Psalms album, you should. It will help you in church for the rest of the summer. Those are where a lot of these songs are coming from. All right. Psalm chapter 16. It has a title. And the title is this. King David writes, you will not abandon my soul.

This is a heavy one. Have you ever been abandoned? Have ever been abandoned? This sucks. And I know you're not supposed to say sucks in church, but what I want you to know here is that when King David is writing these Psalms, he's writing from some deep places in his heart.

He isn't writing like little children sing-alongs for Sunday school, you understand? And he looks to God and he declares, you will not abandon my soul. And as you look through the history of David's life, there's a whole bunch of places in his life where I'm sure he felt abandoned. And we don't know when Psalm 16 was written. He doesn't put any kind of markers on it so that we would know what he was going through.

I mean, maybe the idea of Psalm 16 came to him when he marched out on the battlefield to take on Goliath and maybe he thought there, don't abandon me out here, God, I'm going to get killed. And maybe he thought, what have I gotten myself into? Because sometimes you find yourself in that place where you cry out to God. he's going to cry out is preserve me, oh God. That means don't let me die. And sometimes we get into those desperate situations by faithful steps that we make. Maybe it was then. Or maybe it was when King Saul turned on him. You ever felt abandoned by somebody that you looked up to, somebody you trusted, somebody that you followed, somebody that was in authority over you, and the person that

had authority over you that is supposed to leverage their authority for your good, actually twist it for your bad. That's what happens with King Saul. King Saul's doing just fine, man. At first he starts out a pretty good guy, pretty good king. And then over time, he begins to try to leverage the kingdom of God for his own well-being. And then David, who was his beloved, at one point, David used to play the harp for him. But don't make fun of him being a harp player because he could also rip bears and lions apart by his hand, so he's kind of tough.

And then one day, man, Saul begins to turn on David, begins to see David as his enemy. throws a spear at him, tries to kill him, and then David has to run, has to flee. He's like hiding in caves and stuff like that. And maybe that's the moment where he says, God, I feel abandoned, but I know that you would never abandon me. Or maybe when it's Absalom, his son turns on him. Have you ever had someone that said they'd always have your back? They'd never leave you. They'd never forsake you. Maybe they promised till death do us part. No matter what, I promise I'm with you, but yet every time you send the text that now, you get nothing in return? You ever have somebody that said, hey, it's me and you forever, man?

And now they're not around? This happened to David. His very own son staged a coup to try to take over. So this is the place David finds himself, one of these, someplace, this feeling of abandonment when he writes these words down. Then he says this, a mictam of David. You know what a mctam is? Nobody knows what that is. Nobody.

I love this so much. I read and read and looked and looked and nobody. The closest thing I could figure out is a couple thousand years ago. Some Jewish scholar says maybe it's a misprinted word or a misspelled word. Yeah, I don't, there's no misspelled words in the Bible. The whole thing cover to cover is true, trustworthy, okay? It's all breathed out by God and for God. Here's what I think is awesome about this.

Is that God would allow a word to be in the Bible, and he knows that we would never know what the word means. And you think, well, what does that matter? Because sometimes you walk into a situation and you just can't understand why God would allow this. And so what do you do when you don't know what to do? Or what do you do when, from your perspective, God's not behaving himself?

What do you do when you can't see how this is going to end? I can tell you what you do. You trust God and you worship your way through it. This is what David is going to do. In fact, Deuteronomy 29, 29 says, this, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. In this life, there's just going to be some secret stuff. And God is not going to allow you to even understand what it is, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. You see, what do you do when you find

yourself in a place where you're going to be crying out, preserve me, oh God, God, I don't want to die. I can tell you what you do. You trust God and you worship your way through it. Now, Dr. John Piper says that the meaning of Psalm 16 he can summarize in one sentence. Now, he's right, but he doesn't know what one sentence is, because it's really four sentences jammed into one, but that's what he does. He's super smart guy. You should listen to him. Here's what John Piper says the big idea of Psalm 16 is. So get ready for this. That God will bring you body and soul through life and death into full and everlasting pleasure if God is your steadfast refuge and your sovereign Lord and your supreme treasure, and your trusted counselor.

So that's one sentence, sort of, okay? That's where we're going. Psalm 16, 1. After he establishes, God, you will not abandon my soul. Look how he starts. Preserve me, oh God. We're going to find out by the time we get down to like verse 11, what he wants to be preserved from is death.

God, don't let me die. By the way, this is where my prayer life starts. God, I need help. This is where he begins. preserve me, oh God. For in you, I take refuge. David is saying, as I look around my circumstances, I might not make it, and so what I am going to do is run to you,

and the reason that I'm going to run to you is because you are my refuge. Refuge means a safe place. Refuge means a hiding place. When I see the word refuge, one of the things that makes me think of is this. Maybe God allows us to go through the tributtion. in our life so that we will run to him because he is what we need more than anything else in this life. You see, when Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem on the last week of his earthly life, he's on a donkey and he's riding down through the Mount of Olives, one of my

favorite places on the planet. If you ever go to Israel with me, we'll go to the place where they believe Jesus stops, and it's the last place that he can see over the wall into the city. and he knows he's going on what we call the triumphal entry, but he also knows that that crowd of people are going to yell crucify and kill him. And he says this, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings? And you were not willing. So David finds himself in a desperate situation, and he says,

preserve me, oh God, but I am coming to you because you are my refuge. And then Jesus looks at Jerusalem and he goes, oh, Jerusalem. The Bible says he cries. With tears streaming out of his face, he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. If you would have just come to me, I would have taken care of you like a mama hen takes care of her little babies, but you were not willing. Let me ask you this church, where do you run in times of trouble? Where do you run in times of trouble? I mean, do you run to food?

I think you're going to find some comfort like at the bottom of Ben and Jerry's. Do you run to Netflix? Let me just forget about it all and lose myself in some dumb show. Do you run to the bottle, to the bar? Do you run to some dating app? Send that late-night text to your ex?

You realize he's your ex for a reason, don't you? You see, here's what's crazy, man. Where you run when you find yourself in trouble is your functional savior. I don't care what you do on Sundays. Where you run for refuge in your time of trouble is your functional Savior. And Jesus, in Matthew chapter 11, is going to say this, hey, anybody in trouble? Come here.

Come to me. All you who are weary and heavy burden, and I will give you rest for your soul. He's saying that I am the safe place that you are looking for. So he says, preserve me, O God, for in you, I take. Refuge. Verse two, I say to the Lord. Now, if you look in our English translation, that word Lord is all caps. And in the English translations of the Bible, when it's all caps, that's referencing the

covenant name of God, Yahweh, Y-H-W-H-W-H, it's called a tetragram in Hebrew. It's just four words. And the reason it's the covenant name of God is because this is the name God gave Moses when he called Moses out into wilderness. Moses thinks that he's done. Moses thinks that his life is over. He's killed a guy, so surely God's done with him. And he ain't exactly living his best life now.

He's a shepherd, which was not a cool job, for his father-in-law of all people. And he's just out in the wilderness, kind of wasting his time, he thinks. And little does he know that God is actually preparing him to be one of the greatest leaders of all time. And he sees a bush on fire, but it's not being consumed. So he goes up to it to see what's happening,

and though God starts speaking through the bush. Moses, take off your shoes because you're on holy grail. down. And from this point on, he knows that he is in the presence of God. And God says, Moses, I got a purpose for you, I've got a plan for you. I've been preparing you your whole life. You see, what you thought was punishment is actually preparation for my plan for you. I want you to go to the Pharaoh. I want you to stare him now. And on behalf of me, I want you to tell him, God says, let my people go. And Moses says, who shall I say sent me? What if he asked your name? and he says, you tell him my name, and gives him his covenant name, Yahweh, I am that I am.

That's what it means in English. Or to be. I be what I be. The eternal present. Not a God back there in the past, not a God somewhere out there in the future, but everything is the eternal now for him because he was and is and is to come. You said, you tell him, I am that I am sent me. And in fact, the name Yahweh in Hebrew when you say it, it's supposed to sound like breathe in. Yah, breathe out, way, that God is as close as your next breath.

You tell him, I am sent me. That's the covenant name of God. And then Moses gets all weirded out. He's like, I don't think I have what it takes. And God says, of course you don't have what it takes, okay? But I am with you. And now, a couple thousand years later, David is writing this down, and he says, I say to Yahweh, when I find myself in trouble, here's what I know, that God is

sovereign over everything and that God is as close as my next breath. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. He makes it really, really personal. Adonai is the Hebrew word there. Because God is, this is crazy, man. God is simultaneously the cosmic king and keeper of the entire universe and Jesus says that like we're friends. He knows you and he knows the details of your life. I say to the Lord, I say to my Lord, I have no good apart from you. What's going to begin to happen is that David finds himself in an impossible situation to the point where he cries out, dear God, preserve me, don't let me die. And within one verse, he begins to shift his attention from the needs that he has to the good gifts that God has given him.

And in fact, this phrase in Hebrew, I have no good apart from you, it can really mean two things. things. And I think, I think, I think, I think he means it to kind of be a play on words. Number one, it could mean every good and perfect gift I have is from you. That he begins to shift his attitude from his circumstances to the blessings that God has given them. This is a really big deal. You see, I've told us before, I don't know how long you've been coming here, but, but you should make for yourself a gratitude list. Because he's a good dad. He loves to give good gifts to his kids. And one of the things I would encourage you to do is get out your phone, go to the note section so you can always have it with you. And especially anytime you begin to doubt the

faithfulness of God or any time you get to be all bummed out because of your circumstances, why don't you make a list of things that you should be grateful to God for? And I would just encourage you, I just made this up, so I'm going to get my own rules, is that you should write down one thing for every year that you've been alive. And any time I begin to feel sorry for myself and what about me or compare myself to anybody else, I go back to this list to just be reminded of the goodness and the faithfulness of God. I just reread it this morning.

I have 48 things on my list because I'm 48 years old. In September, I'll write down one more. And some of the things on my list would be no surprise to you. You, this church is one. My salvation, my wife, my kids, for sure. Some of the things on my list

would be irrelevant to you, the gobble of a turkey in the spring. Well, if you're not into that, don't put it on your list. some of the things on my list you might even find offensive like good bourbon and tattoo artist and if you're like don't write it on your list but I'm grateful with these things and honestly if you'd have some good bourbon you'd probably chill out okay but I but some of you God tried to I mean not got the enemy tried to kill you with bourbon and so you need to write down your AA

meetings and be like thank God for saving my life through that okay whatever it is because every good and perfect gift comes from him that's James 117 and the most of the most of the most of the most of moment we begin to get our eyes fixed on his goodness, it helps us worship our way through whatever mess we find ourselves in. So it means that we have no good apart from you, but it also can mean that God is the goodness. That without you, nothing would be good in my life. Even the good blessings that I have, the material blessings that I have, they would not be good in and of themselves apart from you. I need you to know this. I need you to know that if you are a believer in Jesus,

then the good temporary things that we have on this planet, we as Jesus followers, should enjoy them infinitely more than the people that don't know the giver of the good things. Do you realize this? Let me put it this way. If you're not a Christian, I've got bad news for you. My steak tastes infinitely better to me than your steak taste to you.

Do you realize this? So like if you go to a nice steak, house and you sit down and you order a medium rare fillet as Jesus intended, all right? Let's go a step further. A bacon wrapped medium rare filet. Did you realize pre-cross and resurrection, you can't even eat bacon? And you can't eat meat with blood in it, all right? And now, I'm not saying Jesus died so that you could eat bacon, but it was included in the

deal, glory to God. Do you understand what I'm saying? Now, if you don't know the Lord and you're like, I eat good food all the time, I know do, but the problem is, is if you don't know that Jesus is the giver of all good things, then what you do is you celebrate the steak. That all you can do is appreciate the steak. That's as far as yours goes. Your worship ends at the table.

But if you were a believer in Christ and you dig into that thing and its blood is poured out for the sanctification of all you heathens that overcook it. And then think about it. Then what begins to happen is you begin to think back, oh my goodness, God came up with the thing that we know as the thing. the cow and the thing that we know as the pig. And in this glorious combination of the pig and the cow is the bacon wrap, medium rare filet, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name. You understand what I'm saying? And it stirs up into the worship of the one

that would give us every good thing. This is what he's saying. Now can you see, we are already a long way from, preserve me, oh God, I think I'm going to die. That just, in a couple of verses, his attitude is already beginning to shift because he is worshiping his way through this thing. You see, we define worship often this way. Worship is our response to God for who he is, Yahweh, as close as my next breath, and what he has done for us. And ultimately, what he has done for us is he has set Jesus Christ on a rescue mission for us. Verse three, he says, as for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Now, what this is, is he's saying, I'm going to give you an example of one of the good things

that God has given me, and one of the good things that God has given me is the people of God. He's not worshipping them above the people above God. He's not worshipping them instead of God. He's worshipping God because of God's gift in these people. It's a really big deal. to which I would say, man, when I read this verse, I thought of you. I thought of you. I thank God for you.

And all of our campuses, all the people that are part of 1122, I love you. And you may say, well, you don't even know me. I don't understand that. But I love, I love our church. Of all the places on the planet to be, I want to be right here with us doing this teaching the Bible. And so the last few weeks, man, the last two months, really, been kind of weird for me. I release a book, kind of nervous about that. and the way you received it,

and I've been standing out in the lobby signing books, that's a weird thing. My name is worthless. I don't know why you would want me to write my name on a thing. However, this idea that God might use me to create a discipleship tool that might bless you and you're one mores, and you want me to write a little note and sign my name?

What an honoring thing, man. I mean, seriously. Paul says about the church in Philippi. He says, I have you in my heart, and it is right for me to feel this way about you. That's how I feel. And so listen, I want to let you know, if we're ever out in public somewhere

and you want to come say hey to me, please do, please do? Do you realize without you, I'm just some rando guy with a bullhorn screaming at people about don't go to hell, all right? We're in this thing together. It's just one family with a whole bunch of different parts. And so there's a couple of rules.

One, you don't ever have to apologize. You don't have to be like, I'm so sorry. If I didn't want to see people, I'd stay at home. You understand. And then the only other thing is you can't say, I go to your church because it ain't my church. It's Jesus, it's church ultimately. But if you're here and I'm here, we're all in this thing together.

And I would love to meet you or sign your book or pray with you or whatever it is, okay? That one of God's gifts to me is you. And I thank you for it. And I know you don't know if you should clap for yourself, but you should. Okay, that's fine. So he says, as for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. Verse four, the sorrows of those who run after another God. shall multiply. You see, some people find themselves in a place, and they're like, oh, man, I need help.

Preserve me, O Lord. And some people run to him because he is a refuge. But there are people that run to another God. And what happens to those people is that their sorrows multiply. I mean, let me just shoot you straight. There are plenty of sorrows in this world even when we follow after Jesus. Amen? I mean, there's pain and there's death and there's loss and there's disappointment. There are plenty of sorrows in this world, even when you're trying to be faithful to the Lord. But when you chase after the little G gods of this world, you are going to multiply your sorrows.

It is a self-inflicted wound. And the reason is because the little G gods of this world always make promises that they can't keep. Every time the devil speak, he lies, because that's the only language that he knows. and idols and the things of this world, they always promise things and they can never deliver on them. And so we talk about it all the time around here,

the false promises of this world. First John says there are really just three of them, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And the reason that we talk about them all the time is because we all have a tendency to run after these things. We live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day to try to bait you down a road, make promises to you, and then laugh at you when you get to the end of.

We do. We have a tendency to run to stuff or to run to self or to run to sex. We have a tendency to chase after possession or chase after position or chase after passion. And it just can't do for you what you want it to do for you. We all have a tendency to feel something empty and then think if I can just get some more stuff, it's going to do something for my soul. Now, if you see somebody else chasing after stuff, but it's not the stuff you like, you think it's dumb. But when it's the stuff you want, you think a new golf club is going to do something for your life, and you think it's going to do something for your game. It ain't, bro, you ain't that good, okay? It's just true. Or you think like a new pair of pants or a new house or a new, you realize this.

I've talked about this a lot lately, but we have to talk about it a lot. Your money, my money, it lies to us. And the primary lie it tells us is this, if you love me, I'll love you back. That's what it says. Okay, money, how would you love me? I promise I'll give you satisfaction and security. Now money can do a lot of things for you. It can. Money is a great tool to worship and love God. But you worship and love money and it is a terrible idol and you will multiply your sorrows because it cannot give you the satisfaction you're looking for. And it cannot give you security. You can have all the money in the world. Get on your bank account, feel really good about all those numbers there and one call from the doctor and all your security goes away. It's just true,

man. You chase after one of those false idols and you will multiply your sorrows. And so some of you wise them, be like, okay, well that's dumb. I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to pursue myself. This is called the pride of life. And you might think if I could just get that promotion and you think the moment you get that name badge that says assistant to the general manager, then you are all, I've made it. You better live a little. Because guess what? It's just you with a new name badge. It's still you. This is why a whole bunch of people dive into like a self-improvement thing, you know? Like, no, I know what's going to, I know what's going to do it for me, keto. That's what I'm with keto and Bitcoin, and then I'll be fully and finally satisfied.

Here's what's crazy, bro. Even if you crush it, even if you accomplish all of your goals and you get shredded and you show up next to you're at Beach baptism, take your shirt off and you've got not just a six-pack, you've got all those unnatural ones over here on the side too, you know, and you just come walking in and Bitcoin's working, you just got cash falling out your pockets. You just everywhere you go. What I need you to know is that that is still temporary. It all, like I got terrible news for you if the God of your life is your fitness.

I've got awful news for you, Mama. You've got two things working against you pretty intensely. Time and gravity. Because I don't care what you do. It's all going to hell. It's all going down. Okay. And all the cash falling out your pockets is all staying here.

You can't take it anywhere with you. Do you understand? It will let you down. And even if you got a little extra fold and change, you can fight it for a while, man, you can nip it and tuck it and stretch it and add to it and paint it. You can do whatever you want. But you get to the end of that road and you look like a crazy person. I just, I'm going to be the one that loves you enough. You look like, oh gosh, did I frighten you? Why you look so surprised? It's just my face, okay? I'm just telling you. Some of you're sitting here right now. Like, can they tell? Well, maybe. And I ain't beating up on your man, work out and making some money and all of that. It's just when you put your hope there, you will multiply your slower. So then what some people do, if it's not stuff and it's not self, then it's passion or it's sex or it's that other person. If I could just have that person, then I would be fully and finally satisfied. You see, here's the problem, man. That person cannot handle that kind of responsibility.

And whoever you idolize, when they let you down and they will let you down, then you will demonize them. It's just true. So let me talk to the singles. if you were a lonely and depressed single and you think marriage is going to cure it, get married, and you'll be a lonely and depressed married person. And I would ask for an amen, but I ain't trying to ruin your weekend, you know.

Amen, but what? No, not you, baby. I just meant theologically. No, man, it's just, I love my wife. I've been married 22 years, more in love with her than ever. But she can't, she cannot do for me what Christ does for me. All right? Listen, darling, he will not complete you.

you. Look, the Bible says, husband, love your wife as Christ loved the church. I cannot. I cannot. I should strive for it, but I can't. And if you are looking for somebody that is imperfect to love you perfectly, you are setting yourself up for a perfect storm of letdown. You see, you run after the things of this world, and you are multiplying your sorrows. Now, it's interesting. He doesn't talk about right and wrong. In fact, all through the book of Romans, Paul rarely talks about what's right and what's wrong. He talks about life and death. These are different ways to think about it. Because being a Christian is not just trying to not do bad things, not do wrong things.

Being a follower of Jesus is following in his path because whenever we take steps of obedience to do life, the way Jesus says to do life, it always gives birth to life. And when the enemy comes along and says, did God really say that? You're smarter than that. then why don't you do it this way every single time, even if it doesn't make sense to you right now, it only gives birth to death. And we have an enemy, and he wants to steal, kill, and destroy you. So he wants you to take the path of death.

But we have a shepherd who is a good shepherd that came to give us life and give it abundantly. And that abundant life is an abundance of life in him. So watch out. The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiple. Their drink offering of blood I will not pour out. That was a pagan ritual. Or take their names on my lips. He said, I'm not even gonna dignify that false God

by claiming their names. Verse five, but the Lord is my chosen portion in my cup. The Lord is my chosen portion in my cup. Another, we sang it today, that he is enough. You see, when Joshua takes over the promised land and he's giving out land to the different tribes, when he comes to the Levites, to the priest, he says, You don't get a portion of land because the Lord is your portion.

And they're saying that is more than enough. When he's talking about this cup here, what he's talking about is after they would have a victory, they would take the spoils and they would have a big old dinner. And he's saying there's food there, there's wine there. But what the person that is most satisfied says is, hey, man, the food's fine, the wine's fine. But the Lord is my cup. I find my satisfaction in him, not in the temporary things of this world. We say it all the time, man.

We don't follow Jesus because he makes our life better. We follow him because he is better than life. This is what he's saying. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup, and you hold my lot. This is like in the Bible when they would cast lots. What they're saying, what David is saying is, no matter what has happened in my life, both good and bad, you have been in charge of it from the beginning,

and I can trust you. Which leads him to say the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. Here's what this means. He's saying, as I look around the condition of my life right now, although there were some things that led him off to say preserve me, oh God, so something's not going right. But then he looks around at his life.

He's talking about the borders of his life. And he's saying the borderlines of my life have fallen in pleasant places, and in you I have a sweet inheritance. He's saying thank you for my life. You see, every single one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and entitled. And those two things are mutually exclusive. Mutually exclusive. And we live in a culture that spoon feeds us entitlement.

You deserve it, you deserve it. I didn't do anything, I know, but just sit down and let us keep giving you stuff that you don't deserve. That's the world we live in. And one of the worst things you can do is focus on you and all the things that you think you want. And what he's doing here is he is focusing on God and all the good gifts that God has given to him. the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places indeed i have a beautiful inheritance i bless the lord who gives me counsel in the night also my heart instructs me he's thanking god for his word he's kind of doing his gratitude list here in sum 119 he's going to say i have hidden your word in my heart that i might not

sin against you verse eight he says i have set the lord always before me because he is at my right hand i shall not be shaken do you see the difference of where we stand where we stand we stand we started and where we are. Preserve me, oh God. I need your help. I need you to be my refuge. I think I might die and I need you to get me out of this. And now, eight verses later, he says, I will not be shaken. What happened? Here's what happened. He began to shift his eyes and shift his attention off of his current circumstances and he began to shift his attention to God, to the Lord. preserve me, O God, all the way to I shall not be shaken. What do you do when things are not going your way?

You trust God and you worship your way through it. Because that's what worship is. Worship is us re-prioritizing what's going on in our life, refocusing what's going on in our life. He says, therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices, my flesh also dwells secure. We sang it already today. turn your eyes upon Jesus.

That's what we're talking about. Because when you do that, the things of this world grow strangely dim. Folks, this is why we have declared this year is the year of worship. Because worship is war. We have an enemy that wants to steal, kill, and destroy you. We have an enemy that wants you to try to define God's love for you based on your current circumstances. And when we get together in worship, it's a really big deal, because what we're doing is we're lifting our eyes up off of the temporary, we're getting our eyes up above the horizon so that we can set Jesus

before us and we can understand that he is faithful and he is good. The worst thing you can ever do is just get all of your time, effort, energy, just focused on you and navel gaze. I'm like, well, always me. He's saying, lift up your eyes to the Lord. This is why, listen, this is why, if you're a believer, worship is declaring the victory that Jesus has already won, and and then heading, lining your life up in line with that victory. When we show up in here, man, this ain't just Christian karaoke, okay? And I know a bunch of you came from different traditions and different patterns, and at your church you were taught to worship like a mannequin, you know,

just like, well, you're going to have to wake up, all right? I know, some of you, some of you look like you were weaned on a pickle, you know, your face is all like, you know, if you're a believer, you're supposed to have the joy of the Lord in here, you should tell your face, okay? Get your hands out your pockets, don't do it. that is not a worship posture that is appropriate before the Lord, all right? And sing like saved people, like go to war with the army of Christ to declare the victory has been won for us in Jesus Christ.

So at the end of the sermon, we're going to sing a song, you better sing good, I'm telling you. The writer of Hebrews says it this way. In Hebrews chapter 11, it's called the Hall of Faith. He goes through a whole bunch of Old Testament people that find themselves in terrible circumstances and by faith, God either delivers them from the situation or through the situation, but they all put their trust in Jesus and they worship their way through it. That's what all of Hebrews 11 is about. And then he says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. In other words, when you're in trouble, don't run to the little G gods, or you'll be multiplying your sorrows, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. That's what worship is. Set your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, that's you, endure the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

So he starts with, preserve me, oh Lord. Then he begins to get his eyes up off of his circumstances and gets his eyes on his Savior, and it leads him to say, I shall not be shaken. Now, if you're a Bible scholar here, and I know that you are, when we hit verse 8, hopefully you win. That sounds familiar because verses 8 through 11, it's the primary text that the Apostle Peter uses on the day of Pentecost at the very first Christian sermon ever. He quotes from Psalm 16, verses 8 through 11. which is pretty stinking cool.

Because we did a series on First Peter a couple years ago or something. And if you'll remember Peter, do you remember what Peter gets in trouble for more than anything else? It's his mouth. He says the dumbest things at the worst time. Okay?

I mean, think about it. Peter is standing on the mountain of transfiguration and Jesus is there with Moses and Elijah and Peter sticks his hand in there and he goes, some fellas, it is good that we are here. And God the Father shows up and is like, bro, will you be quiet? Okay?

At Cessori of Philippa, Jesus takes the disciples up there and says, who do you say that I am? And Peter says, you were the Christ, the son of a living God. And Jesus changes his name to Rocky, the rock. And he says, upon this rock, I'm going to build my church

and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And then Jesus begins to tell him what the gospel is, that he is going to be killed on the cross. And the Bible says that Jesus rebukes Peter. Peter gets Jesus and says, get over here, Jesus Christ. I've got to tell you something.

You ain't going to die on my watch. And then Jesus looks at him and says, Get behind me. Anybody knows what he calls them? Satan. I know people have said some hurtful things to you, but imagine the Son of God calls you the devil. You understand what I'm saying?

And then they're at communion. Peter almost messes that up. We don't have time for it. And then he promises Jesus, everybody else may turn their back on you, but not me. I would die for you. That night he denies it even knows Jesus

three different times. You understand? His mouth gets him in trouble over and over and over. And then after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. All the region has come to Jerusalem for Pentecost. Jesus is resurrected from the grave, has appeared to the disciples, the Spirit of God has fallen on them like tongues of fire, and then Peter sees this huge crowd, and he goes, I should probably preach, and he steps up in front of them, and then God uses the very thing that got him most

trouble. He uses it for the advancement of the kingdom of God. How many of you know, God can use the thing in your life that got you in the most trouble, redeem it and then use it for his own. I knew a guy in high school that used to get in trouble for talking too much. You understand what I'm saying? And he stands up there and he preaches the most triggering sermon of all time. God sent the author of life and you crucified him. Repent and be baptized. That's what he does. He'd get canceled in about one second today. But he quotes this Psalm, chapter 16, in verses 8 through 11, and he even gives us commentary in the Psalm to tell us what it means. Always use the Bible as commentary unto itself.

He goes on in verse 10 to say this, for you will not abandon my soul to shield or let your holy one see corruption. And then he says, okay, King David said this a thousand years ago, but King David knew that there was going to be one that would come after him who would take the throne and never relinquish it. And David also knew that he was going to die and go to the grave and his, and his, body was going to rot, and he says, and David is in the grave right now. So could David be talking about David when he says, you will not abandon my soul to

shield or let your holy one see corruption? David didn't think he was the holy one. By the time we get to Psalm 51, David is going to say, I was born in iniquity. And so Peter, in Acts chapter 2, you have to read it for homework, it's going to tell us that David in Psalm 16 knew that Jesus, he didn't know his name yet, but he knew that God was going to send his son, that he was going to live a perfect life, he was going to was going to die on the cross. He was going to be dead and buried, but he was not going to stay dead. He was going to be resurrected from the grave. This is what he's talking about from this

song. And then we get a clue that he knows what he's talking about by the last verse. Verse 11. Everything we are looking for in life is found in Jesus. This is what he's saying. Here's the way he says it. He says, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Who is at the right hand of God? Jesus, you nailed it. You can say it more confidently. I'm not trying to trick you.

Who is at the right hand of God? Jesus, this is who David is talking about according to Peter in Acts 2 all the way back to Psalm 16. He's saying this. There is coming one from God that loves you, that lives a perfect life, that goes to the cross, dies on the cross, not just for you,

but instead of you, but he's not going to stay dead. He is going to come out of the grave. He is going to be resurrected. And when you find him, you find everything that you were looking for in life. Like, how do you say that? Here's how I say it, verse 11. You make known to me the path of life. Isn't that what you're looking for?

Don't you want to know what your path of life is? Don't you want to know what your purpose is? He's saying, in Jesus Christ, you find your path of life. There is a path that leads to death. is a path that leads to life. That God loves you, God has a purpose for you, a plan for you. The alarm clock and the empty tomb are empirical evidence that God's not done with you because Jesus is life.

In fact, Jesus himself says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. Then he says, in your presence, there is fullness of joy. This is what you're looking for. where every single one of us are looking for presence. We're looking for a relationship. Every one of us have been created as image bearers of God. And God in and of himself is a perfect love relationship.

And when we were created in his image, we were created to give and receive love. And in his presence, in a relationship with Jesus Christ, we find a fullness of joy. There's no more full than full. And we live in a world that's in the pursuit of happy. It's a pretty terrible pursuit. Now listen, I'm pro-happy.

Happy's better and sad, okay? But happy is so temporary. Happy is so fleeting, right? We've all been there. Happy is based on your happenings. Fourth quarter, your team's coming back. You think, we got it, we got it, we got it. Missed the field goal, there went happy.

We're about to go to the beach, and half of Ohio has moved here to Jacksonville. Okay, welcome. We love y'all. We're so glad you're here. And I'm going to tell you, I love you people from Ohio. I've been picking on you for 10 years. Not one person from Ohio has ever been offended. It's always somebody on behalf of somebody from Ohio, okay?

But you know, we go out to the beach, everything's good, and the idiots from Ohio start feeding the seagulls, there goes happy as soon as it drops on you. But in his presence, in the presence of Jesus, there's a fullness of joy. Why? Because happiness is temporary, and happiness is dependent on your happenings. But Jesus is the same.

Yesterday to today and forever more. And in him there is joy. because we know that in him, he is more than enough. In your presence there is fullness of joy. And at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. You see, the temporary things of this world just will never satisfy, man. The car's going to break down. The house is going to be outdated.

The clothes are going to go out of style or they don't fit as long as you think they ought to. Whatever the thing is, man, you chase after it and it will always let you down. but the thing that you're looking for are pleasures forevermore, and the only thing that can satisfy the insatiable desire of the human condition is the everlasting God that created you to be in a relationship with him. That's what he's saying. C.S. Lewis says it this way in his book, Mere Christianity. He says, if I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy,

the only logical explanation is that I was made for. another world. And we were. That we were made to be in that right relationship with God, face to face with Him. And in Christ, that's what we find. We find the purpose for our life. In Christ, we find a relationship, presence with Him. And in Christ, we find pleasures forevermore, that he is our ultimate treasure. So this is how it starts. Preserve me, oh God. Don't abandon me. I feel like I need you, and if you don't come through for me, I'm done. And then he begins to shift his attitude and say, and I'm going to run to you for refuge. And I'm not going to go after the false gods of this world because they will always multiply my sorrows.

But in you, Jesus Christ, in you and you alone, I'm going to find my purpose, I'm going to find your presence, and I'm going to find pleasures forevermore. Jesus looks at Jerusalem and says, oh, Jerusalem. If you had just come to me, if you would have just come running to me, I would have been your refuge, I would have protected you and taken care of you like a mama hand would take care of her babies. Or like he says in Matthew 11, come to me all who are weary and heavy burden. Come to me all who need a refuge, who need purpose,

all who need my presence, all who need to find pleasures forevermore. Come to me and I will give you rest for your soul. And that's found in one place. That's found in a relationship with Jesus Christ, not how good you can be. It's found in surrendering your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

It's found when you say, you know what, I admit it. My way's not working. Preserve me, oh God, because my way ain't working. I admit it. I am a sinner in need of a Savior. This isn't some little like religious self-help thing I need.

I need for you to do for me what I can never do for me. And I believe that somehow when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And right now I am ready to confess him as Lord, just like David did. I confess the Lord, the sovereign of the universe is my Lord, my personal Lord and Savior.

And if you do that, you'll be saved. God will save you. Not only will he forgive you of your sin, he doesn't just stop there. Stop there. He gives you his perfect life. He changes your name. He adopts you into his family, and he puts you on a trajectory that leads you to a face-to-face relationship with him. forever more. And if you've never done that, if you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of

Christ, I'd love for you to do it right now. I mean, what a great day to surrender your life to Christ, and then run home and grab a bathing suit, which maybe you didn't plan to do, and then meet us at the beach and then declare it out loud to about 7,000 or 7,000 people. That'd be a neat day, wouldn't it? Yeah, why don't we do that? Bow your head, close your eyes. And if you would say, I'm ready, I'm ready to admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe when Christ died died on the cross. Somehow that counted for me. And right now, for the very first time, you were ready to confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Then you tell him right where you are.

You pray it in whatever words you want to use. It's not a magic prayer that you have to repeat. And if that's you, this moment, you were ready to confess Christ as your Lord and Savior for the first time. Would you lift your hand as a symbol to just say, Father, here I am. I surrender to you. Praise God. Hold that hand up high and say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Praise God. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. And God, we thank you for your son, Jesus, who came on a rescue mission for us, to die on the cross in our place and then be resurrected from the grave. And just like he walked out of the grave, we can walk out of our dead past too. God, may we be the most gracious, grateful people on the planet because of all you have done for us, all you have done in us, through us, and to us. And God, we love you. and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, if you would please stand, we've got a lot to celebrate. We respond to the gospel around here. And we pray. This time in our service matters a lot. We pray. Some of you walked in here, and your prayer is,

don't abandon me, God. Preserve me, O Lord. Well, then I would invite you to come on. Come kneel before your sovereign king who loves you enough to hear your prayer. So we pray. And we bring, we bring our first and our best, our ties and our offerings to say, I'm going to seek you first, you and your righteousness, then I'm going to trust that you can handle all this other stuff in my life. And we sing.

And we are going to sing that he is the king of our heart, and we are going to sing that he is good. He is good. And if you believe that he's good, and if he's the king of your heart, may we rip the roof off this place as we declare that in worship. So we're going to sing, we're going to bring, we're going to pray. Let's respond.