We're going to get straight on with it. So turn in your Bibles to Psalm 16 and I'm going to read for us and then I'm going to hand over to Seth who's going to speak for us.
So on these Lord's Supper evenings, we've been looking through the Psalms and so we're up to Psalm 16. It is on page 549, if you have a church Bible, which Charleston very helpfully put out on all the chairs.
So you should have got one. Page 549, Psalm 16.
A mictam of David.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take their name on my lips.
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup. You make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest secure.
Because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead. Nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence.
With eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Well, this is God's word. Over to you, Seth.
So we are going to indeed be in Psalm 16 as we just looked at.
So if you do have a Bible, make sure to get it open or on your phone.
Because we'll be referring back to it multiple times.
But before we start, let me pray. And then we'll get into it.
Father in heaven, thank you for just the opportunity to open your word.
God, thank you that it is living and active and still speaks to us today, Lord.
I pray that you would speak through me today, Father.
Father, that your word would be able to minister to the people in this room.
So that we can go out and be lights in a dark place.
I pray all of these things in your name. Amen.
Alright. Psalm 16. Let's talk about success.
Success is a tricky word, isn't it?
It's only got four letters. S, U, C, and E.
But it means a whole, whole lot.
See, success can be the difference between a three-week holiday in the Maldives
or a day trip down to Brighton.
Success can be the difference between driving a Lamborghini or taking the bus.
Success can even be sometimes defined as the haves and the have-nots.
Or maybe you're not into that definition of success.
Maybe you're not into the rat race or the overachieving.
You're not into the high-stress situations.
Instead, maybe you would be more mindful.
You would define success as understanding your surroundings.
And it involves more than just achieving something.
So instead, you would say, well, we each get to define our own success.
If the first person that I described is your very typical finance bro that goes down to Canary Wharf
and has loads of stocks and trades,
then the second person I'm describing here would probably be your stereotypical yoga instructor
that is very happy with, you do you as long as you recycle.
Everything will be okay.
See, in the 21st century, we have many definitions for this word behind me,
for the word success.
But we can all pretty much agree
that is the one definition that we can get behind.
As long as you are feeling fulfilled,
then we would call that success.
At least that's what the world would say.
As long as we stay away from meaningless-ness on this side,
and we are going towards fulfillment,
we'll be okay.
But where does that fulfillment come from?
What if you're working a dead-end nine-to-five job?
Or maybe you're not working at all.
Maybe you're retired.
Where does that fulfillment come from?
Well, today we're going to look at a man
who had all the pleasures that he could have ever wanted.
He was king of Israel.
His name was David.
And yet, it wasn't the kingly pleasures that fulfilled him,
but something far greater.
So let's take a look.
Let's look at verse 1,
and we're going to start with the first point,
which is preserved in the Lord.
Verse 1 says,
Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
The words keep me safe,
there can also be translated as preserve.
So right from the very beginning,
we're going to start,
David starts,
by saying the Lord is his place of refuge.
The Lord is his strong tower.
The Lord will not falter.
Wherever David goes,
he knows that the Lord will be with him.
It is security.
The Lord is security for David.
So you're not normally supposed to start your sermon
with the punchline.
You're supposed to build up.
You have this crescendo.
And then finally,
you build tension.
You get to the end,
and you give people an answer, right?
If you've been at church for any amount of time,
you know how this goes.
It's build, build, build gospel.
That's how you're supposed to do it.
But that's not what David does,
right here in the Psalms.
He starts at the very beginning of this Psalm,
saying,
I want you to see how this is possible.
I want you to know what I am saying here
is indeed possible.
It's not possible because I'm a king,
and I have a lot of money.
It's not possible because I wake up at 5 a.m.,
do an ice bath, and drink a matcha.
None of that is what makes this possible.
See, David can have success,
feel fulfilled,
because he has been preserved in the Lord.
How has he been preserved in the Lord?
That's what the question that we should be asking is.
And as I was dwelling on this question this week,
it brought back a memory.
How many of us in the room, show of hands,
were lucky enough to meet our great-grandparents?
I remember being able to meet my great-grandparents.
I met three of them.
And I remember a few things about them.
Two really stand out in my mind.
One, my great-grandmother Archer,
she had a smell.
Now, notice I said a smell.
She didn't smell.
But she had a smell.
I remember distinctly, to this day, 20 years later,
after I gave Grandma Archer a hug,
my nose would kind of tingle a little bit.
The other thing that I remember about my great-grandparents
is that they had this huge walk-in pantry.
And once you got into the pantry,
if you looked on the back wall,
from the floor to the ceiling,
I kid you not,
were tinned vegetables.
When I was five years old,
I could have sworn they were 10 feet tall.
And what these tinned vegetables were,
were a way for my grandparents
to preserve fruits from their garden.
See, they were pretty prolific gardeners.
They would plant every year.
They would have fruits and vegetables
that would come in harvest time.
But if you've ever gardened at all,
you know that very quickly,
you go from having zero fruit and zero vegetables,
to all of a sudden,
you're blessed with 120 courgettes all at once.
And I don't know about you,
but I don't eat 120 courgettes in a year,
much less in a month before they go bad.
And so,
how do you keep them from going bad?
You would jar them,
and you would preserve them.
See, that's what my grandparents were doing,
is they were jarring these courgettes,
jarring their fruits,
jarring their vegetables,
so that they could have them
and extend their usefulness.
See, their usefulness would go
from lasting a very short time
to really lasting years.
That's what David is saying right here
at the beginning of this psalm.
See, we are the vegetables in this illustration.
We need to be preserved.
If we are left to our own devices,
we will rot.
Yes, we will look good for a time.
We will look juicy and succulent
for a time.
But there will come a time as well
when we rot
or when we're eaten by foxes.
And we will no longer be useful.
Instead, we need to be preserved.
But how?
Now, I want to start right here by saying
you can push illustrations too far.
All illustrations have a breaking point, okay?
And I want to tell you
that we are pushing this illustration
about as far as I am comfortable
pushing it right here, okay?
But I think this will be really helpful
in helping us understand
what David is trying to get at
right here at the beginning
by going just a little bit farther.
So from the beginning,
do you remember how I said,
I don't even actually know
if I've even said it,
but how you preserve vegetables.
So you preserve vegetables
by applying an intense amount of heat
to remove toxins.
And so these toxins go in,
they get rid of the imperfections,
and then once you get rid of the imperfections,
you seal that jar.
It requires heat.
Now what would happen
in our hypothetical here
if I took the courgettes
and I just threw them in the boiling water?
Well, you, me,
and everybody else
would be having courgettes
for the next week
because they would be cooked, right?
If courgettes would no longer be preserved,
they would be cooked,
you'd have to eat them
before they went bad,
which would maybe be a few days.
Instead,
if you're going to preserve them,
what do you need?
You need a jar.
Something that's going to stand
between the heat
and the vegetables
that takes the heat
but keeps the vegetables
from cooking.
See, in this illustration,
again,
you can push illustrations too far,
Jesus is the jar.
See, in this illustration,
he took the wrath of God,
the heat, if you will,
and that we deserved,
and yet,
he kept us.
And so now we are preserved
because of him.
See, David starts
off his psalm by saying,
this is good news.
We are safe
because we have been preserved.
We are safe
because God is our refuge.
He is the one that has done it.
Nothing that we could do,
we would rot without God.
And one of the best things
about this illustration as well
is that once you are preserved,
the jar never leaves
the vegetables either, right?
It's always with them.
So once you have been preserved,
David then will go on,
so let's move on
to the second point,
and that preservation
will overflow
into something
that is counter-cultural.
That was the heat.
Point number two
is contentment
in the preservation.
So we've established
that preservation
is necessary.
David is saying
that our preservation
now should overflow
into contentment.
Look back at the verses
with me.
Verse two,
he says,
apart from you,
Lord,
I have no good thing.
Verse five says,
you are my portion
and my cup.
Verse eight says,
I will keep my eyes
always on the Lord.
David says,
it doesn't matter
what is happening
around me.
I will be content
in the Lord.
He makes this
very apparent
if you look at verse five.
David is saying,
Lord,
you are my portion.
You are my cup.
You are the only need
for me to survive.
You're the only thing
I need
for survival.
See,
this is counter-cultural,
right?
David is choosing
to be sustained
by the Lord
instead of looking
for the things
of the world.
And let's not
kid ourselves.
See,
David had other options
to be fulfilled in,
right?
He was the king of Israel.
He could have had
his choice
of worldly pleasures.
But David,
in this psalm,
is saying,
no, no, no,
I do not need
more land.
I do not need
more mythical stories
told about my greatness.
I don't need
better clothes.
I don't need
a bigger palace.
What I need,
what can sustain me
in what I am doing
only comes
from the Lord.
And one of the
more famous psalms
in the hymns
of the psalms
is Psalm 119.
It says,
the word
of the Lord
is a lamp
unto our feet
and a light
unto my path,
right?
If you need
to be able
to see 50,
100,
150 meters
ahead of you,
you don't need
a lamp.
You need
a spotlight,
right?
That's the only
way that you're
going to see.
What does
a lamp illuminate?
It illuminates
the area
right in front
of you,
right around you.
So David
is saying
in Psalm 119
and here in
Psalm 16,
it doesn't matter
what is happening
around me,
I can't see it.
I'm holding up
a lamp.
What I can only
see and what
only matters
is what you
have provided
before me.
I will be content
in those circumstances,
Lord.
It doesn't
matter how
the world
defines success,
it doesn't
matter even
the persecution
that I might
come under.
The world
doesn't matter,
but the word
of the Lord
does.
So are you
going to be
content in
what the Lord
gives you?
Or do you
want to fall
into the trap
of what the
world wants?
See,
we've already
talked about
the world
has a different
definition of
success than
we do as
Christians,
right?
But it's
really easy
to sit in
here on
Sunday night
and think
of the world
as something
out there,
something that
doesn't really
affect us.
But if I
can,
for just a
second,
let me bring
the world
just a little
bit closer.
Christian,
in the room,
are you content
where you are
at in your
life right now?
Are you content
with the flat
that you are
in?
Are you content
with the money
in your bank
account?
are you
content with
the job
that you
do or do
not have?
To keep on
taking it a
little further,
parents,
are you content
with how your
children are
turning out?
Spouses,
are you content
with your
other spouse?
Now,
please hear
me.
This is not
a license
for us to
be lazy
and call
it contentment.
See,
Paul,
the Proverbs,
multiple other
spots speak
out some
strong words
against laziness.
This is not
license to be
lazy.
Raising kids,
earning money,
living life
in London
is hard
work.
It takes
diligence.
But if you
put in the
hard work of
raising kids,
of doing
your job,
are you content
with the results
that come?
And I
can't tell you
the amount
of time
that you
need to
spend with
the Lord
or the amount
of time
you need to
spend with
your kids.
That's
legalism.
I can't
do that.
That's
between you
and the
Lord.
But what
I can
say is
that real
trust,
real contentment
comes when
we trust
the Lord.
So we
have two
options.
We can
buy in
to what
the world
is trying
to tell
us.
to become
consumeristic,
if you
will,
discontent,
to where
we have a
desire for
more and
more until
it becomes
almost
insatiable
and we
collapse
under the
weight of
those desires.
Or
are we
going to be
content in
the Lord?
David
in this
psalm had
his answer.
What's
ours going
to be?
finally,
let's move
on to the
last point
as we
move towards
a close
here.
We'll talk
about
rejoicing.
This is
the fun
part.
Let's look
at verse
nine.
David
says,
Therefore,
my heart
is glad
and my
tongue
rejoices.
My body
also will
rest secure
because you
will not
abandon me
to the
realm of
the dead,
nor will
let your
faithful
ones see
decay.
You
make known
to me
the path
of life.
You
will fill
me
with joy
in your
presence,
with eternal
pleasures at
your right
hand.
after finding
refuge and
preservation in
the Lord
and then
being content
in that
preservation,
now David
gets to the
fun part.
Now David
rejoices.
See,
David is
celebrating.
If you look
back at verse
four,
he's celebrating
because he's
not like those
people in
verse four.
He doesn't
run towards
other gods.
Instead,
he has found
contentment and
his joy in
the Lord.
not only
that,
he's found
blessings and
eternal pleasures
at God's
right hand.
That's what
he's saying.
This is the
party at
the end,
right?
This is the
celebration.
This is the
happily ever
after.
This is what
David's struggle
has all been
for for his
entire life.
This is the
celebration.
This is what
he's deserved.
If you think
about in our
terms,
this is the
party after
you've gotten
a promotion,
or this
is the
party once
you've
graduated.
This is the
prize at
the end
for your
struggle.
Or is
it?
See,
David lists
some criteria,
some entry
requirements,
a dress code,
if you will,
for entering
this party.
In verse
eight,
he says,
I keep my
eyes always
on the
Lord.
Was this
true of
David?
Has he
always?
Kept his
eyes on
the Lord?
If you
know anything
about the
Bible,
you're probably
familiar with
King David's
story.
He was
picked as
special from
a very
young age.
The youngest
of eight
brothers,
he was
anointed as
king while
he was
still watching
sheep.
While he
was still
quite young
as well,
he went
out to
battle and
fought a
giant and
won.
His name
is synonymous
with underdog
stories to
this day.
And then
when he
finally did
become king,
he pushed
Israel's
borders to
the largest
they had
ever been.
And yet,
if you
looked at
David's
rap sheet,
he would
not pass
the DBS
to be hired
here at
West Kilburn.
You would
not trust
your kids
with him.
Adulterer,
murderer,
liar,
all
accurate
descriptors
of king
David.
And yet,
how does
he get to
rejoice at
the end?
Why is he
enjoying the
blessings of
the saints?
Look at
verse 6.
That's the
key to
understanding
this.
David says
there's a
delightful
inheritance.
What's
significant
about an
inheritance?
inheritance.
But you
get an
inheritance
when someone
dies.
See,
when most
people die,
they have
a will,
and they
get to
determine
where their
earthly
treasures
go.
John
gets the
car,
Bridget gets
the house,
et cetera,
et cetera.
If you
fast forward
a thousand
years from
King David,
there has
just been
a death.
A carpenter
was crucified
on a cross
outside of
Jerusalem,
and most
people thought
it was no
big deal.
But instead
of business
returning as
back to
usual,
there's been
a disturbance.
And a man
who's been
accused of
being drunk
at 9 a.m.
stands before
a crowd
and proclaims
these words.
Fellow
Israelites,
listen to
this.
Jesus of
Nazareth
was a man
accredited by
God to you
by miracles,
wonders,
and signs,
which God
did among
you through
him as you
yourselves
know.
This man
was handed
over to
you by
God's
deliberate
plan and
foreknowledge,
and you,
with the
help of
wicked men,
put him
to death
by nailing
him to
the cross.
But God
raised him
from the
dead,
freeing him
from the
agony of
death,
because it
was impossible
for death
to keep
its hold
on him.
David said
about him,
this should
ring familiar,
I saw
the Lord
always before
me,
because he
is at my
right hand,
I will
not be
shaken.
Therefore,
my heart
is glad
and my
tongue
rejoices.
My body
also will
rest in
hope,
because you
will not
abandon me
to the
realm of
the dead,
you will
not let
your holy
one see
decay.
You have
made known
to me
the path
of life,
you will
fill me
with joy
in your
presence.
Fellow
Israelites,
I can tell
you confidently
that the
patriarch David
died and
was buried,
and his tomb
is here to
this day,
but he
was a
prophet,
and he
knew that
God had
promised him
an oath
that he
would place
one of his
descendants on
his throne.
Seeing what
was to come,
he spoke of
the resurrection
of the Messiah,
that he
was not
abandoned to
the realm
of the
dead,
nor did
his body
see decay.
God has
raised this
Jesus to
life,
and we
are all
witnesses
of it.
See,
Peter,
when he
looks at
Psalm 16,
he says,
yes,
in order
for us
to have
an inheritance,
there has
to be a
death.
But who
can go
and gain
all the
treasures
of heaven
in order
to give
us the
inheritance?
It had
to be
God himself.
It could
only be
God himself.
So he
sent his
son to
live the
life we
couldn't
live,
and then
he died
a death
that we
should have
died.
He took
God's
wrath for
our sin,
and he
gave us
God's
grace,
that he
had
earned,
in order
that we
could inherit
internal
life with
him.
Peter is
saying,
look,
Psalm 16,
it's not
talking about
David.
See,
we already
know David
had sinned,
so it
couldn't
obviously
be talking
about him.
But on
top of
that,
Peter says,
look,
David's
dead.
There's
a tomb
in the
city right
here where
we are
at.
We can
go point
to the
body.
But David
was a
prophet.
he saw
someone
coming in
the future,
and in
Psalm 16,
he points
us to the
greatest
inheritance
ever,
Jesus
Christ.
All we
have to
do is
believe.
I am
constantly
amazed at
the Bible.
The way
that the
Spirit speaks
through the
Word of
God
consistently
blows me
away.
How all
of these
things,
thousands
of years
apart,
can
connect.
Mind-boggling.
God
is
going to
I believe
today the
Spirit was
ministering to
you as
you heard me
talk,
as he was
ministering to
me when I
was writing
these words.
So the
question remains,
what are we
going to do
about it?
Maybe you
need to go
home and
meditate on
the fact that
you've been
preserved.
You're a
vegetable.
the fact
that the
Lord cares
and protects
me leaves
me speechless
when I
actually stop
and think
about it.
Or maybe
the Lord
has been
working on
your heart
when we
talked about
contentment.
Maybe you
need to go
home and
pray that the
Spirit would
change the
desires of
your heart.
Or maybe
the reality
that there is
a party at
the end of
your life and
you do not
meet the
criteria to
join has
really hit
home for
you today.
Maybe you
have the
realization that
you really
do need
Jesus.
Do not
fight it.
Give your
life to
Jesus.
Let him
change you
today.
Wherever you
are on this
spectrum,
what a
beautiful
opportunity we
have today
as we take
the Lord's
Supper to
remember the
sacrifice that
Jesus made
for us,
but also so
we can join
in the
celebration of
what that
sacrifice means
for us.
Remember,
everyone out
there is going
to want you
to define
success for
your life,
but contentment
and fulfillment
can only come
when we lean
into God's
definition of
success.
Let's pray.
Father,
thank you for
today.
Thank you
just for your
word that
speaks,
God.
Thousands of
years from
when these
words were
spoken,
you are
ministering to
us today
in a city
that these
people didn't
even know
existed,
God.
You're
bringing the
word to
our city,
Lord.
We want to
be a part
of it.
So help us
to define
success not
by how people
out there
want us
to define
it,
but how
you define
it here
in your
word,
Lord.
Help our
priorities to
look so
strange to
people out
there that
they just
count us as
weird and
those Christians.
God, I pray
that we would
be on fire
for you,
that we would
share and
show that
true contentment
and true
success is
knowing you
and making
you known.
Pray all of
these things
in your name.
Amen.