SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 6/22/25
What comfort and hope do I have, do we have, in the middle of the night (i.e. the repeated sufferings of this life)? We believe that one of the kindest things that your pastors can do for you is prepare you for the suffering that marks this life. It is for this purpose that we consider Psalm 16 today. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.
SERIES: Summer in the Psalms, Vol. 3
TEXT: Psalm 16
TITLE: An Unshakable Calm in Jesus
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: God’s preservation of our life produces a beautiful contentment and an unshakable calm of our soul.
POINTS:
I. A Content Life (In Christ - Vs. 2-6)
II. A Calm Life (In Christ - Vs. 7-11)
SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.
“Until we step onto the golden shores of heaven, we will face trial after trial after trial. Ps 16, written by David, speaks into “the night” of life… into the trial that is this life, BUT it does not simply say “Hang on! Heaven is coming!” WHICH IS RADICALLY TRUE. Ps 16 speaks of a real and lasting and PRESENT hope and anchor for the soul.”
“Ps 16 begins with a cry for PRESENT help (that He would “preserve” us right now) and it grants us PRESENT help right now.”
“Are you happy today and rocked tomorrow? All seems well. The sea of your life is placid… and then… wave after wave. Don’t we long for calm? Don’t we long for rest? Isn’t this possibly our daily pursuit? And just when we think we have reached a ‘good’ stretch in life… things fall apart.”
“Yet today we find that God’s preservation of our life leads to an unshakable calm of our soul. There is a profound effect on our soul when our soul remembers and believes and grabs hold of the truth that God saves and guards the believer… preserving them forever… and the effect of that truth produces an unshakable calm in this life.”
“Verse 1 ‘Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.’ In the opening words in Verse 1, David calls out, ‘Preserve me, O God’, and the sense is that we sing-pray that God would guard and save our very lives. There is no specific or imminent threat mentioned because the Psalm is a cry for God to preserve us throughout our whole life! All the days of my life, O God, guard my life!”
“Following Verse 1, we have in Verse 2, ‘I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”’ David declares that the LORD is our Lord, and he acknowledges that anything truly good in this life is found only in and with Him, and nothing truly good is found anywhere else. That which is truly good is found only in one place: in God!”
“Now… we begin to see godly contentment take shape in our text. Verse 2 shapes biblical contentment.”
“First, contentment confesses that God is the Lord of our life! Second, contentment, biblically speaking, acknowledges that good is only found in God, and that is enough for me.”
“Contentment excludes our thinking that we have any goodness to bring and to add to God’s. Godly contentment is a deep satisfaction in all that is found in God alone and nothing else and nowhere else. Our greatest satisfaction in this life is in the Lord, and there is no lasting satisfaction apart from Him!”
“Our confession becomes: In you, Lord, is found only good. There is no evil in you, God, but only that which is righteousness and goodness. ‘Preserve my life, O God.’ ‘Guard my life, God. Guard my life in Your goodness.’”
“David now describes a people, God’s people, calling them saints. Here we have a description of God’s people in whom the king delights because they are God’s saints. And his delight in them is compared to those of Vs 4…”
“The saints… he delights in. These idolaters… (Vs 4b) He has no delight in but only disdain of their idolatry and silent rejection. They have turned “apart” (Vs 2b) from God and have run after another god in an attempt to find good, and pleasure, and joy, and satisfaction.”
“The altogether discontent people of Vs 4 do not find the good life they crave, but only that which multiplies and compounds sorrow! Their running from God to other gods leads them into a perpetual state of UNREST. Their discontent gifts them sleepless nights of the soul. Nothing satisfies them. No one satisfies them.”
“The craving of the human heart is to live the good life. Yet our sin and this world redefine what a good life is. Day after day, we wake up hoping it’s going to be a good day.
A good life is _______________?
…prosperity
… conflict-free free fruitful relationships
…health
…sexual fulfillment
…a full stomach”
“Psalm 16 teaches us an uncomfortable truth: If we look to anyone else but God and go anywhere else but God, “running after/acquiring other gods,” in the end, we do not get what we were looking for. Our searching, grasping, on-to-the-next-new-thing, ends only in our sorrow ‘multiplying.’”
“A lack of contentment in God is not simply going about our day, not thinking about him, but our discontent has lead us to turn to another god - an impatient, insatiable desire that is looking for the next high, for the next sense of feeling good/ok/angst-free… going everywhere… anywhere… to anyone… but God.”
“Discontentment is not satisfied by adding this fix to that fix. Discontentment itself multiplies, and discontentment with God, leads to trouble and sorrow that only MULTIPLY.”
“BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS! Recalling Vs. 2, “LORD, you are my Lord. I have no good apart from you.” We now come to the part of the Psalm that shapes a beautiful satisfaction of the soul. Let these words sink into your soul.”
“Here, in the words of Verses 5-6, is a PLACE. That place is the LORD himself in the words of the “promised land” Using these words: my chosen portion, my cup, my lot, my lines. The marking of the place where God is AND where he isn’t. A place that God has drawn the borders… therein is my pleasant places. Therein is my beautiful inheritance. Therein is our beautiful satisfaction. (Outside of the place, there is only mounting unhappiness and unresolved grief.)”
“[The contented person] has found satisfaction. He has found rest in his soul. A contentment with God, and a satisfaction in God, that leads to rest… a rest for the soul. Godly contentment leads to a godly calm in our lives, no matter what may happen.”
“The contentment of the soul is anchored in a deep trust in God, and taking us somewhere… into a deep calm of the soul.”
“And this remains true in the night - there will be sorrow, but not only sorrow. The reassuring counsel that God gives “in the night” brings a calm rest to the soul. The reassuring instruction “in the night” of our hearts that are informed by the promises of God brings a calming security to our soul. Vs 9: My heart can be glad, my whole being can rejoice, my flesh also can live SECURE.”
“Yet, how is Vs 10 possible? Read with me Acts 2:22-32.”
“Now we find that Psalm 16 is Messianic - It has been leading us to see the Promised One of Israel - Jesus Christ!”
“Hear our Lord’s voice as He speaks the words of vs 5-6. Our Savior was given a ‘chosen portion and… cup’. In the Garden, Jesus falls to the ground… The lines of His lot were drawn (had “fallen”) for Him and His lot included a cup that was almost too much to bear - the Cross!”
“The cross of Christ and His resurrection, as revealed in Verse 10, lead to dwelling with glad hearts and living in a confident calm as described in Verse 9. Even our flesh will dwell securely knowing that death will not leave us in the pit to rot forever but will, in the twinkling of an eye, come alive forevermore!”
“Even in death - THE true nightmare in the night… my soul can be reassured! 1 Thes 4 - in death - HOPE because of vs 10 - the hope of the resurrection grants and leads us into a calm reassurance in Christ!”
“An Unshakable Calm is possible RIGHT NOW in the midst of sorrow and grief. It will see us through the night and into gladness and rejoicing. Understanding the wrath of God is satisfied at the Cross of Jesus leads to this unshakable calm of our soul.”
“Jesus will not be abandoned to hell. Jesus will not see the corruption. In Jesus, we will not be abandoned to hell! In Jesus, we will not see the corruption!”
QUOTES:
Jerry Bridges - “The contented person experiences the sufficiency of God’s provision for his needs and the sufficiency of God’s grace for his circumstances. He believes God will indeed meet all his material needs and that He will work in all his circumstances for his good. …The godly person has found what the greedy or envious or discontented person always searches for but never finds. He has found satisfaction and rest in his soul.”
Thomas Brooks, The Transcendent Excellency of a Believer’s Portion above All Earthly Portions - “A Christian knows that death shall be the funeral of all his sins, his sorrows, his afflictions, his temptations, his vexations, his oppressions, his persecutions. He knows that death shall be the resurrection of all his hopes, his joys, his delights, his comforts, his contentments.”
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Acts 13:32-39
APPLICATION:
Set the Lord always before you. DON'T GO ANYWHERE ELSE. Go to Him. Don't go to another God. All that awaits there is sorrow multiplied!
GO to the Cross of Jesus and see him there! Don't go anywhere else
- When all seems ok… set Him before you
- In the night, when all hell seems to be breaking loose… Don’t go anywhere else. Set the LORD before you!
SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Christ Our Hope In Life And Death
Glorious
Hallelujah What A Savior
O My Soul Arise
NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Psalm 45
THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:
