Studies in Psalm 16:-02 — James K. Boswell

You know, that was really very fine singing. You were doing exceptionally well. And, um, you know, um... And by the way, a young teenager was going out on her first date. Her mother thought she better give her some motherly advice.

So, she said to her daddy, he'll be coming along for a short time with his hot rod. Short rod? Hot rod. And he'll come up the garden path, he'll take you down, put you in the car. There'll be a splitting of tires and off you go.

Yes, mom. A little while afterwards, he'll put his hand up past your hand and his hand. Yes, mom. A little while afterwards, he'll say, why'd you sit so far away? Why did you come closer? You know, S .O .S.?

A slip of a sweetheart? And, um... Yes, mom. Then you'll find the car getting slower and slower. It's not running out of gas. You're going to purposely park. Yes, mom. And after you're sitting there for some time, he'll say to you, why don't you put your head here on my shoulder?

Say, darling, I rather you didn't do that on your first date. I'd be terribly upset if you did a thing like that on your first date. I would worry myself sick. All right, dear mom. So true enough, the car comes along up the garden path, down, and there's a splitting of tires and off they go.

And it isn't very long before his hand goes up past your hand and his hand. Mm, point one. A little while afterwards, he'll say, why'd you sit so far away and not feel? Why did you come closer? Mm, point two, she splits the cross.

Mm. Then, of course, there comes a lovely vantage point, a lovely outlook. He's more concerned about the inlook, not the car park. Point three, mother knows a lot about these things. She thinks to herself.

Now she's waiting for point four. Will it come? Yes, here it is. And he says to her, why, why don't you put your head here on my shoulder? Now she thinks to herself, I'd better not. Mother would worry herself stiff if I did a thing like that.

So he says, no, I would rather not do that, but why don't you put your head here on my shoulder and let your mother do the worrying? Well, now I've got to teach you a new chorus. Some of you were asking about it this morning.

The words are very simple. It matters to him about you. It matters to him about you all the day long, all the night through. He's caring for me and he's caring for you. His nurses are tender. His love's ever true.

It matters to him about you. Again, the words, and we'll listen to June. It matters to him about you. It matters to him about you all the day long, all the night through. He's caring for me and he's caring for you.

Trusting God in Psalm 16

His nurses are tender. His love's ever true. It matters to him about you. Now, you listen to it. I think you're going to like it. Sixteen. The Sixteenth Psalm. Verse number one. Now, remember, this is the psalm of the open secret.

We are meditating upon this open secret, that it might be transformed into your life and into my life, that we might be made more like unto our beloved Lord Jesus. Verse number one. Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.

O my soul, Thou said of the Lord, Thou art my Lord. Now, that's all the way we got this morning. In Thee do I put my trust, Thou art my Lord. Now, beloved brother, remember what he finished this afternoon about the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the Son that bred Him, crowned Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. These words, they mean so much to me. In Thee do I put my trust, Thou art my Lord. We've quoted a verse. Reign over me, Lord Jesus.

Reign over all within. Make me a loyal subject to Thee in everything. If He's not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. There is a cheap evangelism, a mere believism today, which is leaving a crop of mere profession without any heart's possession of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salvation and Submission to Christ's Lordship

There is no real salvation apart from submission to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. You receive Him as Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If thou shall confess to thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in the heart, shall be saved.

What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So with all that before your heart, I want to draw your attention to the expression again, O Lord, Thou art my Lord.

We were in Rome some time ago. We saw the name Garibaldi placarded all over the place. Many businessmen named Garibaldi. And we were reminded of a time when Italy was being besieged by her enemies and just about to be trodden under when a man named Garibaldi rose up.

He called all the men to him and said, I promise you sweat, I promise you blood, I promise you tears, I promise you privation, I promise you starvation and probably death. Are you willing to rally with me and go out against the common enemy?

As one man they rallied and they went out. There was a glorious victory. Garibaldi was lauded and praised as the great liberator, the great emancipator, the great savior. They said, why don't we put him upon the throne to reign as sovereign?

They were divided in their opinion about this. They wanted to own him as savior, but not as sovereign lord. Now get that. They were quite willing to own him as savior, but not as sovereign lord. They gave him the Isle of Capri, not for a honeymoon, but they gave him the Isle of Capri and he was banished to that isle.

I come across many in my work that are quite content to receive the Christ of Calvary's cross. Now the Christ of heaven's throne is a savior. They want to know that their sins are forgiven, they are the possessors of eternal life, and that they are on the way to heaven.

But they want to live their own life. They want to do their own thing. Now listen. We must own him as sovereign. They got a divided allegiance, half self and half Christ. Now that's a very good average, because usually it's just about quarter Christ and three quarters self.

Isn't that true? Now may I ask you very lovingly tonight, exactly where is Christ in your life? We had a revelation of his vision last night. We saw summing of the glory of his head this afternoon. But I want to ask you right now, have you enthroned him sovereign Lord in every compartment and department of your life?

Is he Lord over your time? Lord over your talent and your treasure? Lord over your spirit, soul and body? Is he Lord over all? For remember, if he is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all. Now that is a very striking statement, but how true it really is.

The Lord Jesus has a complete sway in every compartment and department of your life and my life. It will go to be to God's praise and for God's glory. There is a man often stands betwixt me and thy glory.

His name is self. My carnal self stands betwixt me and thy glory. O mortify him. Mortify him. Put him down, my Savior, and exalt thyself alone. How many of us go round like spiritual paupers when we get spiritual multimillionaires?

Surrendering Idols to Christ

How many go round like spiritual weaklings when we get spiritual giants? All because we are not willing to allow the Holy Spirit to enthrone him, sanctify him as Lord in every part of our lives. A British general was leading his army on from victory to victory away yonder in India.

They came against a great temple there and outside the temple door there were many of those dear, poor, benighted people and were saying, Destroy us. Destroy us, but don't touch our goddess. Don't touch our goddess.

The great general looked in through the temple door and away at the far end of the temple he saw there a great big white statue. He looked at those people, he looked at that statue and he was here to say, I would far rather be known as the destroyer of idols than the sparer of idols.

And with his men of war they marched down that long aisle and they came to that statue. He took his axe and he hit the statue. It was hollow. It was a receptacle in which those dear people had put the gems, all the money, the precious stones and all the diamonds trying to appease the God.

And whenever that man hit that statue the whole thing broke into chivalry all around him and all this wealth dropped at his feet. Beloved, had he spared the idol he would have missed the wealth. Got it?

Had he spared the idol he would have missed the wealth. Oh, beloved, this evening will you from your very heart cry, the dearest idol I have known, whatever idol be, help me, dear Lord, to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee.

Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Hold, Lord, my being in absolute sway. Fill with thy spirit so all shall see Christ only, always living in me. I know that is the desire of your heart and my heart.

Lord, as you have complete sway in every part of our lives. And I know Satan will fight this all the way. Always. He doesn't mind you being a believer. He doesn't mind you having received Christ in your heart.

God has given a prominent place in your heart that Colossians 1, verse number 18 says, that all things he might have deeply eminent. All things will be pledged first in every part of your life and my life.

Oh, isn't he worthy? Isn't he worthy? Ten thousand times ten thousand. He alone is the worthy one. Let me from my very heart pray, O precious Lord Jesus, how lovely thou art. Come and abide in, rule in my heart.

Break every fetter thy feet, let me see. Then thou shalt ever be precious to me. He must remember when Thomas had seen the nail prints in his hands and feet and seen the spirit of his side. He must prostrate at those spirited feet and cry, My Lord and my God.

Oh, I pray that the revelation we're going to have to our hearts even tonight, that we too in spirit will prostrate ourselves before Him and cry, Lord God worthy and worthy Lord, to have complete sway in my life.

I know He's worthy. Now, let's go a little further. In your Authorized Verse it says here, and I rather like it, My goodness extendeth not to thee. But, Darwin's translation and the American Revised Translation make a beautiful change.

You know what it says? I have no good beyond thee. Now, get that. In thee do I put my trust, thou art my Lord, I have no good beyond thee. Now, I want to go back over that. Now, I want all you young people under ninety-nine to get this.

Here it is. Oh, in thee do I put my trust, thou art my Lord, I have no good beyond thee. I have no one in heaven but thee, there's no one on earth I desire beside thee. Lord, thou art enough, the mind and heart fulfilled to fix my eyes so wholly on thee that with thy beauty occupied I elsewhere none may see.

So turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Now, isn't that just pleasure? Get those three points.

Should you forget everything else, don't forget them. In thee do I put my trust, thou art my Lord, I have no good beyond thee. Do you remember when the sheep came down from heaven? Those creeping things in that sheep, the Lord said to Peter, rise and eat.

What did Peter say? Not so, Lord. Now, that is a contradiction in terms. We dare not, we must not say not so, and Lord in the same breath. If He is Lord, whatever He says, I am going to bow. I am going to do it.

It is yes, Lord, whatever that may be. Oh, the wonder of His glory is true. Now, for a moment, let's slip down to verse 4 before I go back to verse 3. And verse 4 knows what it says. Their sorrows shall be multiplied at haste and after over gifts to another God.

Competing Lords and the Danger of Idolatry

Another God. Remember, Isaiah 0 said, other lords have held dominion over my soul. Other lords. Is there another Lord? Is there another Lord? The Bible says, their sorrows shall be multiplied at haste and after over gifts to exchange me for another God.

Also, meaning like this, when you put on the blackboard, is it God's popularity? Is it God's pleasure? Is it God's position? Is it God's possession? Is it God preaching? And I know the great danger of preaching for the sake of preaching.

Is it God the wife, the husband, the children, the house, my house crowd? Is it God my garden, my automobile, my motorcycle, my radio, my TV, my sweetheart, my dog? That list may be added to. It may be multiplied.

But now listen. Have I mentioned it? Have I mentioned it? Beloved, it's just that very thing you're thinking of now. It's just that very person that passes through your mind right now. Now that is the God.

That is the idol. A God is not just what the poor heathen bow down to and seek to worship. A God is anything or anyone that comes in between my heart and His sovereignty in my life day by day. Now please don't go away tonight and say, why that Jim Boswell came from London to tell me I am not to love my wife, or to love my husband, or my children, or to have a nice home, or a nice car, nor to have a TV, none at all.

The whole list I listed, and which might be added to, are quite legitimate in your life and in mine. But beloved, O beloved, they must be all subservient to Christ. He must come before the wife. He must come before the husband.

He must come before the children. He must come before the house. He must come before my job. He must come before my garden. He must be Lord. And Lord over all, in every compartment and department of my life.

How easy it is to sing hymns along this particular line. O may from my very heart cry tonight with all sincerity, Take my love, O Lord, I pause at Thy feet, as treasures tore. Take my self, and I will be ever, O may, all for Thee.

Or it may be, love so amazing, so divine, shall have my heart, my life, my all. Do I mean that? Do I really mean that? I know you do. It says here, that sorrows shall be multiplied, and offered gifts to, our mother God.

The Saints and the Excellence of God's People

Now go back to verse number three. Thank you, Bill. Verse number three, it says here, To the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. I love that, don't you? To the saints that are in the earth.

I like this thought here, the saints. Now that is the church I belong to. I belong to the church of all saints. Now you don't need to wait to be dead, three or four hundred years, before you're canonized a saint.

On believing, you are saintly. On receiving Christ, and Christ receiving you, you are a saint. A saint is a heavenly person. A saint is a holy person. A saint is a happy person. There was a boy, said to his daddy, one day, daddy, what is a saint?

Daddy tried to explain to him, but he did not get very far with the boy. One day, going through the house of MacDonald, on Cambridge campus, way back yonder in England, there's a beautiful stained glass window.

People come from all over the world to see that marvelous painting. Another boy is going through that building, one day, with his daddy. The sun was streaming right through. They said, daddy, who is that there?

And daddy said, oh, that saint, so-and-so. Oh, the boy is faced with others. Daddy, I know what a saint is now. A saint is one who lets the light shine through. Now, isn't that a good answer? Isn't that a good answer?

A saint is one who lets the light shine through. Oh, may you from your very heart say, into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus, come into day, come into day, come into my heart, Lord Jesus, that out of my life, out of my life, shine out of my life, Lord Jesus, shine out today, shine out always, shine out of my life, Lord Jesus.

And then the dream. He dreams he's going in through the pearly gate. And he saw there, at the pearly gate, a garbage can. And he said to Peter, I say, Peter, what is this garbage can for? Peter said, oh, that's for all the labels.

All the labels are dropped in that garbage can. Got it? So, if you haven't remembered, it is Methodist, or Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, or Brennan with a capital B. They're all dropped in that garbage can.

Oh, and they said, our saved by grace are going to go in through those pearly gates. And it's to all the saints in Christ Jesus, all the saints that are on the earth. Isn't that just lovely? But then it says, to the excellent.

I love this expression. Not only are we the saints, but we are the excellent. There's nobody like us. My, we like to think that at times, don't we? But it's true there's nobody like us. We are the salt of the earth.

We're the light of the world. We're the artist of this year of heaven walking up and down the street of Chattanooga, right here on the top of Lugat Mountain. We are the saints. We are the excellent. We excel all others.

There's nobody like you. I want you to get that. And furthermore, it says in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, a peculiar people. If I were that, all right.

A peculiar. But the word peculiar here does mean odd, not a square. It does mean that at all. The word, my friend, peculiar here means, it's got a double barrel meaning, a people beyond the ordinary and a people for his own possession.

Now that's just what we are. Aren't you glad about that? We are a people beyond the ordinary and we are a people for his own possession. We are truly a peculiar, excellent people. And there's nobody like us.

Do you believe that? As I look around you, you seem all so happy. Some seem a wee bit doozy. But the majority of you look really happy. You look and think, you're in the joy of what I'm talking about.

In the joy of what? We are the excellent of the earth. There's nobody like us. We are the aristocracy of heaven. We are the princes and the princesses or the king of kings and lord of lords. Now isn't that just wonderful?

Think of the dignity, the great honor that belongs to you and belongs to me as a child of God. All that truth could only dawn in upon us where none need to run away back into the world for a little bit of entertainment, a little bit of enjoyment.

Oh, we'll look up to our very heart and say, now none but Christ can satisfy none other name for me. There's love, there's life, there's lasting joy. Lord Jesus, I found in thee. None can satisfy but the Lord Jesus.

Jesus can satisfy the heart. Gladness and peace he does impart. Each passing day, all through life's ways, Jesus can satisfy the heart. Aren't you glad about that? Aren't you glad you're a child of God?

The Christian's Extraordinary Birth and Citizenship

Aren't you glad you're an extraordinary person? You are. May I help you? We are beyond the ordinary in our birth. We are born not of blood. It is not hereditary. Nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man.

We are born of God. Then for the more, we're beyond the ordinary in our relationship. We are now the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3 verse 26, Now are ye the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Then we're beyond the ordinary in our citizenship. For our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're beyond the ordinary in our companionship.

Because our companionship is with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and with all who out of a pure heart call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are truly an extraordinary people. We are a...

And please, oh please, don't lower that standard. Don't bring it down to the flag of the ordinary people. You're beyond all that. You're known, my friend, by your speech. And don't get the slang, not the jargon, of the worldly.

Remember you're a child of God and you've got the very language of heaven. It's wonderful to recognize that tonight. It means a lot. Then a people for his own possession, his own special treasure, known it says thus there, in whom I find all my delight.

Delighting in God and Belonging to Him

I love that, don't you? The excellent, the saints, in whom I find all my delight. No wonder John Nelson Darby, that great theologian, could write in the file of his Bible these words. Thou should find delight in me, and be the God thou art.

It's darkness to my intellect, but it's sunshine in my heart. Isn't that wonderful? May I repeat it? Thou should find delight in me, and be the God thou art. It's darkness to my intellect, but it's sunshine in his heart.

The Father found all his delight in his Son, but the sons of light were the sons of men. We bow before him, we worship and we adore him only. He's a wonderful Lord. But why are we all this to him? Why are we so precious to him?

I'd be able to do him today a perfect illustration here. When Peter, our son, who's teaching now at Carleton University in Ottawa, when he was just a little boy, he's got a son at the age I'm thinking of now, son of his own.

A grandson to be a grandfather. Amen. But may I help you here? Peter, I had been away in the Vandalistic Crusade. We were back in England at the time. And I was going through my garden gate. Peter was next door with the Baptist minister's wife and her Lord.

She was entertaining him in some particular way. And when she saw me going through my garden gate, said to Peter, Look, Peter. She was walking up your garden path. When little fellow saw me, he got through the fence, came running down the path.

I dropped my kiss and just waited for him. He came, threw his little arms around my legs, looked up and said, My own dada! My own dada! These words, my own, have never left me. They've never left me. My own dada.

Beloved, the Lord looks right into your heart tonight as if you're my very own. You're my own special treasure. You're the darling of my heart. You're my own by creation. My own by sovereign life. My own by eternal purpose.

And you're my own by precious blood. My own special. That's what you are, dear children of God. Oh, remember, you're not your own. You've been bought for the price. Therefore glorify God in your body.

And in yours let quench your God. Oh, look up to none and say from your heart, with all sincerity, Oh, Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to thee. For thou in thine atonement didst give thyself to me.

I own no other master. My heart shall be thy throne. My life I gave henceforth to thee. Oh, Christ, isn't he worthy? Yes, ten thousand times ten thousand. He alone is the worthy one. An illustration. I am going to close right here, and I go on from here on our next thought.

Giving the Holy Spirit the Right of Way

May I want to get this tonight? In thee do I put my trust. Now, my Lord, I've no good beyond thee. And here the thing, the excellent in whom is all my delight, and our hearts respond with all sincerity.

All of you. But are you just given a part of your life, not all of your life? Dear boy, eighteen months old, his father died. His father was a schoolmaster back in Britain. He and his mother were left alone in the world.

The mother worked very hard to give this boy the best education possible. He graduated from high school from varsity with honors in every subject. He married into a high school circle, a social status far beyond his own, and he despised his old mother.

He told this young lady who became his wife that he had been brought up by a faithful nurse called Faithful Mary, all the time referring to his mother. And as they were married, he became one of Britain's leading surgeons, a brilliant doctor.

And in that lovely palatial home, standing back in his own plantation, he said to his wife, Darling, I would like Faithful Mary to come and stay with us here in her home. I feel indebted to her in some particular way.

Me, the young girl, was just so happy. Well, to have the nurse come would have brought her husband up. Another story she would have to tell her of the early boyhood of her husband. She was all anxious to hear those stories.

She agreed. He wrote to his mother and told her that they would like her to come and live with them in their home, but she would not be known as mother, but just as Faithful Mary. And I got that letter and I just tore it up and put it in the waste paper basket.

But you know what a mother's love is, don't you? A mother goes through any probation, suffers any injustice, goes through any hardship to be near the object of her heart's affection, providing it's a boy.

And I suppose the point is that she wrote back to his office and told him she would be happy to come, even in such circumstances, just be known as Faithful Mary. She only wanted to be near him. They went for her in the lovely car, driving along the English highways, off the main highway, up a lovely drive, to that wonderful home.

The butler met them at the door, received them in the reception hall, in the drawing room, and at times in the dining room, and at a very sumptuous meal upstairs in the attic. The attic is spotlessly clean, glitterless waters of driven snow.

But it's the attic. A cloud overshadowed her home sometime afterward, and happiness entered into it, and they couldn't understand why. Until one day, the young wife would endear herself to the heart of Faithful Mary as Faithful Mary had to the young girl.

She couldn't have a talk with Faithful Mary. And as she drew near the attic door, she overheard her husband address his mother as mother. She threw herself down and began to cry. He arrived and said, What's the matter, dear?

She said, Harold, why did you deceive me? Why didn't you tell me she was your mother? Had I known? I was in the bedroom in my home. He confessed his sin to her. And together, they went away across the attic room.

The young girl, the flash of youth upon her face, went up and kissed the old lady and addressed her as mother for the very first time. The mother was brought up, given the right of way in the home. The clouds were moved.

Heavens were restored. Why? Because the mother had got the right of way in the home. Beloved, O Beloved, in the quiet moment of this evening hour, we have someone indwelling us tonight who is more sensitive than a mother.

That one is the Holy Spirit. Now, let me ask you lovingly, which part of your life are you giving Him? Is it the attic? Oh, you've given Him a place, right enough. He's in, because you're a Christian.

You can't be a Christian without having received the Spirit of Christ. He's in. But does He fill you? Does He control you? Does He dominate every part of your life? Is He Lord over all? Oh, you're from your very heart praying, have Thine own way, Lord.

Crowning Christ as Lord of All

Have Thine own way. Hold, O my being, absolute sway filled with Thy Spirit. Amen? To also see Christ's only living. During the day of the coronation of our beautiful young queen. You don't mind me saying that, do you?

But I happened to be in Birmingham, or rather in Detroit. I asked if I may have one of my friend's radios into my bedroom. I wanted to listen to the coronation service. Six o 'clock in the morning I switched it on.

And I heard an Oxford tone, cultured, voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury repeating John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Whosoever believeth on Him should not perish in that everlasting life.

In my mind I was transported from Detroit to London, England. I saw the royal coach coming up from Buckingham Palace. I saw it going along the mall. In my mind I could see all those thousand upon thousand people lining the mall.

I could see all the glitter, all the glamour, all the pantry, all the fanfare. I could hear all the blowing of the trumpets, all the yelling, all the people. And I saw the royal coach going round Metropolitan Square passing James right on to Westminster Abbey.

In my mind I, I was that royal regal figure leaving the royal coach, going in through the doors of that great historical building which is back to capacity with celebrities and dignitaries from all over the world.

And as that slim figure begins to walk down the aisle, long, cold, wide aisle, it is because I walked down there a few weeks ago. I was absolutely focused upon that young girl. But a moment came I'll never forget.

When again the voice of the Archbishop was heard saying as he addressed the pier, Gentlemen, I present to you Her Royal Highness Elizabeth. Are you now ready to pay her homage? And with one heart and with one voice it cried, We are now ready.

Crown the Queen. The pier rolled on a shimmery down my face. I was transported to heaven to another still future. And all the redeemed of all ages will be gathered round the Lamb and beyond the glory to bear the mark of Calvary's Passion.

And with one heart and with one voice it shall cry, Bring forth the Royal Diadem and crown Him Lord of all, worthy O Lamb of God, of love. Let every knee tonight the Holy Spirit hear. The same to you when He is saying to me, Are you now ready to crown Him?