Your Confidence, Treasure, and Counsel | Psalm 16

Good morning, Watermark. It's good to be here. If we haven't met before, my name is Jonathan Linder. I'm the Wake director. That's our ministry to middle school students. If you don't recognize me up here, that's because this is my first time being up here on this stage. Normally, you can find me on the fourth floor of the West Tower hanging out with many of your students. It is a gift to be here with you guys this morning.

Just to share with you really quickly a little bit about me… I grew up not far from here. I went to Dallas Baptist University for college. Go Patriots. After that I did the Watermark Institute program, and about three years ago, I came onto the Wake team and have been working here ever since. I have a picture of my family here as well. This is my wife Linen and our daughter Lucy. You can recognize her running around everywhere in those pink glasses. We have another one on the way coming at the end of March. So, what a sweet gift.

We're going to continue on in our series on the life of David. We've been looking at the narrative of David through 1 and 2 Samuel. This morning, we're actually going to look at a psalm David wrote. The connection between 1 and 2 Samuel and the Psalms is a unique one. At the same time you get the narrative of David's life, you also get a picture and a window into his heart and into his journals.

Really quickly, for some context on the book of Psalms… David is the author of about half of the book of Psalms. They show us his heart as he's running for his life, leading the kingdom of Israel, and really connecting with the Lord in honest and meaningful ways. We also get to see that David was a poet, a songwriter, and a man after God's own heart.

Before we jump into our psalm this morning, I want to share with you guys a quick story. About two years ago, my wife and I lived in an apartment complex in North Dallas. We loved it. It was great. Most nights… Our daughter at the time was 2 months old. I would take her and grab her and carry her up three flights of stairs into our apartment. It was awesome. We loved it.

One night, I went to sleep, and I woke up in the middle of the night at 3:00 a.m. not to my daughter crying, which happened normally back then, but I woke up to this noise right here: Knock! Knock! Knock! This person was banging at my door. So, I threw off the covers. I walked over to the door. I looked out the peephole. I'm like, "What is going on? Who could possibly be knocking on my door at 3:00 a.m. in the middle of the night?"

I look out the peephole, and there's a man standing there in all black with a ski mask on. I'm like, "Okay. This is it. Here's my time, Lord. We're ready. I know my salvation is secure in you. I don't know what this guy wants, but he's probably here to kill me or rob me. I don't know." I kind of step back. My heart starts racing. I look in the peephole again, and I can see that he's on his phone. He's calling someone. It's on speaker, so I can hear through the door. I'm like, "This dude is calling somebody. Who could he possibly be calling right now?"

So, I take a few steps back, and I take a step into my room. I look, and my phone is sitting on my nightstand. He's calling me. I walk over. "Unknown number." I'm like, "All right. Again, this is it, Lord. I'm ready. You can take me, and that's okay. I know where I'm going." So I answer the phone. I catch my breath. My heart is pounding out of my chest. I'm like, "I don't know what's about to happen."

I answer the phone, and I say, "Hello?" After a long pause, the man goes, "Hello. My name is David with apartment security, and I'm actually here to return your wallet and your Bible. I found them out in the parking lot, and I'm here to give them back to you." I was like, "What is going on?" In that moment, it connected with me that the night before, I had gone to get Lucy out of the car, and as I got her out of the car, I had set my wallet and my Bible on top of my car and left them there.

So, this guy, I guess, was doing his patrols and found them. I believed him, so I walked over to the door. I was like, "Okay." Again, I'm still kind of like, "I don't know." I open the door, and I can see in very small letters on his black shirt "Apartment security." I'm like, "Dude, that needs to be way bigger. All right?" He handed me my wallet and my Bible, and I went back, closed the door, and didn't sleep the entire rest of the night.

You might be wondering, "Why was he wearing a ski mask?" I don't know. I didn't ask him. It was the middle of December. It was below freezing. I guess, again, he was doing these nightly patrols, but I thought that was the end of it for me and my family, if I'm honest. I tell you that story… Obviously, it's maybe a little more silly than it is serious, but I really did feel anxious, troubled, and full of fear and insecurities that night, but ultimately, someone just had my Bible and my wallet.

I tell you that story because I think there are many of us in the room today who are currently facing a "This is it" moment. I don't know what it is for you, but maybe you're going through a situation where you think currently, "I will not recover from this," whether it's sickness, loss of a job, or a hard transition. Maybe the kids are disobeying you more often and not listening well. Maybe you're disappointing someone or have a hard relationship with a coworker or a family member, singleness, broken relationships, or seasons of heavy conflict with your spouse.

I don't know what it is for you, but we all face many "This is it" moments. I think there are a lot of things and troubles in this world that can often make us feel discouraged, troubled, and easily shaken. So, the question I want to ask you this morning is…Where are you turning? Where do you go to find your security in those moments?

This morning, we're going to see where David turned in the midst of a "This is it" moment, a man who was faced with many of those types of moments. Even for parents in the room, I just want to stop. As someone who gets to hang out with many of your kids on a weekly basis, one of the best things you can do is to show your kids what it is like to be rooted and grounded in Christ in the midst of some of the hardest situations and seasons that you walk through. That is a gift you can give your children.

So, today we're going to look at Psalm 16. If you have a Bible, you can turn with me to Psalm 16. We are going to answer the question…How do we find lasting security in times of trouble and distress? The way we're going to answer that question is by asking three questions of ourselves, three questions of our own lives. Those three questions are…Where is your confidence, what is your treasure, and who is your counsel?

I hope when we finish our time today, you would see that when you place your confidence, treasure, and counsel in the Lord, you can have lasting security forever. So, if you have a Bible, we're going to read Psalm 16. I'm going to read it once through, and then we're going to break it down verse by verse. Psalm 16, starting in verse 1:

"Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.' As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 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. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

1. Where is your confidence? That's the question you are going to ask of yourself this morning. Where is your confidence? Where am I getting that from? In these first two verses, we see David says, "Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'" In your version, it might say protect. It might say keep me safe. David is asking for protection from something. This sets the tone for the entire rest of the psalm, because we see that David is in a moment where he needs preservation or protection from something.

We don't know exactly what David is asking for protection from here, but we do know David faced the entire Philistine army and took on Goliath, that he ran from the king of Israel, who was also his father-in-law, for 13 to 15 years. We saw that he went into many battles leading the Israelite army, that his son tried to kill him and take the throne. There's no shortage of moments where David would probably stand and go, "Lord, I need protection from you and you alone."

What immediately stands out to me here is that David, in this time of trouble, starts off by focusing on God's character. David focuses on how the Lord is his confidence. He says, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you." Can you say that this morning? I don't know about you, but for me, when I'm in hard circumstances or situations, my prayers can often be about God fixing the problem in front of me.

Regardless of the situation, I think I'm more prone to pray when I have a problem. So, my prayers can often be fixated on God fixing my circumstances. You might hear that, and you might wonder, "Well, should I even ask the Lord to change my circumstances? Is that a wrong question or prayer to pray to the Lord?" I would tell you I'm not advocating for you to change your prayers or to never ask the Lord to fix a problem in your life.

I love this quote from C.S. Lewis. He says, "We must lay before him what is in us, not what ought to be in us." We should give to the Lord what is most burdening our hearts, but here's my point, and I think this is what David is modeling for us here. David had such a deep trust and relationship with God that as his faith grew… As our faith grows, the content of our prayers also changes. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

When we grow in our faith, our confidence and our hope grow, and it changes the way we see trials, discouragements, or hard situations. But the question is…Where does your confidence come from in those moments? When life gets difficult, many of us tend to look for our confidence in comfort and in control. Here's the reality, guys: we're promised neither of those things in our lives. This is the choice we are faced with.

Where will we find our security when our circumstances just don't seem to match up with our beliefs? I've heard our lead pastor Blake Holmes say many times that convictions are things that hold you; they are not things you hold. What he means by that is that in the hardest and darkest moments in our lives, convictions and the things we believe about God are the things that hold us in our darkest seasons.

We see this time and time again in the life of David, as John and TA have walked us through this series. One example that came to my mind as I was preparing for this was 1 Samuel 19. We have David and Saul, and David is playing this harp, this lyre, for Saul. Saul has a spear in his hand, and Saul seeks to kill David in this moment. It says this in 1 Samuel 19, starting in verse 9:

"Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, 'If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.'"

From this moment, David goes on to write Psalm 59. This is the sweet connection we get between 1 and 2 Samuel and the Psalms. We see in Psalm 59, David writes this: "Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men. For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me."

Look at how David ends this psalm. Notice the confidence. There are people sitting outside of his house, waiting to kill him, but he says, "Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill." He says, "I can hear them. I can hear them outside of my house. They're just waiting to kill me."

He says in verse 16, "But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love."

How could David say that as there were men sitting outside of his house, waiting to kill him? Because God had proved himself to be faithful in David's life, and he always trusted God's plan and his pace. His confidence was in the Lord, not in his circumstances. David says, "Even though nothing looks secure, even though I don't know if I will lose my life tonight, I will walk forward not by sight, not by feeling, but by trust."

Even to be vulnerable with you guys… This week, as I've prepared this message, that's a question I've had to ask of myself. Where is my confidence? I would tell you, personally, that anxiety is something I've struggled with for the past few years. I can get worried about the words I'm communicating or how I'm being perceived by others or different moments or circumstances where it can start to come up in me, and it can start to really be…

My heart can race. It can feel hard to breathe. I don't know about you, but I face this anxiety where, internally, I do not feel good. Honestly, I hate it. Oftentimes, it comes up in moments when I want to do something solely for the Lord. I want to give him a message or I want to be so involved, and I wish my heart and my body could be so focused on making his name proclaimed, but they just want to focus on me. I can't separate my mind from this anxiety, and my head can just spin.

So, oftentimes with my anxiety I'm faced with a choice. I can let it take control of my heart and my body, and it can win, or I can choose to surrender it to the Lord, surrender to him these thoughts and emotions, and rest on my convictions. I tell you, time and time again, I've had to turn to 2 Corinthians 12, as Paul is talking about the thorn in his flesh. I wrestle time and time again with, "Lord, why is this the thorn you've given me to struggle with? I wish I had a different one."

But it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." When I am at my weakest, God is at his strongest. His grace is sufficient for me, and that's something I've had to wrestle with this week. I've heard a pastor say that you don't realize God is all you need until he is all you have.

I've also had the privilege of getting to see this become true in the lives of students. About two and a half years ago at DTown, I gave a talk on identity. The whole purpose and point of the talk was that there are things in our lives we can seek to put our identity in or labels we want to stamp on ourselves and go, "This is what I want to be defined by." Middle school is oftentimes where kids ask the question, "What makes me stand out right now? What gives me value right now?"

The main point of the talk was, again, these labels we put our worth and value in, and they ultimately cannot hold us. They cannot give us value and lasting worth. After the talk, we sat down with a group of sixth grade boys. I sat down and asked that question in the room. I said, "What are some of the things that you have been seeing yourself put your identity in lately? What are some of the things you've been finding your identity in lately?"

One boy raised his hand in the back of the room, so I called on him, and he said, "I can often try really, really hard to be the funny guy because I think that if I'm not, then people won't want to hang out with me." Then all around the room, boys just started sharing, as vulnerability bred vulnerability. People would go, "Man, sports. That's the thing I put my worth and my identity and my value in." People would go, "Man, clothes, what I wear, how other people perceive me, the friends I have."

This was a sixth grader who was willing to share this deep insecurity as he realized in that moment, "I can't put my confidence in being this person because I think that's going to lead to me being accepted. I have to put my confidence in God alone." So we stopped, and I just thanked that boy. I said, "Thank you for sharing that." We got to see a group of students not only rally around him but also be willing to share their deepest insecurities. They got to find confidence in something greater, in a loving God who cares for them despite the jokes they make or the friends they have or the sports they play.

David says, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you." This is a wrestle that you and I are faced with every single day. Do we genuinely believe that? Are we willing to step out despite our comfort and control and trust in God? When we face seasons or times of trouble or distress, we must ask ourselves where our confidence is.

1. What is your treasure? Our hearts show us what we trust in. There's a deep connection between trust and treasure. They really do reveal one another. We're going to see this more in these next few verses. We're about to see what David truly treasures here. In verse 3, he says, "As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight." So, we have this group of people. These are the people David delights in…the saints, those who follow the Lord and love him deeply. David says, "These people are a sweet gift to me." He says this in verse 4:

"The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."

Here is really where the contrast comes. In verse 4, we have those who run after the treasures of this world, but in verses 5 and 6, David says, "I choose to find my treasure in the Lord. The Lord is my chosen portion, cup, lot, lines, and inheritance." David says, "You are all of these things to me. You are my greatest treasure." But we go back in verse 4 when he says, "The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply…"

Here's that contrast between the two. There are people who don't make the Lord their treasure, and they find hope in the world. I don't know about where you can often run to in those times and deepest moments when you're looking for your treasure in something, but I'll just go ahead and share mine first.

You might have heard sermon points before of things like, "You can see your heart through your habits" or "Your beliefs determine your behavior" or "To gaze at the Lord and not just glance at him." There's no shortage of alliterations when it comes to preaching, but I have a new one for you this morning. I want to share with you one that I came up with this week. I believe you can see your gods through your Google ads. All right. Maybe don't take that completely as gospel truth, but I do believe that Google knows me.

For me, I'll just admit it. I'm a golf guy. I love to play golf. I don't know if anybody else does. But Google knows me. I'll be on the phone with my friend. I'll be like, "Dude, can you believe that TaylorMade released the Stealth 2? It has carbon in the face again. I saw a video of Tiger hitting it on the range. They say you're going to hit the ball 30 yards farther. I can't believe it. This thing is so, so cool. Yeah, no. I definitely don't have enough fun money for it. I won't be getting it any time soon." I hang up the phone.

Then 30 seconds to a minute later, I'll be scrolling on Instagram, and what's there? The Stealth 2 driver from TaylorMade. It's on sale right now. I don't know if anybody knew. It's at Dick's Sporting Goods. It's like, "You will hit the ball 30 yards farther," and I'm like, "I need it. I just need it." I tell you guys that because, lately, the god, or the place I run to to find security or treasure apart from the Lord, has been a hobby. It has been golf.

It's honestly a way that I find enjoyment, obviously, getting away and getting time with others, but I found myself looking for joy and rest in this activity. I found myself in these conflicts with Linen, my wife. We'd be having these arguments about "Man, can I just get some time away right now? Can I just go play?" She's at home caring for a 2-year-old, and we also have one on the way. So it's like, "I've got morning sickness. No, that doesn't bless me." I'm like, "But please!"

I really did find myself in these conflicts where I realized I made golf an idol. I had been like, "This is the thing I need to do in order to find rest or joy this weekend," and I was discouraged if I didn't get to do it. Golf wasn't the problem. What I really was craving was a distraction. I was really craving fun and rest in something other than God. I got to see verse 4 become true in my heart. When I made it a god, I found that it came at the cost of my marriage, my leadership, and my relationship with the Lord. My sorrows multiplied.

I have up here with me… This is a shape sorter. Maybe some of you have seen this before. My 2-year-old daughter Lucy loves playing with this. If you've ever played with a shape sorter, it's pretty simple. You take a shape, and you slide it in the right hole, and it's really fun. For a 2-year-old, it's pretty challenging. I don't know about your kids, if you have any, but Lucy will take a shape, and she'll just start banging it on the side of every single hole and just kind of work at it, and she won't be able to get it.

There's this giant hole here at the top, and she'll eventually get tired and put it back in the hole on the top, and then she'll clap for herself. I'm like, "Yes, Lucy. You did such a good job." So we encourage her. As silly as this illustration is, I think we, similarly, can do this often with treasures in this world. We can take things the world offers and go, "Man, this is what's going to give me life. If I can just find my joy in this right now, and if I can just work at it enough and get it inside of my heart, this will be the thing that satisfies my deepest longings and desires."

I'm reminded… In Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, Solomon writes and says, "God has placed eternity inside the heart of man." Our hearts have a God-shaped hole inside of them. We take treasures and things of this world, and we go, "This is going to fit," but God has created us and wired us in a way that he is the only thing that will bring lasting joy and satisfaction to our hearts.

I don't know about you, whether it's money. If only you had a little bit more. Hobbies, possessions… "Man, if I just had this house, this car, then I'd be joyful." Jobs, success… "I figured I'd be at this point or stage in my career, and if I'm not… If I just were to get this promotion, then I would be happy." Approval of man, control, security… Again, I don't know what it is for you, but we take treasures, often, and try to fill our hearts with them, thinking, "This is what's going to bring me lasting security," and they don't fit.

Whatever the thing is for you, I believe this statement is true: if you find purpose or value in something other than Christ, then your joy will be determined by how much you have of it or how well you perform at it. The world can't give you something that only God offers. Only God can fill that hole in our hearts. In moments when our worth or treasures are pressed in on, we can run to things. We can run to other treasures of this world.

But what does David say? He says here in verse 5, "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance." The thing I notice here is David thanks God for his portion, cup, lot, lines, and inheritance. When was the last time you thanked God for your portion, cup, lot, lines, and inheritance? It has probably been a minute. I know, for me, I don't often thank the Lord for those things.

Here's really what David is thanking the Lord for. The cup is a common figure of speech for someone's lot in life. God had proved himself to be David's lot, that he was good and fulfilling, so David was choosing the good portion here. He says, "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places…" He's talking about boundary lines, an inheritance of land.

David is comparing God's blessing to the best inheritance he could ever receive, the greatest treasure anyone could ever ask for. This is a guy who came from nothing. He was a shepherd in the field. He went to being king of Israel, and then had that stripped away from him. David, through his highs and his lows, found God to be his deepest and greatest treasure.

So, we look back at verse 5, and David says, "The Lord is my chosen portion, cup, and inheritance." You see this contrast between choosing the things this world offers us versus choosing what the Lord gives us in lasting joy and lasting satisfaction in him when we make him our greatest treasure. So, when we are faced with seasons or times of trouble and distress, we must ask ourselves what our treasure is.

1. Who is your counsel? Let me show you specifically where I get that. Verse 7 says, "I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken." What I love here is the picture of an active participation between David and God. There's a picture of abiding between one another. David says, "In the night my heart instructs me."

Think about that. All night long, as I'm sleeping, God is there with me. In the day, he instructs and is with me. There's an active participation. It's not a one-time prayer or a momentary deliverance, but the Lord is always before me. Kyle read it as we were taking Communion…John 15:5. "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." This is the picture we see here.

I'm reminded of a time when I visited a small group my first year being on the Wake team. I visited this small group of eighth grade guys. That night, we were talking about prayer. The leader asked the question, "Hey, what do y'all's prayers typically look like?" That's what he asked the boys sitting around the room. They went around and started sharing, and one boy, specifically, raised his hand. They called on him, and he said, "Typically, I'll sit down, and oftentimes, I'll just start by asking God how his day was."

I remember being like, "Really?" I kind of chuckled a little bit. I was like, "Wow." I didn't actually laugh, let's be clear, but internally I did. I was like, "Really?" But then I thought about that for a second, and I was like, "Wow! That's actually really deep." This boy was expecting a response from God. He wasn't just bringing all of his problems and things he was wrestling with in these moments with the Lord. He expected a response. He was like, "Lord, I care about you."

He's giving us a clear picture of what David is showing here. There's an active participation. There's an active relationship. He says, "I've set the Lord always before me." I think that's what this boy modeled. For us, it can look like inviting God into every aspect and every moment of our lives. That might sound exhausting, but I would tell you… Personally, I can discipline my daughter out of frustration at times. Am I stopping to ask the Lord for wisdom, patience, or guidance? "Lord, how would you have me care for her best in this moment?"

At work, I can get an email from a parent (sometimes good, sometimes bad). Am I stopping to ask, "Lord, how would you have me respond to this person?" In Community Group, someone brings up a problem or a decision to be made, and I have a lot of thoughts, but, again, am I stopping and going, "Lord, would you show me a Scripture to point this person to? Would you give me words to speak in this moment?"

The question is…Who is the loudest voice in your life? Is the Lord the loudest voice in your life? When we face seasons or times of trouble and distress, we must ask ourselves that question. Who is our counsel? God has given us his Word, his Spirit, and his people, that we might align our hearts with his counsel on a daily basis.

So, now we get to see what comes from a life marked by making the Lord your confidence, treasure, and counsel. In verse 9, David says, "Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

A Bible study method… When you see that word therefore, you can stop and ask yourself, "What's it there for?" Here, specifically, verse 9 starts off with that word therefore. David is saying, in light of verses 1-8, "Therefore, because God is my chosen confidence, my treasure, and my counsel, this is now what is true of my life and my heart."

Through this entire series, TA and John have said multiple times that we're to look through David to see a greater David, the one we should look to for the perfect example and perfect love. What I love about this psalm is that these verses here, specifically, actually point directly to Jesus. I'm not just making that up. Peter actually says this in Acts, chapter 2. This is the first sermon that is preached after Jesus has ascended into heaven. Peter says this. This is a longer chunk of Scripture, but I just want you to listen and focus on what Peter is saying about Jesus and David and the connection between the two.

"…this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption."

Peter is saying all of it points to Jesus. David was not talking about his own life; David was talking about the person of Christ. With David, this came through deliverance of death. Those verses came true through David's deliverance of death, but in Christ, they came through resurrection of death. Jesus is the perfect David, and he's ultimately the one we look to to find our confidence, our treasure, and our counsel.

I want to read to you verse 11 one more time. It's one of my favorite verses from this psalm. David 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." This entire message, we've been trying to answer that question…How do we find lasting security in times of trouble and distress? We do that by putting our confidence, our treasure, and our counsel in the Lord and the Lord alone.

But I would tell you that is not just how we find lasting security in moments of trouble and distress; that's how we find lasting security forever, because he has made a way for us to find lasting security through his Son. This past weekend, my wife and I traveled to Oklahoma City. That's where her family is from. We were hanging out with her niece. She's 7 years old. Her name is Emmy.

One night, I was sitting there with Emmy on the bed. I was reading my Bible, and she was coloring. Linen was in the other room. So, I was reading my Bible, and Emmy stopped and asked me, "Hey, what are you reading?" I was like, "Love that. Great question. This is a layup." I was like, "It's my Bible." I asked her then at that point, "Do you know what it's about?" She said, "Yeah. It's about Jesus." I was like, "Check. That's right."

I was like, "Do you know who Jesus is?" She goes, "God." I was like, "Check." I said, "What did Jesus do?" and she didn't have an answer. So I took the paper and her markers, and I started to draw out… On one side, I used this illustration that we have sin. As Watermark Kids would say, anything we think, say, or do that does not please or honor God. So we have sin. This is something we all have. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

So I drew all of us. I drew Emmy and Lucy and Linen and Cha-cha, her grandma, and all of us. None of us make it over. On the other side, we have eternity with God. That just means life forever after this one. I was like, "None of us can make it over to God because he is perfect. He's blameless. He's holy. None of us make it over to the other side. No matter how far or hard we try, none of us can make it."

I drew this cross in between the two that bridges the gap between our sin and eternity with God. I told Emmy, "Jesus died on this cross. He raised three days later so that you and I could spend eternity with him forever." I said, "The way we accept that, though, is by praying to God and asking and inviting Jesus into our hearts. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and we truly believe that in our hearts, then we get to spend forever with Jesus."

She immediately put her hands together and started praying. Then she stopped. I looked at her, and I was like, "Emmy, what did you pray?" She goes, "I believe. I believe in Jesus." She grabbed the paper out of my hand, and she ran into the other room. She goes, "Linen, I believe! I believe!" Linen took that sweet picture of her as she was sitting there, and Linen goes, "What do you believe?" Emmy goes, "I believe in Jesus, so I get to hang out with God forever."

I would tell you, guys, as sweet as that story is and how amazing it was to sit and pray with Emmy after that, to watch her make that connection in her heart, the same is true for us. God has given us a free gift. David says, "You make known to me the path of life." The path of life is in his Son. Our hearts can be so prone to go, "No. I think I know what's best. Let me hold on to all of the treasures and things this world has to offer." But there's one thing that gives us lasting security, and it is Jesus. It is making God our confidence, our treasure, and our counsel. It's the greater David. It's Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for this morning and the opportunity that we have to look at your Word, to know that you loved us so deeply you sent your only Son to die on a cross for us, to be raised three days later. I pray for anyone in this room, Lord, this morning who doesn't know the truth of your love for them, that they would know that Jesus died for their sins, their past, regardless of what it is, that he loves us deeply. Lord, I pray that we would know there is joy found in following you completely, in giving you our hearts, in making you our confidence, our treasure, and our counsel.