What’s Your Pleasure?

1 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you.
2 I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
I have nothing good besides you’.
3 As for the holy people who are in the land,
they are the noble ones.
All my delight is in them.
4 The sorrows of those who take another god
for themselves will multiply;
I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
and I will not speak their names with my lips.

5 Lord, you are my portion
and my cup of blessing;
you hold my future.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me
in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

7 I will bless the Lord who counsels me –
even at night when my thoughts trouble me.
8 I always let the Lord guide me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad
and my whole being rejoices;
my body also rests securely.
10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol;
you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.
11 You reveal the path of life to me;
in your presence is abundant joy;
at your right hand are eternal pleasures.

Psalm 16

Introduction

Well, good morning. Wonderful to be here with you all and to have the opportunity to share God’s Word together with you. Greetings from my family. My wife isn’t with me—she recently had eye surgery, so she’s still a little fuzzy, but recovering well. Greetings from Morningside Chapel, and it’s great for them to release me to come and serve you this morning.

Let’s look at Psalm 16 together. This is a psalm that the Lord has used powerfully in my life, and I want to look to Him to share it with you and see how it will minister to you in your life as well.

Let’s stand as we hear the Word of God from the ESV.

*A Miktam of David. 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.*

Lord, help us to see and understand and have our hearts and lives transformed by Your Word this morning. Thanks be to God for His holy Word. Amen. You may be seated.

Well, let’s be honest. Can we be honest? Yes. We all live for pleasure. We pursue with the greatest effort and energy the things that we enjoy, and we put off and try to avoid the things we don’t enjoy. If we have to do something that we don’t enjoy, we do it because there’s something greater that we desire—something more valuable, like keeping my income (that’s why I keep going to work), or avoiding public shame. There are things that we desire, that we value, that we consider pleasure, and that is what we pursue.

But here’s the thing: it is not the pursuit of pleasure that is the problem. You should pursue pleasure. You should live for the greatest pleasure possible. But here’s the question: **What is your pleasure?** What pleasure are you pursuing in life?

C.S. Lewis of Narnia fame gave an illustration of this. He said: imagine a small child playing with mud in the streets, in the slums. And as he makes his mud pies there, someone comes along and offers him a holiday at the sea—all expenses paid. And the little child cannot imagine such a greater pleasure. So he turns back to being satisfied with his mud pies.

Our desires for pleasure, Lewis concludes, are not too strong—they are too weak. We fool about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us. We are far too easily pleased.

Psalm 16 calls us to pursue pleasure—to pursue it more vigorously, to pursue it more intentionally—in the Lord. In the Lord, He is the highest good. He is the most delightful pleasure. He gives us and offers to us eternal joy and fullness of joy: the pleasure of knowing Him, of serving Him, of living for Him. The pleasures eternally at His right hand will drive out all lesser, all sinful pleasures, so that we will stop snacking on cheese puffs and enjoy the full course meal of His delights forever.

Do you see it in the psalm? In verse 3: *“All my delight.”* Verse 6: *“The pleasant places.”* Verse 9: He is glad; his whole being rejoices. Verse 11: *“Fullness of joy… pleasures forevermore.”* That’s what’s offered.

So, what’s your pleasure? What are you being satisfied with—or seeking your satisfaction in?

I want you to notice something. The psalm begins with David’s prayer, *“Preserve me,”* and in the end, God has preserved him. Preserved him for what? For eternal pleasure. This is our God. He preserves those who find their satisfaction in Him for eternal pleasures in Him.

David describes this. He puts this into song, into this poetry in Psalm 16, in two movements—two ways that God preserves His people, preserves those who find their satisfaction in Him:

1. He preserves us from the sorrows of idolatry.
2. He preserves us for the pleasures of His presence.

Preserved from the Sorrows of Idolatry

Notice first: **finding our satisfaction in the Lord preserves us from the sorrows of idolatry.**

Notice how this poetry works and the way David has written this. Verses 1 through 3: *“Preserve me, O God… I have no good apart from You… the saints are my delight.”* And then in verses 5 and 6, it’s very similar language, isn’t it? *“Lord, You are my chosen portion… You are my good… the lines are in pleasant places… I have a beautiful inheritance.”* All that You have given to me.

But at the center of that is verse 4. And at the center is the key idea: *“The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply.”* All our good is found in God. It cannot be found in the other gods. Delighting in their ways multiplies our sorrows.

Preserve Me from the Pull Within

When David says, *“God, preserve me,”* he’s not asking for preservation from the enemies that are around him, like in so many other psalms. Here he’s asking God to preserve him from that pull that is within him to run after other gods. *“God, preserve me from that constant tug toward lesser, even sinful, pleasures. Preserve me from the multiplication of sorrows that those temporary pleasures will end up bringing.”*

David knew what it was like, didn’t he? David knew what it was like to seek good apart from God. He knew what it was like to seek after the pleasures of other gods—pleasures of his own sinful desires. Vengeance. Bloodthirst. Lust. Bathsheba. Covering it up. Deceit. Killing—having her husband killed, ordering his men to set him up to die in battle. Oh, David knew. David knew the multiplication of sorrows from seeking pleasure and good apart from God. Seeking delight in the Lord brings this joy. It brings this contentment. It brings a refuge.

The Saints Are Our Delight

Sometimes when we feel that pull away, that pull toward that forbidden thing, we just try to discipline ourselves harder. We just try to stand firmer. You know what we should do? You know what is so helpful? To turn and say: *“Yes, that would be a passing pleasure of sin. But here in the Lord—I am not going to allow the other gods. I am not going to allow my own sinfulness, their deceit, their lies. I am going to seek my good. That’s where the pleasure is. That’s where the delight really is.”*

And we have help with that. In verse 3, he says the saints—the gathering, the community of believers—are the excellent ones, as opposed to those who run after the other gods and are wanting to pull me along. No, it’s the saints. It’s God’s people, in whom is all my delight.

Remember—some of you are old enough to remember Billy Joel. Remember the old lyrics? *“I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.”* Oh my. If that’s your choice, you’re going to be disappointed. Sorrow. All you will end up doing is cry.

You know how it goes when you start following after those other gods. You start to withdraw from God’s people. But among God’s people, you should be finding those who are delighted in, who are finding their pleasure and their good in the Lord, and encouraging you and giving you that pull in that direction.

The Lord Is My Chosen Portion

The other gods do not deliver. They cannot give what they offer. Our only true good is in the Lord. And so he says in verse 5, He is my chosen portion. You’ve got to say, *“Am I going to pull and hold this way? He’s my chosen portion. He’s my cup. He’s my inheritance.”*

*“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”* In terms of the inheritance of the land under Joshua—where Joshua used these very same terms—the lot determined the boundaries that each of the tribes would have. But you remember the Levites: they had no land inheritance. The Lord God was their inheritance. And David the king speaks as a Levite. He says the lines are in pleasant places because I’ve chosen the Lord as my inheritance. He’s the one. He’s the one that I’m satisfied with.

And whatever my lot in life—whatever your lot in life—God has given that to you, and it has fallen in pleasant places. God is not out to kill your joy by the limits, by the restrictions, by the lines that have been drawn, the boundaries that are there in your life, in the lives of His people. It is not to kill our joy. It is to preserve our joy. It is to preserve us for eternal joy.

Boundaries of integrity in your work, in your dealings with others. Boundaries of sexuality, in your marriage. Boundaries of truth, and not lying and deceiving, thinking you’ll get somewhere better. If you break the boundaries, those boundary lines actually serve to preserve us for the eternal pleasures that God has at His right hand.

Why would you look at what God has given you and say, *“Yes, God is good. Yes, what He does is good. Yes, what He’s given me is good. But you know what? Something beyond the boundaries—that just brings so much light and joy and ease and comfort and pleasure.”*

Don’t fall. God calls us to do as David did: cry out to Him. *“God, preserve me from this. God, preserve me from this. God, be my refuge from the lies of sin and what it offers.”*

Joy has to be protected. It has to be preserved. How will you find joy, pleasure, and satisfaction in the things that cannot deliver when there is ultimate, eternal joy and satisfaction in the fountain of delights, in the Lord God Himself, shared among His people, to help us preserve what He has given us?

Find your satisfaction in the Lord. That is going to preserve you from the sorrows of idolatry.

Preserved for the Pleasures of His Presence

But he goes on in verses 7 to 11, and he turns the corner. Now he is talking about finding satisfaction in the Lord to preserve us for the eternal pleasures.

Notice he turns in verse 7 through the end of the psalm to praise. *“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel.”* He is learning from the Lord’s counsel. He is focused on the Lord. *“I have set Him always before me.”* He is living his life aimed at the Lord, living his life in constant awareness of the Lord.

And it leads to the *“therefore”* in verse 9. Therefore, having life focused, centered, lived in Him, therefore I am preserved for these eternal pleasures, finding satisfaction in the Lord.

A Life Centered on the Lord

You notice how he puts it in verse 7: *“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.”* Now those aren’t two different things. It’s not just whatever—he’s not following his heart at night, right? It’s the idea that he is meditating upon the Word, the counsel of the Lord. And so that even at night, that is what is flowing from his heart as he meditates day and night on the Word of the Lord. He’s doing Psalm 1. And what’s the tone in Psalm 1? Those who delight in the law of the Lord. That’s what he’s doing. He’s expressing that here: delighting in what the Lord has instructed in His Word.

And not just His Word, but the Lord Himself: *“I have set Him always before me. He is at my right hand.”* I’m always aware of His presence with me. My life centered upon Him. Therefore, I will not be shaken. Shaken how? Shaken by the pull of the other gods. I will not be shaken off my stand in the center of God by these other offers of false pleasures.

Therefore, My Heart Is Glad

He praises the Lord. He sets his heart and mind upon the Lord. He is a life that is focused upon the Lord—a life that is day and night having the Word active, a life that is always aware of Jesus’s presence and following His ways and His word.

Verse 9: *“Therefore my heart is…”* Disappointed? Is that what it says? Did I read it wrong? Then you should shout, *“No, that’s not what it says!”* Therefore my heart is bored? No. *“Therefore my heart is glad.”* Glad, full of joy. *“My whole being rejoices.”*

How do we get this idea that a life centered in the Lord is disappointing and boring? How do we get that idea? Where do we get that idea from? You might be able to guess. You might be thinking it right now. You know where we get that idea from? The other gods.

Isn’t this what Satan did at the beginning? *“All these trees… you can’t eat of every tree here. God’s holding out on you. God’s not giving you what’s really good to make you wise.”* And Eve looks at the tree, and what? It is delightful. It is pleasing to the eyes. It looks good for food. And she eats. And Adam eats. And now we are slaves to the lies of the other gods.

No. Gladness. Your whole being rejoices. It’s a way of expressing that I can’t describe the joy. Have you ever had that kind of joy? It’s just so amazing. You’re overflowing. You feel like you’re going to burst. Peter calls it *inexplicable joy and full of glory*. And you’re not going to find it anywhere else. No matter what anyone tells you—even your own heart—you’re not going to find it anywhere else, in anyone else.

And don’t we want this? Everyone I talk to—they all want to be happy. They all want to have joy. They all want to have delight and gladness in their life. And it is only found in Him. But it is offered also to us in Him. Let go of the mud pies and seek—lay hold of—that eternal delight in Him.

Preserved Even in Death

This will secure us not just for joy now, but it will secure us even in death. That’s where he goes. Verse 10: *“You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption.”* Only if our delights are in Him—in eternity, the One who is indestructible with indestructible joy to offer forever—only then will that secure us in death.

If my joy is here, if my satisfaction is in this activity, in that person, in this sin, in this hobby—if that is where my joy and my satisfaction lie—it is never going to secure you in death. Death will multiply the sorrows because you lose all of it. Do you see it? There’s no escaping this reality. But the door is wide open to come to Him.

Sheol is not abandonment for those who are in the Lord. Corruption is not the final condition of those who are in the Lord. The Lord preserves us for eternal joy, even through death. My friends, your new cars cannot do that. Your sexual experiences will not accomplish that. The latest fashions, your power, your ambition, fame and fortune—it’s all lost, and sorrows multiply. But in the Lord, death is the entrance to greater eternal pleasures than anything you have imagined.

The Path of Life

In Him, verse 11, is the path of life. Death—but it’s the path of life. He overcomes it. He turns it around. In His presence is the fullness of joy. In His presence—beholding His glory, being with Him where He is—the fullness of joy and delight, with every tear wiped away, every sorrow and burden laid aside, sin itself removed, no more pull, only greater and greater delight forever and ever in His presence.

This is the eternal inheritance which is undefiled, which is unfading, which is reserved in heaven for you who believe in Him. And He will preserve you all the way to it. He has secured it for those who find their satisfaction in Him.

So, what is your pleasure? What is your pleasure? Maybe it’s starting to look like your pleasure needs to be a little different—a lot different—than when you walked in here this morning.

How Do We Get There?

How do we overcome that pull? How do we get a heart that finds its greatest pleasure in the Lord? You see it, but how do you get there? How do you feel it? How do you desire it? How do you maintain that desire and delight in Him until that day?

The New Testament quotes from Psalm 16. In Acts chapter 2, the Apostle Peter quotes from Psalm 16 to demonstrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul quotes from it in Acts 13 to speak about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and that power in our lives, especially in our delight and desire.

The Resurrection of Jesus

Go with me to the Acts 13 passage—maybe the lesser‑familiar one, so we can have a look at it. Acts 13, verse 32. Let’s begin there.

He says to the crowd to which he is preaching: *“And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this He has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’ And as for the fact that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ Therefore He says also in another psalm”*—Psalm 16—*“You will not let Your holy one see corruption.”*

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus—the ultimate, perfect, holy One of the Lord—went to the grave, went to death, but it could not hold Him. He broke the chains of death. He rose from the dead, and now He gives to us from His resurrected life a new life in us, a new heart in us. It is this new life through Jesus’s resurrection that changes our heart, that frees us from the sorrows of these other gods. It is His resurrection power that gives us the ability and the desire to overcome sin and its passing pleasures.

Forgiveness Through the Resurrected Christ

You notice how he goes on in verse 36 to say: *“For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption.”* So Psalm 16 wasn’t just about David. *“But He whom God raised up, Jesus, did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.”*

Through the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ—who was without corruption in every way—now forgiveness is given to you. God forgives you for following those other gods, through Jesus resurrected. God forgives you for your sinful pleasures and passions and desires. God forgives you for running after the things of this world instead of finding your only good in Him. God forgives you.

Will you receive that forgiveness? For some of you, it might be the first time ever. And you say, *“I know what it’s like. I try. I go to parties and I do all kinds of things to try and get some happiness in my life. And yet there’s so much sorrow—meaningless sorrow.”* But He will forgive you for that. If you come to this One whom He raised from the dead, He will give you a new heart. He will give you a new life, a life that is forgiven.

The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

Verse 39: *“By Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”* The condemnation of the law—we are freed from it. The law could never give us these delights and desires. It could only speak against our sin. It could never give us new hearts and new desires. But Jesus came, fulfilled the law, and rose from the dead. And this new life that He gives us includes a new heart that is replaced with greater pleasure in Christ, greater pleasures in God than in the sin and the gods of this world.

One writer called it *the expulsive power of a new affection*. You want the greater eternal pleasures. You get them through the new life and new heart the resurrected Christ gives to you—for everyone who believes in Him.

A Personal Testimony

I said at the beginning, God used this psalm powerfully in my life. He used it powerfully in just this way. I was finding my pleasure, my only sense of joy and satisfaction, in whiskey. Too much whiskey. Way too much whiskey. But God used this psalm to help me, to show me: I don’t want to trade the eternal pleasures that are at His right hand for that which is temporary and full of sorrows.

At first it was a little bit crass, I must admit, in my thinking. I was thinking, *“Well, the wine at the eternal feast—that’s going to be so much better than sixteen‑year‑old scotch.”* At first, that’s how I could start to imagine the greater pleasures. And over time, I found that the more my affections were set upon Christ and upon this new heart He’s given me, the more the desire for drunkenness was being purged from my heart, from my taste buds, from my thirst.

Someone once said, *“Never sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the immediate.”* That’s good advice. But let me give you some good news. The resurrected Christ will give you a new life with a new heart with new affections. And the more you feed those affections and have them set upon Him, the more those other pleasures—the more the pull of the other gods—will be overcome.

Conclusion

God preserves His people for eternal pleasure by preserving us and by giving us those pleasures only as we are finding our satisfaction in Him.