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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] today's scripture reading is taken from psalms chapter 16 verses 1 through 11 keep me safe my god for in you i take refuge i say to the lord you are my lord apart from you i have no good thing i say of the holy people who are in the land they are the noble ones and whom is all my delight those who run after other gods will suffer more and more i will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips lord you alone are my portion and my cup you make my lot secure
00:01:04 the boundary lines have fallen for me and pleasant places surely i have a delightful inheritance i will praise the lord who counsels me even at night my heart instructs me i keep my eyes always on the lord with him on my right hand i will not be shaken therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices my body also will rest secure because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead nor will you let your faithful one see decay you make known to me the path of life you will fill me with joy in your
00:01:47 presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand this is the word of the lord once again it's my joy and privilege to be standing here sharing with you from the word of god in spite of these circumstances the first lockdown mco 1.0 was imposed on 18 march 2020 today one year and two months later the virus doesn't seem to be going away and i'm still here having to deliver this sermon facing a camera and you're all in your respective homes nonetheless i'm much encouraged that so many of you are able to join this
00:02:29 morning's sunday service via zoom and be connected to the body of christ shall we start by waving our hands to say hello to each other come let's greet each other with a wave of our hands hello everyone glad to see you great we're going to take a break from our series on the book of matthew and for today's sermon i have entitled it how do we relate to god based on psalm 16. i felt led to use this text from psalm 16 to address this important topic of our relationship with god as an encouragement or impetus
00:03:12 to aid you in your journey of faith in the opening slide you see this famous painting by michelangelo the creation of adam which he finished in 1512 on the ceiling of a sistine chapel now since we are a conservative church i've censored a small but sensitive part of the painting if you're curious to see what's behind the circle go check it out on google but don't do it now okay i chose this on purpose as an attempt to illustrate the situation many of us are in we see god stretching his hand trying to reach out to adam
00:03:56 look at god's face and his forefinger he appears to to one very much to connect with adam but look at the man's posture his face and his his forefinger he seems to lack the enthusiasm to respond to god this is a picture of apathy and indifference what we're going to do is to draw from psalm 16 to see how we may respond to god with zeal and devotion how we may deepen our relationship with god this is a recent parody of michelangelo's art in which we see god sanitizing adam's hand we may laugh at this picture but
00:04:39 seriously we need to ask god to sanitize our hearts and to cleanse our mind of all forms of apathy and indifference so that we may relate to him intimately closely and personally like the way david walked with god shall we first commit this time to the lord in prayer our father in heaven you yearn to commune with us your children just like how an earthly father would with his children but we tend to approach you on our own terms and in a manner of our choosing and convenience forgive us we pray
00:05:21 for our often careless attitudes teach us from this psalm of david so that we may relate to you in a way that would warm your heart for we ask in jesus name amen once upon a time there was a very successful ceo who planned an important meeting for all his employees he asked his secretary to book a large conference room at a nearby hotel the time and the date of the meeting was set but even before that day came some managers emailed to say they couldn't make it one said that that day was his daughter's birthday
00:06:04 the rest gave various other reasons the ceo frowned in response but the meeting had to go on when the day came and the meeting started a number of other employees didn't show up the ceo wondered why perhaps they had more important things to do what's worse many came late for the meeting some were five minutes late some 10 minutes a few of them were even 30 minutes late the ceo was let down by such tardiness the meeting got underway with several division hits making announcements when the ceo finally delivered his
00:06:48 address he noticed some of the attendees paying full attention to his speech he was very pleased but he also spotted many in the room busy on their mobile devices while he spoke the ceo was dismayed by this lack of respect for him and that is not all as soon as he finished his address about a quarter of those in the room left abruptly through the back door but the meeting wasn't over yet and the ceo was still sitting on the stage he hadn't left the room yet and this got him a little upset at the end of the meeting he invited
00:07:26 those who remain to some coffee in the foyer so he could mingle with them so that they could mingle among themselves but only half of those chose to remain to chat with the ceo and with other employees the rest rushed back to the office when the ceo finally returned to his office he was so disappointed that he told his secretary that he might consider cancelling the bonus payment for that year this story is not a real story i made it up you may call it a modern day parable in relating this story i don't have the
00:08:04 slightest intention to offend anyone i don't mean to admonish anyone i just wish to push across a point relating to the sermon topic it's just an introduction to the sermon and that point is the way we conduct our faith our actions relating to matters of faith including coming for sunday service it says a lot about our relationship with god whether it is deep or shallow to press this point further let me relate another story to you and this one is the real incident during my my corporate days once i called one of my subordinates a
00:08:45 young salesman into my room for a discussion halfway through the conversation his mobile phone rang and to my shock he answered it he spoke for for a minute or two while i waited patiently i didn't know who was on the line with him maybe his girlfriend when he finished the call he said sorry still i made this remark wow whoever you spoke to he or she must be more important than me he said sorry again but i wasn't impressed by his lack of respect in contrast whenever i went to see my boss i would never let my phone ring
00:09:25 aloud let alone answering it i would sit up straight lean forward with a pen in one hand and a notepad and the other yes sir got it paying him full undivided attention what i mean is my boss is not god so how much more should i look up to god but this story is also a useful tip for the young working dogs in our midst who seek to advance their career as i was saying our actions pertaining to matters of faith speak volume about the depth of our relationship with god or the lack of in other words those who take god
00:10:08 seriously they act in a certain way those who take god less seriously they act in other ways the question is how should we conduct our relationship with god how did david conduct his relationship with god we seek answers to these questions from our text today to begin with before we dive into psalm 16 it is well known that david walked closely with god all his life he is described as a man after god's own heart from 1 samuel 13 14. now incidentally this statue of david was also sculptured by michelangelo which he
00:10:50 completed in 1504 and it sits today in the city of florence besides a man after god's own heart david is some sometimes referred to as the apple of god's eye from psalm 17 8. actually the hebrew word for i here is not so much about the whole eye rather is referring to the pupil of the eye the most sensitive part of the body it's like saying if you try to harm david you'll be touching god's most sensitive part and he won't stand for it how did david get to be a man after god's own heart and the apple of his eye
00:11:30 in his early years as a shepherd he forged an intimate relationship with god as he tendered the sheep he developed a close fellowship with god with the time he had later in his old age he wrote in psalm 71 since my youth god you have taught me it's fair to say that among all the characters in the old testament no one walked closer with god than david you read any psalm written by david and you will sense the depth of his intimacy with god you can feel his emotions permeating through the verses a passion founded on his deep and
00:12:08 intimate bond with god the joy he poured out when he praised god psalm 9 the anguish he felt when he cried out to god for help psalm 22 the confidence he expressed when he thought of god psalm 23 the remorse he draw himself in when he sinned against god psalm 51 don't we wish we can relate to god the way david did and so it is abundantly clear that david's close walk with god is something for us to emulate the way he related to god so intimately should be a model for us but how this is where psalm 16 is so
00:12:54 instructive it has a lot to teach us about our own relationship with god now i won't be approaching the text the usual manner looking into the background and unpacking the verses we can do that another time instead for the purpose of our discussion we shall scan the verses to pick up key points in order to piece together a comprehensive picture of david's relationship with god we shall examine the manner by which david related to god so that we can extract practical lessons for our own walk with
00:13:28 god in the first part of the sermon drawing mostly from the first half of the text we shall go through four specific aspects of david's relationship with god one david resorting to god as his refuge to david revering god as his lord three david's rejoicing in god as his treasure and lastly david relying on god as his counsel in other words to david god was his safest refuge his sovereign lord his supreme treasure and his trusted counsel another question here is what about you what or who is god to you
00:14:18 if god is none of these to you now in your current station of life then you may want to conduct an honest audit of your walk with god on how you traverse your journey of faith god should be for every believer what he wants to david and after this in the later part of the sermon we shall look at four spiritual dividends that are the outcome of a close relationship with god one satisfaction and joy two security and safety three supply and provision and lastly salvation for eternity these four points we shall draw mainly
00:14:59 from the second half of the text this and the slide before this will be the structure of the sermon at the end of the service during the benediction i shall see a special prayer for you to ask god to bestow upon you these spiritual blessings so do stay connected until the end of the service remember the story of the ceo don't leave before the service is over let's dive into the text the psalm opens with david pleading keep me safe my god for you i take refuge another translation says protect me oh god for a run to you for
00:15:41 safety it's a petition for help david starts with a heartfelt petition to god to grant him safety and protection keep me safe my god for in you i take refuge for in you i take refuge meaning because you are my refuge please don't let any harm come to me before anything else above everything else oh god i acknowledge you as my refuge on that basis because of that help me and save me that's the tone of this verse david seems to be in some kind of trouble he appears to be facing some sort of crisis the text doesn't tell us the
00:16:25 nature of his problem in any case we see him running to god for safety bearing in mind that david was the king he had many resources at his disposal he had the power and money if his issue was health related he had the best doctors if it was a threat from foreign enemies he had a strong army yet despite having all these resources his sense of safety came mostly from god because to him god was his safest refuge he told his people in psalm 20 7 some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the
00:17:05 lord our god that doesn't mean that he didn't use horses and chariots when leading the israelites into battles of course he did but they were secondary to him his primary hope was in god almighty now what does this first aspect of his relationship with god mean for us like david i think we also have plenty of resources which we readily deploy when confronted with a grave danger or when dealing with a severe storm of life we rely on our financial assets our connections and our our friends our knowledge and experience etc and we
00:17:46 employ these resources to deal with the problem at hand well and good that's what we should do that's what i would do after all these resources come from god and should be used effectively but over and above all these we should be also be like david we should be first petitioning and beseeching god for safety and protection because we believe that god is our safest refuge but do we do that now put it in another way what's our first instinct i mean first instinct when dealing with a crisis is it
00:18:23 what i can do or is it what god can do i believe it's more of the former often we run to god only when our options are running out let's take an actual example of fear of the virus in this pandemic oh my wife and i we follow the sops very strictly we wear our masks without fail whenever we go out we make sure we keep our distance from people and we want so much to be vaccinated all these offer us much protection understandably in many churches the emphasis is on must social distancing vaccination
00:19:05 and then by the way let's also pray shouldn't it be the other way keep us safe oh god for in you we take refuge and then the sops and vaccination don't get me wrong you have to wear your mask please practice social distancing and i urge you to get vaccinated asap but over and above all these not because of this keep us safe oh god for in you we take refuge some trust in astrazeneca and some in pfizer but we trust in the name of the lord our god it really boils down to how close our relationship is with god
00:19:49 do we know him well enough to know his power over the virus and his care for us it's also a question of faith not to drive this home let me share with you another story and this one another real incident about 20 years ago when our daughter melody was 5 years old we took her to disneyland in the in california the three of us had a wonderful day of fun and togetherness this is a photo from those happy times hey there was once when my hair was black okay like yours perhaps here's another tip this time for
00:20:27 the young parents in our midst enjoy your kids before they grow up before they grow wings and fly away anyway we were enjoying this ride in disneyland when suddenly a huge mechanical dinosaur jumped overhead with a thunderous sound melody was absolutely terrified and she screamed pray to god pray to god we quickly hugged and shooted her and assured her that it wasn't real till today i never i've never understood why in the face of grave danger the first instinct was to resort to god for safety nonetheless perhaps the innocent mind of
00:21:12 a young child can instruct us about god as our safest refuge which is what this first point from the text is all about for sure mosques and vaccines can provide us vital protection but god is our ultimate and safest refuge that's what god was to david that's how closely david related to god next the second point david revering god as his lord he declares in verse 2 i say to the lord you are my lord meaning you are my master i submit to your authority and your sovereignty bearing in mind again that david was the
00:22:00 king of israel yet he bowed to the king of kings he was the ruler of the land but he yielded to the lordship of god over him and his kingdom before we go on there is an interesting observation i want to make in the old testament there are generally three ways god is addressed firstly god is addressed by the hebrew word el or the plural elohim the generic word for god in the english bible is translated as g-o-d with a capital g of course in a chinese bible it would be sun or sancti for those of you who know chinese
00:22:40 so our god is addressed as yahweh which is the personal name of god in the english bible this will be translated as l-o-r-d all in caps the english equivalent of yahweh is jehovah but why doesn't the word jehovah appear in our bible well there's a long story behind it but in the chinese bible they have it as ye hua sounds like jehovah so whenever you you see the word lord all capitalized originally is yahweh god's personal name thirdly god is also addressed as adonai which means ruler or master
00:23:23 chiefly speaking is more a title than a name in english adonai is rendered as lord with only the l capitalized in the chinese bible they use the word to which means lord or master now incidentally the japanese women they refer to the husband as master do you know that they use this same character too or shoe in japanese so not too bad if you marry a japanese wife she calls you master if you have a chinese wife you call a master sorry for the digression and so forth and so we have three words in the old testament to address god
00:24:08 el yahweh or adonai the notable thing is that in the first two verses of our text david used all three words keep me safe my l for in you i take refuge i say to yahweh you are my adonai if you say this in english it doesn't come out quite right i say to the lord you're my lord sounds the same that's why in the nlt this is better translated as i said to the lord you are my master and that's exactly what david meant to him god was his master and is the second aspect of his relationship with god he himself sat on the throne as king but
00:24:53 at the same time he enthroned god on the throne of his heart what does that mean for us to relate to god as our master in a practical sense how can we say like david i say to the lord you are my master the opposite of a master is a servant in biblical times the opposite of of a master is often a slave the servant or slave submits to his master he listens to and obeys his master he serves his master is that an accurate description of how we relate to god you see it's far easier to address jesus as savior rather than acknowledging him
00:25:33 as lord or master when we say jesus our savior we think of eternal life and a passport to heaven who wouldn't want these gifts but when we declare jesus as our lord or master it involves obedience and submission these are far harder things to do and so we cherry-pick what god offers this one very nice thank you very much that one no thanks maybe later in other words we tend to approach god on our own terms at our own convenience remember the story of the ceo some employees came for the meeting and left
00:26:10 at their convenience put in another way we try to fit god into our plans and not the other way submitting ourselves to his plans and in doing so we deny ourselves a closer walk with god and an intimate relationship with him in his epistles paul often used the term lord jesus when referring to jesus he wrote he wrote in greek and the greek word for use for lord is curious which has the same meaning as the hebrew word adonai so whenever you see lord jesus in the new testament it means jesus is adonai
00:26:46 jesus is master from now whenever we say lord jesus let us realize and mean what we profess like when david declared you are my lord it is a confession of god's exalted place up there and our subservient position down here when we relate to him it's also an expression of our willingness to obey and submit to him number three in our list david rejoicing in god as his treasure he continues in verse two apart from you i've no good thing he's like saying oh god you are the best thing that has happened to me
00:27:33 whatever good things i have in my life they are nothing compared to you i enjoy a lot of good things in my life but when compared to you they are zero zilch empty you are my treasure but the rest are trash when compared to you bearing in mind again that david was the king he had the best things in life the best food the best wine and the nice bed to sleep on in the comforts of life in the palace yet he counted these things as nothing when compared to the exceeding good that came from knowing god
00:28:09 in fact one translation renders this verse as without you nothing makes sense in matthew 13 jesus illustrated this immeasurable valley of knowing god using two back to back parables in matthew 13 44 in the parable of the hidden treasure jesus explained the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field when a man found it he hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field the picture is of a man who has found something that has a value far far greater than all that he possesses
00:28:51 and immediately after this in verses 44 and 44 45 and 46 jesus told a similar parable the parable of the pearl again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls when he found one of great value he went away and so everything he had and bought it the picture again is of this person who has found that one single pearl that he treasures far far above anything that he owns and that's how verse 2 in our text is painted in in matthew 13. in god david found the treasure his treasure of unsurpassed value
00:29:33 in god david had discovered the pearl of unparalleled value which prompted him to say apart from you i have no good thing he then underscored this in verse 4 those who run after other gods will suffer more and more i will not pour out livations of blood libation here means offering to these suits to such gods or take up their names on my lips what does this verse mean now let me paraphrase so that you can appreciate what david was thinking he's like saying oh god you are everything to me you are
00:30:16 my supreme good i have no interest in all these other gods i wouldn't i wouldn't offer anything to them i won't even mention their names what can these gods do what can they offer nothing but sorrow and everything bad now of course david was referring to the various pagan gods that people worship in the ancient world people today still pray to all kinds of false gods you might say or i don't believe in any of them but you need to be careful anything in your life that you value more than god that becomes a god
00:30:51 anything that is more important to you than god your job your position your money then that thing is a god to you a father in heaven in his goodness has bestowed many good things in our lives for the first to enjoy a comfortable house to live in a nice car to drive all kinds of delicious food to eat occasional holiday trips for some fun including to disneyland and again we must be very careful that we don't value these things above god over and above these good things in life we acknowledge that god is our supreme
00:31:30 treasure in all these good things themselves we see that god is supremely good to us let us be like david who valued god and his relationship with god far above anything and everything lastly the fourth aspect of david's relationship with god david relying on god as his counsel in verse 7 he writes i will praise the lord who counsels me even at night my heart instructs me meaning i will bless yahweh because he guides me every step in my journey by day i i received his counsel and even at night his counsel continues to resonate in my
00:32:18 heart bearing in mind once again that david was the king he had plenty of advisers in his court but david looked ultimately to god to show him the way forward david on his own was not without his knowledge and experience yet he sought direction and guidance from god now i need to emphasize that this fourth aspect of god being his trusted counsel is not just the fourth aspect it is foundational it propels the other three now what do i mean i cited the psalm 71 verse 17 earlier where david said since my youth god you
00:33:00 have taught me now because of god's counsel all his life one he began to realize that god was his safest refuge two he began to submit to god as his sovereign lord and three he began to appreciate god as his supreme treasure so you see god's counsel led him into a deeper multifaceted interaction with him the obvious question here is how do i receive god's counsel the primary mode by which god counsels us is through his word i'm talking about your bible whether a physical bible or electronic it's believed that it was david who
00:33:42 penned this famous verse in psalm 119 105. thy word is the lamb unto my feet and the light and to my path paul wrote in 2nd timothy 3 16 all scripture is god breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training in righteousness that's why it's important that you read your bible every day if possible if you want god to guide you and to instruct you but reading the bible is sometimes sometimes can be a challenge there are passages that can be hard to understand and that's why it's also important you
00:34:22 attend sunday service every sunday not just for worship and be connected to the body of christ but also to listen to the sermon where the word of god is explained and expounded often that is still not enough you will need to join a live group or a gama group where they go deeper into the word of god some live groups they discuss the previous sunday's sermon other groups study selected books of the bible not for the sake of knowledge but in order that god can be their counsel and guide the deeper you go into the word of god
00:34:58 the better you are guided and led by god that's a guarantee the journey of life is often not easy like david we need god to direct our path to show us the way and to instruct us on how best to live our lives now whenever you read the bible whenever the word of god is preached on sundays whenever it is studied and taught in the life group behind all these activities is the holy spirit he is there to illumine our mind and to convict our hearts the holy spirit is also known as the counselor not without a good reason
00:35:36 so it's through this combination of his word and his spirit that god becomes our trusted counsel as he did to david it's my prayer and hope that all fbc members and worshipers become diligent students of the bible going deeper than ever into the word of god going deeper and than ever in their relationship with god for the concluding part of the sermon i want to take you through from the text four spiritual dividends that are the outcome of a closer walk with god four blessings that are the result of an
00:36:15 intimate relationship with him this was shown earlier this is the secondary theme of the sermon and so i shall touch on them briefly the four spiritual dividends from psalm 16 satisfaction enjoy the first one david was completely satisfied in god he experienced deeply the joy of the lord if you look at the entire text as a whole you will find many words like delight joy pleasure weaved into the verses so you can sense david's joy bubbling up through the to the sun he declared exuberantly in verse 9
00:36:57 my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices the joy that david experienced is not the same as as happiness joy and happiness may be synonyms in the in the dictionary but they are different happiness is the feeling triggered by something external joy on the other hand comes from a deeper place in our soul happiness is fleeting whereas joy is long-lasting i feel happy when i'm on holiday but as soon as i get home things are back to normal and my happiness is no more put it this way happiness puts a smile on your face
00:37:38 while joy puts a smile in your heart but by the face cannot cannot smile for for too long the face muscle will get a cramp but you can experience joy all your life more than being happy god wants us to be joyful throughout the entire bible the word happy or happiness is seen only about 30 times by the word joy or joyful appears about 250 times so the question is do you want this joy that comes from a close walk with god do you want to be joyful like david was the second spiritual dividend that david enjoyed
00:38:22 security and safety and this is based on our first point in the earlier part of the sermon because god was his refuge from verse one david was able to experience confidence and calm whenever the road of life got bumpy he had his share of troubles in life but in place of fear and anxiety he felt a sense of security and safety in god he knew that god would shield him in the face of danger just like how we shielded melody in a moment of fear in disneyland time and again in david's psalms he described god as his shield
00:39:00 in verse 5 uh of our text he affirms you make my lord secure he also writes in verse 8 i keep my eyes always on the lord with him at my right hand i will not be shaken when david writes i keep my eyes always on the lord it's a way of saying i'm sticking close to god and hence the next line within at my right hand i will not be shaken. conversely when you look away from god when it's not by your side the ground beneath you will shake don't be like peter in matthew 14 when he and the disciples were in the sea of
00:39:40 galilee he stepped out of the boat but instead of focusing on jesus he was too preoccupied with a strong wind around him and he started to sing sometimes we hear the phrase that sinking feeling it's associated with fear the further we are from god the greater the fear the nearer we are to god the fear subsides in matthew 8 there is another incident when jesus was with his disciples in a boat in the sea of galilee when they were caught in the furious storm the disciples were overcome with fear when they actually had nothing to fear
00:40:22 jesus rebuked them you of little faith why are you so afraid if our life were a ship or a boat may we find safety in god's harbor when the sea out there is raging with high waves and strong wind even if your boat is caught in an angry sea just as the sunday school song goes with christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm again again the question is do you want this security and safety that comes from knowing god intimately spiritual dividend number three from our list supply and provision david writes in verse 5
00:41:07 lord you alone are my portion and my cup now this needs explanation what does david mean my portion and my cup many translations have the first part as the portion of my inheritance with allusions to to the to into the inheritance of land and this is supported by by verse 6 where we see again the word inheritance the word cup here is harder to understand the metaphor of cup in the bible can carry various meanings from god's wrongs to suffering and afflictions but here from the context it means the
00:41:43 cup of blessings in fact some translations render this as my cup of blessing and hence in full this verse should be trans to be read as you alone the portion of my inheritance and my cup of blessing from from this angle what david is really talking about is is his physical well-being that god will supply his needs one translation even translated the word cup here as food and drink david is like saying my god is so good to me that he makes sure my needs are met and here we need to be careful because if carried too far it can become
00:42:28 prosperity gospel dr peter mentioned last sunday that our approach to god should be relational not transactional prosperity gospel is transactional paul writes in the philippians 4 19 my god will supply every need of yours that's what god does he supplies what we need for the sustenance of life he meets our needs not necessarily our wants what's the difference between a need and a want simple need is food want is fine dining god will meet our needs even with a simple meal in a coffee shop unlikely in a fancy restaurant
00:43:18 ain't nothing against you if you want to eat in an expensive restaurant just don't forget to invite me this third dividend is in the context of of gods of our heavenly father's care for us and jesus further explained in matthew 6 look at the birds of the air they do not sow nor reap and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not much more valuable than them coming to the last spiritual dividend from our text salvation for eternity towards the end of islam david writes in the in verse 10 you will not
00:44:00 abandon me to the realm of the dead nor will you let your faithful one see decay he is talking about what would happen to him after he leaves this world he's talking about eternal life well the second dividend is about his preservation during his earthly life he is now he now writes about his preservation after his death the realm of the dead here comes from the hebrew word sheol in the new testament the greek word for this is hades it's the place the departed go to await the day of resurrection
00:44:37 david was certain that god would not abandon him in sheol and after he died he would be given life again and would be eternally in god's presence at his right hand and this we see in the last verse you make known to me the path of life you fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand it was his blessed hope it's also our blessed hope david harbored this supreme confidence that god would grant him an eternal future of joy and pleasure and once again this confidence stemmed
00:45:19 from his close relationship with god now here a troubling question may be brewing in your mind that is if i hadn't if i haven't been walking closely with god if my relationship with god has been rather shallow will god still grant me the future described in this verse in other words am i still safe if i've kept god at a distance now this is the common question of one saved always saved it's not a question we can answer in one breath but nonetheless i've addressed this in one of my sermons in the past so let me
00:45:55 put it this way for christians who take their salvation for granted those who don't take god seriously the bible contains plenty of warning verses but for those who harbor doubts about their salvation those who are not sure even though they have received jesus as their savior and lord the bible at the same time offers many verses of assurance when the day come jesus will say to many i do not know you but but to those whom he knows he promises them the path of joy the path of life sorry the joy in his
00:46:34 presence and eternal pleasures at his right hand as described in verse 11 here and god always keeps his promises this is the greatest of the four spiritual dividends in our text in conclusion the main question still remains how do we relate to god how closely do we walk with him and we have gone through earlier the four aspects of david's intimate relationship with god today the 28th of may happens to be the birthday of my late father he would have been 96 this year all his life god was his refuge
00:47:22 his master his treasure and his counsel growing up i witnessed it before my eyes i witnessed how he walked with god until i i left home at the age of 19. 20 years ago i made a decision to walk closely with god to be like my late father to emulate what he did and i pray and hope that you too will pledge to walk ever closer with god as david did shall we close in prayer just a closer walk with thee granted jesus this our plea daily walking close to thee let it be dear lord let it be or for in heaven it's our heart's desire
00:48:18 to go deeper into you grant us this desire of our hearts often our spirit is willing but the flesh is weak cause us to have the commitment to willingness and motivation to walk closely with you help us to relate to you more intimately draw us nearer to your side for we ask in jesus name amen
