How to Have a Happy New Year

                                                    New Year Message

                                                             Psalm 16

 

Mikhtam of David.

Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
² I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
³ As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
⁴ The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

⁵ The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

⁷ I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
⁸ I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
¹⁰ For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
¹¹ You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

 

INTRODUCTION

   If you look at the heading of this chapter you will notice the words "Mikhtam of David."  "Mikhtam" means "poem."  This is poem written by David.  Psalm 16 (our text) and Psalms 56-60 all have the heading "Mikhtam of David."

   The psalms were poems meant to be sung.  Thus, David was not only a ruler and king, a warrior, a musician who played the harp, but  also a poet.

   As we enter the New Year, we often greet one another with the words, "Happy New Year."

   But how can we truly experience a Happy New Year. 

   This Psalm explains to us how to have a happy new year.

   v. 11, "In Your presence is fullness of joy."

   How can we experience this "fullness of joy" as we enter 2016? 

   The word "fullness" in Hebrew is also translated "abundant."  How can we can experience this abundant joy in 2016.

   Ps. 122:1 says, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord!” 

   When you woke up this morning what did you say to yourself?  Did you say, “Oh no! It’s another Sunday morning and I have to go to church!”

   Or did you say, “I am so glad today is Sunday.  I get to go to the house of the Lord, worship Him, meet Him in the sanctuary, and have the wonderful privilege to meet God's people.”

   But you might say, "But Pastor, my joy is in the inside."  That is good.  But let it out.  Don’t keep the joy inside only for you to enjoy; let it out for others to also enjoy. 

   By the way, the words "joy, rejoice, rejoicing glad, gladness and delight" appear over 650x. 

   Now in Gal. 5:22 we read that joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

   I once read of a little boy who used to escape his bedroom after being punished.  He would crawl out of his bedroom window down a tree near his window to the ground. One day, his father told the family  that he was going to chop down the tree because it hadn’t borne fruit for many years. That afternoon the boy and his friend bought a bushel of apples, and during the night, tied those apples on the barren branches. The next morning, the man could not believe his eyes.  He hollered to his wife, "Honey, I can’t believe it! That old tree has apple fruit.  But the most amazing thing is that it’s a pear tree!"

   Apples don’t belong to a pear tree.  Neither does true joy belong to the unbeliever.  As it is unnatural for a pear tree to bear apple fruits, it is unnatural for a Christian to be grumpy and grouchy. 

   The unbeliever may be joyful outside but inside he is hurting.

   Prov. 14:13, "Even in laughter the heart is sad."

   God alone can bring true joy inside and outside.

   Joy is not from the pleasures of the world, but in knowing Jesus.  As the hymn says, "Happiness is to  know the Savior."

  In the OT joy is expressed in many ways: dancing, singing, leaping, praising, and even shouting.  Joy is expressed outwardly.  Yes, joy is inward, in your heart; but also outward, displayed in dancing, praising, singing and leaping.  In the Bible joy is a celebration.

  And that is the way this church service should be - a celebration.  God is with us!  Hence, we need to celebrate in church. 

   God says joy is in Him. The devil says that joy is in sin.  The joy of the Lord is real; the joy of sin is counterfeit.  I prefer the real thing.

   Yes, the joy the world offers can be a pleasure for a season, for a while; but it leads to death.  "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).

   Yes, there will come sorrow and pain for the Christian.  But that sorrow and pain is temporary.  As the Bible says, "Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:5).

   How to experience this "fullness of joy?"

 

1.  PICK THE PATH OF LIFE

2.  PICK THE INHERITANCE THAT LASTS

3.  PICK THE COUNSEL OF GOD

 

1.  PICK THE PATH OF LIFE

   v. 11, " You will make known to me the path of life;"

   Where is the path of life?

   The path of life is found in Jesus.

   John 10:10 (end), "I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly."

  You have an enemy, the devil, who will prevent you to come to Christ, so that you might experience this abundant joy.

   That is why at the end of each service I close with an invitation for you to come to Jesus to be saved in order that you might realize the wonderful joy God has in store for you.

   I close each service with the invitation that you might pick the path of life.

   However, in my invitations you will notice that I no longer give the "Sinner's Prayer" at the altar call.  I have a reason for this.  I don’t want people to repeat this prayer with me and assume to be saved.  I don’t want to give a false assurance.  Many pray the Sinner's Prayer and are not truly born again.  And if I tell them that they are now saved and on the way to heaven I have given them a false hope. 

   This is not to say that some are not saved.  Yes, some are indeed saved repeating the sinner's prayer.  But not all. 

   The only one who can give the assurance of salvation is the Holy Spirit; after all, He alone can see the heart.  It is God who gives assurance.  Rom. 8:16 says.  "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."  Only the Spirit can say that you are a child of God by faith because He alone knows if your faith is a saving faith.

  I cannot see what is in the heart.  Therefore, I should never given someone the assurance of salvation after they pray the Sinner Prayer, for perhaps they are not saved.

   Deut. 30:19, "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live."

   God invites you to come to Jesus and live.

   Living a life of obedience to Christ brings joy.

   Living a life of disobedience to Christ brings sorrow.

  God is teaching me to live a life of discipline.  I had a very strict teacher in post-graduate school.  She was very strict and demanding.  I am now praying that God will be 100 times more strict to me that my most strict teacher so that I will be disciplined and grow. 

   The rich man in Mark 10 who came to Jesus left sorrowful because did not obey Jesus.

 

2.  PICK THE INHERITANCE THAT LASTS

   v. 5, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance."

   When Israel finally possessed the land of Canaan, Joshua gave each tribe their portion, their territory.  Joshua may have said, "Ruben, this is your territory; Issachar, this is your territory; Simeon, this is your territory; Dan, this is your territory," and so forth.  But when it came to the tribe of Levi, there was no land or territory for them.  The tribe of Levi was the only tribe that did not receive their real estate.

   Num. 18:20, "Then the Lord said to Aaron, 'You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance.'"

   The Levites did not receive any inheritance or land, but they had the best inheritance of all, God Himself.

   My wife and I have a house nearby.  It is real estate.  But better than than real estate is Jesus.

   The Bible says, "I am His and He is mine."

   Song of Solomon 6:3, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."

   Paradox: I belong to God and God belongs to me.

   I possess God and God possesses me.

   No matter how what I do or what sin I commit God will continually possesses me.

   Rom. 8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God. "

   God will not stop from possessing me no matter what I do.

   But how do we possess God? 

   One way is by meditation

   We possess God by meditating on Him and thinking of Him often.

   A Christian who does not think of God all day long is an absurdity. 

   Imagine you a parent not thinking of your child in school.  How absurd.

   God cannot be yours if He is never in your mind.

   v. 8, "I have set the Lord continually before me."

   David was saying God was in His mind continually.

   The 3 things that describe our society today are: hurry, noise, and crowd.

   When we are in a hurry, in a noisy place, and in a crowd we cannot meditate upon God. 

   Carl Jung, the well-known Swiss phychotherapist, said, "Hurry is not of the devil; it is the devil."

   Hurry, noise and crowds prevent us from contemplating about God.

 

3.  PICK THE COUSEL OF GOD

   v. 7, "I will bless the Lord who has counseled me."

   The counsel of God is good, and His counsel will lead you to the fullness of joy.

   God's counsel will lead you to make the right choices.

   But listening to God's counsel demands an obligation.  You cannot listen to God's good counsel and deviate from it; you have an obligation to obey it.

   God is all wise, therefore, He can offer you the best counsel ever.

   God in this psalm is pictured as a wise counselor - He offers wise advice and we accept it.

   God also offers you "round-the-clock" counsel.  Not simply 9 am to 5 pm counsel, but counsel regardless of day or time.

   And one counsel God offers you is for you to come to Jesus, live, have salvation, and receive the joyful life as we enter the

New Year.

 

INVITATION

   V. 11, "You will make known to me the path of life."  Do you yearn for this "path of life."  Come to Jesus.  He is the Savior of the world; and He can be your Savior if you invite Him into your life.