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Sermon Notes
YOU WILL NOT ABANDON ME
KEY TEXT: Psalm 16:1–11 SUPPORTING: Acts 2:25–31 | Luke 22:42 | Hebrews 1:3
POINT ONE — My Refuge, My Lord Psalm 16:1–2 | The Posture Question
- Hebrew: chasah — to flee to, to run hard toward shelter
- David's confession: "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you"
- Jesus in Gethsemane: "Not my will, but yours" — Psalm 16:2 lived in real time
- The question: Is God your refuge (where you run first) or your resource (where you turn last)?
POINT TWO — A Beautiful Inheritance Psalm 16:3–8 | God as Portion, Not Bonus
- The land language: God himself is the inheritance — the gift is the Giver
- Verse 4's honest diagnosis: sorrows multiply when we run after lesser things
- Verse 8 applied to Jesus (Acts 2:25): "I have set the LORD always before me... I shall not be shaken"
- A God-centered life produces not the absence of hardship, but an unshakeable foundation beneath it
POINT THREE — You Will Not Abandon Me Psalm 16:9–11 | The Promise the Resurrection Kept
- Peter's argument (Acts 2:29–31): David died, his tomb is here — so verse 10 must point to someone else
- The language overshoots every human biography except one: the man with an empty tomb
- The resurrection is the Father's answer to the Son's trust
- Verse 11 unpacked: — "The path of life" — the road out of death; Jesus walked it first — "Fullness of joy" — not partial or flickering; the kind with no bottom — "Pleasures forevermore" — Jesus is at the Father's right hand now; the suffering is over
CONCLUSION — The Answer in the Dark
God was working in the dark on Holy Saturday. The promise of Psalm 16 was not abandoned because circumstances looked impossible. The Father did not forget his Holy One — and on the third day, he proved it.
He didn't abandon him. He won't abandon you. He never has.
Reflection/Application Questions
- Does the idea that Jesus prayed Psalm 16 change how you read it? What does it tell us about his humanity?
- Is God more of a refuge or a resource in your life right now? What's the difference practically?
- What are the "other gods" most tempting in your current season — the things you organize your identity or security around?
- What would it look like for God himself to be your portion — not just part of your life, but the center of it?
- What does it mean practically to "set the LORD always before you"? What helps you do that, and what works against it?
- How does the logic of Peter's argument in Acts 2 strengthen your confidence in the resurrection?
- Where are you currently looking for fullness of joy? How does the resurrection reframe that question?
- Is there a "Saturday season" in your life right now — a time of waiting or silence? How does Easter speak into it?
Time of Response
Take a few minutes of silence. Allow your own thoughts to quiet and be still. Where does the Holy Spirit want you to decrease so that Christ could increase in your life? What part of your life, if reduced, would make more room for you to thrive spiritually?
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHILE READING SCRIPTURE
What does this reveal about God?
What does this reveal about you in relation to God?
What do you need to do about it?
The Covenant Prayer from John Wesley's Covenant Service, 1780 (adapted)
I am no longer my own,
but Yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing,
put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You,
exalted for You or brought low for You.
Let me be full,
let me be empty.
Let me have all things,
let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to Your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
You are mine,
and I am Yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
I HAVE A QUESTION
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(On occasion, questions answered following Sunday.)
How Can I Be Intentional When Reading Scripture?
One Method To Use When Reading Scripture:
The S.O.A.P.S. Method
S.cripture: Write down the Bible passage you will be studying.
O.bservations: Examine the text and write down what you notice and see. Start with the obvious and move to the deeper.
A.pplication: Apply God’s Word to your life in a practical way. What is God saying about Himself, about you and about what He is calling you to?
P.rayer: Respond to God’s Word with your own words.
S.hare: Commit to share what God is showing you with someone else.
- Inductive Bible Study:
- Observation (what does the passage say?)
- What is happening in the passage?
- Who is involved in the passage?
- What happened before and after the passage.
- Where are they located and how is that influencing the passage.
- Interpretation (what does it mean?)
- What is the passage saying considering everything I have observed and what I know from the rest of Scripture
- What does the scripture say within context of the entirety of Scripture?
- Application (how does it apply to my life?)
- What does the passage say about God?
- What does the passage say about me and to me?
- What am I being called to DO because of the passage of Scripture?
How do I talk with God?
WAYS TO PRAY
One Way to talk with God is to:
Pause.
Rejoice.
Ask.
Yield.
ANOTHER OPTION
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication: Requests
