Psalm 16

[0:00] The scripture reading for this morning is Psalm 16. The Lord is my chosen portion, my cup.

[0:36] He holds my lot. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.

[0:49] Surely 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.

[1:00] 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 me to Sheol, nor let your Holy One see decay.

[1:15] You have made known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Amen.

[1:28] Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, God, we ask you now by your spirit, God, to teach us and instruct our hearts this morning.

[1:44] God, you have some things that you want to say to us through your word. A message of encouragement. A message of conviction. Whatever it is, depending on who it is that is hearing these words.

[1:57] But I pray that you would do your work among us this morning for your glory. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Well, good morning. Happy Easter, everybody.

[2:07] Christ is risen. And that's why we're gathered here this morning. If you're joining us for the first time this morning, I just want to welcome you. My name is Mike. I'm one of the elders here at Shoreline.

[2:18] And we're just so glad that you've chosen to worship the Lord with us on this Easter 2022. So if you're vision impaired like me, you know, you can appreciate the glory of corrective lenses.

[2:33] Fortunately for me, my vision isn't terrible. But I know at least one of you out there. Actually, I can't even see you. I know one of you out there, Dakota, who is as blind as a bat without your lenses.

[2:45] And for those of us with vision impairment. So what, you know, what would appear as a blurry, fuzzy blob, you know, this pastel blob that I see right now, indistinct.

[2:55] When you put on your glasses, right, or your contacts, it becomes clear and distinct. And you see, the Old Testament saints, they saw with blurred vision what we now see with clear eyes because we have seen, as Paul says, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

[3:17] That's 2 Corinthians 4.6. So today what I want us to do is to remove, you know, the corrective lenses for a time and to seek to understand the blurry beauty of Psalm chapter 16.

[3:30] And then once we come to appreciate that, we'll put on our glasses and see with greater clarity the glory of this passage. And so right up front, do you actually have the clicker?

[3:40] Or am I just going to tell you to advance the slide? All right, I'll give to Josiah a direction. So right up front, I want us to see the main idea of the text before us, and that's this, the next one, that true life and joy is secured eternally for those who abide in God.

[3:58] We're going to keep hunking back to this idea here, that true life, true joy is secured eternally for those who abide in God. So you can turn in your Bibles to Psalm 16 if you would like.

[4:11] Psalm 16 is ascribed to King David. And so to see Psalm 16 from the perspective of an Old Testament Jew at the time of David, though blurry as it were, we need to briefly get our bearings.

[4:23] And now per Jordan's analogy from two weeks ago when he was given a pitch for the Sunday school class, it's going to start in a couple weeks, like a paratrooper dropped onto the battlefield, we must understand where we are before advancing forward.

[4:37] There's a little plug again for the Sunday school class going through God's big picture, phenomenal book. You will be greatly helped on, you know, in doing this kind of contextual understanding on your own from God's word.

[4:48] So here's some context for Psalm 16. In the beginning, out of God's overflowing goodness, he created a good world in which mankind enjoyed unhindered joy, security, and pleasure, and fellowship with God and one another.

[5:04] But what happened? Mankind chose their own glory over God's, breaking fellowship with him, causing sin and death to reign. But out of God's love and for his glory, he made for himself a nation, Israel, to follow him, to enjoy fellowship with him, and to broadcast his heart to the world.

[5:25] He rescued Israel out of slavery. He established her in her own land. He gave her leaders, Moses, Joshua, a series of judges to lead and to guide her. And eventually, Israel demanded a king, so God gave her one in the person of King Saul.

[5:40] And this is where David enters the story. See, God had rejected Saul due to his disobedience, and he led Samuel to anoint David, the man after God's own heart, as king.

[5:52] So Saul grew to hate David and sought to end his life. David found himself on the run from Saul, hiding in caves on the verge of death. But eventually, Saul died, and David assumed the throne.

[6:03] And we see this beautiful promise in 2 Samuel 7. And God established a covenant with David, promising that your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. But David's life was enveloped in chaos again, for he committed the sins of adultery and murder.

[6:21] And then, due to his own poor leadership, a ton of family drama, he found himself fleeing for his life, yet again, this time from his own son, Absalom. Now, we're actually unsure, you know, when exactly David penned Psalm 16.

[6:36] But it's helpful to understand the circumstances of his life as we seek to uncover the meaning behind his words. So let's do just that. Let's seek to uncover the meaning of Psalm 16.

[6:48] We see here that Psalm 16 opens with a plea and a profession, which then set the trajectory for the rest of the psalm. Verse 1, David says, Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

[7:05] Preserve me, O God. In light of the chaos and the danger that David faced time and again, this plea for God's preservation is quite fitting. Literally on the run for his very life, David sought refuge in the Lord.

[7:20] So he wrote in Psalm 59 on the run from Saul, O my strength, I will watch for you. For you, O God, are my fortress. And then in Psalm 3, when he's fleeing from his son Absalom, he says, But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head.

[7:38] But David didn't just need preservation from Saul and from Absalom. David needed preservation from himself, from his sin. So he would pray after committing the detestable sins of both adultery and murder, Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

[7:57] Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. Psalm 51. So in desperate need of preservation, David sought refuge in the only one truly capable of preserving him.

[8:09] The Hebrew verb translated take there implies a past continuing action, have taken or did take. See, David has already experienced the preservation of taking refuge in God.

[8:23] And in the shelter, then, of God's presence, David has found comfort, security, rest, peace, even in the midst of trying circumstances. So as you yourself, as you face the difficulties of life or the devastation of your own sinful choices, I wonder this morning, where are you turning for preservation?

[8:47] Where are you seeking refuge? Are you seeking refuge in the things of this world that are fleeting, that are temporary, that will ultimately leave you disappointed?

[8:58] Or are you seeking refuge in the everlasting, immovable God? David then moves from plea to profession in verse 2. He says, See, here is a profession of submission, a declaration that Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, is his God, his Lord.

[9:26] David is placing himself under the sovereign rule of God, and not only the sovereign rule, but the good rule. And so here also is a profession of trust. David acknowledges that nothing good can be found apart from God, who is himself the definition of good.

[9:46] So David declares in 1 Chronicles 16, 34, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. And in Psalm 34, 8, he beckons, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

[10:02] Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. So here again, I must pause and ask, Have you placed yourself under the sovereign and good rule of God?

[10:14] To be sure, every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth are actually under the sovereign rule of God. Job 12, 10, In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

[10:27] In the book of Daniel, we see that even the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who considered himself to be a deity, he submitted to God's lordship, saying, For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

[10:45] All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?

[10:59] Friends, every ruler in this world, Putin included, will be saying that to the Lord someday. We are all under the sovereign rule of God. But while all of us are actually under God's sovereign rule, only some choose in this life to submit to that rule, declaring him to be the Lord of our lives.

[11:21] See, you have a choice to make. Will you submit yourself to that rule? What David is saying to us today is that if you do, if you submit to and trust in God, if you seek refuge in him, if you abide in him, you will find his rule to be good.

[11:43] In fact, you will find that the only good is found in him. Now, for those who have already done that, even still, sometimes we are tempted to think that God's rule isn't actually good.

[11:58] And maybe you're in that place right now. Maybe you're experiencing a low moment in life. Maybe you're in the midst of anxiety or depression or frustration or fear or tragedy.

[12:10] And maybe you're tempted with this thought that God isn't actually for my good. God doesn't actually desire my well-being. Or maybe you think, God's just kind of indifferent to what I feel right now.

[12:21] Friend, believer, the glorious reality is that even in your low moment, God is doing something for your good. He is. And even though you may not understand it or be able to see it, you truly have no good apart from the Lord.

[12:39] Now, maybe you're in a high moment. Maybe you're in the midst of confidence or happiness or success. And maybe you're tempted to think that you've earned those blessings or that the joy is, you know, the joy that you desire most is the blessings themselves.

[12:55] And I want to say to you, the glorious reality is that it's only because of God's divine favor that you've accomplished or received anything at all. And the true blessing, it's not the gift that you've been given.

[13:07] It's the giver. It's not the created thing that you're enjoying. It's actually the creator. And for you as well, you have no good apart from the Lord. So that's the plea and the profession.

[13:20] And we see here that the rest of the psalm flows from this starting point. So verse three, the positions, as for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

[13:34] And verse four, David says, 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. Verses three and four, David contrasts the two positions of mankind.

[13:50] In verse three, David speaks of the saints in the land or the holy ones, the godly ones, the faithful ones, who like him, have submitted themselves to the Lord's good and sovereign rule.

[14:02] And then in verse four, David speaks of those who run after another God, the ones who are unfaithful to God, who have not submitted themselves to his good and his sovereign rule.

[14:14] Now, what is this talk of drink offerings of blood and taking their names on my lips? A drink offering, it was an offering of wine that was poured out along with the burnt offering and sacrificed to God.

[14:30] However, a pagan practice was to sacrifice human blood to idols or to other gods. Now, regarding their names on my lips, David is probably referring not to the names of the unfaithful ones, but the names of the gods that they worship.

[14:45] And in Joshua's charge to the Israelite leaders, he urges them not to mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.

[15:03] Okay, but what's the point? What's the point of what David's saying? The point is this. David is disassociating himself completely from the practices and the deities of the ungodly. And why?

[15:14] Well, he says it right here. Because what's in store for them? Not good, but rather sorrow. See, verses 3 and 4 are both a warning and an invitation.

[15:26] The warning is this. If you're pursuing any other God than Yahweh, the God of Israel, know that your sorrow will only multiply. The invitation, though, is come submit yourself to the Lord and find that you belong to a community of faith in which your joy will be multiplied.

[15:44] So David also writes in Psalm 133, Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

[16:03] Whenever I preach, I forget to have water and my voice is shot by the end. Dave's voice has been strengthened by weeks of preaching over and over. So having strengthened his appeal for the Old Testament Jew to abide in God, he now goes on to describe the present blessings of those who do.

[16:23] Verse 5, he says, The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot. Verse 6, The lions have fallen for me in pleasant places.

[16:34] Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. inheritance. Now, to the 21st century American, us, reading these verses, it's a little confusing. Portion, cup, lot, lines, like what in the world is David talking about?

[16:50] David's referring back to the apportionment of land that occurred as the 12 tribes of Israel entered into the promised land. See, each tribe was granted a portion of land or an inheritance for that tribe, but to the priests of God, to the tribe of Levi, God said this, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them.

[17:14] I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel. So the terms portion, lot, lines, places, inheritance, they're all kind of referring to this same idea.

[17:27] David was the king and he ruled over, you know, all the land of Israel. It was all his, but he's saying here that just like the Levitical priests who had God is their portion, he considers God and God alone to be his portion.

[17:42] And this portion, this inheritance, this treasure will not be taken away. And why is that? Because the faithful and immovable God has given himself to David, right?

[17:55] It is a treasure that will never fade. A treasure that he says here is pleasant and beautiful. See, a treasure that brings delight to his soul.

[18:07] And the cup, the cup captures a similar thought. One commentator writes that the cup signifies that God is the satisfying draft that refreshes and invigorates the soul.

[18:20] So we could summarize verses five and six as David saying, in God, I have the highest treasure of greatest delight. So how about you, friend?

[18:31] Can you say this with David? Can you say that I have no treasure that I value so highly as God?

[18:43] Can you agree with David that nothing and no one brings so much delight as God himself? Or have you lowered your sights onto the trinkets and the trophies of this world that though they are valuable in the world's eyes, compared to the matchless, priceless, inexhaustible treasure of God are actually just like piles of dung.

[19:07] That's Paul's analogy, not mine. Verse seven, David says, David pauses for a moment of worship, praising God for his counsel.

[19:35] And the counsel that David is primarily referring to is probably the counsel that God gave to David to choose God as his portion. For surely, David would never have chosen God on his own.

[19:49] He probably also has in mind the ongoing wisdom and instruction that he receives from the Lord. And when he says here, in the night also my heart instructs me, David says so as one well acquainted with the night.

[20:04] He may have in view here long nights of fear or of guilt that he experienced in various seasons of his life. or he might also just be simply referring to the night as a time of calm and quiet, free from the distractions of the day and in that time you can think, you can meditate on the deep things of life.

[20:26] But either way, the point is this, that whether by day or by night, David's heart is instructed, it's guided by the all-wise counsel of God as David abides in him.

[20:39] And then verse eight there, verse eight continues the thought from verse seven to set the Lord always before me. It's an intentional focusing of one's mind on God. The reality is that God is always before me, right?

[20:52] No matter what I think, say, or do, God is there, he's present, but functionally I can operate as though he isn't. But those who abide in God are continually and consciously aware of God's nearness, right?

[21:06] Of the reality of God's presence. And that phrase, because he is at my right hand, being at someone's right hand in scripture, it's often a position of honor, but we also see it's a position of a guard or a defender.

[21:24] And that's really the sense here. Those who abide in God are then defended and guarded by his constant presence and so shall not be shaken.

[21:35] The faithful and immovable God holds immovable those who abide in him. The faithful and immovable God holds immovable those who abide in him.

[21:48] Whatever storms pass by, they are kept secure in him. Some of you need that reminder today. My own heart has needed that reminder many times over the last few weeks.

[22:02] So we could summarize verses 7 and 8 as David's saying, In God, I have an ever-present source of guidance and security. Okay, at this point you're thinking, alright Mike, this is like great stuff and all, but isn't this Easter Sunday?

[22:19] Like, are we going to talk about Jesus? Are we going to talk about the resurrection? So, turn to your neighbor and say, he's getting there, don't worry. Go ahead, turn to your neighbor. But, we're not quite there yet, so stick with me.

[22:35] After four verses of expounding on the present blessings of those who abide in God, David then breaks out in response. Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices.

[22:51] My flesh also dwells secure. Because of the richness and the blessings of fellowship with the living God, David experiences satisfaction at his very core.

[23:03] Right? That's what we see here. He's experiencing joy and gladness in his entire being. Even his flesh, he says, his body will dwell secure. Okay, now, why?

[23:14] How? Well, the answer comes in the closing verses. In verse 10 and 11, David here makes a bold and spectacular assertion that God will preserve him not just from his enemies or from fear or from guilt, but that God will preserve him from death itself.

[23:54] That God will preserve him from the corruption and decay of the grave. In bold faith, David believed that his union with the living God would grant to him not just satisfaction and joy in this life, but forevermore in a life to come.

[24:13] David believed in confidence that true life and joy is secured eternally for those who abide in God. If you could put that back on the screen, Josiah, that true life and joy whoop, next one, oh, one more, there it is, that true life and joy is secured eternally for those who abide in God.

[24:41] Now, at this point we need to stop and ask ourselves, are these just the spiritual mucines of some ancient dead guy? A guy that needed to cope with his difficult life, his poor life decisions, his awful circumstances, or is this actually legit?

[25:02] Right? Oh, and speaking of that ancient dead guy, isn't he just that dead? Right? Like, like, wasn't his body buried and decaying in the grave? it's kind of important to answer those questions because Psalm 16 makes glorious and brilliant claims, and if we can't answer those questions, then I'm afraid it just might be for naught.

[25:31] It just might be worthless spiritual jargon with no practical value whatsoever. forever. To answer these questions, I'm going to move us forward in history, approximately a thousand years.

[25:48] And we see here in Acts chapter 2, the apostle Peter is addressing a crowd of Jews that have gathered together in Jerusalem. Peter speaking says this, men of Israel, hear these words.

[26:06] Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know.

[26:17] 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.

[26:38] 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.

[26:52] 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.

[27:02] 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.

[27:16] Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his fleshy corruption.

[27:32] This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses. You see, the Old Testament understanding of the resurrection was cloudy at best.

[27:47] The Old Testament saints looked forward in faith to a future resurrection of the dead, but the vision was blurry until Christ came. Because Christ demonstrated that what David had penned a thousand years earlier was actually not so much about King David as it was about himself, right?

[28:08] By himself becoming the firstborn from the dead. David died, David was buried, David's body was subjected to death and decay and the grave, but not so Jesus Christ.

[28:22] Not so Jesus Christ who triumphed over death and hell and the grave rising victoriously on the third day. Christ is risen church.

[28:33] Christ is risen. Amen? See, the blurry vision of the Old Testament, it has received a glorious correction, right? A glorious correction.

[28:44] Because as Paul says in 2 Timothy 1.10, Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. What once was a mystery has now been clarified for us in the person and work of Christ.

[29:05] Now maybe someone hearing my voice is thinking, yeah, great, so now you Christians are defending, you know, worthless spiritual jargon from 1000 BC with more worthless spiritual jargon, you know, from 1000 years later.

[29:19] I'd like to respond in two ways to that. first of all, I want to implore you to actually wrestle with this, mentally, logically, rationally.

[29:31] You don't need to check your brain at the door to scrutinize these things. And I want to implore you to wrestle with this because your life hangs in the balance.

[29:42] God's If Jesus rose from the dead, then everything he said, everything he says in this book is true.

[29:53] You can't ignore it if Christ is risen from the dead. You cannot ignore what he said. And if that's true, then you are in grave danger of an eternal life in hell.

[30:06] Sorrow multiplied upon sorrow. This is worth your consideration. And if you're in that position, hearing my voice and raising all kinds of objections, I'm begging you, actually pursue the answers to those objections without presupposing them.

[30:27] Like, actually engage in dialogue about these things. Actually pursue truth and don't just assume, like our politically divided nation, if you're on the other side, you must be wrong, you're stupid, you don't know what you're talking about.

[30:39] Like, pursue truth, engage rationally. That leads me to the second thing, that I'd like to submit to you some evidence for the resurrection of Christ that I ask you to consider.

[30:56] When Jesus was arrested by the Jewish leaders, where were his disciples? Where did they go? They fled in fear. Now, Peter was bold enough to follow Jesus at a distance, but then he denied any relation to Christ three times.

[31:13] And after Jesus was nailed to the cross and breathed his last, where were Jesus' eleven disciples who had spent every day for three years at his side? They were hiding, afraid for their lives.

[31:28] And where do we find these same disciples about seven weeks later? Peter in Acts 2, where do we find him? boldly, fearlessly, unashamedly testifying to the resurrection of Christ.

[31:42] That's where we find them. And these same eleven disciples, each of them would go on to give up their lives for the sake of that message. Ten of them died as martyrs for their faith.

[31:55] But the resurrection of Jesus was just a hoax crafted by the eleven disciples, which is the other reason given for the empty tomb. That means that all eleven disciples died for a lie that they knew full well.

[32:12] No, friends, the resurrection of Jesus was an actual historical event that occurred two thousand years ago and altered the course of history forever. And for two thousand years, men and women have boldly and fearlessly given their lives unto death to testify to this resurrection.

[32:32] And just like Christ promised in Matthew 24, this glorious message of the gospel has gone forth throughout the entire world unhindered, unstopped, despite fierce opposition.

[32:46] We have brothers and sisters in Christ now who are giving up their lives overseas and the gospel goes forth in China, in Nigeria, in Malaysia. The gospel goes forth. It is not stopped because it's backed by an almighty God who defeated sin and death and the grave.

[33:02] Amen? The resurrection of Jesus was real. Now, I don't expect that if you have objections that this has won you over by any means. And if you want to hear more in regards to evidence for the resurrection of Christ, first I'd encourage you to listen to Pastor Dave's sermon on Matthew 28, 11 to 15 that he preached in September 2020 from the leeches back deck.

[33:27] you can find that on our church website. Or we would love, Pastor Dave, Andrew, there go the lights, or myself, we would love to engage you in a dialogue about these things.

[33:43] Now, if we could back up for a second, now that our vision has been made more clear through Christ. I said that the Old Testament understanding of the resurrection was cloudy and blurry, right?

[33:55] so too was the Old Testament understanding of forgiveness of sins and salvation. See, there exists a tension all throughout the Old Testament that is captured well by God's own revelation of himself to Moses and Israel a few hundred years before King David.

[34:15] Exodus 34, 6 and 7, see, God passes before Moses and he proclaims, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty?

[34:41] How could God say that he forgives sin and then in the same breath say that he does not clear the sinner? And how could David, one who committed adultery and murder, find goodness from the Lord instead of wrath?

[35:01] The short answer is because of Jesus. See, God had established a sacrificial system in Israel and as the Old Testament saints in faith and obedience observed that system, God met them with love and mercy, forgiving them of their sin, but not because of their sacrifices.

[35:23] The author of Hebrews writes this, in Hebrews 10, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

[35:52] The Old Testament sacrificial system, it was a sign, right? It was a sign pointing forward to a more perfect sacrifice, the spotless lamb of God to Christ who would offer a single sacrifice to secure the forgiveness of the sins of the world.

[36:11] And that's how God can both forgive sin and punish sin at the same time, because of Christ. Through the atoning death and the triumphant resurrection of Jesus, he has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

[36:32] And if it hasn't been clear yet from my words, the gospel is this, that you and I are sinners deserving of God's just wrath for sin, but out of boundless love for mankind, God's wrath has been absorbed by Jesus Christ through his atoning death on the cross.

[36:54] But Jesus did not stay dead. Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave, proving that his payment for sin was sufficient and proving that he is truly Lord.

[37:07] And now, Romans 10, 9, and 10, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

[37:20] That's the gospel. And that means for us, friends, us non-Jews living in 21st century America, that the glorious and beautiful promises to which David clung in 1000 BC are the same ones to which we can cling in 2022 and forevermore.

[37:41] For all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus. Now, Psalm 16 is not just empty spiritual jargon.

[37:51] It is a reality secured for us by the blood of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. So, with our glasses on, our vision clarified, I want us to close by just glancing back through this psalm and observing the riches that are now ours in Christ.

[38:10] You can turn back to Psalm 16 if you want, or just listen to these words. Verses 1 and 2, Psalm 16. The New Testament believer depends on God for preservation, knowing that he proved he is for us and for our good through the death of his son on the cross.

[38:33] We can take refuge in the safety and comfort of God. We can abide in him because Christ has forgiven us of our sins, united us to himself.

[38:45] He is our sovereign and good Lord. verses 3 and 4. Life and joy that's found in fellowship with Christ is shared among the community of faith.

[38:59] In the church of Jesus Christ, we find a beautiful and loving family. But those who pursue other gods, even if they enjoy pleasures in this life, will find that their sorrows are only multiplied.

[39:14] If you're chasing after worldly things, find life in Jesus. And those who belong to him. Verses 5 and 6 can be summarized with Paul's words from Philippians 3 that we looked at just a few weeks ago.

[39:27] But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

[39:41] Instead of valuing, you know, land or buildings or houses, instead of valuing even marriage or relationships, instead of valuing career, salary, investments, having the most well-behaved children, instead of valuing my own reputation above all things, instead of seeking refuge in those things and holding them as treasure, this is saying I consider them worthless compared to knowing Jesus.

[40:10] He is my portion. He is my inheritance. He is my highest treasure and highest good. Verses 7 and 8, for the believer in Christ, the Holy Spirit has regenerated our minds, he's regenerated our hearts, so that we rightly pursue true wisdom, so that we rightly choose Christ as our treasure.

[40:36] And as we do so daily in the Spirit's power, seeking the things that are above, we find God to be our guard and defender, so that we will not be shaken by the storms of this life, whatever they may be.

[40:53] Verse 9 and 10, so then the entirety of our being responds in joy and in gladness because of the riches of these blessings that are ours in Christ, and because the same power that prevented Jesus from corruption and raised him from the dead, it lives in us.

[41:15] It will give life to our mortal bodies. Yes, our bodies will experience death and decay for a season if Christ does not return in our lifetimes.

[41:28] But when he does, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 15, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed.

[41:38] For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Verse 11, and so, knowing that our lives are held secure in God because of the finished work of Christ, we can experience true life, true joy, true pleasures as we abide in him.

[42:07] friends, you can experience these things today in Christ, today in Christ. Today in this life, we can experience a glorious, soul-satisfying foretaste, and in the life to come, we will experience the fullness of those things forever more.

[42:29] And I want to close with just one final passage of scripture found in 1 Peter chapter 1. in which the apostle Peter beautifully captures so many of these themes.

[42:42] He says this, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

[43:18] Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

[43:36] Church, true life in joy is secured eternally for those who abide in God. True life and joy is secured eternally for those who abide in God.

[43:52] It has been proven by the atoning death and the triumphant resurrection of Christ. And let's go before him in prayer now. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you.

[44:05] God, we thank you that the glorious realities of Psalm 16 are now ours in Jesus. Though most, if not all, of us are not Jews, we're Gentiles.

[44:21] What once was a mystery has been now revealed to us that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, partakers of the same promise, members of the household of God.

[44:33] God, that is now ours 2,000 years later because of what Christ did in his work on the cross and in his triumphant resurrection from the grave.

[44:47] God, would you help us to understand and to experience these realities? And God, if anyone is here raising the objections that I talked about earlier, God, would you help them to understand the reality of this truth?

[45:05] God, would you regenerate their hearts? God, would you regenerate their hearts?