WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Tonight we start an eight week series, that's not really a series at all, we're looking 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.800 at just different Psalms throughout the next eight weeks. 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:14.400 A lot of that's because our congregation is extremely transient in July and August and 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.440 so we'll have different preachers and things. 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:19.719 So we'll be picking different Psalms throughout the summer and looking at those. 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:25.160 So tonight we look at the passage we just read, Psalm 16. 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:29.400 This is a Psalm of David as you would have seen in the superscript there at the beginning 00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:35.759 and David is struggling when he writes this. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:40.320 You can see that in the very first verse he says, preserve me, O God, for in you I take 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:41.320 refuge. 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:47.280 So probably David is fighting for his life in some way and we're not sure if that's 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:50.920 physically or spiritually. 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:56.679 But most commentators think that David writes this Psalm after several of the things that 00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:00.920 have happened in David's life that have brought him to a place of despair. 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:10.799 So David's own son, David's own son assaulted his sister in 1 Samuel 13, Tamar. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:16.640 And then David's other son betrayed him and tried to take his throne and wedged war against 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:19.239 him not long after that. 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:24.599 And David had done some of the same types of things himself. 00:01:24.599 --> 00:01:27.919 David had taken another man's wife. 00:01:27.919 --> 00:01:32.199 David had murdered the man. 00:01:32.199 --> 00:01:38.479 So David had done the types of things that his sons later would come and do as well. 00:01:38.479 --> 00:01:44.119 And here David is struggling with something. 00:01:44.119 --> 00:01:47.079 And there's a lot that David could be struggling with here. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:48.079 We don't know exactly. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:53.639 And so we have this little word at the beginning, a mixtam of David. 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:59.079 And all, we don't know exactly what this word means, but the best guess so far we think 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:04.200 is that it might mean an inscription, like the type of inscription you would put on a 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:05.599 gravestone. 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:13.759 So David is saying something like, in the midst of absolute struggle of all kinds, this 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:17.680 is what I need inscribed on my heart. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:23.360 If my heart was like a gravestone, if my heart was dead, I need to have something inscribed 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:24.360 on it. 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:29.560 And it's Psalm 16 that he says, I need to have inscribed, written, carved in stone, 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:32.760 right into the fabric of my heart. 00:02:32.760 --> 00:02:38.400 And so that means that he's saying, whatever this Psalm is going to say, it is exactly 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:45.440 what you need no matter what type of external circumstances you may be facing. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:54.879 So it could be that like David or like David's sons, your own personal failures have brought 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:01.759 you to a place in life that have broken you or that you can't get out of. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:06.079 Or it could be that there's something that's happened to you. 00:03:06.079 --> 00:03:09.079 You've been sinned against in an extreme way. 00:03:09.079 --> 00:03:10.719 And that feels like it's breaking you. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:15.240 Or it could be that there's some curse that's been laid upon this world, like sin, sickness, 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:19.240 and death that's happening to you or your beloved, your family member. 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:23.320 And you are pushed down now below the depths of the water line. 00:03:23.320 --> 00:03:28.640 And David's saying, whatever might be the external circumstance you're facing, there's 00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:32.520 a way to have your head above the water. 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:36.400 There's a buoyancy, a buoyancy of heart that you can have. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:41.960 And it's by inscribing the message of Psalm 16 right there into the depths of your soul. 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:45.920 And so what he's talking about here is that no matter what's going on in your life, there's 00:03:45.920 --> 00:03:47.400 a way to have well-being. 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:49.719 There's a way to have safety of soul. 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:52.960 There's a way to stand in heart. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.560 And he's talking here about the possibility of joy. 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:02.879 How can you have joy in the midst of all those types of things? 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:03.879 So let's think about that. 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:05.240 That's what Psalm 16 teaches us. 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:07.200 What is joy? 00:04:07.200 --> 00:04:08.719 And then how to seek it. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:09.719 What is joy? 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:10.719 And how can you seek it? 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.039 And what is joy? 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:16.279 All right, there's a contrast here from verses 2 to 4. 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:20.360 In verse 2 he says, I say to the Lord, You are my Lord. 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:22.560 I have nothing good, no good apart from You. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:27.199 So on the one hand he says, I know that if I don't have God in my life, I don't have 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.480 anything good ultimately. 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:33.759 And then he says, to the saints in the land, all the people that are loving and following 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.000 the Lord, they're doing well. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.199 They're excellent ones. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:39.480 But chapter, oh sorry, verse 4. 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:44.200 He says, the sorrows of those who run after other gods will always multiply. 00:04:44.200 --> 00:04:45.200 So you see the contrast? 00:04:45.200 --> 00:04:51.120 He's saying, I know that if I chase after the Lord, no matter what, I have good in my 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.319 life because I have the Lord and He is good. 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:59.240 And I know that I look out and I see all sorts of people chasing after all sorts of little 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:00.960 gods. 00:05:00.960 --> 00:05:06.840 They're chasing after bails, as the text put it, could be the God of grain, the God of 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:12.119 any type of religion, could be the God of sexual fulfillment and money and power, anything. 00:05:12.119 --> 00:05:16.359 He says, any God that you may chase after other than the true God, you will multiply 00:05:16.359 --> 00:05:17.359 your sorrow. 00:05:17.359 --> 00:05:18.359 And you see what he's saying there? 00:05:18.359 --> 00:05:20.879 You got to read between the lines just a little bit. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.479 He's struggling, but he's saying, I see people all around me that are chasing after all sorts 00:05:25.479 --> 00:05:30.719 of little gods and their life is going so well. 00:05:30.719 --> 00:05:32.120 It looks like they're not struggling. 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:34.279 It looks like they don't have sorrows in their life. 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:36.039 And he's saying, but I know Lord. 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:41.240 You see, he's preaching to himself and saying, I know that even though my external circumstances 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:49.240 are terrible, that if I chase after the true God, I will ultimately have the good. 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:53.200 And if I chase, but if I chase after the bails, even though that may temporarily make my life 00:05:53.200 --> 00:05:57.200 look great, that's only going to multiply sorrows. 00:05:57.200 --> 00:06:00.560 You see, he's contrasting those two things there. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.480 He's saying, one of those will bring you joy and one of those ultimately wants. 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:11.319 He's saying, in other words, you see that joy is not related to your circumstances, that 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:12.319 you can have joy. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:17.879 You can have a peace, a true happiness in the depths of your souls that goes beyond external 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:18.879 circumstances. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:20.680 That's the point of the contrast. 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:26.360 Now if you ask, what is that joy exactly, you can find out by coming back to verse two 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:34.879 again and noting that the King James version translates this very differently than the ESV 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:36.520 does. 00:06:36.520 --> 00:06:41.199 So the old King James says in verse two, instead of, I have no good apart from you, Lord. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:47.040 It says, my good extended not to thee. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.319 Now the reason that that's a very different translation is because the text is actually 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:52.319 ambiguous. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:53.960 It could go either way. 00:06:53.960 --> 00:06:55.060 You could translate it either way. 00:06:55.060 --> 00:07:00.759 You could say, my good extended not to thee, or I have no good apart from you. 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:04.199 And so different translations do it differently. 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:06.759 Now the beauty of it is we don't really have to choose. 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:09.319 We can just say they're both true. 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:12.120 On the one hand, David says, I've got no good apart from you. 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:15.720 I know that if I chase after little gods in my life, it may look like that might improve 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:19.800 my circumstances, but it won't bring me joy. 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:20.800 Why? 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:25.360 Because my good extended not to thee. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:26.360 What does that mean? 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:28.879 You see what the King James is getting at? 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:30.439 What David's saying? 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:40.360 He's saying that no matter how well I do in this life, no matter how much mercy I show, 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:49.319 no matter how much love I show to other people, I add no good to God's being in himself. 00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:52.279 He's getting very theological here. 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:56.279 He's saying my good extended not to thee. 00:07:56.279 --> 00:08:02.079 No matter how much I do, no matter how many good decisions I make, no matter if I follow 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:09.079 the Lord every day of my life, my good doesn't add anything to God's good. 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:12.120 Now why would he be saying that in this circumstance? 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:18.719 Why would he be saying that I can add nothing to the being of the living God? 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:22.280 And the reason he's saying that I think is because he's trying to highlight the definition 00:08:22.280 --> 00:08:23.960 of joy. 00:08:23.960 --> 00:08:25.460 What is joy? 00:08:25.460 --> 00:08:29.720 And the answer is God is joy. 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:36.240 You see he's saying I know I can't by my goodness, by my happiness, by my circumstances, by my 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:38.879 choices add anything to the being of God. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:45.360 And that's because God is completely satisfied by God. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:48.360 God has the fullness of joy. 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:49.879 God is the fullness of joy. 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:53.919 He is completely happy in himself. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:57.840 Your good extended not into his being. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.960 He is the truly satisfied one. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:05.600 And David realizes that he, you see, what's joy for us? 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:13.180 In other words, joy for us is a creaturely image of the type of satisfaction that God 00:09:13.180 --> 00:09:16.720 has in himself. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:17.720 What is joy? 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:22.920 Joy is simply when you have what God has in his own heart. 00:09:22.920 --> 00:09:24.639 It's having a heart like God. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.440 It's thinking God's thoughts. 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.160 It's having God's emotional life after him, according to him. 00:09:31.160 --> 00:09:32.720 That's what joy is in the Bible. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:36.000 Joy is having a heart like God has. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:42.600 Joy is being satisfied in God because God is satisfied totally in God. 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:47.680 And so that means very simply that David is saying, no matter what's going on in 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:53.479 your life, if you want to have joy, you've got to get God. 00:09:53.479 --> 00:09:56.959 If you want to have joy, chase after God, not after stuff, not after the things of this 00:09:56.959 --> 00:09:58.359 world. 00:09:58.359 --> 00:10:04.000 And so that's why he culminates this whole psalm in verses 9 to 11. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.559 So if you jump down to verse 9 to 11, you can see this. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:11.599 He says, therefore my heart is glad, verse 11, ultimately, you make known to me the 00:10:11.599 --> 00:10:17.439 path of life in your presence, Lord, there is fullness of joy. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:20.880 In the presence of the living God, there is fullness of joy. 00:10:20.880 --> 00:10:25.280 And if you back up just a bit in verses 5 and 6, he reflects on that. 00:10:25.280 --> 00:10:29.360 And he says in verse 5 and 6, the Lord is my portion and my cup. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:33.520 And you see, he's saying there, what is the portion? 00:10:33.520 --> 00:10:34.520 The Lord is my portion. 00:10:34.520 --> 00:10:36.360 He's talking about land. 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:39.600 He's reaching back all the way to the book of Joshua and talking about when the land, 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.560 the portion, was allotted to every one of the tribes of Israel. 00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:46.000 And he's saying, I don't need land. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.519 I don't need stuff. 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:52.759 The Lord is more important to me than my stuff is, than my land, my portion. 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:54.519 The Lord is my inheritance. 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:58.840 He's thinking like a Levite, because remember the Levites, they weren't given land. 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:00.720 Instead, they were given the Lord. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:02.799 The portion of the Levites is just the Lord. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:04.919 And so the Levites live all over the land. 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:08.279 And he's thinking like a Levite saying, that's it, that if I truly want to have joy, I got 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:14.759 to realize that my stuff, my circumstances, my wealth, my economic prosperity is not ever 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:16.439 going to do it for me. 00:11:16.439 --> 00:11:17.439 And then what does he say? 00:11:17.439 --> 00:11:20.840 The Lord is not only my portion, my inheritance, my land. 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:22.399 The Lord is my land, my stuff. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:25.679 He says, the Lord is my cup. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:30.399 And he's talking there about the contents of a cup where almost every time throughout 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:35.480 the Old Testament, when you see the cup being talked about, it's the cup of judgment. 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:36.480 The cup of judgment. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:40.960 But here he says, no, the Lord is my cup, meaning the Lord has become to me like sweet 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:41.960 wine. 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:46.560 That no matter what's going on in my life, when I chase after the Lord, when I seek the 00:11:46.560 --> 00:11:50.120 Lord, it's like drinking the sweet wine to me. 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.160 No longer judgment but sweet wine. 00:11:52.160 --> 00:11:55.320 All right, here's the point. 00:11:55.320 --> 00:12:05.240 That means in all this, very simply, David is saying that the goal of your life today 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:14.960 is to be with God and to find your happiness rooted entirely in your relationship with 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:16.480 Him. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:24.600 You were made for God and you can't have joy apart from a relationship with Him. 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:29.440 And that means that if your son betrays you and tries to start a new kingdom, your joy 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:31.960 is in the Lord. 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:45.920 And if you sin wildly and murder a man whose wife you stole, you can still find joy by 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:52.080 coming to the Lord in repentance. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.480 You can have joy no matter what has happened in your life, no matter what is happening 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:57.480 in your life. 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:03.639 You can find perhaps even in those times more and more and more joy because you realize 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:10.039 you need God more and more and more as your circumstances get harder. 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:14.639 Now secondly, that leaves us to ask how do you seek that joy? 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.600 How do you chase after it? 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:24.279 All right, if you look down at verse 11, he tells us he says in verse 11, you owe God 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:27.360 make known to me the path of life. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:32.720 Now the scholars, the biblical scholars, they pick up on a number of connections between 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.639 Psalm 16 and other parts of the Bible. 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:40.159 So it's referenced explicitly not too often but implicitly all over the place. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:43.159 And one of those connections is surprising. 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:48.360 It's hard to see, but it's verse 11 and all the way over in Ephesians 1 in the New Testament. 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:53.720 And so here David says, Lord, you God make known to me the path of life. 00:13:53.720 --> 00:14:00.399 And then in Ephesians 1 it says God has made known the mystery of life. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:03.960 So he says you owe God in the Old Testament make known to me the path of life and you 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:08.519 owe God in the New Testament have made known Paul says the mystery of life. 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:14.200 And the mystery there is that secret thing hidden for all ages which is the true answer, 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:16.440 the true possibility of joy. 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:19.160 And he says you owe God have made known the mystery of life. 00:14:19.160 --> 00:14:23.320 And you know what Paul's going to say there, what is the mystery of life? 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:26.760 If you've been in the church for any time, well, we don't have to go even to the rest 00:14:26.760 --> 00:14:28.000 of Ephesians 1 to find out. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.840 You stay right here, Psalm 16 verse 10. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:38.200 And verse 10 it says this, David says you owe God will not abandon my soul to shield, 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:40.680 to death. 00:14:40.680 --> 00:14:44.440 You will not let your holy ones see corruption. 00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:47.560 And so you see verse 11 says you've made known the path of life of God. 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:54.119 Ephesians 1 says you God make known the mystery of life, the true path of joy. 00:14:54.119 --> 00:14:58.399 And then he says and you owe God, David says will not let my body see corruption. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.159 You'll not let me see sheol. 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:05.000 And if you think about that for just a second, you've got to say something like this. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.199 David's dead. 00:15:07.199 --> 00:15:10.239 David's body is in the ground. 00:15:10.239 --> 00:15:14.159 David's bones can be found somewhere in the land of Israel. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.599 He's a dead man. 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:19.000 And that's why there's an incredibly important connection. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:26.159 You come to the New Testament and then Acts chapter 2 verse 31, Paul says, Peter, I should 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:31.759 say, says this, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:39.159 that he died and was buried and his tomb is still with us today. 00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:43.519 Being therefore, you see what Peter's doing, he's saying, look, I read Psalm 16 and I've 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.519 concluded something that there's only one possible answer to this. 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:50.519 If David said, Lord, you're not going to let my body see corruption, but David, we know 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:52.879 where David's tomb is. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:57.879 Peter says, then he says this, David therefore was a prophet. 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:02.960 And knowing that God had sworn by an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:08.799 on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:13.799 not abandoned to Hades, that his flesh would never see corruption. 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:19.120 And that means that Psalm 16 is talking about Jesus Christ. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:20.359 What is the path of life? 00:16:20.359 --> 00:16:23.759 What Ephesians 1 says, well, the mystery of life has been revealed. 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:31.599 Psalm 1610 says there is one whose body will not see corruption and it wasn't David. 00:16:31.599 --> 00:16:37.439 And Peter tells us, he says, the answer is that this is about the resurrection. 00:16:37.439 --> 00:16:39.079 Psalm 16. 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:44.080 In Acts 15, Paul picks up on it and he says, here's the gospel. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:45.840 Jesus Christ was buried. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:50.360 He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:51.960 And that last little line is so important. 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:57.000 He's saying it's the scriptures that told us that Jesus would die, but his body would 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:58.280 not see corruption. 00:16:58.280 --> 00:16:59.920 What's scriptures? 00:16:59.920 --> 00:17:01.080 He's talking about the Old Testament. 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:02.400 He's talking about Psalm 16. 00:17:02.400 --> 00:17:07.759 He's saying the scriptures of old told us that his body would never see corruption. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:13.079 Remember what Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:15.160 You can translate it, I am the path. 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:18.359 It's the same word, the path, the truth, and the life. 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:19.440 He is the path. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:23.720 Verse 11, Lord, you make known the path of life. 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:30.119 And the path of life is verse 10, the one whose body would never see corruption. 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.240 And his never did. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.920 He was raised from the dead and he is the path of life. 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:37.240 And that means a very simple second message. 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:41.839 You know, if the first message of this text is you can't have joy in your life by chasing 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.400 little gods, only by seeking the Lord. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:51.279 The second simple message is the fullness of joy comes through seeking, through knowing, 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:57.160 through finding Jesus Christ, through being with God by way of the resurrection of Jesus 00:17:57.160 --> 00:17:58.160 Christ. 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:01.079 That's the message of the passage. 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:05.920 And so that means that ultimately the passage is saying, in your presence there is fullness 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:11.640 of joy, when you get to be with Jesus, that is the fullness of joy. 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:14.180 That is the moment you were made for. 00:18:14.180 --> 00:18:18.680 That is true joy. 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:29.240 Now verse 11 is ultimately saying that the greatest moment of joy you will ever have 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:33.600 is getting to be with God in Jesus Christ one day. 00:18:33.600 --> 00:18:35.240 That's true joy. 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:39.120 And you might say as we start to draw things to a close, and it's so early tonight by the 00:18:39.120 --> 00:18:45.240 way, you might say, what about today? 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:49.720 You know, this passage is ultimately saying, yeah, I can have joy, but that joy, the fullness 00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:55.599 of that joy is when I will see the one who did not see corruption. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:56.920 And that is in my future. 00:18:56.920 --> 00:18:57.920 That's ultimate joy. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:58.920 That's the fullness of joy. 00:18:58.920 --> 00:18:59.920 That's yet to come. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:04.559 And you say, but what about my penultimate joy? 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:11.000 You know, I want, I desire eye long for joy today in the midst of these types of circumstances 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:13.799 that we've been talking about. 00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:20.480 And David says, okay, verse nine, therefore, what does he say? 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:29.399 He says, therefore today my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:35.120 My flesh is secure because he did not let his holy one see corruption. 00:19:35.120 --> 00:19:36.880 And you see what David's doing? 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:43.880 He's saying you can actually find joy in the penultimate and today knowing the fullness 00:19:43.880 --> 00:19:48.440 of that joy will not be realized ultimately until you see the living Christ, but by simply 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:49.720 doing a few things. 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:54.080 One of them is doing a bit of theology. 00:19:54.080 --> 00:19:57.400 He's saying, actually, you've got to, you've got to consider, you've got to use your mind. 00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:04.759 You've got to say, you've got to say the Lord did not let Jesus Christ see corruption. 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:08.880 Mind heart, you gotta, he's saying you got to preach to yourself. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:12.720 And you've got to say, look, you could, you can have joy today because the resurrection 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:14.600 has already happened. 00:20:14.600 --> 00:20:15.600 You're secure. 00:20:15.600 --> 00:20:20.360 You see, in other words, you could put it like this, let's flip it and let's, let's 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:23.360 flip it and, and speak about the negative side. 00:20:23.360 --> 00:20:25.640 What takes away? 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:28.920 What takes away the possibility of joy in your life today? 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:31.640 I think there are a few things, there are probably more, a few things I think of. 00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:34.880 One of them is anxiety. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.480 Anxiety will, will rip your joy away. 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:43.720 And anxiety is when you not merely stress, not merely worry about your workload. 00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:50.480 Anxiety is when you imagine hypothetical scenarios out in front of you that do not exist, that 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:53.800 picture in your mind, the worst possible scenarios of loss. 00:20:53.800 --> 00:20:55.120 That's anxiety. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:00.159 When you really struggle with anxiety, you cannot get away from thinking about circumstances 00:21:00.159 --> 00:21:04.359 of loss all the time that do not exist. 00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:09.719 So you're worried about losing this relationship, this reputation you've built, your successes, 00:21:09.719 --> 00:21:14.119 your financial security, whatever it may be. 00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:18.799 And when you play that game, anxiety will rip away your joy. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:24.000 Another thing that rips away your joy is guilt. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:30.640 When you have things in your life that you're wrestling with, that will rip away your joy. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:32.720 You struggle in your life with shame. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.359 That will take your joy away. 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:38.279 If you say, look, I know the Lord has forgiven me, but I'm not sure I've been willing to 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:39.599 forgive myself. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:41.440 That will take your joy away. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:43.599 That'll snatch your joy. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:45.079 You see, what do you do? 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:46.400 You see what he's doing here? 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:48.279 He's doing a bit of theology. 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:49.880 He's considering. 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:56.600 He's saying, if the resurrection is real, and if I have Jesus Christ, then what I can 00:21:56.600 --> 00:22:03.680 say is no matter what I might lose in this life, I have something I can't lose. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:04.680 That's what he's doing. 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:10.120 He's saying, you know, what gives me penultimate joy in today is knowing that if I seek Jesus, 00:22:10.120 --> 00:22:14.680 I have what cannot be lost forever. 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:16.960 And one day I'll truly get it. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:24.360 If my son raises up a kingdom against me, I still have the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:22:24.360 --> 00:22:31.720 You know, if my son does that, what his son did, I still have the resurrection. 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:36.319 If I, oh David, you're the man, remember Nathan's words? 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:37.319 You're the man. 00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:38.319 You did it. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:39.319 You murdered. 00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:44.400 You took from another in the most heinous of ways. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:49.640 And he's saying, even in that, if I'm willing to bow the knee before the cross and resurrection, 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:55.720 the man himself, Jesus Christ, I can in the penultimate say, I have what cannot be lost 00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:59.240 even if I try to give it away. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:01.040 That's the beauty of the gospel. 00:23:01.040 --> 00:23:04.280 You see, it's the gospel that has the possibility of giving you joy. 00:23:04.280 --> 00:23:06.640 Now last thing, what do you do? 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:08.200 That means you do some theology. 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:13.440 Secondly, it means you do what we're told in 1 Peter 5, 5 to 7, which is exactly what 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:14.559 he's doing here. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.000 You cast your cares upon him. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:18.960 You cast, it's the same word for anxiety. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.920 You cast your marim not, oh, your anxiety is upon him because he cares for you. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:29.960 You lift up your fears to the Lord and you consider, if I have Jesus Christ, I've got 00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:32.080 something that will never leave me. 00:23:32.080 --> 00:23:33.960 I've got true safety of heart. 00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:35.960 I can be buoyant. 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:41.840 You know, remember here he says, last thing, he says, he says, Lord, he's talking about 00:23:41.840 --> 00:23:42.840 Jesus. 00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:44.319 He's talking about him fully, but he's talking about Jesus. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:47.359 He says, Jesus, you are my portion. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:48.759 You're my inheritance. 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:50.599 I don't need land. 00:23:50.599 --> 00:23:53.359 We all like to own land, but ultimately I don't need land. 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:54.939 I have Jesus. 00:23:54.939 --> 00:23:57.159 If I lose my land, it's okay. 00:23:57.159 --> 00:23:59.679 And he says, Lord, you're my cup. 00:23:59.679 --> 00:24:03.720 And every other time we see cup, most of the time it's about drinking the cup of God's 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:04.720 judgment. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:09.720 But when you can have Jesus, you can say, no, I have a cup of sweet wine, not the cup of 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:10.720 judgment. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:12.839 Lord, I'm safe from corruption. 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:16.720 My flesh ultimately will do all secure because he's prophesying. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:21.079 He knows that one day he will have Jesus. 00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:27.759 And that means that finding joy in God, last thing, finding joy in God, finding joy in 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:32.759 God is the highest aim of your life. 00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:39.319 This life is not about what you do, but who you become in Christ. 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:45.399 The highest joy of your life, the highest purpose is to seek joy in God through Jesus 00:24:45.399 --> 00:24:46.399 Christ. 00:24:46.399 --> 00:24:49.319 That's what you're made for. 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:52.559 Let me end with two quotes. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:53.559 Love both of these quotes. 00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:56.359 One from Jonathan Edwards. 00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:57.359 He says this. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:02.119 He wrote and stitched into his jacket as he often did. 00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:08.559 Edwards, the great American theologian of the 18th century, he said, resolved to endeavor, 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:15.919 to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can. 00:25:15.919 --> 00:25:22.159 With all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yes, even violence that I am capable of, or 00:25:22.159 --> 00:25:25.279 can bring myself to exert in any way that can be thought of. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:26.279 Now you see what he's saying? 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:32.200 He's saying, I will pursue happiness through the other world, the world of Christ, the 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:37.639 world behind the curtain, the world that is to come, even with violence. 00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:42.000 He's talking about seeking it with an audacity, with a tenacious spirit. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:43.160 He says, I know what I'm made for. 00:25:43.160 --> 00:25:46.360 I'm made to seek true happiness, true joy. 00:25:46.360 --> 00:25:47.360 That's what I'm here for. 00:25:47.360 --> 00:25:48.560 Now one more, last one. 00:25:48.560 --> 00:25:51.400 This is not from Jonathan, but Jack. 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:53.520 Jack is in C.S. Lewis. 00:25:53.520 --> 00:25:57.960 C.S. Lewis put it like this into a letter to Sheldon Van Auken. 00:25:57.960 --> 00:25:58.960 He says this. 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:06.880 It is a Christian duty, as you know, for every one of us to be as happy as he can be. 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:14.120 And he was talking there about happiness that you will only find in seeking Jesus Christ. 00:26:14.120 --> 00:26:15.120 Let's pray. 00:26:15.120 --> 00:26:21.840 Lord, we give thanks that you've given us a route to joy, pleasure forevermore, true 00:26:21.840 --> 00:26:34.360 satisfaction, no matter what, even if our relationships fail us. 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:42.399 No matter what we've done, what we do, no matter what circumstances we might face, you 00:26:42.399 --> 00:26:45.119 gift joy in Christ. 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:48.679 And so we asked tonight that you would teach us that, show us that. 00:26:48.679 --> 00:26:49.679 We seek it. 00:26:49.679 --> 00:26:50.679 We want it. 00:26:50.679 --> 00:26:52.319 Give it to us, O Lord, by the Spirit. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:56.119 Give us joy, peace, satisfaction. 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:57.119 And we pray these things now. 00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:58.119 In Christ's name, amen. 00:26:58.119 --> 00:27:04.119 Amen.