Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 16 | Date: January 21, 2024 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We continue today with our series on the Psalms. Psalm 16, safe in life and in death. You’ll notice the superscription: Michtam, a Michtam of David. We don’t know what that word means, and so it’s left untranslated. It’s just a transliteration of the Hebrew there, Michtam; it’s some type of poem. A Michtam of David.

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. 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. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, 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; 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 my soul to Sheol, nor let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures evermore.

Psalm 16 is what we would categorize as a song of trust. You’ll remember that a lament psalm typically opens with a petition to God: “Save me, preserve me, O God,” and has a note of confidence with that, and then spends its time talking about the particular point of lament, whether it’s a sickness or an attack or impending danger of some kind. The danger in a lament psalm is prominent, and then he gets to his petition, but always in those lament psalms, there’s a note of confidence that comes through. The Song of Trust is a psalm that takes that note of confidence and embellishes on that through the entire psalm.

There is some danger lurking in the background of the Songs of Trust, and we see that here when he says, “Preserve me, in you I take refuge.” There’s some unidentified trouble and danger lying in the background, but he doesn’t identify what it is. The psalm is given to expressing trust. A sense of confidence dominates throughout the psalm. There’s no lamenting, no complaining about the danger. There’s a brief mention of it, just vaguely, but the psalm is given to expressing his trust and his confidence in the Lord and his good keeping.

Well, Psalm 16 begins with a petition, and that sounds like a lament psalm. I remember we’ve talked about these categories and the identifying marks of the psalms. This is an exception. The beginning, “Preserve me,” the direct address, “O God”—that’s usually the mark of a lament, but here it is the beginning of the psalm, a song of confidence. So he begins with this petition and then immediately declares his trust and his confidence: “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'”

So he has the initial address, the cry for help, that is usually marking the lament psalm, but then he moves on to express his confidence in God, and the rest of the psalm is really an elaboration of that. Now in verses 1 to 8, David here expresses his confidence in God in broad terms. In verses 1 to 8, David trusts the Lord in life. And then verses 9 to 11, David trusts the Lord in death. And those are the two main divisions—unequal divisions, but the main divisions of the psalm.

And the trust that David expresses here in the psalm, as we’ll see, is one of utter confidence in God’s safekeeping. Verse 2, we’ll see that: “I want no one else but you.” And it’s also a confidence that’s coupled with deep affection, like in verse 9: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices.” So David’s tone here is that of confident trust, but it’s a joyful trust, not a timid one, but one that looks to God with happy confidence that God is in control of his entire life.

Trust In The Lord In Life

All right then, verses 1 to 8: trust in the Lord in life. In verses 1 to 2, we have the opening petition, as I’ve mentioned. “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'” So David here seems to have nothing else. He seems to be off on his own in exile of some kind. It’s not identified exactly—I’ll take a stab at that in a minute—but he has no other resources. He has nowhere else to go. His focus is some kind of imminent danger. He doesn’t elaborate on it, but life with all of its dangers. And so he turns to God and he says at the beginning, “Lord, keep me safe.” And that’s the note that dominates.

And then in verses 9 to 11, as I’ve mentioned, he wants God to preserve him and keep him safe even in death. In fact, that word “preserve” or “keep me safe” is important for the entire psalm. Keep me safe in life and in death; keep me safe.

Now verse 2. He goes a step further; he says, “I say to the Lord”—notice all capitals there, uppercase, so I say to Yahweh—”you are my Lord”—there’s lowercase—”I say to Yahweh, ‘You are Adonai, you are my Lord, you are my master.'” I say to the Lord, Yahweh, “You are my master.” So David here is positioning himself as God’s servant. Keep me safe, because I’m yours.

And then verses 3 and 4, he extends the sense of loyalty to God—that “I’m yours, I’m your servant, you are my master”—and he extends that sense of loyalty now from God to his people in verses 3 and 4. “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. 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”—that is, the names of their gods—”on my lips.” The Lord is my Lord, and so his people are my people also.

And he says, “They are the excellent ones.” One commentator translates this, I think getting the sense of it right, “Your people are my heroes.” That’s the sense of it. They’re the noble ones, they’re the majestic ones. It’s not these out here in the world who are opposed to you. Your people are my heroes. In their company is my delight. That’s the sense of this. I don’t want to be named, verse 4, I don’t want to be named with those who worship other gods. Unlike some professing Christians, David is not most comfortable in the world and those who reject God. In his idols, his heroes are not those of the world; it’s those of God’s people.

Now, do we have enough here then in verses 1 to 4 to figure out what the background is? What’s the setting going on here? These Psalms normally do not tell us that. Once in a while, you’ll have a historical note in the superscript, but we don’t have that here. So what’s the setting here? David is out on his own in some kind of way. He has no place else to turn. He has no resources except God, and he’s having to say that God’s people are my people and they are the ones that I want to be with.

Some commentator from the 19th century suggests that the background here could be found in 1 Samuel 26. If you remember that episode in David’s life, he’s fleeing from King Saul. King Saul is in that insane rage against David, trying to kill him. And now we’re in the wilderness of Ziph. And we find, and David has the advantage on Saul. Saul is with his men out there hunting David. David’s hiding in the wilderness. Comes nighttime. Saul and his men fall asleep, and David has his opportunity. And he goes in with one of his men, and one of his men is encouraging him, “This is our time, let’s pin him to the ground, there’s his spear, it’ll only take one poke and this thing will be over.” That’s a bit of a paraphrase, but not much.

And David says, “I won’t touch God’s anointed; God has anointed me as king, I will be king in God’s time, it is up to him to take care of this, I won’t do it.” So instead, they sneak up into the camp, and they take Saul’s spear, and they take his jug of water, and then they make their way out. And he gets the way out, and he hollers back, “Abner!” Abner is Saul’s captain, his bodyguard, he’s the one in charge of this whole thing. “Hey, Abner, you’re not watching King Saul very well. Look for his spear, look for his water jug.”

And of course, now Abner is a little frightened. Saul, meanwhile, wakes up, hears David, recognizes his voice: “David, is that you?” And then David starts his complaint. “Saul, why would you doubt me? I have your spear, I have your water jug, I could have taken your life, why is it you’re pursuing my life? What is it I’ve done?” And in that context, David says, “They have driven me out this day, that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, ‘Go serve other gods.'”

So behind this, perhaps, is David has some accusers talking to Saul, saying, “Yeah, David’s after you, and what he really wants is to serve other gods anyway, and he’s more comfortable with them anyhow.” David then is isolated. He’s forced to be among his pagan neighbors and those in the area and know that he’s there as well. But still in all of that, he’s loyal to the Lord God, and though away from God’s people, he wants to express his loyalty to them as well as to God. This may be the danger then that David is facing. And so his plea in verses 1 and 2: “Preserve me in life.” It is in this kind of a context where his life is endangered and he’s off on his own.

So in verses 1 to 4 then, David expresses his absolute trust in God and his loyalty to him. He’s loyal to God; he is his servant. He’s loyal to God’s people; these are the people he wants to be with. And then in verses 5 to 8, he amplifies on that with a fuller expression of his trust.

So here’s David in exile. Now in verses 5 and 6, he says the Lord is my inheritance. Notice verse 5: “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” Now the language that he’s using here—it may not jump off the page at you—but the language that he’s using here is the language of the distribution of land among the tribes when they entered that land. You might remember that the lots were cast to determine which tribe would get which area of land around that which they had just taken. The tribe of Levi was not given a specific area of land. They were placed in various places throughout the other tribes. The Lord was their portion. They served in the tabernacle.

And that’s the language David uses here in verse 5: “The Lord is my chosen portion.” He’s a choice portion for me. That is to say, he’s all I need. He’s all I have, but he’s all I need as well. Again, it’s the language of complete trust, complete devotion to God. I don’t have anything else out here but God, but he’s my choice portion. “He is my cup,” verse 5, depicts God as handing him a drink, a cup of water. He’s saying here, figuratively then, he’s not only my choice and what I want for my protection and all I have, but he satisfies me. “You hold my lot,” the end of verse 5. Again, it’s the inheritance terminology. Often that term “lot” is used with reference to destiny. So God determines my portion for me. For life and for eternity, he holds my lot.

All of that to say then simply: God is all that I have, God is all that I need, and God is all that I want. God and God alone. All of my well-being and happiness for life and death is in God’s hand and it all hangs on him. It’s the language of utter devotion, utter abandonment to God’s care.

And then we come to verses 7 and 8. The Lord is my guide. He’s not just my inheritance; he’s my guide. This is a further expression of his loyalty and trust. “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”

“I bless the Lord.” That’s an expression that’s rather difficult to define. God blesses us, he empowers us, he bestows mercies on us as needed to empower us to do what he’s called us to do. How do we bless God? Obviously, I think when you come back to it, it’s the idea of reciting back to God what he has done for us, but reciting it back to him in praise for his safekeeping.

So he blesses God. First of all, for God’s law that directs his life. “He gives me counsel. In the night also my heart instructs me.” Now what David is not saying here, when he says, “In the night also my heart instructs me,” he’s not saying here, “When I lie in bed at night, I look deep inside to find the answer to what I need.” What he’s speaking of is he has an informed conscience. God’s law has instructed him, and when he lies in bed at night, when it’s quiet without other distractions, it is God’s word that gives him counsel and directs his life. Verse 8: “I have set the Lord always before me.” I will never look away from his counsel. So what David hears—we find this often in the Psalms—David recognizes not only the authority of God’s word, but he recognizes the value of it. I want no other guidance but what God gives me.

Now, the last part of verse 8 goes a step further. The Lord is my protection. Notice how the metaphor changes here. First part of the verse: “I’ve set the Lord always before me.” That is, he keeps his law in front of him always. “I’ve set the Lord always before me because he’s at my right hand; I shall not be shaken.” At your right hand—that’s the idea of a guardian, a bodyguard, my protector. So following God’s instruction and guidance for life is always safe. I keep him in front of me, and keeping him in front of me, it’s like having God as my guardian at my right hand. I can’t go wrong.

So what we have here in verses 1 to 8, then, is a model prayer. David, it seems out on the run, cut off, falsely accused, but he recognizes that God is God over all, that God is in redemptive relationship with him. He is his God. And so David says, “My circumstances may change, everything around me may change, but these things remain true always.” Verses 1 and 2: “You are my Lord, I am your servant, I trust you and trust your providence in my life, I take refuge in you, I don’t need any other.” Verses 3 and 4: “Your people are my people, I want to be with them, they are my heroes. Those who worship other things, they’re not my kind. I love your people.” Verses 5 and 6: “I’m content with you alone, with whatever your providence brings me.” And then verses 7 and 8: “I trust your word; its guidance is always right and it’s always safe.” So we have this prayer then of absolute confident trust in all of life.

David Trusts The Lord In Death

And then we come to verses 9 through 11, and David expresses his trust in the Lord in death. On this final stanza, David draws everything to a conclusion. Verse 9 starts with that word, “Therefore.” That is an inferential; it’s referring back to what he has just said. On the ground of all of this, “My heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.”

Now verses 9 and 10 actually are sort of a transition in this psalm, bringing us to the last stanza, because we have the first word of verse 9, “Therefore,” looking back to what he’s just said, and then verse 10, the first word is “For,” so that’s looking ahead to what he’s about to say. So verse 9: “Therefore, look, because of what God has proven to be a safe guide for me and my protector, I’m one happy man.” It’s a joy of belonging to God in faith.

But then verse 10: “For,” and here he takes a step further. “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy ones see corruption.” My heart rejoices, verse 9, because you keep me. And verse 10, because you will keep me even in death, not only in life. Now this is the point of his petition. Remember back at the beginning, verse 1: “Lord preserve me, keep me safe.” And here we come to verse 10, and he says he will. He will keep me safe in life and in death. Even in the grave, he says, “My body is secure.” In fact, verse 11 takes us even beyond that. “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures evermore.” And so he anticipates continued joy in God’s presence even after the grave. Death for David, he is convinced, will not have the last word.

And so we have then here a psalm of trust. David rejoices at the unparalleled blessedness of belonging to God for life and for death, and after that forever safe in God’s presence. That’s the joy of those who know God. What a marvelous thing, isn’t it? God who rules over everything has committed himself to me in love through his son. Whatever else changes, that remains true. And because that’s true, we can have absolute confidence in his safekeeping throughout life in every circumstance and in death as well.

And that in brief is Psalm 16. But not quite. Verse 10 implies, it seems, too much. Look at it: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption.” David is not merely saying that God will raise him from the dead. What he is saying is that “I won’t stay dead long enough to see corruption.” So what is this? “You’ll not abandon my soul in Sheol.” You won’t leave me there. You won’t let me stay dead. You’ll raise me from the dead. “You won’t let your servants see corruption.” That is, it won’t see the decomposure of all of the organic material. Usually sets in after the third day. So what’s going on here? Did David say too much? God will protect him forever. In fact, my body won’t even see decay. Is this devotional excess? Is he mistaken?

With all of that in mind, I want you to keep your hand there. We may go back, but look at Acts chapter 2. You remember the setting here, I’m sure. This is the day of Pentecost. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He’s ascended to heaven. He’s told his disciples, “You wait here in Jerusalem until the promise is given you.” That is the promise of the Spirit. That day comes, the day of Pentecost. There’s these spectacular events that are happening. Everybody’s wondering what’s going on. Peter gets up to preach.

Acts 2:22 and following, he raises this question to the Jewish audience: “Men of Israel, hear these words: 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—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. For”—and here he gives biblical support—”David says concerning him,” and here he quotes Psalm 16: “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand, I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad, my tongue rejoiced, 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; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'”

That was Psalm 16, and now Peter again says: “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. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.”

You’ve got to follow his thinking here. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He’s ascended to heaven. The Spirit has been poured out. We have these spectacular events happening. Peter stands up and says, “This is what Jesus has done. Now you know Jesus. You crucified him. And you know he was raised from the dead three days later.” David said, “You’ll not allow my body to see corruption.” Now guys, I gotta tell ya, David died a thousand years ago. He was buried and his tomb is still right out here. I don’t suggest you go out and open it, but he’s still in there. His body saw corruption.

And he reasons with them: Now, David was a prophet. And the implication is, David can’t be wrong, he can’t be mistaken, he had to be right. David said, “You will not allow my body to see corruption.” David’s body did see corruption. So then of whom did he speak? Well, then David, as a prophet, of course, spoke of the Messiah, his promised son. God promised him a greater son who would rule on his throne. That’s who David was talking about—that his promised son would not see corruption. He would die, he would be buried, but his body would not decay in the ground.

Now, who in the world has that ever happened to? Oh wait—Jesus, whom you crucified! And the third day he was raised and you saw him. And Peter has found an ironclad argument in the Messiahship of Jesus. David said you wouldn’t allow his body to see corruption. David’s body did see corruption. As a prophet, he spoke with authority. Of whom then was he speaking? Jesus, just fulfilled. You know, what about other candidates? Jesus’ body did not see corruption. Conclusion: Jesus is the Messiah. And by the way, you crucified him. He says in verse 25, “David spoke concerning him,” concerning Jesus. Paul takes up that same argument and line of reasoning in Acts chapter 13 as well as in Antioch of Pisidia.

So in Psalm 22, as we will see, David prophesies Jesus’ crucifixion. He goes into dramatic detail there. What’s fascinating about it there in Psalm 22 is it’s details about a crucifixion that the world had never seen yet. And it fulfilled exactly in the experience of Jesus. In Psalm 2, as we have seen, and Psalm 110, as we will see, David prophesies Jesus’ enthronement. But here in Psalm 16, he prophesies Jesus’ resurrection.

We’ll see in our evening series the various ways in which the Psalms speak of Jesus. This is one way where David sees himself as foreshadowing the Lord Jesus himself, sees himself as a type of his greater son. Peter recognized that and found an ironclad argument for the messiahship of Jesus. So in David’s words, we have a prophecy fulfilled in the experience of Jesus.

And yet, this is a psalm for us to sing. How does this work for us? And of course, wonderful passages in the New Testament are given to explain that for us: that Jesus is a representative man. He’s the last Adam. He’s our forerunner, and those of us who are joined to him in faith follow him in his resurrection and in his glory. Paul speaks of that at length in 1 Corinthians 15, of course, that Christ was the firstfruits. Afterwards, those who are his at his coming will be raised as well. Joined to him by faith, we will experience his resurrection with him as well.

So David’s resurrection hope and ours was grounded entirely in the death and the resurrection of Jesus. He came as the representative man, died in place of sinners, bearing their sin, taking our curse. Joined to him by faith, in his crucifixion, we can say we died. Joined to him by faith, we are raised with him, and not only in a spiritual sense, but eventually physical resurrection as well; we will follow him in it. And so David’s prophecy was fulfilled in Christ, and by extension it’ll be fulfilled in David’s experience, and it’ll be fulfilled in our own experience as well.

Look again at David’s expression of trust in verses 1 and 2. Psalm 16, verses 1 and 2. Isn’t this the confession we make when we first come to Christ? “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'” Isn’t that what each of us said on the way in? Brought to a recognition of our sin and brought to a recognition of the glories of Christ. We saw Jesus and we saw that no other trust would do. “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'” I have no one else. I want no one else. Isn’t that what we said? “Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find. Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee.”

This is what David says here: For life and for death and for eternity, God is my whole refuge. He’s promised me a greater son. He will come, he will conquer death, and he will take me to join him in resurrection. It’s rather customary in Christian circles to speak of the experience of heaven after death. That’s a wonderful anticipation. It’s a wonderful truth that we’ve been given. We’ll never lose it, but we should not be shortsighted. That experience of heaven after death is not the end. Our hope goes further. The Lord Jesus’ body lay in a tomb; on the third day he was raised. United to our forerunner, we will follow him in resurrection also. He’s gone ahead of us in resurrection and he’ll bring us up with him as well in the new heaven and the new earth.

Ever since Wesley, it’s been customary in Christian circles to say, “Our people die well.” I’ve seen it many times over. I remember one time, Bruce, you’ll remember Dan Ost, leading businessman in the church then 30 years ago. He had cancer. Finally, he was on a hospice bed in his living room, just waiting to die. I went to see him one time and he could barely muster the strength to speak. At one point he raised himself up on his elbow on the hospice bed: “I’m strong in Christ.”

Our people die well. We have a forerunner who went ahead of us. He’s gone through death. He’s gone into resurrection. And we will follow him there because David’s greater son has gone ahead of us. And because like David, our trust is in this great God and the son that he has sent, we will be safe with him forever in life and in death. Amen. Let’s pray.

Our Father, give us this kind of faith. We thank you for your word that has given us all that we need to trust. You’ve shown us a great Savior. You’ve brought us to him in faith. We pray that you’ll strengthen the hearts of your people for life and for death and for eternity because of the Lord Jesus. We pray in his name, amen.