Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 16 | Date: October 6, 2019 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Psalm 16 beginning with—I’ll read through the entire psalm.

“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, or 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 forevermore.”

Let’s bow together for prayer.

Our Father, we are grateful for this book that you have given to us. What a treat it is for us to open the pages of this book and know that we are hearing from God himself. And what a treat to learn its message, centering on the Lord Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer. And what a treat it is to be able to, on the basis of the teaching we find in your word, to look forward and have this great hope of resurrection. Lord, give us a clear understanding of that this morning and help us through this to give you the praise that is due you for your grace to us in Christ. In his name we pray, amen.

Confidence and Delight in God

Like so many of the psalms, Psalm 16 is a plea to God for help. That’s the first expression of the psalm: “Preserve me, O God.” But what’s curious about this psalm is that that’s the last petition we find. We don’t find him asking for help any further than this. What he says in the opening is, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge,” and from there he launches into this talking about God and the blessings that he has in God. All in light of this request of verse one—preserve me, O God, and protect me.

So what’s curious here is he spends almost no time at all asking for help, but rather he expresses his complete confidence and delight in God, who is his help. “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” Now, we don’t know the specific circumstances of this psalm. Evidently, it is when he is running from danger. Perhaps it is running from King Saul during that time; whatever it was, we don’t know the specific circumstances, except that there’s some kind of danger involved. And he says, in essence, “Lord, preserve me. I need your help. And really, you are all I need.”

And that, in a nutshell, is what the psalm is about. He says in verse 2, “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'” Now that is an ancient psalmist’s way of saying what we have in Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Thou, O Christ, art all I want; more than all in Thee I find.” That’s what he’s saying in verse two: “I have no good apart from you.” Ultimately, there’s no need for anything else, just you.

And then he begins through the rest of the psalm to express his utter confidence in God’s safekeeping. In fact, you’ll notice beginning in verse five a rather triumphant tone. “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.” That is, it’s the Lord who directs everything about my life and all the circumstances, all the events of life. God had given allotments of land for all of the people of Israel. David evidently at this point doesn’t have any of that. He’s on the run. And instead, “the Lord is my portion. He is my inheritance. He is what I want.” In verse six, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance,” which is just a fascinating way to talk given the circumstances.

Specific Blessings from the Lord

And then he begins in verse 7 to highlight the specific blessings he has from the Lord. First of all, guidance. “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” So God giving guidance, ordering the steps of his life.

Verse 8, God gives stability. “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” He gives stability. This expression here, “right hand”—I’ve set the Lord at my right hand—we use something similar to that in our own language today. This person is my “right-hand man.” Now, in one context, that might mean one who provides for me when I need it. In another context, it might mean a guardian. In another context, it might be a defense attorney. But that’s the symbolism here. God is my right-hand man. What better right-hand man would you want than God? I’ve set Him at my right hand. He’s always before me.

Verse nine, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” Here God gives joy. So he gives guidance, he gives stability, and here joy—confidence in God that is just so settled that it excites his emotions to think of it, that God gives me this joy in all that he provides.

Verse 10, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” Here he is saying God gives confidence, and not for this life only, but God gives confidence in life after death. He’s praying here in verse 10 in a very explicit way. He’s expressing confidence in God, not just for a blessed afterlife, but very specifically, he’s speaking of resurrection. That death will not have the last say, but “he will not abandon my soul to Sheol.” I will not stay in the grave forever. And in fact, he says, “you won’t let your Holy One see corruption.” We’ll come back to that in a little bit.

Then verse 11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” And here he speaks of his contentedness in God, his utter satisfaction in God—a complete satiation, if you would, completely satisfied in God, and not for this life only, but forevermore: “that at your right hand there are pleasures and fullness of joy forevermore.” So God gives satisfaction. He gives guidance, He gives stability, He gives joy, He gives confidence, and He gives satisfaction in life with Him now and forever. So He’s speaking of His confidence in God for this life and for eternity as well. As he says in verse 1, “the Lord is my refuge.” He’s all that I need.

The Promise of the Champion

Now note again verses 10 and 11. “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,” the grave, the realm of the dead. “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or 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 forevermore.” God is my confidence in life and in death and in resurrection and for eternity.

Now, just how God will do all of this and rescue his people from death, of course, ties us then to the very story of the Bible and what it’s all about in the first place. Let’s review it. In Genesis chapters 1 to 3, we find that God has created the world. He’s created man and woman. He’s created them in his image. He has given them commands. They are accountable to him. He’s given them great freedom. He’s told them all that they can have and do freely. Only one prohibition: don’t eat of that tree. And he gives them a corresponding warning: “In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

And then we turn to chapter 3, of course, and we find the tempter comes, and he tempts Eve and Adam. Adam rebels. He takes the forbidden fruit, and God comes in judgment and says, “From dust you are, and to dust you will return.” Death, the sentence for sin. And that we find in the scriptures then is the origin of death. It all works back to Genesis chapter 3 and human rebellion against sin and God’s consequent judgment. Death has passed on humanity. And we begin to read through the following chapters in Genesis and we see that playing out.

We’re just barely into chapter 5 of Genesis, and we find that reminder again, and then again, and then again, and then again—that so-and-so lived so many years, and he died; and so-and-so lived so many years, had sons and daughters, and he died; and so-and-so lived so many years, had sons, and he died; and so-and-so, and he died, and he died. We find that over and over again through Genesis chapter 5. As I’ve said before, you don’t need six theological degrees to get the point of Genesis chapter 5. Death is passed on humanity, and it is the outworking of Genesis chapter 3 and God’s judgment on sin. And it was in this way that death entered into humanity. It’s the immediate consequence of sin. It is divine judgment, and death in its every instance is a reminder of sin and a reminder of judgment. We’ve rebelled against God, and we live in this fallen, cursed state where death has, in just an awful way, become usual.

But then, of course, in Genesis chapter 3, God makes a promise. Genesis chapter 3:15, he promises that a champion will come and defeat the tempter. He doesn’t give details at that point. But the implication is, in defeating the tempter, he’s going to fix this mess that the tempter has created in bringing humanity into sin. And what he says is, “I’ll put enmity between you, Satan, and the woman, between your offspring, your seed, and her seed.” And then there’s a fifth person introduced: “Put enmity between you, Satan, and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, and he”—that is, this male offspring of the woman’s seed—”he will bruise your head. He’ll crush your head and you’ll crush his heel.” At some cost to himself, this champion will come and defeat the tempter. And the implication is this problem of death and judgment and fallenness will be reversed.

And then the Bible picks up on this promise theme, and it picks up on this seed or offspring theme as well. It becomes prominent with Noah. It becomes very prominent, you remember, with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. God makes a promise to Abraham: “In your family, in your seed, all of the families of the world will be blessed.” And there’s the seed theme picked up again. There’s the promise theme picked up again. We find it again in a prominent way in 2 Samuel chapter 7. God makes another promise, this time to David. He is one of Abraham’s descendants, still following that line. But he says, “Now it will be your son who will sit on the throne forever.”

And then that promise theme of David’s son reigning on the throne is picked up and expanded and unpacked throughout the Psalms and through the prophets—that David’s son will rule on the throne universally. It will be a kingdom that’s characterized by righteousness and peace and universal blessing. The prophets look ahead to the time when this kingdom will be realized in its fullness, and it’s often characterized in the prophets as a time of restoration, even in terms of a new creation. Sometimes it’s spoken of in terms of the land. Of course, there are debates between theologians as to whether Israel will be in the land or not in the end. But what we do see is that the land promise, at the very least, we see that expanding and unfolding until it is the whole world that God’s people will inherit.

We find in Isaiah chapter 65 and 66 where the prophet speaks in grander terms of a new heaven and a new earth—that this old earth, this old order of being, is going to be replaced and God is going to bring about this great renovation of all of the created order. Joel speaks of it in terms of the mountains shall drip with wine—great productivity, great blessing in everything about the created order. Isaiah chapter 11, and in chapter 65 and 66 as well, pick up the language of the animal kingdom. The wolf will dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the young goat. The bear and the cow shall graze, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. A whole renovation of the created order in this coming kingdom of Abraham’s seed, of David’s son.

And again, all of that is in keeping with this champion theme that we find way back in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. This champion will come and he’ll bring about all of this restoration and all of this worldwide blessing. He’s spoken of as the shoot coming from the stump of David. It seems at one point finally that the tree of David, with all of its blessing, has been cut down to a stump. But a shoot is rising up out of that stump, and that shoot from the stump of David will bring about this kingdom of God worldwide. He’s spoken of as “mine anointed,” “my servant.” And throughout the Old Testament, we have this anticipation of this champion coming. He’s a king. He’s a judge. He’s the servant of God. He’s the son of David. He’s David come to rule over God’s kingdom.

The Hope of Resurrection

And in this great universal kingdom in which the whole created order is restored, the prophets also include this note of resurrection as well. And in fact, as far back as Job, we find it. Job himself expressing the hope, with all of his struggles of what seems to be injustice—that God has turned on me and I didn’t deserve all that has happened to me—Job has these outbursts of faith and he says, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Job chapter 19: “I know that my Redeemer lives and shall stand on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, in my flesh I shall see God.”

We find it here in Psalm 16. David has this hope clearly in verses 10 and 11: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” We find it in Isaiah chapter 25: “He will swallow up death forever.” And beautifully in Isaiah 26: “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.” And then, of course, most famously, I suppose, in Daniel chapter 12: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

That is the ultimate hope of the people of God for all of the centuries: that God will come in the person of his Messiah and restore the entire created order. And with that, he will bring a reversal of death and the dead will be raised. And in fact, all of this is tied very tightly to this champion theme, and all of it, of course, comes together and coalesces when we come to the New Testament and begin to read about Jesus.

It is clear in the Gospels that Jesus shares this hope of resurrection with his Jewish contemporaries. It’s a doctrine that they hold in common. But Jesus adds a twist, or I should say some clarification to the doctrine. The famous incident in John chapter 11 when Lazarus had died—you remember Mary and Martha and Lazarus, their brother. Lazarus had died. These are close friends with Jesus. Jesus was not there when Lazarus passed and he receives word and he goes back. When he gets there, Lazarus has been dead four days. You remember what Martha has to say: “Lord, if you’d been here, he wouldn’t have died.” Great expression of faith in Jesus, isn’t it? “You wouldn’t have allowed this.”

Jesus responds, “Your brother will live again.” Little does she know how soon. “Oh yes, I believe he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day.” And there it’s Jesus’ response that clarifies what resurrection is all about: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” And then he presses, “Do you believe this?” And she responds in light of Israel’s ancient hope, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ who is to come into the world.”

But that’s a strange way to talk. “I am the resurrection and the life.” That’s much more than simply saying he’ll rise again. It’s much more than saying the dead will be raised. And it’s much more even than saying “I will raise the dead.” “I am the resurrection and the life,” he says. He had said previously that he would raise the dead, but this says much more. And when he says, “I am the resurrection and the life,” you have to think, thinking through the big story, is he claiming to be that champion who was promised?

Just how all of that would work out, of course, his followers would learn. They couldn’t see at that moment, but at least it was this: that this hope of resurrection is tied to Jesus. “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he die, shall live.”

The Victory of Christ

Now to understand that, of course, we are brought inevitably to the cross to see what Jesus accomplished there. Going to the cross, he took the curse of sin to himself, going there to bear the pain and the suffering and the curse and the death of sinners. Taking their place in bearing the judgment and curse of God against sin. All of this death that has come upon humanity has come because of sin. And all of that sin was placed on Jesus. And he, taking the place of his people, going to the cross to bear their punishment, paying the debt in their place as their substitute and as their representative, going before them and taking their curse.

Death had come by sin; to remedy the problem of death, the problem of sin must be answered. And here the problem of sin is answered, the perfect substitute taking the place of his people. And because his sacrifice is accepted of God, we find God raised him from the dead. And so Jesus now has experienced this resurrection. He is vindicated in his resurrection. He is one who, under the unjust treatment of men, was crucified, and yet in that unjust death, he bore the just wrath of God against sinners. And because he has successfully accomplished it, God raised him from the dead in vindication.

And so we find that Jesus then has led the way. He has entered into this resurrection that we’re expecting at the end time. Jesus has already gone there. He’s passed from death into resurrection himself. And in fact, we find the apostles preaching that in the book of Acts. Two or three times we find a statement equivalent to Paul or Peter, either one saying, “I preached in Jesus the resurrection of the dead,” which is just a very important way to say it. You remember the squabbles they would have, and sometimes the apostles would find themselves between the Pharisees on the one hand and the Sadducees on the other. The Pharisees believing in the resurrection of the dead, the Sadducees denying the resurrection, and the apostles saying, “Guys, this is no longer a question of if. It has already happened. Jesus has been raised from the dead. You remember that empty tomb? It’s already happened. Jesus has been raised from the dead.”

And that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul means in 2 Timothy when he says Christ has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He has entered into that age to come and has already, ahead of us, experienced resurrection. And all of that then is the fuller picture of what Jesus meant in John 11 when he says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” And that is just as in a sense we are united with—we were with Jesus in his death, as he is our representative taking us through death, the punishment of our sin as our substitute. So also now we are joined with him in resurrection, and those who are associated with Jesus by faith follow him in the resurrection that he successfully accomplished.

And all of that, in turn, I think helps us understand Psalm 16 verse 10 again. Look at it: “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” Now, I suppose there is one way to read that. As I’ve said earlier, this is David’s hope of resurrection. “You won’t abandon my soul to Sheol.” That is, I won’t stay there forever. But notice the language is a bit too strong for just that: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption.” And you remember now where this verse is picked up in the New Testament. You remember Peter standing up at Pentecost, preaching the gospel to the Jews there. He pulls out this verse, Psalm 16, verse 10—actually quotes verse eight and following.

And then he reasons with the Jews. “Do you see what David said? ‘You won’t abandon my soul to Sheol, you won’t let your holy one see corruption.'” Now the unexpressed assumption in what Peter is saying is that David couldn’t be wrong. They all agree to that. David can’t be wrong; he’s speaking by inspiration of the Spirit. And he says, “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption.” And he reasons with his hearers and he says, “Guys, David’s still dead. His body saw corruption. You know he’s not wrong. He’s got to be speaking of Messiah. Seen an empty tomb lately?” David was talking about Jesus, and his hope in resurrection is tied immediately to the Messiah in his resurrection.

And of course, that’s exactly what Jesus is telling us when he says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And that’s exactly what the apostles pick up on, Paul in particular, when we come to the New Testament: that God will raise the dead. But it’s not just that simple. God will raise the dead in Jesus—that Jesus has accomplished his resurrection on his own as our forerunner, and we follow with him in his train. And just as surely as he is raised from the dead, we will be raised also as we follow him. Paul outlines that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. All will be raised, but each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, and then those of us who are his at his coming.

That is the great hope that the Bible has to offer. It is tied immediately to Jesus and his accomplished work of salvation. We have this great kingship theme and the coming king theme unfolding in the Old Testament, and of course it centers on Jesus, but again it’s not just that simple. It’s rather complex when we come to the New Testament. Just when is Jesus king? Of course, we find him king at his birth. “We’ve come to worship him, king of the Jews.” We find a heavy emphasis on Jesus’ kingship in his passion. You’ve got the crown of thorns, and you’ve got the scepter, and you’ve got the purple robe, and you’ve got the title above him on the cross: “This is Jesus, king of the Jews.”

There’s this great teaching in the scriptures that this is where his kingship is established—that he goes to the cross and secures the redemption of his people by his death in their place. And securing their redemption establishes himself as king. But it doesn’t stop there either. His kingship is established in his resurrection from the dead. It’s established in his ascension into heaven. Peter talks about that at Pentecost—that God has now established him at the right hand of the Father and he reigns as king. It’s still not over. Not until he returns as king and brings the kingdom to its final consummation do we see it all fulfilled.

And in that broad sweep of the realization of Jesus’ kingship, we find that this promise then is fulfilled. There is a sense in which we’re raised with him now, and we’ve experienced that newness of life. We express it in our baptism—that the new life we experience is a life that has been joined to Jesus, and we experience his new life in us already. But that newness and that resurrection life in its fullness comes when he returns, and those who are his will be raised and share in the glories of his eternal kingdom.

“The Lord himself,” Paul says, “will descend from heaven with a shout, a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will be raised first. And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord.”

So at this point, at this point in redemptive history, death is still a dreaded enemy. And I think we have to be careful how we quote and apply 1 Corinthians 15, “O death, where is your victory?” I think we have to be careful lest we misapply that or, to say it another way, lest we apply it too soon. Death is still a terrible, terrible enemy and it still has an awful sting. We’ve seen it this week—Sister Jane’s passing, Alan’s mother passing. We’ve all experienced loved ones who have passed. And it’d be silly to say that death doesn’t sting right now.

But as we sing in one of the songs that we sing here, which I’d love to sing more often: “But this we know. Our Lord has traveled this way before. His body clothed with immortality. The sepulcher’s sting is drawn, the body of sin destroyed. Death has been swallowed up in His final victory.” Christ has gone there through death into resurrection. And because He has accomplished it, because He is already there, we will also. And so in measure, in measure, we can say, “O death, where is your victory?” But it’s in anticipation. The fullness will only be realized when at last the crucified, resurrected, ascended Christ returns and takes us up to be with him.

That’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep”—we won’t all die—”we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” And he reasons it out: “For this perishable must put on—this perishable must put on imperishable; this mortal must put on immortality. And when—when this perishable puts on imperishable, and when this mortal puts on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘O death, where is your victory? O grave, where is your sting?'”

And that is the Bible’s final answer to the problem of death. And those of us here who belong to Jesus have nothing ultimately to fear. Death will not have the last say. Our Lord Jesus has gone before us. He has led the way through death and through resurrection to final triumph for all of us who are his at his return. That’s the Christian’s blessed hope. Amen.

Let’s pray.

Our Father, this is a great hope that you’ve given to us. We’re thankful for Jesus, our forerunner, our leader, our redeemer. We’re thankful for the great work that he accomplished in his death and in his resurrection, and our hearts are encouraged to see him as the one who has gone before and who will lead us into the fullness of resurrection life that you’ve promised. We’re grateful for the blessed hope. Lord, we ask that you would hasten the day for our Lord’s return. Until then, keep us faithful to him. We pray in his name. Amen.