This week the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, more commonly known and William and Kate, announced that they are going to have a baby. And it’s really not surprising that when their child is born sometime next year, the whole world will watch and will celebrate the birth of the child who will be third in line to the throne of England.
From the world’s perspective, it’s certainly much more surprising that this month the whole world will celebrate the birth of another child that took place over 2,000 years ago to a young unknown couple in the small town of Bethlehem that was witnessed only by his parents, a few animals and some shepherds.
Even though the birth of William and Kate’s baby is certainly much more noteworthy according to our world standards, it will be long forgotten in a generation or two, relegated to the history books. So what is it about the birth of Jesus that keeps it in the public eye two millennia later?
In our journey through some of the Messianic Psalms we’ve begun to answer that question. Certainly, as we saw in Psalm 8, the humility that caused Jesus to leave the glory of heaven and take on the body of a baby is something worth taking note of. And the suffering that the grown Jesus suffered on our behalf that we saw last week in Psalm 88 is also noteworthy. But there have been other humble men born throughout history. And there have certainly been men who suffered and died terrible deaths for a good cause as well.
The primary reason that the birth of Jesus is such a noteworthy event is found in the Psalm that we’ll look at this morning – Psalm 16. Go ahead and follow along as I read that passage:
1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
4 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.
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
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.
Psalm 16:1-11 (ESV)
What a refreshing change from Psalm 88 last week! We had to really dig deep to find hope in the midst of that Psalm didn’t we? But this Psalm is full of hope and joy, especially in the final verse. After all who doesn’t want to experience that kind of life – one where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore? So we’re going to focus this morning on the phrase that the Psalmist uses in that last verse which is really the theme of the entire Psalm...
THE PATH OF LIFE
This Psalm, like all of the Messianic psalms we’ve looked at so far, also operates on two levels. On the surface, it reflects the prayer of David who celebrates the joy of his journey on the path of life. But at a deeper level, this Psalm also pictures the resurrection of Jesus. That is the event that makes the birth of Jesus so significant. Had Jesus not risen from the dead, then His birth and His suffering and death on the cross would have been long forgotten.
So this morning as we examine this Psalm, we’re going to begin with the Messianic implications of the Psalm and then we’ll go back and see how David’s words can help us take the path of life. We really need to approach this Psalm that way because…
• The resurrection of Jesus makes it possible to choose the path of life
We don’t have to speculate at all about whether this Psalm pictures the resurrection of Jesus. Both Peter and Paul quote this Psalm in their preaching that is recorded for us in the Book of Acts and clearly apply it to that vital event. We’ll begin with a portion of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost:
God raised him [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 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;
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.’
Acts 2:24-28 (ESV)
Later as Paul preached in the synagogue in Antioch in Pisdia, he used this Psalm in a similar manner:
And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
Therefore he says also in another psalm,
“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.
Acts 13:32-37 (ESV)
Here Paul reveals that verse 10 of Psalm 16 could not merely apply to David since his body was buried in the ground, where it decayed. Jesus, on the other hand, was raised up by God so that His body did not see corruption.
Although David certainly couldn’t fully understand the implications of what he was writing, it was the resurrection of Jesus that made it possible for him and for us to travel the path of life that he describes in the rest of the Psalm.
We can’t travel that path without God’s help and the resurrection of Jesus, in which God demonstrates His power over death, is proof that God is more than capable of helping us to live that kind of life in which we experience fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
But at the same time, God never forces us to live our lives in a manner that is consistent with His character and His ways. We have to choose to experience the blessing that only comes from taking that path of life. Here in this Psalm, David provides us with some very practical ways that we can choose to take that path.
And what we find, as we see throughout the rest of Scripture, is that living that kind of life is not merely a matter of following a list of “do’s” and “don’ts”. It does not consist of following three, or seven or ten steps that are the key to an abundant and joyful life. Instead, it is a matter of the heart – a heart that delights in the very same things in which God delights.
In his devotional titled “God Understands Us”, A.W. Tozer summarized the essence of this Psalm with these words:
We should revel in the joy of believing that God is the sum of all patience and the true essence of kindly good will! Because He is what He is, we please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and believing that He understands everything - and loves us still! The God who desires our fellowship and communion is not hard to please, although He may be hard to satisfy. He expects from us only what He has Himself supplied.
God only expects us to follow the path of life because He has Himself supplied everything we need to do that through the resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus. Through the most significant event in the history of mankind, God has supplied us with the ability to take the path of life by developing a heart that delights in the things in which he delights.
I take the path of life by delighting in:
• God’s presence
The Psalmist bookends this Psalm with the concept of delighting in God’s presence. He begins in verses 1 and 2 by describing how he takes refuge in God and how there is nothing good in his life apart from God. And then he closes the Psalm by revealing that it is in the presence of God that he finds “fullness of joy.”
We know that God is omnipresent. As the Psalmist expressed correctly, there is nowhere we can go to flee from His presence:
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
Psalm 139:7 (ESV)
But even though God is constantly present with us, that doesn’t mean we automatically delight in that presence. Obviously we don’t have time this morning to make a comprehensive study of how we can delight in God’s presence, so I’m going to focus on just one aspect of how we can develop that kind of heart in our lives.
In order to do that we’re going to go back to a passage that we focused on at the very beginning of our study of the Psalms last July:
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2 (ESV)
The primary way that we delight in God is to delight in His Word. That idea is confirmed in Psalm 119 where the Psalmist proclaims that he delights in God’s law a total of ten times.
So if I want to delight in God’s presence I must be consistently spending time in His Word because that is where He reveals Himself to me. But in order to experience God’ presence in His Word, I need to approach our Bible reading and study with the right attitude.
Perhaps, like me, you have been taught from a very early stage in your walk with Jesus, the importance of having a daily “quiet time” with God. While that is not necessarily a bad thing at all, the problem I have found over the years is that most people tend to follow some formula – and there are certainly all kinds of them out there – for how to do that. So the focus often becomes on completing that task just like we do with all the other ones on our to-do list each day.
There is certainly some value in developing a habit of spending time in God’s Word and in prayer every day, but if we don’t move beyond viewing that as a task to be completed, we will never truly experience the delight of being in God’s presence.
In the preface to his book, The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer writes these relevant and insightful words:
The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”
That’s how we delight in God’s presence as we spend time in His Word. The purpose of our time in the Bible should be to get to know God, not just know about Him. It is in His Word that we get to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
We certainly know that David, as a man after God’s own heart, delighted in God’s Word and in the presence of God that he experienced there. That’s certainly a great place to start if we want to follow the path of life.
• God’s people
In verse 3, David writes about the “saints in the land”. The Hebrew word that is translated “saints” is used elsewhere in Scripture only in Psalm 34 and in Daniel chapter 7. It comes from the same root word that is usually translated “holy”. It describes “those who have been set apart or put aside for God’s use”. The Psalmist is actually using that word in a manner that is very similar to the way Paul frequently uses the corresponding Greek word in the New Testament to describe all followers of Jesus.
I discovered something very interesting in my studies this week. Do you realize that the Bible never uses the word “saint” in the singular? There is no Saint Peter or Saint Paul. The word is always used in the plural and refers to the group of God’s followers who have been set aside for His purposes.
Here in this Psalm, David calls those saints “excellent ones” and he expresses his delight in them.
So who exactly are the saints? Certainly not everyone who claims to be a Christian fits the definition of one who has been “set apart”. When someone makes a genuine commitment to make Jesus their Savior and Lord, then that means that they will automatically be set apart from the rest of the world as they live their lives in a manner that is consistent with who God is.
Jesus made it clear that His true disciples would live their lives in a manner in which it would be apparent that they were not like the rest of the world:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
John 8:31 (ESV)
When Jesus speaks here of abiding in His word, He is describing those who live their live s in a manner that is consistent with that which He has revealed. That is His definition of what it means to be a “saint”. Like David, we are to delight in those who choose to live a life like that which is set apart for God’s use. And in Acts 2, we are given a glimpse into what occurs when God’s people delight in each other:
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)
One of the best ways to experience the fullness of joy in our lives is to delight in the experience of living life together with other genuine believers. And if you’re doing that it means that you’re finding a way to spend time with your fellow Christ followers throughout the week – not just for an hour or so on Sunday morning.
• God’s provision
In verses 5 and 6, we find several words that describe God’s provision in David’s life – chosen portion, cup, lot and inheritance. In the culture of David’s time, those terms would have normally represented material blessings. But David proclaims that God Himself is his portion and his cup and his lot and his inheritance.
There is certainly a sense of contentment in David’s life here. Whatever God has chosen to supply Him with will be completely adequate for him. This same idea is expressed beautifully in one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible from Psalm 73:
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Psalm 73:25 (ESV)
If we could only learn to live our lives with that attitude, we would all experience the fullness of joy so much more. But as we all know, that is easier said than done. Let’s be honest. When we see others, especially those who could care less about God, prospering materially, it’s hard not to want what they have – a bigger house, a newer car, a bigger flat screen TV, or the latest, greatest computer or smart phone.
And our culture certainly doesn’t help us out here. We turn on the TV and are bombarded with commercials trying to convince us that our lives will be better if we’ll just buy their product. And during this time of year, that mindset even carries over into our gift buying for others. Every Christmas, so many people go into debt to buy things they can’t afford thinking that will somehow demonstrate their love for others only to find that so many of those gifts end up gathering dust, only to become someone else’s “white elephant” gift the following year.
Here is how the writer of Hebrews expressed this principle:
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)
If God loves us so much that He will never leave us or forsake us, don’t you think He is perfectly capable of providing us with whatever we need? And the truth of the matter is that in almost every case, He provides His children with so much more than that.
David understood that God had provided him with all that was really needed – God Himself. Once we realize that, then we can learn to be content with whatever else God has chose to bless us with and to have a grateful heart. And when we do that, we will certainly be on the path of life and experience the fullness of joy.
• God’s principles
In verses 7 and 8, David reflects upon how God has guided his life. God provided him with counsel and instructed him. But that was just the starting point. David had also chosen to obey that which God had taught him – he chose to set the Lord always before him.
He certainly didn’t view God’s commands as being burdensome, or something to be applied grudgingly. In fact, he recognized that the key to having joy in his life was to live his life in a way that was consistent with God’s character and His ways.
This is exactly what we saw in the Psalms of Ascent. Remember the main theme that we developed from our study of those Psalms:
• There is blessing in obeying God, not for obeying God.
Although we’ve focused on that principle frequently recently and I’m not going to dwell here too long, it is just not possible to overemphasize its importance. The way that we remain on the path of life is to continue to live our lives in a manner that is consistent with the character of God. And God has graciously given us His commands to make it clear how we are to do that in every area of our lives.
We don’t earn God’s blessing by living like that. God can’t be manipulated like that. But God has designed His creation in a way that when it lives in harmony with who He is, that becomes the blessing. See the difference?
This year as we celebrate Christmas, we need to remember that without the resurrection, the birth of Jesus would not be noteworthy at all. Because it is that resurrection that makes it possible for us to continue to live on the path of life by developing a heart that delights in the same things in which God delights:
• His presence
• His people
• His provision
• His principles
