A Joy Death Can't Take (Psalm 16)
Notes
Transcript
If you've ever bought land before,
somebody probably handed you a thick stack of paper at closing that traces your property back through every owner who ever held it.
Names, dates, sales, estates, page after page.
And every name in that stack has one thing in common except yours.
They're gone.
Somebody else holds what they held.
And the point is:
you don't really hold anything - you just hold it for a while.
Well, in Psalm 16, David speaks to this idea.
And he answers a question that burns within every human heart.
And the question is this:
“Is there anything I can hold onto that won’t be taken from me?”
And, thankfully, the answer is, “Yes.”
But to have that, a joy that can’t be taken away, we must do the 3 things David shows us in this Psalm:
To have a joy that can’t be taken we must:
Run to the LORD (vv. 1–4)
Rest in our Portion (vv. 5–8)
Rejoice in His Presence (vv. 9–11)
Would someone read verses 1-4?
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.
David doesn’t tell us what danger he’s facing here,
But it doesn’t really matter.
What matters is where he runs to when the danger comes.
And in verse 1 it shows us.
He runs to the Lord saying: “Preserve me, O God.”
Then look at what he says in verse 2.
“I have no good apart from you.”
He doesn’t say, “Your the best good.”
He doesn’t say, “You’re at the top of my list.”
He says: “Apart from you, there is no list.”
So David’s joy is found vertically in God.
But it doesn’t stop there, it moves out horizontally,
because look at verse 4.
Where does David’s joy in the Lord take him?
Who does he delight in?
The faithful ones in Israel.
and for us who is it?
it's the people God has gathered in Christ.
So look around this room tonight.
That's verse 3 with faces on it.
And so we need to ask ourselves, are we delighting in God’s people.
And if the answer is no, what does that tell us?
Verse 4 then points out that everybody is running,
and the only question is where.
Those who run after another god, David says, will see their sorrows multiply.
That's the same kind of language God spoke to Eve after the fall: "I will surely multiply your pain."
Idols always promise joy but they only deliver sorrow.
None of here are likely pouring out drink offerings of blood to other gods,
but what does our idolatry tend to look like?
Retirement.
The lake place.
The kids' schedule.
Somebody's approval.
A clean scan at the next appointment.
None of those things are evil.
But when we make them our refuge they become our prison.
multiply our sorrows, because we cannot hold them and they cannot hold us.
To have a joy that can’t be taken we must:
Run to the LORD (vv. 1–4)
Rest in our Portion (vv. 5–8)
Would someone please read verses 5-8?
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.
When Israel entered Canaan, the land was divided by lot,
and lines were stretched out to mark each tribe's share.
Every tribe got land.
Except one.
The priests and Levites got no territory.
And God told them why: "I am your portion and your inheritance" (Numbers 18:20).
And when David reads that he says, "I'll take Levi's deal."
He’s saying: “Keep your lakefront property! I’ll take the Lord!”
David knows the Giver is better than the gift.
In verse 5, who does David say holds him?
Who is holding “his lot?”
What does that mean?
It means, we hold nothing, because we all die,
But the Lord who is eternal holds our lot, and we never lose it.
Because nobody takes anything out of His hand - and that includes us.
Verses 7 and 8 show what that rest looks like.
God counsels him, and even in the night his heart keeps instructing him.
Some of you know those nights.
Three in the morning, staring at the ceiling, running the numbers on the bills or the biopsy.
David's answer isn't "think positive."
It's "I have set the LORD always before me."
He deliberately puts God in front of his eyes.
And the LORD stands at his right hand, right where a defender stands.
So David says, "I shall not be shaken."
Because when your only good can't be taken, you can't be shaken.
So look at what is happening here.
David’s earthly lines have fallen on him in a bad way.
He’s literally going through a difficult time.
But he keeps his eyes fixed upon the Lord, and then says: “The lines have fallen on me in a pleasant way!”
What New Testament writer does this remind you of?
Paul in Philippians - who knew the secret to joy - which was what? Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.”
Question:
What keeps us from this joy?
To have a joy that can’t be taken we must:
Run to the LORD (vv. 1–4)
Rest in our Portion (vv. 5–8)
Rejoice in His Presence (vv. 9–11)
Would some please read verses 9-11?
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.
Verse 9 starts with "therefore."
Everything David has said about God as his refuge and his portion now changes his view of the thing we all dread,
which is death.
But notice he doesn’t just say: “My soul dwells secure.”
He says “My flesh also dwells secure.”
That’s his body.
He says: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption."
Sheol is the grave.
Corruption is what happens to a body in the ground.
David is saying God will not let death have the last word.
But wait a second… David died…
So how does that work?
Well, on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up in Jerusalem and addressed that when he referenced Psalm 16.
In acts 2, Peter said:
David "both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (Acts 2:29).
So if David died, who is the holy one who didn’t see corruption?
Peter says David saw it who it was, though only in part.
He foresaw the resurrection of Christ and how He was not abandoned to the grave or see corruption.
And in Acts 13, Paul preached the same verse saying: “
David's body decayed, "but He whom God raised up did not see corruption" (Acts 13:37).
Jesus didn't skip death - He went all the way into it.
On the cross He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Verse 4 said the sorrows of those who run after other gods multiply.
And that was all of us.
But Jesus carried those sorrows us.
And because He did, God did exactly what Psalm 16 said He would.
He did not abandon Him to the grave.
On the third day, unlike David’s tomb, Jesus’ tomb was empty, and it still is.
And because He walked out, everyone who belongs to Him will too one day soon.
Verse 11 tells us where our path ends.
"In Your presence there is fullness of joy."
The word "presence" is literally "face."
The joy at the end of the path is seeing God face to face.
And Peter tells us Who is at God's right hand right now.
It’s Jesus, "exalted at the right hand of God" (Acts 2:33).
Which means the path of life ends with Him.
Which means, by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ,
Yes, our name will come off the deed.
But in Christ we have been born again
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
That’s an inheritance we never lose to be given to someone else.
It’s a joy death can't take.
Question:
If Psalm 16:10 really came true at the empty tomb, how should that change the way a Christian walks into a funeral, a hard diagnosis, or just getting older?
"Be Thou My Vision" is the closest fit to vv. 5–6 ("Thou mine inheritance, now and always").
"Christ Our Hope in Life and Death" carries vv. 9–11.
