The Headline of Hope Psalm 16

In a recent podcast of Al Mohler he brought up the contrast between what the world thinks are the most important headlines, like the Mueller report that apparently exonerates President Trump from collusion with the Russians and that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on saying, “. . . at this time of year, even people who are not Christians, especially in the lands where Christianity was once common, there’s a great deal of attention to the celebration of what is called Easter . . ..” In short, he points out that we as Christians know that every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of the Lord, and that it is wrong to think that this truth is only important to us one day a year. That fact is Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the only hope for sinful humanity. (The Briefing, 4/19/2019, Al Mohler.com)

That last statement is my point today. The Resurrection of Christ from the dead is the only hope you and I have in this world. To put your hope in anything else, such as money, health, living life your own way, false teachings such as this is all there is so live it with gusto, or there are a thousand ways to heaven. Or there is no heaven or Hell is here on earth. All of those ideas are shattered by this one truth: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. My desire, my challenge today is to call you, to beg you, to plead with you to put all your trust in the Lord. That is my point today.

DT:

Put all your trust in the Lord

is the passage I want to use to convince you to put your trust in the Lord today. In this passage is a plea based on David’s confidence in the Lord, his total satisfaction with the Lord, and his confidence even in death. To be sure King David writes this as a personal testimony. But there is a second tier to this, that is actually the most important one, for he acts the part of a prophet speaking not of himself, but of Jesus Christ as we will see from the apostles. But first let us unpack this psalm then we will wrap it up with the Apostles application in the NT.

I. His prayer:

Preserve me O God

preserve me - accords with it means to watch or keep, its main meaning is to exercise great care over. in this case as a flock, or a house to guard it or them. When the subject is God it means “to observe the object carefully so as to protect it.” ( Waltke, B. K., Houston, J. M., & Moore, E. (2010). The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (p. 328). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.)

1 Waltke, B. K., Houston, J. M., & Moore, E. (2010). The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (p. 328). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

He prays to ‘El’ the strong one, the mighty one. Of the many names for God he chooses this one. He doesn’t cry out to Adonai, to YHWH, to Elohim, to Kurios, to He cries out to EL. The everpresent one, the El Shaddai. the Almighty one. the weak crying out to the strong who is able to uphold all things by the word of his power.

The prayer: preserve me

He is not asking to be saved in terms of not dying. But as we see rather that God would watch over him, and as we will see directly, that He would direct his life and bring him to that place of rest in His presence. Look at the ways that David was preserved as he fled from King Saul or when He was protected from the Philistine King when he feigned madness. or the time he fled from his son Absalom.

the plea or basis: in thee do I take refuge

Since this is really about Jesus be mindful of the ways Jesus was preserved throughout his life finally culminating in the resurrection. Think of when He was an infant protected from King Herod, or when he was able to escape those many times from those who wanted to stone Him. Or finally, when He escaped the tomb.

Be mindful of the ways Jesus was preserved throughout his life finally culminating in the resurrection. For

But notice in where He prays for the preservation of His saints, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

Next notice the basis of his plea - He runs into the refuge who is God. even at the last on the cross he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” even Job said, “though he slay me yet will I trust in him.” this is what Jesus did.

notice the basis of his plea - He runs into the refuge who is God. even at the last on the cross he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” even Job said, “though he slay me yet will I trust in him.” this is what Jesus did.

The basis for that confident prayer: Trust in Him “IN thee do I put my trust.”

Let me ask you who are you trusting this morning? Who has the headline in your mind today?

Herein lies the key to the prayer

elaborated on by:

II: Confession of trust in the Lord-

You are my Lord, 2-4

Notice the KJV “O my soul” is in italics, The reality is that in keeping with the context this is the writer declaring his loyalty to the Lord. He is saying “I say to the Lord, YOU are my LORD. You are my I AM. So this is a

pledge of loyalty to the Lord.

In fact, he goes on to say, “I have no good apart from you.” In other words all his hope is found in the Lord, not himself.

pledge of loyalty to the people of God

and detest what God detest

As He loves the saints, he hates the apostates, those who reject God.

The Saints are those who are separated from sin, who are committed to the Lord, those who believe. They are separate from impurity and so are clean. The king delights in those who put their faith and trust in the Lord.

v.4

On the other hand, those who run after another god, their sorrows increase exponentially. See the contrast here between those who put their trust in the Lord and those who do not. Notice those who chase other gods, like a man chases after a girl. He thinks he cannot live without her. or they think that all their hope lies in something or someone else apart from the Lord. That just proves futile. How many are the sorrows of that person who makes bad choice one after another and the ruin and disaster of their life in terms of family, health, financial ruin, shame.

So what are you going to do? How has what you have been pursuing working out for you?

His thinking here is that He loves what God loves. It is as the two great commandments are Love God and Love your neighbor. This is evidence of confident trust. There are many passages to go to support that thought, but 1 John comes quickly to mind that if you say you love me and do not love those whom you see how does the love of God abide in you? And so there is this confession of total trust and confidence in the Lord as he expands on the statement, “In thee do I put my trust.”

III. Contentment with the Lord, 5-8

Contentment with the Lord -the idea of most content, most pleased,perfectly satisfied,

-the idea of most content, most pleased,perfectly satisfied,

A. the first reason for trust in the Lord

You are my inheritance, 5,6

my chosen portion

my cup

you hold my lot

my inheritance is pleasant

He is confident in trusting God because he has been given an inheritance.

both this and v.6 show that he is completely satisfied with the lot, the inheritance God has chosen for him. The gift and the giver are the same, ie. God is his lot, and so in v.7 it results in constant thanksgiving and blessing to the giver.

This really speaks of the Lord as the Lot of the psalmist not the land, thought he is using the language of land to illustrate his relation with God.

Citing Calvin,

David, by calling God the portion of his lot, and his inheritance, and his cup, protests that he is so fully satisfied with him alone, as neither to covet any thing besides him, nor to be excited by any depraved desires ( Futato, M. D. (2009). The Book of Psalms. In Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (p. 78). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)

1 Futato, M. D. (2009). The Book of Psalms. In Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (p. 78). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

The imagery here of the portion or lot or inheritance comes from the conquest as Joshua gave the land inheritances to the tribes. But the meaning here is taken from the Levites who had no portion of land inheritance. YHWH was their inheritance. And so it is here.

The cup refers to the cup of good fortune, where it depicts the destiny of those who drink of it. Couple that with the “you hold my lot”, the lot being that instrument in which the will of God is determined, so we see that he is pointing out that God is the one who decides ones destiny. In other words, he sees God as the one who holds his life in His hands. And he is content that is so. As is emphasized in the next verse.

V.6 reveals that his boundary lines are pleasant, and his inheritance is beautiful.

So here is the image: God, through the cast lot, has chosen for David his inheritance and he is super satisfied, supremely pleased with it. Because, his portion is God Himself. and as such he has lived a life of God’s favor. He has been tremendously blessed. And so He trusts completely in the Lord.

B. the second reason for trust in the Lord, 7,8

1. Praise for Instruction from the Lord- I bless the Lord . . . counsel, 7

He has cause for trust in God because he has His instruction, v7-8

This reminds me of Jesus practice to pray to the Father in the night.

The word ‘counsel’ refers to one who has authority to advise and lays a plan to follow for success. His counsel is eternal, and will be accomplished

Isaiah 46:9–11 ESV

remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

The word ‘counsel’ refers to one who has authority to advise and lays a plan to follow for success. His counsel is eternal, and will be accomplished, . .

Ephesians 1:11 ESV

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

The second clause, ‘at night’ shows that David always is meditating on God’s word and exalting God. God is shaping his conduct by means of His instruction.

The word ‘reins’(KJV) is the word for kidneys and in Hebrew imagery that is the seat of the emotions, the will, like the ‘heart’. It is the place of decision making, the inner person. The meaning is that God’s instructions in His word are shaping his will to the contour God wants of him. No wonder he is pleased with his inheritance and confident in his trust in God. It is God who is orchestrating his life.

He trusts the Lord because he has always found his counsel to be true and right.

2. Praise for His presence v.8

“I have set the Lord always before me” reminds me of Jesus practice of always doing what was pleasing to the Father. His aim was to please Him. It is the idea of always keeping his eye on the Lord.

As in where the psalmist states “I set your rules before me.” David is constantly looking to the Word of God for His instruction in the next move, the next choice. And because this is his constant practice he shall not be shaken.

give thanks because he is always before him.

Here is an expression of His confidence in the Lord,

“I shall not be shaken, because he is at my right hand.” I purposely changed the order of the phrases to make his confidence clear. Although the fact that the Hebrew order is reversed shows that the emphasis is not on his not being shaken, but on God’s presence at his right hand. It is the presence of God that is the important aspect here. And it is because God is at his right hand that he is not shaken.

The word ‘shaken/moved’ means to totter or slip, as in shaken so as to be unstable and fall. it is the idea of losing your footing and falling down. The power of God’s right hand right beside him he will not fall. He is secure in God.

If God is by your side, what would you have to fear anyway, even in death. Jesus had this on the cross, until He cried out “why have you forsaken me” only then was He absent, but really not even then because as the psalmist states in you cannot go anywhere in the universe and get away from the presence of God. Thus, He took the forsaking we deserved, so that we would not have to experience that horror. And it is a horror, because for us to be separated from God is to be in hell. just look at the description of those who are in hell in Revelation, they are outside, they are separated from God ....

He comes full circle now, He began “Preserve me, O God” and now is not shaken because God is right there beside him and he is watching, and listening for every instruction from God.

He is confident in his trust in God because God has instructed him and given him his inheritance, his presence and protection.

thus, comes full circle back to v.1 Preserve me O God.

God has answered his prayer to preserve him, and he has a part in that answer by his own practice of looking to God for counsel/instruction and has himself followed that counsel.

My friend, you want to live life? Then follow His counsel about how to have life.

Finally, we see his

IV. Confidence in death, 9-11

A. God’s presence in death v.9,10

Therefore, which affords us the conclusion

there is an emotional joy in death because of God’s presence :

‘my body rests/dwells secure’ the idea of dwells is to settle down

My heart is glad,

my glory rejoices. The word glory here is cabod, it refers to being weighty, heavy, thus, referring to honor. but in this case it refers to the inner person, the seat of honor, thus, we could say the important part of a person.

Thus, he is full of joy emotionally because of God’s presence in his life as it was described in the earlier verses.

But there is bodily rest

But also we read that his flesh, his body is at rest. His flesh follows his thinking. Since his thinking is of joy and gladness, his body follows suit and is not agitated, tense or tight, but rather relaxed. He is secure.

So in this final strophe, he need not fear death. Instead he faces it with joy, calmness, (flesh dwells secure, resting not trembling, as in peter in in prison awaiting execution, or Paul and silas in prison.

‘my body rests/dwells secure’ the idea of dwells is to settle down. He is completely at rest.

His confidence is entirely in the Lord God. The Father.

This is actually fulfilled in Jesus according to peter and Paul as we will see in a moment.

David did die and see corruption, but Christ did not see corruption.

Ultimately, to trust is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, as the one on whom we rely, to whom we are devoted, in whom we delight, from whom we learn, and in whom we rejoice. Because Jesus is at the Father’s right hand, we will be also—forever!

1 Futato, M. D. (2009). The Book of Psalms. In Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (p. 79). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

This verse gives the reason he is relaxed in flesh and joyful in mind along with what has been stated earlier. Here it is,

“God will not abandon his soul to Sheol, nor give his holy one to see corruption.’

Someone said, “death to a believer is like getting hit by the shadow of a truck and by the truck itself.”

So what does this mean?

Sheol is the place of the dead,

corruption is a word for a pit as in grave.

The idea of ‘see’ is that of experience. In other words, his body would not be decayed in the pit. It then speaks of resurrection in that the body doesn’t have time to decay.

B. God’s presence after death, v.11

v.11

If God will not hand over the psalmist’s body to the grave as its final resting place, what then is his final destiny? Verse 11 answers that question: it will be the same for the resurrected body as his present good fortune but forever; namely, God will instruct him in the right way (cf. vv. 7–8) and bestow on him an abundant life (cf. vv. 5–6). Like all of God’s rewards, they are not separate from the virtue. A parent may reward a child for practicing scales on a piano with an icecream, but the reward is unrelated to the investment. God’s reward consummates the investment. The child who practices today can anticipate playing beautiful music in years to come. So the joy of fellowship with God in this world will be rewarded with the reward of overflowing joy when we see him face to face. Tears of joy will flow like a river. How that reward will happen is mostly a mystery (cf. ). ( Waltke, B. K., Houston, J. M., & Moore, E. (2010). The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (p. 337). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.)

1 Waltke, B. K., Houston, J. M., & Moore, E. (2010). The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (p. 337). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

The fact is that in the presence of God there is joy forever more.

Thus, the psalmist declares His complete trust in God to preserve him. To see him through it all. Jesus may have thought of this psalm during his crucifixion hanging on to its truths with confidence facing his death knowing has He had told His disciples that He would meet them in Galilee after this was over.

Let’s look at how Peter and then Paul viewed this passage and we will wrap this up.

esp. v.25-28 as he quotes from notice how he applies it to Jesus in vss 30-32 and ends with the call to believe by saying v.36.

Then As Paul teaches in the synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia, notice especially vss. 38, 39 regarding forgiveness of sins and Justification and the warning about not believing in v.40,41.

Conclusion:

Know that Jesus is risen from the dead. He is the Christ, He is God.

Your sin put him on the cross, he paid the penalty for it.

I am calling you to

MT:

Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today.

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