I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 16. It's a short hymn, short psalm, but one that has Like every other psalm, of course, great power, but one here that points us to the resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm chapter 16, a miktam of David. Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you're my Lord, and I have no good apart from you. As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, and whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god, however, shall multiply. Their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out, nor will I take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion, my cup. You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I will 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. And therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, that is the underworld, nor will you let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the path of life, and in your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. I remember when I was in college and for nearly the next decade following, I would spend every New Year's Day weekend down in Juniper Springs National Forest in central Florida, out near Ocala, camping with friends. I think, of course, here you think camping over New Year's, that sounds rather silly. But in Florida, the weather is much, much different. So nothing fancy would typically sit around a campfire and eat and go swimming in the Crystal Springs on New Year's Day, not too far from the campsite, but nearly every year for at least one of the days that me and my friends would spend camping, it would rain and it would rain cold and hard, not unlike what actually we would see a day like today to be like, except the rain would be very, very hard and be very, very windy. And so we'd have to run and place ourselves under one of those giant picnic shelters and spend the afternoon there until the wind and the rain would let up. If I can speak, I hope I'm speaking for everybody that I would hang out with. Though we were all glad to be out of the rain, I don't think any of us enjoyed being stuck in that particular shelter. It's not really what you sign up to do, is to sit on a picnic table for four or five hours as the rain is blowing like this and you're still getting a little damp and it's cold. But at the same time, we're glad that there was a shelter to keep us safe from the storm. I think what a stark contrast that is to the refuge that we find the psalmist placing in the Lord. This is not a temporary stay. This is not a quick fix shelter. This is David's very life. It is a shelter and a place of refuge from the storm, yes, but it is a refuge in which there is found great delight. It's like, you know, getting caught in a snowstorm and stumbling across a warm cabin with the electricity and hot water and, you know, cable TV. This is how the psalmist speaks of the refuge that the Lord provides for his people. You see here in verse 1, David petitions that the Lord would preserve him, that he would be that place of refuge for him as he seeks cover, not from the wind and the rain, but rather, you see in verse 10, from the shadow of death. As death looms dark on the horizon, What we see Psalm 16 doing is meditating on what is found under the tent, so to speak. And here David finds no bare bones shelter, rather he finds a treasure trove of solid joys and lasting pleasures. And that's really what Psalm 16 is about, the pleasures of God. Actually, the next several psalms will be about just that. And tonight we'll consider the pleasures of God in three parts. First, we will consider His possession in verses 1 to 6. Secondly, his protection in verses 7 and 8. And finally, the psalmist's preservation in verses 9 to 11. So, the psalmist's possession, his protection, and his preservation David begins by calling out to the Lord saying, "'Preserve me, O God, for in you do I take refuge.'" Here is this petition. This is what summarizes the whole of this psalm. Darkness looms on the horizon like a storm. Death threatens to engulf the psalmist and bring him down to the underworld. The cords of Sheol threaten to wrap themselves around him and bring him down. It's interesting to note how striking this psalm is from the previous psalms we've considered up to this point. As we look at Psalms 9 to 14, David had lamented the fact that the wicked had taken the high ground, that there is none righteous, there is none who does good. But now here David shifts his focus. Yes, there are none righteous on Earth. There are none who do good. And so David turns to the Lord and says, you, O Lord in heaven, you are all the good that I ever need. I have no good apart from you. David recognizes the source of all goodness. And it's not found in man. Who do I have in heaven but you? There is nothing on earth I desire besides you, the psalmist writes in Psalm 73. David delights in a goodness that is not his own. That here, as the Belgic Confession says, we find that God is the overflowing fountain of all good. I want you to imagine being on the run from bullies at school. Hopefully you've never had to experience something like that before, but perhaps you have. You're on the run, going from hallway to hallway, and you find yourself turning into an empty classroom. In the back of the classroom stands a wardrobe. And you go to seek refuge in that wardrobe till the bullies have given up looking, but to your surprise, as you enter the wardrobe, it proves the entrance to a whole other world. It's a great theme to what we see in the Chronicles of Narnia and so many of the novels. And that's the imagery we have here. God is our refuge, but he's no temporary shelter No goodness is to be found outside of Him. Rather, as you enter into the presence of the living God, the psalmist recognizes, why would I ever want to be anywhere else? For all this world has to offer, the glitz and the glamour, the pomp and the show, none of it compares to the safe haven that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the fellowship that is found in the company of believers. You see that here in verse three where the psalmist now says, my delight is found not in riches, it is not found in power, fame, or notoriety, rather it is found in those majestic ones. excellent ones of noble strength and majestic character, the peaceful habitation of the righteous. That is where all my delight is found," David says. And isn't that what the church should be? A safe haven and a portal to heaven. where we gather not in isolation, but we gather together as a pilgrim people, making our way to the celestial city where no unclean thing can enter, not sin, not Satan, not even death. This is truly the safest place on earth. What's interesting is David now shifts his attention from the warm fellowship that is found in the company of believers, the safe haven that is found in the church, He contrasts it now in verse 4 with the sorrows of idolaters. I think the imagery is quite striking here in the Hebrew. It goes something like this, that these men who have acquired foreign gods to be their own wives are the ones who will suffer great sorrow. It's the same imagery that we see or similar imagery that we see when Paul writes to the church of Philippi when he speaks of those who are consumed by their own belly lusts, the gods of their bellies that overtake them. Here are men who have sought to quench their lusts in exotic deities. They have committed spiritual adultery. They have drenched themselves in the blood of pagan libations, having sacrificed their children to the idols of Canaan, as we see recorded in Psalm 106. Driven by thirst, they have pursued broken cisterns. They're seeking to quench their thirst by something they cannot satisfy. David doesn't use the imagery here, but you can imagine a sailor being lost out in the Pacific Ocean, and the thirstier he gets, the more he longs to drink from the water around him, and yet that salt water simply makes him more and more thirsty. It does not quench his thirst, but rather it leads him to death. This is what David envisions of the wicked. Their sorrows shall multiply those who pursue to take other gods as their very wives, as it were. David will have none of it. He resolves that he will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. His delight is found in those who delight in the Lord, and his delight is found in the Lord himself, and his delight is found in the inheritance that the Lord gives, the Lord's possession, the Lord's person, and the Lord's people. That is what the psalmist finds to be the object of his great affections. He will not take up the cup of idolatry. Rather, he will take to his lips the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. As he says here in verse five, the Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. Quite literally, the Lord is the portion of my portion. He is the creme de la creme. It's the icing on the cake. We see here some robust imagery given to us from the book of Moses. When the Lord led Israel into Canaan, every tribe, every family was apportioned their own parcel of land as their inheritance. It was to give them a thumbnail sketch, a picture of the new heavens and new earth, right? That's what Hebrews 11 tells us. That earthly Canaan is a picture of the heavenly Canaan. And yet, as Israel enters the land, every family finds they're given their own plot of land. How great is it? I'm saying this as a guy who's trying to purchase a home. Always on the lookout. How great would it be to own your own parcel of land? How great would it be to have that parcel of land given to you? And this is what David speaks of. He speaks of that chosen inheritance, that promised possession that is his. But we see here, that for the psalmist, heaven is not heaven apart from the Lord's own presence. More important than the land that's given to them, he says that the Lord himself is his chosen portion and cup. And we can use something of an illustration here for those of you men who are married. I remember the day of your wedding when you saw your bride walk down the aisle. How beautiful she was. dressed in white. The dress itself may have been beautiful, but none of you married the dress. You married the woman in the dress. How disappointing would it have been for the doors to fling wide open and all you see is a dress hanging on a rack instead. If we could Use that analogy. Heaven here is the wedding garment. But what would heaven be without our Savior there? Heaven is no heaven without the Lord himself, as David himself has already said, I have no good apart from you. You are the portion of my portion. So heaven could not be heaven if the Lord himself did not dwell there, and yet because the Lord does dwell there, his inheritance is beautiful. It's a wonderful hymn that we often sing. The sands of time are sinking. There's a verse that goes like this, the bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but I will gaze on my king of grace, not at the crown that he gives, but on his pierced hand. The lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. See, David looks out and he sees his inheritance. He sees the Lord, the land and his people. And he says, I have a beautiful inheritance. These boundary markers, they carve out what the Lord himself has given to me. It has been made mine. They have fallen to me in just the right places. They have fallen in the pleasant places. David says, my inheritance, what the Lord has allotted for me, my destiny as it were, it is a beautiful one. But David here is not speaking simply of his future possession. He's also speaking of his present protection. You see that here in verses 7 and 8. Know how in these verses, all that is within David pulsates with joy. In verse 7, it says his heart in the ESV, quite literally, it's his kidneys. that instruct him. Later, in verses 9, it will speak of his heart and also his flesh. Here, David is attesting to the fact that it is his whole being that erupts into acclamation of gladness and song, be it by day or by night. He has put the Lord continually before him. The Lord is the portion of my portion. I have set him before me always. And even at night, the Lord gives him counsel. Echoing that same language that we heard in Psalm chapter 1, how is it the Lord gives counsel? Well, a blessed is the man who does not take counsel in the wicked. Rather, the blessing is upon the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. Here David is saying how the Lord instructs and gives counsel to him through his word The psalmist contemplates and ruminates on the ways in which the Lord, by the word of the Lord, has made known the way of the Lord to David and the path that he should walk in this life. And in doing so, as we've been covering and working our way through the book of Proverbs, it is through that wisdom that the man who fears the Lord is hedged in and made safe. He is protected and kept safe from all harm. In ancient battle, every soldier was clad in armor, and he was fashioned with two particular instruments of war apart from his armor. On the left side would, of course, have been his shield, and on the right side would have been his sword, both a weapon for defensive armory and a weapon to go on the offense. I want you to think about this. Think about how vulnerable your right side is because you have no shield there. Yes, you can go on the offense, but what do you do if an arrow comes to you from the right? Well, the idea is the man to your right with his shield would hold it up to protect you. The man to your right is your trusted guardian and friend, the one who keeps you safe from those places where you are the most vulnerable. We recognize that even in modern language when we speak of somebody being my, what, right-hand man. is the trusted aid and confidant. Well, that's what David is saying here. He says, the Lord is at my right hand. The Lord is my right hand man. He is the one who guards me in and protects me. And with the divine warrior as my keeper and my guardian, I shall never fall in battle. What safety is there to be found in the Lord who protects His people even in the midst of battle? And it leads us to our final point, that the pleasures of God are found not just in David's possession, nor in his protection, but also in his preservation. You see that here in these closing verses. Look there in verse 9, Notice that, it's my flesh, he says, that also dwells secure. Not just the inner man, But the outer man, the pleasures of God are so rich and so free that not even death can spoil the pleasures and delights of the living God. This here for David is not an allegory. David is not simply speaking of spiritual safety. Verse 10, he says, what, you will not abandon my soul to the underworld, to the nether regions, to Sheol, rather, and you will not let your faithful one, your holy one, see corruption. And it is here we begin to recognize, oh, this passage sounds really familiar, doesn't it? That David is speaking not primarily about himself, rather he is speaking about his son and his Lord, the Messiah. So striking, isn't it, that when you read Peter's sermon on Pentecost, which psalm does Peter direct the nations to pay attention to? So this psalm right here. This and Joel chapter two. If you turn with me to Acts chapter two, I think this is important to recognize. Here we have the apostles giving us kind of the answers to the back of the math book, so to speak, telling us how it is that we are to read this psalm. Acts chapter two. It's the day of Pentecost. Peter is preaching, and after expositing on the promised outpouring of the Spirit as foretold through the prophet Joel, he now directs their attention to Psalm chapter 16. Acts chapter 2, looking at verse 22. This is Peter speaking. now filled in power of the Spirit. He says, 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. But God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Why can Peter say this? Well, now he gives the reason. He says, for David says concerning him, that is concerning Jesus, I saw the Lord always before me. For he is at my right hand, that I might not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh will also dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you 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. And now notice what Peter says. Brothers, I say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that David both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. 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. Notice what Peter is doing. He is properly interpreting Psalm 16, as David himself is saying under the inspiration of the Spirit, you will not allow me, or you will not allow your Holy One to see corruption. Peter says, let's stop there for a minute. How can David be speaking of himself if he is still dead and in the grave? Peter's conclusion is not, therefore, the Old Testament is false. Rather, the Old Testament is speaking here about somebody different than David. Psalm 16 is Christ speaking through David of his own person and work. And isn't that what David Wright preached on the other week in 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 10 to 12? The Old Testament is the spirit of Christ speaking through the prophets concerning the person and work of Christ. And this really opens up whole new vistas for how we read this psalm. That this psalm speaks of the inheritance, not primarily of David, but the inheritance of the Messiah. Christ, who made the Lord his refuge and joy, whose heart pulse for the pleasures of God, for his promised inheritance, that of a holy land and a holy people to inherit and dwell in that land. for the counsel and daily protection against the advancements of Satan's hordes, and for the preservation, that deliverance, not simply from death, but a deliverance through death that culminates in the resurrection from the dead. Psalm 16, according to Peter, is demonstrable proof that death no longer reigns. But now we have one who has triumphed over death by his resurrection from the dead. Christ himself, as he tells John in the churches in Revelation, I am the one who holds the keys to death and to Hades, to death and the underworld. And as Hebrews 5 tells us, he is the one who possesses that power of an indestructible life. And what we see here is the victory that he has secured is a victory enjoyed not only by him alone, but one that he has secured for his people. So that what is true of Christ in this psalm is now made ours. This is why we are able to pray this prayer, because we're praying this prayer in Christ. For those of you who were in Sunday school this morning, this is the key to understanding the New Testament and the Old Testament, the whole of Scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 says that all the promises of God find their resounding yes and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so how are any of those promises made ours? The only way those promises are made ours is if we are in Jesus Christ as well. The promise of resurrection life is given to Christ because he loved the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so how is this resurrection life made ours? Well, it is made ours by putting our hope in the one who has triumphed over death and hell. Though we have no good of ourselves, we find before us a gracious God who gives freely of his goodness. To give us an inheritance that cannot be earned, but is an inheritance that can only be received. That He has given us a Savior who delights in us. I want you to notice this, look back at verse three here in Psalm 16. If Psalm 16 is Jesus, is that of Jesus speaking, and that's what Peter says the Psalm is, as in many ways every Psalm. Who is it that the Messiah is delighting in? Who is it that the psalmist finds his delight in? It's in the saints in the land. Here Jesus is speaking that He finds His joy in the company of believers. Our Savior finds His joy in you. And Jesus demonstrated it so much that He spoke by His Spirit through the prophet David, centuries before his death, so when you, reading this psalm, can know the love of God that He has for you. When he says, you are the apple of my eye, as for the saints who are in the land, those are the ones in whom I delight. Remember Psalm 2, Where the anointed Messiah prays to the Lord, the Lord says to him, ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance to the very ends of the earth. What we see here is this is an extension of that prayer. Lord, give me my allotted inheritance. Oh, the inheritance has fallen upon me in pleasant places and I delight in those who inhabit this land where sin cannot touch or corrupt or pollute. You have a Savior whose heart beats for your well-being, so that you and that I would delight in the inheritance that our Father graciously gives, an inheritance of everlasting life. A life that consists not simply in the elongation of days, but in union and communion with the maker of heaven and earth. Jesus says this to his disciples in John chapter 17, that this is eternal life. Not simply that you would live forever, Jesus says this is eternal life that they might know you, the true and the living God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Everlasting life consists not simply in terms of duration but in terms of abundance. A life teeming with the riches of heaven itself where every sort of joy is to be found in the presence of God and is found and growing in the knowledge of the grace of God that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Christ, who has been promised a holy land and a holy people, a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. That new heavens, that new earth for which we await. Calvin, in commenting on the psalm, he writes this, he says, for we know that the grave of Christ was imbued with the life giving perfume of his spirit. that it might be for him the gate to immortal glory. See, the pleasures of God are found in this, that God has raised his son from the dead, Christ to be the great trailblazer of our faith, who has opened up a new and living way that we might be able to draw near as pilgrims in this world, making our way to that pleasant land. Heaven is our inheritance, and through Christ it is made ours, for he is ours. He has come to give those solid joys, those lasting pleasures that none but Zion's children know. Let us pray. Gracious God and Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word, and we ask that you would teach us to set our sights on Christ, in whom is found the treasures of your deep delights. Oh, with the psalmist, we do confess that we have no good apart from you, and we pray that we would find our goodness solely in the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, the maker of heaven and earth. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.