The sermon titled 'Of Jesus Christ, the Son of David' by Jason Dohm explores Psalm 16 as a prophetic text pointing to Jesus Christ. The speaker highlights how both Peter and Paul in the New Testament, specifically in Acts 2 and Acts 13, interpret Psalm 16 as a prophecy about Jesus' resurrection. Peter argues that David could not be the fulfillment of this prophecy because David died and was buried, while Jesus was resurrected, embodying the prophecy's promise. Paul echoes this interpretation, linking Jesus' resurrection to the forgiveness of sins and justification for believers. Dohm emphasizes that while Psalm 16 is fundamentally about Jesus, it also reflects David's own prayers and desires for preservation and trust in God. The sermon underscores themes such as the importance of trusting in God, rejecting idolatry, and finding satisfaction and joy in God's presence. Ultimately, Dohm encourages the congregation to root their faith and actions in the life and resurrection of Jesus, seeing Him as the fulfillment of Psalm 16's promises.

The title of the sermon this morning is Psalm 16 of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. Of course the psalm is actually written by the psalmist David, who has written so many of the psalms. A large portion of the psalms are written by David. But as we find out in the New Testament and the book of Acts, this is really a psalm about Jesus. So Jesus being the son of David, who was not just a king but also a prophet.

It is very appropriate that prophecies about Jesus would be found in David's writing. No one is likely to preach sequentially through Psalms. There's 150 of them, so if you did one a week, which would be very difficult to do. I found out this week how difficult that would be to do. We have 11 verses.

It is not narrative. There's so much content here, I feel like I've not fully developed anything in the whole psalm. We just sort of skim over the surface. So I think we'll learn better how to preach full Psalms as we go forward. But anyway, we're not undertaking, obviously, the sequential exposition of 150 Psalms.

But Nor do we want to neglect the Psalms. I think over time we want to find ourselves singing more of the Psalms than we do. Also, between doing sequential exposition of books of the Bible, we want to sprinkle in Psalms so that This very important book of the Bible really gets its due among us. This week we'll be in Psalm 16, next week we'll be in Psalm 20, and then we'll be headed to what I think will be a very refreshing study of the book of Esther. Psalm 16 was written by King David and Peter quotes Psalm 16 in Acts chapter 2.

Paul quotes Psalm 16 in Acts chapter 13. They teach us what we need to know fundamentally about Psalm 16, which is it's about Jesus. This is a psalm about Jesus. So as we come to this psalm, let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to help us. God, we Thank you for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is so clearly and so beautifully set before our eyes in Psalm 16.

The grave is empty, Jesus is alive, You said you would do it, and then you did it, and our life is wrapped up in it. So thank you for the beauty and the glory of this psalm. I pray that you would cause it to refresh our souls as we consider Christ from the pen of David. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I want to begin speaking about these two New Testament usages of Psalm 16.

We've been given inspired Infallible interpretation of Psalm 16. So I want to start there. Hopefully after we get done with that I'll say some good things some true things some helpful things about Psalm 16, but I trust that none of them will be Inspired or infallible So let's start there. We have inspired and fallible interpretation of Psalm 16. So please turn to Acts chapter 2.

Acts chapter 2 is the preaching of Peter and it is the day of Pentecost. And after laying forth a lot of Scripture about the Lord Jesus Christ and speaking of the prophecies that were fulfilled by Christ, sort of Towards the end of this sermon, Peter quotes our psalm, Psalm 16. To give it a little context, we're going to start in Acts 2, verse 22, and I'll read through verse 33. Please follow along as I do so. Peter preaches.

Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. For David says concerning him, and here's our quote of Psalm 16 verses 8-11, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in hate ease nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. He foreseeing this, David foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ that his soul was not left in Hades nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear." So here we have Peter on the day of Pentecost preaching salvation in Jesus Christ and he eventually gets to his quotation of a large section. Actually there are 11 verses in our psalm, Psalm 16, and he's quoting more of a third of it. Verses 8-11 are four verses, so he quotes a hefty chunk of this psalm. While he's preaching, he's speaking of the death and resurrection of Jesus, And he's arguing from Psalm 16 that in Jesus' death and resurrection we have fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

So to an inspired, infallible Peter, The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God fulfilling a promise that He made to empty the grave in Psalm 16. And he argues in verse 29 that David cannot possibly be the fulfillment of this. He says, David, let me speak confidently. David did die. David was buried.

And we have his tomb with us today. His body is there. And he cannot be the fulfillment of what he himself is writing in Psalm 16. So in verse 30 he says definitively, David is acting as a prophet in Psalm 16. So some Psalms are prophetic, but Psalms aren't necessarily prophetic, meaning not all Psalms are prophecy, if we're telling the future.

But Peter is saying definitively in inspired scripture that David is acting as a prophet as he writes Psalm 16. And God had made David promises and one of these promises is that one of David's descendants would be Christ, would be the anointed one of God who is the promised Redeemer and he would be the King and he would sit on his Father's throne and all the Jews listening to Peter preaching would have acknowledged this. Like this is not just in Psalm 16 but everywhere in the prophets that it is a son of David. It is one of David's descendants that will have an eternal kingdom will take the throne of David and he will reign forever over this kingdom. And this descendant, the promised Messiah, would not be left in Hades, would not be left in the grave, and his flesh would not see corruption.

So Peter sees prophetic promise fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he says, this is what led us to this day where the Spirit is poured out on people. The empty grave of the resurrected Messiah has led to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. One final comment before we leave Acts 2. If Peter is right, Peter is right. Peter, this is Scripture.

Peter is inspired in what he is preaching in Acts 2. Peter is infallible in what he's preaching in Acts 2 because it has been brought into Scripture. So he's right. If he's right, how can you isolate just verses 8-11? On what basis would you say verses 8-11 is about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, but verses 1-7 is just about David?

You would have no basis for making that argument. And so, I want to argue on that basis that every word of our psalm, Psalm chapter 16, is fundamentally about Jesus Christ. It has broader applications than Jesus Christ, but Psalm 16 is about Jesus across all of the verses. Now turn to Acts chapter 13. In Acts chapter 13, we have the preaching of the Apostle Paul.

So we just looked at Peter, now we have Paul. And Paul is essentially making fundamentally the same argument that Psalm 16, our psalm, is the fulfillment of prophecy about Jesus in His resurrection. I want to read Acts chapter 13 verses 32 through 39. This is Paul preaching at Antioch in Pisidia. He's been in the synagogue And at the end of their reading of Scripture, they've acknowledged Paul and said, is there any exhortation you want to bring?

And boy, is there ever. So this is his preaching Christ in their invitation. Acts 13, 32-39. Paul preaches, And we declare to you glad tidings, That promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, In that He has raised up Jesus.

Jesus' resurrection is the fulfillment of prophecy. As it is also written in the second psalm, You are my son, today I have begotten you. And that He raised him up from the dead, no more to return to corruption he has spoken thus. I will give you the sure mercies of David." Therefore, he also says in another Psalm, he doesn't say Psalm 16, but he's going to quote Psalm 16 here, you will not allow your Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption.

But he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." So Paul here is preaching and he does the same thing. He first quotes Psalm chapter 2, then he quotes Isaiah chapter 55. These are obviously prophecies about the Messiah.

And then he quotes Psalm chapter 16 about the Holy One not seeing corruption. And he makes the exact same argument as Peter made. David can't be the fulfillment of that. David died. He did see corruption.

If that's about David, then God didn't keep His promise. And that's not possible. This is the argument fundamentally that Peter makes and now Paul makes. Christ is the fulfillment of the promises made in Psalm 16. And then Paul draws conclusions about the resurrection.

Here are the conclusions that Paul draws. The resurrection means forgiveness of sins for all who have faith in Jesus Christ. Meaning the resurrection represents God accepting Jesus' sacrifice. How do you know that that was acceptable to God? That it was enough for God?

Well, you know because God raised Him from the dead because the tomb is empty, declaring that Jesus Christ was an acceptable sacrifice so that sinners can come to Him and be cleansed and freed. And we know this because of the resurrection. Here's the summary about Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 13, the inspired and fallible interpretation of Psalm 16 that we've given in the New Testament. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 16, although not the exclusive fulfillment. I think it's important as we go back now to Psalm 16 to really acknowledge both of these things.

Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment. It's fundamentally about Jesus, But he's not the exclusive fulfillment. Meaning, David really did cry out to God. It really is the voice of David in Psalm 16. And he really did desire God to preserve him and express his trust in him in verse 1.

So we don't have to deny that David really did that in Psalm 16 verse 1. He really did desire that God would preserve him. He cried out for God's preservation. And he expressed his faith and trust in God in verse 1. So there is no need or desire to disconnect this completely from David.

And it also has application for us. None of that is denied. There is no need to deny it. But first and foremost, it is about Christ. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 23.

Paul here is speaking about the resurrection. It's a long chapter and all of it about the resurrection. And he says this, but each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His come." So he's talking about the resurrection, and he grounds it in 1 Corinthians 15 in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, It is well and good to talk about a resurrection. God has promised it, but each one, but keep things in order.

Christ's resurrection is the basis for every resurrected body that will ever be. There is no resurrection without the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, without the tomb being empty. And so you start with Jesus and His resurrection because He's the firstfruits of the great harvest of His people that has been purchased by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ at His coming. So I believe we take that mentality and bring it to Psalm chapter 16 where we say Psalm 16 is about Jesus and about David and about you and me in the sense that what Jesus purchased by His blood, He gives to His people, but it is ultimately about Jesus, not exclusively about Jesus.

So, back to Psalm 16. That's a long introduction. Psalm chapter 16. I'd like to read verses 1-3. Follow along.

This is a declaration of faith in God and delight in His people. So if you've got a handout and you're filling in blanks, It's faith, delight. A declaration of faith in God and delight in His people, in God's people. Psalm 16, verse 1. Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust.

O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you. As for The saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight." Verse 1 is directed to God, not to us. It is not written to a reader. It is actually expressed to God.

This is a crying out to God for preservation, for help. And so it's an acknowledgement of need and a statement of trust. Do you see that in verse 1? An acknowledgement of need. Preserve me, O God.

God, I need to be preserved. I need preserving. So it is an acknowledgement of need and a statement of trust. O God, I know I'm in need of provision and protection and I don't need to apply anywhere else for help. You are my help.

If I don't get help from you, I won't get help anywhere. I'm putting my trust in you. I have fully entrusted myself to you. Now, Think of Jesus in the Gospels. Has any man or woman or child ever entrusted himself or herself to God so thoroughly?

Isn't the Gospel accounts of Jesus ripping at that? If you don't get anything out of the New Testament accounts of Jesus' life, you get that Jesus had fully entrusted Himself to His Father. What we see in verse 1 is so basic, I am needy, I trust in you, Acknowledging need. This is a rejection of the self-reliance that is core to rebellion against God. It's the opposite of relying in self.

It's just acknowledging, I need to be provided for, I need to be protected, preserve me, O God. And then an articulation of trust in God, of faith in God, of reliance upon God. That is only perfectly seen in Jesus Christ. He over and over again in the Gospel accounts is acknowledging his need and entrusting himself to his Father. We see both of those things in perfection in Jesus Christ.

It's also true of David. We know about David's life. We know he needed to be preserved. Many, many times throughout the course of his life, he had to be preserved. He had to call God to show up and save him.

And he was entrusting himself into the hands of His God. And this applies to you and me. We need more of this. But both. We need more and more and more to acknowledge.

God, we need them. We need them. We don't want to be relying on ourselves. We don't want to have a life that is fashioned around a hope that we have enough strength for what is needed. We want to turn ourselves over and just acknowledge, God, we're in Your hands.

We are entrusting ourselves to you as a needy people knowing that you're a kind Father who takes care of everything that you're doing. Verse 2 is the taking of God by His most holy name. Jehovah, whenever you see Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, when you see that all caps construction, it is Jehovah. It is the self existing God. I am that I am.

It's the most holy name of God that the Jews don't even want to pronounce. It's such a holy name. And acknowledging Him as Lord. This is laying claim to the holy God as Lord. Oh my soul, you have said to the Lord Jehovah, you are my Lord." I'm laying claim to God is what the psalmist is saying here.

The next part of verse 2 can be taken in two ways. Either the sense is, my righteousness is nothing apart from you. Or the Goodness in me is nothing apart from me. Or, in an alternative sense, is all the good I will experience. None of that is apart from you.

And this is why the ESV renders it, I have no good apart from you. I have no good to experience apart from you. And looking at the Hebrew words, I think the second one is actually what the psalmist, David, is getting at here. God, The good that I will experience and the good that I desire is all wrapped up in you. I'm not looking for anything good to come to me outside of you.

I want all the good that I experience in this life to be a goodness that comes right out of your hand. I'm not chasing good apart from you. I think this is completely married to the context where he talks about the Lord as his portion and his inheritance in a couple of verses. So I think that is the right sense of it. It could be either, and both are true by the way.

The other one actually preaches a little better. My righteousness is nothing apart from you. I only have righteousness in you, so I'm fine either way. It's sort of easier to preach it the other way. But I think the right sense is, God, I don't want any goodness that doesn't come, that you don't have from me, that doesn't come from you.

Because if it doesn't come from you, it will not be goodness. I have nothing good apart from you. All the goodness that I will ever experience is wrapped up in you and who you are and what you have from me. Again, think of Jesus in the gospels. In His incarnation, He not only trusted God fully in trusting Himself to God, but He also obeyed God.

He said, it is my food to do the will of my Father. Just as David here writes, Oh my soul, you have said unto the Lord, You are my Lord. This is the life that Jesus lived. A life under the authority of His Father. Jesus In the incarnation, it was His food to do the will of His Father.

And He never reached after some supposed good outside of what his father had for him. Doesn't that strike you about the Gospel accounts? Jesus is never reaching. I find myself reaching for things that God may not have for me. But Jesus is never like that.

He's never reaching. He only wants what God has for him. He is never chasing the promise of good that is outside what God has for him. I love that about the Gospel accounts of Jesus. I desire that for my own life.

So again, these things are most true of Jesus, but they are so appropriate for David and for you and me as well that we would take Jehovah God as our God and call Him Lord. We would desire that it would be our food to do his will and not to have any goods that is separate from what he would have for us. In verse 3, this is where it gets so sweet. Look at verse 3. Verse 3 is a statement about the Holy Ones.

This is about the saints. We encountered the word saints last week at the very end of Philippians. The Greek word for saints at the end of Philippians just meant Holy Ones. The Hebrew word that is translated saints here means exactly the same thing. The Hebrew word and the Greek word are equivalent in meaning.

Holy ones. Ones who are taken out of the world to be separate and to be gods. This is exactly the people who are spoken of here. Those who are called out of the world to be separate and to be gods. This is exactly the people who are spoken of here.

Those who are called out of the world to be his special people, to be gods. And they are the holy ones, the ones who are set apart just to be the Lord's and to live for God. They, the holy ones, the saints, they are an overwhelming source of delight. Now think of this in respect to us and Jesus. Be made happy by verse 3, please.

I'm inviting you to happiness. Here in verse 3, if it's true that this psalm is ultimately about Jesus, fundamentally about Jesus, then what that means about verse 3 is that Jesus' delight is in us. It was for the joy set before Him that Jesus endured the cross. This is Hebrews 12 verses 2. For the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross.

He endured a shameful death. Why? For joy! Because He delights in the people that He was cleansing with His own blood poured out on the cross. He set us apart for Himself.

This is what Jesus is doing on the cross as He bleeds and dies. He is putting His hand on us and setting us apart by Himself. He bought us. He bought us up. He redeemed us.

He considers us excellent and He delights in us. How crazy is that? It's not crazy at all to Jesus. He delights in His people. He calls us the excellent ones.

I think maybe the majestic ones is actually a little better rendering of that. He sees His people as majestic. You know why? Because He made them majestic. He bought them with His blood, and then He poured out His Spirit.

He sent the Spirit to indwell them, to change them and transform them, and make them from the sinful people they were into excellent ones. Into majestic ones. This is the work of Christ. He makes the people worth delighting in by His blood and through His Spirit. Here's what Spurgeon says.

Spurgeon in saying this, he's just trying to call down the rapture. It's such a glorious moment. What he says, you just think, okay, Jesus is coming back now. Spurgeon says, their own opinion of themselves, he's talking about the saints, the excellent ones. Their own opinion of themselves is far other than their beloved's opinion of them.

They count themselves to be less than nothing, yet He makes much of them and sets his heart towards them. This is what is in Psalm 16 verse 3. Jesus setting his affections on you and me. Those who have repented and believed in God have been made from rebels into holy ones that he calls excellent. He makes excellent and majestic and he delights in them.

He makes you the objects of his affection. He sets His heart towards you. Then as followers of Jesus, we also take great delight in each other. Again, this thinking of Jesus as the first fruits. It's fundamentally about Jesus.

It's ultimately about Jesus, but the application of course applies to people who are trying to be like Jesus. If you want Christ-likeness and Christ is like this, delighting in His people, then you should delight in His people. Thinking that His people are excellent and majestic, then you should think His people are excellent and majestic. And so should I. No doubt David delighted in God's people.

You see it in the account of David's life. He loved to go up to the temple and worship God among the people of God. And no doubt we should delight in God's people too. Verse 4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied, Who hasten after another God.

Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips." This is an explicit and comprehensive rejection of idolatry. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, Rejection fills in the blank. And explicit, meaning he comes right out and says it. And comprehensive, meaning it's complete and entire, thorough, rejection of idolatry. An explicit and comprehensive rejection of idolatry.

There's a direct contrast that is being given to us in Psalm 16. Between those who take Jehovah as Lord and trust Him and idolaters. So he is set before us at the beginning of the psalm, those who take Jehovah God as their God and call Him Lord and trust Him. And now, He's talking about the rest. Those who run after other gods, idolaters.

Jesus Himself in Matthew chapter 4 was offered all the kingdoms of the world if He would just engage one time in false worship. Do you remember that? Jesus is led out by the Spirit into the wilderness. After 40 days, the devil comes to him at his weakest point to tempt him. And the devil offers him, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world if this one time you will bow down and worship Me." And what does Jesus do?

He quotes Deuteronomy 6 verse 13. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him. Only shall you serve. It is said in verse 4 that if you run after false gods, your sorrows will multiply. You're given the formula for multiplying your griefs.

In verse 4, just run after fake gods. Just give over God's place to money. Or relationships. Or security. Or sex.

Or give over God's place to something else. Chase it, run after it, and you'll multiply your griefs. Which is so ironic. Because What are we doing when we chase after false gods? When we give over God's place of worship to things that don't deserve it.

We run after those things. We're hoping for just the opposite. We're hoping for pleasure or for safety or for advantage. And we get a multiplication of sorrows. You cannot chase happiness in that way.

You don't get it anywhere else. Get it here in Psalm 16 verse 4. When you chase happiness and you worship it, You get sorrows. So happiness is a fruit of chasing God. Real happiness is a fruit of chasing God.

If you make the happiness God, and you chase it, you get exactly the opposite of what you were chasing. You get the multiplication of your sorrows. Our children have been singing this verse in choir. Psalm 32 verse 10. Listen to Psalm 32 verse 10.

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, Mercy shall surround him. Listen to that verse again. Psalm 32 verse 10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked. Chase those idols.

You wicked. It's wicked to chase the idols. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Finally, listen to Spurgeon about the zeal of idolaters. Charles Spurgeon says, professed believers are often slow towards the true Lord, But sinners hasten after another god.

They run like madmen where we creep like snails. Let their zeal rebuke our tardiness. I never would have gotten that out of this verse. But isn't that true? Look at how the idolaters chase their happiness.

Look at with what zeal they worship their gods, their belly, their appetites. They run after them like madmen, says Spurgeon. While the trappers of the true God creep along like snails, This ought not to be. We should be the ones running like mad men. Who hasn't a God worthy of worship?

The idolaters? Verses 5-8. In verses 5-8 we have a declaration of satisfaction in God. If you're filling in blanks on your handout, it's satisfaction. A declaration of satisfaction in God.

Verses 5-8. O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have said the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Here the psalmist declares two things. One, God is his portion. And two, he is really happy about it.

These are the two declarations of being satisfied in God that we have here in Psalm 16. God is my portion. God is my everything. And thank goodness that's true. This happiness in the reality that God is his portion.

Not simply thank you for a lavish inheritance and provision. That would be one thing to be given over the wealth of the kingdom and to say, wow, it's wonderful to have the wealth, but that's not what's being said here. You are my portion and my inheritance. You're my cup. God Himself is the source of satisfaction here.

The source of joy. Again, this is seen most perfectly in Jesus. We desire this. We hear sermons on this and say, yes, I want that. I want more of that in my life.

But we actually see it lived out in perfection in Jesus in the Gospels. Satisfaction not just in the gifts, but in the giver of the gifts. Satisfaction in God. We just had it put before us in Philippians. Oh, to know Him.

Everything else is rubbish and dumb compared to knowing Christ and to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. This is what burned in the heart of Paul. This is what burned in the heart of David, but this is what is seen in perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ. Total satisfaction in all circumstances in God. Don't you want that?

I want to learn at the feet of Jesus how to be completely satisfied in the best things and the most worthy things to be satisfied in. That's God. Then in the second portion, God is praised for giving counsel. And I believe that the second half of verse 7 about His heart instructing Him in the night seasons is properly understood only in the context in the first half of that verse. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel.

This is a person who is saturated in the counsel of God. God has given him counsel through His Word and through His Spirit. He has received of God. And then your heart can be profitable to you in the night season. If you just disconnect the second half of verse 7, you end up with trusting your heart.

The Bible never trains us to trust in our heart. The Bible does train us to have our hearts saturated by God and then it can be useful to you. But our hearts will never be useful to us in the night seasons unless God has come and instructed us. And then on the other side of my heart instructing me in the night seasons is, I have set the Lord always before my eyes. You keep it connected with the first half of the verse and with verse 8, you are on safe ground.

You have a useful heart. When you have set the Lord always before your eyes, when God has instructed you, Your heart can be useful to you in the night seasons. Your meditations can be useful to you. But it's because it's been saturated by God in His ways. When our eyes are fixed on God, the Lord always before us, And we draw near to Him, we are immovable.

God is at your right hand. And He's always before your eyes. You are firm. Remember, in 1 Thessalonians we saw this. Stand fast in the Lord.

In Philippians chapter 4 verse 1 we saw this. Stand fast, brethren. How do you do that? We're being told in Psalm 16 how you do that. You keep the Lord always before your eyes.

You draw near to Him so He is at your right hand. And then you are immovable. Then you stand fast in the Lord. Verses 9-11. Verses 9-11.

We have a declaration of joy in the outcome. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's outcome. A declaration of joy in the outcome. Rejoicing in where God is taking all of this in verses 9-11. Follow along as I read.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life, and your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand, our pleasures forevermore." Two things right off the bat. One, gladness.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. Two, Resting in hope. My flesh also will rest in hope. And we are given the reason, and again, Peter and Paul specifically attribute this, not to David. Peter and Paul actually argue that this cannot be fulfilled in David because his grave is still with him.

He died, his grave is still here, it must be the Messiah, a son of David, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose tomb is empty, that this is actually fulfilled in. And the point isn't that it doesn't apply to David in any way, or that it doesn't apply to us in any way, but that Jesus is the fountainhead. Jesus is the reason that it does apply to us in some ways. That our graves too will be empty one day. There is going to be a resurrection of the dead for you and me.

We buried a body yesterday. It's not the last we've seen of that saint. It's not the last. There's going to be a bodily resurrection. But it's grounded in Jesus.

The only reason that's true is because Jesus' tomb is empty. He is the first fruit. His resurrection secures our resurrection. Verse 11, the psalmist speaks of God's revelation of the path of life. You will show me the path of life." Jesus also spoke of a path of life in Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14.

Listen to Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. Psalm 14, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it.

Psalm 16 is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus did reveal to us the path of life. It's a narrow way. He actually calls Himself the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to Him except by Him.

It's a narrow way, but He has revealed it to us. He is it. He has shown us the path of life. He is the path of life. It's a narrow way.

It's a difficult way, but it leads to life. Forget that it's narrow. Forget that it's difficult. Look at the treasure at the end of it. God Himself being in the presence of God Himself.

And what comes with being with God? Fullness of joy. Eternal pleasures at your right hand. Our pleasures forever more. The eternal pleasures of being in the presence of God.

The fullness of joy that comes from being in the presence of God. Listen to Psalm 46 verses 4 and 5. This is another Psalm of David, by the way. David knew all about talking about heaven. Here he is again in Psalm 46 verses 4 and 5, talking about heaven.

There is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her Just at the break of dawn. Actually, sorry, Psalm 46 is the sons of Korah, it's not David.

Scratch that, sons of Korah. They knew a little something about heaven as well. It's a glad city. It has a river whose streams make glad the heavenly city. God is in the midst of her.

She shall not be moved. In conclusion, I want us to come away with a focus, not first on what we should be. Although that's there. What we see in Psalm 16, we should be that. I'm saying, don't come away with a focus on that starting there, but on what Jesus Christ is for us.

In Psalm 16 we have what Jesus Christ is for His people. And that gives you a hope that you can grow in the things that we see there. I fear for us if we come to Psalm 16 and see what is in perfection only in Jesus Christ and say, now this is my list for me. I'm going to go off and I'm going to try to do my list. We should have a list.

I am not saying it is bad to have a list. We should try to do the list. I am not saying it is bad to try to do the list. I am just saying it is an exercise of frustration to start there. Come and see what God is for His people.

Drink deeply of Christ. Start here. Christ is these things for His people. Christ had the perfect faith. Christ had the perfect obedience.

Christ had the perfect rejection of idolatry, Christ had the perfect satisfaction in God, Christ had the perfect joy in God's designed endpoint. Come and drink deeply of His perfections and all of these things, and then I follow Him. It's so much better to say, drink deeply of Christ and follow Him than it is to say, here's your list, good luck. I don't want to do that, because I don't want that done to me. I've tried that.

Haven't you tried that? Haven't you found this to be an exercise in futility? Okay, these things are good. I see the beauty in them. Now I'm going to go.

I'm going to try to do them. No, drink of Christ. Drink deeply of Christ. Follow Christ. I hope you understand I'm not saying let go and let God.

I don't believe in that. I'm just saying, following Christ is hard. You need resources for it. I'm just saying, in Christ, in drinking deeply of Christ, We have resources for it. Yes, we should strive.

We should desire. But know this, all this must be grounded in Christ as the first fruits. It's possible for you because Jesus came and was this for us. Applications. One.

There's only one application. But then I got some sub-applications. Is that cheating? Yes it is. It's right what I was just talking about.

Root everything in Jesus Christ and what He is for us. Ground it. Send your roots down to the river of water So that you can be the tree planted by streams of water whose leaf does not wither, which yields its fruit in its season. This is what God wants us to do. Send our roots down into the river of living water.

Root it in Christ. You need to follow Christ in seeing what He is. He had the perfect faith. He had the perfect obedience. He rejected idolatry perfectly.

He was perfectly satisfied in God. He had perfect delight in where God is taking all of this to be in His presence and to have the fullness of joy and eternal pleasures. Follow Christ. Follow Christ in these things. God, thank you for Psalm 16.

Thank you for the beauty of Christ that sat before us. The beauty of our Lord who came and walked the earth and showed us what it means to fully entrust ourselves to You. Showed us saving faith. Showed us real obedience from the heart. Showed us a comprehensive rejection of false gods.

Showed us satisfaction in you, not chasing after other things to satisfy us. Showed us joy in your presence. And a longing after eternal pleasures. I pray, God, that all the things you are for your people in Psalm 16, that these would be more and more and more established in our own hearts and lives as the weeks and months go by. That You would help us to grow in these things in Jesus name, Amen.