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Psalm 16
Psalm 16, Psalm 23, Acts 2
The first two verses of Psalm 16, a Psalm of David preserve me, David prays. In other words, keep me safe. I take refuge in thee. I hope in you. I trust in you. Jump down to verse three, it mentioned saints. It mentions holy ones. It uses the word excellent ones as another translation, royal ones, and in other words, God’s people.
But wait a minute. Aren’t God’s people sinful? We are. So how can we be called saints? Well, we’re called saints because we’re made holy. We’re made saints because our sins are paid for. We know that. We believe that. That’s what Jesus has done for us, which means that we are the excellent ones. We are royalty, children of the Heavenly Father, princes and princesses of Heaven itself.
Drop down to verses five and six. Did you ever eat in a school cafeteria or in a military chow line? Maybe you learned to be extra nice to make friends with the lunch ladies, might not have been ladies serving, because they give you a little bit extra food. Well, verses five and six talk about the portion that the Lord has given us. The portion that God serves up is God Himself, the Lord himself. In Psalm 23, David speaks about that, saying that his cup is overflowing. And verse six says that the lines, thats boundary lines, property lines, the place, the home that God has prepared for you is fallen in pleasant places. It even talks about an inheritance. You’re in God’s will so that when God died, you inherit what he has: his righteousness, his holiness, the forgiveness of your sins.
Verse eight says that I have set the Lord, always set the Lord before me. He’s my foundation. What that means is my life is now built on this. It’s built on him. There is no other foundation that anyone can lay, a permanent foundation, than that which has been laid, laid down: Jesus Christ. And this is a foundation so firm that the Psalm tells us it can’t be shaken. It doesn’t budge. It doesn’t sag or slip with age. Soul, my heart, my being, my frail mortal flesh, which grows older and weaker every day, it rests secure. Because even though I do grow weaker every day, even though my grave is somewhere out there in the future, God promises not to desert us. He won’t leave us in death and in hell, in Sheol.
And in verse ten, Psalm 16:10, we’re told how all this is possible. It says, you will not let your Holy One see corruption or see decay. What is that? Who is that? The Holy one. It’s singular. Well, if we jump into the New Testament Acts chapter two, we’ll find Peter preaching on Pentecost Sunday, and Peter quotes from Psalm 16, verses eight, nine, 10, 11. Peter says, first and foremost, this is about Jesus. God didn’t abandon him when he gave his life for us. God didn’t even let his flesh see decay or corruption. And like Peter, we’ve all sinned. In our thoughts, words, deeds. We’ve all denied being his, his saints, his royal ones. But because of Christ, God didn’t abandon us to the grave or doesn’t abandon us to Sheol, to hell. Now all who trust in him will be with him.
Verse 11 captures that. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there’s fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So because of Christ and all that he has done, every single word of Psalm 16 also applies to you as much as it does to him. I hope you’ll open your Bible, maybe even today, and read Psalm 16 for yourself, and be assured that in Christ, because of him your sins, like Peter’s, they’re all forgiven. They will not be your undoing. You will rest secure, established on the rock that is Jesus Christ. So. May he bless and keep you. And I look forward to seeing you again.
