Psalms Sermons 

“In Your Presence There is Fullness of Joy”

 

Readings: Psalm 16 (text); Acts 2:25-28; 13:34-37
September 13, 2015 * Download this sermon (PDF)

Congregation of Christ: The world seems to be in a downward spiral of violence and oppression against Christians. Homosexual marriage and abortion are legal in America and many other nations. Violence against Christians, resulting in death and destruction of tens of thousands, is almost universal in Muslim-dominated countries in the Middle East and North Africa. We agonize and despair when we see pictures of our brothers and sisters suffering and being killed, not knowing how to respond and help, other than praying for them.

Syrian refugees at True Vine Baptist Church's (Lebanon) Sunday service.
Syrian refugees worshiping at True Vine Baptist Church in Lebanon. from bmsworldmission.org

Our text today, Psalm 16, is the first psalm of confidence after 15 psalms of lament. Still, it still opens with a lament by King David about his sufferings at the hands of his enemies. We do not read here what kind of sufferings, but he cries out, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” This plea to God is what those faithful Christian refugees fleeing from their persecutors would cry out. This psalm would be a great comfort for those Christians, because in the rest of the psalm, David gives praise and thanksgiving to God, declaring his confidence and loyalty to him, “I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’” With God and his Word at the center of his life, he has all the confidence that in difficult times, God is his refuge, comfort and strength. This is God’s unchanging promise to David, to suffering Christians today, and to our congregation.

So in his confidence in the Lord, David rejoices in all the benefits that the Lord has given him and all who are in covenant with him: first, With “the Saints in Whom is All My Delight”; second, The Lord has Given Me “a Beautiful Inheritance”; and third, “You Make Known to Me the Path of Life.”

With “the Saints in Whom is All My Delight”

The first benefit is that he belongs to God’s covenant community whom he calls saints, “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight” (v 3). Who are the saints? Are they the super holy Christians whose good works and miracles are recognized by the church? No, these are literally, “the holy ones.” All those who have a special relationship with God by virtue of the covenant of grace are “holy ones” and “saints” by virtue of being consecrated and separated to the Lord out of all the people of the world. Christians are called a holy nation. David calls them “excellent ones,” because God considers them and his church as a great, noble and honorable people. But this is not saying that all Israelites then, and all those who belong to Christian churches today, are actually elect and saved.

David says that because he belongs to this special covenant relationship with God together with all of God’s people, he delights in them. He takes greatest pleasure in their company, not in the company of others. In Psalm 33:1, David also says, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” These would be all the Israelite pilgrims gathered at the temple in Jerusalem, dwelling together in peace, having mutual love and concern for each other.

Do you as God’s covenant people in Big Springs anticipate all week long to be gathered every Lord’s Day worship service before God? Do you delight in fellowship with one another? If we all do, we will enjoy the church as a “good and pleasant” worship service to God. We will also take pleasure in the Sunday school, Bible studies, prayer meetings, breakfast fellowship, sewing group, picnics, and other church activities.

David then compares the holy worship service of Israel with that of pagans. In verse 4, he says, “The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply.” They hurry with a sense of urgency to worship their idols. David adds that he would have nothing to do with their “drink offerings of blood.” What are these? Israel had drink offerings and food offerings, but drinking blood is an abomination before God. Though God commanded them to shed the blood of animal sacrifices, eating and drinking blood is punishable by death. Why? Because without blood, there is no life, and atonement is through the blood of the sacrifices (Lev 17:10-11). There is such a world of difference between true worship of the True God and the false worship of false gods. So David says of pagans, “I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.” He will never participate in pagan worship, not even mention them. He knows very well the wrath of God on idolaters, such as those Israelites in the wilderness and afterwards in Canaan.

Rejoice that you have the privilege to worship the True God in spirit and truth, which is only according to what the Holy Scriptures command you. Not a worship that pagans take delight.

The Lord has Given Me “a Beautiful Inheritance”

The second benefit of being a worshiper of the covenant Lord is that he gives his covenant people “a beautiful inheritance.” In verse 5, David declares, “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.” This is a very popular verse, but not very well understood. The Lord means three things for David. First, he is his “chosen portion.” This alludes back to the conquest of the land of Canaan, and its division and distribution among the twelve tribes. Obviously, the resources of the whole land varied. Not all the land was fertile. Not all had plenty of water. Not all had good weather all year. But each family was to be content with what the Lord had given them, and be confident that in all circumstances, God would provide abundantly. Therefore, “chosen portion” can better be taken as “allotted portion,” since it is God who divides and distributes his benefits.

my-chosen-portion-cupSo even in his difficult situations, David could declare,“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” It is beautiful no matter what because the Lord is his portion and delight. He is confident that God himself allowed his sufferings in order to strengthen his faith and trust in him.

The priestly tribe of Levi did was not given an inheritance, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.” They were to be satisfied with what the Lord gives them through the people who come to bring tithes and offerings to the worship services (Num 18:20-21). Because they serve the Lord in the worship services, the Lord himself is their portion and inheritance!

Second, the Lord is also David’s “cup.” The “cup” in the Bible signifies love, comfort, strength and fellowship. David refers to the “cup of salvation” (Psa 116:13), an overflowing cup of provisions (Psa 23:5). Paul calls the cup of the Lord’s supper as the “cup of blessing” signifying the blood of Christ shed on the cross for our salvation (1 Cor 10:16).

Third, the Lord also holds his “lot.” When the Promised Land was distributed, it was done by “lot” as commanded by God (Josh 14:2). This is not fatalism or determinism, but God’s command. Whatever lot falls on a tribe, it was God’s will. He is the one who determines David’s course of life, even before the creation of the world. And he is the one who provides all he needs in his course of life.

But David’s confidence is not in his inheritance, provisions, and good life in this world. All these things will pass away. God and his Word will remain forever. Will David remain forever?

You Make Known to Me the Path of Life”

Beginning in verse 7, David turns his attention to his confidence in God in guiding him in this life. The Lord gives him counsel through all of his life’s peaks and valleys. Even when he lays down in bed at night, he thinks of God’s instructions. Because of this dependence and confidence in the Lord, he “shall not be shaken,” like an unmovable mountain. Why? Because the Lord is always with him at his right hand, always ready to protect and provide for him.

Not only is he confident of God’s benefits in this life. In verses 9-10, he turns his attention to life beyond the grave. He rejoices that his “flesh also dwells secure,” because God says he “will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” He is confident that the Lord will not leave his flesh to corrupt and decay back to dust in his grave.

And finally, he summarizes his confidence in the Lord in verse 11. In God’s Word, he finds counsel and instruction in the path of life. In the company of God’s covenant people in worship, he is full of joy. He finds joy in God’s presence. In the course of his life, whether at his own house, in battle, and in adversity, he finds delights. And all of these extends beyond the grave, even “forevermore.” His pleasures in the Lord will be full when he spends eternity with God and his people. All his sufferings will be nothing compared with eternal glory.

But David died and was buried in his grave, and never came back to life. His body saw decay and turned to dust. How can he say that God will not abandon him in his grave?

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, David was not speaking for himself. He was writing not only about God’s people, the “holy ones.” He was prophesying that there would be a “holy one who will not see corruption.” In his Pentecost sermon, Peter tells us that this “holy one” is Jesus Christ himself, the Son of David that the Lord promised, who was raised from the grave on the third day. He preached in Acts 2:31-32 that David “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 all are witnesses.”

Like David, Jesus also suffered in his life because of all his enemies. He was rejected by his own people, who crucified him as a lawbreaker. David’s sufferings were as nothing compared with Christ’s sufferings. He suffered as one who was forsaken by God to be tormented in hell. Our Heidelberg Catechism explains how is it that we say “he descended into hell? It says, “Christ my Lord, by His inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors, which He suffered in His soul on the cross and before, has redeemed me from the anguish and torment of hell.”

Therefore, the words of Psalm 16 are also the words of Jesus the Messiah. Though he was “a man of sorrows” and “acquainted with grief” in his whole life and on the cross, he had full confidence and joy in his Father. His pleasure is in the company of his disciples who were with him in worship. He was satisfied with his inheritance, which is the people whom God has given him to save. And his joy was grounded in his Father’s love and promises in his Word through the course of his life on earth. So his food and drink is to do his Father’s will.

As believers in Christ and as God’s people, you can take the words of Christ in Psalm 16 as yours. Because by faith, you are united to Christ in his life, death and resurrection. In your trials, temptations and sufferings, you too can be confident that God will always be present with you in the course of your life. You now have “all spiritual blessings in the heavenly place.” You too can have fullness of joy as you await your own resurrection from this earth, to receive your own inheritance, your heavenly dwelling-places.

We Americans have been so greatly blessed by God with so much abundance that other nations cannot even imagine. When we have trials and afflictions, let us not grumble and complain, because God always deals with his people in grace, mercy and love.

We have brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are suffering beyond our imagination. Let us then inquire how we can help them, because we are united to them by faith in Christ. What joy will be ours when we see them saved from their sufferings! And with confidence, we can look forward to that great Day when we will join them in singing to God, “My delight is in the company of your holy ones. You are my chosen portion and cup. In your presence there is fullness of joy!”

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