Psalm 16, starting in verse one. Preserve me, O God, for in thee
do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee,
but to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent
in whom is all my delight. Their sorrow shall be multiplied
and hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood
will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The
Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest
my lot. The lines are fallen unto me
in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath
given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in
the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before
me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and
my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou will not leave my soul
in hell, Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. Now this psalm is the first in
order called, it says in there, it's Misham, that's the English
pronunciation, I'm not even going to try the others, but what this
is, it's called the Golden Psalm. And perhaps it's called that,
now there's six or seven others, and starting in Psalm 50, I think
through 56, the psalm is Mishim of David, but it's called a golden
psalm. And perhaps it was special to
David in particular, because he, by the Holy Spirit's inspiration,
penned this psalm. Or perhaps it is a golden psalm
because Christ and his beloved church is spoken throughout. This subject of subjects, Christ
and him crucified, is more precious and more to be desired than gold,
says the psalmist, yea, fine gold. We're going to look, as
I said, at only a few nuggets in this vast quarry of the gospel,
this vast quarry of God and how he deals with sinners and his
church. And by God's grace and mercy
in Christ Jesus, I pray that you will not be comforted a little,
but you will be comforted a lot. But we read the whole sonnet.
This is a psalm. It's a psalm. But I would like
us to look at verse 11, and then the reason for verse 11, verse
10. Thou wilt show me. Now again,
this is speaking of Christ, but if you're in Christ, it has a
dual application. It speaks to the believer. Thou
wilt show me the path of life. Are you interested in life this
morning? In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there
are pleasures forevermore. The reason The whole reason we
can have joy and pleasures in verse 11, heavenly, in his presence,
is owning to verse 10. So we go back up to verse 10,
and you know who this is speaking about. Turn with me to Acts chapter
two. Scripture interprets scripture. Acts chapter two. Hold your hand
there, and I'm gonna read verse 10. For thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to seek corruption. He's speaking of the resurrection,
his resurrection, which is essential to the gospel because if Christ
did not rise, we are of all men, all believers, miserable. We have no hope. The gospel includes,
you know, the components, however you want to phrase it, the depravity
of man, the sovereignty of God, the substitutionary death of
Christ, that he was buried, but if he didn't rise from the grave,
Christianity is a hoax. Acts chapter two, starting in
verse 25. For David speaketh concerning
him, who? Christ. I foresaw the Lord always
before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Verse 28,
thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make
me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, now this is
Peter, men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the
patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher
is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne. He, seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God
raised up, wherefore we are all witnesses." So this passage in
Psalms according to the inspiration of God in the New Testament,
the Holy Spirit is speaking of Christ. Acts chapter 13, and
there's more passages. We're just gonna look at two.
Acts chapter 13, and we'll start in verse 35. Acts chapter 13, starting in
verse 35. Wherefore he saith also in another
psalm, Thou shalt not suffer, thine holy one, to seek corruption.
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will
of God, fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers and saw
corruption. But he, whom God raised again,
saw no corruption. But he, Christ, saw no corruption. Back to our text. So we know
that this psalm in this verse 10 is speaking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because our sovereign, omnipotent
Lord rose from the shadowy grave and right now sits in glory for
each of His remnant, the remnant of His choosing, is much cause
for us to always be joyful and delight ourselves in current
and future spiritual pleasures. Verse 11, thou will show me the
path of life, in thy presence is fullness of joy. Why? Because
Christ did not, his body didn't see corruption. So the resurrection
of Christ is of vital importance to the Christian faith. All our
powerful Messiah, he would not see corruption. And the fact
that he didn't see corruption was not due to Joseph of Arimathea
or Nicodemus when they came and they took the body and then they
put spices and they wrapped all the human things. That's not
why his body didn't see corruption. His body didn't see corruption
because he is said in Hebrews to be holy, harmless, and undefiled. Christ must suffer, he must bleed
and die for our sins and corruptions, his people. But he will not lay
longer in this tomb than was ordained by God the Father. He
was going to be there three days. It's like Jonah in the belly
of the whale, which is a picture of Christ in his resurrection.
And he must rise up. Will he lead captivity captive? It says up. He is to be the only
captain of our salvation. He's completely finished. He
completely finished and satisfied and settled all opposing accounts
laid to our charge. What is our charge? We're born
in sin. We're born in trespasses and sins. We're dead in trespasses
and sins. We inherited Adams as our first
representative in the garden. Everything didn't fall except
for his will. Everything about man, natural
man, fell. His will, his mind, his thoughts. Why is there so much corruption
in the world? Go back to the garden. Go back to the garden. Christ settled all those accounts
and they must all be settled perfectly and purely on purpose
and voluntarily. We have zero that we can produce
for our own salvation, our own righteousness, our own justification.
We're not, in this country, which it's a good, you know, for humans,
it's a good government, I suppose, we are innocent until we're proven
guilty. In this court of law, we are
guilty until made innocent by the blood and righteousness of
Christ. He must do every single thing to seal our eternal glory. We sing that song, tis done,
tis done, the great transaction is done. I am my Lord's and he
is mine. Yes, I say, because of verse
10, now we can revel, we can rejoice, we can find solace and
peace in applying verse 11, thou wilt show me the path of life,
the path of life. This is a promise. All the promises
in Christ are yes and amen. Can you take that promise now,
this morning, today, tonight, thou wilt show me the path of
life. That's what we need, we need
life. And life is in Christ. And that's the only place. It's
not doctrine. It's not in the church building. It's not in
the church. It's in a person. And I go back
to this time and time again. You remember when Christ was
being presented in the temple and there was the one, the man
Simeon, and he was blind until the Lord revealed Christ to him.
But he had the baby. Person in his hands and he held
him up and he said Lord now let your servant about dying peace
for I have seen thy salvation And he's looking at a person
He's looking at a person he understood. Yes, the Old Testament Saints
understood the gospel of the free grace of God Salvation is
in a person. It's in a person in him only
Now, let's just go through this verse, verse 11. Thou wilt show
me, there's grace. Every, you know, every passage
in the scriptures points to Christ and point, it's grace, salvation
by grace, through faith. It's not of yourselves. Thou wilt show me, you have to
show me. You have to, it's like Bruce
said this morning, salvation is by revelation. It's not by
how much studying or this and that, though we implore you to
look at the scriptures, to read the scriptures, to study the
scriptures on your own. But salvation is by divine revelation. Thou wilt show me. God, if you don't show me, I
will walk and stumble in religion or outside of religion, but I
will walk and stumble. thou will show me the path of
life and this is specifically we could keep it in context is
speaking of the resurrection glory in context but and however
the singular path of life could also be salvation in and through
Jesus Christ he says thou will show me the path of life not
a path not many paths this word thee It means singular. There's not many salvations.
As a matter of fact, Acts says there's only one name given among
men whereby we must be saved. Not Mohammed, not Joseph Smith,
not anybody else. One name. One name. Thou wilt show me the path of
life." Singular. Notice it must be shown to us.
Heaven must come down to us. Heaven came down and glory filled
my soul. Because we don't have anything
to offer God but sin. First and foremost, it's never
the other way around. Thou will show me the path of
life. This is what we say, this is
why we, this name of this church is Sovereign Grace Church. This
is free sovereign grace found only in our Emmanuel. Thou, who? He's speaking of, he's speaking
of the Holy One that would not seek corruption. Thou, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Father, he chose us before,
this is what scripture says, before time began. The Son came. assumed our nature, and took
upon Himself all our debt, and died, and bled, and rose again,
and the Spirit quickens." The Spirit, Christ said, I'm going
to leave another comforter, and He will reveal the things that
I tell you. and reveal Himself and He will
reveal me. That which our Lord initiates,
He will honor, He will redeem, He will call unto Himself. That
which He initiates and He does it through the declaration of
the truth. How can a hearer accept a preacher? How can a preacher preach except
to be sent? And in Ephesians, I believe it's
chapter one, after you heard the word of truth. in the lead. Let's just keep going on in this
verse. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, path of life, as in the firstborn among the dead. And we're dead dog, biocorrupt
sinners is what one old preacher said, dead dog sinners. But we
serve a living God. Every other religion, they got
these statues or this and that. The people are dead. The statues
can't move. Well, we serve a living God, not some man-made wood,
hay, stone, or stubble. We serve a living God. That will
show me the path of life. And we say this is the living
word. You read it sometimes, and you
don't get anything, and then you read it some other times,
and oh, you just, things open up. Because it's alive. And His
Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children
of God. It comes to life. It comes to life. Now you can
explain that to somebody, and they'll probably take you away. But the
believer knows, this is the living book about the living Christ.
Thirdly, he says, In thy presence, there's the key, thy presence
is fullness of joy in his presence, fullness of joy, not partial
happiness, not a slight joy or a reserved delight. But he but
as he filleth up all in all, so he fills up every child of
God with joy, unspeakable, unlimited and wide. And I know when we
go through things, Peter says, this trial you're going through
is not enjoyable, but it's needful. We got dross, that heat's got
to be applied so that dross can float and then get skimmed off.
But truly, though the believer goes through many trials, you
can't take the presence of Christ away from them and in that is
fullness of joy, fullness of joy. Oh let us start seeing and
feeling and living this joy here now so as to honor and glorify
our dearly beloved. And then he says pleasures, pleasures
evermore. Thy presence is fullness of joy
and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. These
pleasures are gifts from God to us and they cannot be recalled
or repented of, Romans 11, 29. His gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. But these pleasures, spiritually
heavenly pleasures, not worldly necessarily or sensual pleasures,
but pleasures to be used in his service and in his exaltation
and not to be used in a self-serving manner. It's all about him. It's all about him. And he says,
pleasures evermore. Brethren, world without end. See, salvation that's talked
about so often, it starts in time and it ends in time. If
it starts with you, it's going to end with you. But salvation
in Christ, this shown, this path of life, it's evermore. It's eternal life. I give unto
you eternal life. The new heaven and new earth
is where there are pleasures, and whatever they are, and as
what they are, whatever they are, and I can't say I know all
of them by any means, they're enjoyed forever. They're enjoyed
forever. So, I close with this. Brethren, do we know Him and this path
of life. It's narrow. Spurgeon had a really
good thing in his, I guess it was Grace Gems, it wasn't Morning
and Evening, but in Grace Gems, and he said that the way to destruction,
the way to hell is broad, and many people are on it. It's the
way of the world, it's the enjoyments of the world, it's the pleasures
of the world, We have to be in this world. We have to work.
We have to earn our living, pay taxes. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about superseding the things of this world over
the truth, over the gospel. But the truth and the gospel
is a narrow path. But it's a path of life. It's
a path of troubles. Christ said the world hated you.
It hated me before. That's part and parcel of the
struggles of the believer. But He will never leave you or
forsake you in these troubles. That's the main difference. That's
the main difference. Do you know Him and this path
of life? Because I tell you any other
person trusted in or upon is certainly a path of death and
it leads to eternal ruin. Oh may we be found in His presence
in grace and mercy and peace And I ask each one of us to look
to him and be saved. Look to him and grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Redeemer. But whatever you do, look to
him. Bruce, would you close this please?