Speaking for the help of the
Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 16, and we'll
read for our text the last verse, verse 11. Thou wilt show me the
path of life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures. forevermore. Psalm 16 and verse
11. Psalm 16 is what is termed a
golden psalm. It is prophetical, all of Christ,
it speaks of his death and especially of his resurrection. We are left
in no doubt of this, that which we read in Acts chapter 2 Peter
at the day of Pentecost, he quotes extensively from this psalm. He says, speaking of the God
raising up, the Lord Jesus from the dead, he says in verse 25,
for David speaketh concerning him. And then he quotes from
this psalm at quite extensive length. Verse 27, because thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Then we have the verse of our
text, thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt
make me full of joy with thy countenance. And then he tells
us that David being a prophet, 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's seen this before. This is
in this Psalm 16, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that
his soul was not left in hell or the grave, neither his flesh
did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up,
wherefore we all are witnesses. But not only Peter, but Paul
also, in Acts chapter 13, we have Peter also speaking of this
psalm. Wherefore, in verse 35, Acts
13, wherefore he saith also in another psalm, that is Psalm
16, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see 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. And then he says before them,
Men and brethren, through this man, is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins. And both Paul Peter and Paul,
they are emphasizing this man, the man, Christ Jesus, Jesus
of Nazareth. And we must look at this Psalm,
Psalm 16, especially as Jesus, the man, the God man, God manifest
in the flesh and thinking then of how our Lord is set forth
here, prophetically a thousand years before he came, as voluntarily
humbling himself to be a man, made like unto his brethren,
sin accepted, and to be in that position that you could read
this psalm and think, well, this also is the language of David. It is the language of God's people
as well. but we're lifted right up above
that and pointed to our Lord Jesus Christ. Really, whatever path we walk
here below, it will be of no avail if at the end of that path
we have death before us and that path has no answer to death. When we come to the path of life,
it must be that it doesn't promise life and then at the very end
disappoint. And we are under the sentence
of death. We are already under the wrath
of God. We must die. And the only salvation
that will avail is that which sees through death. That great
chapter, beautiful chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul addresses the
great error in that Corinthian church, where they said there
was no resurrection of the dead, and he beautifully sets forth
that truth and the implications. If there was no resurrection
of the dead, then our faith is vain, our preaching is vain.
Those that have died, they've perished. Christ also did not
rise from the dead. He sets forth all these implications
if there's no resurrection of the dead. And then he says, if
in this life only we have hope in Christ, with all men most
miserable. So if we have a path that just
leads through this life, that doesn't see beyond the grave
and doesn't bring a soul faultless before the throne, that is a
vain and empty path. and it behoves us to make sure
to search diligently that what paths that we are walking will
lead to eternal bliss. But our text sets it forth in
a way, in a beautiful gospel way, thou wilt show me the path
of life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. I want to look at three points
this evening. Firstly, Christ in Psalm 16. I want to begin here looking
at just briefly each verse, and that we might view the Lord Jesus
Christ in this psalm. And then secondly, the path of
life described in the Word of God. Various ways throughout
the Word of God, and I won't say I would cover them all, but
certainly some. that we might be familiar with
anyway, but draw them forth as paths that are paths of life. And then lastly, that which is
beyond the grave, that thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore, and really, this side the grave and beyond the grave,
in thy presence is fullness of joy. But firstly, to find Christ throughout
this psalm. Again, the whole secret is to
realize this is speaking not of our Lord, His divinity, but
of His manhood, His coming here below. It's vital for us to understand
that a real man, truly God, and truly man, But upon earth we
find many utterances and many things, especially in these Psalms,
that speak of him as a man. So first we have prayer, preserve
me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. And when we think of
our Lord from his birth, how Herod was seeking him, how that
many times they sought to slay him, leading him to the top of
a hill, to cast him down, and he passed through them, right
through his life. He was preserved. Then we have,
O my soul. Verse two, the position in the
Godhead. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, that is Jehovah, thou art my Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ
is humbling to take that position. And then, though my goodness
extendeth not to thee. God needs no goodness added to
him. But this is the goodness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness, his life, that is for his people,
that is for their benefit, and that's made very evident in the
third verse. But to the saints that are in
the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight. What a beautiful word is applied
to Christ. Here Christ is saying, my life,
my perfect life, my goodness, all of that is not for God's
benefit, is not for my father's benefit, but for my people, for
those that are on the earth. And he calls them the excellent
in whom is all my delight. Sometimes we get these little
windows in the word where we see how the Lord is delighting
in his people. We think of how he delights in
the habitable part of his earth. Some people would say, well,
they like to go in the wilderness and to be where there's no people.
He might not like cities, but the Lord likes to be with his
people. He desires them to be with him
at last, and he's with them here below. And so we have in verse four,
their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God,
and he's speaking against other gods. Of course, one of the things,
when our Lord was on earth, The Jews, they thought that the Lord
Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, was coming as a threat to Moses,
as a threat against their God, as it were. They rose up when
he says that God was his father, making himself equal with God. And yet in this prophetic psalm,
he's speaking against other gods. Our Lord is not coming as another
god, but as the true God, God manifests in the flesh and the
psalm speaks of that. Then we have in verse 5, Jehovah
the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou
maintainest my lot. And I believe there's a reference
here to the Levites. the Levites, it was said that
they would not have a portion in the land of Canaan, that the
Lord was their portion. Now, the Lord comes as not after
Levi, but after the order of Melchizedek, but he comes as
a high priest. So he comes in that position
that the Levites held. And as the Levites, the Lord
was their portion. So here concerning our Lord Jesus
Christ, Jehovah, is the portion of his inheritance or my inheritance. And then my cup, thou maintainest
my lot. The lot of the Lord is his people
and the people of God are maintained, they are protected If the people
of God were lost, the Lord Jesus Christ loses His inheritance. We say it with reverence. Those sinners in themselves are
feeling worthless, yet they are worth exceeding for the Lord. For He loved them eternally,
He came for them, He suffered for them, He purchased them,
He'll have them with them in heaven. And these prophetic psalms,
they speak of what is the Lord's portion, and his lot. And when we read then in verse
6 how that God's people are his heritage, and we read that also
in 1 Peter 5, the Lord's heritage, and the Lord is pleased with
his portion. You know when the Apostle Paul
was seeking to be freed from the thorn in the flesh, the messenger
of Satan that buffeted him. The Lord would not take it away,
but he gave him grace instead. And Paul said that I will rather
than glory in my infirmity that the power of Christ may rest
in me. He was pleased with the Lord's
choice for him. And here we have our Lord. He has his people, but he must
redeem them. He has a cup. If it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. And he's pleased with that cup
and what the Lord has given. And so we have God instructing
him, verse seven, as a man, the long nights that our Lord spent
in prayer, And speaking of that which the Father gave Him commandment
to do, that is what He did. It's hard for us to realise that
position, that the Lord placed Himself as a man and placed Himself
to receive counsel and instruction from His Father. He gave me a
commandment, what I should speak, what I should do. He is speaking
of it as doing his father's will. In Philippians, he was obedient
even unto death and the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath
highly exalted him. And this psalm is leading up
to his death, to his exalting and his rising again. And so
it's speaking of his obedience, of his counsel, of the instruction
that he received. We read of those long nights
in prayer and it's a psalm like this that gives a little hint
of what was going on there and what was transacted, what was
spoken of in those long nights of prayer. Then we have in verse 8, Jehovah
the Father is always before Christ, he is close to Him, I have set
the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved. And then we have in verse 9,
Christ glad rejoices in that hope, His flesh shall rest in
hope. And in one sense, our Lord is
spoken of, He is the head of the church. His church are His
members, His flesh and His bones. They shall rest in hope. They
shall rise. That union between Christ and
His Church is rising. His people rise with Him. This is what is set forth in
baptism, buried with Him. By baptism into death, risen
again in newness of life. So verse 10, not left in the
grave, nor seeing corruption, but Then rising again in verse
11, the path of life, resurrection, and appearing to his disciples,
and ascension up into heaven, and therefore expecting to his
enemies be made his footstool. Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. So really the secret of this
psalm, viewing our Lord manifest in the flesh, a man that which
we sung all this morning, a man there is, a real man with wounds
still gaping wide in heaven, conquered, delivered, risen from
the dead. And so may we expect to see and
look to see our Lord Jesus Christ in these golden psalms, prophetic
psalms pointing to our Lord. And of course, in many aspects,
we may walk and use the same language in our path as well. And following our Lord, have
that same delight in Him and in His people and the same hope
beyond the grave. On to, look then secondly, at
the path of life described in the Word of God. When our Lord came into this
world, right from the beginning, he referred to it to Pilate,
for this cause came I into the world. And the very first verse,
he's praying for preservation and God's people as well. The
time of their birth, where they're born, is all ordered by Him,
and He preserves and keeps them. It has been said that God's people
are immortal until they are called by grace. God cannot be cheated
of His people. They cannot die without being
born again. And the Lord preserves them and
keeps them, and many of us, We can look at what men would call
accidents in our own regeneracy, ones where we could so easily
have been killed, a serious bicycle accident that landed me unconscious
in hospital when I was 11. And the bike all smashed up. They thought I'd had an accident
with a car, but it wasn't. It came off the road, hit a post,
and then hit my head on a concrete drain. And three weeks later
with that, how I finished my primary school. But at the same
time, there was a news item of a girl of similar age to myself,
11, and she was just balancing on her bike next to the gutter,
ready to take off, and she slipped, she fell over, she hit her head
on the gutter, the side of the road, and she was killed. And
though at that time it was to be another Eight years or so
before the Lord called me by grace, I wasn't noticing it then. I was caused to remember it and
often think back. My life was preserved at that
time. The other incidents as well in
which the Lord preserved my life, and He willed for His people,
and He willed for that time of grace and the blessing of their
soul and the calling. We need the Lord's preservation
right through life. But if we are to be brought through
death and to be resurrected, the path that we walk here below
is very important. Does it lead there? Is that at
the end of it? Do we have that prospect as we
are here below that that shall be the end of the journey? that shall be the end of our
life, to be buried our soul with the Lord and the body resurrected
again. And so it's a vital thing that
the way that we walk is a way that leads to that. And so the first way I'd set
forth is our Lord Himself has set forth in this Psalm Our Lord
so clearly saying, I am the way, the truth and the life that will
show me the path of life to have shown to us, our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, that in him is life. There is not life in any
other than it is exclusive. If we went back to verse four,
no other gods, one name only, one name, among men, given among
men, whereby we must be saved. And that is the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you believe not that I am
he, you shall perish in your sins. And that's why Peter, Paul,
they come straight back to this psalm. They say, this is the
God of your fathers. This is he who was foretold and
he has risen again. He has ascended up on high. This is the path. And so if we
are to have that hope as well, in Psalm 84, he shall give grace
and glory. No good things shall he withhold
from him that walketh uprightly. And that upright walk is walking
in the ways of the Lord. So the Lord Jesus Christ is to
be that way. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. The Lord says that He puts forth
His sheep, He goeth before them, and they follow Him, they hear
His voice. Paul says, let us run the race
that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. That is our object,
that is our desire. It is solely in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the path of life, death, everywhere else, but in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The second way that's spoken
of in the Word of God is that narrow way. Our Lord spoke of
this, that there was a straight gate. There was also a broad
gate, a broad way, and a narrow way. The Lord Jesus Christ is
that straight gate. The narrow way is that way of
salvation as set forth in the Word, as taught by the Holy Spirit,
and the reason why many go in with the broad gate is because,
the wide gate is because many go in there out, because it is
broad, because it is wide. And we see it so much today. There's much name of Christianity. Many will call themselves a Christian. Apparently 170 or so of our MPs,
they call themselves Christian. Yearly they meet together for
prayer breakfasts. They would call the likes of
us fundamentalists, and they look upon us as not being those
that hold forth the truths that they want to do. It's just social
gospel, and it's acceptable. It's a broad way, but it still
has the name of Christ. They're still using his name.
They're still speaking of Calvary. They're still speaking of the
cross, but they're not taking up the cross, and they're not
following. the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I believe it's very important
what our Lord says, that the way is a narrow way. And if people call us narrow-minded
or that we are not being kind to others to say that there is
no other way but Christ and his word, then so be it. But if we are to have the path
of life and be shown the path of life that leads to eternal
life, leads to life beyond the grave, the resurrection, then
it is a narrow way. But then it is also a way of
holiness. You're told, without holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. And yet we are all unholy, we
are all unclean. As an unclean thing, our iniquities
have carried us away. The hymn writer beautifully sets
it, Christ has holiness enough to sanctify us all. And it is
through the Word of God, as we heard this morning, that the
people of God are cleansed, are washed, they are renewed in the
spirit of their minds. It is that the Word of God is
what is used by the washing of water by the Word, then they
are made clean, they are made renewed in their minds. And so it is vital for us, if
we are to have this hope, the holiness is not in us, but it
is in Christ. And a union with Christ will
bring forth fruit in holy lives, sanctified lives, separate from
the world. Come ye out from among them,
touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. You shall
be my sons. and my daughter Seth, the Lord
Almighty. Then we are told that there shall
be a highway there, and it flows on that the unclean, they shall
not walk there, but those that are redeemed, those that are
sanctified. A clear way, a way that is cast
up and marked. We may bless the Lord for giving
us his word, that so sets forth this highway, that sets forth
the markers of the way of truth, of the way of the Lord. And it
is a highway, the King's highway, the King's highway of life and
of peace. These phrases, these descriptions
of the path and of the way are found right through the Word
of God. The people of God are travellers.
They're going through life. There's a path of life. And they
walk this path and at the end of it is death. But walking in
that way is set before us in the Word. Then we may rightly
expect and have that good hope beyond the grave. We're exhorted
in Jeremiah 6 verse 16 to cleave to the old paths, the good way. How much again we need that today? We say, well, we want something
new. We want something different from
the old ways. There's a going away, but you
know, right from the very beginning, you go right back to the saints
in the Old Testament. The way was the same. It was
still Christ. The church in the wilderness,
they still followed Christ. They followed the cloudy, fiery
pillar. They still look to Christ's sacrifice, to His death, to His
sufferings. Abraham saw Christ's day. He
saw Isaac raised from the dead, from the altar, ram put in its
place. He saw that. There is not a new
way we need. It is the old paths. It is that
which is right from the beginning. Of course, here in this psalm,
a thousand years before Christ, Those paths are the ways that
lead to eternal life and peace, the resurrection from the dead.
Then we have the Apostle Paul in Romans 8, insisting that the
fruit and walk of God's people is to be after the Spirit. If ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live. And we're speaking of living
here, life here. To be calmly minded is death,
to be spiritually minded is life. And right through that psalm
is speaking of life and of raising from the dead. Even the new creation,
the whole creation groans together with pain until now. But the
expectation is that day of renewal. And the psalm here, a day of
renewal, a raising of the body. And then we have the Lord, our
portion. If he is our portion here below,
mentioned with the double way in our verse here, thou wilt
show me the path of life in thy presence. With the Lord's dear
people, they covet, they desire this here below. They don't say,
I just want my presence in heaven. They want the Lord's presence
here. And where they know his presence, where they feel his
presence, where they feel like they're torn away to a mast,
their heart burned within them while he speaks with them through
the word of God. When he makes known their presence,
I am with thee. Israel passing through the fire.
I will instruct thee, I will be with thee, in the valley of
the shadow of death, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Moses, accept thy presence, go
not with me, carry us not up hence, desiring the presence
of the Lord. You know, if we desire the Lord's
presence and look forward to it beyond the grave, we will
do so this side of the grave. Now, as said, some desire the
work of a missionary, and they've got these ideas that they could
go into some far-off country and be a wonderful missionary
for Christ. But if they're not a missionary
on their doorstep and to their neighbours, they'll do no good
the other side of the world. Some have a thought, if you put
me in this situation, then I'll flourish and I'll be a good ambassador
and missionary. but they're not in the present
situation. And we can do the same. We say
we can be erased and we can be with Christ, enjoy His presence
forever, but we don't desire His presence and don't desire
with Him here below. But that path of life already
is with the Lord's presence here below. Well, there are many other
places and ways that are set forth before us in the Word that
are as way marks that show the highway, the way cast up, that
this is a way that leads not to death, not to eternal sorrow,
but to joy, eternal happiness, and the blessings of God eternally. The two are joined together,
the path of life, and the blessing here is that it is said, Thou
wilt show me the path of life. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ had
to walk through that path of life. He went, you know, if we
were saying there's some wonderful thing in the world we haven't
seen, and someone would say, I'll show it to you. One way
would be just to show you a photograph and say, here it is. But you
haven't experienced it. But if you had actually taken
there and you see it, And you experience it. You go to a land,
you might feel its heat. You feel what it is to actually
be there. It's very, very different. When
we went over for our daughter's wedding to Australia a year or
so ago, a year and a half ago, we'd seen photographs of the
church and the area around there in Australia. But it's so, so
different to actually go there and to see it. And then you can
picture it all. You've driven on the roads, you've
walked in the church, you've worshipped there. It's a very
different thing when it's shown in that way. And our Lord Jesus
Christ was shown in that way that he suffered death, he went
into the grave, he rose from the dead, he showed himself to
his disciples, he ascended up into heaven. He was shown it
all, he saw it, he experienced it. and experienced life and
showed to his disciples that he had risen indeed. The Lord
is risen indeed. And so may we also, as the Lord's
people, be shown the path of life, to actually walk it and
experience it here below, leading up to what shall be a certain
resurrection from the dead. Beautiful years ago, going to
find the grave of a dear sister in faith in Australia, and driving
along the roads of that very big cemetery, the Lord dropped
in the word, why seek ye the living among the dead? I still
went to see her grave, but the sense that she was not there,
her soul was in heaven, was so great at that time. I can just
picture the whole scene of in the car and going to see that
grave. And those words, why seek ye the living among the dead?
And in due time that grave shall be opened, all graves shall be
opened, and a renewed body united with the soul to be with the
Lord forever in heaven. So I want to look then briefly
at our last point, that which is beyond the grave. At thy right
hand, there are pleasures for evermore. In thy presence is
fullness of joy. It is a blessed thing to realise
the Apostle Paul said, then shall we know even as we are known. The Lord knows us very clearly
here. But we see through a glass darkly. We walk by faith, not by sight. But then we shall see him as
he is. And the presence of the Lord
He has known in different ways, but where we have had that fullness
of joy, we might have sweet moments rich in blessing before the cross
we spend. We might have those times of
joy here below, the happiness arising from the life of God
within. When we see the Lord, then were
the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, even through the
lattice of the word. But then in heaven, fullness
of joy, In thy presence is fullness of joy, no fear, not terror,
not like those who don't know the Lord, who never walk this
path when the Lord comes, shall call upon the rocks and the hills
to hide them, but to have that joy in seeing the Lord. Look up, for your redemption
draweth nigh, is what is said of those who are walking this
path. At thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore. doth not enter into the heart
of man what God hath prepared for them that love him set forth
in Isaiah for the church of God. In the Old Testament church they
could not possibly have gone from their ceremonial sacrifices
and the Jewish nation only to see in every nation kindred and
tongue the preaching of the gospel and the gathering together like
this. They could not have possibly anticipated what that would be
and so with us looking forward we cannot possibly anticipate
what it is in heaven and the pleasures and blessings that
are to be there but we know that what is set before us is through
the grave beyond the grave and our Lord Jesus Christ as the
great forerunner has already gone before he already has been
shown it perfumed the grave Beautifully shown as the children of Israel
watch the ark go before them into Jordan, stay into Jordan
until they were all passed over. And then it came up out of Jordan. And the Lord Jesus Christ says,
I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I
am, there ye may be also. This is a blessed prospect that
is set before us. He has set before us in the path
of life. May we know that path here below. We know that the end of that
path is not vain for us to serve the Lord. It's not an empty thing. Satan will sometimes tempt us
that. It's all vain. It's all a lie. It's all empty. There's no truth. There'll be
no hope, no resurrection, no life beyond the grave. And in
portions like this, we may Say to the devil that you are a liar.
The Lord has risen from the dead and we shall rise through him.
We shall see the Lord. It is worth following that path. It's a blessed thing to be in
that path and the path of life, spiritual life, the life of God
in the soul, a life bound up with the Lord Jesus Christ. So
our Lord says, because I live, ye shall live also. May the Lord bless this word
to us and show us the path of life. Amen.