The 16th Psalm, entitled Mictam
of David, reads as follows. 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 extend if not to
thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the
excellent in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied
that 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 have fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have
a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord, who have
given me counsel. My reins 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 rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt 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. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. at thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore the path of life what is the path of life? well it is hid from the natural
man few there are that know the path of life by nature fallen
in sin rebels against our maker. Turned away from God, man knows
but the ways of death. What we know in our sojourn in
this world, in that brief moment upon this earth which we call
our life, is but sin, rebellion, sorrow and death. We know the
workings of sin, we know the fruit of sin and ultimately when
our days come to their close we will know what it is to pass
from time into eternity, we will know what it is to die. We experience that dying from
the moment we're born we die every day and in the end our
life is no more we're taken from this globe dead we know by nature
the ways of death and we know nothing of the path
of life Oh man in his wisdom will speak
much of life. He will speak much of living
the good life. Much of living life to the full. Much of living and let live. He will tell you of all the things
you can enrich your life with. and he will say how wonderful
this is and how great that is but it's all a mirage which is
gone practically from the moment you grasp it life in this world
is fleeting And even if it falls out onto you in the most pleasant
manner, even if you're born of the richest parents, in the best
home, in the safest and most pleasant country, even if you're
sent to the best school and given the best education, and enter
into the best of careers, and meet the best husband or wife
and have the best family and have the best things even if
your life is one in which there is little sorrow in earthly terms
in one in which you have good health it's fleeting Your childhood
days are gone in a moment, soon you're an adult, soon you're
an older adult, soon you're an old man or woman, soon you are
gone. And no matter how blessed you
are in a material way, you know within the effect, the effects
of sin from the moment you're born to the moment you die. Truly there is none that does
not know sorrow. There is none that does not know
heartache. There is none really who does
not have some tragedy, some crisis come their way at some point
or other, or at multiple points and others. There is none that
does not know ill health from time to time. There is none that
does not know sorrow and hatred. There is none that does not know
the fruit of sin. Those who are the most blessed
materially are often those who come to see the most futility
in life. Others spend their energies trying
to gain riches in which they think there is pleasure. and
rarely gaining them. But others who are given the
riches and given all that this world promises discover the emptiness
and discover the fruit of death and see the pointlessness in
it all. They learn the way of death and the path of life. is hidden
from them it's hidden from the wisdom of man it's hidden from
the wise and the prudent for these things are revealed under
babes now the psalmist here says with a cry of faith under his
guard thou wilt show me the path of life the path of life thou will show
me the path of life and he said this with faith even though he
was surrounded by death encompassed by death enveloped by it even though death
was all around him even though he waded through the valley of
death and passed through the waters of death at that point
he could say thou will show me the path of life what do you
know of the path of life? how can you know the path of
life? or the psalmist knew the psalmist
in the midst of death knew that his God would show him it and
the psalmist in the end knew the fruit of it in thy presence
is fullness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore
not the fleeting pleasures of this world that are gone as soon
as you grasp them but pleasures which are everlasting Show me
the path of life. What is this path? Well it's
here in this psalm. It's made known unto us in measure
in this psalm. This path is not a path of works
in order to earn life. The words of the psalmist here
do not describe a pathway in which he works in order to earn
life or earn righteousness. The psalm is not concerned with
his deeds or his works. The psalm is a cry from the midst
of sorrow And from the midst of death, it is a cry of faith
under his God, who he knows will bring him life. This pathway is not one in which
the psalmist is concerned with self. It is one in which he rests
and trusts and looks unto and believes in his God, who he knows
will show him the path of life. The psalm is entitled, Mixtam
of David. Mixtam of David. This title,
this word, is one that we don't entirely know the meaning of
as with a number of these words, these Hebrew words, but it certainly
conveys various meanings. One is that it is a poem, but
a second aspect of its meaning is that it regards mystery. And this psalm could be viewed
as a poem or a description, an unveiling of a mystery. For the
path of life to the natural man is a mystery. It's hid from him,
it's unknown by him. But the psalmist came to know. And this psalm shows forth his
journey unto life. It's a poem of mystery. What
mystery? The mystery of godliness. The mystery of salvation. The mystery of life for those
who were once dead. Mystery. Paul speaks of this
mystery in 1st Timothy, where he writes in chapter 3 and verse
16, that without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory
and it's that mystery that we see in this psalm for though
David is the psalmist he writes in spirit as the Lord Jesus Christ
the one who begins preserve me O God for in thee do I put my
trust and who ends, thou wilt show me the path of life in thy
presence is the fullness of joy is Christ and Christ in the mystery
is God manifest in the flesh who came into this world who
walked in the midst of sinners and who in the end was crucified
upon a tree laid in a grave rose again victorious and ascended
up into glory where he sits at the right hand of his father
where he knows that at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore
this is a psalm of mystery that mystery being the death and the
resurrection of Christ his life and his death of faith all through
the psalm the psalmist speaks out of faith it's a psalm of
faith that's the mystery There's no work here. There's simply
the cry of faith of one who knows that his hope is in God. And it's a cry of faith on a
journey unto life that took the subject of this psalm through
death, through the valley of death. through the waters of
death, before he rose again. Therefore my heart is glad and
my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope, for
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption, for thou wilt show me the path
of life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. the mystery of the path of life
not just for the psalmist, not just for David not just for Christ
of whom he spake in spirit but for all those who follow for
all those who were given like same precious faith to hear and
to believe in this Saviour the mystery of the path of life for
them is that life must come through death. It does not come by striving
for this or striving for that. It does not come by doing. Does
not come by your works. It comes through death. The mystery
of true life is that there must first be death. Christ makes
this plain in the Gospels in several places where he says
unto the disciples that they must deny themselves. Whosoever
will save his life shall lose it, he says. And whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it. This is so vital to their salvation
but he repeats it in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 37 he says
he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after
me is not worthy of me he that findeth his life shall lose it
And he that loseeth his life for my sake shall find it. And then in chapter 16 of Matthew,
he comes back to the same point. Then said Jesus under his disciples,
if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, shall find it for what is a man profited if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall
a man give in exchange for his soul for the son of man shall
come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he shall
reward every man according to his works verily i say unto you
there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till
they see the son of man coming in his kingdom you see the world
will tell you that life will come that the riches of life
are to be found in the riches and the pleasures that you can
gain in this world and they set you to striving to further your
own ends to gain as much as you can to gather riches to indulge
in pleasure but it all ends in death as I've said and Christ
makes it plain what's a man profited if he gains the whole world but
then loses his own soul what good is it if you're the richest
man who dies and is plunged into hell whosoever will save his life
those who try to gain life from this world or life by their own
works or righteousness in the end shall lose it but whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it the mystery of
the path of life is that if you're willing to die to give up all
for God to give up all for Christ then you will live Christ when
he came into this world for his people came to give up all for
those he loved that he should bring them to life that's why
he came that's how life could be brought to those who were
dead He must give up all. He must give His all that they
should live. He must die that the dead should
live. And if you want to know anything
of the fruit of His salvation that His death brought, then
you too will be brought to die with Him. will be brought to
give up all that you want and seek in this world and all that
you glory in in self all your own works and self-righteousness
you'll be willing to say it's nothing It's all wretchedness,
it's all filthy, it's nothing. It's all filthy rags, you'll
be willing to set it all aside and to die with Christ that you
with him should be lifted up from the grave and live forevermore. that's the faith that david had
when he looked through time to his savior to come that's the
that's the faith that christ had in the hour of his greatest
need when he was taken in that dark hour to the cross when death
awaited him, when the jaws of the grave came upon him. That's
the faith he had that he could go into the abyss knowing that
his God would lift him up, knowing that he would live in the end
and knowing that all his people who went there with him would
live with him. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. When Christ gave his life he
brought life to others. Through his death we who know
him live. That is the path of life and
it is a path characterized by faith. The whole psalm is a psalm
of faith. It opens with a cry, preserve
me O God, for in thee do I put my trust. It passes through a
firm declaration of that trust in the Lord and it ends with
multiple cries of faith. Thou wilt! Thou wilt! Thou wilt! My heart is glad and
my glory rejoiceth My flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt
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 for
evermore Oh what a cry of faith. How the trust made known at the
beginning of the psalm continues and rises up to this crescendo
at the end. How David lived by faith. How Christ, the Messiah, the
Savior, David's hope. lived, rested, trusted, communed,
walked by faith. David opened, preserve me, O
God, for in thee do I put my trust. Preserve me. How God preserved David. How many times could Saul have
slain him? how God watched over his anointed.
No man could slay David, except God said, now's the time. And how God watched over David's
Lord, the Lord Jesus. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He came into the darkness of
this world. He came into the death of this
world. He came into the midst of an
evil people who hated him from the beginning. He came into that
world in which the prince of the power of the air, the devil,
the evil one, that great dragon, that great serpent sought to
destroy him from the beginning. When Christ was born in Bethlehem
the powers of this world were set against him. Herod was moved
with enmity against this one of whom he heard that would be
born the king of the Jews. Moved with jealousy, moved with
hatred He had the firstborn of each household slain. Multitudes
were slain. Blood ran forth. But God preserved his anointed. Herod could lay not one finger
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Except God said, take him. and his hour was not yet come
for he had come for a purpose and he would grow to be a man
and he would preach his gospel and he would declare God's righteousness
to an evil generation and he would only be taken and slain
when God said now's the time now's the time my son shall die
that my people should live. Preserve me, O God, for in thee
do I put my trust. He was preserved from Herod.
He is preserved at the beginning of his ministry from the devil,
from Satan, and his temptations, who took him into the wilderness
and tempted him in every way possible. And he could do nothing
to him, because this was God's. He was preserved from the hatred
of the people, from the hatred of the scribes and the Pharisees,
who sought to stone Him, who multiple times sought to put
Him to death, and He passed through the crowds from them. They could
not lay one finger upon Him. Preserve me, O God, for in Thee
do I put my trust. Man could not preserve Him. Man
could not keep him. Christ wasn't protected from
the hatred of the scribes and the Pharisees by his disciples. When the hour of judgment came,
when Judas betrayed him, when he was given up to be tried and
eventually crucified, his disciples could do nothing to stand in
the way they were powerless in his great travail in Gethsemane
they slept when taken for trial and execution
they were scattered they had no strength when he needed their
strength And it was not they who preserved him through his
lifetime. Only his God. Preserve me, O
God, for in thee and thee alone do I put my trust. David knew
the same experience. Every child of God will come
to know the same experience. Man cannot help us. Man's religion
cannot help us. Our works cannot help us. Only
God can help us. 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. Christ knew his God. He knew
his Lord. but his love was set upon his
people. Oh, he loved his God, but he
was sent to this world for the sake of that people that his
father had given unto him. He was sent to set his goodness
as God upon a people in the earth who had hated him. who had turned
from him, who had rejected him, who were dead. My goodness, extendeth
to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in
whom is all my delight. Now David the Psalmist's love
was for the excellent as in Christ. And in loving him, he loved his
people. And Christ loved his people. because of their unity
with him. Though they were rebels, though
they were sinners, though they hated him by nature, though they
had all gone astray, though they were scattered like sheep in
the darkness of this world, he came to this darkness, he came
to the midst of death, he came to where they were because he
loved them because of what he would make them to be. Because
God had chosen them, because God had set his love upon them,
because he chose to have pleasure in redeeming them from their
sin, in setting them free, in ransoming them from the grave,
in washing them clean, in making them righteous, he had pleasure
in setting his love upon them and delivering them. to the saints
that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all
my delight. It's because of this love that
Christ was where he was. It's because of this love that
he came into this world. And it's because of this love
that at the end, having come into this world, having been
preserved from the hatred of Herod, having been preserved
from the temptation and the desire of Satan to destroy him. Having
been preserved from the hatred of all men and the hatred of
the religious who sought to stone him. It's because of this love
for his owner having been preserved through his life to the final
hour that he was then brought in the hour of judgment. to the
place of death. It's because he loved this people. that he came to die. It's because he loved his people
that his whole life was set like a flint towards Jerusalem to
go to that place where he would be led outside the city and nailed
to a cross and crucified. That's why he was finally set
upon that cross, because he loved them. and he set his love for
them before his own desires. He set all his own selfish desire,
as it were, aside. He didn't seek to preserve himself,
he sought to deliver them from death. He was willing to die
himself that they should live. Whosoever shall save his life
shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake Christ
said shall find it. Well he lost his life for their
sake that they might find life in him. Oh what love that should
move the Son of God who dwelt in light inaccessible with God
from eternity. with his Father, how what love
that should move this person of the Godhead to come into this
evil world and to walk with sinners and to finally be nailed to a
cross and to suffer in their place. their sorrow shall be
multiplied that hasten after another God their drink offerings
of blood will I not offer nor take up their names into my lips
he walked amongst the ungodly he walked amongst sinners but
he never took up their sin he never joined with them in their
iniquity. He never followed with them after
their other gods. He never took up their drink
offerings of blood to offer. He never took up the names of
their gods upon his lips. He was God's holy one. And God would not suffer his
holy one to see corruption. He walked amongst sinners but
he was never a sinner. He was perfect, without blemish,
without reproach. He knew what it was to be a man,
to be made flesh. He knew what it was to be tired
and weary. He knew what it was to suffer
as we do. He knew what it was to be a man
as we do. But he never sinned. yet without
sin even at the cross even at the cross when God nailed him
to that tree when he died in the place of sinners when he
died to deliver his people from their sins to stand as a substitute
in their place, to bear the wrath of God against their sins and
their sin. When he stood suffering what
they should suffer in their place that they should be spared, he
never sinned. He bore our sins, but he never
sinned. He was made sin, but he was always
the perfect son of God. divine person unblemished in
his person he bore our sins in his own body on the tree he was
made sin but he was always God his faith never wavered he was
perfect The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. Oh, what a view we have of his
faith. His God, his Father, his Lord
is all to him. He will provide his inheritance. He will provide his pathway. He knows that his God will watch
over him whatever comes his way. He knows that he will provide
for him in every way that he needed. It is by this trust,
this faith, this communion that Christ is maintained in the hour
of greatest need. When he entered into the darkness
upon the cross, when the light of the sun was taken away because
of that sin that he bore, because he was made sin, because God's
wrath poured down as fires from heaven upon his soul, when his
own father forsook him for what he was, what he was made to be,
what he bore, and because of the judgment of God that must
come down upon him, because he stood as the Senate's substitute.
when even His own Father forsook Him, in the hour of greatest
torment, the hour of greatest sorrow, the hour of greatest
suffering, the hour of greatest need, when there was no man to
stand by Him, when there was none to help, when the only one
who could help His own God and Father was judging Him because
of those sins that He bore upon the cross. when the wrath of
his own father was turned against him when he could not have felt
more alone more alone when he was in the darkness the darkness
of God's wrath when he passed through hell for an eternity
contracted to the span of three hours a time when he passed through
hell, when he waded through the waters. His faith, his trust, his communion
with his God never wavered. He said in that hour The Lord
is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup, thou maintainest
my lot. Though he drank of the cup of
God's wrath for the sins of all his people throughout all time,
all generations, all ages, though he drank from that awful cup,
he could say 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 This said from the midst of Christ's
sorrows. At that place, at that hour,
under that torment, under that wrath, as he drank that cup,
his faith rose above it and he could say the lines are fallen
unto me in pleasant places. I have a goodly heritage. He
looked through the cross to the other side when he knew that
he would be victorious, when he knew he would have blotted
out the sins of his people, when he knew he would have made an
end of their transgression. He looked through it to that
heritage which would be his, to that people. that multitude
who passed through death with him who would be his bride the
other side oh what a pleasant place oh what a pleasant expectation
here he is in the darkest hour but he knows what he will be
given the other side like Adam when Adam was put into a deep
sleep and when the rib was taken from his side and when God formed
from that rib Eve and then awoke him and presented unto him his
beautiful wife here was Christ in the sleep awaiting that hope
and expectation of his bride to come and he knows though he's
in the darkness of death that it's a pleasant place for what
it brings. Oh what a pleasant place is before
him. Oh what a heritage is to come.
His bride, his people, their salvation. Oh what a heritage. A people
made to be the righteousness of God. The lines of fallen unto
me in pleasant places. What lines are these? Lines of
judgment. Straight lines, perfect lines. Not a crooked way. Not a valley. But straight lines, a perfect
highway. Righteous lines, righteousness. a righteous people. The righteousness
of God which came down upon him in judgment which slew him is
the same righteousness which judging those sins brought forth
perfection in his people. The very righteousness that destroyed
him, that judged him, that brought him unto death is the same righteousness
that brought forth life in him and them. Oh the lines are falling
unto me in pleasant places here's the righteousness of God I drink
in this cup which will be there righteousness and perfection
in me therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth my flesh
also shall rest in hope because of this which will be
brought forth because of this goodly heritage. In this hour
he can say, I will bless the Lord who have given me counsel. He's given me his wisdom, not
man's. Man would have run from here.
Man would have said don't go anywhere near that point, don't
go anywhere near the cross, don't go anywhere near that place of
death, don't go anywhere near the gospel, don't go anywhere
near Jesus Christ, don't go anywhere near his people, don't go anywhere
near the truth. man will lead you everywhere
but unto your destruction but God gave him counsel and God
gave David counsel and God through the gospel will give you counsel
if you're brought to hear it and he will say go to the cross
go to my son go to his death go to his resurrection go to
the path of life And you will know the same blessing that Christ
knew and David knew. I will bless the Lord who have
given me counsel. My reins also instruct me in
the night seasons. Oh what a night season he was
in then. But oh what instruction, what
truth, what life he knew. I have set the Lord always before
me. Because he is at my right hand
I shall not be moved. He was not moved. He never wavered
from going to that place. He never sought to escape that
place. When he was on the cross, there
were those who tempted him and tempted him to call a legion
of angels to bring him down. He would not. He would not be
moved. Because the Lord was always before
him. Because he was at his right hand. Because though he suffered. Because though his Lord, his
Father, was turned against him in wrath and fury and anger and
judgment and righteousness because although he was forsaken he still
knew that he was his Lord his faith was not quenched his faith
was not shaken his faith was never taken away and he knew
that his Lord was before him at his right hand and he could
not be moved I have set the Lord always before me because he is
at my right hand I shall not be moved, said Christ upon the
cross. Therefore my heart is glad and
my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope. This flesh which was nailed to
the tree, this flesh which bore our sins in his own body on the
tree. This flesh that felt the pain
and the anguish rested in hope. For he knew, he knew, that his
God would not leave his soul in hell. Neither would he suffer
his Holy One to see corruption. He passed as it were through
hell in those hours. He went through the darkness.
He went through the valley of death. He went through the rivers
of death. He knew the sorrow. He knew the
fires. He knew the judgement. But he
knew that he would rise again. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. He arose. He arose. The grave could not hold him. Death could not hold him. Sin
and judgment could not hold him. Man could not hold him. The devil
and his angels could not hold him. He arose. He paid the price for all the
sins of all his people. He paid the price to the uttermost. He took away the sin and the
corruption and having paid it in full, Judgment had no more
to say unto him. The law had no more to say unto
him. Justice had no more to say unto
him. The righteousness of God had
no more to say unto him. His God could not condemn him. His God could only say, Thou
art not guilty. Rise up, my son. Rise up my beloved. Nothing could hold him in the
grave. Righteousness had been brought
in. Judgment had been paid. satisfaction
had been made and life eternal life everlasting life burst forth
it burst forth from the grave it burst forth in Christ it flowed
forth in that blood and water that came from his side and it
burst forth in the mystery of the gospel made known in this
psalm, made known unto David, made known through Christ and
his salvation. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. Are you seeking life? Are you
seeking joy? Are you seeking pleasure? It's
not in this world. It's not in the riches or the
pleasures or the entertainments of this world. There is no life
in them. There is no lasting joy in them. There is no everlasting pleasure
in them. They all perish with the using. They're the ways of death. But
if you, through the Gospel, are brought to this place, where
Christ stood, where Christ suffered, where Christ died and where Christ,
having done all, victorious, rose again. And if you, with
David, are given faith to see and to believe, to trust and
to rest, to hear and to know that Christ has done it all for
you, that He is your all in all that the judgment has gone that
your sins have been washed away that the blood has washed you
clean if you are brought with David to know that he was victorious
in his death then you with David will know God to show you the
path of life and you in His presence will know the fullness of joy. And you, in days to come, at
His right hand, will discover pleasures forevermore, everlasting
riches, eternal glory which can never be taken away. O have you heard! O have you seen! Have you walked through this
pathway of the Saviour? Has the Lord preserved you against
the judgment of man, the judgment of the devil, and the judgment
of the law against your sin? Has He preserved you to the hour
where you're brought to the place of the cross, to the hour where
you see the death of the Saviour, to the hour where you see His
conquering life in resurrection? Has God shown you the path of
life? Has he shown you the path of
life?