Category Archives: Life of Christ

The Path of Life

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You make known to me the path of life; 
in your presence there is fullness of joy; 
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11 ESV)

God shows each person chosen by Him a path that leads into His presence. Those who obey the commands of God are drawn toward Him. This who disobey and rebel against God are driven away from Him. Having the image of God gives everyone the impetus to want to know God both intellectually and intimately. However, the corruption of sin compels people to rebel against God. There is a war waging within the soul of each person. Who will have dominance? Will sin dominate, forcing the person away from God, who will not allow anything sinful in His presence? Or will the person recognize the truth of sin, realize the eternal consequences and relinquish control of themselves to God? Will the discipline of truth govern life coupled with the knowledge of the sovereignty of God?

The Psalmist describes three elements of eternity with God. First, the path, which is a trail or a road and leads to God. Second, is the presence of God, which means coming before His face. All will come face to face with their Creator. Some will remain in His presence while the majority are removed and driven away from Him. “When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence” (Psalm 9:3 ESV). Finally, those who are His are set at His right hand, remaining with Him forever. Being with God is taking refuge in a place where nothing sinful can touch or corrupt the person. “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8 ESV). God draws us into His presence where there is eternal security.

Jesus uses the same allusion in the Sermon on the Mount.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV)

Here, Jesus describes the path toward God as narrow, hard, and that few find the way. Those who walk away from God, toward destruction, find that way easy to follow. The implication of Jesus’ words is that the discipline of seeking and finding God is hard and that many will face discouragement and fail because of their desire to continue to sin and rebel. The discipline of truth, of seeing and holding to truth, reflects the inner motivations of each person. Truth is found in God, who has given each person the tools needed to know and exercise truth. Those tools are found embedded in the image of God. Sin and rebellion take God’s truth and stand it on its head, turning truth into a lie while believing the lie, any lie, is true. What people do reflects what they believe and who they are in their deepest motivation. Those who truly desire to seek and know God, though constantly facing the war waged against them by sin, are rewarded with God Himself. “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot” (Psalm 16:5 ESV). Those who insist upon continuing in their rebellion, trying to placate and mollify God’s wrath toward them through false worship, are finally rejected by God. 

The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; 
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out 
or take their names on my lips.(Psalm 16:4 ESV)

And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” 

And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:23-30 ESV)

God shows a path toward Himself to the individual Christian. There are common elements on this path. Two of those elements are an acknowledgment of the truth of sin and a realization of sin’s consequences. Jesus, who did not sin, bore the consequences of sin upon Himself so that none who are God’s would. One consequence of sin is separation from God for eternity. 

A third element is the willful act of relinquishing control of self to God. Those who walk toward God, on the path He has set before them, relinquish control of their lives as they draw closer to God, until finally, they are found in His presence in eternity. 

Those who are drawn down the path toward God are finally met by Him, who has walked with them the entire way, and come into His life-giving and sustaining presence, and enter into rest, peace and joy. They experience the pleasures of presence. Pleasures are the delightful and lovely effects and consequences of being known by God and finding refuge in His eternal company. Found in Jesus, the citizen of the kingdom of heaven cannot, either in this temporal world or the eternity of God, be removed from His presence. Those who are His become that which He eternally decided to make them.

Dwelling Secure

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Therefore my heart is glad, 
and my whole being rejoices; 
my flesh also dwells secure. 
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, 
or let your holy one see corruption. (Psalm 16:9-10 ESV)

All the Psalmist has declared from the first strophe of this Psalm, all of the blessings given, all of the suffering endured, He is about to sum up following the word therefore. God is His refuge. God is His Lord. Every good thing He has is given to Him by God. God judges justly, upholding the saints and purging from His presence those who hate Him. The Lord guarantees His inheritance, which is beautiful and encompasses pleasant places. God fills His mind, heart and whole being with truth, even as He suffers during the harshest parts of the night. God is at His right hand, always with Him, so that nothing will shake Him. He is God’s, and everything that is God’s, is His. Because of these things the Psalmist, who is Jesus Christ, rejoices.

Remember, those who are hidden in Christ share with Him everything which is His. Those who take refuge in God, receive God’s eternal blessing.

Jesus’ heart, which is the inner most parts of the physical being, is glad and rejoices.

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; 
let them ever sing for joy, 
and spread your protection over them, 
that those who love your name may exult in you. (Psalm 5:11 ESV)

This is the normal, emotional place of those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Gladness and joy are not simple emotions but a state of being that reflects peace, rest and security. Such peace, rest and security are found only in God’s presence. In the world there is no peace but division. “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three” (Luke 12:512-52 ESV). The world offers a false peace and security while facing the wrath of God because of their rebellion and disobedience. Those who are God’s dwell in the world among a people who hate God and harm them because they cannot harm God. This suffering for righteousness’ sake is a direct result of the citizen’s personal relationship with God. While living in a world that hates them, Christians loves God and will ultimately live in His presence for eternity. Even while in the world the Christian can experience the joy of heaven because of their having peace with God.

Jesus identifies with sinful people so that those sinful people may identify with Him. What happens to Jesus happens to the citizen and what happens to the citizen happens to Jesus. Jesus’ whole heart and being, His inner most part, the soul and His glory, reputation and honor, reflect the peace He has with God. In Jesus we have God’s peace.

Facing the torment of the cross, Jesus fixed His eyes upon the end results. “I came to cast fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:49-50 ESV). He suffered in His flesh, yet He proclaimed that even His flesh dwells secure. Jesus faced physical death, and we face death, knowing that physical death is not the end of life but the beginning.

Though feeling abandoned to the torment of the cross, Jesus still acknowledged that God is in benevolent control. Read His words on the cross and you see a man devoted to God, able to forgive, focused upon the task given from eternity. 

Abandon means to depart from and forsake. In Psalm 10:10 we discover who is speaking. God’s holy one is speaking and has been speaking. Not only is He a saint (Psalm 16:3) and delights in the saints, He is One who accepts worship from created beings, rejecting the worship of those who run after other gods (Psalm 16:4). He is godly and God listens to Him. “But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him” (Psalm 4:3 ESV). He is the Son, whom God sets up as king and who is given all things. 

“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 
I will tell of the decree: 
The LORD said to me, 
“You are my Son; 
today I have begotten you. 
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, 
and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Psalm 2:6-8 ESV)

Jesus is God and owns all things. 

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings 
and crowned him with glory and honor. 
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; 
you have put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:5-6 ESV).

Jesus died a physical death. Sheol is the place if the dead, the underworld, a place from which there is no return. Some call it hell. In the Hebrew Scripture, the place of the dead was a place where people went after they died physically. They could no longer be with anything they loved. “For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” (Psalm 6:5 ESV). Sheol is the end. God does not create and give His image for those so created to cease to exist. There is hope for those made righteous by God, those who obey God’s command to repent. Jesus tells us that God will not abandon Him to Sheol nor that He will remain in the grave. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption. Peter uses Psalm 16 when he preached at Pentecost to declare the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:22-24 ESV)

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he 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. (Acts 2:29-32 ESV)

Teach and Counsel Me

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I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; 
in the night also my heart instructs me. (Psalm 16:7 ESV)

God gives wisdom liberally at the times we most need His wisdom. Seeking God’s wisdom is not a last-minute exercise but a life-long discipline. Counsel means to advise, devise, plan and give purpose. Instructs means to admonish and discipline. Jesus does not need to discover either a purpose or be disciplined. Jesus “learned obedience” by living in the flesh. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9 ESV). It is not the discipline and instruction alone are needed but the timing of the application, the working out in the world, of both discipline and instruction. Night means both the time of day when the sun is on the opposite side of the Earth and a period of testing, trials and suffering. It is during the times of suffering for righteousness’ sake that the discipline of God is exercised. Such discipline is driven by His wisdom.

God fills His Word and the world in which we live with knowledge and instruction. He reveals Himself in creation and also in ways we could not otherwise know. Having given people His image, God teaches everyone so that all people might fulfill His purpose for them. Everything in the universe, everything created by God, points back to Him, the evidence of His personality and the characteristics of His being. The image of God within each person points to God and drives people toward Him. We intellectually and intimately know Him because our entire being is built to know Him. Sin, which corrupted the vessel, not the image of God contained in the vessel, drives us away from Him and inhibits our ability to know Him intellectually and intimately. Knowledge is worthless if it is not truthfully applied to life in understanding creation, self and God.

As people grow and mature, they are trained in how to view the world and God who created the world. Everything we see and hear and taste and feel and smell trains us in some way. We are trained by those who raise us from babies and children to adults. Our training is either to know and obey God as the center of creation, or to know and place ourselves at the center of our small universe. Knowing God is fulfilling the mandate of creation. Placing self before God is idolatry and leads to ignorance. Those who claim atheism, saying there is no god, are taught to ignore the empirical evidence of the reality of God. They are fools. 

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” 
They are corrupt, 
they do abominable deeds; 
there is none who does good. (Psalm 14:1 ESV)

Those who say God cannot be known are just as foolish, suggesting God is not who He has obviously declared Himself. They have neither understanding (Psalm 14:2) or knowledge (Psalm 14:4). By denying God they ultimately deny themselves.

Being trained to not obey God means when a person relinquishes control of themselves to God they must be retrained. There are several elements to retraining. First, though the person temporarily retains the physical sin nature they are filled with the Holy Spirit. 

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17 ESV) 

Paul laments the continued presence of sin while acknowledging the eternal grace of God toward himself and those who are God’s. 

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:24-25 ESV)

God gives His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of eternal life in His presence. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who counsels and instructs those who are God’s.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV)

Nothing sinful may be in God’s presence. 

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; 
evil may not dwell with you. 
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; 
you hate all evildoers.(Psalm 5:4-5 ESV)

In order for a sinful person to enter God’s presence that person must be recreated. God does not fix the person who is corrupted or broken. He makes the person new. In God’s eyes, in the temporal world and in eternity, God recreates the person. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

The question is not one of retraining. The question is does the person who identifies with God, because God has redeemed them, want to be taught the things of God? Do we seek Him? Do we obey Him? Do we hear and understand what He is saying to us through His Word? Do we love Him and abide in Him as we are told in John 15? The evidence of a life lived for God is contrary to the evidence of a life lived for self and the world.

Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26 ESV). Those who are God’s can only live for Him with the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit.

Coincidence or Control?

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The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; 
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. (Psalm 16:6 ESV)

Before Israel went in to possess the land promised them by God, He gave instructions about how to divide the land. 

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list. But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.” (Numbers 26:52-56 ESV)

Nothing about the dividing of the land was left to chance. Even though Joshua cast lots to decided which tribe would inherit a particular territory the final decision was already determined by God. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33 ESV). 

In the Hebrew Scripture, the people of God often used the casting of lots to determine the will of God in a matter. Joshua cast lots to discover who had stolen from God and was the cause of their defeat by the small town of Ai (Joshua 7:14). God did not answer king Saul when he inquired about attacking the Philistines because his son, Jonathan, had violated a direct, yet unknown, vow. King Saul cast lots between his soldiers and his son. Jonathan was taken by lot (1 Samuel 14:41-42). The Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30), used in the casting of lots, was part of the breastplate of the high priest and used in discovering and rendering decisions in following the will of God.

God is omniscient and omnipotent. He works all things out according to His divine purpose and eternal decrees. Though the translation of this verse (16:6) suggests coincidence, there are no coincidences in God’s creation.

Jesus spoke often about eternity and about His kingdom in eternity. We do not think of eternity as having boundaries. Eternity is infinite and has neither beginning nor ending. Our world, created by God, is a physical representation of an eternal reality. There is geography in our world, with boundaries and limitations. Jesus gives us a visual so that we can understand the spiritual. He says the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. Lines are the boundaries that are measured by a cord or rope and designate the territory He owns. His territory has fallen to Him, which means assigned or apportioned. Just as each tribe of Israel was assigned an inheritance, a piece of land that was theirs, found within the larger boundary of the nation, so Jesus is given claim to all eternity.

There are two words used that describe Jesus lot and inheritance.  They are pleasant and beautiful and mean essentially the same thing. Jesus’ inheritance is delightful and lovely, physically beautiful. There are no words in any temporal language which adequately describe eternity with God.

While residing in this world as aliens and strangers, God uses our circumstances to prepare us for Himself in eternity. God has an inheritance in eternity for us. Our inheritance is God Himself. Yet, there is more, for God is unlimited.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:32-42 ESV; see Matthew 6:19-21)

We have already been told what our inheritance is in God.  Those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven are identified with God through Jesus Christ. God is their refuge, a stronghold none can breach. Refuge means trust. God alone is trustworthy, able to promise and guarantee fulfillment of His promises. Jesus knows this. Those who are God’s also know this is true because they are filled with the Spirit of God and are promised that nothing can remove them from His presence.

Jesus has told us that God is His chosen portion and cup (16:5). God, who dwells in eternity and gives life, is our eternal inheritance, given to us through the shed blood of His Son.

Eternal Security

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The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; 
you hold my lot. (Psalm 16:5 ESV)

Two words are used to describe the chosen portion given to the Psalmist. A portion is a part of, like a slice or allotment. When Hezekiah was king, he contributed to the daily sacrifices. King Hezekiah also commanded the people to contribute their portion to the livelihood of the priests so they could continue their work before the Lord. “And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 31:4 ESV). In the same way, God is the full portion allotted to the Psalmist.

It is the second word that describes the value of that which is set aside. The word chosen is actually the word for inheritance. The eternal possession of the Psalmist is God Himself. God has set Himself aside for those who obey Him and view themselves as His. We could probably say, though God owns everything already, that eternity is God’s and living with Him is our chosen portion from Him.

God is also the Psalmist’s cup, which is a bowl that holds the inheritance chosen for him. Whereas those who are God’s have God as their measure of inheritance those who are wicked have God’s wrath as their inheritance. 

The LORD tests the righteous, 
but his soul hates the wicked 
and the one who loves violence. 
Let him rain coals on the wicked; 
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind 
shall be the portion of their cup. (Psalm 11:5-6 ESV)

Those who are wicked inherit hell, separation from God, where there is continued existence without life.

The inheritance God gives those who are His is safety in His presence. God is the inheritance of those who are God’s and nothing can touch or corrupt Him or those who are eternally in His presence. Peter describes our inheritance as “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4-5 ESV). Jesus, speaking about those who are His, promises that nothing and no one can take them out of His presence. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28 ESV).

When Israel entered the Promised Land, God set aside an inheritance for each tribe. Joshua oversaw the distribution of the land among the tribes. Each inheritance was described, delineated and given a physical boundary. Twelve tribes received their land on both the west and east side of the Jordan river. One tribe, the tribe of Levi did not receive a portion of land with physical boundaries. Aaron and the Levites were set apart for the work of God before the people. “And the LORD said to Aaron, ‘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’” (Numbers 18:20 ESV). It was the responsibility of the twelve tribes that had land to contribute to the tribe of Levi, who were priests of Israel.

Jesus, when He walked the Earth, was seen as the compilation of Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:18; Luke 24:19), Priest (Hebrews 7:14-17) and King (Matthew 21:5; 1 Timothy 6:15). “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Matthew 2:6; cited from Micah 5:2). Jesus spoke the truth to the people. Speaking the truth is the hallmark of a prophet. Jesus led people in worship of God and taught the people about God, commanding they repent and turn toward God in faith. Jesus fed and healed the people, who being fed and healed wanted to make Him king. Ultimately, every good thing had by people is given them by God (Psalm 16:2).

Jesus told a parable about a fool who was rich, warning people to place their treasures in eternity and not in the temporal world. “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15 ESV). An idol is anything that a person created in the image of God worships that is not God. Idols take God’s place. The abundance of possession makes a person feel secure without having to trust God, who promises absolute security.

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-19 ESV)

God created people as His regents. Given the responsibility of dominion over the Earth, people begin to think the Earth is theirs. The Earth, and all creation belongs to God, to do with as He desires. It is not the Earth that is our chosen portion, for the Earth will ultimately cease to exist. God is our eternal chosen portion and in Him is our eternal security.

Not Excused

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The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; 
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out 
or take their names on my lips. (Psalm 16:4 ESV)

God will not excuse those who refuse to obey Him and run after another god, worshipping an idol. Many places in Scripture God makes a distinction between those who worship and those who do not worship Him. The Psalms are filled with these distinctions. So are the Gospels. “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9 ESV). Jesus illustrates the contrast between the saints who are the excellent ones and those who run after another god.

On one Sabbath, Jesus and His disciples ate in the house of a Pharisee. All of the guests who were not with Jesus watched Him to see if He would do something that would give them an excuse to condemn Him. Before them was a man with a disease called dropsy. How the man came to this place is unknown. He may have been a member of the Pharisee’s family or a plant brought in specifically to test Jesus. Knowing their duplicity, Jesus asked them a question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” (Luke 14:3 ESV). None of them were willing to commit themselves to answer that question. Jesus healed the man and sent him away. Taking the opportunity to teach, Jesus told two stories that involved feasts.

In the second story, a parable, Jesus tells of a man who held a feast and required all those called to come and celebrate with Him. We translate the word to call or bid come as “invite.” The man did not invite anyone. He called them to come with the expectation that they would obey and attend. “A man once gave a great banquet and invited (called) many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited (called), ‘Come, for everything is now ready’” (Luke 14:16-17 ESV). Many of those called gave excuses for not coming. “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’” (Luke 14:18 ESV).  They all decided to not come to the banquet to which they were called and looked for reasons to not attend. Their reasons were excuses, which means to beg pardon but also to shun or avoid. In their minds and hearts, what they wanted to do was more important than attending this man’s feast. Their excuses also devalued the authority of the man calling them to his feast. The fact man’s anger at their refusal to attend when called implies the summons was not an invitation which could be ignored or not answered positively.

In this parable, the man giving the feast is God, the feast is eternity with God, and those summoned are the people of Israel. The Jewish religious leaders and all those who set their religious traditions above God, who created them for relationship with Him, are those who refuse to come. They are disobedient. God, the man of the parable, then fills his banquet with all those people the religious leaders considered under God’s judgment, people shunned by religious bigots because of their lower status. “Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame’” (Luke 14:21 ESV). There was still more room, so the man brought in everyone else. Everyone else are the gentiles. “And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled’” (Luke 14:23 ESV). Those who obey God are the ones who will be with Him in eternity. Those who disobey God are separated from Him, who is the source of life, for eternity. “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet” (Luke 14:24 ESV). God does not excuse those who disobey Him.

Worship is due only to God. In Psalm 16:4 the speaker either accepts or rejects the worship of people. God never asks people to do His will. God commands people do His will.  Many of those who rebel against God show their hatred for Him by running after other gods. Unlike the “fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1 ESV) those who run after another god do so with their eyes open. To run after means to hasten toward, to quickly move toward, because they are seeking whatever superstitious benefit the lesser god “promises” to give. God is replaced by a created being who can never fulfill a perceived promise. Only God is capable of fulfilling the promises He makes.

False worship is called idolatry. Those who run after idols are, after a time, given over by God to their false desires.

They know not, nor do they discern, 
for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, 
and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 
No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, 
“Half of it I burned in the fire; 
I also baked bread on its coals; 
I roasted meat and have eaten. 
And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? 
Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 
He feeds on ashes; 
a deluded heart has led him astray, 
and he cannot deliver himself 
or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:18-20 ESV)

The Saints

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As for the saints in the land, 
they are the excellent ones, 
in whom is all my delight. (Psalm 16:3)

Jesus speaks to God on behalf of those who are the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Everything that is good in life, both temporal and eternal, is given by God (Psalm 16:2). In this verse, Jesus tells us that those who belong to God are viewed as citizens of His kingdom and precious beyond anything in the world. 

Jesus describes the citizen of the kingdom of God. First, they are called saints. A saint is someone set apart for a sacred duty. Separation is a theme in the Hebrew Scripture. When God created Adam and Eve in His image, He set them apart from the rest of creation to oversee His world (Genesis 1:28). Having a special relationship with God, Adam and Eve were tasked with caring for and developing the Earth, expanding the Garden of Eden to encompass the entire world.

After Adam and Eve rebelled, God continued to select people out of the world to accomplish His design. God selected Noah and his family to repopulate the world after the flood (Genesis 6-9). God selected Abraham, Isaac and then Jacob to establish a nation of God’s people from whom would come Messiah, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-17). From Jacob God chose the tribe of Levi and set them apart as ministers before Him (Numbers 3:6). God set apart David and His descendants as the royal line, again through whom Jesus would arise. That which God decrees is completed by those set apart for Him, even though they continue to sin. Ultimately, Jesus was set apart for the task eternally determined for Him. The saints are those set apart by God for a purpose specifically designed for them by God. Every saint has a purpose before God. They are holy to the Lord.

Secondly, God views His people, those set apart for His purpose, as excellent, which means great and majestic. God’s people walk with Him and give Him the greatest respect and honor, in spite of the hatred and persecution of the world. God differentiates between those who are His, evidenced by their obedience, and those who are not His, shown by their continued rebellion.

Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” (Malachi 3:16-18 ESV)

Those who are called excellent are compared to God. They belong to Him. They have His image in them. They are set apart for Him. 

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! 
You have set your glory above the heavens. (Psalm 8:1, 9 ESV)

Just as the heavens declare the presence of God to all on the Earth, so the presence of the people of God declares Him to those in the world. God’s people are left for a time to be witnesses of God and for preparation for eternity.

Lastly, those who are God’s give Him eternal pleasure and delight. All means the totality of or the whole, while delight means pleasure and longing. God’s people receive all of God’s blessing because their position of obedience before Him and their worship of Him. 

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; 
let them ever sing for joy, 
and spread your protection over them, 
that those who love your name may exult in you. (Psalm 5:11 ESV) 

Delight carries value. That in which God delights is that which God values. Those created in the image of God are valued by Him. Our value is so great He purchased us from sin with the precious blood of Christ.

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:17-19 ESV)

Above all creation God values His Son. Creation will pass away but God, His Son and the Holy Spirit, and those who are God’s, will live for eternity. Jesus tells us that those who value God as God, and obey Him before the world, which hates God, are viewed by God as His. “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8 ESV). Jesus delights in those who love Him and love God.

Grace

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I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; 
I have no good apart from you.” (Psalm 16:2 ESV)

We are told to fear God. He, alone, separates people from Himself, the source of life, because of their rebellion against Him. Jesus tells us to not be afraid of those who can simply kill the body but cannot bring death to the spirit (Luke 12:4-5). God knows everything about people. “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-6 ESV). The implication is that those created in the image of God are eternally valued by God. Jesus continues by declaring those who acknowledge God before the world are acknowledged by God in eternity. His illustration of sparrows and hair show God’s grace toward His creation. Everything that is good comes from God.

Jesus, speaking through David, recognizes God’s common and special grace on Him and on all creation. Through common grace God’s favor extends to all people. Special grace is God’s favor extended to those who are His and are citizens of His kingdom. Jesus recognizes the difference between common grace and special grace in the Sermon on the Mount.

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (Matthew 5:43-47 ESV)

God does not differentiate between those who love Him and those who hate Him in the weather and the conditions of the earth needed for life. Those who hate God are fools, even saying He does not exist. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1 ESV). Those who love God will see His hand in nature. 

When I look at your heavens, 
the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
which you have set in place. (Psalm 8:3 ESV) 

David knows God is real.

Job understood the difference between common and special grace even though he did not use these terms. Job knew God intimately and that God’s grace is given but can also be taken away. After the deaths of all his family, except his wife, Job still worshipped God.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20-22)

God’s common grace goes beyond the weather to life itself. God sustains life just as He sustains the universe. He has not abandoned the universe, setting it up, or winding it up, and letting it run down of its own accord. God set in place the laws of nature and all of physical creation abides by those laws.

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? 
Tell me, if you have understanding. 
Who determined its measurements—surely you know! 
Or who stretched the line upon it? 
On what were its bases sunk, 
or who laid its cornerstone, 
when the morning stars sang together 
and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7 ESV)

Not everyone experiences good things, though. Jesus and those who follow Him will suffer for righteousness’ sake. Jesus faced the wrath of the world culminating in His crucifixion. He not only suffered great physical pain but emotional trauma as well. On the night He was betrayed Jesus prayed in a garden that God would find another way to fulfill His purpose for redemption.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:42-44 ESV)

The Psalms describe the inward agony Jesus faced before His arrest, trial and death. 

I am weary with my moaning; 
every night I flood my bed with tears; 
I drench my couch with my weeping. 
My eye wastes away because of grief; 
it grows weak because of all my foes. (Psalm 6:6-7 ESV)

Ultimately, Jesus’ suffering brings eternal good to those who are His.

Those who are not His have an unreasonable expectation that God is required to bless them. 

There are many who say, 
“Who will show us some good? 
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!” 
You have put more joy in my heart 
than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalm 4:6-7 ESV). 

God does bless them, but they refuse to recognize and are not thankful for God’s blessing. Those who are God’s are thankful for God’s blessing, especially the sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf.Those who are God’s know that the only reason they are blessed by God is because of His eternal grace seen in the sacrifice of His Son. If there is good received it is because of God. If they face evil, enduring suffering for righteousness’s sake, it is still because of God’s love for them. God does not take people out of the world when they turn and find refuge in Him. God uses those people as His witnesses to the world, that some who rebel might also turn toward Him, just as those who are His have. 

Confidence

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Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. (Psalm 16:1 ESV)

Everyone faces death. Most are afraid of death. Those who are not afraid of death are probably afraid of the process of dying. Most deaths, and everyone dies, are messy. Few simply die in their sleep, laying down in the evening and never waking. For the Christian, those with a strong faith in God, death should never cause fear. Still, Jesus agonized over dying on the cross.

Jesus promises that those who are His will face the persecution of the world because of their love for God and the world’s hatred for Him. Suffering for righteousness’ sake may result in death. Jesus died a traumatic death at the hands of the Romans. We are told by Jesus what we should fear, and it is not death. 

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear, fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Luke 12:4-5 ESV)

Those who are God’s will face physical death and are given spiritual life. Those who rebel against God, disobeying Him, are consigned to spiritual death after their physical death. Spiritual death is existence away from the eternal source of spiritual life, which is God. Death for the citizen of the kingdom of God simply ushers the citizen into God’s eternal presence, where there is eternal life.

David wrote Psalm 16 at one of the many times he faced death. From the first time David took responsibility over his father sheep until his death after reigning over Israel for 40 years, he faced death regularly. With his father’s sheep, death came in the form of the lion and bear, that would try to steal and eat his sheep. He fought predators and prevailed.

Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. (1 Samuel 17:34-35 ESV)

David told this to king Saul when he was a boy, before going out to fight and kill Goliath.

“Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:36-37 ESV)

David’s confidence was not in his own ability but in God’s, whom he trusted. He had great physical and mental abilities to survive and prosper but knew God was ultimately in control and trusted Him.

David knew that only God had the power to preserve his life. Preserve means to keep guard, watch over, protect and save. God alone could make a promise and fulfill His promises. Spending time alone with the sheep and observing the greatness of the world and universe, David reasoned many things about God. He is powerful beyond understanding. 

When I look at your heavens, 
the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
which you have set in place. (Psalm 8:3 ESV)

God knows everything and judges according to His infinite knowledge. 

But the LORD sits enthroned forever; 
he has established his throne for justice, 
and he judges the world with righteousness; 
he judges the peoples with uprightness. (Psalm 9:7-8 ESV)

In God’s presence is safety and security. 

The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, 
a stronghold in times of trouble. 
And those who know your name put their trust in you, 
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. (Psalm 9:9-10 ESV)

Often, David ran to God when faced with threats and violence. He did not run to God physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. No one is ever outside of God’s presence, but few are constantly aware of His presence. Those who rebel against Him, who hate God, have trained themselves to ignore God. Those who walk with God, who seek Him, even momentarily, are rewarded with a knowledge of Him. Psalm 16:1 speaks about trusting God as a place of refuge. According to Psalm 9:10 trust is a high place, a stronghold, impenetrable by evil. Trust is the word for refuge. In Psalm 16:1 the word refuge is actually trust, which means to confide or hope in, to flee to for protection. Throughout his life, David learned to trust God.

David tells us that those who obey the Son, who is set as King over Zion by God, can trust Him to keep them secure. 

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, 
and you perish in the way, 
for his wrath is quickly kindled. 
Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12 ESV)

Being in God’s presence, and knowing that you are in His presence, brings great peace. Life is lived joyfully. 

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; 
let them ever sing for joy, 
and spread your protection over them, 
that those who love your name may exult in you. (Psalm 5:11 ESV)

No one who pursues those who belong to God, to do violence against them, to cause suffering for righteousness’ sake, can touch them once they are in God’s presence. “O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me” (Psalm 7:1 ESV). Continually attacked by the Deceiver, those who are God’s, who are hidden in Christ, trust God to care for them because He cares for His Son. “In the LORD I take refuge” (Psalm 11:1 ESV). God is imminently trustworthy.

Though it is David speaking, the words are those of Jesus Christ as He prays to His Father. During His last week before His crucifixion, Jesus entered Jerusalem knowing what He was facing.

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” 

Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (John 12:27-28 ESV)

Jesus knew intimately that He was in God’s presence and that though the people who hated Him could hurt Him physically, they could never kill Him spiritually. Jesus’ confidence was wholly in God.

Assurance

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Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. (Psalm 16:1 ESV)

God keeps His promises. Unlike the creatures He brought into existence, even those given the image of God, He is not limited in His power or awareness. Existing outside of space-time, God sees all that was, is and will occur. He knows everything, even what might have happened but did not. He alone is able to fulfill His plans and complete His creation. He alone is capable of fulfilling all the promises He makes.

Christian theology and doctrine use the word “assurance” when describing the believer’s confidence and trust in God. Christians have the assurance of salvation. Assurance is unwavering confidence built upon a foundation of faith. One of the elements of faith is the trust. Trust is the firm and extraordinary belief in the strength and veracity of a person to finish that which they have determined to accomplish. However, with those who are God’s, trust is the emotional certainty and conviction that He will uphold His moral laws and all of the consequences of either keeping or breaking those laws. Part of the image of God given to some of His creation is the ability to feel, know and understand when a moral law is being either upheld or violated. The violation of a moral law will generate fear and hatred in the inner being of a person with a right and wholesome relationship with Him. God promises those who are His that He has forgiven sin because of the sacrifice of His Son. Thus, assurance is the emotional trust that God has fulfilled the moral obligation of His law through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Believers trust that their salvation is secured, not through any of their efforts or work, but because of the work of Christ.

David uses the word preserve, which means to keep, to guard, to protect and save. There are two instances in which God may preserve, or guard and protect His saints. First, God manipulates the things of the world to fulfill His purposes, even when that purpose involves the suffering for righteousness’ sake of the citizen of His kingdom. God also preserves for eternity those who are His.

God works through His providence to bring those who are His to the object of His eternal purpose for them. Knowing all that will happen, or might have happened, God works in His knowledge to ensure those who are His will ultimately be with Him in eternity. 

When Jesus was born, the Deceiver, using Herod the Great, sought to have Him murdered. 

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” (Matthew 2:13 ESV)

Joseph fled with His family to Egypt. After Herod died, Joseph was told to take Jesus home to Israel. 

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” (Matthew 2:19-20 ESV)

Paul tells believers that God works in every circumstance to achieve His decreed objectives. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 ESV). God’s providence involves more than the immediate circumstance found in space-time.

Accompanying God’s providence is the theological doctrine of preservation. God preserves, which is exactly what David is praying in Psalm 16:1. God not only protects, He preserves. Jesus tells those who follow Him that God is aware of their circumstance and that those circumstance, though filled with suffering for righteousness’ sake, should not cause fear. God will bring those who are His into eternity with Him where they will never again face such suffering.

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear, fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7 ESV)

To fear means to put to flight or scare away, to be struck with dread. Jesus says that those who are His should have no terror because of the machinations and threats of the world toward God and toward those who are identified with God. A debate rages in the Christian world. Can a person who belongs to God lose their salvation? Once a person is saved, changed, recreated, filled with the Holy Spirit, can that person sink back into sin, become corrupt again, and drive away the Holy Spirit? Psalm 16 implies that God will not abandon those whom He makes holy. He is their refuge and His promises are absolute. This does not mean that all people are saved but that those who are God’s are His for eternity. God’s providence confirms that what He has started He will accomplish. God’s preservation confirms that He will not lose any that are His. Our assurance is that through Jesus Christ we will enter the presence of God and live.