The Path of Life

It was Woody Allen, the film director, who said, “The future is not what it used to be.” And that is true for those who’ve turned to Jesus Christ and put their trust in him as Saviour and Lord, for those whom God has made known the path of life (v11). It’s true for those who I met on my sabbatical who have turned away from atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam to Jesus Christ. It’s true for those of you here tonight who are trusting in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. It’s true for those of you watching this on clayton.tv, if you’ve put your faith in the Lord Jesus, the Lord of life, who through his death and resurrection has conquered death. 1 Peter 1:3-6 says this:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

And this Psalm is concerned yes with the present, of having security in God now (v1) of being shielded by God’s power through faith, but especially with what lies ahead, with having eternal security in God through faith in the risen Christ, as we see from v9-11. However v4 teaches us that those who live without reference to God have every reason to worry about the future. Why? Because they’re not on the path of life, rather the opposite. Perhaps you’re on that path of death. That was the path I was on until I was brought to my senses and changed paths through putting my faith in Jesus Christ. And David, the author of this psalm, is fully persuaded that the God who has kept him safe in the past, will keep him safe in the future.

Are you worried about the future? In this present economic and social climate many people are unsure where to find true security and often look for it in the wrong place. It’s only through faith in the risen Christ that we can find true security in God today and for the future as the NT writers explain from this psalm. If you’re not yet a Christian will you rethink as you hear the message of this psalm and change course to the path of life and eternal security through trusting in the Lord Jesus? If you are a Christian and yet worried about the future then this psalm has much to teach you too and to encourage you. When my believing grandmother discovered she was dying of cancer, she was worried. She kept asking me, “Jonathan, what will happen and what will it be like?” And we read Psalm 16 together as I then did at her funeral. Indeed Psalm 16:11 is read at many Christian funeral services:

You have made known to me the path of life;you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

All of which brings me to my two headings – Security in God, a plea and Eternal Security in God, a possession. So first


1. SECURITY IN GOD, A PLEA
True security begins when we ask for it and seek it in God. In v1David asks:

Keep me safe, O God,for in you I take refuge.

Yet we can so easily look for it somewhere else first: money, possessions, academic achievement, family, friends, the number of friends we have on facebook, food and even drink and pornography etc.

But David looks to God and takes refuge in him. Why? Well as we read in Psalm 46:1-2:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.

Are you facing trouble, persecution, fear of the future? Who are you going to first for help, strength, refuge and true security? Perhaps you feel very alone. David was too. He may well have been a refugee when he wrote Psalm 16, in hiding from Saul’s persecution. So he can’t go to the King for help nor the priests. Only God. And God is his refuge everywhere. As David moves from place to place he discovers that God is there for him and he turns to him. People say, don’t they, that such and such has led a sheltered life, especially when they’ve been cocooned in a world of wealth. But the truly sheltered life is very different. It’s one when we take refuge in God and know his sweet shelter even in the storms.

When I was in West Africa and Kenya on sabbatical we often prayed for God to keep us safe and secure. Indeed for those who live there prayer for travelling mercies and protection for the gospel work is first on the list of daily priorities. For safe and secure travel with kidnappers about in West Africa; and very difficult weather and road conditions. In the Sahara Desert the truck we were in got stuck in the sand and we had to get out and push in a temperature of 55oC. In South Africa one member of the church staff was carjacked while we were there and just 5 minutes after being in a particular place in Johannesburg there was then a shoot out at that very spot. In Kenya the roads are full of large potholes so you have to swerve to avoid those and the oncoming traffic! God is their refuge. He is faithful.

And their joy is in him even in the very difficult times. In fact the person who was carjacked in South Africa is the most joyful person I’ve ever met. Why? Well not because she really needed a new car but because her joy and security is in the Lord. She trusts God because she knows God. Her faith, like David’s, is not at a distance, it is up close and personal. As David writes inv2, “You are my God”. And the word ‘my’ is used over a dozen times in this psalm. Is your faith real? Do you know God personally through faith in Christ? Is your security in God or really in something else? Are you trusting in and looking to God even when life hurts?

Well in v2-8 there are three evidences of possessing security in God. And the first is what I’ve just been mentioning:

a) Delight in the Lord v2

I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

David’s saying my good or wellbeing doesn’t lie outside the Lord. You Lord are all the good I need. Can we say the same? Have we counted recently the blessings we have in the Lord? In Philippians 3:8 Paul says:

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him…

And look at v5. Literally it reads:

The Lord is my share of the portion

What’s David saying? He’s saying that in sorrow or in joy the Lord is the overriding reality. He’s my Lord. He’s what matters. He’ll meet all my needs. He’s my portion – but what a portion! If our security is in the Lord then surely we’ll share David’s perspective and delight in the Lord. His perspective and delight in the Lord is certainly shared by some of our partners in rural Kenya. One woman we met at St Philip’s was suffering from malaria as well as facing many other hardships and yet her joy was in the Lord. It was just written all over her face and attitude. And on the last night of our visit it was she who came to visit us bearing gifts, which leads me to the second piece of evidence.

b) Delight in the Lord’s people and Kingdom v3

As for the saints who are in the land [those whom the Lord has set apart for himself], they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.

Just look at those sitting around you for a moment. Are you delighting in them? They are the Lord’s holy ones if they’re trusting in Christ. You’re going to be in heaven with them. They’re your church family. Well I certainly missed you on sabbatical (at times)!

And (v6) are you delighting in the Lord’s kingdom? David writes:

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

You see at the time every Israelite clan was secure in the possession of a portion, boundary lines, and an inheritance in the Promised Land, and the Lord’s presence among his people counselled and instructed them. All this David has lost as a fugitive. But he can delight in the truth that the Lord himself is his portion, in the pleasant places of kingdom and in the fact that he will have a delightful inheritance. “Surely” he says looking ahead to his lifetime but also to the future beyond. This is a God who is there for him and who provides for him and to whom he’s willing to dedicate himself and obey (v7). Instead of worrying he seeks first the Lord and his Kingdom. Is that true of you?

If our security is in God then we’ll delight in the blessings of living in God’s kingdom in God’s way and in our inheritance in Christ, rather than focussing merely on what the world has to offer or on what we have lost through following Christ. We’ll seek first God’s kingdom. That’s what Mwendwa and Joyce, our mission partners in Kenya, are doing. It’s what Bishop Martin Morrison, a good friend of ours at JPC, is doing in South Africa. Are you? Am I? Or are we just getting caught up in or dragged down by the cares and frustrations of this world?
The third and final piece of evidence is

c) Delight in the Lord’s truth v4, 7&8

The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

David refuses to give any devotion to other gods. Rather he delights in the Lord’s teaching and as a result makes the Lord his constant goal in life and experiences his presence. And because the Lord is with him he will not be shaken. He will stand secure in the Lord. Whereas those who run after other gods, whether false religions or money etc will know more and more sorrow, especially eternally.

Do you refuse to give other gods any devotion or are you flirting with them? Are you delighting in the Lord’s teaching in the Bible, even with what seems hard, or struggling with it? Have you set the Lord always before you? Where is your security? My plea is that you begin to ask for it and seek it in God. He is there for you. He is your refuge. In him you will not be shaken.

On my sabbatical the mission team members I met in West Africa had their security in Christ in what can be a very insecure place. One member was shot dead two years ago for his faith. But their confidence is that even then they cannot be eternally shaken because of Christ and the inheritance we have in him. And as we’ll see in a moment even in death the believer can rest assured that God will be there for him. They set the Lord and his kingdom always before them. Don’t we need to do the same? We might not be in quite such a difficult situation but we are all missionaries in an increasingly hostile Britain. Which brings me to my second and final heading:


2. ETERNAL SECURITY IN GOD, A POSSESSION
You see as I’ve already hinted security has an eternal dimension too as v9-11 especially, point us to.

9Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 11You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

If our faith is in Jesus Christ, if we know God personally and the security he brings then we can be glad and rejoice in our eternal security in him. Our whole person can rest secure, even in the face of death and we will know fullness of joy and eternal pleasures in God’s presence.

But eternal life or life with God forever begins, not when we die, but when we turn to Christ and put our faith in him. So we also have here a picture of the pleasure we can experience living in the presence of God now. Though, of course, this side of heaven there is still the now and the not yet as the Bible teaches. But it’s a pleasure that not even death can interrupt. Indeed in heaven there will be fullness of joy and pleasure, the fullness of eternal life.

Of course David had only a part of the full picture. When he wrote this psalm he was expressing both his unshakeable confidence in God’s ability to keep him alive when he was in daily danger of death and also going beyond his own personal experience, pointing to Christ and to a fuller understanding of eternal life, which would come with the coming of Christ. 2 Timothy 1:10:

…it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Because of Christ’s victory over death through his death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:57) the believer not only enjoys the Lord’s presence in this life but in the life to come.

And in the New Testament verses 8-11 are applied to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So David ultimately referred to the Messiah. After quoting v8-11 from Psalm 16, Peter says (Acts 2:29-33):

29“Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

Because of this the path of life has been made known to us and we can share in eternal life now and in the sure and certain hope of the fullness of eternal life, joy and pleasure in heaven through faith in Jesus who has been made both Lord and Christ. Will you trust him with your life and death?

One Harvard University professor once asked a friend, “As for Christian theology, can you imagine anything more appallingly idiotic than the Christian idea of heaven?” But the focal point of heaven is not gates of pearl, streets of gold or even angels. The central glory and joy of heaven is Jesus Christ (Rev 5). The path of life that he shows us on earth will end in even greater life in heaven. Then we shall see him face to face and be with him forevermore.