The Messianic Psalms - Psalm 16 — Chip Brogden

Rejoice, and be glad in it. Hello again everyone, this is Chip Brogden coming to you with another edition of our weekly webcast. I am streaming online at www .watchman .net and this week we are continuing our series of messages on the Messianic Psalms.

Why are we studying the Psalms? Because Jesus said that everything written concerning him in the Law, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms must come to pass. The Psalms are prophetic messages to us that give us insight and revelation into the person of Jesus Christ and into the nature and the character of his kingdom.

So we have been in the book of Psalms now for several weeks looking at these Messianic Psalms in particular, those Psalms that teach us something concerning the Lord Jesus. We began our study with the incarnation of Christ, the Word becoming flesh, made a little lower than the angels.

We have traced that all the way through to the crucifixion of Christ, the death, the burial of Christ, his descent into hell. And now we are finally coming through all of that and we are now going to discuss the resurrection of Christ as it is revealed in the Psalms.

What an exciting, what a rich study this is as you begin to see how Scripture is fulfilled and interpreted in the life of Jesus and in the New Testament. As I have said, the principle here is if you can find the application and the interpretation in the New Testament, it certainly makes the Old Testament a lot more easily understood.

It is a lot easier to see the substance of something in the New Testament to help you interpret the shadow of the Old Testament. So what a wonderful time that we live in that we have the ability through the grace of God to look back and to understand and perceive and have wisdom to interpret these things in the Old Testament that the people at the time they received it only had a glimpse, only had a shadow, only could see in part, but now we are able to see completely.

We are able to see at least, if not 100 with clarity, at least we can see better than they could in the Old Testament, particularly when you look in the life of Christ and you apply this Old Testament shadow to the New Testament substance.

So we are always learning and growing, but what a wonderful blessing it is to have this New Testament and to be able to interpret the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament. You have got to have both and really appreciate both, and so praise the Lord for it that we have God's written word.

So we are going to begin in the book of Psalms once more, but this week we will be in Psalm 16 and we are talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So why don't we go to the Bible, turn to Psalm 16, and while you are turning in your Bible we will go to the Lord in prayer as well.

Thank you Father for the opportunity that we have once again to study your word and to receive spirit and truth, wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I thank you Lord for the truths that are contained in this book of Psalms and I thank you for the New Testament which helps us to understand the Old Testament and the Old Testament that helps us to understand and appreciate the New Testament.

I thank you for this day of grace that we live in Lord, and I thank you for your Holy Spirit who comes along beside us and helps us and counsels us and comforts us and teaches us and leads us into all truth.

So Holy Spirit come and be our teacher as we seek to know Christ and know Him to a depth that we have not previously experienced. To go deeper into Him, to grow up into Him and to all things. I thank you that the entrance of your word brings light and life and so Lord this time that we have I thank you for it.

Bless your word and bless this teaching so that we can see Jesus as He is increased O Lord and we are decreased so that we can say it is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me and that is the whole purpose of this death, burial, resurrection, ascension, seating in heavenly places with you and ruling and reigning with you as overcomers.

I thank you Father for the word and thank you for everyone who is listening. Soften our hearts and open our eyes, open our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. In Jesus name, Amen and Amen.

Psalm 16 says this, beginning in verse 1. Preserve me O God, for in you I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from you. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after other gods. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer nor take up their names on my lips. O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup.

You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand.

I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life.

In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. What a powerful psalm that is. It's only 11 verses long. I wanted to read the entire psalm and really set the foundation here for what we're talking about.

Remember last week we left off with Psalm 88. Psalm 88 is what I have referred to as the most depressing psalm in the Bible. It's depressing and it's dark simply because of the fact it is a picture of Christ in hell.

I know that sounds strange if you've never heard that before. What do you mean Jesus died and descended into hell? How do you know that's the case? We know that it's the case because of other scriptures that testify to that fact.

When you get to Psalm 16, it really begins to make sense. If you look at Psalm 88 on its own, maybe you can't get there just from that one psalm. But you can certainly reach that conclusion if you take the psalm after it, the psalm of resurrection.

It says you will not leave my soul in hell or Sheol or Hades. Your Bible may have it translated different ways, but it's all talking about the same place pretty much. You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.

What is the significance of that? I think it's hidden until you get over into the New Testament. I've been talking about the fact that the New Testament interprets the Old. The best way to figure out or to discover, I should say, you can't figure it out.

If you could figure it out, then only the smart people would have revelation. Revelation isn't a matter of figuring it out. It's a matter of being able to interpret things by the Spirit. When the Spirit gives us understanding and enlightenment, then we can understand and we can know.

We have wisdom in that area. One of the simplest ways to gain wisdom into the Old Testament is to simply look in the New Testament and look at all the places where the Old Testament is quoted and see how it is interpreted.

Most of these psalms that we have referenced, these messianic psalms that speak to us concerning the Lord Jesus and concerning His kingdom, you see the interpretations of them in the New Testament. This is no exception.

Psalm 16 is the psalm of resurrection. We have the interpretation of it in the very beginning of the church on the Day of Pentecost. If you turn to Acts chapter 2 in the New Testament, keep your place there in Psalm 16 and turn to Acts chapter 2.

What we have here, you'll recall, is when the Spirit, the Day of Pentecost had fully come and they were all in one accord in one place and there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind. It filled the house where they were sitting and tongues of fire appeared on their head.

They were all filled with the Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. Everyone standing around observed this and heard it going on and was wondering what this meant. Peter says that he stood up and he raised his voice and he began to speak to them.

He went to the Old Testament and said, which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. He begins to interpret this event in the light of Old Testament scripture. Where did Peter get all that revelation and insight from?

Certainly it's not because Peter was born with that. It's not because Peter went to school and learned that. It was by the revelation of our Father in heaven. Just in the same manner in which Peter received that revelation of Christ, Jesus said it's not by flesh and blood that you know this, but it's the revelation of my Father which is in heaven.

In the same way there in Acts, as Jesus, once he ascended and he left the disciples behind him, they were there in that upper room with about 120 others. They were all seeking God and they were praying together and they were searching the scriptures and the Spirit was giving them insight and illumination into these scriptures.

So when he rises to speak, he's able to impart that revelation to the people that are listening. He quotes from Joel and he continues to speak. What I want to get to begins in verse 22. Here we're going to see something very significant.

So Acts 2 .22, Peter is speaking. He says, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

I just like the way that's worded. It wasn't possible that death could hold Jesus back for long. Verse 25, for David says concerning him, and now Peter is quoting from Psalm 16 verses 8 through 11, the passage that we just got finished reading.

I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.

You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Okay, well, what is so profound about that passage of Scripture, Peter? Well, Peter is going to explain it to us.

In verse 29, he says, men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Praise the Lord. So, again, let's look at what he's saying here. I was teaching this in Sunday school many years ago, and there was a lady there as I was teaching.

She just could not get the point that I was trying to make, and I guess it's more of a reflection of the teacher than it is of the student in that case. But she didn't understand how this passage of Scripture applied to Jesus.

So, let's look at verse 29 and make sure that we are really all on the same page here so that there's no confusion or misunderstanding. Again, you've got to have the revelation of the Spirit to see this, but I think it will be pretty apparent as you read.

Now, verse 29, Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. What is he saying? Well, he is saying that David is not referring to himself in this psalm.

When David says, You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption, he was not talking about himself. Now, it seems that way, doesn't it? But David was speaking prophetically, Peter says, because David was a prophet.

And that's how we're able to say not only was David a king, not only was David a man after God's own heart, but David was a prophet, and the psalms that he wrote are prophetic messages to us that tell us and reveal to us something of the Lord Jesus and of his kingdom.

And that's why Peter says David is a prophet, because, folks, the only thing that prophecy is, it is the testimony of Jesus. The prophetic word is supposed to bring us deeper into the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

It is the revelation, it is the testimony of Jesus that inspires prophecy, it says in Revelation 19 .10. So, as we talk about prophetic things, it's very easy to become sidetracked and begin to put emphasis on the prophetic, quote-unquote, and give it a greater significance and misapply the prophetic word in a way that God never intended it to be applied.

Simply put, the prophetic word is the testimony of Jesus. So a prophet is someone who, by the Spirit of God, speaks a word or writes a word that brings us into a deeper understanding, a more experiential knowledge and knowing of Jesus Christ.

Now, some will say that is too simplistic of a definition. And they will go and say that prophecy is supposed to be encouragement and edification and comfort. Well, it is all of that. If the prophetic word is pointing people to Christ, it will encourage people, it will edify people, and it will comfort people.

If the prophetic word is meant to be warning, it will be in the Spirit and it will be appropriate, so long as we are pointing people to Christ as all in all. That's the purpose of the prophetic word. We don't have time to get into an entire teaching on what the prophetic word is and what a prophet is, but all I'm mentioning right now is the fact that David is referred to in the Scripture as a prophet.

A man after God's own heart is someone that we should listen to. David was a man after God's own heart, and because of that relationship he had with the Lord, the Lord was able to reveal himself to David.

David was able to take those revelations and make them known to us. So praise the Lord. Peter says, basically, David was not writing about himself because David was a prophet, and he was writing to us of the Christ.

How do we know that David was not writing of himself? Because David has died. He has been buried. His tomb and his remains are with us to this day. His body saw corruption. So David is not referring to himself here, but he is referring to someone else who would go into hell, but his body would not see corruption.

Now that is a mystery. How can someone die, go to hell, and yet their flesh does not see corruption? It says, you will not leave my soul in hell. You will not allow your holy one to see corruption. So that can't apply to David because David is dead, Peter says, and his remains are here.

He is dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, I'm in verse 30 of Acts 2. We're just going to reread that. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, who was he talking about?

He, foreseeing this, verse 31, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. So if you at all question whether or not Psalm 88 is actually referring to the Lord Jesus Christ when it says that in hell I lift up my voice, that's kind of strange to think that Jesus died and went to hell.

What is the point of that? I don't want to get into a great debate about what the point was or why he was there other than just to say he was fully identifying himself with sinful man. But the point is, if you take Psalm 16, as Peter does, and you apply it to the resurrection of Christ, it says you will not leave my soul in Hades.

That means that at some point his soul was in Hades, right? It just stands to reason. So he says that concerning the resurrection of the Christ, his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. And he continues on there and talks about the ascension, which we will get to next week, and we'll talk about the ascension of Christ. But there's another place.

In case you're not satisfied with Peter's interpretation, there's another place in the book of Acts that gives us the interpretation of Psalm 16. And so if you would, turn to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13.

And in this case, it's not Peter that is preaching. It is Paul that is preaching. And you're going to find that Peter and Paul both have the same understanding, the same insight, the same wisdom and revelation as Peter.

Now, where did Peter and Paul get their information from? I mean, did Paul go visit with Peter and Peter taught this to him? Well, perhaps. But based on the history of Paul, it seems that he didn't even come into contact with Peter until much later on.

So I'm willing to believe, and it doesn't have to be this way, but I certainly think it's possible that the Holy Spirit can certainly reveal to Paul the same insight and wisdom that he revealed to Peter.

So you'll see that they're in harmony here. Acts chapter 13. And let's break right into the middle of his sermon here and begin reading in verse 32 of Acts 13. Now, this is Paul on his first missionary journey.

And you've got a little more detail here of what they were preaching just to give you an idea of what they were saying as they go out. After the writer here gives you kind of a taste of what they're preaching, he doesn't give you the word-by-word sermon anymore.

He just tells you where they went. But this Acts 13 as they go out kind of gives us some background and some history so that we know exactly what they were telling people as they went out. So if you start looking in verse 32 with me, it says Paul is speaking.

He says, We declare to you glad tidings, that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, in that he has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, You are my son, today I have begotten you.

We haven't gotten to that psalm yet, by the way, and we will as we continue on with our study. Verse 34. And that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

Therefore, he also says in another psalm, You will not allow your holy one to see corruption. Uh-huh. See, where does that, where does that, that is Psalms 16 .10. Same psalm we've been reading. Psalm 16, the psalm of resurrection.

You will not allow your holy one to see corruption. Now verse 36, Paul is going to tell us how that can apply to Jesus. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep.

That's a, that's a euphemism for dying. He, he died and was buried with his fathers and saw corruption. Right? Does that make sense? Okay. But, verse 37, he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.

And by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Hallelujah. I'm so glad Paul said that. You know, just to backtrack a little bit, we not long ago completed a series of messages on Galatians and how we are free from the curse of the law.

We are free in Christ Jesus not to live according to the flesh, but to live according to the spirit. And if you live according to the spirit, not only will you obey the spirit of the law, but you will go beyond that and do even more than what the law requires.

And you know, folks, I still get email from people. I still get feedback and commentary from people that still want to argue with me and debate the fact that we are supposed to keep the law of Moses. And the only conclusion I can come to is they just haven't, have never read the New Testament.

Their entire life is based on the Old Testament. They don't understand how to take the New Testament and apply it to the Old. And it's not that the New Testament is contradicting the Old Testament. The New Testament helps us to interpret the Old and they complement one another.

But you can't grasp hold of one to the exclusion of the other. Right here, Paul says, By him, everyone who believes. By who? By Jesus. Verse 39. By Jesus, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Do you understand that? Do you understand that you could not be justified by the law of Moses? And that is the whole reason why Christ had to come. Why he had to live a sinless life. Why he had to be identified with the sins of man and become our sacrifice.

Why he was crucified, dead, buried. His flesh saw no corruption because he was raised again on the third day. He ascended and he's seated in heavenly places as our high priest and our substitute. How in the world can you go back and try to be justified under the law of Moses?

Paul says it's impossible. But in him and through him and because of him, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. The law of Moses was never intended to be universal.

It was never intended to be eternal. It was only a shadow, a type of things to come. And that substance and that reality is in Christ. It is so clear, it just boggles my mind that more people can't see it.

And I guess, again, it's a matter of the Spirit revealing, the Spirit opening our eyes so that we can see it. But, you know, you've got to have an open mind for the Spirit to reveal something to you. You have to empty yourself of these preconceived ideas, empty yourself of what everyone else is teaching and saying and doing, and go to the Word of God with an open mind and an open heart and say, Lord, show me the truth.

And I just have to believe that so many people who are still bound by the law of Moses, still bound by religion, bound by religiosity, bound by churchianity, they have never once gone to the Lord and heard directly from God.

It is not Spirit and truth revelation to them. They are fighting flesh and blood. They are fighting according to the carnal man. They are fighting according to the natural man. And Paul says the things of the Spirit, the natural man can't grasp.

They can't receive them because they are spiritually discerned. And so I pray, whether you agree with me or not, I pray that you'll get on your face before the Lord and ask Him to show you the truth and let it be revelation, Spirit and truth and life and revelation to you and not just the regurgitations of what someone else is spewing and what someone else is saying and thinking and telling you that you ought to be.

Praise the Lord. So, back to resurrection here. The resurrection of Christ. Obviously, David was not resurrected, yet he said, you won't allow your Holy One to see corruption. So, we have here a complete harmony between what Peter is preaching and what Paul is preaching.

Praise the Lord. You are my Son. This day have I begotten you. You will not allow your Holy One to see corruption. You won't let your Holy One remain in hell. So, praise God. That is the psalm of resurrection, Psalm 16.

Praise the Lord. Why don't you flip back over to Psalm 16 right now and let's read again, just to reiterate, verse 8. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Right hand is mentioned. And then, as we keep reading, Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in hell. Nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.

You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. And once again, His right hand is mentioned. Folks, that is so powerful. It is telling us that Christ will be crucified.

That He will die. That He will descend into hell. But He will rise again. And we see here a hint of where this is heading. It is heading towards the right hand of God. Right there in that position of ascendancy.

That position of supremacy. That position of preeminence. So, praise the Lord. It's exciting. And it's about to get a lot more exciting as we continue this study. So, praise the Lord. This is Chip Brogdon.

We're streaming online at www .watchman .net. Thank you so much for listening this week. We'll pick up again here next week. And begin discussing the ascension of Christ. Seated together with Him in the heavenly places.

God bless you. And we'll see you next week.