Life, and the Path to It
(No. 2813)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, JANUARY 11, 1903,
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
7, 1877.
"You will show me the path of life: in Your Presence is fullness ofjoy;
at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11.
I THINK YOU must have noticed, while I was reading the Psalm from which
my text is taken, that I expounded it partly concerning David and
partly concerning David's Lord, Jesus, the Messiah. It often happens,
in the Psalms, that you can scarcely tell whether it is David, or
Jesus, or both of them to whom the writer is referring. Oftentimes you
lose sight of David, altogether, and are quite certain that he is not
there, while, at other times, the words seem equally suitable either to
David, the type, or to Jesus the antitype. I think that this fact is
very instructive to us. It looks as if the Hoy Spirit intended, even in
those ancient times, to let God's saints know that there is a
mysterious union between Christ and His people, so that almost all
things which may be said concerning Him may be said, also, concerning
those who are in Him. They are so completely one, they are so
intimately united in bonds of mystic, vital, eternal union, that it
would not be possible to always keep the sayings concerning them apart.
As two bank-divided streams flow side by side for a while and, at last,
melt into one river–and you can scarcely say which river it is when
they are joined in one–so Christ and His Church are united in one
mighty stream and, therefore, what is said of the one may, at least in
some sense, be said of the other. O Christian, treasure up this
precious thought! You are one with Jesus and, consequently, much that
is said concerning Him may also be said concerning you!
In this 16th Psalm we are sure that there is a clear reference to the
Savior because to no one but to Him could these words be absolutely
applied, "You will not leave my soul in the abode of the dead; neither
will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption." All other bodies see
corruption, but His holy body did not. His birth was not according to
carnal generation. His Human Nature was perfect, untainted by evil.
Such a body belongs to no one else, so these words are, in the fullest
sense, only applicable to our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we feel no
hesitation, as Believers, in taking them to ourselves, at least to a
very large extent, remembering that our Lord Jesus said to His
disciples, "Because I live, you shall live also." And that He prayed,
"Father, I will that they also, whom you have given Me, be with Me
where I am; that they may behold My glory." This proves that we, also,
shall tread the path of life which He has trod–that the Presence of
His Father, in which He is glorified, is that same Presence which will
make our Heaven! That the right hand of God, at which He sits, is the
place to which He will also exalt us and that the pleasures
forevermore, in which He Himself rejoices, are the very pleasures with
which He will indulge our souls, for it is His purpose that His joy
shall abide in us that our joy may be full.
This brings us to our text, in which there are two things of which I am
going to speak to you. First, an assurance as to the untrodden path.
And, secondly, an assurance as to the life to which that path leads.
I. First, then, we have here AN ASSURANCE AS TO THE UNTRODDEN
PATH–"You will show me the path of life."
If you take these words as referring to Christ, they must apply to Him
as Man. As a Man, He was to die. His soul was to be, for a little
while, separated from His body, yet, even as a Man, He spoke with
perfect confidence to His Father. You remember that His dying words
were, "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit." "And having said
this, He
gave up the ghost." He spoke with the full assurance that His Father
would show Him "the path of life." Where did the spirit of Christ go
when it left His body? In what mysterious way it entered at once into
Paradise, it is not for us even to guess. There have been a great many
questions raised in the Christian Church, in all ages, concerning this
matter. Some, taking the words literally, have said that Christ
descended into Hell and they have even ventured to affirm that He
preached to the dead and delivered the spirits that were in that awful
prison. All that kind of talk seems to me very like that which come
from dreamland! We know, from our Savior's own declaration, that He was
in Paradise the very day that He died, for He said to the penitent
thief, "Today shall you be with Me in Paradise." But whatever pathway
the human soul of Jesus took, it was not unguided–His Father showed to
Him, "the path of life."
His sacred body had to lie three days in the tomb, but it was not
corrupted in the least degree. Dr. Watts very sweetly sings–
"There the dear flesh of Jesus lay, And left a long perfume."
That body, lying in Joseph's sepulcher, wrapped in linen and sweet
spices through the love and kindness of Christ's disciples, must rise
again–and once more the Father showed to His Son, "the path of life."
How it came to pass that the Spirit of God worked upon that precious
body and raised Jesus from the dead, we cannot tell, for the work of
the Spirit is secret and mysterious. But those blessed eyes of Jesus
opened again and the pulses of His human heart began to beat once
more–and He stood upon those dear feet that had been pierced by the
nails and He unwound the napkin from His head with those very hands
that had been fastened to the Cross, but which would never again suffer
pain, for He had risen from the dead no more to die! As the first-born
from the dead, His Father had showed to Him, "the path of life."
Then, after tarrying here a little longer–that His re-united soul and
body might dwell, for 40 days or so, in the midst of His disciples,
that they might be quite sure that it was His own body that had risen
from the dead and His own soul that communed with them–He led them out
to Olivet and once again His Father showed Him "the path of life."–
"Then He arose ascending high,
And showed our feet the way." His disciples beheld Him ascend while He
was blessing them. And they gazed upon Him as He ascended, until a
cloud hid Him from their astonished gaze. And we are expressly told
that at the appointed time He shall come again in like manner as they
saw Him go up into Heaven. Truly, in Him was fulfilled the Psalmist's
confident declaration, "You will show me the path of life." We can
easily imagine that as He passed through that cloud, the angels came to
meet Him–squadrons of bright beings from the courts of Heaven hurried
down to do Him homage and to escort Him back to the Glory which He had
with the Father before He came to sojourn here below! It seems to me to
be not merely poetry, but a matter of fact that they did then sing,
"Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be you lift up, you everlasting
doors; and the King of Glory shall come in." And He did enter the gates
and went straight to the Throne of God which His Father had appointed
as the grand reward of His victory–and there He sits–and will
continue to sit until His foes are made His footstool!
Thus you see that our text is true concerning our Lord Jesus
Christ–and it is also true concerning all who are in Christ–and each
of us who is trusting in Him may, with the hand of faith, grasp this
Divine assurance, "You will show me the path of life." I feel quite
enamored of this portion of my text and would be perfectly content if I
had only to preach from it. You, O my God, You who know everything, You
will show me the path of life! There is no other guide like You, my
God. I trust no priest, no man like myself, nor even an angel. You, who
did lead Your people through the wilderness by the cloudy, fiery
pillar, You will show me the path of life!
And You will show it to me—-unworthy as I am–just as if I were the
only traveler upon life's rough way. You will devote Your wisdom and
Your strength to me, taking me by the hand and leading me, as a father
leads his child. You will be gentle and patient with me and when I am
so blind that I cannot see my way, You will go before me and say to me,
"This is the way; walk you in it."
And, my Lord, as there is only one "path of life," you will show me the
path. It is but a narrow track and it runs clean contrary to the broad
way that leads to destruction. You will show me the path, O Lord, and
guide my feet into it! When I know not which way to turn, to the right
or to the left, You will show me the path–I know that You will!
And it will be the path of life that You will show me. I shall not live
in a kind of living death, as others do, but I shall be really
quickened by Your Holy Spirit. In that path, I shall find life and, by
that path, I shall receive yet more of life and, at last, I shall
attain to the perfection of life and see You in the Glory-Life above,
far more fully than I can ever see You in the Grace-Life below.
Thus you see that every word is precious and full of meaning, but just
for a moment think of the complete sentence, "You will show me the path
of life." That is true, my Brothers and Sisters, about the whole of
your life while you are here. You will not be misled if you trust in
God! Your own supposed wisdom will surely lead you astray if you follow
its guidance, but trust in the Lord and you shall be rightly guided in
all times of trouble and difficulty. And when you come to die. When you
are, indeed, entering upon a new and untrodden path, the Lord will
still show you the path of life. He will teach you the way to be
confident even when the dewdrops of death lie cold and clammy upon your
brow. He will show you the way to meet your last great adversary
without a fear and without even a tremor–and He will teach you how to
find life in death and how to triumph in the last dread conflict! Think
of what will happen when the parting moment comes and the spirit is
launched upon a sea it never traversed before. It leaves the familiar
precincts of the house of clay and finds itself stripped and unclothed,
and it cries, "Oh, where shall I go? In that unknown land without a
track, where shall I go?"
You need not ask that question, Brother, Sister, or, if you do, you can
give the answer, "You will show me the path of life." Up to the realms
where angels dwell, borne up on eagle wings, you shall ascend to
Heaven! God Himself will stoop from Heaven to be your Guide and He will
take you to dwell, as a pure spirit, at His right hand. The ages will
speed on and, in due time, there will ring out the mighty blast of the
Resurrection trumpet! Where will my body be then? These limbs, all
moldered back to dust. These eyes vanished from human kin. The whole
mortal fabric dissolved and returned to mother earth. Ah, my Lord! But
I shall not have to raise myself from the grave, I could not work that
miracle of resurrection–my bones have not to come together to their
fellow bones by their own power. God will teach each atom to come to
its fellow and each individual life will be identified the same as
before, yet wondrously changed! I know not how it will be, but God
knows, and He will show us, "the path of life," the way to be conformed
to the image of Christ, the way to attain to the perfection of life
everlasting! This is the path that no eagle's eyes have ever seen and
no lion's whelp has ever trod, yet, in blissful confidence I may die
and rise again, for the Lord will show me, "the path of life."
Is not this a blessed Truth of God? Then drink it in and if you have
any fears of death, let them all fly away as you meditate upon this
comforting assurance which your Lord, Himself, has so graciously
revealed to you!
II. Now, secondly, we have, in our text, AN ASSURANCE AS TO THE LIFE TO
WHICH THAT UNTRODDEN
PATH LEADS–"In Your Presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand
there are pleasures forevermore."
Concerning that life, we are told, first, the place where it is to be
spent. Many people ask, "Where is Heaven?" Others enquire, "Is there
such a place at all?" Assuredly, there is such a place, but where it
is, I cannot tell. Some have imagined that, possibly, it is in the
central star of our solar system, Alcyone in the constellation of the
Pleiades. We may dismiss the conjecture as soon as we have heard it and
not be any the better for having heard it! What we do know, however,
about Heaven, is that it is in the Presence of God. Do you know,
Beloved, what the "Presence of God" means? Yes, in a feeble sense, you
have realized it when, in His House and, especially at His Table, He
has unveiled His face. When the King has been with us–when we have
consciously felt that we were in the royal Presence, we have sung–
"No beams of cedar, or of fir, Can with His earthly courts compare."
But what must it be to be in His Presence when relieved from the burden
of this flesh for a while, or when it is refined and purified–when the
dimness that is now in our eyes shall all be gone and the unclouded
Glory of God shall shine upon us? A poor prisoner who has seen a little
gleam of light down in his dismal dungeon, knows something about the
sun, but what a difference there must be between his knowledge of the
great orb of day and that which is possessed by the angel whom Milton
represents as living in the sun! A contrast as great as this is going
to happen to you, dear Friends, in passing from this world–with now
and then a glint of Heaven's sunlight–to dwelling with God forever in
the Glory that excels anything that we have ever imagined here! I
cannot tell you what it will be–and neither will you know it until you
get there and learn what it is by actually dwelling in His Presence!
We are also told that Heaven is to be enjoyed at the right hand of God.
The right hand, even on earth, is the place of favor, the place of
honor and the place of security. The right-hand place is always
regarded as the post of dignity and nobility in all courts. God is not
going to give His people any left-handed Heaven–they are to dwell at
His right hand forevermore! It is the place that Jesus Himself has and
that He has promised to His victorious followers–"To him that
overcomes will I grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne." The very
choicest place in Heaven shall be yours, Beloved! God will not put you
away somewhere behind the doors of His royal palace, but He will guide
you to the place of honor at His own right hand where "there are
pleasures forevermore."
Those last words that I quoted tell us something about the enjoyment of
Heaven–the kind of life which the glorified spend at the right hand of
God above. The life of Heaven is a life ofjoy and the crowning joy is
that the pleasures, there, are "pleasures forevermore." In this world a
few drops of joy fall here and there and there are, sometimes, showers
of blessing. But up there it is joy, joy, joy forever–"pleasures
forevermore." Let these blessed joy bells ring in your ears and in your
heart just now–and if you know even a little of what they mean, you
may anticipate that they will mean a thousand times as much on the
other side of the Jordan of death–in the heavenly land of Canaan!
Our text tells us of the quantity, as well as the quality of the joy of
Heaven. It is to be "fullness ofjoy." That is what we never reach here,
for, when we are most joyous, there is always room for more joy, or
there is something lacking to the completeness of our joy. But, in
God's Presence, is "fullness of joy." It may well be described as the
fullness of joy because it is infinite. He who drinks from a cup can
soon drain it dry, but he who lies down on the brink of a great river
may drink as long as he likes and he will never empty it, for he has
come to its fullness.
"Fullness of joy" means that you shall not only have as much joy as you
can hold, but that it shall keep on running and your capacity shall be
enlarged, but you shall still be filled with joy–and so it shall
continue forever! If you are the least among the saints in Heaven, you
shall have fullness of joy. And if you are the greatest, you shall
still be full of joy. You shall be so full of joy that you could not be
more happy! You shall have reached the very summit of eternal
happiness! Yes, even there it shall not enter into your heart to
conceive anything that shall be above the joy which God has revealed to
them that love Him! What indescribable bliss must this fullness of joy
be! You know that when you are full of anything, you cannot put
anything else in–so, where there is fullness ofjoy at God's right
hand, no sorrow will ever be able to enter. There are–
"No groans to mingle with the songs Which warble from immortal
tongues."
There will not be room for a single doubt there, or for a fear–no, not
even for one sad memory! There will not be room for a wish–we shall be
so full of joy that we shall have all that we could desire! Every
faculty of our body glorified and every power of our soul perfected,
the life everlasting shall rush through us and we shall be filled with
it, sunk in it, as in an ocean of infinite satisfaction and eternal
content! I find that words are but poor things to describe such a theme
as this–I wish that I could more worthily speak of this "fullness
ofjoy" in God's Presence.
Notice, next, the variety of this joy, for I take it that while the
term,, "fullness ofjoy," is given to show that it is one, yet the
expression, "pleasures forevermore," may teach us that the bliss is
varied. I cannot give to you, Beloved, a complete list of the joys of
Heaven, but I will briefly mention a few of them.
The glorified before the Throne of God are forever singing about
salvation, praising Him who washed them from their sins in His own
blood. A sense of perfected salvation is a part of the bliss of Heaven.
They are washed whiter than snow and they know it. They are delivered
from all sin and are "without fault before the Throne of God"–and they
know it. Now have they been brought right away from all danger of
perishing, for they are "saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation."
There will be a sense of security, too, for all who are at the right
hand of God in Glory. They are all perfectly safe there. "No lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up there, it shall not be
found there; but the redeemed shall walk there." "Neither shall the sun
light on them, nor any heat." And they know that it shall be so and,
therefore, a sense of their security is one of the sweetnesses of the
beatific state.
Coupled with that will be their assurance of victory. They will know
that they have overcome all their enemies through the blood of the
Lamb. Even the last enemy, Death, himself, will then have been
destroyed. When the Resurrec-
tion shall be complete, what a vast sweep will the mind's eye of the
glorified Believer take! All human history will open up before him and
as he gazes upon it, he will see that God has triumphed, by His Grace,
in everything! And the adoring song of victory will go up forever and
ever unto Him who has conquered sin, death and Hell, and led captivity
captive. The palms will forever be waving and the harps forever ringing
out, "Glory, glory, glory to the mighty Grace which has triumphed from
the first day even until now!" Victory blending with security will
indeed make glad the spirits of the saints at God's right hand!
There, too, their joy will consist in freedom from every form of evil.
No temptation can ever enter there, no carking care, no spiritual
weakness. They are eternally clear of all that made them sad in the
days of their sinfulness and imperfection. One great part of the joy of
the glorified will be the perfection of their characters, for he that
is holy must be happy. Perfection of holiness must mean perfection of
happiness–the two things must go together. Sin and sorrow cannot be
divorced–and holiness and happiness cannot be separated. O Brothers
and Sisters, what must it be to feel that you have no tendency to err,
no understanding out of balance–that even memory does not bring to you
a sinful reflection that would stain your purity–that, altogether,
your whole mind is godlike, made holy through the operation of the
blessed Spirit and the cleansing blood of Jesus? Oh, to completely get
rid of sin! One would not mind keeping a frail body with all its
weakness and pains if he could once get rid of sin. One might be
willing to be as poor as Lazarus if he could but get rid of sin. To
shake off this viper into the fire–to be altogether clear of even the
taint of sin would be Heaven! And we shall have that bliss at God's
right hand.
Part of the joy of Heaven will also lie in clear knowledge. Here, we
only know in part, but there we shall know even as we are known. Here,
"we see through a glass, darkly; but there, face to face." Some of you
do not understand the Doctrines of Grace, here, but you will understand
them there. You meet with a great many questions that are too difficult
for you to answer, now, and you are often puzzled with problems which
you cannot solve. You must believe, now, much that you cannot
comprehend–but things will look very different in the clear light of
Heaven from what they do, now, in the dim twilight of earth! Wait a
while and do not worry. Tarry just a little season and the eternal day
shall break, and the shadows shall forever flee away and you shall know
all that you will desire to know when you are at God's right hand in
Glory!
But perhaps it is still sweeter to remember that Heaven's bliss will
very much consist in fellowship, first, with the Father. How near we
shall be to Him when we are in His Presence! Here, we cannot see His
face and live. But there we shall live by seeing His face! It will be
the ecstasy of our glorified life to gaze upon Him who is invisible to
mortal eyes! There, too, we shall see Jesus. Do not your sacred
passions burn at the very thought of such bliss as this?–
"For there the Man that loved and died,
Sits glorious at His Father's side" and these eyes shall behold Him,
the God that died for me! Oh, that wondrous sight! Do we not feel as
though, like John, we must fall at His feet as dead when we see Him as
He is? O blessed Christ, we scarcely need any more of Heaven than to be
where You are! Then, too, the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, will yet
more gloriously manifest His Divine power to us there–
"O blissful hour! O blest abode! I shall be near and like my God."
We shall have such fellowship there with the Father, the Son and the
Spirit as is not possible before and, then–this is coming down a long
way from the sublime height of fellowship with God, yet it is a fact
that is worth remembering–we shall have fellowship with the
innumerable holy angels and with all the glorified saints!
All who have been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus, even as we
are, will be there as our happy companions forever and ever. Are you
not anxious to see the Apostles and Prophets who have gone to Heaven
before you? Well, Beloved, you shall see them–and the communion that
you will have with them will be of the most intimate kind! And your
beloved ones who have been called Home before you, you shall meet them,
by-and-by, when the Master shall say to you, also, "Come up here." Oh,
yes, there will be "the general assembly and Church of the first-born,
which are written in Heaven . . .the spirits of just men made perfect,"
and it will be a part of the delights of Heaven to have fellowship with
them! I have heard some people say that they will have such sweet and
satisfying fellowship with Christ that they will not want to have any
with His people, but that is both absurd and impossible because you
cannot have fellowship with the
Head without having fellowship with the members at the same time!
Christ will never wish you to look upon Him in Heaven as divided from
His people–they shall be so completely one with Him that in fellowship
with His people, you shall in no degree be diminishing your fellowship
with Christ, but rather be enjoying it in the form in which He,
Himself, rejoices, for His delights will still be with the sons of men
and if, on earth, they were the excellent in whom was all your delight,
He would have you take the same delight in them when you meet them
before His Throne in Glory.
There is one more pleasure of Heaven that I must mention, and that is
rest–not that state of idleness of which some lazy people foolishly
think–but that kind of rest which will be perfectly compatible with
holy service. We are to serve God day and night in His temple–we shall
always have something to do for our God throughout eternity, but that
service will be rest to us. Just as, here on earth, we take Christ's
yoke upon us and learn of Him, and so find rest unto our souls–in
Heaven itself we shall continue in the service of our God and we shall
find therein the very sweetest rest. One part of that service will be
everlasting praise. I am longing for the time when I shall have a heart
that will never wander from my Lord–what hallelujahs will I sing to
His holy name! And will not you, who love Him, do the same? Oh, what
shouts we will make together when, as one complete family before the
Throne of God, we shall praise the almighty Grace which has brought us
safely Home and enabled us to join in the heavenly anthem, "Blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sits upon the Throne,
and unto the Lamb forever and ever"!
The last thing to be mentioned is the duration of all this
bliss–"pleasures forevermore." It would be robbing Heaven of all that
makes it to be Heaven if you could deprive it of its everlasting
duration. Our Lord will at the last say, "These shall go away into
everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Your life
in Heaven will be everlasting and your joy will be everlasting because
you have an everlasting Christ, an everlasting God–and an Everlasting
Covenant has been made with you, ordered in all things and sure! A
million millions, what must that be? The human mind cannot grasp the
meaning of such vast numbers, yet, when millions of millions of
millions of millions of years have passed over the heads of Christ's
saints in Glory, this text will not be exhausted! No, more–not one jot
or tittle of it will be exhausted–and throughout eternity it will
still be, "pleasures forevermore." Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, this
prize is worth winning! Eternal life is worth having! And it shall be
the portion of everyone who truly trusts in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The last thing I am going to say is this. I greatly fear and tremble
for some of you lest you should never enter upon this, "fullness of
joy," and these, "pleasures forevermore." You know that dreadful word,
"damned," which Jesus used–"He that believes not shall be damned." I
will not try to explain to you what the sufferings of the lost must be,
for they cannot be described. But a great part of the condemnation of
the lost will consist in the fact that they will lose the "fullness of
joy" in the Presence of God and the "pleasures forevermore" at His
right hand. How dreadful this punishment of loss must be, in addition
to all the suffering that must be forever endured in Hell! There stand
the pearly gates, but what if you should never enter them? Yonder are
the streets of gold, but what if you should never stand upon that
radiant pavement? There is the face of Jesus, but what if He should say
to you, "I never knew you"? There is the Throne of God, but what if it
should burn like a devouring fire for you, so that you should be unable
to come near it and to say, "Father," to Him who sits on it? Shut out
of Heaven! Shut out forever! In the outer darkness forever! Away from
the marriage feast forever! When once the Master of the house is risen
and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at
the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open unto us and He shall answer and say
unto you, I know you not who you are…depart from Me, all you workers
of iniquity." Surely there is not a man, or woman, or child, who could
look forward, without alarm, to the prospect of being shut out of
Heaven forever!
And you will be, as surely as God lives, you will be unless you repent
of sin and trust His Son! I am no Prophet of evil, neither do I like to
harp upon this string, yet I must remind you that God has declared,
concerning Heaven, that "there shall in no wise enter into it anything
that defiles." You must, therefore, be washed in the blood of the Lamb
if you are ever to be admitted within the pearly gates! Remember the
Apostolic message, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be
saved," for it is as true, now, as when it was first uttered. May the
Holy Spirit graciously constrain you to believe in Jesus, now, and at
once to yield up your whole being to His supreme sway! Ask Him to show
you "the path of life" and to lead you in it, for then you shall enter
into His Presence, where there is "fullness of joy," and you shall
stand at His right hand, where "there are pleasures forevermore!"
Somebody recommended all persons, before they go to sea, to wear a
lifebelt. I do not believe that people in general are ever likely to
follow that advice, but if somebody could invent a belt that made the
wearer of it more ready for his work on land–that made him stronger,
healthier and more handsome–then everybody would be ready enough to
have it! Well, now, salvation is a life belt for the hour of death, but
it is also a strengthening belt, a help, a beauty, a joy and delight
for this present life. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having
promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." It is
as good to live with as to die with and nobody is fit to live who is
not fit to die–and nobody is fit to die till he is fit to live!
Fitness for work on earth is fitness for rest in Heaven! Depend upon
it, these two things go together. Do you all know the Lord? With that
question I will conclude.
Do you all know the Lord? If not, you do not know your best Friend. You
do not know Him who is the Father of all Believers. Do you know the
Lord? If not, I pray you to seek His face this very hour and especially
I urge you to obey that word of His Apostle which I quoted to you just
now, but cannot quote too often, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved." When you trust Christ, you shall see God in Christ
and shall come to the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit shall
reveal Him unto you. The Lord grant that this may be the case, for
Jesus' sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM16.
Verse 1. Preserve me, O God: for in You do I put my trust Notice how
the Psalmist urges the prevailing plea of faith. A trusted God will be
a preserving God. If you, Believer, can truly say that you are trusting
God in any time of trouble or danger, you will be safe enough in His
keeping.
2, 3. O my soul, you have said unto the LORD, You are my Lord: my
goodness is nothing apart from You; but to the saints that are in the
earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight' 'I cannot do
You any good, my God; You are too great to need anything from me; but I
may be the means of blessing to Your people, Your saints may reap some
little benefit from what I do. They are the company I keep, they are
the choicest friends I know, and if You will but help me to do
something for You which shall bring blessing to them, I shall indeed
rejoice."
4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god:
their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their
names into my lips. We must be faithful to God–to the God revealed to
us in the Book of God, the God of the Old Testament and of the New
Testament, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! We must keep to
Him, not make another god after our own imagination. It is practical
idolatry even to conceive of God otherwise than He is revealed in Holy
Scripture. This we must not do, but say, concerning the God of the
Bible, "This God is our God forever and ever."
5. The LORD is theportion of my inheritance and ofmy cup: You maintain
my lot. One of the great houses of nobility has for its motto the
words, "I will maintain it." But David's is a better one–"You maintain
my lot." God is the best Defender that His people can ever have!
6. The lines are fallen into me in pleasant places; yes, I have a
goodly heritage. Many of us have proved this to be true in our
experience. May we continue gratefully contented and more than
contented–delightedwith whatever God appoints for us!
7. 8. I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my reins also
instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before
me.' 'In my acts by day, and my thoughts by night."
8. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Now across the
sacred page there comes the wondrous revelation of a glorious One who
speaks in the very words that are recorded here. Though, possibly, we
have not recognized Him, these words that follow apply especially to
Jesus Christ our Lord.
9. Therefore My heart is glad. Because in the night watches He had
sought His Father and found help in Him, He could say, "Therefore My
heart is glad,"
9, 10. And My glory rejoices: My flesh also shall rest in hope. For You
will not leave My soul in Hell Or, rather, Hades, the abode of the
dead.
10. Neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption. Now David
was gathered to his fathers and his body saw corruption, as the Apostle
Peter rightly observed, so it is clear that he is not speaking of
himself, here, not in the first
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place, at any rate, but of "great David's greater Son," our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ! "Neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see
corruption."
11. You will show me the path of life: in Your Presence is fullness of
joy; at Your right hands there are pleasures fo-revermore.