Good morning and happy Memorial Day weekend. We're so glad that you are here. It's your this is your first time at Redeemer. Welcome. My name is Connor Cosgree.
Connor Coskery:I'm the youth minister here, and it is my joy to be here opening the scriptures with you. As Joel mentioned, last week, we're going to pause our series on Romans. And next week, we're gonna pick up on a new series this summer going through the 10 Commandments. But this morning and in between, we're gonna look at Psalm 16. So if you want to go ahead and turn there, we're gonna read it together.
Connor Coskery:Psalm 16 verses 1 through 11, and do listen carefully for this is God's word. Verse 1. Preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good apart from you.
Connor Coskery:As for the saints in the land, they are they're excellent ones in whom is all my delight. 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. The Lord is my chosen portion in my cup. You hold my lot.
Connor Coskery:The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel. In the night also, my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me.
Connor Coskery:Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 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. You make known to me the path of life.
Connor Coskery:In your presence, there is fullness of joy. And at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to god. If you would, pray with me.
Connor Coskery:God, we thank you for gathering us together this morning to sit beneath your word. God, I pray that in these moments, all the voices that are competing for our attention outside of these walls will be quieted, and that we would hear your voice speaking through your scriptures. God, we pray that you would draw us to yourself, or that you would stir our faith, stir our joy. And Lord, I pray that you would be with me as I proclaim your word that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be pleasing in Your sight. Pray this all in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Connor Coskery:Amen. Psalm 16 is a special Psalm to me. Two and a half years ago, my wife, Shelly, and I, we dedicated our son Jacob under, the the the words of verse 11. And we pray those words over him each night before bed. There's a beauty in its simplicity as it talks about a life devoted to the Lord.
Connor Coskery:And really and truly, those three lines, they summarize all of our hopes and dreams for Jacob's life. Make known to me the path of life. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. And for David, this psalm was a confession of faith.
Connor Coskery:It was a reflection on how God had been with him through it all. We read in 1st and second Samuel, We get a description of David's life, and we see how he goes from a simple shepherd boy to a warrior who defeats the Philistine giant, Goliath, to a desperate life on the run from Saul, to eventually becoming the anointed king over Israel. And God protected, and He preserved David's life every step of the way. And along the way, we aren't exactly sure the exact circumstance. David penned Psalm 16.
Connor Coskery:And this psalm wants us to consider 2 questions. First, where do we put our trust? And closely connected with that question is where do we look for life? What do we trust in for lasting joy and satisfaction? There would have been a lot of pressure on David, especially as king, to call on other gods, to trust in himself, or to reach out to other leaders in order for protection and and success.
Connor Coskery:And if you know a little bit about David, there were plenty of bumps along the way throughout his life. But Psalm 16 gives us a brief glimpse into David's heart, and it shows how he trusted the Lord with his life. For you and I, the hard reality is that every day we wake up, we are pressured to trust in ourselves or things like success, comfort, relationships, power, and approval in order to experience fulfillment in life. And because that is our experience, we desperately need to hear the promise of Psalm 16, that when we place our trust in god, it is there that we find life. So Psalm 16, it breaks down like this.
Connor Coskery:The first eight verses give us a picture of a grateful servant. And then it transitions in verses 9 through 11 and we and it shows us our faithful lord, that he reveals to us the path of true and lasting life where joy and pleasures never run out. So if you're like me and you love organization, taking notes, part 1, we're gonna look at the grateful servant, verses 1 through 8. And then, we'll transition to part 2 and we'll look at our faithful Lord, verses 9 through 11. So let's dig in.
Connor Coskery:Let's look at the Psalm. Part 1, the grateful servant. In many ways, the first two verses of Psalm 16 summarize the entire psalm. David says, preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord.
Connor Coskery:I have no good apart from you. And David here, he isn't necessarily calling out to God because of a specific emergency like he does in in other Psalms, but instead he's reminding his heart that he belongs to the Lord. He's saying out loud what he believes and that serves to strengthen his faith. And we do something similar when we read a catechism or a creed. Here at Redeemer, we we really love, the Heidelberg Catechism.
Connor Coskery:We often read the Heidelberg Catechism question 1. And it reads, question 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism, what is your only hope in life and death? And then collectively, together, we respond that I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ. So why do we do that? Why do we recite catechisms and creeds?
Connor Coskery:One reason is is simply for remembrance. We remind each other, we remind ourselves the promise of God, but it's more than that. We read and we recite catechisms and and creeds time and time again expecting those promises to move from our heads to our hearts. We want to experience those promises and know them to be true. And I think that that's what David's doing here in the in these first two verses.
Connor Coskery:He's laying the foundation. He's stirring his faith, and by he's doing that by declaring what is most true, that he is not his own, but he belongs to God. God is his refuge. God protects him. God preserves him.
Connor Coskery:And when he looks at his life, every good thing that he has has come from the Lord. And it's from that posture that David then begins to reflect on his life. We see in verse 3 that he has surrounded himself with the saints, the holy ones who bring him great delight. It's a description of godly community. He surrounded himself with people who hold him accountable, who who push him to turn from sin and to pursue godliness.
Connor Coskery:And he compares that community with, a community that does not follow the lord in verse 4, but instead they run after other gods. They are what Paul describes in Romans 1, which we've talked about at length, those who have exchanged the truth for a lie and worship the created things instead of the creator. And David wants nothing to do with them. Instead, the Lord is enough. The Lord is his portion.
Connor Coskery:The lord is sufficient to meet all of his needs. And as he's reflecting, we see that there's this mutual giving and receiving. David is giving himself to the Lord in simple obedience and the Lord responds with blessing and provision. There's a relationship here. David's calling out to to the Lord in prayer and the Lord responds.
Connor Coskery:He even mentions in his sleeping how when it appears that nothing is happening, the Lord is keeping him and his spirit is at work in his heart. And verse 8 closes, with one of one of my favorite illustrations images in scripture. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. The hand is an important image, metaphor throughout scripture. Generally speaking, it, the hand is used as an image for power and grace.
Connor Coskery:In Exodus, God tells Moses that it's only by his mighty hand that will compel Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. A clear image of God's power and grace working together. However, the right hand had specific importance. Anytime you see right hand in scripture, pay attention. Because it combines the image of power and grace with protection and position.
Connor Coskery:And we still use it, the same way today with a similar phrase, he is my right hand man, describes our most trusted ally. At verse 8, we see we see a different dimension. We see the relational dimension of being at one's right hand. It not only expresses power and position, but also friendship. And this isn't foreign to us.
Connor Coskery:One of the most universal signs of affection across the world is holding hands. It communicates to the person, I care about you, and I want to be near you. And that is David's relationship with the Lord. Yes. God fights for his people in the realest sense.
Connor Coskery:And David knows if he is going to be successful as king, the Lord must be at his right hand. But here we see that David's confidence and his assurance comes because he knows that the Lord is near and that the Lord cares for him. At this point in the Psalm, the focus begins to move from what David has done to what the Lord has done for him. And he's thankful. Now years before this psalm was written, Moses was preparing the Israelites to enter the promised land.
Connor Coskery:And he warned them that while these wilderness years were difficult, they were the necessary schooling that they needed to teach them, that they had to depend upon the Lord for all of their provision. But now they're about to enter the land of plenty and abundance. And Moses admonishes them. He says, take care lest you forget the Lord your God. Unfortunately, much of the Old Testament is recounting how Israel forgot the lord their god and worshiped God's good gifts instead of the giver.
Connor Coskery:But in Psalm 16, we actually see David remembering and recounting all that the Lord has done for him and he responds with gratitude for God's grace and mercy and faithfulness. And I think that this is a time where we should learn from David. David, or according to the apostle Paul, we are to rejoice, pray, and give thanks in all circumstances. Gratitude is meant to be an important part of the Christian life. And if I'm honest with myself, when I look at my own life, it's often an afterthought.
Connor Coskery:When I think about myself, whether it's a hard season like this past year or seasons of abundance where everything seems to be going right, I tend to focus on what I have and what I can control. It's like I go into survival mode, and I don't I don't wanna to lose focus that I have these things, I can control these things, and I forget that so many things that I have been given to me. But it is good for our souls to look beyond ourselves and give thanks, particularly because it allows us to rehearse the gospel of grace. Every time we give thanks, we proclaim that God gives and provides for his children not because we are good, but because he is good. And practicing this over and over helps strengthen our confidence and our assurance that God is who he says he is.
Connor Coskery:Have you ever taken a moment to sit down and list out all the things that you're thankful for? I wanna encourage you this next week to set aside 10 to 15 minutes, set a timer on your iPhone, and write down on a sheet of paper all the things that you're thankful for. There are plenty of things that we participate in, that we have an active role in, but so many things, even when you break those things down, so many things are things that we've received, that we've been given by God's grace. Now it has a transformative power in our soul to remind us of God and who he is. These first verses, they show us a God who is good and gracious.
Connor Coskery:David confesses that the Lord is indeed a refuge. He is a wise counselor, and he promises to care for and be near to his people. In other words, our lord is faithful, which leads us to the second portion of the Psalm. Look with me at verses 9 through 11. As we look at part 2, our faithful Lord.
Connor Coskery:Now like all good Bible teachers, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the importance of therefore. Anytime we see a therefore in scripture, we ask the question, what is this therefore? Therefore. Therefore. Much better than the first service.
Connor Coskery:The adverb therefore is a way of saying, pay attention an important transition is taking place. In this case, verse 9 serves as the crescendo of David's growing confidence and assurance in the Lord. The promises of God have gone from his head to his heart and he says, therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to shield or let your holy one see corruption.
Connor Coskery:The result of knowing God to be who he says he is leads David to rejoice. It brings him joy. He knows that God is with him. He knows that God is for him. And even more, he knows that it is God who shows him what it means to truly live.
Connor Coskery:We read in verse 11 those beautiful verses. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Notice that it doesn't say search and find, search and discover the path of life.
Connor Coskery:God makes known. He reveals to us the path of life. We are the passive recipients. And where does this path of life lead? Into God's presence.
Connor Coskery:Literally in the Hebrew, it reads at his face. And what can we expect to find there? True joy and pleasures that never end. Fulfillment in life, true joy, pleasures that never end. That's what we're all after.
Connor Coskery:Right? That's what we're seeking. The world of King David wasn't that much different than ours. We're all on the hunt for that. We live our lives in search of that.
Connor Coskery:And like I mentioned at the beginning, the world is in fierce competition for your life and joy and he wants nothing he wants nothing less to convince you than it can be found in everything other than the one who is life and who is joy. When I think about this quest for fulfillment, it's hard for me not to think about Saint Augustine. Saint Augustine was a 5th century bishop theologian from North Africa, and he wrote a book about his quest for fulfillment. And it's titled Confessions. It's a phenomenal book.
Connor Coskery:If you haven't read it, you should read it. It reads really contemporary to our times today. Because much of Augustine's life can be summed up as a series of desperate searches for meaning. He tried it all, sex, philosophy, other religions, politics, and every time, he came up empty. And the word he used to describe himself was restless.
Connor Coskery:One day, by God's providence, Augustine was confronted with the futility of his life. While sitting in his garden, he heard a child singing, take up and read, take up and read. And so he opened up a scroll, and it happened to be a passage from Paul's letter to the Romans that says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. In a moment, Augustine's life was changed, and he began following Jesus. And a decade later, he decided to write confessions, partly as a way to reflect on this pursuit of life and joy.
Connor Coskery:And he noticed that embedded in the human soul is a longing for meaning. The heart is not static, but it's being drawn somewhere. And this realization led him to write what some have called the greatest sentence ever written. And I quote, God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you. Let me read that again.
Connor Coskery:God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you. Look, I don't have to convince you that we are restless. Our lives testify to that. But we feel this way because we are searching for life and joy and pleasure in things, often good things. But placing our hopes in things is idolatry.
Connor Coskery:And the definition of idolatry is taking good things and making them ultimate things, which in turn become destructive things. And as David rightly assesses in verse 4, running after other gods only leads to sorrow and death. There is an end to which our hearts are being drawn and it is not good God's good gifts, but it is God himself. All of the good gifts that we experience are meant to be signposts that point beyond themselves to the character, wisdom, power, and glory of the God of the universe. God himself is what our hearts long for, and he makes a way for us to himself through the finished and victorious work of Jesus, who took on our flesh.
Connor Coskery:He lived the perfect life. He bore our curse on the cross, and he reconciled us to God. David saw but a shadow what was finally accomplished, the coming of Jesus. For God the father did not abandon Jesus' soul to Sheol. His flesh did not see corruption because God raised him to complete his conquest over sin and death.
Connor Coskery:Jesus' victory over the grave, we are freed from our greatest fear. Resurrection and everlasting life is our destiny. We don't earn it. We don't discover it. By grace, we are saved through faith and it is gift given from God.
Connor Coskery:And in Christ, truly nothing can separate us from the perfect love of God. And Jesus is now seated at his father's right hand where he is the final destination on the path of life. He is our fullness of joy. In him are pleasures forevermore. Following Jesus is the path to life, joy, and pleasures forevermore.
Connor Coskery:And this means that every day, we must turn from our sins and receive the forgiveness we have in Christ. We must root ourselves in God's word. We must tell this good news to the nations. We must call out to the Lord in prayer, and the kindness that we receive from him must spill over into loving and caring and serving our neighbors around us. Whatever stage of life you're in, simple, not extravagant, simple obedience to Jesus and his commandments is how we experience life and joy.
Connor Coskery:Obedience to Christ is for our joy. God isn't a cosmic killjoy. As we'll see going through the 10 commandments this summer, his commandments are meant, are given to us, so that we might truly live and experience the abundant life. Where are you looking for life outside of Christ, And how is it delivering? What is competing for your joy?
Connor Coskery:What is preventing you? What is in the way of you experiencing the abundance God has waiting for you. If you haven't already, trust in Jesus and surround yourself with the community that isn't going that isn't going to let you forget, but is gonna constantly remind you that he is the way, the truth, and the life, that he is the living water that never runs out, that he is the bread of life that always satisfies, that he is what our souls long for, and in him is joy and pleasures forevermore. Let me pray and then our servers can come forward. God, we thank you for this morning.
Connor Coskery:We thank you for your goodness and your grace that is lavished upon us by your spirit, Lord, evidenced by the finished and victorious work of Christ. God, I pray that we would trust in Jesus with our lives, that we would live our lives in obedience to Christ knowing that that is where joy and life is found. How would you bless this time now as we partake of this meal? Spirit, would you take those promises from our heads to our hearts? Would you allow us to experience and know them to be true?
Connor Coskery:We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.