Our Song Through Our Savior
Our Song Through Our Savior
Good morning Immanuel. Unshakeable confidence and untouchable joy are yours in God through Christ.
“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; 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; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:7-11)”
Who is this Psalm completely true of? Not David. David sinned against Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered. God didn't counsel him to do that. This psalm is not completely true of Israel. The Old Testament is a story of idolatry on repeat, of them running after other gods and their sorrows multiplying. And this Psalm is not completely true of me. If I’m praying this Psalm, every verse is a reminder of two things: 1) how good, powerful, available, and near God is, but also 2) how I don’t refuge in him as I ought and place my confidence in the wrong places. So, who is this song completely true of?
The apostle Peter answers this question for us in the book of Acts. In Acts 2, Peter quotes the last four verses of Psalm 16 and identifies David as a prophet, saying that David in this Psalm “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he [Christ] was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” Peter closes his sermon with this, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
The faithfulness of this Psalm is completely true of Jesus. And this song is meant to be sung, and can only be sung, through Jesus. This Psalm, this confidence, this joy, can only be ours in Jesus Christ. Our savior makes this our song. Only Jesus sinlessly walked the path of life, living a perfectly righteous life. Only Jesus could pray this Psalm with a spotless record. Only Jesus perfectly delights in the saints. Only Jesus never ran after a false god. We can refuge in God the Father because God the Son came in the flesh, lived the perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again. Because of the cross and the empty tomb, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, this song’s joy and confidence belong to all who are in Christ.
This Pulse was adapted from Vince Greenwald’s sermon titled, “Our Song Through Our Savior,” preached at Immanuel Nashville on February 5, 2023.
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