Psalm 16

The world that the Messiah entered, the world where we now live, is not just material. It is full of spiritual activity. We should be very grateful that after Christ ascended on high, He sent the Holy Spirit from heaven upon His disciples. We should be thankful that genuine seeds of true spiritual life are continually being sown through the preaching of the Word of God by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should praise God that the Spirit of Adoption, by which we have been sealed for the day of redemption, is also a Spirit of Sanctification, lovingly helping us to grow in Christ and to turn away from sin. But everything that is spiritual on this earth is not necessarily the Holy Spirit.

The world is full of spiritual variety and with that variety comes danger. A man cannot eat every plant in the forest and expect to live. A worshiper of God needs to test the spirits, taking in the milk of the Word eagerly, but resolutely rejecting every idol that arouses his passion, distracting him from Christ, his first love.

God must preserve us. We cannot trust everything religious, everything fun, everything that excites us. Some passions are not holy or helpful. Are they animated by an unclean thing? Who can protect the worshiper from unseen enemies? The man who calls on the Name of God takes refuge in One who sees the unseen and is the source of all goodness.

It is so easy to pursue even a good endeavor, and to be moved in the direction of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. A man cannot keep his soul in life, let alone in death, but God preserves him. If he is restored to the way of life every day and directed away from countless entanglements, it is God who reminds him again about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. He hears the voice of God in the Word, and remembers. He wakes up from a moment of stupor, and rediscovers divine love. He thinks of the people that God has declared holy in the blood of the Lamb, and the graces that come to him from heaven move him in the direction of loving what God loves.

As the Lord's worshiper rediscovers the purity of true and renewed devotion, he acknowledges that the way of following other spirits is not safe or good. It leads to multiplied sorrows. He resolves again, by the God who saves him, to worship no idol. There is so much in this world that can be enjoyed in the presence of the Almighty. He does not need to be captivated by secret pleasures laced with a taste of rebellion.

He remembers that God is his first delight, and that the Lord who preserves him spiritually also takes good care of him physically. There is so much to enjoy as a gift from Him even now. Where is the food that did not come from God? And is there someone who knows more about good music than God? What about sports and adventure? The Lord made the body and gives his people the best contests of strength and endurance. If there is anything under the sun that can be enjoyed in faith, then it can be received as a gift from on high, sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. And if the delight of a fresh new day on earth in the presence of God is not enough, the worshiper can contemplate his inheritance in the heavens, for he has peace with God through Jesus Christ and is a co-heir of heavenly realms with the Son of God.

“And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God has willed His truth to triumph through us.” It is a great moment when sanity is restored, and when truth prevails. God gives us pure counsel. He gives us a Word that brings life. We remember Him again, and we repent and believe. Our souls are further enlivened with a taste of heaven, and the new man within us instructs us in the night. But what if we are plagued by nightmares of the flesh that seem to insist that we do what our awakened spirits would easily see as wrong and worthy only of rejection? It is still God who is able to keep us. He is close by, at our right hand. We will not be utterly shaken away from Him. We will stand in Christ.

Therefore, we can be glad even now. We can rejoice in God as we enjoy His good gifts. He will not abandon our lives to the grave. He will bring us to a place beyond the corruption of this world. In that place are the saints, declared holy in the blood of our divine Substitute. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are there already. King David's body may still rest in a grave on earth, but he is in heaven with Jesus, and his whole being rejoices securely.

A path of life has been revealed to us in the Firstborn from the dead, the Firstfruits of the resurrection, Jesus the Righteous. He alone perfectly discerned the spiritual dangers of this world below. He was full of the Holy Spirit without measure. God would not allow Him to remain in the depths of corruption. Like Jonah in the belly of a great fish, three days was enough for the body of Jesus to be in a borrowed tomb. He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. He has become for us the way to eternal life and our present Protector in this world of danger and opportunity.

Because of His great victory, we have an expectation, not of eternal wrath, but of the fullness of joy. The Word of God made flesh has accomplished our salvation. The continual whispers of idolatry all around us will be silenced. Even now at God's right hand in heaven there are the greatest pleasures. The resurrection of the One has assured us of the eternal blessedness of the many, for we have been found in Him, and He has been pleased to dwell in us forever.