We survived, you're all here, praise the Lord. There are no pressing announcements other than we'll have the Lord's Supper, God willing, this coming Sunday. You can't hear me? I can hear myself kind of echoing. You can't hear me? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? The man in red's not sure. Yeah, he can always turn up. He can always tell me to speak quietly like this. Or I can move the mic down. Or I can turn the mic off. You know, things like that. So as he's moseying up the stairs... When you have video running, you're not supposed to have downtime. You always got to talk. People don't want to see a stilled image. That's what I've been told anyways. But then I'm not a TV host. It's a cold. Go ahead. OK. Can you hear me now, Bob? Dude, there's always one in the crowd, isn't there? You know who that one is? Bob. I'm good. You're good. You good, Leonard? Yep. You can hear me. Let's hear it for technology. I don't think I can project my voice like, um, Whitfield. Thank you. We have the call to worship. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night. Let us bow our hearts and heads in silent preparation for worship. Let us pray. We are here this morning, God, by your grace and mercy. Thankful, Lord, that we were able to travel on this snowy day to come into your presence, to be with the people of God, to praise your name, to thank you and to glorify you, Lord, to bring our prayer requests as your people. We praise you indeed, God, for the ability to come and that, again, the building is open for us. And, Lord, you've given us access to be with one another, even through the technology on Facebook and Zoom. Lord, we are thankful to live in such a time in which we can do that. We praise you, God, for our safe travel, continued safe travel. We ask God as we go about our ways after worship. We thank you, Lord, for our health as well. Nevertheless, God above, we come to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We come to you asking God for our health conditions. We pray, Lord, for the leadership here that has been stricken by COVID at this building, God, that you would heal them and heal them quickly, Lord. and that you would bring them nigh unto you. We ask God that you would keep us healthy and that we would use the means you've given us, Lord, to stay healthy. Especially again, we pray for those who are high risk to have access to good health and that we would take in consideration those who are indeed high risk, Lord, and help them to stay healthy. Our God, we pray during this political season, this time of election, for godly laws and for faithful politicians. Surely, God, we desire to have godly politicians, Lord, but we've not had those. That is, those who are Christians for a long time, for many of us across this nation, God above. Nevertheless, we know in your providence many unbelievers do many good things, at least with respect to one another in outward form. And we ask God that we have such politicians to protect us, to enact godly laws again, and to strike down wicked laws, Lord, above. And so guide us and protect us, and may we have our proper focus during this election, God, certainly to be intelligent about the issues before us, but always to trust in you as we are indeed paying attention to what is going on in the political realm. We pray in particular, God, for Colorado and the issues there on the ballots, and the light, God, again, for godly laws and the striking down of wicked laws. And in particular, Lord, God above, we ask that you would be with the firemen who are trying to deal with the many fires that we have, the worst fire season we've had on record, God above. that people would be protected from it. But Lord, not for their own sake, but for the sake of their souls, so that they would have another day to hear your gospel and to repent. And so, Lord God, we ask that these fires and these difficult times in California as well, and difficult year of 2020, would be used in your providence, God, to wake people up. Certainly for Christians, Lord, that we are reminded again that when these things happen, Lord, they are not outside of your control, but they are part of your plan, and they are used to remind us of the call of repentance upon everyone. Lord Jesus, God above, we pray for our OPC, that is our denomination, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, that you would be with her and purify her, Lord, and that you would help her in her efforts to spread the gospel and fulfillment of the Great Commission, and that her efforts for home missions, Lord, here in America, through the cities and the countryside, God, would prove fruitful by your providence. Give us wisdom, give us the resources. We are thankful indeed for the resources we've had for a very long time, for such a small-sized denomination that we have, Lord, and we're able to plant churches, to support churches. Give us wisdom to understand, Lord, that maybe there are times when we should not, that there is a weakness there locally, and that those people need help in another way, perhaps, God. At the same time, Lord, we ask that there be cooperation and understanding of direction of what to do at the national level, Lord, at the General Assembly, as well as at the regional churches, at the Presbyterian God and local churches that support various incendiary efforts. We pray in a similar fashion, Lord, for foreign missions. for our efforts there, Lord, in Africa and South America and elsewhere across this globe, God, that You would again be with them, that You would give them the wisdom to understand where to sow and where not to sow and how much to sow, Lord, and under what conditions. These are the decisions that have to be made on the ground, Lord, from the pastor and from those with him and the Foreign Missions Committee and the like, God. We ask that they would have wisdom again, Lord, and they would cry out to You and give them the resources they have. At the same time, Lord, we also pray for humility to understand We can only do so much, and we are very limited. And so, Lord, to be thankful for the small talent that we have as the OPC, and our own church for that matter, God, and to be faithful as we are able with that small talent, Lord, and certainly not to bury it into the ground. Be with us this morning, God. Watch over us and guide my words, Lord, to glorify your name, to instruct and equip the saints, and to encourage them in their call in life. In your name alone we pray, amen. Let us go ahead and read the Ten Commandments. Let us say them together. And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself any carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath. or that is in the water under the earth, you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. You, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. Hear also the words of our Lord Jesus, how he says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Let us turn to our Bibles to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Let us listen attentively to the Word of God, Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust. 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 excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another God. 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 in 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. he is at my right hand, and 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's fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Let us pray. With these words of Psalm 16, God, may they encourage us to look to you, to cling to you, to cry out to you, Lord, to reaffirm our faith and trust in you, God, for it is you who preserves us and you have done much good for us. With these two points, God, may we understand this psalm and may we be encouraged by this psalm to carry on again during this difficult year. In your name alone we pray. Amen. Like many psalms, this one has no particular problem the writer is struggling with. There is no particular background like many of David's other psalms that you have reference to, perhaps adultery or battles and wars. This is true, in fact, for many of the psalms. This is what makes them so useful. They're so broad. They seem to talk about all kinds of things in yet one simple psalm. They speak of the universal condition of man and the everlasting glories of God Almighty. In particular, this psalm, however, does talk about preservation in the goodness of God and how he rejoices in God's goodness and God's power to preserve him in a life of holiness of the covenant. So although there doesn't seem to be a particular issue he's dealing with, it is still relevant for us and has some particular application for us today. So let us look at the text, chapter 16, the entire chapter here, to understand God's goodness to us. giving us preservation and preserving us and being our inheritance. And therefore, this is the ground for our trust and our confidence to strengthen our weak faith, if need be. The first point, trust in the preservation of God, verses one through four. Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust. That's why he's coming to him. He's got no one else to go to. He trusts in God, he trusts in God's power to preserve him, to protect him, to carry him through life. This idea of trusting in God is not a New Testament doctrine, as you know. It's clearly here in the Old Testament doctrine of faith, of a saving faith. They had a saving faith. They trusted in God and in the promised seed to come. It was never about trusting their works, it was never about trusting the sacrifices, it was never about trusting their circumcision, it was never trusting in their lineage. They did all that, that is, some of the Jews did, obviously, but they were wrong, just like we are wrong today if we come to church in thinking that its attendance as such, our baptism as such, that are the grounds or the warrant for heaven. Jesus Christ is. Brothers and sisters, we must believe in Him who has come, like David here believed in the Messiah who was to come. He trusted, as we read here, in the covenant-keeping God, again capital L-O-R-D in various parts of this text as well. He made a covenant with them through Abraham, and it was applicable to David. That's why he was circumcised. You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from you, we read elsewhere. Our goodness depends upon God's faithfulness, our preservation depends upon God's faithfulness, not the other way around. Although he trusts in the Lord to preserve him, it is not as though he is trusting in his trusting. but he trusts in the Lord. And it's always been that way for those who follow Jesus Christ. Because God is indeed faithful, we can trust in him to preserve us. This is why he can come before him. Oh my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from you. My goodness is nothing apart from you. So he recognizes, again, God the source of preservation, as well as a source of goodness in his life. Now he means, I think, also moral goodness, or especially moral goodness, although it doesn't exclude other kinds of goodness in his life. And because God is his God, and he is his child, and we are the children of God, and he is our God, what we have that is good, that we say is good in our lives, is from him, is from the Lord of the covenant. For our goodness is nothing apart from you. We can read the same thing and come away with the same conclusion. We could own this as our own, even though we didn't write it. We could say, this is what I believe. This is David speaking the truth to me. This preservation, preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust. Preservation is not just of the body, although certainly he depends upon God for the preservation of his body, but especially upon his soul, especially moral preservation, right? To be holy. And again, I think that's seen here when he says, my goodness is nothing apart from you. And he talks about the saints in verse 3, as for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. He delights in the saints, that is, those who are separate, those who are holy. That's what the idea of saint is. The goodness here has the overtones of moral goodness. The goodness of David, the goodness of the saints, the goodness that we have, and we do have it, is there because of God, not because of ourselves. It's the Spirit working in us to preserve us. The preservation God gives us is never apart from holiness, apart from goodness, apart from sainthood, not the Roman Catholic view of sainthood, as though there are special uber-Christians. We're all saints. We're all set apart and sanctified, even if we don't feel like it. And this is a good thing. God is good to us. And so we can cry out for God to preserve us, as the psalmist does. He knows his hope is in God, not just physical hope, although he certainly does cry out for physical deliverance often. He's a warrior. He's a fighter. And God says, cry out to me. I will give you deliverance. And God did that. And he gave him miracles in the battles they had, as we know. Now we don't have that promise, to be sure, of physical preservation, but we do have the promise of spiritual preservation. God, the Holy Spirit, will preserve us in our souls. He will never let us go. So although we should pray to God for physical deliverance, I'm not saying don't do that, but we know that the promise is specifically for our soul. And in fact, it is for our body, but just not necessarily right now. It's at the Great Resurrection, isn't it? That will come. That is part of the promise. So the preservation, the preservation of goodness, the preservation in Satanhood, is a good thing to pray for, to keep praying for, a reminder that it's a doctrine of the Old Testament, not just the New Testament. We talk about the perseverance of the saints. The perseverance of the saints is because of the preservation of God Almighty of the saints through perseverance. That's how God uses means and causes and occasions to promulgate his plan in our lives, in your life, brothers and sisters. And so we should stand with confidence, as the psalmist does, to be encouraged, as he's encouraged, to put our trust in God, to renew our trust in God, because he's the only one who can preserve us. He is the source of our goodness in our life. So he says this positively, right, verses 1 through 3, in many ways, how he comes before God, Keeper of the Covenant, who has promised him goodness, who has promised him sainthood, indeed given it to him, who has promised to preserve him, and does preserve him, and he keeps crying out for more preservation. We like that part, but as we see various parts of the Bible, and here in this psalm, there's a negative part. It's not just an embracing of holiness, an embracing of God, but it's a rejection. a rejection of wickedness, a rejection of sin, a rejection, in this case, of syncretism, they call it. Syncretism, that is, to combine the worship of God or religion of God, broadly conceived, with paganism or other false beliefs of the world. So he says, their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god. You're my God, Lord, and over here is a bunch of false gods, and there are these saints, so-called believers, following after other gods. This is a common problem in the Old Testament, isn't it? Over and over again amongst the prophets, they're hammering them, hammering them. There was a Babylon Bee posting I just saw a few hours ago, I think it was, or late last night. And if you know the Babylon Bee, they're a joke news site like The Onion. And it was along the lines of, you know, Jewish, narrow-minded, bigoted Jewish keeps harping on one theme against false worship of Baal, you know, something like that. Because that's what the world thinks of Christians. They mock us. And even progressive Christians, as you know, liberal Christians, they mock the conservatives. Why are you always harping on us about not taking the Bible seriously and having false worship? Because that's kind of important. Right? And this is what we're talking about here. False worship, hastening after another God, is a serious problem. And it's even in the church. Even today, we forget that. We don't feel like we're Israel, but we have that. I'm not saying the OPC has this problem. But it's there amongst people we know who name the name of Christ. They hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips. The names of their gods. He rejects this. It's a common problem back then. It was a common problem even today in various and sundry forms. The mixing of God's religion with the false gods of Canaan. The priest did this, as well as the average citizen, to their shame. The priest to whom much is given, much is required. They even had idols on their homes. It's a big problem. Mixing Christian worship with local traditions occurs even to this day. in Christian circles. I grew up in some of those circles like that. I was reminded about that from a recent issue about people talking about charismatic leader and charismatics have a lot of this problem, superstition. Now often this stuff is done out of ignorance. But in one sense, it's not relevant. You're still going to reject it, right? You don't want to embrace that way of coming before God or that mixing of religion, of Christianity, the pureness of Christianity, both in worship and in doctrine and practice, with something of the world, of giving in to the pressures of the world. And we have a lot of pressure upon the world today. And so one way to fight that, of course, is positively to cry out to God to preserve me. Preserve me what? From such false worship. The drink offerings, that's clearly an act of public worship of blood I will not offer. And it was easy to do back then. We forget the word Baal, right? Baal, right, two A's, means master. God was also called master. That name, that's a title that's used of God as well. So they would take the names of God and kind of mix it conveniently, right? It's equivocating, right? You use one word for two different definitions. So it's easy to do, often it seems, and say, well, we're worshiping God, Baal. Which Baal? Well, our version of God, Baal, right? You've mixed some attribute, perhaps, of the Canaan God called Baal, their master. And of course, the worship forms are sometimes similar because the pagans also sacrificed animals. So in one sense, it was easy to do if you weren't paying attention, but God makes it very clear. So on the other hand, they're very morally culpable because it's hard to do if you pay attention to what it says in the Bible. It's very clear. Don't worship this other God. Don't pretend this other God is something like our God. Don't mix my worship. He's got it right in the Ten Commandments. So although it seems kind of easy to fall into, in reality it's almost not easy to fall into. God is very clear about false worship and mixing not just his worship but any of his doctrine and the practices that he has with paganism or unbelief of any kind and any sort. So we should flee the sins around us, brothers and sisters, even if it's sins to those near to us in the Christian faith, someone in our family perhaps, long-standing friends that we have of ours, Not with arrogance. Do you think David's being arrogant here? Look, what's their problem? Don't they know any better? No, of course he's not being arrogant. He knows his dependence upon God. That's why he says, the goodness I have is not from apart from you. The fact that I'm aware of the sins of my fellow Israelites here who are worshiping other gods or mixing the religions, what most often happened back then, is because God is preserving me. I'm crying out for more preservation. from Him. And so it is an act of humility, but also an act of confidence in God's goodness and glorifying Him, but nevertheless a reminder for us to stand firm against syncretism or mixing of God's doctrine and worship and practices with the things of this world. So he has confidence in God's preservation of him. He can go no one else but to him because God has the power and his goodness, any kind of goodness, is nothing apart from him. All that we have is dependent upon God. It's a glorious thing to be reminded of in 2020 when it feels like we're losing lots of things. And the second point, his confidence in the goodness of God. So he has trust in the preservation of God. And I use the word confidence as a stronger variance of faith, as it were, where the faith is even stronger, the faith is growing, right? Assurance of faith we talk about as a doctrine. Verses 5 through 11, 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. He continues on here in these latter parts of the verses to emphasize the goodness of God, the blessings from him, and how God is his inheritance, and that's why his heart rejoices. He knows that God will protect him even from corruption. God's goodness, as I mentioned before, the covenant-keeping God who has given his word to us, in the form of a covenant with signs and seals of the covenant to strengthen our weak faith. He is our inheritance. Oh Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. God is greater than any wealth we can gain from our parents. That's what they had for a long time. The transference of wealth, even today, is mostly through lineage and through families. where prior generations did save up well for their children and their children's children. There's nothing wrong with that, contrary to what we hear in this day and age. And everything good about it, because you're thinking about other people. That's what they're expecting, especially the firstborn. He would get the double portion, right? That's the illusion here. You are the portion of my inheritance. And God is not just a portion. He's speaking. He's underspeaking, as it were. He's in the entirety of His inheritance. He's more than His inheritance. As we read on here, the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. I have a good inheritance because His inheritance is indeed God Himself. God is greater than anything we can get from our parents, brothers and sisters. In fact, the best gift your parents can give you is the gift of the gospel. The best inheritance is the inheritance of the gospel. Now, it shouldn't be used as an excuse for your parents not to give you anything else. I gave you the gospel! You're on your own, kid! No, no, you ought to, you know, save up for your children, your children's children, as you are able. so that they can have some pleasant inheritance, which is good. But above all, brothers and sisters, it is God Almighty, it is God himself who is our bountiful land, our beautiful land, our beautiful lot in life. The lions have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. David was not talking about the palace, of course, that he had or the rich land that he owned, although those were indeed good goodnesses and blessings from God Almighty. He's speaking of the spiritual treasures we have in Christ or the Messiah to come in this case. that are better than our earthly treasures and will always be. That's the temptation we have in the American prosperity, the uniqueness of the American prosperity, the Western prosperity in the last few generations. We've had it so good, and it's easy for us to forget how much better it is to have Jesus Christ. That's not to say we shouldn't fight to keep the goodness, because it is a blessing from God, and God's telling us, when we have blessed you, don't waste your blessing. Use it, in fact, multiply the blessing for your family, for your church, and for other people. Right? So there's always a call. There's never a time to say, well, you know, it's not as bad as Africa, so we're just going to give up, right? People talk that way in Christian circles. Don't forget that. That's the wrong way of thinking. But the other balance, of course, is not to fall apart and say it's the end of the world. And so it is a good reminder we're not being persecuted like they are in Africa. There is that balance. On the other hand, of course, God is indeed our blessing, brothers and sisters. As a low-level persecution continues in America, or soft persecution if you want to call it, we must remind ourselves often of the wonders of God's blessings in Christ. The language he uses here of inheritance, of the earthly inheritance, of earthly land and pleasant places, as all shorthand for saying the greatness of the beautiful spiritual blessings that we have. The redemption of our soul, the justification before God's law courts, the adoption to the family of God and all the rights thereof and privileges, the sanctification of our lives by grace and grace alone and how he preserves us and gives us goodness, brothers and sisters. These are pleasant lines that have fallen upon us, the lines that have fallen on us in pleasant places. A good inheritance that you have, the Bible that you were able to read, the prayers that you could bring before God through the blood of Christ Jesus. Do not forget that. Count your blessings. Rejoice as David rejoices, because he's meditating, not on the things of this world. There's a time to think about the world. You've got to pay attention to the world. You've got to pay attention to politics. You've got to pay attention to your land tax. You've got to pay attention to your house, your food, all that. That's true. But that's why God gave us the Lord's Day and gave us the Psalms, so that not only on the Lord's Day, but throughout the week, when you have family devotions and you stop and you have rest, And you meditate upon the goodness of God and the blessings of the covenants given to us, we who do not deserve it. Meditate upon them, brothers, and rejoice as David does. And so we read also to bless the Lord as a result of understanding that He is our inheritance. He is all that we need for our soul. In verse seven we read, 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 and I shall not be moved. Bless God for the good counsel He has given us. What counsel is that? The law, of course. that instructs us on what is holy and what is unholy, that tells us it is not good to hasten after other gods and drink offerings of the blood of other gods. That's a good thing to learn, to flee from that. But also and especially the gospel, the counsel of the gospel, of the good news, that yes, as much as you flee other gods, you still struggle with sin. And I will cover your sins. that he has sent pastors, and he has given us the Word of God into our lives, and meditate upon these truths, even at night, in which our heart instructs us, not that the heart instructs us independent of the truth, but that he's meditating upon the wonders that God has saved him, and has good thoughts of him, and good plans for him, and for us. Verse 8, God is the center of his life. That's how we talk, right? We use the metaphor, God is the center of our lives, even though we know it's not a geographical description, right? As though God is here and not elsewhere. God is omnipresent! The psalmist knows this, so when the psalmist says, I have set the Lord always before me, before my face, that is, he is, we would say, the center of our lives, or he's the goal of our existence. Some kind of metaphor we have to use to speak of the moral reality of the purpose of being a believer is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That's what he means when he says, I put God before me. I don't see other gods, I don't see other things in life. He is the final purpose for my existence. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Again, the language of right hand and left hand during this time period, as you recall, the right hand of privilege before the king, right? The right hand of privilege is what he's talking about. Now, he's not saying, well, God is my co-pilot, right? That's not the imagery here. He's saying, God, it's a privileged position in my life, in my way of thinking, in my way of doing. I'm thinking, what does God want for me to do? Give me his law. What does he want me to believe? Give me the gospel. That's what he's talking about here. I shall not be moved because God is the center of my life. Because I put my trust in him, he preserves me. My goodness is nothing apart from him. I shall not be moved. What does he mean, I shall not be moved? He'll always win every battle? Of course he does. He doesn't win every battle. Not every physical battle, we know that. Again, he's talking about the soul, primarily. He shall not lose his soul. He shall not leave the covenants. He shall be preserved, as he talks about in verse 1. Preserve me, God, because I have you first, because I trust in you, because I know I have no one else to flee to. I shall not be moved. And this is a glorious promise and confidence and hope that we ought to have, we who trust in Jesus Christ. He gives a response, more response here, verses 9, Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices, my flesh also will rest in hope. For you shall not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. We can rejoice. We do not have to be dour. Of course, on the flip side, we don't have to be guy-smiley and always like this artificial happiness that some people do in some circles. But you can have a silent joy at times, especially when you meditate upon it. That's why it's important to read throughout the week, because we get buried with difficulties in life, and it affects our soul. It hurts our faith. It drains us. And so we ought to meditate upon the preservation and the goodness of God and have confidence in His goodness upon us as He's promised and know He's our inheritance and that He is before us. We believe in Him. We're not not believing in Him. We don't doubt Him and no longer believe in Him even though we still struggle. Therefore, we can be glad and we can rejoice. In fact, our flesh can rest in hope. As we know, what you think can affect your body And what your body happens to your body can affect your mind when you're really, really sick. Your mind is sluggish. You may say things you regret. It's a back and forth, and we rejoice that we can have a confidence, even in the flesh, that is perhaps the idea of the resurrection even. Our flesh will even be redeemed itself. So confidence can lead to joy and should lead to joy. realize the newness of life that we have in Christ Jesus, the kind of life we read here in verse 10. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol. I will not stay among the dead, but have a life, a newness of life, a resurrection of life of our soul and ultimately of our body. You will not allow your Holy One to see corruption. Of course, we know that's Christ Jesus. He is the Holy One who overcame the corruption of sin and death. and because He overcame the corruption of sin and death, we can overcome and are overcoming the corruption of sin and death. We are being preserved through Christ Jesus. And thus we can rejoice and we can stand firm in God's goodness towards us You will show me the path of life, and your presence is fullness of joy. Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." We're back to, again, realizing the pleasures of life, the inheritance of life, the good things of life are fine as far as they go, but they are nothing compared to what we're going to get from God, the treasures of a new heaven and a new earth. God will preserve us unto that day in which we will have in His presence fullness of joy when we fully see Him as He is, as much as you can as a human, to God through the blood of Christ Jesus when Jesus Christ returns. And all the sins shall be wiped away, all the sorrows shall wipe away. This is the end picture of salvation, of the preservation of God for us and in us to this end. We have been shown the path of life, in fact, we are walking on the path of life, and in His presence is fullness of joy, in the right hand are pleasures, the pleasures of a perfect life, of no more sin, and no more struggle, and no more temptation. We have a foretaste of that now, and we can, because we are redeemed even now, and although it comes and goes in our sanctification, and we long for heaven, We will have that wonderful life. We will have those pleasures. May we, brothers and sisters, meditate on the goodness of God, on the preservation of His power in our lives with faith and confidence. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Savior, we thank You for this psalm, an encouraging word that He has trust in your preservation, and He has confidence in your goodness, that you are the treasures of our lives, God. Help us, Lord, if we are struggling with the things of life, to again turn our eyes upon you. In your name alone we pray. Amen. Let us stand and let us sing Psalm 16a. Psalm 16a. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be upon you all. Amen.