God’s Holy One Preserved

After briskly moving through the subject of the crucifixion, Handel’s Messiah proceeds then to take us to the resurrection through just one verse of Scripture, that of Psalm 16, verse 10.

Let me just say again to those of you who haven’t been with us over the previous weeks, we’ve been doing this for some years now—just taking the text of Handel’s Messiah to look at and consider so that our souls may be enriched by the truth that is communicated when we listen to that oratorio.

We might imagine that the resurrection would maintain more focus or more attention. The musical interpretation of this truth seems to be quiet, subdued, and yet has this sense of hope as you listen to it. There’s nothing too excessive. I think if I were writing music that was dealing with the resurrection, it might have sounded a little differently than how Handel put it—aside from the fact I have no talent to write music. But it’s not how I would envisage it.

Listening to it again afresh, I was thinking, “This is not quite how I think I would interpret the subject of the resurrection.” But I think, again, there’s a reason to the more careful, subdued tone. It doesn’t have the gravity, of course, or the kind of forlorn or sober tones of what proceeds with the crucifixion, but it also doesn’t come with the joy of what follows in the ascension when the King of Glory shall come in. And that, of course, you can feel the joy that is bubbling over in the sound as that text is communicated.

But it may be, it may be that Handel was more focused on communicating the trust and expectation that Messiah possessed as he anticipated being in the bonds of death. And so the focus is more on his trust than the outcome of resurrection itself.

If you look at the text of Psalm 16, verse 10, it’s what Messiah is looking towards, what he’s believing because, as verse 1 says, the faith of the Messiah is expressed here, the belief that He might be preserved, delivered from the bonds of death.

As I listened to one performance of Messiah in preparation, it took some two and a half minutes to get through this one text. And again, if you compare it to what goes before, it very swiftly moves through a number of texts, and then it comes to this one, Psalm 16, verse 10. It takes two and a half minutes, and I start to think, “Why did he take two and a half minutes?” And then I start to wonder, “Well, has the tempo changed?” And this is where you need to talk to Dr. Overlay or someone else, maybe even Dr. Matsko or some others who may have thought about this or considered it.

I wonder if, when Handel first performed it, this section was actually meant to last a full three minutes, but the tempo was slower. And it’s communicating the sense of the three days and the three nights through the time that it takes to move through Psalm 16, verse 10, as our Lord waits there in the grave in anticipation of his resurrection and of his ascension to the right hand of the majesty on high.

That’s something for the experts to think upon and correct me if that’s necessary after the service. But the text is defining. Psalm 16, verse 10 is not just any prophetic text, it’s one that is laid hold upon by the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost as he’s preaching about man’s need to believe in Jesus as the Messiah for the forgiveness of sins.

And Peter’s not trying to prove the resurrection. He’s not trying to argue and say that this has happened and this text proves it. Rather, what he is doing is assuming the resurrection because it’s a historical fact and it’s happened, and he’s taking the text to demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth, having been truly raised from the dead, is the Messiah foretold. That the anticipation of the believing heart is that Messiah must rise. And of course, that necessitates the suffering. It necessitates the experience of death, which of course was not something that was easily laid hold upon or believed.

And so what Peter’s saying here is that David clearly was not referring to himself. David was put in the grave. David corrupted. But here is one that David looked for, the one who would be of his lineage, who would not see this corruption, who would be delivered from death on behalf of his people and for their eternal benefit.

So as we look at this text with the Lord’s help, I’ve considered under the title God’s Holy One Preserved. I want to look at it in a number of ways. First, to see the relationship of the Holy One with God, then to see the righteousness of the Holy One before the law, and then the representation of the Holy One for men. So these are the three ideas we’ll consider here as we look at Psalm 16, verse 10.

And you may look at it and think, “Well, what relevance does this have to this time of the year? It’s not exactly an incarnation text,” but you’ll be able to tie it together, and I hope to help in that as we look at it this morning.

First, the relationship of the Holy One with God.

Look at Psalm 16, verse 10: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption, thine holy one.” Never really thought about this as much as in the past few days. Thine holy one. Thine holy one. What here is meant? What can we consider whenever this language is put here, again prophetically, as David writes under inspiration, “Thine holy one”? God will not suffer, not permit His holy one to see corruption.

I want us to think of two things here in this relationship. First, it’s a relationship of divine communion, a relationship of divine communion. The phrase “thine holy one” speaks of one who is distinguished by their consecration to God. He’s not an ordinary one. He’s one who’s consecrated, given over, and in one sense, in a peculiar way, belongs to God.

My Messiah then partakes of this title in a way that could not be compared to anyone else— not David, not anyone. David, in one sense, you might say, is his holy one. You can see it reflected in the one anointed to be the king of Israel. But there’s something more here. I put to you that there’s something more here that we have one to a greater degree who is the holy one of God and is in a relationship with God that is unique.

This holy one enjoys unbroken fellowship with the Father, one who is in eternal communion with the Father. And the Lord Jesus testifies of this in a number of places. For example, John 10, verse 30: “I and my Father are one.”

Now, there are depths there that I don’t have time to plumb, nor could I exhaust them even if I tried. But you see that sense of unity that cannot be said of anyone else, that innately the Son is at one with the Father. This communion, enjoyed by the Son, is more fully then revealed in John 17, in the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 5, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee, before the world was.”

I had a glory with you before the world ever existed. And so this one, this holy one, gives us understanding of a relationship of divine communion, where the Son is in fellowship with the Father eternally. The truth that Christ is the eternal Son of God must be kept in mind. We can’t set it aside. It’s the unique communion of the Son and the Father that occasionally is revealed to us and brings us hope that this Holy One is unlike any other.

Again, in John 5, 19, Jesus confesses there that the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do. And what is He saying? The Son can do nothing of Himself, but not what He hears, but what He sees. There is in that language something contained that cannot be applied to anyone else. How could it be said of a mere mortal that the only thing he does is what he sees the Father do? Except that there’s an insight into a communion between Father and Son that reveals or unfolds before our eyes something that is far loftier than mind can comprehend.

There’s a communion here where the Son beholds the Father. That’s how John’s gospel really begins. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That sense of being with God could be translated in a literal fashion, face-to-face with God. And so we have this sense of Jesus Christ at the outset of John’s gospel. Here is one who is face-to-face with God.

So John is telling you right from the outset of his gospel, it’s all right, folks. Someone’s just coming and sitting in. It’s not a big deal. Listen to God’s Word. John, in his gospel, is telling us from the outset, verse 1, that the Father and the Son are face to face.

And Jesus then, through his ministry, gives a little insight into that. And that is what is underlined when we think about this in one sense in Psalm 16, verse 10: “Thine holy one.” There’s one here in fellowship with the Father, distinct, unique, who beholds the Father, sees the Father, has this mutual delight in the Father and with the Father.

So it’s a relationship of divine communion, but it’s also a relationship of incarnate trust. Not just of divine communion, but of incarnate trust, because we can’t miss how verse 10 of Psalm 16, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.” This can’t be said or have any application of the Son until He is incarnate.

The fact that He’s not going to suffer seeing corruption or go through corruption, He’s not going to be left in the grave, which we’ll get to in just a moment, shows that the particular application of Psalm 16 is not just talking about the Holy One and His relationship with the Father before the world was, whatever that be true and as we’ve suggested, but the text itself has its direct application in this friendship, this fellowship, this unique relationship that existed when He took on flesh. He remains the Holy One.

Jesus Christ remains Thine Holy One. And as He was born into this world, He was the Holy One. As He grew up as a boy, He was the Holy One who must be about His Father’s business. As He came to the point of commencing His ministry, He continued there being filled with the Holy Spirit, anointed with the Holy Spirit without measure in order to fulfill the obligations of the Holy One.

As He goes into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days by the devil, He does so as God’s Holy One. As He commences His ministry, returning to His own territory and the place where He grew up, again He engages in ministry as God’s Holy One. And as He traversed Galilee and as He went to Jerusalem and so on and so forth, over and over again, He does so as the Holy One, going finally to the cross as God’s Holy One.

And so, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.” The context forces us then to see that this Holy One is the incarnate Holy One who is facing the threat of the curse, but confident and resolved in the knowledge that He might be preserved.

Never forget that our Lord Jesus was the perfect reflection of man walking in sinless trust of God. When you’re wandering, when you’re looking for an example of implicit trust, there is no greater example.

I think sometimes we miss this. I think sometimes we see Jesus Christ in certain activities. We see His love. We see His preaching and His wisdom. And there are other aspects of the explicit nature of His ministry that we look upon and we can draw from, but we never think about the temptation to distrust, the feeling of not being able to trust or being robbed of peace because of impending doom or bad news.

Our mind first should go to the occasions when our Lord Jesus was faced with the same threats, when He had those experiences where something was looming, and something awful was coming upon Him, or some other thing that naturally might be feared, and yet He stands resolved, trusting God through it all.

That is an example for us. When the Word was made flesh, He took all the weakness of that, but He remains the Holy One. Perfect faith, perfect obedience to the Father.

Tonight we will sing, long lay the world in sin and error pining till He appeared, and the soul felt its worth, a thrill of hope. Thinking upon those words this morning, a thrill of hope. A thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. What is it about the incarnation that brings this thrill of hope?

It’s because for the first time, it’s not just a man born into the world; it is the God-man. And in perfect relationship with the Father, He will traverse this world, He will face darkness head-on. He will experience and be subject to all that the curse brings, but in the purity of His life, in the obedience that He offers in His stand as substitute for His people, He will face all of that, being made sin for us, dying the accursed death upon Calvary and going to the grave where the question is, will that body given to the eternal Son corrupt?

No. God takes on flesh and has taken on that flesh and will maintain it forever.

Sometimes you take on a position of humility, you condescend maybe to a particular job, or some other way, you put yourself low. Maybe you’re in charge of some particular area of employment or your place of business. You find yourself on occasion stooping to do that which your employees or those subject to you should be doing. And often, even in those reflections of humility or condescension, they’re temporary.

God taking flesh is permanent. When we learn a catechism, we learn this: Two distinct natures in one person, and they wisely added in the word “forever.” This is the thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices because God took on our nature.

He goes through all the horrors of this life, subject to all the pains and suffering, going into death, stepping into death, and now the question is, will that participation in our nature terminate with His death? Will His divine nature, as it were, be divested forever of human nature?

The Messiah knew it. “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.” The thrill of hope for sinners is that God took flesh to render perfect obedience and be the answer for us as this unique holy one without whom we perish.

So let’s think, secondly, of the righteousness of the Holy One before the law.

We’ve seen the relationship of the Holy One with God. Now, note the righteousness of the Holy One before the law. There are a number of things we need to understand as we read verse 10: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

Note the two things that the text deals with here. First, He’s not subject to the clutches of the grave, and then we’ll see He’s not subject to the corruption of death.

He’s not subject to the clutches of the grave. “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, Your Holy One.” You will not leave in hell. It’s translated “hell,” meaning there is the idea of the grave. You’re not going to be left in the grave. We’re not going to be left in that place where we put bodies after they’ve deceased in the tomb or whatever the case might be.

Christ’s death was a real death. Paul reasons in Romans 6, verse 9, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over Him.” But it was a real death. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. The threat of death, the experience of death is expunged or removed because He experienced a real death. He actually died. His human nature experienced death, and death, because of His victory, has no more dominion. It poses no threat. It can’t come and say, “I will attack you again.” It is laid low. Death, as it were, is now put in the grave, gone.

Christ had this anticipation. His faith rose to Psalm 16, verse 10: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. I will not be left in the grave. The clutches of the grave will not hold upon me.” So Peter says in Acts 2:24, “It was not possible that He should be holden of it.” It’s not possible.

Why is it not possible? I had a question thinking about this. I had never really pondered before. Why should it not be possible that He be holden of death? Because I started to think to myself, well, if that be true in one sense, you start asking yourself, well, why would death have any power over Him in the first place?

Christ’s experience of death was the final stage of His suffering under the curse of a broken law. It’s the final stage. The death, the actual dying part. And that’s the final stage. And of course, then if you say that, you say, if that’s the final stage, why doesn’t He rise again immediately?

The reason He doesn’t rise again immediately is appointed by God to prove that He actually died. And to be held under in that experience of death until finally, of course, prophecy is fulfilled and He’s raised from the dead. He’s held under it. In one sense, you might say, “You could look at it this way, Christ suffers for us and dies, and in one sense you could say, well, He could rise again immediately and just die and be resurrected.” But of course then you have the question, well, did He really die? Because to our observation, the question would arise, did He really? Maybe He didn’t really die.

And so the necessity of the three days is partly to prove the fact that this is a real death. So that when He rises, you say, “Well, this is the miracle. He rose from the dead.”

Christ’s experience of death was the final stage of His suffering under the curse. So the delay, the delay of His resurrection was necessary to fulfill scripture and prove the reality of His death. But He’s not subject to it. He’s not subject to the clutches of the grave. “Thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave.” It can’t be. It cannot be left there.

Because if I offer myself without spot unto God, if I bear all the sins of my people to the point of death itself, I remove all the effect of the curse, purchasing their eternal redemption. No more needs to be done. And in order for us to understand that the work was accomplished, He truly died, He dealt with the death for us. He abides under it, but He cannot corrupt and He knows it.

But also, not subject to the corruption of death, not subject to the clutches of the grave, but not subject to the corruption of death—just building on what we’ve been seeing here. “Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.” Again, this is the argument that Peter brings forth. David’s body did. It saw corruption. All of the patriarchs, they all saw corruption. Moses and everyone. But Christ did not corrupt.

Again, it’s said in Acts 13:37, “He whom God raised again saw no corruption.” This is an emphasis by the apostles. The apostles are emphasizing this. Acts 2, Acts 13. They’re bringing out this point. It’s not insignificant. You have Him dying, but not corrupting. Why? Because this is what the prophecy said. This is what’s declared. It’s part of Him being preserved. It’s part of His right because He was obedient unto death.

That’s a vindication. In other words, the vindication of Christ’s work first is seen, not by the resurrection, but by the preservation. That’s where the first vindication is. Did He really accomplish the work? Did He actually do what He needed to be done? Well, the first token of that—it’s not all, of course, it needs to rise, but the token of the down payment, as it were, the little indication that we can see is the fact that His body would not corrupt in the grave, that humanity that He took again for our salvation.

Keep this in mind when you’re thinking about it this time of the year. God took on flesh. We’re singing about the incarnate Son. We’re dealing with that truth that He took our nature. When you’re thinking about that, it’s not one act done historically and then set aside. It is all our hope because He took that nature. He endured all the suffering that we deserve. He goes to the cross. He rises again. He still occupies this position in glory with your nature and mine.

He was preserved. He who laid down His life had power to take it again. It not only declares Christ’s perfect obedience, His innocence, but puts a divine seal upon His claims as the Holy One. “I will not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

Never forget, the humble manger into which Christ was laid was a foreshadowing of what was to come. He was laid in a manger before He was laid in the tomb. He was dependent upon Mary and Joseph before He was helped by Nicodemus and Joseph. And He was wrapped in swaddling clothes before He was wrapped in linen grave clothes.

So however humbly we depict Him in our minds or however we view it, as Scripture reveals the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ and His incarnation, remember that the greater humiliation was His being laid in a grave. Yet He did so victoriously. And if He didn’t, we would all perish.

The righteousness of the Holy One before the law.

Our Lord Jesus obeyed. Did all that was required of Him so that He could be confident in the expression of Psalm 16, verse 10. There are things we are not told. Things that we do not fully grasp. But how the human mind of our Lord interacted with the prophecies concerning Himself. How He found confidence in what was prophesied concerning Him. How He would read Scripture and take to heart what it would say and see in it, not just some future fulfillment about another, but a future fulfillment regarding Himself.

And how then He could endure the cross and go through all the suffering of this world and take to His heart Psalm 16, verse 10 and have it as the confidence of His own soul.

Think of it. The fear of stepping into death, the uncertainty of entering into that realm, only His faith, His trust in what God revealed carried Him through in obedience. Obedient unto death. Why? He would not suffer as Holy One to see corruption. He knew that His obedience would stand Him in good stead, as it were, in the face of all the threat of the curse.

Finally, the representation of the Holy One for men.

The representation of the Holy One for men. He represents us. This is encouragement. In one sense, David can say this because he stands in this union as a believer with the Messiah. And so it can be said about all of us, in one sense, we will not be left in the grave. We will not be abandoned by God when we come to that experience ourselves.

Now, in 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle deals with this aspect of the resurrection, the doctrine of resurrection, and the resurrection of the believer, the fact that the believer also will rise again. And in doing so, he deals with Christ as our head, representing us. This is our confidence.

How do you know you’ll rise? Not because you’re represented by the Lord Jesus who rose. But in 1 Corinthians 15:22, we’re told there, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” And this is where you need your theology to be working in your favor and for your encouragement at this time of the year, as well as any time of the year, when you’re thinking about the incarnate Son of God.

For all men to die in Adam required that all men have the same nature as Adam. For men to be made alive in Christ requires that Christ have the nature of those men. So for God to save, He takes the nature of those that He is saving. He takes the nature of those that need forgiven and pardoned. He takes the nature of those that need to be reconciled to God.

So this is what the incarnation brings to our attention, the truth of Christ as the federal head of His people, representing His people. The Holy One represents sinners. And to rightly represent, He must share in their nature.

Hebrews 2:14: “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.”

So you’re going to face death someday, maybe sooner than you imagine. How are you going to face death? Are you going to have confidence? There’s a way in which man has an innate ability at times to overcome every fear by some kind of thought process that enables him to diminish the natural sense of that which should put fear in his heart. And of those who face death without any fear or anxiety, though they should fear greatly.

But what will it be for you? What will be the ground of your confidence? Is your way of dealing with death and the fear, the natural fear of it, to resign it to an experience that will terminate your very existence entirely? In which you just say to yourself, well, I’ve gone through difficult things in the past. This is going to be difficult. I’ll grip my teeth. I’ll go through it. And at the end of it, it’s just void, nothing.

And so, as I said, it’s just dealing with the difficulties in life, the fact that we have these difficulties. And some who have managed to adopt that stoic mentality will look at death and say, “Well, I’ve gone through hardship and I’ve just dealt with it in that stoic philosophy, and this will be the same.”

But that only works if you make death the terminus of your existence. The question is, what after? What after? That was the lasting question that first pricked my conscience, the first spiritual question that ever raised in my mind. Two words: what if? What if? What if I am wrong about my understanding of what happens after death? What if I am wrong about man’s obligation before a deity? What if?

And the only way you can silence the fear is by telling yourself and being committed to the position there is nothing after this. This is just a hardship I must endure, and then it’s over. But as soon as you bring eternity into the picture, as soon as you bring judgment into the mind, as soon as you bring standing before God and giving account of yourself to God, it changes everything.

What if? Christ did not grit His teeth and endure the cross in a mindset that once this is over, it’s it, it’s all over. He knew that that would lead into something else. And His confidence was that He would not be left in hell. He would not be left to corrupt in the grave.

So this brings encouragement to us because He represents men, those who believe in Him. First, He is our victor over death. He is our victor over death. When you’re reading Psalm 16, verse 10, the confidence and indeed the implied victory that is here of the natural causes of a fallen world taking hold upon the nature, the confidence that that will not be the case becomes ours as we trust in Jesus Christ.

He is our victor over death. Where Adam fell, Christ stands. And where death sought to triumph, Christ overcame. “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.” It’s referring here then to our Lord Jesus Christ. He knows it’s predominantly, preeminently thinking upon Him. The apostolic interpretation of Psalm 16, verse 10 is that this is Jesus Christ of Nazareth spoken of as the Messiah, the servant of Jehovah.

What was He doing? Why would He do this? Why would He come into this world? Why enter into the world? Why be born in Bethlehem? Why endure all the affliction and hatred of man, all the animosity of those who will not believe? Why? In order to save, to be the victor over death for His people.

Here He is undergoing the power of death, and yet He’s not left there. He knows He’ll not be left there because He’s victorious. And He assures us then that as we are joined to Him, we also will not be abandoned at this point or juncture either. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 again, verse 20, he calls Christ the firstfruits of them that slept. The beginning of the harvest.

There’s going to be others who are going to be raised. They’re going to be there in the grave, their bodies fallen at sea, burned in a fire, buried in the ground, bodies scattered all over the globe, throughout all the generations of man’s existence upon the earth. Those dying in Christ, those joined to Christ, those that Christ says, “They are mine.” I mean, He says, “They are mine.” He’s not talking about them in some vague sense or even just in some spiritual capacity. He’s saying, “They are all of them mine, all of that which they are.”

He didn’t come just as a soul to suffer as a soul. He came as a man. He took on our nature. And He didn’t take our nature to suffer and bleed and die in that nature, then to leave your nature corrupted in the grave. He took that nature to give victory and hope to that nature, to give hope to that believing soul who possesses that same nature, that their own body will not be left to corrupt forever, but that He will raise it from the dead.

This is the encouragement. Again, I can’t go to 1 Corinthians 15 to argue this. You read it for yourself.

So David, writing under inspiration, looking here, dealing with the same problems all men deal with—the fact that we die and we corrupt—speaks prophetically of one special, unique, begotten, holy one, taking flesh, who will not be left in the grave, not left to corrupt. And all then joined to Him will follow in due time, raised. “This corruptible will put on incorruption. This mortal will put on immortality.”

Don’t just see a babe in a manger. See God’s answer for all that you suffer in this fallen world. A thrill of hope, a thrill of hope reverberates in the heart of the believing, beholding the infant incarnate Son of the living God. He then is the one we look to. Christ, victorious over the grave, not being held to corrupt in the grave, gives confidence to you and to me that the same will be true of us.

And this then the Apostle Paul reflects on and reasons in Romans 8, verse 11, “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,” he goes on to say, “He shall also quicken your mortal bodies.”

There’s a summation of it. Paul argues the same thing. Why is he arguing this? Why present this? Because he knows the concerns that we have. The questions that rise in our minds. What happens when I die? Does my faith perish with me? Is it all over after this life? What happens if the Spirit—or since the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you? The question is, does the Spirit dwell in you? Do you have life in the Spirit?

Do you walk in the Spirit? Do you enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit? Do you pray in the Spirit? Do you seek to obey the Spirit? If you do, these things are true of you. The same Spirit that’s in you will raise you up. He will quicken your mortal bodies. Christ ends the victor over death for us. His conquest means that we will be victorious as well. And this is to be rejoiced in.

So it’s our victor over death. That’s why when you sing the carols, they tend not to just dwell solely on the events of Bethlehem. They tend not to just get stuck there in that moment, because if you get stuck there, the question is so what? It has to traverse you through. Even if it stays in terms of the scenery of that moment, the truth and the hope that reverberates is all in the anticipation of what He will do.

He’s not only our victor over death, He’s our virtue before God. Our virtue before God. How can we obtain a standing before God? Through Christ. How can we be confident before God? Through Christ. How do we know that we will not corrupt and be left to corrupt indefinitely? Because of Christ. Christ is our victory and our virtue. He is the perfect righteousness of God. He represents us in the court of heaven. He is our surety. He is our advocate. He pleads for us. He was delivered for our offenses, and so He was raised again for our justification.

While the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, because He fully paid that debt. He satisfied what the law demanded. He met every requirement that was put before Him. And all our sins were laid on Him, and He steps into death, and there in that moment, He has taken all that the fallen world can threaten us with. And He rises again from the dead.

The prophecy of Psalm 16, verse 10, is not merely about Christ’s vindication but ours through Him. “I will not leave my soul in the grave. You’ll not suffer me to see corruption because of Him.”

The most essential thing this morning is to make sure that you are, by faith, just by faith, not by sitting in this church, not by being a member of this church or another, not by being baptized, not by memorizing Scripture, not by any holy deeds, not by any humanitarian or philanthropic efforts—no, by faith in Jesus Christ, abandoning all of your works, abandoning all of your own righteousness and your own obedience, all of that, just abandon it. It’s nothing, right? It’s filthy rags. Just forget it. Take your best, most wonderful act.

If you had a job interview and the question was, “State briefly the most philanthropic thing you’ve ever done or the most loving thing you’ve ever done,” your mind starts going, “What’s the most loving thing I’ve ever done?” and trying to figure that out, to impress this employer. Well, take that. Take that which you’re trying to impress man with and put your arms around it and throw it in the garbage as far as your justification before God is concerned. Just cast it aside, take the best thing, just throw it away.

And in its place, put your arms around Jesus Christ. Have no space for anything but Jesus Christ. That’s your virtue before God. That’s your hope and your standing. Because if you mix it with anything, He will cast you aside. If you tarnish it with anything else, He will turn you away.

This is what happened when our Lord Jesus warned in Matthew 7, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name and cast out devils and do these marvelous works? Did we not do all these things?” What are they doing? They’re putting their hands around some good things that He did and they’re mixing it into some tarnished alloy of righteousness where they’ve mixed Jesus Christ in with their own labors. And Jesus says, “I will say to them, Depart from me, I never knew you.”

Weary believer, turn to your mediator, the one who stands in your nature at the right hand of God, the one who ever lives to pray for you. He’s in the presence of God for you today. Don’t lose sight of it. When all the accusations come, when all the doubt and guilt fills your heart, when you’re worried about the future, when you’re concerned about the practical things of life, and your fear about health, and your concerns about money, and your anxieties about family, and all these things flooding upon your soul, perhaps this morning as much, maybe even more than usual, these things are flooding upon your soul.

Who have you? You have God’s Holy One, at the right hand of the majesty on high, in your nature, pleading your cause, bearing your name, interceding on your behalf. By your faith in Him, you have union with Him, and all the condemnation is gone.

So to whom else shall we go? That’s a good question, isn’t it? Peter said, “To whom else shall we go, Lord? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” Who else are we going to turn to? Your only recourse and mine is to look unto Him, believe in Him, the one who overcame sin’s penalty. Settle in your heart that you have no good beyond Him. All you need is Him. And when you see that God took on flesh, when you see the miracle of the incarnation, when you meditate upon the impossibility of it, even think about that, just think about that.

When you’re saying, “This is impossible. This loved one so far gone, it’s impossible. Or this issue, there’s no way it can ever turn around, it’s impossible.” And yet you’re singing about God taking on flesh. It’s a rebuke every time you sing about it. Every time you dwell upon it. Every time you meditate upon God taking on flesh. It’s a rebuke to all your unbelief. It’s a rebuke to everything you say that’s impossible. Because the most impossible thing ever is that God would take our nature. And He did that.

Everything else pales in almost insignificance. He took our nature. God took our nature. So compare it, compare that lost person and God acting sovereignly to change their heart. What’s more impossible, God acting to change their heart or Him taking, uniting to Himself, human nature? God turning that circumstance around, or dwelling in the virgin’s womb?

Oh, believer, see it. Nothing is impossible with God. Turn to Him, believe on Him, trust Him, rest in Him, and say here as we close with the psalmist, “I have set the Lord always before me.” It’s Him. I put Him first. It’s always God first, His will first, His desires first. I suppress my pride. I exalt His will. I set the Lord always before me. Let me live for Him.

May God bless His Word. Let’s bow together in prayer.

Many of our folks are and will be visiting family. You may be one of them. Maybe they’re coming to you. Maybe you’re going to them. And maybe today, the impossibility of seeing them saved or some other matter that pertains to the family, the tension, the challenges.

You believe God took human nature. You believe He took that nature and obeyed on your behalf. You believe that He was willing to be obedient even to the death of the cross. And you believe that you have eternal life through Him. Believe that He will hear your prayers. Believe that He will.

When He says, “Peace on earth,” He can still send it into the most troubled life. Lord, help us. Help us to make the connections, understand the depth of what You have done, and to rejoice in what we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.

O blessed incarnate Son of the living God, Alpha and Omega. The one who truly stands as the Almighty made flesh. We pray that our hearts rise up in worship, that our lives would be rendered in sacrifice to Thy cause, and that we would trust, that we would believe, and that we would rest in all Thy goodness, all Thy power, and all Thy mercy.

Pardon us now of our unbelief. Quicken us according to Thy Word and give us a hope not just in this life, but in our death and for all eternity.

Hear us now. Do remember this evening we pray for favor, that we will think upon with profit, sing with joy, and consider with everlasting benefit the glory of the incarnate God.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen.