Psalm 16 is one of those powerful parts of the Old Testament that speak directly and with impact to Christians today.
It very simple.
Psalm 16:10 says: “you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” (NIV). Initially, that would appear to apply to the author, King David. Of of course, that doesn’t make sense, because David did ’see decay’ (ie: he died), so who else could ‘your Holy One’ refer to?
Move forward in time to Acts 2, and Peter is very clear who ‘the Holy One’ is – Jesus!

Acts 2:29-31 “²⁹ “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.” (NIV)

David’s words point forward. to the real Christ who was coming. Who when he came, would not be abandoned to the grave. Which in a way, if you were looking for the Christ, if you wanted to recognise him when he came, then this is the sure fire method. See what happens when he dies. See if he’s abandoned to the grave, see if he sees decay. Because if he does… he’s no Messiah.

So Peter says listen for a minute to what we’re saying about this Jesus of Nazareth. Listen for a minute to what we’re saying about this crucified rebel leader from galilee. Because the fact is, we’ve seen him back from the dead.

Acts 2:32.  “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”

See, Peter and James and John and those guys, they’re not excited by the resurrection so much by the fact that it’s a really odd thing that they’ve witnessed some dead guy coming back again.
And they’re not even saying, “Isn’t it nice, that’s a really comforting psalm and it’s good to have hope after we die.”

I mean, that’s true and it is. But ultimately Peter is saying that Psalm 16 and the resurrection of Jesus are not talking so much about how you face your death but about how you live your life. And who the boss is.
And Psalm 16 isn’t so much a Psalm of comfort about you as it is a Psalm that gets you ready to understand how great Jesus is!

Psalm 16 is a time honoured Psalm of full of personal comfort. And we prefer it if everything is about us don’t we? Look at a group photo, it’s never about everyone else. It’s about me. And if I happened to have my eyes half closed or I’m sneezing or my tie is crooked, the whole group photo is ruined.
Don’t worry. Nobody else cares. They’re all looking at themselves!
Which is how we like to think, isn’t it? That we’re at the centre of the universe and at the centre of the meaning of the comforting words of a psalm.

Except Peter says, it was first of all about King David. But more importantly, it’s a psalm about Jesus of Nazareth, and the credentials that mark him out as king. That alone, among every King or Queen or President or Prime Minister… this one has risen from the grave. And did not see decay… which means he’s the one we’ve got to bow down to. And the thing to do is to repent.

Which in Acts chapter 2 is exactly what he goes on to say. And what a crowd of 3000 Jews goes on to do. Because this Jesus rose from the dead. Which means this Jesus really is the Holy One of God. Who now rules at God’s right hand.
It’s time to bow down. It’s time to stop living like you’re the centre of the universe… and bow down to Jesus. It’s time to stop living like your ambitions and your goals and your comfort are the purpose of all creation and that everybody exists to serve you. And instead realise that everything exists to serve Jesus.
And that it’s only in serving Jesus that the universe and your body is ever going to be set free from the bondage to decay.

The big question is: how does that work out for us at FNC?

Well, on Sunday January 17th, FNC will give over a fair amount of our time together to go a bit deeper into the Word (Psalm 16 and Acts 2) to try and nut that question out.
The result will be reported here!