Psalm 16 – I Will Live Forever!: Overcoming the Fear of Death

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with my father; it was shortly before he died. He was eighty-four-years-old. He was very athletic. I mean, at seventy he did a hundred-mile bike ride and at seventy-two and three he was playing softball with thirty-year-olds. And it was so tragic because he had a rare disease that started with his feet and moved up where he got to the point where he couldn’t use his body and he was very, very frail. He knew he was going to die.

And he said, “Chip, I really, I really want to talk to you. Would you, can you come?” And I said, “Well, sure, Dad. Absolutely.” And you need a little context for my father to get this conversation. A self-made man. At sixteen-and-a-half went into World War II, he was a fifty-caliber machine gunner, he was a big, strong, strapping guy, very athletic.

So, his mom signed for him to go into the war and so he was in Guam, Iwo Jima. I’ve got his Purple Heart here. While he was in Iwo Jima, rarely talked about it, and they had dug a big ditch. And the people were coming over the hill and he said, “It was just horrendous. It was like cutting grass, I killed so many people.” Lived with very overwhelming guilt, became a pretty functioning alcoholic until it got to where it was really unmanageable. But he was very damaged.

And after he came out of the war, he was that guy that everyone told me when things were happening, “Don’t mess with Reb,”- that’s what he went by - he’ll knock you out. And I was afraid of my dad. I mean, he was a really strong, not violent toward us or anything, but sort of the John Wayne kind of man.

And the alcohol got to a point where it was just ruining his life, our family. I’ll never forget, I was a senior in high school and it got where he’d drink right after, he was a schoolteacher, from three until dinnertime, then he’d miss dinner. And then it was eleven o’clock at night. And just had lots of issues that never got resolved as I look back.

I remember my mom holding up a bottle of beer and said, “You can have this or me and the kids. But you need to choose and you’ve got forty-eight hours.” And so, without any help, no rehab, no anything, he’s a Marine, he chose, stopped drinking, went through a lot of, you know, withdrawal of different things. But I want you to get that picture of this I-can-handle-it, I-can-do-it. And he did. And in fact, he’d stop drinking for two weeks and he said, “You know, I smoked three-and-a-half packs a day and I’m a science teacher. Probably not a good example. I think I’ll quit that too.” So, he did.

As a moment of mild humor, all I can tell you is when he quit both, I wanted to give him a beer he was so irritable and mean for a while. But I didn’t. A great thing happened in his mid-fifties. He saw the change in my life, in my sister’s life, and I’ll never forget. I came back from my first year of college. I had trusted Christ right after high school. And he said, “I do not know what you have, Chip, but I want it.” And I said, “Well, Dad, I’m not sure what you mean.” He goes, “There’s a peace about your life and I have sought that. How do you get that?”

And I would love to tell you the longer story at another time. Trusted Christ, of course, on his own, in the bedroom and then he grew. He got in the Bible, he started serving, his life dramatically changed. And so, now we are back, he’s eighty-four years old, he’s still having nightmares even after being a follower of Christ. What he experienced in Guam and Iwo Jima especially. Every other guy in his unit was killed and so, he lived with the guilt of that along with the injury that he got.

And here’s what he says, “Chip, I know Jesus loves me. I know God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shouldn’t perish but has everlasting life. And I’m afraid to die. What do I do? I’m really afraid to die. I’m a Christian. I shouldn’t be afraid to die. Why am I afraid to die?

And that started a really serious conversation and I’ll come back at the end of this talk and tell you what helped him the most, because I think it can help you. But as I have done reading, I have heard from the experts that two of the most common fears of all people -
fear of death. And the other is fear of public speaking. Not to put those in the same category but that’s just what the experts say. And here’s what I know, too. My father was probably a lot more honest than most Christians. When we look at the behavior of Christians and sometimes the lack of risk and, I mean, all the supplements and all the anti-aging.

And you would think the number one goal of all of life is whatever you do, don’t die. And, yet, it’s a terminal disease. So far, there’s a hundred percent of the people that have lived with a couple of exceptions that God took home - we’re going to die. And it can, be like a shadow in the back of your mind. And you can intellectually, Oh, I’ve trusted Jesus. I know Jesus, this is what He has done, I believe in Him. And that can be very real and yet still have a fear of death. And so, I want to give you a declaration. I want to talk and help you and help me to be bold and courageous and we are going to look at Psalm 16. Because in Psalm 16, David gives us, I mean, the greatest evidence and the greatest perspective about how to face death, how to look at death.

I mean, David came close to death multiple times and he reminds us that we can declare, with absolute confidence if you have received Christ, if you’re a follower of Jesus, you can say, “I will live forever.” It’s true! You can overcome the fear of death. My observation, as people get older and older, it actually gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And my years as a pastor tells me there’s a lot of people that are getting older and older and older that they don’t say anything because, I mean, talk about politically incorrect in a church, especially if you have served and you love God for ten or twenty or thirty or forty years and say, “I’m afraid to die.” I mean, who are you going to tell that to?

But what I know, there’s a lot of people that love Jesus that are truly born again and for a number of reasons, they are afraid to die. And Psalm 16 is going to be just an incredible help to you. It has been an incredible help to me. It was a great help to my father. And in Psalm 16, David, he didn’t have the proof of the resurrection, but he had a conviction from God. In fact, it was so powerful that God speaks through David in this psalm and when Peter in Acts chapter 2, when he is making the case for the resurrection and that Jesus was truly God and that He rose from the dead, Peter reaches back into Psalm 16 and he pulls out a verse and he says, “See? God promised He wouldn’t let His body see decay.” It’s messianic, it’s prophecy. And that was the proof.

And David believed that no matter what happened to him, that he would, in fact, be resurrected, that there was life after death, that he would be face to face with Yahweh, his God and his King.

So, what he does in Psalm 16 is very much like Jesus said in John chapter 5, where he says, “I want you to look above, I want you to look around, I want you to look within, and then I want you to look beyond.”

And before I go on, could I clear something up? I think a lot of Christians, well-meaning Christians think that eternal life begins the day after you die and you’re with Jesus. Right? Eternal life, because it sounds like a long time. You know, I love Jesus, He has forgiven my sins, I believe in Him. So, when I die, then I get eternal life. Can I tell you? That is absolutely theologically, completely incorrect. Eternal life is a quality of life, it’s the presence of Jesus, it’s the very life of Christ that lives in you. And so, it begins the moment you trust Him and it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. If you’re a follower of Jesus, you will live forever. And notice what He said when He was teaching in John 5:24. He says, “Truly, truly,” when He wanted to make a point He would repeat something or the old version is: verily, verily. I mean, in other words, get this down.

“I say to you, he that hears My word and believes on Him who sent Me,” notice the verb, “has eternal life,” what are the implications? “and does not come into judgement but,” notice the tense of the verb, “has passed out of death into life.” When you repented of your sin and you received the free gift of God in Christ, He says you have eternal life. The Spirit entered your life, sealed you, He deposited spiritual gifts, you presently have an inheritance, you have all the power that you need, and you can know this for sure. Let me read one other passage from the same author.

In 1 John, he was speaking to a group of people that were struggling. And He wanted them to understand that, you know, when you have a genuine relationship with Jesus, the whole theme of 1 John is what you have experienced, in your new life with Jesus, plays out in your relationship horizontally with others. And then He wanted them to know that you don’t have to guess, I hope someday, I hope someway, I’ll make it to heaven.

In 1 John chapter 5 verses 11 through 13, He says, “This is the record,” these are the facts, or this is the witness. And here it is, “that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.” So, He says first of all it’s a gift. It’s in His Son and God has given us His Son. Then verse 12, it’s very simple. “He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life.” He doesn’t say: He who goes to church. It doesn’t say: He who is a moral person. It doesn’t say: He who is sincere and tries hard. It says, “He who has the Son has life. He who doesn’t have the Son does not have life.”

Then notice verse 13, “These things I have written to you who believe,” you have put your faith in Christ, “in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life.” Eternal life isn’t something you have to guess about. Christ died in our place on the cross, His death paid once and for all for the sins of all people of all time. In that moment as He hung on the cross, the just wrath of God took your sin, my sin, and the sins of all people and He became our sin bearer.

And the word is atonement. He covered our sin. So, God has forgiven. So, the gospel is good news is that God loves you despite your sin and if you’ll turn, He’ll guide and direct you and He’ll give you His Word, He’ll put you in a community of believers, and He wants to use your life like you could never dream. That’s eternal life. When we die, we just move from experiencing that in a fleshly body to – what? A new world and what we know is there’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth and we get new bodies. To be absent from the body, the Bible says, is to be at home with the Lord.

So, let’s walk through perspective. David is going to look. First place he looks, he looks above and he prays. He says in Psalm 16, “Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge. I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord. Apart from You I have no good thing.’” It’s interesting in this one little verse, he uses three different words for God. Where he says, “Keep me safe, O God,” it’s just “El,” it’s the most common word for God in all the Old Testament. When he goes on and says, “I said to the Lord,” all capitals, that’s Yahweh. That’s God’s personal name. That’s the picture of God as Creator, as sovereign, the One who shapes the world and all that there is.

And then he goes on to say, “You are my Lord,” Adonai, and the inference of Adonai has to do a lot with: Who is your master? Who do you report to? Who are you responsible to? Who do you take orders from? He says, “I take refuge in God, this personal God, and You are my master. Or in the words of Paul for those of us that are followers of Christ, we would say it like this, Romans chapter 12, verse 1, “Therefore, in view of God’s great mercy and forgiveness, offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual service of worship.”

And what he is basically saying is: I am all Yours and I’m all in and apart from You I have no good. You are my life. And he prays first about: Keep me safe, because there’s danger. And then second, it’s a prayer of dedication. And he says in a world with chaos, in a world with struggle, in a world with danger, in a world of uncertainty, Lord, first, would You keep me safe? And then second, I want You to know I’m all Yours. And so, after He looks above and prays, he looks around and he loves. Notice his perspective because of this position, this intimacy with his God, his Master, and his Creator. He says, “As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”

And he’s saying, God, you know, even in the midst of a fallen world, You have given me these incredible relationships. Think about you. Think about the people that God has brought in your life. Certainly family, but I’m talking about people who walk with God, people who have discipled you, people that you do life with, people that you have laughed with, people that you have wept with, people that have encouraged you. Just, you know, multiple people just come to my mind and I think, What a delight. What a joy. And what is it that holds us together? It’s our common bond in Jesus Christ.

Just recently I had the privilege of going to Korea where about five thousand or so leaders from all around the world, two hundred and some countries, and we gathered and we worshipped together and we prayed and we heard messages from God’s Word and they had a hallway that, I mean, it was a huge hallway. Five thousand people, right?

And then they put us in one room if you can believe five thousand people, around tables, and then they mixed us up. And so, I’m with a guy from India over here and Africa over here and a woman from Siberia. She was a nurse from Siberia. And I had never met any of them. And I mean, within two or three days, we were talking and sharing and praying. Do you realize how rare that is?

And then I had a conversation with a guy from South Africa I had never met, he was just over there, drinking coffee and I remember writing in my journal, “Lord, I have no idea, I have no idea why I met that guy, but I’ll tell you what. It sure was fun. I liked him.” And it’s kind of like this, “the saints in the land, the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”
“The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their name upon my lips.” He says, you know, there are people worshipping idols. And he goes, “I don’t go there. I love You and You are my Master, and I want to reach them, but I am not going there. Their idols, the stuff that they do… It’s very much a Romans 12:2 moment where he says: I’m not going to be conformed to this world.

He says: I am going to be transformed by the renewing of my mind that my life, how I actually live would be acceptable and pleasing and I want to experience Your will. And so, he’s kind of working in this journey of his relationship with God, and then he looks within and he does some reflection. And he’s saying, I remember that giant, I remember Saul. Yeah, I had some family issues, I really blew it morally. Man alive, God, that You even still care about me after some of the things I have done. And at this stage of his life, he is reflecting. He said, “Lord, You have assigned my portion and my cup, You have made my lot secure,” and, You have been so good to me. It has been secure. In fact, he goes on, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely, I have delightful inheritance.”

He kind of appraises his life and, like you, I mean, I, believe me, I’ve had big struggles, I have had health issues, been through cancer with my wife, gosh, I have been through financial hardships. If you wanted a good list of difficulties and challenges, not nearly as bad as a lot of people, but if I would turn my attention over here, I can give you a pretty good list. But I will tell you what, when I shifted and say, “Wait a second, what has God given me?” And I start making that list and start thanking God, and blessing God, and listing it… And here’s an amazing thing. You know, we are talking about overcoming the fear of death. Part of what you have to do is you’ve got to remember how good God has been, because it changes your perspective.

So, he does an appraisal of all the good and all the kindness and his perspective is changing about the kind of God He is. And then he just approves and says: You know, sure there’s been ups and downs. But God, thank You. Now, some of you are really young, which is really awesome. So, you don’t know much about your boundary lines. But let me just tell you from one who is a little older, a lot of things that you think are like: This is terrible, I can’t believe it, I didn’t get into this school, I was dating so-and-so and I thought she was going to be the one, or he was going to be the one and we broke off. And then this happened over here.

Let me tell you something, when you get a little bit older, I can look back and see some of the things that I wanted the most that God said no to were literally the greatest gifts that I have ever received. I could not have been more heartbroken in college. A girl I was absolutely convinced that I would marry, we even did the, you know, visited her house and she visits mine and near the end of my college and, you know, then I had this vision for what God is calling me to do and her vision was I need, I need to live in this town for the rest of my life with my aging parents.

And I had to choose between this is God’s calling and this girl that I was deeply head over heels in love with that I dated for a couple years or more. And, I mean, I went through a year of…really? Really? I mean, really? Well, it couldn’t get better than this. Well, how little did I know? And God instead gave me a wife who, what her heart was because of what she had been through and how God had changed her, she actually was praying, Lord, in light of what You have done for me, would You bring me a pastor? I want to be in ministry. I want to serve You. I want to love You. So, You need to bring me a man who is a pastor.

Well, when I met her, I wasn’t going to be a pastor. I was going to be a missionary. Well, guess what, she’s got good prayers. I became a pastor and I’m glad I did. But my point is, the boundary lines, if you’ll trust God, if you’ll not evaluate too quickly about what really is good for you and what’s not – see, this is David reflecting and looking back. And then he just breaks into praise. Look at verse 7. “I will praise the Lord,” notice it’s a choice, “I will praise the Lord who counsels me; even at night, my heart instructs me.”

And he’s saying: You know, God still is instructing, still guiding, still directing, and in the midst of this, I have made a decision that I am going to be a worshipper and I’m going to keep His agenda and our relationship. Notice that word, “always before me.” I’m not going to get distracted, I’m not going to get distracted in some really good things, right? There are some really good things about sports, it can be a big distraction. There are great things about technology, right? But it can be a distraction.

There are great things about ministry. You know what? It can be a distraction. Relationships are really important but it can get to be a distraction. He’s back to that Romans 12:1 moment. I have dedicated myself. I want my relationship with God, I want my relationship with Jesus to be the central focus of my life and everything else will be concentric rings around that. If you’re married, wife and family, work, ministry. And he says, “Because the Lord is ever before me,” notice, “I will not be shaken.”

See, security doesn’t come from money, it doesn’t come from the government, it won’t come from peace in the world for sure. You want real security, David says while you’re living, set the Lord always before you. And because He’s at, notice, my right hand. In other words, the right hand is, this is what I do. This is my power. These are my skills. This is what matters. Because He is at my right hand, I won’t be shaken. I am not doing things on my own.

This is David, in his world as an Old Testament saint saying, “Apart from You, I can’t do anything.” But because of You, I don’t have to be afraid. I won’t be shaken. It doesn’t matter what happens in the culture. I can’t control what is going to happen in my family. I can’t control my health, I can’t control the weather, I can’t control national disasters, and I can’t control wars. But I can control this. Where is my dependency? Who is at my right hand? Who is guiding my life? And when I’m doing that, I will not be shaken.

So, he has looked up in prayer, he has looked around and loves what God has done. Then he looks within, he has appraised his situation, he approves what God has done, he adores and praises God, and now he looks beyond. And he looks beyond with delight. He’s got this picture. What’s life going to be like in the future? And it’s not just the future, he’s thinking, What is life going to be like in the ultimate future, the beyond, the grave? Notice what he says, “Therefore,” response, “my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.”

By the way, it’s good to do that. It’s good to reflect on who God is, on what He has done, and not just sort of internally go, Mm-hm, yeah, that was nice. But notice your heart rejoices and then notice my tongue rejoices. He actually verbalizes. I don’t know about you, but some of the stories of Jesus, they so fascinate me, because I never opened the Bible growing up. I heard some Bible stories and went to church, but I, you know, never understood. And the one about the ten lepers always has fascinated me.

I have this picture of these, like, ten guys, you know, they’ve got the bells around them, and the skin’s all messed up and probably some of them lost their fingers and, you know, they are complete outcasts and, you know, then if you know the story, Jesus heals ten lepers as they are on their way. And, I mean, Wahh! Look at your face! It’s good! Your fingers came back! [unintelligible] You know, man, they’re going, ah! I mean, they’re high-fiving each other, they’re doing all kind, wow, wow, wow, wow! And one of them goes back to thank Jesus. Now, here’s the deal, I hope I’m not reading too much in. I would bet a boatload of money there were ten people that were very grateful. There were ten people that were going, “This is awesome. I’m so grateful.

This is where I was and this is where I am now. Great, great, great, great, great!” Only one took the time to verbalize to the One who healed him how grateful he was from his heart for what He did. And I find in my life that it is easy to pray and to see God work and have this internal, I feel thankful. Oh, I feel thankful. I’m grateful in my heart. I think it matters to God. Not that He doesn’t know what’s on my heart but I think it matters that we stop and say, “Thank You. We acknowledge it was You. You did it.”

So, I’d just encourage you, David, he helps us. His heart was glad, his tongue rejoices. Joy is one of the evidences of walking with the Lord. And then notice he says after that, “My body also will rest secure.” He’s beginning to look at the future and the long-term future, “Because You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.”

He knew he would have a resurrection and then he goes on to say, he talks about that eternal life. “You have made known to me the path of life, You will fill me with joy in Your presence with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” And so, the Old Testament clearly teaches here, Job, other psalms: This isn’t all there is. For us who are New Testament Christians it begins the moment that we receive Christ as our Savior. And as I mentioned, when you do that, you pass from death to life. You have eternal life now. The purpose of His Word, the Christ living in you, by His Spirit, it will affirm and He will affirm this is true. And He will guide you with His Word.

And the whole point of the Church is you don’t have to do this alone. There’s a group of people that you can help and they will help you. And that as you live in this way together, the light will shine into the darkness and people will see love and truth and you make a difference and your focus is outward. Jesus lives in us; we have eternal life. And the things that He did when He walked around like healing people and helping people and teaching God’s truth – we are now His body and that’s the calling. And this crazy thing, the way He works it, when you give your life away, you’ll find it. The greatest joy is when we give our life away and live and serve others.

And so, David is telling us here he has great, great hope. Now, at this point you might say, okay, David’s perspective is he prays, he loves, he reflects, he delights, he’s got this assurance. I’m glad, with very little evidence compared to us, that he’s got the eternal life thing down. But what about me? Could you give me, like, some very practical help? Some of you are probably saying, “Your dad probably asked you to come and have a talk. Part because you’re his son but part, you’re a pastor, right?”

I mean, you know what? If you’ve got as a son who is a mechanic and your car breaks down and you call him or in my case, I’ve got a son who is a physical therapist. When I get injured I go see him. My dad has got a big theological question and it's not only personal but he goes, “I’m afraid to die.” And so, we began to talk about that and I said, “Dad, what are you afraid of?” He goes, “I think it’s, it’s a lot of things. I know Jesus loves me, there’s evidence in my life. I don’t doubt that, but it just seems like a vague, you know, I don’t know what to look forward to. It’s just so unknown.”

And I said, “Well, Dad, what do you think heaven is going to be like?” He said, “I have no idea, but I don’t know, I guess you sing a lot.” You know? He was a Marine, right? Yeah, boy, just can’t wait to sing for a few millennium or so. And I guess I know there’s some worship services, because, you know, I read there in Revelation that they are doing a lot of that, but I have no idea.” And I said, “Dad, I think you’re not afraid to die. I think you don’t have any idea what living is like.”

I said, “Let me give you a picture, Dad, that might help. You know, when a little baby is in the womb, they think that’s all there is, right? And so, actually it’s a pretty sort of scary moment for them is that’s, it’s comfortable and they can hear their mother’s heartbeat and it’s a perfect environment and, gosh, they get all their food, they’ve got an umbilical cord, and then they have this sort of very breakthrough experience that feels like, oh my gosh! What happened? And, you know, we smack them on the rear end and, you know, all of a sudden they’ve got to breathe on their own. And it's a different kind of life.”

And I said, “Dad, what the Bible teaches is that we are not going from life to death. What the Bible actually teaches is that we are going from death to life. This body that we have is going to wear out. Sin came and we are all going to die. We are all terminal.” And so, that’s the picture. There’s probably three kind of metaphors or pictures that talk about death in the New Testament.

And one is that, talks about believers go asleep. You know, they just, they go asleep and then they wake up with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians. He goes, “I don’t want you to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep.” It’s a technical term for Christians who have died in the Lord. [And] another one, he talks about they go on a journey. The word is used of, like when a ship was ready to sail, and the ship has to sail to a new adventure, a new season, a new life. And the last one is absent from the body is to be, home. You’re leaving death into life. You’re going on an adventure that’s going to be great because of who is there and all that God has planned.

And, Dad, I just want you to know that it’s like falling asleep and waking up.” And then I realized, I said, “Dad, you know, I read a book recently. Someone gave it to me and it’s called Heaven by Randy Alcorn. And he read, like, two hundred and thirty-six books. Everything he could get his hands on about heaven and realized there had been no real teaching specifically on heaven in decades. In fact, he did all the research he could about heaven and then he began to pair it with what God is like and, by the way, I can’t say this for sure, but if x is true and y is true, then it would seem these other things are very, very logical.”

I mean he talks even about pets and life and trees and music and culture and what we might do. And maybe he’s not a hundred percent right. The biblical basis of it is super, super solid. And maybe some of his imagination and projections aren’t exactly right, but here’s what this book did for my father and did for me. When you read this book, heaven goes from sipping iced tea and singing songs and floating on clouds to, “I can’t wait to… I mean, that’s really?” “Yeah.” I mean, when you read this, you’re… “Well, that’s in the Bible.” “What?” “That’s in the Bible.” I got him started on it and then his wife, Evelyn, who is now with him in heaven, she read it to him in those last days. And I had a conversation, phone call, later with my dad. He goes, “Chip, I can’t wait to go.” He goes, “I realized I was afraid, but I was afraid because I was going from a known to an unknown that actually didn’t feel very exciting other than the option was not good.

I do want to be with Jesus.” He said, “I had no idea. I have never thought about heaven like that.” And so, could I encourage you? If you’re afraid to die for whatever reason, why don’t you talk to the Lord about it? Why don’t you open Psalm 16 and why don’t you walk through the kind of prayer, Lord, I’m all Yours. And then why don’t you just kind of pause and maybe, I mean, literally get a sheet of paper out and just try and list all the things God has ever done for you.

It might take a few hours. And say, The God who has done all those things, I wonder what His plan will be when there are no barriers. When there’s a new heaven, and by the way, a new earth that will be a perfect earth and that everything God put in motion in Eden, it will be that on supernatural, spiritual steroids without any sin, any sorrow. And heaven has allowed saints in the past to endure whatever: martyrdom, suffering, difficulty for Christ and the gospel.