I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms 34. Psalm 34. I want to just consider
for a few minutes verses 6 to 8, but I'm going to look. at those verses leading right
up to it. Before I look at that scripture,
I pray that God Almighty be pleased today to bless His Word. As I awoke this morning, I began
to think on the services today, and I thought, now we're going
to be meeting together. I don't want this to be tradition. I don't want to go through the
motions. I pray that God send revival.
I pray that God revive our hearts, renew within us a right spirit. As I get older, I look around
and I behold the truthfulness of this verse of scripture found
in Job 14.1. It says, man that is born of
woman is of few days and full of trouble. Job also said in verse 22 of
chapter 14 concerning that man that's born of woman, but his
flesh upon him shall have pain and his soul within him shall
mourn. Now there's something I know.
I can look around and I see not only with me and with you that
a lot of us are suffering. We're going through trials. We're going through tribulation.
We're going through some pain. We're having heartache within
our spirit, heartache in our body. We're troubled about family. And these are concerns that are
real. And we're really here. We're really on this earth. And
we're going through some trials and chastisements. And I'm reminded that the only
comfort that we've got, now when you're going through something,
it's real. And nobody really can enter into
what you're going through. but you. Even if you're going
through something that I've experienced, I'm still not going through it
with you as you're going through it. And I know that Almighty
God has promised. He said, I'm going to keep you. I'm going to sustain you. Now
I've read, We're told by men that are much wiser, I'm sure,
than we, that this particular psalm, in fact, at the top of
my Bible, it says concerning Psalm 34, it says, "...a psalm
of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who
drove him away, and he departed." There was an instance that happened. I'll read this if you want to
read it. It's in 1 Samuel. chapter 21,
verses 10 to 15, David went through something. It says in 1 Samuel
21, verse 10, And David arose and fled that day for fear of
Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants
of Achish said unto him, that is David, Is not this David the
king of the land? Did they not sing one to another?
of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and
David his ten thousands. And David laid up these words
in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. And
he changed his behavior before him, or them, and feigned himself
mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and
let his spittle fall down upon his beard. Then said Achish unto
his servants, Lo, you see this man is mad? Wherefore then have
you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen? that ye
have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall
this fellow come into my house?" Now let me tell you what was
going on. David was the anointed king. And where he is in this particular
place, in Gath, that's where Goliath was from. And he's got Goliath's sword
on him. And he gets into the presence
of the king, Abimelech, in that place where Goliath was from. And David killed Goliath. And some of the folks said to
David, he said, aren't you? You're the king. He was known
who he was. God had anointed him king. And
he's in the King Abimelech's presence. And David, the Scripture
says, feigned himself. He pretended to be mad and he
let spit run out of his mouth, run down his beard, and started
scratching on the door. And Abimelech said, this fellow
is mad. What are you doing bringing this
madman into my presence?" And Abimelech sent him away. Now
listen, how indebted we are to the Spirit's revelation, to behold
the struggles of God's people, and to be able to observe how
faith, true faith, often works. when God's people are in trouble. Let's be careful how we judge
every reaction of a believer as he's truly going through a
trial that has been sent him by the Lord. Now I want us to
look at this passage of Scripture. And I just want to make a few
comments, coming right up to 6, 7, and 8. And just may the
Spirit of God teach us something. A lot of us are going through
some trials. And we need some help. I need
some comfort. I need a word of encouragement
from the Lord. And I know that many of you do
too. Now here's David, the king, that the Spirit of God moved
upon his heart concerning that instance when he feigned himself
mad before Abimelech. Here's what he said in verse
1. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. Now listen. Let's remember who
sent the trouble. The scripture declares that Almighty
God worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. And David said under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, I'm going to ascribe blessing and honor and
praise and glory unto Him who is the God of creation, the God
of providence, God of salvation. David is saying, how did I get
here? How did I get in Abimelech's presence? God put him there. David said, I'm going to express
with my mouth. I will bless the Lord at all
times and His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I'm going to
say that which is in my heart. Then in verse 2 he says, My soul
shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. My soul shall brag Well, you
know, that's a settling thought right there. Going through a
trial. A trial that you can't do anything
about. And David said, I'm going to
brag on God. My heart is settled on Him. I'm
not going to brag on me. I'm not going to brag on men.
I'm not going to brag on the world. I'm not going to brag
on my works of self-righteousness. But I'm going to boast in the
Lord and the humble, those that have been made to see their need
As David has, you or me, the humble, those that have been
brought down, they're going to hear thereof and they're going
to be glad. I rejoice in what David said. I'm thinking, I need
to hear that. Here he is, he's going through,
he doesn't know if this guy's going to kill him. And if he
kills him, David said it'd be just like Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. The Lord can deliver me, and
if He doesn't deliver me, I'm still not going to bow down to
your God. I'm still not going to bow down to you. I'm still
not going to bow down to a man. Verse 3, O magnify the Lord with
me, let us exalt His name together. You, David said, us, who understand
how It feels to go through some trials and tribulations, to suffer
under the merciful hand of Him who does all things well. Let's
join together in praise. That's what He said, Oh magnify
the Lord with me. Let's adore Him together. This morning, we've got this
morning. I don't know if we'll ever meet
together again. I don't know. This may be my last time to preach.
I don't know if it is. May the Lord bless it today.
This may be the last time you ever hear the gospel. I pray God bless it to your heart.
I pray that God Almighty have mercy upon us. Let's be in a
united spirit. Is that not what we're doing
here today? Why do we show up? Is it just Sunday? Is it just
what we do? Is it just going through the
motions? Here we are. We've been blessed
of God to be able to assemble together in His presence. And according to His Word, He
said, where two or three are gathered together in My Name,
I'm in the midst of you. I know He's here. I know He is. Oh, magnify the Lord. Let's exalt
His Name together. We've heard His Word read. We've
prayed together, asked His blessing. A few minutes, by the grace of
God, we're going to sing some songs and praise Him with our
voices. We're hearing the Gospel preached.
We're blessed people. We have everything. What else
do we need? Then David, in the presence before
Bimelech, He gave this word of praise unto the Lord for God's
deliverance. This is what he said. He says
in verse 4, I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered
me from all my fears. Not that he was verbalizing even
in their presence, you know, what he had in his heart, but
he was saying his praise shall continually be in my mouth."
That's what he said right here. But here's the thing. Often we'll
find it privately. When we're in a situation, nobody
knows what's going on but you, the Lord. And he prayed and made
intercession before God, and he sought God, and the Lord,
the Scripture says, heard his prayer. The Lord promised that
he would hear our prayers. The Lord promised that the Father
heard us. He said, when he taught his disciples to pray, he said,
but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, when thou
hast shut the door, Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and
thy Father which seeth, that is, which perceives in secret,
shall reward thee openly." There may be a time that you're at
the house and you get alone by yourself, you have some time
to pray, you seek, and God's people do that. But you may be
sitting right here, right now, and just enter into your closet
right now. Nobody knows. Nobody knows what you're thinking.
Nobody knows. And here you are, you sought
the Lord. Lord, speak to me today. Lord,
speak to my wife, to my husband, my kids. Lord, have mercy upon
us. I sought the Lord. And listen
to this, and He heard me. Isn't that comforting to know?
We're not praying to nobody. We're seeking the Lord. Searching
for Him. And He delivered me from all
my fears. Does that mean that He's going
to physically remove us from everything? No. David said, He
delivered me from all my fears. You know, I used to tell my kids,
I told you this before, I'd tell them, I said, a situation never
changes. Only the way you look at it.
The way you look at it. Almighty God may allow His people
to be going through some things that, I mean, humanly speaking,
they're fearful. Because we just don't know. We
don't know what's going to happen. But to be delivered from your
fears, to say the Lord, the Lord's grace is sufficient. He's going
to keep me. He's not going to forsake me.
You know, He's not going to leave me To myself. David said in verse 5, they looked
unto him and were lightened. Their faces were not ashamed.
They, they, who they? David, who? They. Was it the
humble that he spoke of? Shall hear thereof and be glad?
Or whether he meant all of God's saints that were ever before
David. How about Abraham? How about
Moses and Noah? How about all of God's people? They looked unto Him. They who? The congregation of the saints,
every one of them. I can tell you this for a fact.
Based on God's Word, I can tell you this. Everyone that Almighty
God has ever called out of darkness has given a heart for Him. They
looked unto Him. And they were enlightened. They
were made to be aware of the sufficiency of God's grace. They
were delivered from their fears. They looked to the Lord in prayer
in their distresses. And listen to this. They were
helped. They were kept. Their faces were
not ashamed. They weren't ashamed. They could
say together, collectively, as a body always does in unison,
I'm not ashamed for putting my trust in Him. I'm not ashamed
to call Him my God. I'm not ashamed of this God that
Neil just read about in Isaiah. I'm not ashamed of the God of
all grace. I'm not ashamed of Him who's
sovereign, Him who elects. Christ who redeems His people,
Spirit of God who calls them, not ashamed of Him. And then
David said something that every regenerated sinner, a vessel
of God's mercy, declares. Verse 6, This poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Now you know, a believer, may
not necessarily be poor with respect to outward things. Scripture declares there were
some rich men that knew God. I've said before Abraham, Job, David, Solomon. I mean, there
were some rich folks that knew God. So it may not be necessarily
they were poor outwardly as far as this world's goods, but every
sinner made to see himself, all of them, I don't care what their
financial state is, they're going to admit this, I'm poor. I'm poor in spirit, I'm impotent
in strength, I'm feeble in my understanding, and I need help. I need deliverance. I need rescue
from the plague of sin. I need rescue daily, moment by
moment, from the presence of sin. Now these are truly blessed
people. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of God. That's the confession of
every sinner made to see himself in need, made willing in the
day of God's power. He cries unto the Lord, and the
Lord who gave that truly repentant sinner to Christ in electing
grace, the one who's been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, The one who's been regenerated by the grace of God and given
a new heart, he cries unto the Lord. Every one of them. There's
not an ounce of difference. I don't care. I don't care what
you got or what you don't got. I don't care if that's right
or wrong, you know, for my English. It just don't matter. You take
every believer, one that's been bought, by the blood of Christ
and redeemed by God's Spirit. Every one of us do the same thing.
What do we do? We cry unto the Lord. And the
Lord hears. And saves him out of all of his
troubles. David said, that's what he did
for me. That's what he says in verse
6. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him
out of all of his troubles. And then the Spirit of God gave
this word of personal protection. for God's people. Now listen,
again, we're all going through, we're suffering. All of us have
got our trials. All of us has got our needs.
Now listen, verse 7. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, that respect him, and delivereth
them. Now whether the Holy Spirit here
meant the created angels, Those ministering spirits sent forth
to minister for them who are the heirs of salvation or the
uncreated angel. The angel, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the angel of God's presence, the angel of God's covenant,
the captain of our salvation, He who is the revealer. the messenger
of God, the prophet of God, Christ Himself. Whoever it means, whoever
God Almighty is pleased to send, the Lord has promised this, according
to verse 7, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them
that fear Him and delivereth them. You remember the servant
of, I think it was Elijah, it was Elijah or Elisha, I can't
remember. They were on a mountain, and
there was all the Syrians that were around them, circling them.
And the servant of the prophet said, Oh, look, we're in trouble.
Look at all these soldiers. And the prophet prayed and said,
Lord, open his eyes, he can see. And the Lord opened his eyes,
and there he really saw what was really there. And all around
the army of the Syrians were the angels of the Lord. And the
prophet said to the servant, they that be with us are more
than they that be with them. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him. Isn't that comforting to know
that here we are today, you're suffering, calling, boasting
in the Lord, and the Lord says that my angel, my angel is going
to keep you. Going to keep you and going to
deliver you. And even until that day, it's
like when Lazarus, remember, there was a rich man in Lazarus.
A rich man died and was buried, and the angels carried Lazarus
into the bosom of Abraham, into his very presence. So there's
a comfort for God's people. God knows what we're going through.
The Lord is aware. And then lastly, a personal admonition
for every soul. made new in Christ, an admonition
that we all need. Listen to verse 8, O taste and
see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. The Lord is essentially, you
know this, essentially and immutably, He doesn't change, He's good.
If Almighty God is pleased to show mercy, He's good. If God is pleased to leave a
man or a woman to do that which they want to do, He's good. The Lord is good. Oh, taste,
taste for yourself. I want, I want, I want everyone,
I believe I mean this, I want everybody that's sitting under
the sound of my voice today, I want you to taste. I want to
taste. I want to savor. I want you to
taste for yourself and you see that the Lord is good, the capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital E, Jehovah. Has the Father not
been good? You that know Him, think about
this. He was pleased to have your name
inscribed in the book of Christ before the world began. He's
so good. He chose you in Christ that you
should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Before you
were ever created, Almighty God put you in Christ. He's so good.
The Lord Jesus Christ, He's so good. He has the surety, the
surety of His people. He said, I'll answer for them.
They're going to fall. They're going to fall. They're going to find themselves
dead, spiritually, without hope in themselves. But Father, all
that you've given me, I'll answer. They need their sin put away. I'll be made sin for them. And
I, before you, as your Lamb, I'll answer. He came into this
world and did that very thing. They're going to need holiness.
I will earn before you, as a man, righteousness I'll obey. And
he did. And the Father acknowledged it.
This is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased. You hear him.
You hear what he got to say. He's so good. And the Holy Spirit. He's so good. Spirit of God,
like the wind, He just blows wherever He will. Sovereignly
moving. Knowing where all God's sheep
are. God raises up preachers. And
He teaches them the gospel. He teaches them, first of all,
what they are. They're nothing. It's just like
John the Baptist. I'm just a voice. That's all
I am. I'm just telling you what God said. And Almighty God teaches
them the gospel of God's grace. He teaches them a message that
doesn't give a man any glory, any praise. Tells him, tells
him he doesn't have a free will. Tells him that he's dead and
trespassed until God regenerates him. Teaches him the gospel. And then sends him to a particular
place. When it please God, Almighty
God, please send me right here. I never thought I'd be here.
I was here years ago, and I thought, I love this place. I love this
pastor. I love Brother Scott. Somebody told me, he said, Marvin,
one day you'll be the pastor here. I said, yeah, right. Yeah,
I know. Almighty God, please send me
here. And raised up a people. You know the amazing thing? Some
of you have been here for so long, a whole lot longer than
me, and you're still here. And the Spirit of God was pleased
to put you under the sound of the gospel. And gave you grace,
kept you here. And grace, by God's grace He
taught you. The Spirit of God gave you a
new heart and told you this is the truth. And He taught you
the things of Christ and gave you faith to believe. And He
sealed you until the day of redemption. And the Lord said, I'm not going
to let you go. You're going to stay right here. I'm going to
bless you right here. I'm going to bless you until
you hear the gospel. Truly, truly, blessed is the
man that trusteth in Him. I pray God bless this word to
our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.