Let's go back now to Psalm 34.
Now these are the words written by
David when God delivered him from the hand of his enemies
to the cave of Dullam. The Psalm is declaring what David
taught his brethren when they came to him in that cave. They all gathered there. They
were not ashamed to own David, to be their king. They were not
ashamed for people to know that Saul was not their king. They
were not with the followers of Saul. They were not ashamed.
They actually went forth to David. And David taught them the words
of this psalm, glorifying the Lord, teaching them all concerning
what the Lord had done for him. But as with all the psalms, when
we read the psalms, we look to Christ. And these are the words
of Christ to His people, now that Christ is risen, He's been
delivered from all His enemies to the right hand of the Father.
And when God brings His people to Christ, makes us not ashamed,
to confess Him before men, not a shame for men to know that
we belong to the Lord, we're looking to the Lord, we trust
Him alone, we go to Christ, and these are the words Christ teaches
us, His people. And what Christ is teaching His
brethren here is to look to the Lord. Now, in the first time
we looked at this, the first four verses, we saw Christ teaches
to glory only in Jehovah. Only in God. Only time a man
will stop glorying in himself and start glorying only in the
Lord, praising only the Lord for everything concerning his
salvation is when Christ, our prophet, has officially, I mean,
affectionately taught him in his heart. That's when he'll
start praising and glorifying only God. Now this time in verses
4 through 8, we're going to see Christ teach us to look to Him. I'm sorry, verses 5 through 8.
We're going to see Christ teach us to look to Him. Now He begins
here by showing what God did for our brethren in the past
who looked to the Lord. He's teaching us first what all
those that looked to the Lord in the past, He's showing us
what God did for them. Verse 4, I mean verse 5. They, the humbled, looked unto
Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. And then
he tells us about himself. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. So he begins
by showing us some witnesses, showing us brethren from the
past and what the Lord did for them. And then he declares the
main point of his message. This is the main point that he's
declaring here. Verse 7. The angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. And then lastly, he gives the
most important exhortation that you and I will ever hear in our
life. This is the most important word
that we're told to do, more important than any other word we'll ever
hear. Verse 8, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed
is the man that trusteth in Him. The point that he's teaching
us here is that all who look to the triune God, trusting and
believing on Christ, shall be saved. We look to the triune
God by looking to and believing on Christ. In Christ, Christ
is the fullness of the Godhead in a body. And the only way we
can believe God and worship God and trust God is by worshiping
and believing and trusting Christ. and all who trust Christ shall
be saved. Now, the Lord Jesus is the prophet,
priest, and king of His people. He's the one who teaches us through
the Spirit, just like He's doing in this psalm right here. He's
the prophet, priest, and king of His people. And Christ's message
to His people has always been the same. Salvation is of the
Lord. Beginning to end and all points
in between, salvation is of the Lord. Christ's message when He
walked this earth is His message from God's right hand right now.
That message is this, I am the door. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Now, you and I who already believe,
we might think, well, I don't need to hear this. I've heard
this and I've heard this repeatedly and I don't need to hear this
same thing. This is elementary. This is the
basics. I don't need to hear this over
and over again. If we think that, we're sadly mistaken. Faithful
preaching is not preaching something new. Faithful preaching is putting
God's people in remembrance of what they already know. That's
faithful preaching. Paul told Timothy, If thou put
the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a
good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. If you put
them in remembrance. Peter said, Wherefore I will
not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things.
though you know them, and be established in the present truth.
Yea, I think it meet as long as I'm in this tabernacle to
stir you up by putting you in remembrance." And Paul said,
to write the same things to you, to me is not, indeed is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. So, we don't need to be taught
new things, we need to be put in remembrance of the things
we've already been taught. And that's what faithful preaching
is. So once again, I'm here to put you in remembrance of what
you already know. All who cast all their care on
Christ, not just in the first hour, not just, well, I did that
15 years ago and, you know, and I moved on. All the time, every
day, from the first hour to the last, Those who cast all their
care on Christ, trusting Him to save us, shall be saved. Shall be saved. Now first, our
Lord declares this to us by showing us some faithful witnesses of
the past. You know, it helps us to know,
it encourages us to do something when you see others that have
done it and have been successful doing it. That helps you and
encourages you that it's the thing to do. Well, Christ Jesus,
our prophet, priest, and king gives us first of all the example
of humble believers from the past that cast their care on
the Lord. He said back up there in verse
2 at the end, he said, the humble shall hear and be glad. And that's what he's talking
about here. He's speaking of the humble and he says in verse
5, they looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were
not ashamed. They looked. They looked unto
Him. Christ showed us on Sunday that
salvation, eternal life, is in a look. We saw that they were
bitten by serpents and God told Moses, make that brazen serpent,
put it up on a pole and all that looked to that brazen serpent
would be saved. And Christ said that brazen serpent
was a type of hymn. The Son of Man must be lifted
up that whosoever looketh upon Him shall have eternal life. Salvation, eternal life is in
a look. Now that means it's not by works
of righteousness which we have done. No sinner can save himself
by any works of righteousness that we have done. It's not by
sorrowing over our sin. Some people seem to act like
they think that the more they sorrow over their sin, that means
the more repentant they are and the more faithful they are and
the more it shows they are dependent on Christ. That won't save us. Augustus Toplady wrote, Could
my tears forever flow? Could my zeal, my works, could
my zeal no longer know? Would I never get tired? These
for sin could not atone. Christ must save and Christ alone.
So he said, in my hand no price I bring. Simply to Christ I cling. I just come to Him with nothing. But the point our Savior is making
here is that we must actually look to Him. We must actually
cast all our care on Him. The Lord says, Look unto Me and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there
is none else. Look unto Me. Hebrews 12.1, go
there with me just a moment. We're talking about faithful
witnesses. When you're home, you read Hebrews 11 and see all
this cloud of witnesses and all these past brethren who trusted
entirely in the Lord and see how the Lord delivered them.
These are all witnesses given to us to encourage us in the
faith. Look what he says here, Hebrews
12, verse 1. Wherefore, seeing we also are
accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
actually lay aside every weight. Not just talk about it, not just
hear about it, Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
does so easily beset us, and let us actually put one foot
in front of the other. Let us actually run with patience
the race that God has set before us, and let us actually look. Let us run this looking. That
word I-N-G means always, constantly looking. unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
Him, He endured the cross. He despised the shame and He
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He said, let
us actually do it. Let us actually look to Christ.
Let us truly cast all our care on Him. And then it says back
in Psalm 34, when these believers from the past, when they looked
to the Lord, they were lightened. Verse 5 says they were lightened.
It means they were given the light of life. And the margin
says they flowed together. Or that means they were made
one with Christ. And their faces were not ashamed. What does that tell us? All who
look to Christ the light are enlightened by Christ the light. When you look to Christ the Light,
you're enlightened by Christ the Light. Psalm 18.28 says,
Thou wilt light my candle. The Lord my God will enlighten
my darkness. If we look to ourselves, all
we are is darkness. In Isaiah, the Lord spoke of
men who kindle sparks. They kindle their own sparks
and they try to walk in the light they've kindled. When God truly
works grace in the heart, And that's how we are truly made
to look. When He works grace in the heart, He makes His child
to look. The light that gave us the light
to even look came from Christ the light. And when He gives
you the light to look to Christ, your face is going to be enlightened. by Him. You're going to get all
your light from Him and He's going to light up your darkness.
He's going to make you see. And when that margin says they
flow together, it means they're made one with Christ. They flow
together with Christ like you take the vine and the branch
and the sap is flowing out of that vine into the branch. And
that's how the branch has its life. Light represents life in
the Scripture. And to flow together, when you
look to Christ, effectually, truly, by the grace of God, you're
made one with Christ. And you get your life and your
light from Christ. Psalm 36.9 says, With thee is
the fountain of life. In thy light shall we see light. The life is from Christ and it's
in His light that we see light. It's the same illustration as
a vine and the branches. You take the vine and the branches.
Christ said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. Where does the
branches get their life from? Where's the fountain of life
for a branch? It's from the vine. That's what he's saying to us.
With thee is the fountain of life. When you look to Christ,
God has made you one with Christ so that the light that you have
now is coming from Him. It's not coming from ourselves,
it's coming from Him. And the fountain of life is from
Christ. And it's in thy light shall we
see light. And therefore their faces were
not ashamed. They actually trusted the Lord.
They looked to Him. They cast all their care on Him.
And they were enlightened by Him. They had life by Him. And
so they were not ashamed of Him. They were not ashamed of Him.
They weren't ashamed before men to confess that He was all their
all. They weren't ashamed for trusting
Him, for actually trusting Him. Look at Romans 10 with me just
a second. Romans 10. I want to put all this together,
but Romans 10, and look here. Verse 10, "...with the heart
man believeth." Romans 10.10, "...with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness." That's what he's talking about looking unto
Him. It's believing on Him with the heart, with that new heart
God's given. He gives you light in the new
heart and you find yourself looking, casting all your care on Christ,
believing on Christ from your heart. and you believe unto righteousness,
the light that shines back and lightens your face is God makes
you to know you've been made the righteousness of Christ.
You've been made the righteousness of God in Christ. Man believeth
unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. This has to do with because he's
light and when God makes you look to Him and He lightens your
face, He makes you one with Him. and He makes you see that you've
been made righteousness in Him by what He's done, then you're
not ashamed of Him anymore. And now, you'll confess Him before
men. You'll confess Him before men.
Now that confession, He says, and with the mouth confessions
made unto salvation for the scripture says, whosoever believeth on
Him shall not be ashamed. Now when he speaks of confession
there, it doesn't mean that we have to stand up and, you know,
make a confession and confess our sins and all this. What he's
talking about is, we won't be ashamed to tell men our hope. We won't be ashamed anymore to
speak Christ's Word before men. Now you get this, a great many
preachers, they'll tell you privately they believe the doctrine of
election and predestination and they believe particular redemption
that Christ only died for a particular number of people. They'll tell
you that in private, but they won't preach it publicly. That
means they don't believe it. That's what John was talking
about. Whosoever confesseth. This is how you can discern the
spirits. This is how you can tell the
spirit that's of the Lord. Whosoever confesseth that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God. If he won't speak it out loud
and he won't preach it out loud and he's embarrassed to get up
and speak God's Word before men and just read the Scriptures
and say, this is God's Word. He doesn't believe it. He doesn't
believe it. You know, you see in a man's
face when a man is ashamed. That's where you see it. You
see it in his face. If a man is ashamed, his face turns red
and he blushes with shame. There is a reason the face turns
red when you are ashamed of something. And that's what the Lord is saying
right here. Those who actually look to Christ, who have truly
been made by grace to look to Christ. They made one with Christ
and they're getting their life from Christ. They get all their
life from Christ. And that life that's coming to
you, when you are given life to believe on Christ and it says
their face was enlightened. Your face is enlightened. When
somebody gets good news and you have something to rejoice in,
you see that on their face. and their face is enlightened
and that enlightened face is man believeth unto righteousness.
God makes you know in the court of your conscience. Your sins
have been put away by Christ and you're forgiven and you're
made the righteousness of God in Him and the law and the accuser
and nobody can ever lay anything to your charge again because
Christ has made you righteous. And that lightens up your face,
that brightens up your face. You have the life of Christ in
you, His light. So now, you're not ashamed of
Him anymore. You can't be ashamed when you
get that news. You can't be ashamed when He
made you to know that. And so you're not ashamed. You're willing to confess Him.
And when you confess Him, also it means you won't be ashamed
for confessing Him. You'll never be ashamed. God
will not let you be put to shame for trusting Him. In other words,
He won't betray that trust. You'll never be ashamed for trusting
Him. They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them,
they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. Someday,
all men who are trusting in a false god that they've carved out in
their imagination and perhaps they even carved him out in a
statue or something, but everybody who believes in a false god of
their imagination, they're going to be ashamed and confounded. But listen to this, but Israel,
that's God's elect people, redeemed, regenerated, saved by the Lord,
all His elect people, Jew and Gentile, Israel shall be saved
in the Lord with an everlasting salvation and you shall not be
ashamed nor confounded, world without end, forever and ever.
You'll never be ashamed, you'll never be confounded. Now brethren,
That's the first way our Lord uses to show us, to teach us
to come and look to Him, trust Him and believe on Him. Look
at all the brethren in the past that did. Then He tells, He uses
Himself for the example. He says in verse 6, it's just
Christ speaking now. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Now, when you
hear Christ saying this poor man, you think, well, how could
that be about Christ? He is the Son of God. He is God
the Son. He is the second person in the
Trinity, equal with God. That's true. But when our Lord
Jesus Christ became a man, He came down and He took flesh like
His brethren, and He took the form of a servant. He willingly
became a servant under the law of God to serve God as the one man, the head, who
alone would represent all His people.
He would be the righteousness for all His people. and justify
all His people from our sins. And when He humbled Himself and
took flesh and came under the law, He came and served God in
perfect obedience even to the death of the cross. Go with me
to Hebrews 5. And it was necessary that He
suffer. He had to be the poor man. It was an absolute necessity. Let me show you why. Hebrews 5. Look at verse 1. Every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men. And that's what Christ did. He
came down and was made a man so He could be taken from men,
from among men, for men. And here's the two reasons, in
things pertaining to God, that He may offer both gifts and sacrifices
for sins, and then as pertaining to men, verse 2, who can have
compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way,
for that He Himself also is accomplished with infirmity. In our psalm,
Christ is teaching us what He knows by experience as a man. And He's teaching you and I to
trust Him because He knows this from experience, having walked
right where we walk. Now watch this, verse 3. And
by reason hereof He ought, as for the people, so also for Himself
to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
And so also Christ glorified not Himself to be made a high
priest. He didn't put Himself in this position. But he that
said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. As
he said also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now watch this part. Who in the
days of his flesh, when he was as a man representing his people,
it says, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death. Hold your place there. As a man,
he's serving God, working out a perfect, holy heart obedience. A perfect, holy heart
obedience from a pure heart. He's working that out for his
people to be our holiness. And He's justifying us from our
sins, working out a perfect righteousness that He might be our righteousness.
And therefore, He has to do that. He has to be entirely dependent
upon God. Entirely dependent upon God.
He could not exercise His authority as God in this. He had to be
entirely dependent upon God. And so when He When He was suffering,
made sins for us, made our curse, and then when He was justifying
us from our sins, we see Him praying and making supplications
to God just like you and I do. Just like you and I pray. Utter
dependence upon God, supplicating God, begging God to help us.
That's exactly what our Redeemer did. In the Garden of Gethsemane,
remember He said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death.
He was experiencing the weakness of our flesh. My soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death." And he fell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He
offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears
unto Him that was able to save him from death. And then on the
cross, he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Why art thou so far from helping
me, from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime,
but Thou hearest not. And in the night season, and
am not silent. But Thou art holy, O Thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. Now watch this. He goes back
and talks about those past brethren. giving Himself encouragement,
just like He's doing for us, talking about those past brethren.
He said, Our fathers trusted in Thee. They trusted and Thou
didst deliver them. They cried unto Thee and were
delivered. They trusted in Thee and were not confounded. They
were not ashamed. But I am a worm. Christ said
that. I am a worm. and no man. A reproach of men and despised
of the people. In our Psalm, he says of himself,
this poor man cried unto God. He is saying this afflicted man,
this emptied man, this sin bearing man, this God forsaken man, this
man forsaken man. But he said in Psalm 22.10, I
was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is
none to help." So, that's what it's talking about here in Hebrews
5, Hebrews 5, 7. He cried with strong crying and
supplications unto Him that was able to save him from death,
verse 7, and was heard because he feared, because he reverenced
God in perfect holy faith. Now, why did he have to do that?
Why did he have to suffer that? Verse 8, though He were a Son,
though He's God the Son, yet learned He, that is, experienced
He obedience as a man by the things which He suffered. Verse
9, And being made perfect, having perfected obedience and wisdom
and holiness and righteousness and redemption for His people,
having perfected glorifying God to the highest, having perfected
being perfectly consecrated to God, He became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. God heard him
and raised him from the grave to his right hand and now Christ
is the author of eternal salvation. That means He's the one who made
salvation and He is the salvation He made. He's the author of eternal
salvation. But only to them that cast all
their care on Him. And you see the faithfulness
in what Christ is teaching us here? Think about this statement
now. Go back to Psalm 34 and look at that again. Verse 6,
this poor man cried, you see in that, you see as the high
priest, you see him being faithful to God and faithful to his people
even until the death of the cross. He depended on God, he cried
unto God. That was necessary to make reconciliation
for the sins of God's people and to glorify God. You see right
there. You see His faithfulness as our
high priest toward God and men. And then look at this. And the
Lord heard him. We see His faithfulness as God
who heard him and raised him. And then He says it saved him
out of all his troubles. And then just in the overall
fact that He's teaching us this in this Psalm, we see His faithfulness
to teach us that He is faithful, that He alone can make us unashamed
and bring His redeeming to cast our care on Him. We see His faithfulness
in that. And then by showing us all these
brethren in the past, we see His faithfulness in saving all
our past brethren. Just in this one statement, brethren,
you see faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness. And so that's what He's showing
us, how this gives you great reason to cast your care on Him. Now, I may not finish, that was
my first point. But let's see, let's go a little
further. I won't hold you long. Now here's the point of Christ's
message, Psalm 34, 7. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Our God
has many created angels. I don't know a lot about angels,
but there are a lot of... The angels are created. He created
them. He let some fall, and He has
reserved them in chains of bondage, and they are going to be cast
out into everlasting darkness. And the devil is using those
angels. But don't make any mistake, the devil was an angel created.
But he only can do what God permits him to do. He's serving God's
purpose. He's the creator of evil, the
devil. And when he works evil, it's
him that does it. And God only permits him to do
what serves God's purpose in glorifying Him and saving His
people. That gives us great confidence
right there because He can do nothing but what God permits
him to do. But the rest of the angels are God's elect angels.
And those angels are serving God for the purpose of protecting
God's people. Hebrews 1.14 says, Are they not
all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation? Angels are real. It's not like
what Hollywood portrays it as or what the Catholic Church portrays
it as. Angels are God's ministering spirits that are encamped all
around God's people. There are probably a host of
angels right here, right now. And you and I can see them. But
they're protecting God's people. That's what they... They can
control things. They can touch things and move things and move
you and move your heart and turn you this way and that way and
the other way to protect you. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able
to protect us. But the angel of the Lord, the angel of the
Lord's presence that's talked about here is Christ Jesus, the
Son of God. He's not a created angel. He's
God. He's called here the angel of
God's presence. He's the angel of the covenant.
He's the captain of our salvation. He's the leader and commander
of His people. Christ is that angel that was with Moses and
the children of Israel leading them through the wilderness.
Go to Exodus 23. I want you to see this. This
shows us what Christ is doing right now for His people because
Moses and the children of Israel are a picture of God's preacher
and His people going through this world, through our life,
in our lifetime, and this is what Christ is doing for us right
now. Just what He did for Moses and the children of Israel. Exodus
23, 20. God said, God said, Behold, I sent an angel before thee to
keep thee in the way. Isn't that something? Christ
is the way, and He is the angel who keeps us in the way. And
to bring thee into the place which I have prepared, beware
of Him. and obey His voice. How does
He speak? How does He speak? How does Christ,
the angel of God, speak? He is speaking right now. This
is how He speaks. Through the preaching of His
Word. And He speaks into... He goes forth before everybody.
But He makes an effect only in the hearts of His people. He
says here, ìObey His voice, provoke Him not, for He will not pardon
your transgressions.î That means He will not let them go unchastised. He will not let them go without
correction. ìFor My name is in Him.î And
you know thatís Christ. Godís name is in Him. He says,
ìBut if thou shalt indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak.î
Now this is what Christ is teaching us in this psalm, to obey Him,
to look to Him, trust Him. to lead us. And God says here,
ìIf you will indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak,
then Iíll be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary to thine
adversaries. For mine angels shall go before
thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites, the Hittites, all those
enemies.î And He says there in the end, ìAnd Iíll cut them off
if you trust Him and look to Him and obey Him.î You know what
happened? They got to the land of Canaan. And you know what
they did? They saw all those enemies just
like God said would be there, but they did not listen to the
Lord. They did not obey the voice of His angel. They didn't trust
Christ. In the New Testament, we know
it's the angel of the Lord because I believe it says they frustrated
Christ or they opposed Christ, something to that effect. But
it's talking about that angel that led them. And so they wandered
on in the wilderness until they died. Isaiah 63.9 speaks of Christ,
the same talking about with Moses, and it says, "...in all their
affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence
saved them. In His love and in His pity He
redeemed them, and He bared them, and He carried them all the days
of old." That's Isaiah 63.9. That's Christ. the angel of God's
presence. And those that really fear Him,
by God's grace, giving a heart reverence for Him, they fear
Him and they obey Him. We obey His voice through faith.
We obey His voice first and foremost by casting all our care on Him.
John says this is His commandment, this one commandment, that you
believe on Him whom He has sent. And love one another. Love your
brethren. And you can't have one without
the other. where he is given faith, he is given a new heart
and there will be love there. The love of God will be there.
So you are not saved by believing and loving. That is not how we
are saved. We are saved by Christ. And that obedience of faith is
you cast all your care on Him, trusting Him to be your righteousness. He is the righteousness of the
law for you. He justified us from all our sins. He's our full
redemption from the curse of the law, our redemption from
this world, our redemption from these bodies. Christ is all to
us. And He's the holiness within
that makes us have a pure heart and be able to believe Him and
trust Him. And He's the holiness who keeps us sanctified, the
sanctifier who keeps us sanctified from this world and looking only
to Him as our holiness. So we glory only in Him. And
those that really do obey His voice and believe on Him, the
angel of God's presence, Christ and all this heavenly host of
angels that He has, following Him, obeying Him, doing what
He will have them to do, Christ and that whole host of angels
are constantly encamped round about His people, delivering
us constantly, all the time. all the time. Zechariah 9.8 says,
God says, I will encamp about mine house because of the army,
because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth.
And no oppressor shall pass through them anymore, for now I have
seen with mine eyes. The Targum, you ever heard of
the Targum? It was an Aramaic interpretation of the Hebrew
Bible around first century AD. And the Targum, On that verse
in Zechariah, this is how the Targum said it. I like this.
It says, I will cause my glorious Shekinah to dwell in the house
of my sanctuary and the strength of the arm of my power shall
be as a wall of fire round about it. I pray God to give us hearts
to really understand this and enter into this. Christ and that
heavenly host of angels will protect and defend us like a
giant wall of fire all around us. No oppressor shall pass through
them anymore, God says. That means not the law, Christ
fulfilled it and honored it. Not justice, Christ is fully
satisfied justice. Not Satan, Christ has crossed
his head. Not false prophets, not governments
of this world, not wicked men and their heresies. None of that
shall stop God's church from gathering together and worshiping
Christ and following Christ and being kept by Christ from falling
out of faith. Nothing, nothing, no enemy, no
oppressor is going to stop God's people from being together Worshipping
Him and passing right through this wilderness. Nothing. Because
Christ and His angels are encamped about us. He says, for now I've
seen with my eyes. What did God see with His eyes
that would make Him protect His people so much? He's seen the
finished work of Christ. He's seen what Christ has accomplished
for His people. And He won't let any harm come
to them. He's encamped round about them
that fear Him, and He delivers them. There's a lot of illustrations
of this, but I want to show you one. 2 Kings 6. You know the
one I'm going to. 2 Kings 6. This is my favorite
illustration of it. Elisha and his servant, they're
going to Dothan and they're camped out and they wake up the next
morning and the servant comes out of the tent, he goes out
there and he's trying to see if there's any live coals still
left, he's trying to get them all, get a fire going and he
won't make a pot of coffee. And he looked up and there is
the enemy on horses all the way around them. And he scurried
and ran back to the tent. Look here at 2 Kings 6 verse
15. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, a host come past
the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said
unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? We're surrounded. And he answered, Fear not. for
they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Now I'm sitting here telling
you just what this man told him. I've been sitting here telling
you there's a host, Christ and a host of angels around us right
now. You reckon that man felt like
you kind of feel when I tell you that? Yeah, alright. And Elisha prayed and said, ìLord,
I pray Thee, open his eyes that he may see.î And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. The Lord was all around them.
They had more with them than the people had. Elisha prayed
and said, ìBlind these folks.î And the Lord blinded them. And
they sent them in another direction and delivered them. Christ entered
covenant to save all God's elect. Christ shed His blood for us
and prepared an inheritance for us. And Christ has been given
full power and authority as His reward of glory to protect us
and bring us all to the Father. And Christ is faithful to Him,
to God. And He's not going to let one
of His people perish. So He's encamped around about
us, brethren. He said, My sheep hear My voice. I know them. They
follow Me. and I give them eternal life, and no, they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. He
won't allow it. I'm going to finish it up. This
is the point. Now it comes to this most important
exhortation we'll ever hear. Now listen, this is where it's
coming to, verse 8. Psalm 34, verse 8. Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Now this is important. We come
here and we hear this gospel week in and week out. And most
everybody here, from the littlest to the oldest, most everybody
here knows something of the truth. We all know, you know that God
must regenerate and give life. You know that. You've heard that
preached. You know that no man can come
to Christ except the Father draw him. You've heard that preached
over and over. You know repentance and faith are gifts of God. You
know salvation from beginning to end is to the glory and praise
of God. You've heard that. You know that.
But He doesn't say there, blessed is the man that knows doctrine. That's not what He said. He says,
blessed is the man that actually trusts in Him. Happy is the man who actually
takes refuge in Christ. This is what He's teaching us.
It's not enough to know God gives light to those that walk in His
light. It's not enough to know that.
You must walk in it. It's not enough to know He gives
light to those that walk in His light. We must walk in His light. It's not enough to make the excuse,
well, I know God's sovereign and He's got to give me light
to make me want to pick this book up and read it. I can't
use God's sovereign power and that necessity as an excuse.
I need to pick the book up and read it myself. That's true of me, that's true
of you. I was talking to a man about seeking and calling and
supporting a preacher. And he said, well, I know God's
sovereign. If he's got a man that he's going to send, he's
chosen before the world was made and he's got him picked out and
he's going to send him when the time is right and he's going
to make a way and everything's going to be provided for him.
I said, you're exactly right. I said, you're going to have
to pick the phone up and call him and schedule an appointment and
then ask him to come be your pastor and then show up every
week and hear the gospel preached and reach way down in your bank
account and support him. Because what he was saying to
me was an excuse. It wasn't the truth to honor
the truth. It was using God's sovereignty
as an excuse for being lazy. That's what it was. And our Lord is teaching us here
brethren. It's not enough to know a system of doctrine or
enjoy hearing sermons or admire the preacher's ability to point
out Old Testament pictures of Christ and all that. I myself
must actually cast my care on Christ. I myself must commit
to Christ and His work of spreading the Gospel. I must commit to
His people. I must sacrifice to help them
and support the Gospel being preached. I must not be ashamed
myself to confess Christ before men. Blessed is the man who actually
trusts Him, who trusts Him. So let me end with this. To you
who have not yet confessed Christ, our Lord says, Oh, taste and
see that the Lord is good. The happy man is the man who
actually puts all his trust in the Lord. So taste, actually
taste. If you come in, poor little Chloe,
you know they won't let her eat anything. She can't eat anything. She wants to eat. I guarantee
you if you set this bread before her, she's going to taste and
see. And that's what He's saying.
It won't do you any good if this bread is before you and you see
the bread and you admire the bread and you talk about the
bread and you can tell what the bread looks like and how it's
made and what it looks and how the plate that's set on and all
that. You've got to eat the bread! You've got to eat Christ. You've
got to partake of His flesh and His blood. You've got to live
upon Him. And I must not be ashamed to
do so. Nobody is more worthy to be trusted than Christ. So
trust Him. And for you now who have just
been called to cast your care on Christ. Peter said, ìAs newborn
babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow
thereby, if so be youíve tasted the Lord as gracious.î Desire
it. That doesnít mean just be hungry
for it. That means live up on it. That means partake of Him,
drink it up and ask for seconds and keep doing it. And for us
who have been in the faith a little while, same thing. Don't ever
lose your desire to partake of Christ and continue partaking
of Christ just like a newborn baby. Longing for that pure Word
and partaking of the Lord Himself. Don't ever think it's alright
just to hear Don't always be truly, actually casting your
care on Him. That's His point in this whole
thing. Amen.