May I please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn to the book of Psalms,
Psalm 34, and we'll read verse three. The book of Psalms, Psalm
34, and reading verse three. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. and let us exalt his name together. This is a very grand and glorious
statement that David, under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
is able to make. And it's a very encouraging word
because he speaks to the Church of God And he speaks in a very
positive way and says, Oh, magnify the Lord with me, not without
David joins and let us exalt his name together. It's a great
blessing when the Church of God can join together in really desiring
to magnify the Lord and to exalt his name. It's a great blessing
if We have that desire in our hearts because it is a very positive
evidence that we are amongst those who have passed from death
to life, from darkness to light. The evidence that God has looked
upon us and has remembered us and favoured us. And so to come
in with this such a A desire like this is good and it must
bring honour and glory to God. And the Psalmist David, he gives
us really the reasons in this Psalm that we read together why
this should be so. And it's good therefore when
we follow God's Word and we trace it out and see the reasons that
we do have to join together and magnify the Lord. You know, to
magnify, to means really, to make it as great as we can, that
the Lord might be very great in our hearts, not just another
God, not like the Athenians who produced that statue for the
unknown God, but that we may come to a God that we believe
in, a God that we desire to worship, not a God which is just a figment
of our imagination. But a very real God, because
God is real. He's real in an enormous way,
a wonderful way. When we think of it, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, three in one. Something that you and I
naturally cannot understand. But it's good if God gives us
faith to believe the mystery of the Trinity. and to truly
rejoice in it. And so we have these words before
us tonight and the psalm starts with a very wonderful statement.
I will. He doesn't say I may. He says
I will bless the Lord at all times. At all times, that's a
statement you and I need to ponder, don't we? Surely it gives us
reason to magnify the Lord, because whatever the situation that you
and I find ourselves in, we should have reason to be able to bless
the Lord, thank Him for His mercy, thank Him for His favour and
bless Him. I wonder whether you and I can
say that from our heart or whether we grumble and groan and moan
because of this and that which happens to us. Well, we have
to recognize that we are still on this earth. We haven't been
cut off or doesn't cast us off as we deserve by nature. Again,
it's good, you know, when we ponder our position before God
and help us to examine ourselves. We are encouraged to do that.
to examine ourselves as to whether we are in the faith or not. Many people just make an assumption
that they're in the faith with no real evidence that they are. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit shows to us that by His grace, by His mercy, by His love,
we are amongst those who He has looked upon, those who He has
called, those who He's called by His grace, the Apostle Paul
speaks of that, that He was called by the grace of God. And every
true believer is called by the grace of God. We hear that Gospel
call into our hearts. We realise that it's the Lord
that's speaking to us. It's the Lord that's directing
us. The Lord that's alerting us to our lost condition. The Lord who's showing to us
the way of salvation. My friends, if this is so, you
and I have great cause to enter in to words like this, to bless
the Lord at all times. Yes, when perhaps things don't
seem to be going in the way we expected, don't seem to be going
in the way that we wanted. and yet to be able to submit
ourselves under the mighty hand of God, realizing that by His
grace, the Lord is taking us in hand. He's dealing with us
as sons and daughters of the Most High God. He's not cast
us off, but He's leading us. And as He led the children of
Israel, we're told in that beautiful verse in the 107th Psalm, He
led them forth, God led them forth by the right way that they
might go to a city of habitation. And if we're not led forth by
the right way, we will not go to the city of habitation. But
if we are led forth by the right way, if God is leading us, we
shall go to the city of habitation. We shall end up well and it shall
be good for us And we shall find ourselves in glory with the Saviour
forever and ever. So, as we have such words as
this, I will bless the Lord at all times. It's good, isn't it? How often do we bless the Lord? When you get up in the morning,
do you bless the Lord? Do you go about your work, or
whatever it may be, and do you bless the Lord? Do you go to
bed at night, and do you bless the Lord? It's very clear, isn't
it? I will bless the Lord at all
times. We may perhaps forget to bless
the Lord. We may have a big want list and
all we do is issue a want list to God. What a mercy if God gives
us that desire to bless his name. Because we should realise that
we're here tonight because of God's mercy because of God's
mercy I wonder if we really understand that Scribin the Holy Spirit
comes and touches our heart and shows us if we were left to ourselves
where we would be perhaps we think well I wish it was so because
I could then go and do this and enjoy myself doing that you will
find there's no satisfaction, no true happiness in things which
are outside of the will of God. What a mercy then if you and
I can trace in our hearts, in our lives, God's restraining
hand upon us. What it means is God's mercy
upon us. He hasn't left us to wander away. He may have done. And if He has,
what a great blessing. If He's brought us back. If He's
caused us to consider our way. Consider what we were doing. Consider whether we were pleasing
God. Whether we were pleasing ourselves. And if we actually analyse that,
and realised that, in all honesty, we were concentrating on pleasing
ourselves rather than pleasing God. To then see that, as the
hymn writer tells us, the appointed time rolled on apace, not to
propose, but call by grace. that surely should give us great
reason to enter in to the words in this first verse I will bless
the Lord at all times and the result of that result of that
blessing as he goes on to say his praise shall be continually
in my mouth as believers Is that true? His praise shall continually
be in my mouth." We're very backward, I think, very often, very backward
to praise God. And yet, we have great reason
to praise Him. We have great reason to thank
Him for His mercy, for His love, for His grace toward us. And
you see, He doesn't say, His praise shall continually be with
me on a Sunday. No, it's continually. That means day and night, doesn't
it? And it tells us this. His praise
shall continually be in my mouth. How often we moan and groan and
wish perhaps our life was a bit different. Well, if the Lord
has given us the gift of eternal life, it's something to continually
praise God for. And so what a mercy if you and
I can look into our hearts and observe the glorious change and
we're able to observe Once I was dead, but now I'm spiritually
alive. Once I never understood the way
of salvation. But now, by the grace of God,
the Lord has revealed it unto me. Yes, and what a favour then
to realise that once I was in darkness, And now the Lord has
opened my eyes to behold, as we've thought upon in the 119th
Psalm, wondrous things out of thy law. What a wonderful privilege
that is. And so he tells us, his praise
shall continue to be in my mouth. He's not saying it may be. He
says it is. At all times, his praise shall
continually be in my mouth. We need to very carefully read
the Word of God and very carefully examine it and to see whether
we come in to such statements. And if we don't, which we may
not, and again it's very relevant to be honest before God. Because
we cannot pretend to God what we're not. You see, we can pretend to people.
people don't know the heart and therefore they can look and perhaps
believe that we're a good and upright person but God looks
at the heart God discerns every thought and how humbling that
is and how important it is that you and I have some understanding
of it and then he goes on and tells us my soul shall make a
boast in the Lord. You know sometimes we do boast,
don't we? Of things that we've done and we've got to be very
careful that we don't boast and if we do thank God that we acknowledge
it's God's goodness and God's favour and not boast of our ability. Human nature boasts of our own
ability. Human nature is proud Human nature
wants self to be lifted up. The true believer wants God to
be lifted up. The true believer wants God to
receive the honour and glory. The true believer is very willing
to be humbled before Almighty God, that Christ may be lifted
up, that he may be all and in all. Well, says David, my soul
shall make her boast in the Lord. These words are very positive,
aren't they? And it's really good that you
and I have the word and recognize the truth of it. It's not something
which is negative. It's not something which is doubtful.
It's very positive. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. Well, you and I must examine
ourselves before God as to whether we have and whether we desire
to make our boast in the Lord. To acknowledge what he's done
for us. Acknowledge his direction. Acknowledge
that he hasn't dealt with us as our sins deserve. And that's
always a good position to be found in. To come before God,
recognizing we are sinners. Recognizing that we are great
sinners. Indeed, like the Apostle Paul,
the chief of sinners. You and I by nature don't want
to do that, do we? We want to try and think we're
not too bad. But when the Holy Spirit truly
works in our heart, We will be shown that we can't throw stones
at anyone. We will be shown that we are
bad and that we're really bad and that will make us rejoice
in God's mercy and that will make us boast in the Lord that
he's been gracious to us and hasn't dealt with us as our sins
deserve. And the humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. That really means the Church
of God will rejoice together. We rejoice to hear people boasting
of the Lord, what the Lord's done for them, not what they've
done, but what the Lord's done for them. What a mercy if you
and I can recall God's goodness and mercy to us, his leading,
his direction, his compassion upon us in not casting us off
as a waste of time. And so we come down then to this
third verse. Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together. It really means that the Church
of God join as one voice because we all have that common evidence
to be able to come and desire to. magnify our God, recognizing
he is so great. It's a good thing to muse and
consider these things and recognize how great God is, how almighty
he is, and to believe in his greatness and not doubt the greatness
of God. So many people today doubt the
greatness of God. What do they do? They detract
from His greatness. They don't desire to magnify
the Lord. They desire to bring Him alongside
us. But what a mercy when you and
I can magnify the Lord in our heart because of all that He's
done in our life, naturally, naturally. That's a good start,
isn't it? Think back in your life. What's
God done for you? How has He appeared for you?
How has He helped you? How has He guided you? How has
He delivered you? All reasons, aren't they? To
magnify the Lord and to recognize that this great God, He knows
all about me. all about me and what I'm doing
in that position, in that position, in that path, in that path, God
knows all about it. And that's why we have this great
and wonderful statement, magnify the Lord with me and let us exhort
his name together. And then you see the psalmist
goes on and he tells us this, And what a wonderful reason this
is to come and magnify and exalt his name. I sought the Lord. He says, have you and I sought
the Lord? That means that we prayed for
him to have mercy upon us. We prayed to him that he would
show us ourselves and prayed to him that he would show us
himself. I sought the Lord. And did he
turn away my prayer? David says, I sought the Lord
and he heard me. The Word of God tells us, the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. May our prayers be sincere. May they come from our heart.
May they truly come and I go with the desires of our heart
and the words we say. Let us not be left to mock God. Let's never ask for things that
we don't really want to happen. Let us come in this way. I sought the Lord and he heard
me. Now then, how do we know that?
We know that because we receive answers to our prayers. And again, as I said this morning,
they may not always be in the way that we want, but nonetheless,
to realize and appreciate that God has answered us. He's answered us. And this surely
should give us reason to magnify the Lord and exalt his name. because we've sought him and
he's heard us and delivered us, he says, David says again David
is of course speaking here in a personal way and you and I
must also speak in a personal way because real religion is
between our soul and God no one else is involved it's a personal
situation so he comes and tells us and delivered me from all
my fears. And we do have fears. We do have
fears. Perhaps we have fears that we've
sinned against God, we've sinned against light and knowledge,
that we've just gone too far. There's just no hope for us.
Well, there is hope, and I'll tell you why there's hope. Because
we read, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And
let's be clear on that. It's not just words. It comes
from our heart. And there is a big difference
between praying from the heart and praying from our head. What a mercy when God enables
us to truly come and confess our sins. We don't have to do
it in public. We do it to God. We do it in
private. God knows all about us. In one
sense, we don't have to tell Him. But He has told us we are
to come and confess our sins. If we can confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Wonderful, isn't
it? We don't deserve it. But there's
a promise. And because God is faithful,
His promise will be fulfilled and therefore He's able to come
and tell us and deliver me from all my fears. Whatever those
fears may be. We all have different fears,
don't we? Perhaps sometimes we may fear we've mistaken the way.
We may fear perhaps, like we read in the Pilgrim's Progress,
ignorance climbed up over the fence. It hadn't gone through
the wicked gate. It hadn't gone through the right
way. And sometimes we may fear that
we've climbed over the fence. We don't actually possess a real
religion. We've just borrowed it from other
people. Well my friends what a mercy
when the Holy Spirit delivers us from that fear maybe a very
real fear sometimes and delivers us to show to us no God in his
mercy and love has given us a personal experience an individual experience
you see the Lord deals with our souls in love in an individual
way We don't have to borrow anybody else's experience or testimony. It's a mercy when God comes and
touches our heart and reveals to us what we are and reveals
to us what he is. And we see the glory and the
wonder of mercy. And therefore we can realize
and deliver me from all my fears. It comes, follows if we sought
the Lord. If we're fearful, we are to seek
the Lord. We are to tell the Lord. We have
a God who knows about us. And it's a wonderful relief to
be able to come and to pour out our heart before our God. To pour out our heart before
God. There's many very encouraging Psalms that we have to instruct
us and direct us in that which we should do. David tells us
in the 61st Psalm, Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my cry, from
the end of the earth. That's an extreme situation,
isn't it? We may feel to be almost past
hope, but while you and I are on praying ground, we're still
on the ground of hope. from the end of the earth, when
I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. See, these are the great truths
that God's servant David, under the blessed influence of the
Spirit, was able to write down a personal testimony of what
he'd passed through. And you and I have a personal
testimony to be able to tell, to testify of what God has done. If we've been just like David,
and it is often very wonderful that the Lord in his love records
such details for our encouragement. As he says, from the end of the
earth, when I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. What does it do? It brings
us to Christ. Brings us to that solid rock. What a place of strength and
what a place of support and what a place of refuge that is. And so we're told, I saw the
Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. And again,
these are very blessed words and it gives us real reason to
come in with him and so magnify the Lord with me. I've got reason
to magnify God as the great almighty ruler of the universe, the king
of kings and lord of lords and to exalt his name. together,
to join together. You know, we fail, don't we,
so often in recognising the blessed unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace. We're so backward in desiring
and to honour our God. And yet, when you think what
God has done for such unworthy sinners, if he's caused us as
I've said this morning, to consider our way. It's all of his grace. It's not something that we generated
ourselves. It's through the grace of God. And it's all of his love and
all of his mercy and all of his grace. Surely we have great reason
to come and to magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his
name together. He comes and he says, then they
looked unto him and were lightened. And their faces were not ashamed. The next verse really goes along
with it as well. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. What a mercy
if God directs us to look to Jesus. who is the refuge for sinners. The gospel makes known, is found
in the merits of Jesus alone. Yes, wonderful truth. Wonderful
favour to be found in our time of need, looking unto him. They looked unto him and were
lightened. The light shines. the glorious
light of the Gospel into our dark heart. What a blessing it
is when that light shines. What a difference it makes. Yes,
there we were with our head bowed down because of our sin, because
of the evil, and yet to see what there is in the Saviour. that
one who's paid the price to take away our sin. They looked unto
him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. And what a blessing it is if
God is not ashamed of us. What a mercy that we have such
a savior who is not ashamed. And he tells us, this poor man
cried And the Lord heard him. Well, if you and I have been
under the blessed influence or are under the blessed influence
of the work of the Holy Spirit, you know, we will feed ourselves
to be a poor man in spiritual things. We haven't got a great
deal to be able to testify. We feel very poor. And yet, you
see, The truth is, as David tells us, this poor man, referring
to himself, and therefore you and I can stand here and say,
this poor man cried. That means prayed. As I've said sometimes, a cry
is really almost an involuntary action. It's like a little baby. They can't speak, but they can
cry. And when they cry their parents'
attention, it is attracted. And what a mercy, therefore,
you and I come and cry to God. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him. Is that not reason to magnify
the Lord? Is that not reason to exalt his
name? He looked upon us. He didn't
cast us off. We cried to him. And He heard
us and saved him. Saved us, saved him out of all
his troubles. You see, it's a wonderful mercy.
We see the greatness of our God. Again, so much reason is there
to magnify the Lord and to exalt His name. My friends, may we
take these beautiful verses to heart and realize that relevance
they are to us today. They weren't written just for
Davies' generation. They were written for the Church
of God through all generations. They're written for us today,
that we truly may go on our way rejoicing. And then he says,
the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him
and delivereth them. to think that there is angels
around us watching over us guiding us and directing us delivering
us from many difficult scenes I wonder perhaps you can go back
in your life and see times when God came and delivered you from
a time perhaps of great temptation The Lord knows how to deliver
the godly. The Lord comes in a way that
perhaps you and I could not have anticipated. Oh, what a mercy
it is to know that he comes and does deliver. And you and I can
perhaps trace occasions like that when God has come and delivered
us. He's been round about us. and
He's been merciful to us. And is that not reason? Truly
to come and to magnify His name and say, it is the Lord, it was
the Lord. Yes, by the grace of God, I am
what I am. How true that word is. You and
I have no ability ourselves, but God gives grace, and what
a wonderful thing it is. And then he comes and tells us,
oh, taste and see. The Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. Well, if the Lord enables us
to taste of his goodness, and that goodness really is, I believe,
in this way. when the Holy Spirit leads us
to Calvary. And we see there the suffering,
Son of God, suffering in our place, bearing the punishment
instead. Oh, what a gracious God. What
a merciful God. And he encourages us here, oh,
taste and see. The Lord is good. That's a wonderful
encouragement to come to our God. Yes, freely ye have received,
not because of any virtue in ourselves, but because of what
the great and glorious God has done on our behalf. Oh, taste and see how blessed
is such a taste. to taste of heavenly joys. It's not something which is of
the earth, which just fades away and perhaps is not pleasant at
all and we have to spit it out. This is the grace of God. This is the favor of God. This
is what touches our heart. This is what puts a new song
in our heart. Even praise unto our God. Oh,
taste and see. The Lord is good. Blessed is
the man that trusteth in him. Well, again, what a mercy when
God gives us grace to trust in him. And as we read just now,
trust in him at all times, at all times. What reason we have
then to magnify the Lord. The Lord gives us in our hearts
That desire, that ability to trust in Him. It's not something
that you and I can produce ourselves. We have to come down and concur
with regard to these things that it is all of grace. It is all of His free unmerited
favour. It is all because of His amazing
love to unworthy sinners. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. O fear the Lord, ye saints, for
there is no want to them that fear him, no true spiritual want. The Lord does provide. He does
provide. mercy than if we have faith to
believe. God gives faith to believe and
how humbling it is when God does that for us. Faith to come to
him in prayer, faith to pray, faith to believe that he does
hear, faith to believe that he will answer. and faith to receive
what he does for us, realising and believing it is for our good. What a mercy then, as David goes
on to tell us, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger gives
us an illustration here one that can we can appreciate the young
lions they lack and suffer hunger and then he uses a wonderful
statement but as i often say there's so many wonderful buts
in the word of god and this is one here but but they that seek
the lord shall not want any good thing it doesn't they shall not
want anything it says they shall not want to them any good thing. And what a mercy that is. The
Lord shall not want any good thing. No, my friends, the Lord
provides all that you and I need. What a mercy that is. Just you
think of that. You and I travel on through life. Those of us
who are older can look back and can agree and concur and to praise
God that we've never really lacked anything. No good thing the Lord
has provided. Wonderful, isn't it? And don't
forget. We have a God who doesn't change.
God doesn't suddenly reverse his word. No, that which he has
spoken is true and that which he speaks comes to pass and therefore
be encouraged and be strengthened and truly desire to go along
with David. And hear this gracious and wonderful
exhortation. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. And let us exhort his name together. That means to not ignore it,
but to join together in union. It's a wonderful blessing, isn't
it? To praise God. It's a wonderful
blessing to exalt his name. The devil doesn't want you and
me to do that. He wants us to not say a word. And he's pretty
successful. He's a past master at shutting
mouths. He gives all reasons why we should
not speak, why we should not exalt his name. But they're all
of no real consequence and no real value. We should follow
the blessed word of God. The blessed words that David
was moved to write, they emanated clearly from his heart. And what
a mercy they emanate from our heart. We don't just do them
grudgingly. The true believer does it willingly
and does it joyfully. O magnify the Lord with me, and
let us exalt His name together. Well, we can go on, there's quite
a lot in this chapter, we won't go through it all, but perhaps
just come to the very last verse, the 22nd verse in this 34th chapter,
where we're told, The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants And
none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. You and I
could not really think of a greater blessing than that the Lord should
redeem us. That means he pays the price. He has paid the price to take
away our sins. And to realize therefore, by
the grace of God, We are redeemed. I love the words of Peter, redeemed
with a precious blood of Christ. What a mercy. What a favour. Unbelievable, isn't it? Wretches
of the earth, sinners indeed. Surely this is great reason to
magnify the Lord. Magnify the Lord with me and
let us exhort his name together. The Lord redeemeth the soul of
his servants. And then he concludes with these
words, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. What that really means is the
Lord doesn't let anyone down. No, he doesn't let anyone down.
As he hears our cries, he hears our groanings, he hears our prayers. they don't go they don't pass
him by the Lord knows and therefore we are told that none of them
that trust in him shall be desolate we may sometimes feel desolate
we may sometimes feel forsaken we may sometimes feel alone but
remember the great truth of God and none of them that trust in
him shall be desolate if you and I trust in God It's not because
we've the ability, it's because God has given us grace and poured
forth his love and mercy into our hearts that we're able to
believe and trust in him at all times and commit all our way
unto our God. And so this evening, I trust
we have reason to ponder these words and to realize the relevance
and the importance of them to the whole Church of God, that
none are excluded, but we may come together joyfully and truly
enter in to what we read here. Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together. Amen.