David spent a lot of time in
a cave, didn't he? He said, my soul's in prison. You know where
I was gonna preach from? Old brother Matthew Henry said
that. He said, unbelief's its own punishment.
You know that? When we don't believe the Lord,
when we don't look to him, we don't cast all our care on him, it's
its own punishment. It's its own weight. Let's turn
over to Psalm 34. We're going to look at some parts
of this psalm. We're going to turn to see it
and other parts of scripture, so we're going to turn a good
bit. I don't want to be brief on it, but just leave a marker
here in Psalm 34, and we'll go back and forth to it a lot. I
know two of you did. Do you all get my emails when
I send messages out? That one of my brother Cunningham's,
it was 14 minutes long. That was outstanding. Wonderful. That was wonderful.
And so I don't have any fear about going 14 minutes. And anytime
I say that, it's probably gonna go a lot longer. I'll try to
be brief. Just leave a mark here in Psalm
34. This is a poor man's song. A poor man's song, isn't it? A song for poor folks. They'll
say the working man blues, but it ain't. It's gonna be the working
man's joy. And the Lord saves all kinds of people. Cave dwellers,
wasn't it? What did Isaac do? Him and Jacob
both, well diggers. The Lord saves truck drivers
and all kinds of different folks, don't he? Harlots. Rulers of the synagogue. Ain't
nobody outside of his reach, is there? All of those have the
same thing in common. They're poor. This is a poor
man's song. Old Brother Hawker wrote, the
poor man's commentary. And that wasn't commentary for
those of the lesser mind. It wasn't those that, well, you
couldn't have enough money to buy it all at once, so you got
it in installments, just a little bit at a time. Though that's
handy, right? No, that's for those that's poor
in spirit. Just a small portion. A little
bit of humming, a little bit of a song for those that are
sinners. This is a poor man song for somebody that's sinners.
If you've got half your cup cleaned up, I ain't got nothing for you.
But if you're destitute, impoverished, this is good. This is good. Let's read these first five verses.
Psalm 34. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth all the time. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad." Those that hear him making the boast in the Lord
are happy. Remember what I wrote that last week? It's comely to
praise the Lord. And what horrible thing happened
to you this week? Nothing. God did it. That's beautiful. That's comely. And the Lord's
people hear David saying, my soul makes its boast in the Lord.
And the humble hear that. God's people, they're glad. That
makes me happy to hear people say that. God's taught them that.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me. There's a gathering together
in there. Sheep like sheep. Poor folks congregate with poor
folks, don't they? Magnify the Lord with me and
let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him
and they were lightened. Everyone that looks to him, the
burden's lifted. That weight's taken off. And their faces were not ashamed.
They're not sad faces. What's an unashamed face? There's
a grin. That frown's turned upside down. That's wonderful. Why did David write that? What
happened? What's the history of this psalm?
What was happening? Well, he just went into Abimelech. Not
THE Abimelech, not KING Abimelech. Abimelech was the king of the
Philistines. And he acted like a crazy man.
He was holding Goliath's sword. There was a time David stood
up and said, ain't there a cause? What's wrong with you all? That's
just one army. If you won't go with me, God
will be with me, and I'll take them on by myself. He said, you all
worry about some uncircumcised Philistine. What's wrong with
you? Went and slew him, didn't he? Took on a whole army. Now
he's holding Goliath's sword, and he acts like he's a crazy
man. Let spit run down his beard, because he is scared. He's older. He ought to know better, doesn't
he? Jacob was older, too. Jacob's 100 years old, what we
was looking at this morning. He ought to know better. We got a long way to go, don't
we? David had done that, and that king said, why'd you bring
him to me? I thought this was the great
King David. This man's crazy. Get him out of here. I don't
want to fool with him. People think I'm picking on somebody
with disabilities. Make him go away. And so David
ran as soon as he was free, and he went and hid in a cave. And
he wrote these first five verses. Now something happened between
him acting like a fool and fearing man and him fearing God and praising
God. What happened? God did something
in him. God worked in him. God made him
poor and needy. He tells us here in the next
few verses, verses six through 10. That's what I want us to
look at. Verse six, this poor man cried and the Lord heard
him and saved him out of all his troubles. What got you in
trouble? The Lord sent it, right? But
what gets me in more trouble than anything else? Me. What brings all the pain on this
fella? This fella. It's by my doing. He allowed
it to happen. It's for his, he willed it to his glory. I know
that. But I did it. I'm the doer of
it, ain't I? This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of
the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth
him. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the
man that trusteth in him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints,
for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions
do lack and suffer hunger. that they that seek the Lord
shall not want any good thing. This was a poor man. This was
a poor man that cried out to God, and God heard him, and God
blessed him, and he saw what he was and who God was, and he
rejoiced in him. He'd experienced this. This wasn't a $400 class at a
seminary he took for six weeks. Do you understand that? God came
to him and taught him something. And this is good. That's shameful. Everything he did was shameful,
wasn't it? It is. And there's times I'm so strong,
I want to take on armies. I don't care. I'll stare at them
wolves. I'll grab that bear by the beard
and slap it silly. Give me five minutes. Give me
five minutes. I'm going to cower. Barber's gonna ask me what I
do for a living. I'll say I'm an independent contractor. I'll
hunker like a little child. I'm thankful the Lord records
these things so we're not in despair and we're not destitute
spiritually, aren't you? Aren't you glad? What's this
man's lineage? What stock did this fella come
from? This man David. He was poor. He says, this, verse
six, this poor man, this poor man, am I poor? We pay more in taxes in this
country than most people make around this world in a year,
don't we? So I'm not talking about financially.
I'm not talking about those things. Are we poor and needy? Are you
poor? Am I poor? What's poor? What's poor? There in Job 1,
21, it said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked
shall I return thither. That's pretty poor. What do you
own? Nothing. Nothing. I came into this world with nothing.
What are you taking with you when you leave? Nothing. Physically,
right? Tangibly. How did we come into
this world? Sinners. Apart from Christ, outside
of him, we came from the womb speaking lies. We were conceived
in sin, weren't we? And the Lord's got to convict
us through his Holy Ghost come to us, that comforter comes and
convicts us and convinces us of sin, of our poverty. Poverty. You know the difference between
a plus sign and a minus sign? What's in your account outside
of Christ? Is there a negative there? Are you in debt? Are you in sin debt? Naked came out of my mother's
womb, naked I'll return thither. Job went on, he said the Lord
gave. And he's taking away, blessed
be the name of the Lord. What'd he have? This fella came
in naked, went out naked. He knew who God was. He knew
all this physical stuff. It comes and goes as it pleases
the Lord. But I know Him, and it's His doing, and I'm gonna
bless Him. I'm poor and needy, isn't I? Isn't that what our
Lord said there in Matthew 5? Blessed are the poor in spirit.
I'm strong-spirited. I'm strong-willed. Yeah, you're
gonna get broke. Better be poor. Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. How? How
could you take somebody that's poor and destitute and naked? You ain't got your own covering.
You get that? You ain't got your own covering. How can you have
the kingdom? You got the keys to the kingdom.
How's that? Turn over to Psalm 130. Leave
your marker there in Psalm 34. Psalm 130. Psalm 130, verse three. David writes, of thou, if, I'm
sorry, if, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities. If you're gonna
take a count, if you're gonna take a tally, you're gonna go
impute sin, you're gonna take a roll call and see how much
sins there, if you're gonna mark them, the sin debt, the iniquity,
the inequity, Oh Lord, who shall stand? Who's going to stand with
a minus sign in their sin account? You get that? Nobody. It can't be in His presence.
It can't be. What are we going to do? That's
poor, isn't it? What are we going to do? Verse 4, but there's forgiveness
with thee. Not with me. Did you choose to
be forgiven? What fool wouldn't? What fool wouldn't? No, that
forgiveness is with you. Why? That thou mayest be feared. I'm poor and destitute, and any
blessing for those that are poor in spirit, that's all with you,
Lord. Oh, now we're doing something,
isn't it? Now the Lord's teaching us some wisdom, isn't it? That's a beginning of wisdom
right there. that thou mayest be feared. What's a poor man's
beginnings? What's his stock he was born
from? Poverty. Poverty. That's a precious thing for us
to be absolutely helpless and hopeless. God has to put us there.
Not we're kind of bad. Not I picked the right doctrine.
I mean poor, naked, uncovered. God has to make us that way.
He makes something out of nothing, and until he makes you nothing,
he ain't gonna make something out of you. It has to happen. So what's that fella do? This
poor man. Back in our text in Psalm 34, verse 6. This poor
man, you poor, cried. He cried. He cried out to God. He prayed, didn't he? That's
what prayer is. It's a cry. It's a cry. It's
not saying prayers. We don't say prayers. That's
repetitious superstition. That's overly religious, is what
that is. Hogwash. If the Lord gives prayer, it's
a cry. We either cry thanking him. Thank you, Lord. Our Lord
cried out, didn't he? We either cry thanking him. This
is wonderful. Or we cry, help, save, Lord. Save. We're poor. We cry. Turn over to Acts 9. Leave a
marker there in Psalm 34, Acts 9. Acts 9, verse 8. The Lord had
came to Saul of Tarsus, and he said, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? Teaching him something, wouldn't he? Or didn't he use the wrong
words? He said, I'm Jesus. They'll persecute. It's hard for the kids to kick
against the pricks, isn't it, Saul? How's that working out
for you? He met God, didn't he? It says
in verse 8, the Lord came to Saul and blinded him. Acts 9,
verse 8, and Saul rose from the earth, and when his eyes were
opened, he saw no man. But they led him by the hand
and brought him into Damascus. And he was there three days without
sight, and neither did he eat nor drink. He was without sight
for perfection. You get that? He was perfectly
blind. He was perfectly poor. He didn't eat nothing or drink
nothing. Everybody's just fasting to see God. The fast that the
Lord approves on, he sins. Eat this. I can't. I can't eat
nothing. You ever been that way? You ever
been where you just couldn't eat? You're so miserable and so poor and so destitute
and crying out to God you can't eat food. You just can't. You
chew it all day long and can't swallow it. That's a fast God
gives. He's dealing with his child. He's teaching us something,
isn't he? Saul couldn't eat. Verse 10, and there were certain
disciples at Damascus, a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias. And he said, behold, I'm here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise
and go into the street which is called straight to inquire
at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold,
he prayeth. He's crying out to me. And he
hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming to him and putting
his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. There's a
blind fellow down there, poor, can't do nothing. And he's cried
out to me, now go to him. Go to him. And Ananias answered,
Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done
to the saints of Jerusalem. I'll go. But he took his burden
to the Lord. This burden's a hymn. That's
when you call him brother. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call on his name. He goes,
how do I know? He's just not just in there like a chameleon.
And he's just saying the words that he's heard other believers
say. That's how we learn things too, isn't it? Them children's
going to grow up saying what we say. My children's going to
grow up speaking the way I speak. Y'all speak English, don't you?
Because you heard English in the home, right? Well, you're
going to go up and you're going to talk to God, and you're going
to thank God how I talk about him, how I think about him. You
get that? We ought to mind our words, huh?
I ought to be, how many words I can take back? But Ananias
said, are you sure? Maybe he's just saying this out
loud. But the Lord saith unto him, go thy way, for he's a chosen
vessel unto me. He's mine, Ananias. Is that a
good enough word for you? To bear my name before the Gentiles
and kings and the children of Israel. There's nobody gonna
go without hearing Paul. For I will show him how great
things he must suffer for my name's sake. And I said, experience
this. And he said, he's starting crying
out. And the Lord said, I'm gonna keep him crying out. I'm gonna
make him suffer for me. Trials and tribulations, you
know what we looked at last time? Even in this world, trouble's coming.
health, wealth, and prosperity. You may have a big bank account,
but you're gonna have a poor soul, and those won't keep us
that way. Needing of him, ain't we? This poor man was crying
out, wasn't he? Poor Saul's in there crying,
praying. David was poor. Are we poor?
Do we cry out? I mean cry, snot's involved.
Tears are involved. With groanings. You ever prayed, A good place to be. A good place
to be. They alone. Who's this poor man's
friend? Back here in Psalm 34. Verse
six. This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard. The Lord heard him. You ever
felt alone? You are. You ever felt alone? You are. Mankind ain't for you. Religion
ain't there with you. Friends ain't there for you.
Ain't nobody there for you. You're alone. And the Lord has
to get us alone. To the only one that can hear
is Him. That's a good place to be. Gonna
make us poor. Gonna make us cry. And the Lord heard him. He heard
him. Turn to Mark 10. Mark 10. There's a lot of saints of old
that didn't have friends, and I thought a blind Bartimaeus.
He didn't have any friends, you know that? There may have been
somebody he ate lunch with sometimes. They'd go get some hot dogs together
or something, but he didn't have no real friends. I can prove it.
Watch here. Mark 10, verse 46. Mark 10, 46. And they came to
Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples and a great multitude, a great number of
people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway
side begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out. He knew he was poor. He's begging, wasn't he? What
do poor folks do? Beg? He was begging. And he heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, this is him. He began to
cry out and say, Jesus, now son of David, have mercy on me. Mercy. He's a mercy beggar, isn't he?
Did somebody come and just hug him and say, boy, this is good.
This is wonderful. He come to save sinners. He's
going to eat with them and sit with them. You know what that
means when it says he eats with them? He eats after them. I know
some germaphobes. He'll pick up a sandwich after
you took a bite of it and take a bite of it. Oh, goodness. That's something. Did somebody
come to him and say, Bart Massey, this is fabulous. He's the one
that can. He can do anything. He wills. And boy, you'll cry
it out to the right person. Now, look at verse 48. And many
charged him that he should hold his peace. That's not a friend. You hear me? Let me say it plainer. That's not a friend. It's never
good advice to have someone look to anything other than Christ.
You understand that? And it's never good advice to
tell somebody to hold their cries unto the holy God that delights
to show mercy. I wanna encourage all, take your
burden to the Lord. I ain't a priest, I ain't a go-between,
nothing. I'm a fella that just comes,
sounds the trumpet of a voice and says, go to him right now
and go often. Every breath you have, go to
Him. Cry out to Him. Don't look to
nothing, don't look to this world. That's loving somebody, you understand
that? There'll come a day I'll be told that I don't love enough.
Loving's standing up telling you the truth. Telling you all
flesh is grass, behold your God. Run to Him. That's a good thing,
isn't it? Many charged him that he should
hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal. That's a cry God gives. You don't
care what people think. Well, I can't do that. What would
people think? That's what Laban's boys were saying in the first
hour, wasn't it, daddy? Look at all these sheep he's got.
He's your servant. We can't go around town. How am I going to
go to the drive-in movie theater with Jacob trotting around here
with all his sheep? What are people going to think
about me? God works for somebody that don't care. They don't care. You know them oxen, they say,
well, we'll have to go get them oxen. You know what happened to Elijah?
Elijah rode by and saw him plowing with 12 teams of oxen. That's
24 oxen. Can you do that? No. That's hard
work. I can't even imagine that. And he threw his mantle on him.
And he said, can I go tell my mommy and daddy goodbye? And
he said, yeah, go ahead. And he went and killed them ox. Slew
them. They fed everybody and then he
went and followed Elijah. They'll put them things away,
won't they? But he cried the more a great deal. Thou son of
David have mercy on me. If somebody's begging mercy,
they ain't gonna stop. Because they're needy. It's a
must. It's not a wanty. They're needy.
There's a difference, isn't it? They ain't gonna quit. They don't
care who's in the way. They need him. There's one thing needful
and they're gonna cry to him that's needful. And Jesus stood
still. If that don't shake you to your
core, nothing will cause you dead. A worthless blind sinner
sat on the side of a road begging, screamed, Thou son of David,
have mercy on me, and almighty God stopped walking. Who we dealing with? He's majesty,
isn't he? Majestic. And Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be called, come. And they called the blind
man and said unto him, be of good comfort, rise. He called
him. You bandwagon jumping. You just told him to shut up.
Oh, good job, buddy. Come on. Oh, hush. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
I want to see you face to face. I'm blind right now and seeing
my Lord face to face. They'll come today. That's why
I was thinking of Priscilla and Aquila. Sitting down with Paul. They
was down there mending tents. You reckon they made fun of Paul for mending
tents? I doubt it. They was probably talking, they said, you was out
in Arabia for three years with the Lord. What's he sound like? What
color are his eyes? Did he smile a lot? What's his
laugh sound like? Oh, I can't wait to see him.
Can't wait to see him. He said, I may receive my sight.
I will look you in the eye. I don't see your face. And Jesus
said unto him, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately he received his sight. And he followed Jesus
in the way. I ain't going nowhere. I'm going
to go where you go. And poor man, that cried from
the heart, the Lord heard him and blessed him. And here's the
blessing. Psalm 34 verse six, the poor man cried and Lord heard
him and saved him out of all his troubles. All his troubles. He will, the Lord will, in time,
as he sees fit, when it's appropriate, sooner or later, save us from
all of our troubles. A-double-L-all. Complete and
total. You understand that? That's gonna
happen. This poor man has a heritage of trouble and his prayer to
the Lord because the Lord's his friend and he heard him and in
perfect time the Lord delivers him from all his troubles. Our
infirmities and our ailments and our sorrows in this world,
they may be quickly eased. It may please the Lord to glorify
His name, to lift infirmities off of us real fast. And it may
please Him to make them stay a long time. Paul said, three
times I've cried out, imperfection, I've cried, Lord, take this from
me. And they said, no, you'll be all right. You will see my
grace in this. You'll be fine. I'm with you.
You'll be all right. But that final trouble, we'll have it,
we'll have troubles our whole life, but that final trouble
will pass away when this body gives up the ghost. Just like
Rachel, that final grave cloth, not grave clothes, that final
piece of grave clothes, grave cloth, it's gonna fall off when
this body goes in the grave. You get that? That's what'll
happen. What's this poor man's legacy?
He's a beggar. That's what he was, wasn't he? What's coming?
What's coming down the pipe for him? Verse seven. The angel of
the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth
them. This man, when the Lord heard
him, blessed him, delivered him from his trouble. Have you heard
any bad news since you heard the good news? Really? I got some bad news. No, I got
some good news, don't you? When the Lord hears us and blesses
us and relieves us of our earthly troubles because we're looking
to Christ who solved everything, there's no more condemnation
for us. That angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that
fear him. We honor him now for his glory. And the angels surround
us. That's what David wrote. This
is in the plural. We'll look at that. This is true.
David said in Psalm 91, for he shall give his angels charge
over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. And they shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against the
stone. You ain't going to stub a pinky toe unless it pleases
the Lord. Let it happen. A dog can't wag
its tongue against you. It's impossible. You're his. You're bought with a price. You're
not your own. You're his possession, his purchase
possession. And that cost was very high. Unmeasurable. The blood of Christ,
wasn't it? Turn over to 2 Kings 6. I can't
remember if we looked at this recently or not, but it won't
hurt us to look at it again. It won't do us harm. 2 Kings
6. 2 Kings 6 verse 14. There's a war
going on and some folks are surrounded and they're getting nervous about
it. 2 Kings 6 verse 14 says, Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed
the city about. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early, And going forth, behold, and host compassed
the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said
unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? We're sheep. We are completely surrounded
by wolves. You get that? Literally, there's
horses and chariots, 360 degrees around this city. How shall we
do? Losh ask Elijah, what are we
doing, man? Just pick a direction and start
running. It's the same no matter where we go. We're in trouble.
Trouble, isn't it? Verse 16, and he answered, fear
not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with
them. You worried about them fellas? There's more here with
us than there is with them. It's me and you. I don't know
how you did in school and math, but we're in trouble. He's poor,
wasn't he? Poor. He was brought to see he
was nothing and incapable of anything. He was told, fear not. Verse 17, and Elisha prayed and
said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. 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 around about
Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the
Lord. He said, smite this people, I
pray thee, with blindness. You see, there's, I mean, the
host, the heavenly host all around us is a multitude above these. I'll go a step further. He said,
smite them with blindness. And he smote them with a blindness
according to the word of Elisha. The Lord blinded everybody. You
reckon that servant felt a little surrounded by the angel of the
Lord at that point? He experiences, didn't he? These
are all plural. That's what David talked about
in Psalm 91, and here, what Elisha commanded the servant to see.
But it says there in our text, the angel of the Lord. That's
singular, isn't it? What hedges you about? What keeps
you and protects you? Christ does. He's our shield,
our defender. He's our buckler. He's our alligator
hide, our covering, our atonement. Our robe of righteousness. He's
what encampeth round about them that fear him. It's a person. And he delivereth them. That's
what the text says. It says in our text there in verse 8, Psalm
34, 8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Taste and see. Blessed is the
man that trusteth in him. Here's a commandment. You see
all this? Have you experienced this? You've been poor, and you
cried out, and he heard you, and he blessed you, and he took you from your
troubles. You praised him. Taste and see that he's good.
Has his angel surrounded you? I said that last week from that
old writer. We believe in a sovereign God
that rules and reigns, does all things good, because he can't
do nothing but good. He is, that's what he is, is his character,
isn't it? And we go around, does our neighbors and friends and
co-workers and all that think that we believe in a God that
does nothing but good? Or do they think that we believe in
a God that does nothing but evil? Because of our murmuring. David
says, you've experienced this, you see this, you know it, now
taste and see. You've seen this. Taste it. Enter into it. Experience it. Know by experience. Taste and see that the Lord's
good. Blessed is the man that trusteth Him. You're going to
see He's good. You're going to trust Him to
do good. Shout out to the judge of heaven and earth, do right.
Ain't that so? It's right. It's right. All my
children, I got 10 children, all of them got killed in one
go. I had a bunch of cattle, all of them got took in one go. I had a bunch
of camels, all of them got took in one go. Everything I had,
all my maidservants and manservants got killed. What'd Jacob say? Oh, man, I
can't believe this happened. I got insurance. No. He said,
bless me, God. He gave, he takes away that man.
He did this. I trust him. If he's gonna kill
me, that's all right. Strike on, Lord. Turn over to
John 21. David encourages us to taste
and see. Taste and see. And I thought
it's just fabulous. John 21. Again, verse two. John 21 to their work together,
Simon, Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Canaan,
Galilee and the sons of Zebedee. James and John, wasn't it? And
two other of his disciples. There's a group of them. I didn't
know what they was going to do. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go fishing.
I'm done with this. I'm going back fishing. That's a poor way to be. I've
experienced it. I give up. I'm just going to
go fishing. I'm going to go back to what I know to do. And they
say unto him, does sin, does a rotten or a good apple make
a bunch of rotten apples good? No. Doubt's catching like wildfire,
ain't it? Fear catches like wildfire, don't
it? Looking to the world produces more looking to the world. Sin
begets sin, don't it? Simon Peter said to them, I go
fishing, and they say unto him, we also go with thee. Them sons
of thunder said, where's the boat? Let's go. They went forth
and entered to a ship immediately. And that night, they caught nothing.
But when the morning was now come, the day star come, the
sun arose. Jesus stood on the shore, but
the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to
them, children, have you any meat? And they answered him,
no. You haven't caught any fish? Uh-uh. And he said unto them,
cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. Some strangers on the seashore
called out to a bunch of commercial fishermen, telling them where
and how to fish. Did they fight it? Just did it, didn't they? They were helpless. They're hopeless.
They're poor. They ain't got no meat. Try anything. And they cast, therefore, and
now they were not able to draw it in for the multitude of fishes.
It's busting at the seams. Therefore, that disciple whom
Jesus loved saith unto Peter, John told Peter, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Now, when Simon
Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto
him, for he was naked, and he did cast himself into the sea.
He straightway left the boat, walked off the side of it, left
everything he owned, his livelihood, to go to where God was. Straightway. Why do you reckon he went so
fast? You think he's trying to beat them other ones there to
explain that mutiny he had just been ahead of? Lord, I'm sorry.
Now, they was following me, and I shouldn't have said it. run to the Lord, didn't they?
Verse 8, and the other disciples came in a little ship, for they
were not far from land, but as it were about 200 cubic, there's
a hundred yards offshore, dragging the nets with fishes. And as
soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there. That is a fire. Who built that
fire? The Lord built the fire. Do you think he had to try twice?
He built a perfect fire, didn't he? And fish laid there on. Who
baked the fish? Christ cooked the fish on it,
didn't he? And bread. Who made them biscuits? What do you reckon that tasted
like? Do you think you'd have to reach over for the salt? Did
you have to get some paprika to put on it? Some seasoning?
Put a little hot sauce on it? Could you imagine? Jesus said
to them, bring the fish which you've caught, now caught. Simon
Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes,
big ones, 153 of them. And there were so many, yet the
net was not broken. And Jesus said to them, come
and dine, everything he's prepared. And the disciples durst ask him,
who art thou? Knowing that it was the Lord,
I ain't gonna dare ask him, I know that's him. There wasn't a doubt,
was there? They knew it was Him. Jesus then
cometh and taketh bread and giveth to them, and a fish likewise.
He came and served them. He handed the bread to them.
He handed that meat to them. This is now the third time that
Jesus showed Himself to the disciples after He was risen from the dead.
In perfection, He served them. You've got a taste. You've got
to eat. Where are you going to get it from? He's going to bring
it to you. That feast will go unknown. It will go unrealized
and it will go unexperienced unless we take and eat." And
I said, this is my body broker for you. That's what we're about
to do. He said, take and eat. Take and eat. He's provided everything.
He's going to hand it to you on my own. Consume it. Eat it. Unless we see it for
ourselves and we taste of ourselves, it goes unnoticed. It's just
a fact somewhere. It's just a letter somewhere,
isn't it? Taste. Oh, taste and see that the Lord's
good. He's good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. What happens when you taste and
you see he's good? He's worthy to be trusted. What he says is
right. I can trust that. I have personal
advice on things in this world. I've lived all over the place.
I've done a whole bunch of stuff. I can tell you I do a lot of
things. I can tell you I work on ice machines. And that may be right. It may
be wrong. It may be good advice. It may be bad advice. But if
he says it, I'll never be scared to tell somebody. That's what
the Lord said. He's right. He's right. He's
worthy to be trusted. Once you've been made poor, You
have to be shown that you're poor. Once you've been made to
cry out, He has to make it. God hears you, and He blesses
you, and He saves you, and He sets His angels, plural, and
angels, singular, round about you. And you've experienced that. I didn't read in the book, I've
lived it. You trust Him more and more, and you're grown in
grace. Your growth's not subdued. It's upward, isn't it? You don't
shrink. You grow, don't you? Verse nine, back in our text.
We honor him. We honor him. Psalm 34, verse nine. Oh, fear
the Lord. You that trust in him. You that's
experienced all these things. Fear him. Honor him. Ye his saints. Those sanctified, those set apart
for his using. He declares, those are mine.
They're mine. Well, his child's doing something
wrong. What'd he tell Peter? He said, don't you dare call
something unclean that I've called clean. That's mine. He said, fear the Lord, ye his
saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. You ain't
gonna want for nothing. There's one thing needful, and
you got it. It's Him. We'll have fleshly desires, won't we? But this new man is content in
and with Christ. Just satisfied. Do you need holier
living? No, I got Him. He's my righteousness.
He's my sanctification. Do you need to get smarter? He's
my wisdom. I want to learn about Him more. These other things
are handy. I need to learn about Him more,
don't I? This world seeks to devour those
that do that, but a dog can't wag its tongue towards you. It
says in verse 10, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but
they that seek the Lord shall not want any good. Any good thing's
right, but any good, why? We've tasted and seen that he's
good, and we have him, and we're made one with him. He's been
made, he is, we're his, and he's ours. It's deep waters, buddy. That's
something, isn't it? I quoted it last hour, but the
Lord said, Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come that you shall
be scattered, every man to his own. Does that mean all the sheep's
gonna be individual and individualistic in the modern church ages? No,
that ain't what it means. He said, I'm on that cross and
you're gonna run and hide and shall leave me alone. He's gonna
tread that winepress to accomplish all this alone. Plumb by himself. And yet I'm not alone because
the father's with me. Why did he say that? I have to
say that. I'm too weak and feeble and poor.
I forget it. God's with me. The Lord, he said,
I'll never leave you. I may be like Jacob. I may go
two decades and not say nothing about him, but Lord, I may left,
but he ain't moved. He's right there. He said, the
Father's with me, and these things I've spoken unto you, I've told
you all that, that you might have peace. Calm down, fear not, have
peace, be content. In the world you're gonna have
trouble, in the flesh you're gonna have trouble, but be of good
cheer, I've overcome the world. I've overcome the world. And in Proverbs
22, I always love that. Proverbs 22, seven, Solomon said,
the rich ruleth over the poor. Amen. Do you see Jeff Bezos? I don't care what he's doing. Bill Gates can buy up all the
farmland he wants. That's hogwash. That's looking to the world.
He's rich in mercy. He's rich in grace. He's rich
in love. And he rules over this old poor sinner. Does he, you?
He's my God and my Lord. And the borrower is servant to
the lender. What do I have he didn't give
me? I borrowed everything from him. I got a car at the house,
it's on loan, I'm borrowing it. I got a house, I'm borrowing
it. I got children, I'm borrowing you. Everything I have, I'm borrowing
it from him, and I'm his servant, I'm his willing bond servant,
because he's lended me everything. The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender. That's not instruction
in finances, that's instruction in how God saves sinners. Amen,
amen. I pray he'll make us poor. It'd
be a good thing. All right, Fred. Brother Cass and Brother Brian,
if you would, come hand out the elements.