I hope you'll look with me this
morning at Psalm 34. The 34th Psalm is our text this
morning. David is the writer of this psalm. And David wrote this after he
had played the fool. David behaved himself terrible
fashion and acted foolishly. And David confessed to being
a fool. Now, only a true believer will
confess this. Only a true believer will confess
their unbelief, their times of unbelief. Only a truly wise man
or woman knows themselves to be but a fool. The proud and
the self-righteous think themselves wise and above sin. Not David. Now, this psalm is for serious
seekers. This psalm is for believers. Now, David wrote this, and he
says in verse 1, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise
shall continually be in my mouth. If there is anyone I am going
to speak of and give the glory to and give credit for all things,
it will be the Lord, not myself, David says. I'm going to bless
the Lord. I'm going to praise Him, not
myself. Verse 2, he says, My soul shall
make her boast in the Lord. My soul will boast of the Lord. Now, though David played the
fool, though he acted terribly and sinfully, yet his heart was
still right. And he admitted what he was.
said, ìIf I am going to boast in anyone, it will be the Lord,
not in myself.î And David Wright goes on to say, ìThe humble shall
hear thereof, and be glad.î Those who are truly humble before God,
who know themselves to be what they are, nothing but sinners
and helpless, hopeless fools before God. Now, they are going
to hear what David has to say, and they will be glad. They're
going to hear of David's hope. There's hope for sinners. There's
salvation for sinners. There's hope for fools. There's
no hope for the self-righteous. There's no hope for the proud
and the boastful. But those who look to Christ,
there's hope. And he says in verse 3, David
said, Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. Let's magnify Him. all those who know themselves
to be nothing, they will exalt the Lord, exalt Him, not themselves. They are very loath to speak
their own names and speak of themselves. David said, I sought
the Lord, verse 4. I sought the Lord. I looked to
the Lord, and He heard me. He delivered me from all my fears. In verse 5, he says, they, that
is, the humble. Those who heard this, they looked
to him too, and they were lightened and their faces were not ashamed.
David said, I sought the Lord and He heard me and He delivered
me. He heard. He delivered. A fool's hope,
you see, is in a faithful Lord. A fool's hope is certainly not
in themselves, in their own strength, in their own faith, in their
own works, but in the strength, the faithfulness, the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And those who know this, those
who hear this hope for fools, those who hear what David says,
his hope, his strength, his deliverance, they look to him, too. And they
are lightened, it says. That is, their burden is lifted.
They are heavy laden and burdened with their own sense of their
sinfulness and their helplessness. They look to the same one David
did, and they are lifted up. They are lightened. Their burden
is removed. They are not ashamed. They can
look to Him, though ashamed of themselves. Yet the Lord bids
them to come to Him in all their sin and all their guilt. And
they look to Him, and they are not ashamed. He says they can
come boldly before Him. I had a friend whose daughter got into trouble. And she was
terribly ashamed of herself. And her dad, in mercy and love
and compassion, told her to come to him and tell him all about
it. And she did, confessed. And her
shame was removed. Her burden was lifted. She could
look right into the face of her loving father without being ashamed. And so it is with all those who
know themselves to be what they are and will confess it before
God. And they won't be ashamed. They'll
come right to Him. And David said, this poor man
cried. Verse 6, I read, this poor man
cried. Or that is, this poor excuse
for a man. That's what David called himself.
I'm a poor excuse for a man. I didn't act like a man, he said.
I acted like a fool. The poor in spirit, that is,
those who know themselves to be nothing. Those who know themselves
to be weak. Those who know themselves to
be nothing but sinful failures. This poor man, David said, cried
and the Lord heard him. You know, real men cry. Real men cry over their sins. Real women cry over their sins. Therefore, cry unto the Lord
to help them, to save them." And it says in verse 6, "...the
Lord heard him, and the Lord saved him out of all his troubles."
You know what our real trouble is? All of our troubles are due
to sin, this principle of sin, this body of sin, Paul called
it in Romans 7. He said, O wretched man that
I am! Only a true believer knows what
Paul was talking about. He said, that which I would do,
I don't do. And that I don't want to do,
that's what I do. Now, I don't expect a self-righteous
man or woman who is listening to this to understand that. Paul
understood what David was talking about. That his troubles were
due to this sinful nature within him that he is going to live
with the rest of his life. He says, the Lord heard me and
saved me out of all the consequences of my sin, all the dire consequences,
the penalty of my sin. And what the Lord allows His
people to do teaches them what they are and drives them to Christ
for mercy. And they learn a lesson from
it. In verse 7, David said, "...the angel of the Lord encampeth round
about them that fear him, and delivereth them." Who is this
angel of the Lord? It's the Holy Spirit is who it
is. The Holy Spirit, Paul said, as many as are led by the Spirit,
they are the sons of God. Now, the Holy Spirit is not so
much what these false preachers are telling people that He is. Our Lord said when the Holy Spirit
has come, the Comforter has come, He said He will convince of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. And this is a lifelong convicting
of sin. It's not a one-time thing. It's
not a one-time thing when you so-called get saved and confess
your sin, and then you're living from that day on above sin. No, sir. Not at all. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin
all the days of our life. That's what he said in John 16,
verses 8 through 11. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. Not so much what we do as what
we are. Righteousness. That is, Christ
is all our hope of righteousness and judgment. We're going to
miss the judgment Christ will stand there for us, that Christ
took our judgment. This is a lifelong lesson that
is learned by God's people, by the Holy Spirit Himself, this
angel of the Lord, and camps around about them that fear Him.
They fear Him all the days of their life, and He delivers them
from fear of the judgment, fear of what their sins will bring
upon them finally. Christ paid that penalty. Verse 8, David goes on to say,
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Have you had a taste
of the Lord's goodness? Moses heard the Lord tell him
of his goodness there on that mountain. When he asked the Lord
to show him his glory, the Lord said, I'm going to make my goodness
pass before you. I'm going to proclaim the name
of the Lord. The Lord, merciful, gracious. I'm going to show you
my glory, my real goodness to you, Moses. I'm going to show
you just how good I am. I'm going to be merciful to whom
I will be merciful. Sovereign mercy to undeserving,
unworthy, wretched, vile sinners, fools. Mercy. Mercy. That's my goodness, and
only a sinner knows of this goodness. And only the guilty need mercy,
people. If you're no longer guilty, you
don't need mercy. And you've not seen His glory. And you've
really not experienced His goodness. David said, I've tasted His goodness
and its mercy, its grace to help. Oh, blessed is the man that trusts
in Him, David said in verse 8. Blessed is the man that trusts
in Him. Oh, this is from the Lord. This
is a blessing from the Lord. to a sinner for them to trust
in the Lord and not trust in themselves. To truly look to
the Lord their righteousness and not look to their own righteousness. To truly believe and look to
the Lord Jesus Christ and not have any confidence in their
own sinful flesh. Yes, this is a blessing of the
Lord. And he goes on to say in verse 9, Oh, fear the Lord, ye
His saints. There is no want in them that
fear Him. I continue to read. He says,
young lions do lack and suffer hunger. That strong, independent,
seemingly creature in the forest, the lion who is so strong, who
is so robust, who is seemingly the king of the jungle, he lacks
at times. He suffers hunger. He goes long
periods of time without food at times, as strong as he is.
But they that seek the Lord Weak as they are, helpless as they
are, sinners though they be, fools though they be, they shall
not want any good from the hand of the Lord. They shall not want.
When David wrote that Psalm 23, he said, The Lord is my shepherd.
Now, he is only the shepherd of sheep. Now, sheep, if you
know anything about sheep, sheep is absolutely one of the dumbest
creatures on earth. A sheep is one of the most helpless
creatures on earth. A sheep is more prone to wander
than he is follow. A sheep is an absolute poor,
helpless, wandering, weak creature. And the Lord is only the shepherd
of those weak sheep. And I'll tell you this too, all
God's sheep are born black sheep. They know themselves to be sinners.
And they shall not want. David said, The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. Why, David? Because you are strong?
Because you are faithful? Because you will keep yourself?
No, because the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not
want for mercy. I shall not lack mercy. I shall
not need mercy when I need it the most. I shall not need or
want for grace. The Lord is my Savior. I shall
not want for wisdom. Christ has made unto me wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption, all the provisions
I need for this life. Yes, they that seek the Lord
shall not want. Come, you children, he says,
hearken to me. I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. He camps
around about them that fear Him. He delivers them that fear Him. He shows mercy to them that fear
Him. is good to those who know themselves
to be what they are and confess it all the days of their life. Now, he goes on down to say in
verse 16, the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
And I'll remind you what he said was the greatest evil. He said,
Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. He said, there are going to be
many in that day saying to me, Lord, Lord, we did this. We did
many wonderful works while we were living above sin, and we
kept ourselves, and we did this, we did that. And he said, I never
knew you. The face of the Lord is dead
set against those self-righteous, proud, religious Pharisees who
think themselves to be something when they are nothing. But now
the eyes of the Lord are upon his people the righteous in Christ,
and his ears are opened unto their cry, which cry unto him
daily for mercy, for forgiveness, for grace, for salvation, in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, may it be so with you, is
my prayer. Amen. Okay.