Psalm 34. Psalm 34. We're going to look
at one beautiful, glorious, blessed verse. It's verse 6. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his
troubles. That's the gospel. That's the good news. This poor
man cried. The Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his troubles. Troubles. That describes every man and
woman in life from the cradle to the grave. Troubles. Adversity. Affliction. Anguish. Pain. Heartache. Distress. Tribulation. Trouble. Every person before us has had
them. Our children are going to have
them. We're no exception. Troubles. Our Lord said, in the world,
you shall have tribulation. It's our lot in this life. Let's
look at a few scriptures, OK? Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
5. 1 Peter 5, and look at verse 10. It says, "...but the God of all
grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that you have suffered a while." Make you perfect, establish,
strengthen and settle you after you've suffered a while. All right, now turn over to Job
14. Job 14, verse 1 says, Man that
is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Few days. At the church there in Kingsport,
my study's in the front of the building, and I have windows
that look out to the front yard, and there is a cherry tree in
the front yard. And all this time, wintertime,
it's had no leaves on it. And about a month ago, it bloomed. Cherry blossom. And it was beautiful. It's full of cherry blossoms.
Everything was beautiful. All of downtown, they planted
tulips everywhere. Tons of tulips. And it was absolutely
beautiful. And as soon as they bloomed,
the wind started blowing, they started dropping petals, and
in about two weeks, they were gone. And I was looking out at
that tree thinking, it's such a shame. You wait all year I
don't like to plant ugly things because you got to wait all year
on it to bloom. And it was only just a few days. And then it was gone. It's a
shame. Look at verse two, it says, he
cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as
a shadow and continueth not. Man's whole life is summed up
in verse 2. He cometh forth like a flower,
and then he's cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and
then he's no more. That's it. Continueth not. All right, now turn to Psalm
3. Psalm 3, verse 1 says, Lord,
how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up
against me. Many there be which say of my
soul, there is no help for him in God. And that word, silah,
means just stop and think about that for a little while. Many
there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God. Who says that? My own thoughts
say that. My own fears say that. They trouble me. Now turn to
Psalm 31. Look at verse 9, it says, Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed
with my grief, yea, my soul and my belly. My soul is consumed
with grief. My belly is consumed with grief.
Verse 10 says, For my life is spent with grief and my years
with sighing. My strength faileth because of
mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed." I am in trouble. By nature, we are all in trouble. Why? Sin. Everything that we are. And everything
that we go through. Is because of sin. All right,
let me show you that in Genesis three. Now, this is where the Lord told
Adam and Eve, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. And the serpent came to Eve and she ate. She went
to Adam and he ate. And they both sinned against
God. Now, Genesis 3, verse 7 says, And the eyes of them both were
opened and they knew that they were naked. And they sowed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called
unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said,
I heard that voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was
naked and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that
thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree
and I did eat. He said, It's the woman's fault.
She did it. Now, before sin, Adam would have
never blamed his wife. Never. He would have never blamed
his wife. Verse 13 says, And the Lord God
said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And
the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. It's the serpent's
fault. She did it, too. She's no better
than he is. Verse 14 says, And the Lord God
said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days
of thy life. And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman,
he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow. Isn't that terrible? Is there
anything worse than sorrow? Really? Is there anything worse
than sorrow? And he said, Verse 16, thy conception. She didn't know what that was.
She never conceived before. In sorrow, thou shalt bring forth
children. The only reason childbirth is
painful is because of sin. That's the only reason. If it
weren't for sin, childbirth would just be a happy, joyful occasion,
that's it. And thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life." The reason this ground
is so hard and rocky is because of sin. The Lord put Adam in the garden
to till the ground. And the ground was already tilled.
The work was finished. It was just fluff. No weeds grew
in it. And as soon as Adam and Eve sinned,
the ground hardened. Verse 18 says, Thorns also, and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field."
Roses never had thorns on them until sin. Never. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, that's what was pressed into
the beautiful head of the Lord of Glory. Thorns. The fruit of sin. The fruit of
sin was pressed into him. Verse 19 says, In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground,
for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust
thou shalt return. Adam had never swept before. Not one drop. He'd never been
hot. He'd never been tired. He'd never
been bitten by an insect before. And all of a sudden, what was that? All of a sudden, lions started
chasing lambs. And Adam cried, No! No! What's happening to everything?
Sin. Chapter 4 says the Lord gave
them two sons, Cain and Abel, and sin took over. Murder. Can you imagine how Eve cried? Can you imagine how Eve cried? She was in paradise. The Lord
gave her a husband. The Lord gave her sons. Can you
imagine how sorry Adam was for sinning against God? Can you
imagine how sorry he was? Lord, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Is there any way we can be forgiven? Is there any way things can go
back to the way they were? From that moment on, his days,
his wife's days, and every child born unto him, which includes
you and me. From that moment on, man's days
have been full of trouble. Romans says, we know that the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Just in trouble. We're in trouble. This world, this physical life,
it has no happy ending. It has no happy ending. It's
a bleak, sad story. There's no way to change it.
Not the condition of this world. There's no way to reverse it.
Not the inevitable death of this world. And if we stay in it,
we are going down with it. That's the truth. That's just
the truth. Everything here is rotting. It's rusting. It's decaying. Including us. Because of sin, this world is
good for nothing but to be burned up. Because of sin, I am good for
nothing but to be burned up. That's it. Do you know that the
world cannot see that? They're at peace with this world. And it's because they're blind
to it. But if God ever opens up a sinner's
eyes to the truth, the world thinks they want the truth. They
think they're always looking for truth. They got the cigarette
commercial truth. They don't know the truth. But if God ever opens up a sinner's
eyes to the truth and they see the end of this life, the end
of this world, the end of themselves, if they ever see the judge of
all sin, if they ever see the punishment for sin, and if they
ever see a substitute for that punishment, they will cry. They'll cry. Blind Bartimaeus cried, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they said, hush, he doesn't
want you. He's leaving anyway. He's passing by anyway, you're
going to miss him. There's no hope for you, Blind
Bartimaeus. And he cried the louder. Lord
Jesus Christ, Savior, Thou Son of David, King, please have mercy
on me. Please have mercy on me. Listen to what David said in
Psalm 6, O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten
me in thy hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for
I'm weak. O Lord, heal me, for my bones
are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed, but
thou, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, deliver my soul. O save me for thy mercy's sake,
for in death there is no remembrance of thee. In the grave, who shall
give thee thanks? I am weary with my groaning. All the night make I my bed to
swim. I water my couch with my tears. All I can do is cry. That's all I can do. Listen to
what he said in Psalm 42. As the heart. As the deer. panteth after the
water brooks. So panteth my soul after thee,
O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? My tears have been my meat, day
and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? Where is thy God? This poor man
cried. David said, Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee. The Apostle Paul said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Who? Somebody help me. Somebody, please help me. Is there anybody out there who
can help me? Guess what? This poor man cried
and the Lord heard him. Let me remind us all about a
story, a true story. of a Union soldier in the Civil
War. I had to be reminded of it. This is a true story. A Union
soldier in the Civil War got word that his mother was dying. And he wanted to go see her before
she died. And his only hope of getting
to go, he was in the military, his only hope of getting to go
was if he could make it to President Abraham Lincoln and be granted
leave. So he made it to the White House.
And he went to the guards at the front door and he pled his
case, he told the situation, he begged to see President Lincoln. And they said, you can't. You can't. I don't care what
your situation is. You can't. We can't let anybody in here. And he said, you don't understand,
this is my only hope. This is my only hope of seeing
my mother before she dies. And they said, no, you don't
understand. You're unauthorized. We're under
orders. We're terribly sorry, but you
cannot come in." And that man broke down. He broke down. He sat on the front steps of
the White House and he put his head in his hands and he cried.
And a little boy was walking by and he said, what's wrong,
mister? And he said, son, you wouldn't understand. And the
little boy sat down beside him on the steps and he said, tell
me, what is it? So the man told him, he said,
my mother is dying. My only hope of getting to see
her before she dies is if I can get to President Lincoln and
if he would grant me leave to go see her and I cannot get in
the White House. And he said, I'll take you in. Come on, let's go. So they got
up. And they walked through the front
doors of the White House, past the guards. They walked down
the hall, past another set of guards. They opened the door
and walked straight into the Oval Office. And President Abraham
Lincoln said, What can I do for you, son? And he said, Dad, this
man here needs to see you. This poor man cried, and the
Son of God heard him. This poor man cried, and the
only one who was able to do anything about it heard him. The Lord
heard him, and He saved him out of all his
troubles. Look at our text, Psalm 34, verse
1 says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall
continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Oh, 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 were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. Verse
six says this. This. You know, I'm set to preach
the good news and the good news I have includes me. This I have firsthand experience. I was sinking deep in sin. far
from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking
to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard
my despairing cry from the water, lifted me, now safe am I." Christ didn't just come to save
sinners. Christ came to save me, the chief
of sinners. And if you are poor in spirit, He came to save you. Look at verse 18. The Lord is
nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be
of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, But the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Verse 8
says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. The blessing of God to a sinner
is that he'd make him poor. The blessing of God to a sinner
is that he would make him poor. Poor in the love of this world.
Poor in pride. Poor in self. And rich in the
Lord Jesus Christ. In ourselves, we have nothing. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have everything. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Our text says, This poor man
cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his
troubles. My trouble is my sin. That's my trouble. It must be
dealt with. It must be punished. But look
at this. Turn over to Psalm 27. Psalm
27, verse 5 says, in the time of trouble, when the time comes for my sin
to be dealt with, When the time comes for my sin to be punished,
when judgment comes, in the time of trouble, He shall hide me
in His pavilion. In the secret of His tabernacle
shall He hide me. He shall set me up on a rock. Our Lord said, let not your heart
be troubled. Because in another place, he
said, God is going to wipe away all tears from your eyes. How? How does he do that? By revealing
to a sinner that the Lord of glory became poor. that this poor man might be made
rich. By revealing that the Lord of
glory cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That this poor man may never
cry again. The Lord Jesus Christ groaned
in the Spirit and was troubled. to the point that he perished.
That this poor man might be saved from all his troubles. Now let's close with a wonderful
word of encouragement. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. 2 Corinthians 4, look at verse
8. We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but we're not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body. Always carrying around with us. Always remembering the dying
of the Lord Jesus. That the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. Are you a poor man? Are you a poor woman? Cry unto the Lord. He'll hear
you. And He'll save you out of all
your troubles. May the Lord bless His Word.