The last time that I preached
for the pastor, a few weeks ago, I preached from the Psalms, Psalm
116. Well, this evening we're going
to open our Bibles to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. This is a very beautiful
psalm, one of my favorites, and I believe that you'll receive
a blessing from a study of this psalm. We'll go through not all
the verses, but some of them. Somebody said one time, Some
people are content to talk about people. And some people are content to
talk about places they've been. And some are content to talk
about things. But you'll see from this psalm
that David was most content to talk about his Lord. Look at
verse one. He said, I will bless the Lord
at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. Now, we know David's the author
of this psalm. We do know that. It's not certain
when he wrote this psalm, but those who have studied these
things very carefully tell me This Psalm was written, this
34th Psalm, was written during some of the darkest days of David's
life. For example, he was a fugitive
for many years, fleeing for his life. God had anointed him king
over Israel, but he had not yet taken the place of king Saul.
And he was an outcast. For years, he was an outcast
and hunted by Saul and his armies. Also, he was fleeing from the
enemies of Israel. And then he was compelled to
live in caves and hideouts in the forest, while at the same
time he had to secure food, and other provisions for 400 people
that traveled with him all the time. You remember the story
about Abigail's husband, Nabob, is that his name? And how that
took place. And then David, the Spirit of
the Lord had departed from Saul. The Spirit of the Lord had departed
from Saul and the nation Israel. David was not yet king, but the
nation Israel was on the verge of destruction from within. And
every personal interest of David, every personal interest of David
seemed at that time to be shattered, completely shattered. Perhaps
these verses will give you what I'm talking about here. Look
at verse four. of this psalm. I sought the Lord,
and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Look at
verse 6. This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Look at verse 17. The righteous
cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their
troubles. And verse Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."
But one thing is certain from this psalm, one thing is certain,
and this is where David begins. Whether abounding or abased,
whether in trouble or in peace, David says, Verse 1, I will bless
the Lord at all times, whether abounding or abased, whether
in trouble or in peace. I will bless the Lord at all
times, and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Who? David says,
I will. What? I praise the Lord. When? At all times. How? With my mouth. I'll praise the
Lord, bless the Lord with my mouth." Somebody said this, praising
the Lord is not a dumb spirit. The person who praises the Lord
must speak. He must give forth praise from
his lips. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say something. whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy." Praise must speak, and it must speak from
the mouth, and it must speak in the honor and praise of God. Turn with me to John, chapter
12. This is very interesting. In John, chapter 12, verse 3. John 12, verse 3. Let's read verse 2 and 3 of John
12. There they made him a supper,
and Martha, talking about Mary and Martha here, Martha served,
but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. He
raised Lazarus from the dead, and Lazarus was there at the
meal that Martha and Mary had prepared. Then took Mary a pound
of ointment, of spikenard, very closely, very precious, very
closely, and she anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet
with her hands. And listen, and the house was
filled with the odor of the ointment. Mary took a pound of precious
costly ornament, and anointed the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the whole house was filled with the odor and filled with
the fragrance of that act. And this is what somebody said
about that. We can either fill a situation
with a sweet fragrance when we praise the Lord, or we can fill
it with criticism and fault finding when we speak against the Lord. If you speak in the praise of
the Lord, any situation takes on a different atmosphere. But
when we speak critically and harshly, it takes on another
atmosphere. So that's what happened here.
She anointed the feet of her Lord out of gratitude, out of
praise, praised his name, and the whole house took on the fragrance
of her act. All right, look at verse 2 and
3. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. My soul shall make
her boast in the Lord. And the humble shall hear thereof,
and they'll be very glad. Magnify the Lord with me. Let
us exalt his name together. He says here, boast. Is boasting ever commendable? Is bragging and glorying ever
commendable? Well, this boasting is. My soul
shall boast in Him who restored it. My new heart will boast in
Him who gave it. And my hope of eternal life is
sure because of his cross where he died. So God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. Not in myself, but in the Lord. And the humble believer will
rejoice. They'll rejoice together. And they'll get together and
they'll say, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his
name together. Who can praise the Lord like
people who benefited from his mercy and grace? Take for example,
who can praise the Lord like the shepherd? Like the shepherd. like the sheep that was lost.
Who can praise the Lord like the sheep that was lost? He can
praise the Lord. Who can exalt the physician like
the man born blind? Who can rejoice in salvation
like the dying thief? Who can praise the loving Father
like the prodigal son who came home? Who can talk of substitution
like Barabbas, whose cross the Lord took in the place of Barabbas,
took upon himself. I tell you, if you can get together
a group of humble people who love the Savior and who rejoice
in his mercies, they'll all be glad to magnify his name and
exalt him together. Look at the next verse. This
is David's testimony. He said, I sought the Lord. I
sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me out of all
my fears. And then, listen, they looked
upon Him, and they were enlightened, and their faces were not ashamed. Now, what David is talking about
here is that the Lord is plenteous in mercy. The Lord delights to
show mercy. David wrote in Psalm 130, ìOh, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark
iniquity, who would stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee.î ìOh, Lord, if thou shouldst mark iniquity, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be cleared.î
In other words, no sinner will ever be turned away from him
who calls upon his name. No sinner will ever be turned
away from the Lord if that sinner calls on the name of the Lord.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. No
lost man will ever seek mercy in vain. He said, you seek me
and find me when you search for me with all your heart. They'll
never be turned away if they seek the Lord. There's not one
example in this Bible of a person who sought the Lord. and was
rejected or turned away. Not one. All came, like the Canaanite
woman, like the woman with the issue of blood, like Bartimaeus. They all came to the Lord, and
they all received mercy. This is what David is saying
here. Look at verse four. I sought the Lord, and he heard
me. I sought the Lord, why don't
you? He heard me. He'll hear you. He delivered me from all my fears,
and He'll deliver you. I sought the Lord. I sought the
Lord. Why don't you? He heard me, and
He'll hear you. And He delivered me, and He'll
deliver you. He delights with your mercy.
And then look at this next line, verse 5. They looked unto Him, Who's they? Well, David's talking
about the folks that preceded him. Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, and Moses, and Isaiah, all these fellows. They looked
to him. They looked to him. Look unto
me and be ye saved, Isaiah said, all the ends of the earth. I'm
God. There's none else. Look to me. They looked. And
what was the result? They were enlightened. They looked
to Christ who would come, and they were enlightened. They were
given light and understanding. They were not ashamed. Their
faces were not ashamed, and they were not disappointed. Come ye
sinners. That's what the hymn writer wrote.
Come ye sinners, poor and needy, bruised and mangled by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you'll never come at all. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondle a dream. All the fitness he required is
to feel your need of him. No needy sinner was ever turned
away from the Lord. That's right. Never. Now, he says, look at verse 5
again. They looked unto him, and they
were enlightened. And their faces were not ashamed.
Now let me say this. Every Old Testament writer was
ashamed of himself quite often. And disappointed in his best
efforts and his best works. But not one ever, ever, ever
denied his faith. Not one ever denied his confidence
in Christ. Not one ever denied his hope
in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God shall lay? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemns? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
it's risen again who's at the right hand of God who ever lived
to make intercession for us. I sought the Lord. He heard me. And He heard you. And He delivered
me from all my fears. And the rest of them, they looked
to Him. And they were enlightened. He came to give light. That's
what we read over in the study of John chapter 1. He's the light
of the world. John said, I'm not the light,
he's the light. And they were enlightened. I'll
show you this verse 6. Charles Spurgeon has written
the finest, the very finest books about, on the Psalms. If you can secure Spurgeon's
Treasure of David, I think it's printed in three hardback books
and six paperback books. I bought the
paperback books to save money, but through the years they've
come apart. So don't you do what I did. Get
a hardback. And then you save it and pass
it on to your children. Mine are gone. You keep reading
them and marking them and they come apart. But anyways, Spurgeon,
he wrote the best commentary on the Psalms. The very best.
Not anybody can touch it. Not anybody can touch it. Because
he also includes in those books what other men have said about
this first description. In other words, this sixth verse,
this poor man cried, and God heard him and saved him out of
his trouble. But he wrote his thoughts on that, and then he
wrote different ones' thoughts. John Knox and all these other
fellows, you know, Calvin and Swingler and Huss and all that. And Furgon, at the end of each
one of these Psalms, at the end of each one, he has a little
section He called it the village preacher. The village preacher. And he'd take the part of the
village preacher, and he would write an outline about, on this
particular verse. An outline on every verse. Well,
here on this verse, watch this. The poor man. Who's he talking
about? David said, I'm poor and needy. I'm poor and needy. And he said, this poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
And Spurgeon said, here is my outline on this poor man. Isn't it beautiful? First of
all, he said, number one, the poor man's heritage. I found trouble in Zarah. And
we will. That's the poor man's heritage.
Read Psalm 73. That's the heritage of believers. Trouble and sorrow. And then
secondly, he said, the poor man's pride. The poor man's pride. The poor man cried unto the Lord. That's all a poor man can do.
He's got nothing else to supply. But he can cry. This poor man
cried unto the Lord. That's the poor man's pride.
And then the poor man's friend, and the Lord heard him. The Lord
heard him. No one else did. Didn't matter
about anybody else anyway. He cried unto the Lord, and the
Lord heard him. Now Bartimaeus cried unto the
Lord, and his friends wanted to discourage him. They said,
you be quiet. He doesn't want to pay attention to you. And
he kept on crying. Kept on crying. The poor man's
friend. He's a friend that's sticking
closer than a brother. And then the poor man's blessings.
This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of
all his troubles. That's the poor man's blessing.
Put a robe on his back. Put shoes on his feet. Put a
ring on his finger. Kill a fatted calf. My son's
come home. The Lord heard him. and delivered
him out of all of his fears. And here's the poor man's, here's
the poor man's legacy. Here's his legacy. Look at here,
verse 7. And the Lord, the angel of the
Lord, encampeth round about them, that fear him, and he delivers
them. The angel of the Lord encampeth
He'll give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your
ways lest you dash your foot against a stone. Turn to Matthew
18. Matthew 18 verse 10. Matthew 18 verse 10. This is
the poor man's legacy. The angel of the Lord takes care
of his people. Yes, he does. Listen, Matthew
18, verse 10. Take heed now, take heed now
that you despise not one of these little ones, one of God's children. I say unto you that in heaven
there are angels, guardian angels, do always behold the face of
my Father which is in heaven. Oh, yeah, that's right, the angel
of the Lord. and Kempeth round about this
poor man. This poor man. Look at verse
8. Oh, taste and see. Taste and
see. I want you to look at something
here. Taste and see the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that
trusteth in Him. The table is spread. Come and
dine. Who spread the table? Who furnished
the food? Who provided it? Who provided
it? Our Lord. Turn to John 20. Let
me show you this illustration. John chapter 21. This is beautiful
here. You remember the Lord had risen
from the dead, and Peter said to the disciples one day, I'm
going to fishing. Go back to fishing. And they
said, we'll go with you. So they went fishing. And the Lord stood on the shore.
And he looked down and he called them by name. And they said,
it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Now watch this
right here. In John 21, verse 9. And the other disciples, well,
verse 7, read this. Therefore that disciple whom
Jesus loved said to Peter, this is the Lord. It's the Lord. Now
when Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he girt his fisherman's
coat about him, for he was naked and did cast himself into the
sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they
were not far from the land. But as it were two hundred cubits,
and they came dragging their net with fishes, and as soon
as they would come to land, they saw a fire. Who built the fire? The Lord did. He's the only one
there. The disciples were out there
fishing. And the Lord built the fire. And He said, and fish was
laid there on and bread. Who cooked the fish? The Lord
did. Who supplied the bread? The Lord
did. He fed them. And Jesus said unto
them, Now you bring the fish which you have caught. So Simon
Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fish. He
was 153. And for all there were so many,
yet the net was not, it was not the net broken. And Jesus said,
what? Come and dine. Wouldn't you have
liked to have been at that table? I look at that, I think about
that. The Lord prepared the dinner, provided it, prepared it, cooked
it. Can't you just imagine what He
would be serving? Oh, my, my, my. Oh, taste and
see. You never had a meal like that.
You will someday, because He's going to prepare one for you,
the marriage supper of the Lamb. He's going to prepare it. Taste
and see, the Lord is good. Taste, come and die. Taste and
see. But somebody said this, one thing
I know. The goodness of his table will
remain unknown and not experienced unless I taste it myself. Don't come tell me about it.
I want to taste it. I want to feed on his Word, the
children's bread that he prepared. Blessed is the man who tastes,
who partakes, There's no want to those who taste and see that
the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. Trust him. Look at verse 9. O fear the Lord, ye his saints. There's no want to them that
fear him. What is the fear of the Lord?
I jotted this down. So often when we encounter this
statement, the fear of the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears
the Lord. There's no want to them that fear the Lord. So often
when we encounter this statement, more time is spent telling us
what the fear of the Lord is not, rather than what it is. They say, what's the fear of
the Lord? Well, it's not this, not that. Well, don't tell me what
it's not. Tell me what it is. I tell you,
number one, the fear of the Lord is to know something of His majesty. His majesty, His power, His glory. That glory we were reading about
just a while ago. The glory of the Lord. Oh, the
glory of the Lord. When Isaiah saw His glory, he
spake of Him. There wasn't anything else to
talk about but Him. because Isaiah had seen his glory. And that's the fear of the Lord,
is to see something of his majesty and his power and his greatness
and his wisdom and his glory. Secondly, it is to have some
understanding of his holiness. The Lord's holiness and our own
sinfulness. When you see one, you see the
other. And I tell you this, the more you see of his glory, the
more you see of his sinfulness. That's when Isaiah really saw
his sinfulness, when he saw the Lord. He said, I saw the Lord,
how I lifted up, train filled the temple, smoke filled the
place, the seraphims cried, holy, holy, holy, and I cried what
was me. I heard a preacher say one time,
the more I see of my sinfulness, the more I see the glory of God.
You got it backwards, my friend. You got it backwards. You don't see God's glory by
looking at your sins. You see your sin by looking at
God's glory. That's exactly right. So it's
to have some understanding of the holiness of God. The fear of the Lord is to have
some understanding of his covenant mercies in Christ. That's what
we grace people. We love the covenant. The word
covenant is mentioned over 300 times in the scripture. God made a covenant. God made
a covenant. God made an everlasting covenant. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting. God will bestow
upon you the sure mercies of David through his covenant. And
the fear of the Lord is to have some understanding of that covenant. David sat on his dying bed. Although
it be not so with my house, God has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, that this is all my
salvation, and all my desire, although He make it not to grow,
the more you see of that blessed covenant that He made with us
in Christ, with Christ for us, oh my, you see the fear of the
Lord. And then the fear of the Lord,
fourthly, is to reverence Him, to worship Him, to trust Him,
to obey Him, to tremble to tremble, to offend him. And there's no
want to them that fear the Lord. All right, verse ten. Let's go
to verse ten. The young lions do lack and suffer
hunger. Who are the young lions? Well,
the young lions are people who are strong and fierce and cunning. Strong, fierce, cunning creatures
are young lions. But they often howl out of hunger. They get hungry and they howl
because they don't have anything to eat. But they that seek the
Lord, the humble, shall not want any good thing. The simple, weak,
humble believer who cannot supply one spiritual gift by himself
or of himself, who seeks the Lord, shall not lack for any
spiritual blessing. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12,
Most gladly will I glory in my infirmities. Most gladly will I glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon me. For
when I am weak, then am I strong. His strength is made perfect
in my weakness. Let me read that again. Most
gladly will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ might
rest upon me. For when I am weak... See, the
young lions, they get it themselves that howl if they don't. But
the humble believer who seeks the Lord will not lack any of
these spiritual blessings. For when I am weak, Then am I
strong, for His strength is made perfect in my weakness. Let me
work on that a second. Would you, other viewers, you
say, let's, don't move a hand or a hair. Let's listen really
carefully and let me tell you something. When is this not true? When I'm weak, then am I strong. When is that not true? Weakness
in the word of God will not make me strong. I need to study to
show myself a proven to God of workmen that need not be ashamed.
I told a preacher not long ago, I said, I'll tell you this, inspiration
depends a great deal on preparation. Inspiration depends a whole lot
on preparation. So weakness is not the word. It will make me strong when I
neglect the scriptures. Also, weakness in prayer. That
won't make me strong. To neglect to pray? You have
not because you ask not the Lord said. Ask and it shall be given
you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
to you. That won't make me strong being weak in prayer. Weakness
in faith won't make me strong. Because all things are possible
to them who believe. Weakness in love to others, that
won't make me strong. Not at all. Weakness in love. I need to be strong in the love
of the brethren. Weakness in character and conduct,
that won't make me strong. Our Lord said, let us adorn the
doctrine of God our Savior. Well, when is this true? When
is it? When I'm weak, then am I strong. I'll tell you when it's true.
I'm weak before the majesty of God, the glory of God. David said, Lord, when I consider
the heavens, the work of Thy hands, the things Thou hast made,
the sun, the moon, the stars, what is man that Thou art even
mindful of him? I'm weak in the presence of God,
before the majesty of God, before the throne of God. That's right. And then I'm strong. I'm weak
before the holiness of God. That's what Isaiah said in Isaiah
6. I'm weak before the Word. I know
in part. You don't argue in the Scripture.
It doesn't accomplish a great deal. Preaching the Word of God,
teaching the Word of God accomplishes a lot, but arguing it won't help
one. Righteousness does not, the wrath
of God worketh not the righteousness of God. The wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. You don't work righteousness
by getting angry and debating and quarreling. I'm weak before
the Word. I know in part. I preach in part. When that which is perfect is
come, then I shall know as I have not been known. But I'm not so all-fired cocky as
I used to be. I found out I didn't know it
all. I just don't know it all. Just don't know it all. I'm weak.
But he promised, when I'm weak, I'll be strong. And then weak
before my trials and afflictions. You know, Paul, he wrestled with
this thing. He had that thorn in the flesh.
A thorn in the flesh. And he prayed to God three times,
asking God to remove it. And the Lord said, my grace is
sufficient for you. You keep your file, and I'll
give you more grace. And he didn't pray about that
anymore, I bet. When I'm weak, then I'm strong.
And I'm weak before my responsibilities. I get, honestly, I've been preaching
the gospel 55 years. But I'll tell you this, every
time I prepare a message, and sit back and wait to preach it. And then come up here and try
to preach. I'm filled with weakness, fear,
and trembling. Don't ever lose it. Because Spurgeon's
granddaddy said, when you lose it, if you can preach a sermon,
if you can preach a sermon and think nothing of it, the people
will think nothing of it, and God will do nothing with it.
That's exactly right. Paul said, I'm in weakness, fear,
and trembling. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God Almighty. So
we're weak. We're weak. But I tell you this,
he said this, when I'm weak, then and when I'm strong. But
who's sufficient for these things? Tell me who. And then here's
the last verse. I want you to look at them in
verse 11 and 12. Come you children, hearken unto
me, and I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. Verse 12. What is
man? What man is he? What man is he
that desireth life? What man is he that loveth many
days, that he may see good? Well, keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking foul. Depart from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it because the eyes of the Lord, the eyes
of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their
cry. And one of the old writers said
this, how to make the best of both worlds. that world and this
one. How to make the best of both
worlds. That's what we're talking about
here. Verse 12. What man is he that desires life
and loves many days that he may see good on this earth? He desires
life and he desires good life. So, how to make the best of two
worlds is to fear God and do good. Keep your tongue from evil. Keep your lips from speaking
lies. Depart from evil. Do good. Seek peace and pursuit. That's the way. The great benefit
of life is not how long we live. The great benefit of life is
to live for the glory of God and the good of His people. That's
the great benefit. Sometimes people who live the
longest really live the least. And sometimes people who live
a short time prove to be the greater blessing. In other words,
the aim of David here is how to live and how to die. How to live and how to die. Let me close with this. There was a young woman who answered
the doorbell one day. Someone was at the Dover one
evening. She and her husband were sitting
in the din and reading the paper. And the doorbell rang and she
went to answer the Dover. And she stood there and talked
for a few minutes. And then she returned back to
the den where her husband sat reading the paper, and she just
sat there and looked quietly ahead. And her husband said to
her, who was at the door, she said, a couple from the new church
down the street. He said, well, what did they
want? What did they want? He said, they invited me to visit
their church. And then the man asked me if
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And her husband said, did you
tell him that you belong to another church? They didn't ask me that. They asked me if I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Well, did you tell them that
you teach Sunday school? They said you didn't ask me that.
They asked me if I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Well, did you tell them your brother's a preacher? She said, they didn't ask me
that. They asked me if I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, and I replied, no, I've never thought much about it.
I have never been confronted with who Jesus Christ is. Who
is Jesus Christ? He that believeth that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God is born of God. Do you? Do I? He that believeth that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God is born of God and shall never
die. My, my. That's all it is. That's the good life. That's
the good life. Here and there. Good life. Good life. I wish I could get
everybody in the world to face this very fact. Is Jesus Christ
the Son of God? Is He? When Philip asked Eunuch about
baptism, he said, what does hinder me being baptized? And Paul said,
if you believe with all your heart, you may. What he's saying,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's what I
believe. That's what I believe. That's
what you believe. That's what we believe. I believe it. I believe
it. I'm just so glad. Glad that he
let me believe it. Enabled me to believe it.