This evening, Lord willing, I
want to take a look at portions of Psalm 34. Psalm 34, and I'm
taking the title for the message from what is said in verse 2. My soul, my soul. Now, we have a body, but we're
not the body. We are a soul. We have a body,
but we are a soul. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord." That will be the title of the message. Where else
would a soul redeemed and called out of darkness, redeemed by
the blood of Christ and washed in the blood of Christ, where
else could a redeemed soul boast or glory but in the Lord Jesus
Christ? We wouldn't attempt to make any
boast in the flesh, would we? That's what the unbeliever does.
They boast about what they've done, what they've done for God.
A lot of them do. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. We glory only in the Lord. Everything,
every spiritual blessing God has for the guilty is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We bless God who has blessed
us. with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in the Lord
Jesus Christ. God apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ is a consuming fire and infinite holy wrath. Mercies
are only found in Christ. Nowhere else. You cannot come
to a holy God apart from Jesus Christ. Did he say I am the way? I'm the truth? I'm the life? No man come to the Father but
by and through me. That's why Paul said, I count
everything else lost, dung, and ruined that may win Christ and
be found in Him. Truly, this is the desire of
those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ. They love Him,
believe Him, submit to Him. Our desire in preaching is to
brag on Christ. He said, if I be lifted up, I
draw all men, I draw all unto me. All his elect will be drawn.
He draws his people through the preaching of the gospel. He calls
out his people through the preaching of the gospel. We preach not
ourselves, Paul said, but ourselves, your servant for his sake. We've had that on the front of
our bulletin for over 30 years. We preach not ourselves, but
we preach Christ. We preach Christ. We say with
Paul, I'm determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. We preach the Word. Preach the
Word in season, out of season, reproved, rebuked, with all longsuffering
and doctrine. Preach Christ. Our desire in
our worship is to give glory, the glory that's due unto His
name. Now let me ask you a question. Can you give Him too much glory?
I'd like to be guilty of that. Can you honor Him too much? Can
you preach Him too big? Can you preach man low enough
or Him high enough? Preach us down in the dust where
we belong, guilty, vile, wretched, sinner, and exalt Him higher
than the highest heavens. The everlasting, the everlasting
and eternal God Look back one page, Psalm 29, verse one. Give
unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Psalm 29, verse two. Give unto the Lord the glory
that do His name. Worship Him in the beauty of
holiness. Worship Him in Christ. He is
the beauty of holiness, is He not? Now, let's take a look at
verse one down through verse 10 or thereabouts. David says, as he's on the run
and in much trouble, much trouble as he's hunted like a little
bird. He said, there's a step between
me and death. Hunted as a partridge bird. He
said, I'll bless the Lord when everything is going well. When
I'm at home in my castle, when I've got plenty of food on the
table, And when everything's going well, that's not what he
says. He said, I'll bless the Lord
at all times. At all times. His praise, His
glory, shall continually be in my mouth. And the reason it's
in his mouth is because it was in his heart. It was in his heart. Here is a fixed resolve of every
believer, I will bless the Lord. He makes us willing in the day
of his power. And I shall, I shall praise the
Lord. The Lord has by right and decree
a monopoly on our praise and worship for all that we are,
all that we know, all that we have, all that we ever will be. is by His grace, is it not? His
grace alone. His grace alone. He's worthy.
He's worthy. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, blessing, and power, both now
and forever. The Apostle Paul, I often quote
this verse, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And that's part
of the verse. But it says, for I'm less than
the least of all the saints, I'm not worthy to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it. By the grace of God, I am what I am. And that grace that
was bestowed upon me was not in vain. I labored more abundantly,
yet not I, but God who worketh in me. The Apostle Paul often
called himself, O wretched man, less than the least, But God,
who was rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together
with Christ. It's but God. I love that word,
don't you? B-U-T, but God. We were dead,
and he quickened us. We were aliens from the Commonwealth
of Israel, and he quickened us. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Can't you say that? That's every
believer's testimony. Who made you to differ from another?
What do you have that you didn't receive? When are we to bless
the Lord and worship the Lord? At all times. At all times. In the evening,
in the morning, in the afternoon. Bless His name at all times. Before the trials come, When
we have great trial and tribulation in bright days or dark days,
what should we do? Praise the Lord. In everything,
give thanks. This is the will of God and Christ
Jesus concerning you. Our Lord said this, these words
have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In
the world, you're gonna have tribulation. Ah, but be of good
cheer. I have overcome. I have overcome. David said, his praise, his praise
shall continually be in my mouth. And it was in his mouth because
God gave him a new heart. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. When God makes us new creatures
in Christ, we say, as Jonah said, as David said, we had that last
week, that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. That being so, David declares
in verse two, my soul. My inward being, that new man
created in Christ. My soul shall make her boast. We boast in the Lord. And the
humble, those who are humble shall hear others boasting in
the Lord, bragging on the Lord, all that He has done for us,
putting away our sin, establishing righteousness for us. My soul
shall boast in Him and those who are humbled by His grace.
You know what? Those who are humbled by his
grace, they shall hear and they shall be glad. They shall be
glad. They don't get upset when the
gospel is preached, they love it. We only have one foundation
on which we are to boast in glory, and that's only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is but one foundation.
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tri-stone, a precious
cornerstone. We have just one foundation upon
which to rest, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that
are humbled by his grace and saved by his grace are most happy
and glad to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. I've never heard,
I've never heard a believer complain that you gave Christ too much
glory for all of salvation. I've heard some people, religious
people complain, they would say, well that's not right, that's
not fair, who are you? Who are you to say it's not right
for God to do with His own what He will? But believers hear the
sovereignty of God, the majesty of God, and the sufficiency of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that righteousness that's freely imputed
unto us, and what do we do? We're happy. Oh, tell me more. Tell me more about Him. Tell
me more about His grace. They were glad. They were glad. I'm always glad to hear about
him. Remember God, the Father, speaks from heaven and said,
this is my beloved son, hear him. I want to hear about him. You don't want to hear about
me. You don't want to hear about my sad story, do you? I could make
you cry. I could make you cry. That wouldn't
do you any good to cry over my troubles, heartaches, and sorrows.
But I want to point you to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. To you
who believe, He is precious. He's altogether lovely. Christ
is all and in all. Look at verse 3. Oh, magnify
the Lord with me. Come with me. Let's magnify the
Lord together. Let us exalt His name together. There's a whole lot about the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I did a series of messages many,
many years ago. on the different names of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I started with the letter A.
Went all the way through the alphabet, looking up in the Scriptures
how many different names that our Lord is known by. Advocate,
Mediator, Intercessor. Just go down the alphabet. And
there's multiple names under each letter of the alphabet.
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father. His name, God has given him a
name which is above every name, that at that name, every knee's
gonna bow, every tongue's gonna confess that he's Lord to the
glory of God the Father. Neither is there salvation in
any other name, nor the name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. His name is Gloria, the Lord
Jesus Christ. His name includes all that he
is in his person and all that he's done for us. So those who
know Him, boast in Him, they bless Him, they praise Him, they
boast in Him, they're glad, and they magnify the Lord, and they
exalt His name together. That's what we do when we come
together to worship the Lord. Look at verse 4 now. David said, I sought the Lord. I sought the Lord. Do you know
why he sought the Lord? The Lord sought him out. The
Lord sought him out. David was one of those elect of God, loved from all
eternity. The Lord sought him out. I sought
the Lord, because the Lord sought him out. I sought the Lord and
he heard me. We never seek the Lord in vain.
He said, you seek me with all your heart and you'll find me.
I sought the Lord and He heard me. That's a blessing, isn't
it? To be given a heart to seek the
Lord. I sought the Lord out. And He
heard me and delivered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Did you notice what we read in
verse 17? Look across the page there. The
righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all
their troubles. Look at verse 19. Many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them
out of all of them. The Lord thy deliverer, he gonna
deliver Israel from all their sin. Call his name Jesus, he
shall save his people from their sin. I thought the Lord and he
heard me and delivered me. He delivered me from all my fears,
all my fears, he ever liveth. Here's the point. I sought the
Lord and He heard me and delivered me. The Lord Jesus Christ ever
lived to make intercession for us. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace. He's able to save us to the uttermost
that come to God by Him, seeing He ever what? Liveth to make
intercession for us. The Lord's interceding for us
right now. making our prayers, our worship
acceptable to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. He heard me
and delivered me. He heard me because he ever lived
to intercede for us. He intercedes for us right now,
doesn't he? He intercedes for us right now. Look at verse five. Those who seek the Lord, those
who have been delivered by the Lord. He's our deliverer. He's our redeemer. As it says
in verse 22, the Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants. They
looked unto Him. You see that? Where do they look? They look to Him. Isn't that
what saving faith does? Saving faith doesn't look in
here. Saving faith looks to Him. Remember Isaiah 45? Look unto Me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. I am God, beside Me there is
no other. You remember Hebrews chapter
12 verse 2? Well, I quote this all the time, don't I? Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's what saving
faith of God's elect looks always to the Lord Jesus Christ. They looked unto Him. And they
were lightened. He is the light. I'm the light
of the world. And their faces were not ashamed.
They were not ashamed. They were lightened or enlightened. And I like the marginal reference
on verse 5. You see the center reference
there? They flowed unto Him. They flowed unto Him. When He
enlightens us and gives us faith, we just follow the Lord. That's what His sheep do. They
hear His voice and what do they do? They follow Him, don't they? He's a good shepherd. They looked
unto Him. That's what saving faith does.
That's a good definition of faith. Faith is a substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Look. Look. Look to Christ. Look to Christ.
Looking. Coming. Believing, repenting,
he commands the light to shine in our dead hearts. And God's people are not ashamed
of the gospel. As Paul said, for as much as
in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you at Rome, for
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. When Paul writes from
prison, from a Roman prison, And he writes back to young Timothy,
the preacher. He said, Timothy, don't be ashamed
of me or the gospel because it's God who saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our words, but according to
his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm not ashamed. Ashamed of Jesus? Can it be?
A mortal man, ashamed of thee? That song we read just a moment
ago, this line here struck me. Ashamed of Jesus, yes I may,
when I've no guilt to wash away, no tear to wipe, no good to crave,
no fears to quell, no soul to save. Till then, nor is my boasting
vain, till then I boast the Savior's slain. He's boasting, isn't he?
Glory. And oh, may this my glory be. Oh, he's not ashamed of me. Isn't
that a good song? That's a good song. Ashamed of
Jesus. He's not ashamed to call us brethren,
and we're not ashamed of Him. I'm ashamed of me. I blush to think about my wickedness
and my guilt, but I'm not ashamed of Him. I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. Look at verse 6. There is life, light, liberty,
and everything looking to the crucified Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him. Look to Him. Look
at verse 6. David often called himself poor
and needy. I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord
thinketh upon me. I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord
thinketh upon me. That's over in Psalm 40. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart. Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. Verse 18 of Psalm 34. This poor
man cried, and again, he said, the Lord heard him. Are you that
poor man, that mercy beggar? He never turned away a mercy
beggar. He said, come, come, come to me. This poor man cried
and the Lord heard him and the Lord saved him. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be, what? Saved. This poor
man cried and the Lord heard him. I'm poor and needy, but
the Lord is rich and merciful and powerful. Blessed are the
poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This poor
man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his
trouble. I thought about this example. There's many examples
in the scripture we're going to see. Sunday about two blind
men who were begging the Lord for mercy. And the Lord stood
still and healed them. But I thought about when I read
this verse, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his trouble. How about that dying thief? That
dying thief who was granted repentance. He was a poor man, wasn't he?
He was so poor he stole from other people. He was a poor man, crucified
for his crimes against the Roman Empire. But that poor, guilty
sinner cried to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Did the Lord hear him? What was the response? Today
you'll be with me in paradise. That poor man cried and he was
heard, wasn't he? That poor man cried and he was
saved, wasn't he? A guilty, vile, wretched thief
saved him out of all his trouble. The Lord took him to paradise.
Saved him from all which trouble, didn't he? That man was in real
trouble. Look at verse 15, Psalm 34. The
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open
unto the cry. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart, save it such as be of a contrite spirit. Verse
18. Now look at verse seven. The
angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about
them that fear him. And again, there's this deliverance. He's our deliverer. The angel
of the Lord. Now this has a reference to the
uncreated messenger of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, the surety
of the everlasting covenant. And I'm sure there's a reference
to the Lord that encampments around about His people. He said,
I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, lo, I'm with you
always, even to the end of the world. The Lord's always with
His people, but also to those created angels. The elect angels,
they're called. The elect angels. They encamp
round about us. You know, Peter talked about
when the gospel is preached, the angels' desire to look into
these things, God's mercy, God's grace. The angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear Him, and they deliver. They
deliver them. We could look at many examples
in Scripture You remember Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14 where it talks
about the ministry of the angels. Are they not all ministering
spirit sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs
of salvation? Angels minister to God's people. You remember our study through
2 Kings in chapter 19 verse 35 where God dispatched one angel
and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Elisha was with his servant on
another occasion in 2 Kings chapter 6. And the city was surrounded
and Elisha's servant said, Master, what are we going to do? We're
surrounded. We're outnumbered. Remember what
Elisha said? There's more with us than with
them. There's more with us than with
them? And the Lord opened his eyes.
The Lord opened his eyes and he saw all the chariots of fire
round about the mountains. All the angels round about the
mountains. And those angels blinded all
those men. And Elisha was spared. How about
Peter? When Herod I mentioned this on
Sunday when Herod arrested Peter and James and publicly had him
executed. And he attempted to do that to
Peter, but there was an uproar among the people, so he kept
him overnight in jail. Remember Acts chapter 12? God
sent an angel and broke Peter out of jail. That same angel that broke Peter
out of jail later on in that same chapter, Acts chapter 12,
when Herod was sitting on his throne making a great oration,
and the people said, It's the voice of a God! The angel of
the Lord smote him, and he was eaten up with worms. God's angels
execute God's purpose in the salvation of His people. Now look at verse 8. I'll wind
this up here. A couple more verses. Oh, taste
and see, the Lord is good. There's none good but God. You
remember that young man came to the Lord and said, good master? He said, why do you call me good?
There's none good but God. Oh, taste and see. When you look
at some food, when someone, your wife or your mother, or someone
fixes a big luscious meal and spreads it out there on the table, you're not going to really experience
how good that food is, are you, unless you taste it, unless you
chew it up and taste it. And that's what God's people
do with the grace of God. Here's a table, a banquet of
mercy. And we partake of that. We taste of the Lord in His mercy
and His grace. And we see that the Lord is good
by experience. We know, taste and see, the Lord
is good. We know this by experience. We've
experienced this over and over and over again. The Lord is good.
Blessed is that man. Blessed is that man that trusteth
in the Lord. Blessed is that man that trusteth
in the Lord. Trust in Him at all times, you
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. In Psalm 2, we may look at Psalm
2 in a couple of weeks. Verse 12 of Psalm 2, Kiss the
Son, lest he be angry, and he perish from the way when his
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Trust in Him at all times, ye
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us.
You remember Psalm 62. Psalm 34 verse 9, O fear the
Lord, ye His saints. How does a sinner become a saint?
I know certain church organizations They canonize certain people
and they say those certain people did so many miracles, they make
him a saint. That's salvation by works, isn't
it? The Lord Jesus Christ takes sinners
and makes them saints. He is our sanctification. O ye
that fear the Lord, O fear the Lord, ye His saints. His saints
do. His saints do fear the Lord.
I love this, the second part of verse 9. There's no want to
them that fear Him. There's no want to them that
fear Him. No want. Nothing lacking. My
God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who look to the abundant
storehouse of God's mercy shall find it always full. The cupboards
of God's storehouse is always full. The shelves are never empty. Well of endless mercies that
are new every morning. There's no want to them that
fear Him. Look at verse 10, I'll close
with this. The young lions, they lack, they
suffer hunger. Those lions out in the jungle,
they go all day long, don't they? Just to find a meal, a rabbit,
or something to eat. A deer, a young lion do you like
and they suffer hunger. Those that seek the Lord shall
not want any good thing. Those that seek the Lord, I put
a reference here, Psalm 27 verse 8, turn over there. Psalm 27
verse 8. Those that seek the Lord. Look
at Psalm 27 verse 8. When thou saidest, Seek ye my
face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
When the Lord says, Seek the Lord, we'll seek him. We'll seek
him. The young lion do lack and suffer
hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing. Remember the Scripture, Psalm
23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Someone I heard
quoted this way, the Lord is my shepherd, what shall I want?
I shall not want for any good thing. In Him dwells all the
fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we are complete.
One more verse. Can you handle one more verse?
Come. I like that word. Come, you children. Hearken unto me, and I'll teach
you. All those who heard and learned
of the Father, they come to Christ. Come, you children, all you who
labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Come, you children.
Hearken to me. Listen to Him. Any man thirsty,
let him come. Hearken to me, and I'll teach
you the fear of the Lord. Oh, to be taught of God. to be
taught of God. That salvation is all He's doing. All He's doing.