when a scripture is written has
a tremendous bearing upon what is said. And those who have studied these
things about when certain scriptures were written, at what time in
the person's experience or in his life, those who have studied these
things carefully tell us that this psalm was written early
in David's life but during some of the darkest days of his life. For example, he was a fugitive. Oh, God had anointed him king,
that's true. Samuel came down to the house
of Jesse, his father, and anointed David king. But David was now an outcast.
He spent many years as an outcast. Saul hated him. sought to kill
him, tried to turn the people against him, hunted David as
he fled through the mountains and the wilderness. He fled from
his own nation, from his own king, and he fled from the enemies
of Israel. He had very few friends. And
then, secondly, he was compelled to live in caves, always on the
run, hiding in the forest. At the same time, he had to supply
food for about 400 people who were with him, 400 people who
had fled from Israel when David fled. He had to supply them with
their needs, with their food. Encourage them, comfort them,
minister to them. Wouldn't you have liked to have
been in that band with David at that time? And then several things about
Israel. He loved the nation Israel. He
was from the tribe of Judah, the kingly tribe. Father was
Jesse. The Spirit of God had departed
from Saul, the king. The nation of Israel was on the
verge of destruction, not only from without, but from within. Every personal interest of David
at that time seemed to be shattered. It just looked like there was
no hope. The forces of evil against him
were so many and so powerful and with Him so few. Perhaps some of the verses here
will give us an idea of the conditions under which this psalm was written.
For example, look at verse 4. He said, I sought the Lord and
He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. I underscored
that. He delivered me from of my fears."
Then verse 6, he says, this poor man, this poor man cried, and
the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. I underscored that. He saved
him out of all of his troubles. And then verse 7, the angel of
the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth
them. And then verse 17, the righteous
cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their
troubles. He keeps talking about his fears
and troubles. Verse 18, the Lord is known to
them that are of a broken heart. Can't you imagine? You know,
back just a few Months before this, the people were singing
David's praises. David has killed his 10,000,
Saul his 1,000, but David his 10,000. David had marched back
into Israel in victory and having conquered the enemies, and now
he's a broken-hearted man with a broken spirit, fleeing from
his own people, his own king whom he had served so faithfully.
Verse 19, here's another one that I underscored seeking some
kind of key to this psalm. Many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out
of them all. So I believe that we are on the
right track here when we say that David had this psalm given
him by the Holy Spirit. when he desperately needed it
in time of great fear and troubles and afflictions. Because he continually
uses those words, my fears, my troubles, my afflictions. Alright, let's look at it and
maybe the Lord will give us some insight and a blessing. He says in verse 1, I will bless
the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. But one thing is certain, even
in the most trying circumstances, whether abounding or abased,
whether in trouble or peace, David begins where Jim began
his prayer a moment ago. Lord, we are thankful. He says,
I will. Who will? I will. I will what? I will praise the Lord. I will
bless the Lord. When? At all times. Whether in sorrow or happiness,
whether in trouble or peace, whether abounding or abased,
I will bless the Lord at all times. How? With my mouth. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. I'm going to tell Him You know, praise is not a dumb
spirit. The book of Psalms, in Psalm
107, it says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. Tell him. I will bless the Lord
at all times. His praise shall continually
not only be in my heart, but in my mouth. I'll tell him. And I'll tell me. I need to be
reminded. I don't know how many times people
tell me that when I have a little liberty to preach a message or
we're blessed by a message, they'll come to me and say, I know those
things, I need to be told again. Tell him and tell myself. And
tell others. Give God the glory. It is His. Give God the praise. It belongs
to Him. So I will. Who? I will. Do what? Bless the Lord. When? At all times. How? With my mouth. And then verse 2, my soul shall
make her boast in the Lord. Brother Pastor, you're always
warning us about boasting and glorying. Is boasting ever commendable? Is boasting ever commendable? It is in this case, I make my
boast in the Lord. My restored soul will boast in
Him who restored it. My new heart shall boast in Him
who gave it. My hope of eternal life is sure
because of his cross, so with Paul I will say, God forbid that
I should glory and boast, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jeremiah chapter 9, the word
says this, he's the only thing in which we can boast. We have
no reason to boast in anything we are or have done or know. Jeremiah 9 verse 23 says, Thus
saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. If I
have any wisdom, God gave it to me. If I have any wisdom,
He can just as easily take it away. Maybe a day coming when I won't
even know my name. So I can't boast in that, can
I? My wisdom neither. Let the mighty man glory in his
might. This old body is getting weaker,
isn't it? Some of you know that. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. I guess we're about the richest
people on the face of the earth here in America. You know wherever
I go and preach in other countries, they think everybody in America
is rich. They watch our television programs
and movies and these things. They think everybody in America
is rich. It's rich. Well, we are compared
to most nations. Everybody in this building. Everything
we have, God gave it to us. The clothes we wear, the food
we eat, the cars we drive, this building we meet in, our homes,
God gave us. We haven't produced anything.
Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein are His. Can't vote, don't. Pride is such an awful, awful,
awful thing. In God's sight, He hates it.
But I'll tell you what you can glory in, and it's commendable.
Verse 24, let him that glorieth and boasts and brags, let him
boast and brag all he wants to in this, that he understands
and knows me. And he knows that I am the Lord. He knows that. He knows I am
the Lord. There's just one and I am he. And I exercise lovingkindness
to whom I will, judgment to whom I will, righteousness to whom
I will in the earth and in these things. Lovingkindness, judgment
and righteousness I delight. If you know that, sayeth the
Lord. You boast, you cry it from the mountains. Holler it loud
as you can. The Lord reigneth. And I'm glad. That's all right. My soul shall
make her boast. in nothing else and no one else
but the Lord. And you know something? The humble
will hear me, they'll hear my testimony and my boasting, my
rejoicing, my praise, and they'll be awful glad. Awful glad. God's true people. Now let me
tell you something about God's people. I pastored God's people
here for a long time, and I think I know God's people. God's people,
knowing the state of their flesh, knowing from whence they came
and what they were, and the free grace of God, what I read a while
ago, what we were, what God did, and what we are now. God's true
people are most grieved. This grieves them the most. proud
words, and proud looks, and those who exalt themselves in any way,
especially in the spiritual realm. It's a sure sign of the absence
of grace when a man is lifted up with pride. But God's true people, the humble, the humble, when they hear me
give him the glory and him the praise and all the glory, put
us down, put us down and put him up, they rejoice. That's their language. They don't
cotton to that other kind of language that brags on the flesh
and praises the flesh and flatters the flesh and exalts the flesh.
They don't like that. It doesn't register with them. But when they hear all glory
and honor and praise given to the Lord and the Lord alone,
they're glad. I can listen to that all day,
but I can't listen to a man brag, not two minutes. I can't listen
to somebody boast and brag and promote themselves. I can't listen
to that, can you? I despise it. But when I make
my boast in the Lord, the humble Hear their of and they're glad.
See pride and grace are incompatible. Totally incompatible. And the more you grow in grace,
the more you grow in humility. That's right now. More you see of yourself. So
he talks to those humble people in verse 3 and he says, magnify
the Lord with me, and you will. Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
Let us exalt His name together. Who can appreciate His power
to save like those whom He has saved? Who can appreciate His
power to keep like those that are weak? Who can rejoice in
the shepherd like the lost sheep whom He brought home? Who can talk of the Father's
mercy like the prodigal sons? Who can rejoice in the light
like Bartimaeus, the blind man, who now sees? Oh boy, tell me
about the light. I can rejoice in it. Who can
talk of substitution like Barabbas, who appreciates mercy like the
dying thief? Oh, David calls on these humble
people. He says, let's get together and
magnify the Lord. Let's get together and talk of
His grace. Let's get together and exalt
His name together. You remember that 400 I talked
about? Turn to 1 Samuel. This scripture
describes those people. 1 Samuel 22. 1 Samuel 22 preached a message
on this a long time ago. Told you about David fleeing
the fugitive, living in a cave. I tell you, they wanted persecution
too. I'm just sure Saul, when he went
after David, the first place he went was to Jesse's house.
They came down to him. Watch this. Here it describes
that 400 with him. Everyone that was in distress,
everyone that was in debt, everyone that was discontented, burdened
and heavy, is what the Hebrew word says there, burdened and
heavy. They gathered themselves unto
Him. That sounds like the folks around the Lord Jesus, doesn't
it? That sounds like us, in distress. We had a debt we couldn't pay.
He paid a debt He didn't know. We were in debt. We were burdened
and heavy laden. We gathered ourselves to Him
and He became a captive over them. There were about 400 of
them. 400 men. Many of them had their
wives with them. And they were the people around
the David in the caves and the wilderness and the forest. He
says, let's magnify the Lord. Yeah, but we're being hunted.
Well, we better magnify the Lord. But there are enemies in those
mountains and in those plains. They'll kill us if they can find
us. So let's magnify the Lord together. Exalt His name. He says in verse 4, this is our
gospel, read it carefully. I sought the Lord and He heard
me. Delivered me from all my fears. Lord, David wrote in another
place, if thou should mark iniquity, who would stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. The Lord is
plenteous in redemption. The Lord delights to show mercy.
I sought the Lord, why don't you? He heard me, He'll hear
you. He saved me, He'll save you. From all my fears and my sins
and my transgressions and He'll save you from all yours. No sinner
has ever been turned away who calls on the name of the Lord.
No lost man ever sought mercy that didn't mind it. Not one
example in the New Testament of one single person who came
to Christ in need and went away empty. Not one example. I sought the Lord and He heard
me, delivered me. That word delivered is saved.
That's how salvation is used in the New Testament, deliverance.
He delivered me from all my fears, all my sins. Come you sinners,
poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus stands ready
to save you, full of pity, love and power. Come ye sinners, poor
and needy, bruised and mangled by the fall. If you tarry till
you are better, you will never come at all. So let not conscience
make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requires is to feel your need of him. This poor man sought
the Lord, and he heard me, and looked. upon me in pity and delivered
me." Verse 5, he talks about, who's he talking about here?
They looked to him, they did. They looked to him. Who's he
talking about, they? He's talking about the believers
before him, Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Job. They looked to him in faith.
And they were what? They were enlightened. They were
lightened. And their faces were not ashamed.
They were not disappointed. Every Old Testament writer and
believer was ashamed of himself. But he was never ashamed of the
Lord. He was never disappointed in
the Lord. Not one. of the Old Testament
believers, now listen, not a one of them ever denied his faith. Not a one of them. They looked to him and they were
enlightened and they were never ashamed. Not a one of them. Abel, Abraham, Enoch, Enoch walked
with God, walked right on into heaven. Noah, Moses, Isaac, Jacob. You don't read of one of them
who ever said, well, I looked in vain. I trusted him that he
would be my Redeemer. And he failed me. Not one of
them. And even so it is with me, he said. Now watch this.
Verse 6 and 7. I'm going to give you Spurgeon's
outline on this verse 6 and 7. Spurgeon called himself the village
preacher. In his Treasure of David, we
have some books in the church bookstore called the Treasury
of David. I never prepare a sermon on the
Psalms that I do not consult the Treasure of David by Charles
Spurgeon. It's a collection of the best
works on the Psalms. It's a collection of writers
from ages back, and there isn't a better group of books on the Psalms
and the treasury of David. And Spurgeon in these books calls
himself the village preacher. And the village preacher always
has a sermon, an outline of a sermon at the end of the study of the
Psalms. And in verse 6 and 7, he tells
us about the poor man, the poor man who cried. And he has several
points. The poor man's heritage. What's
the poor man's heritage? Well, the poor man's heritage
is trouble. Verse 6 says, This poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his troubles. The
poor man's spirit is what we're talking about here. Poor and
needy. David kept saying, I'm poor and needy. Arthur Pink says,
When God said, blessed are the poor in spirit, He's talking
about those spiritually and who know it. They have nothing, they
are nothing, they know nothing, and they can do nothing. Now
that's poor. A man who has nothing, is nothing,
knows nothing, and can do nothing is poor. I don't care if he's
got a 10 carat diamond ring and a Rolex watch and a $1000 suit
and a $100,000 car, he's still poor. If he can do nothing, is
nothing, knows nothing, he's poor. And that's what he's saying
here. That's my heritage from Adam. Trouble. And then the poor man's
friend. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him. No one else heard him. Wouldn't
have done any good if they had. They couldn't have helped him.
Bartimaeus' friends heard him. Lord! Son of David, have mercy! They said, shut up. That's about
all the world can give you is a shut up, isn't it? As far as
they're concerned, you might as well shut up. Be quiet! They can't help you. But the Lord heard him. He's
my friend. My heritage is trouble and sorrow,
and my friend is the Lord. And the poor man's blessings,
listen, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him. That's the
first blessing, he heard him. David, when he'd write a psalm,
he'd say, Lord incline your ear. The real key to prayer I know
a lot of people give how to pray. It's useless and worthless if
he doesn't hear. That's the key. To have his ear,
his love, his grace, his interest, his concern in Christ. They argue
all the time, can a lost man pray? If he's in Christ, he can. Can a sinner pray? If he's in
Christ, he can. If he's looking to Christ, Because
Christ has the Father's ear. He said, My Father, you always
hear me. And that's not how many words
you say or what kind of words you say, it's does He hear you? All you have to say is, Help!
If He hears you. But if He doesn't hear you, you
can give the Gettysburg Address. And it's wasting time. Lord,
help us. Save us. That's all Peter said
when he was singing, Lord save me. But he heard him. This poor man cried and he heard
him. I wish I could make that as plain
as I ought to make it. If he hears me, it's an effectual
prayer. If he hears a man, he'll save
him. The poor man's blessings, he
saved him out of all his troubles. Put a robe on him, ring on his
finger, shoes on his feet, killed a fatted calf, and had a feast. He saved him. And then here's
the poor man's legacy. Verse 7. And he set his angels
around him and hedged him about. The angel of the Lord encampeth, encampeth round about them that
fear him and delivers them. I tell you, if his angels are
encamped about us, no enemy can touch us. He'll give his angels
charge over this. Isn't that something? The poor
man's heritage, trouble. The poor man's prayer, he cried. The poor man's friend, the Lord,
hurt him, saved him. The poor man's blessings, he
saved him out of all his troubles, all his sins. And the poor man's
legacy, he stationed his angels outside his door and said, keep
him until I call him home. Isn't that something? Keep that.
Watch over him. Till I call him home. Oh, verse 8, listen. Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is that man that can
trust Him and does trust Him. And what I thought about when
I read this, taste and see that the Lord is good. The table is
spread. Who spread it? He did. The wine
is the purest wine, the bread is the finest bread, and the
food is prepared by the Lord Himself, the bread from heaven.
Like when the disciples were out there on the boat, you know,
and the Lord appeared on the shore, and they said, it's the
Lord. And Peter jumped in the water
and swam to shore and then the others came with the little ship.
When they all got there, they saw that the Lord had cooked
a meal. He had bread and he had fish
on the fire. And the table was spread. And
he said three words. Do you remember what they were?
Three words. To those weary, tired, hungry,
disappointed, depressed fisherman. He said, come and dine. Come
and dine. Well, I know who spread the feast
and I know a little bit about what's there, but its goodness
will remain unknown and unexperienced until I taste. That's what he's saying here.
Oh, taste and see. Taste and experience. And taste and see how good he
is. Blessed is the man who tastes,
who trusts. That's what he says there. Blessed
is the man. You know those disciples. I bet
he didn't have to say that twice. Come and dine. They knew him. They knew what he could do. They
knew where his food is the best food. And they gathered around
that table and they tasted and it was good. I imagine they talked
about it until the end of their days. That's the best meal I've
ever had. Well, why don't we taste? Blessed
is the man, not who reads about it, who knows about it, who even
preaches it. Because some have and haven't
tasted. I know they haven't because they
quit. You'll never dine at his table and leave to go to anybody
else's. You'll never walk with this friend
and turn away to walk with somebody else. That's an impossibility. You'll never taste that the Lord
is good and trust Him and stop trusting Him. Because you can't
find anybody like Him. What is your beloved more than
any other beloved? You told them, didn't you? Shoot! Oh boy! But you've got to taste and see. And then verse 9 says,
I've got to close with this, fear the Lord, Fear the Lord,
ye His saints. There's no want to them that
fear Him. What is the fear of the Lord? So often when we encounter
that phrase, the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, most
of our time is spent telling people what it's not. I'm going
to tell you what it is, what I believe it is, the fear of
the Lord. I'll give you four things, briefly. The fear of
the Lord is to know something of his majesty, his power, his
glory and our weakness. That's the fear of the Lord,
to know something of his unspeakable majesty and power
and glory and the fact that these things
don't dwell in us by nature. causes us to reverence Him who
is all and in all. Secondly, the fear of the Lord
is to have some understanding of His holiness. His holiness, His immaculate
holiness and righteousness and our sinfulness. God is holy. Dwelling in a light of holiness
to which no man can approach by nature. Holy. Holy, holy. When Isaiah saw the
Lord, the seraphims were crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. And when he saw that, he saw
something else. I'm a man of unclean lips. And
I dwell among a people of unclean lips. And that will establish a reverence
and an awe, a fear of the Lord, His holiness. Thirdly, the fear
of the Lord is to have some understanding of who Christ is, what Christ came to do, why He
lived on this earth in the flesh and died on that cross, where
He is, what He is, and to believe Him. and to receive Him, and
to bow. The fear of the Lord is to bow. Not just my head, but my heart.
Not just my body from the waist, but my whole being is to bow
in His presence. My Lord. Thomas just fell on
the ground and said, My Lord and my God. John, who loved Him so much,
John who lay his head on the master's breast at the last supper,
John whom the Lord loved, but when John heard his voice on
Patmos, in his glory, he said, I fell at his feet. Prostrate
like a dead man. My Lord. My God. This troubles me. Preachers are the greatest offenders
of all, who speak so flippantly about Jesus. Who sing a song, there's no friend
like the lowly Jesus. My Jesus is not lowly. He was,
but He ain't no more. He's God. He's exalted with an
exaltation above all exaltation. That it's the very name of Jesus,
Ebenezer. That's the fear of the Lord,
to have some understanding of who he is. Sweet little Jesus, boy. Just
listen to them. They're just, blessed Jesus, oh Jesus, oh my
soul. That's taking God's name in vain.
The Lord Jesus. And fourthly, the fear of the
Lord. If it's there, we'll worship Him. That's exactly right. We will. The fear of the Lord
is to worship Him. It's to reverence Him. It's to
trust Him. It's to obey Him. It's to tremble
to offend Him. I tremble to offend Him. And
if a man does have in his heart the fear of the Lord, worship
will be spontaneous. It's no problem to worship God. It's no problem to be awed in
the presence of God. If he's known, he's feared. Isn't
that right? If he's known, he's feared. And I'll tell you this, what
David says here is, you his saints, you fear the Lord, there's no
want. There's no lack. L-A-C-K. There's no lack. You needn't
be concerned about not being in glory. You'll be there. There's
no lack to them that fear Him. You needn't worry about how weak
your prayers are, how weak your faith is, or how weak this, that,
or the other is. You'll be there. You're in Him.
There's no lack to them that fear Him. Now the young lions, the strong
and fierce and cunning creatures, depending on their own strength
to supply their needs, they suffer hunger. The young lions, even
the young fierce, go get them lions. King of the forest, kill
anything in his path, sometimes he knows what it is to hunger,
because he depends on himself. But they that seek the Lord,
however weak they are, Can't supply one thing spiritually. Can't produce even a good thought. Well, they're not like anything
if they seek the Lord. So, my children, come. And I think he talks about children,
little ones, but I think he's talking about all of God's children.
That's who he's talking about. We are children. Children of
the Most High God. We're all learners who need daily
teaching. And my soul, what a teacher,
David. God said himself, you can't have
a better one because he's a man after my own eye. David, wise warrior, musician, writer, judge, ruler,
king. God's anointed. What a blessing
to sit at his feet, and his subject, David's subject. Well, a lot
of things he could teach us. Knowledge of earthly things, and it's good to acquire some
of them. But without the fear of the Lord, all these things
would be useless. So David starts where we need
to start to learn the fear of the Lord. This fear I've been
talking about. The fear of the Lord. Come, my
children. Come, my children, and I'll teach you the fear of
the Lord. Without the fear of the Lord,
all of the knowledge will be useless. The thief on the cross. will never appear in anybody's
who's who, he'll never appear in anybody's hall of fame, but
he'll appear in glory, because he learned the fear of the Lord. He said to the other thief, what
did he say? Don't you fear God? You mean
you don't fear God? He'll never be in anybody's hall
of fame, will he? He'll never be in anybody's who's
who. But his name's in the book of life. He didn't know nothing. But he knew who that was on that
cross. He said, don't you fear God.
This man has never sinned. Lord, when you come into your
kingdom, would you think on me? This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him. This poor man is going to keep
crying too. Because my legacy, my heritage
is trouble. Trouble, my friend and only friend
is the Lord. But he'll hear me by his grace. Alright, I hope that's a blessing
to you.