Now these days through which we are passing are very difficult and trying
times for many of the Lord's people. I thought while Brother Jim was
reading Psalm 34, much about the words he uses
here in reference to the Lord's people, many are their afflictions,
their troubles, their sorrows. From one end of this country
to the other, people of God are going through great sorrow and
great troubles and afflictions. Some of our friends are in heaviness
sorrow over their children. Some struggle with illness. Some are troubled about our nation,
I am, our schools. Everything seems like everything
around us is in trouble, deep trouble. People are depressed. Most are pessimistic. They're
pessimistic about the future. Tender hearts are broken. Gentle
souls are weary. Even the strong are fearful.
Many people feel like we're in the days that Paul wrote about
in 2 Timothy, if you'll turn over there, chapter 3 of 2 Timothy,
when he wrote Verse 1, this know also that in the last days, perilous
times, perilous times. I just heard
that two of our schools here in Ashton were going to have
police patrols now. Perilous times. Men shall be
lovers of their own selves, and covetous, and boasters, and proud,
and blasphemous. disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, violent, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure, more than
lovers of God, And religion as a whole is down the drain. Read
that next verse. Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof from such turn away. For of this sort are they which
creep into houses and lead captive silly women. The pulpit is being turned over
to silly women. laden with sins, led away with
diver's lust, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. Those are these days and they're
troublesome times. Troublesome times. Well, I know a psalm, Psalm 34.
I know a psalm written by David. in just such a time in his life,
a time of trouble and affliction. I understand by reading those
who are supposed to know that David wrote this psalm during
some of the darkest hours of his life, some of the darkest
days of his life. That's what it says here in your
margin if you have a Cambridge Bible. Psalm of David when he
changed his behavior before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed.
He feigned madness before this heathen king. Now I'll tell you
why. David wasn't king of Israel,
wasn't on the throne then. He was a fugitive. David was
a fugitive when he wrote this fleeing for his life. And not only from the enemies
of Israel, but he was hunted like a wild beast by the king
of Israel, and by his own people, and by the army in which he served
under King Saul. He was a fugitive. He was compelled
to live in caves. When he wrote this, he was living
in caves and hiding in the forest. And at the same time, he was
trying to find food and supplies for 400 people who were with
him. Let me read you about those people over in 1 Samuel 22. Turn over there just a moment.
You say, 400 people with him? That's a lot of people. Not compared
to the number that were chasing him. When Saul came after him, he
brought 3,000 hand-picked men. That's what he kept saying there
in 1 Samuel. Hand-picked 3,000 cracked warriors,
tracking down David. And here in chapter 22 of 1 Samuel,
verse 2, it says, And everyone that was
in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that
was discontented gathered themselves unto David, and he became a captain. over them, a captain, and there
were about 400 men. He had to find supplies for these.
So they were hiding in caves and in the forest and they were
hiding in the land of the Philistines and wherever they could find
some place to keep from being killed by
Saul. On one occasion, the priest of
God hid David and his men and gave him some food. and gave
him the sword of Goliath. They knew David was God's anointed. And these 80 priests hid David
for a while. And after he left, Saul found
out about it. And he came down there where
they were and killed every one of them. And David, when they came and
told him about these priests who had fed him and taken care
of him, all 80 of them being killed, it broke his heart. And
one of the men escaped, came and told David. David said, I'm
responsible. The whole nation of Israel was
on the verge of destruction. From without and from within,
the Spirit of God had departed from their king. The Spirit of
God had departed from Saul. God's Spirit was with them, Israel. And every personal interest of
David seemed to be hopelessly shattered. On one occasion, he
wrote these words, I would have fainted unless I had believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I would have
quit. One thing kept me from quitting.
I believed that I would one day see again the goodness of the
Lord in the land of the living. And I'm told by those who profess
to know, translators and writers and all, that when David wrote
this Psalm 34, it was during these dark, dark days. Dark days. And perhaps as we read this,
I'm going to read it and try to comment on these different
verses. Maybe we can experience and show
ourselves Attitude and spirit of this man after God's own heart
under our troubles and trials and sorrows and heartaches I
Think look at verse 17 the righteous cry and the Lord hear it and
deliver it them out of all their troubles The Lord is known to
them that are of a broken heart Savior such as be of a contrite
spirit troubles, broken, contrite. Verse 19, many are the afflictions,
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out
of them all. Well, let's see how David reacts
now as he writes this under all of this pressure, sorrow, and
heartache, and leading this 400, and the cares and the burdens
that were upon him. And he says in verse 1, I will. Who? I will. I will. I will what? I will bless the
Lord. I will bless the Lord. When,
David? At all times. Good times and
bad times. High times and low times. Happy
times and painful times. I'm going to bless the Lord continually
at all times. How? He says, his praise shall
continually be in my mouth. Spurgeon said, true thanksgiving
is not a dumb spirit. True thanksgiving is not a dumb
spirit. Those who do not say thank you,
aren't thankful. Those who are thankful, say so.
Thanksgiving is not a dumb spirit. It expresses itself. And that's
what the Scripture says, let the redeemed of the Lord say
so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. And that's
what David is saying here, I'm going to bless the Lord. Instead
of murmuring and complaining and quarreling and finding fault
with His providence, I'm going to bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. Several years ago, Well, some of the men of the
church have been meeting with me back in the study before coming
into the worship services on Wednesday and on Sunday. Some
meet back there and fellowship and have prayer and read the
Word and prepare for worship. And there was a time when I noticed
that this was back years ago, that when they come in, Different
ones of them would have something negative to say about bad preaching,
not here but in other places, what they heard on television,
what they saw on television, what Jimmy Swigert said, what
Jerry Farwell said, what somebody else said, you know. And one
night I said, now brethren, let's hold it right there. Instead
of dwelling on preachers who do not preach the Word, let's
dwell on preachers who do preach the Word. You remember that?
Let's not come to the worship of the Lord with a negative attitude
and a negative spirit. Let's quit talking about it.
Let's just don't bring up the name ever again in here of anybody
who doesn't preach the gospel. When we come together, let's
talk about those who do. Let's bless the Lord. Instead
of mourning over those who've departed from the faith, let's
thank God for those who've kept the faith. Instead of dwelling on and talking
about unpleasant things and disagreeable things and unpleasant people
and disagreeable people, let's talk about His grace, His goodness, His mercies, His
compassions that are new every morning. That's the way to come.
That's the way it is. That's what David said. I'm down
and everybody around me is down. So what am I going to do? I'm
going to bless the Lord. I'm going to bless the Lord. I'm
going to praise God. I'm going to praise God. Now,
our Lord said to His disciples, in this world you shall have
tribulation. You remember He said that in
John 16, 33? In this world you'll have tribulation, but be of good
cheer. Be of good cheer. Well, what
do we got to be of good cheer about? I'll tell you, I've overcome
the world. You be of good cheer. I've overcome
this world. All of your enemies have been
defeated and put to flight. I've put away your sin. I've
judged and cast out Satan. I've kept the law. I've removed
the curse. There is no judgment. You've
got a lot to be of good cheer about. So David said, I'll tell you
what I'm going to do. Right now, I'm going to bless
the Lord. And I'm going to bless Him at
all times and His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Not
a dumb spirit. But I'm going to speak out. Alright,
let's move on. Verse 2. And my soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. Is boasting ever commendable?
Is it ever commendable to boast? This boasting is. This boasting
is, my restored soul is going to boast in Him who restored
it. My new heart is going to boast in Him who gave it. Oh, to say, I can do all things,
that's unacceptable. Somebody says, I can do all things.
That's unacceptable. But I can do all things through
Christ. That's acceptable. That's commendable. The Apostle
Paul said one time, I labored more than all of you. That's
unacceptable. But that's not all he said. He
said, I labored more than all of you, yet not I, with Christ
in me. That's acceptable. That's boasting
that's acceptable. Let me show you something in
Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 9. This is worthy to be marked in
your Bible so that it might be referred to often. Some boasting
is foolish. Some boasting is foolish. I tell
you, true people of God are grieved by proud speeches and boasting.
Those who exalt themselves shall be abased. But Jeremiah 9 verse
23, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom. Don't do that. Don't do that. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might, in his strength, in his health, in his muscles,
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, the person who is comfortable and has plenty. Don't glory in that. But let
him that gloweth glory in this, this is acceptable, this is commendable,
this boasting is acceptable. Let him that gloweth glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord,
which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, righteousness in the
earth, and these things I delight, saith the Lord." And he says down here, In verse
2 of Psalm 34, My soul shall make her boast in the Lord, and
the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. They'll be glad. All of God's people are going
to be glad when I rejoice in the Lord and when I bless the
Lord. It's catching. It's catching. In other words,
we can bring folks down or we can help lift them up. We can. We come in with a bright
spirit and a happy attitude and a good spirit. It's catching,
isn't it? But when we come in complaining and finding fault
and questioning the providence of the Lord, it's distracting. It distracts from the worship
of praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And here in
verse 3, O magnify the Lord with me, Magnify the Lord. Let's exalt His name together.
All you 400 in debt and distressed and discontented that have made
me captain over you, let's magnify the Lord. Let's exalt His name.
Who's He talking to? I believe He's talking to the
humble back there in verse 2. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord, and the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. And
we'll magnify the Lord together. The humble. Who can make God
great like those who know themselves to be small? Who can actually magnify and
exalt the name of the Lord quite like a man who knows his unworthiness
and weakness? Who can praise the shepherd like
a lost sheep who's been found? Who can talk of the Father's
mercies like the prodigal who came home? and felt the tender
kiss on his cheek and the forgiving arms around his shoulders. Oh,
he can magnify. He can exalt him. He can praise
him. Who can exalt the sight giver
like the man who was blind? Ask Bartimaeus about the Lord
Jesus. You got all day? Ask the woman
with issue of the blood about the Lord Jesus. You got all day? A man does not praise one whom
he does not love. A man is not grateful to one
to whom he feels he owes nothing, to whom much is forgiven. He
loved much. He praised much. You that are
humble, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. The proud praise themselves. The chief word in their vocabulary
is I. They talk of themselves, they
promote themselves, they trust themselves, they glory in themselves. But the humble magnify the Lord. David, man after God's own heart,
I want to show you something characteristic of this man. Now here's David, the mighty
warrior, The hymn writer, the psalmist, man after God's own
heart, the man to whom God sent Samuel. God sent Samuel down
to his father's house to anoint him king over all his people. A man God had protected and preserved. The only man in all of history
of whom it said, he's a man after my own heart. I know others are,
but it said that twice about David. When he was being pursued by
Saul and his 3,000 men, let's turn to 1 Samuel 24, you've got
to see this. When he was being pursued by
3,000 cracked troops and him and his little bedraggled bunch
of 400, It says in 1 Samuel 24 verse 2, Then Saul took three
thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David
and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats, outshined among
the goats in the caves. What is David's reaction? Well,
he had some encounters with Saul. You remember the Lord protected
him mightily. He went down one time while Saul
was asleep and cut part of his robe off. He stood out here in verse 14,
and this is what he said to Saul. He's speaking now from the mountain
down there to Saul. After whom is the king of Israel
come out? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog and a flea.
That's what David says about himself. You've got this mighty
army, and the King of Israel, and these crack troops, and you
come after a flea? A dead dog? That's humble, isn't it? My,
my. We could learn things like that.
My soul shall make her boast only in the Lord. God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of Christ. What? in which
to glory, humanly speaking. He said that. If any man thinks
he's way up to glory, I'm over. Boy, he had plenty of things
in which to brag and talk about after God saved him, took him
to the third heaven, spoke in languages more than all believers,
wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament, maybe 14. And yet he gloried one thing,
Christ. They printed another one of our
books, the Old Testament Studies, over in England a month or so
ago. And I was so pleased to get a
strong, strong, favorable review in a magazine, a review of that
book in a magazine over in England. It's called the Gospel Standard,
the magazine. It's been printed since 1835.
It was started by John Gadsby, continued by J.C. Philpott, and
edited by other men for 150 years. This magazine has been printed. It's the voice of several strict
Baptist churches in England. And the editor read our book,
our new Old Testament studies. And he wrote a review. And I
was so delighted with what he said. In essence, this is what
he said. He says, we know nothing about
Henry Mahan. And that's good. That's what
John the Baptist said. I'm a voice in the wilderness.
He said, I never met the man. I know nothing about him. The
only thing I know is he's a pastor somewhere in Kentucky. But in his book, there's a sweet
savor of Christ. That's it, isn't it? There's
a sweet savor of Christ. Don't know him. Never met him. Never heard him preach. But he
exalts Christ. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad." They don't have to know you or me, but they sure
got to know Him. That's what David is talking
about. He said here, look at verse 4. Read this carefully.
This is what we preach. I sought the Lord, and He heard
me. He always will. He always will. You seek Me, He said, seek Me
with all your heart and you'll find Me. I sought the Lord, He
heard me. The Lord delights to show mercy
to sinners. He's plenteous in redemption.
David wrote, If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, who would stand?
But there's forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I sought the Lord, and He heard me. He heard me. And He delivered me out of all
my fears. Look at verse 6. This poor man
put these verses together. I sought the Lord." Who? This
poor man. He calls himself poor and needy.
I sought the Lord. This poor man cried. That's about
all a poor man can do is cry. He can't pay anything. And he
heard me. Why would he not hear you? He
came to save sinners. And He delivered me out of all
my fears. And verse 6 says, He saved me
out of all my troubles, from all my fears and all my troubles. I'm saying this, no sinner has
ever been turned away who came to Christ. No lost person shall ever come
in vain. We never know to whom we're preaching,
do we? If there's anybody out here tonight,
I wish that I could remember to say these things every time
I get up here. I'm told that this young musician
who died this past week, Murthy, he was here in the service just
recently. I stood back there at the door.
I remember shaking hands with that man and talking to him.
But he was here and heard me preach. And I say, whoever is
here tonight, I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered
me out of all my fears. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. He willed.
He delights to show. Not one example can be found
in the New Testament of anybody who sought the Lord and was turned
away. Can you think of one? Not one person who's ever sought
mercy was ever turned away. Never in this book. Not one. Come ye sinners. Marty was playing
it this morning and tonight. I don't remember which, but I
listened to it. Loved those words. Come ye sinners,
poor and needy. This poor man cried. Weak and
wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you, full
of pity, love and power. Come ye weary, heavy laden, 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 fondly dream. All the fitness He requires is
to fill your need of Him. I sought the Lord, and He heard
me. He delivered me. This poor man cried, Lord heard
him, saved him. He'll save you. He'll hear you. In verse 5, he said, they looked.
They looked. I tried to find out who they
were. They looked to him and they were enlightened. Their
faces were not ashamed. They looked. Spurgeon said, I
feel sure that the they here, they who looked and were enlightened,
were his forefathers. Those who lived before David.
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses. They looked. They
looked to Christ. Abraham, he rejoiced to see my
day. Moses looked to Christ, didn't
he? He wrote of Christ. All of those men back there.
Abel looked to Christ when he offered a more excellent sacrifice.
And they looked. They looked. Like Israel looked
to the brazen serpent. And they were enlightened. They
looked and they were enlightened. God turned on a light, and they
were not disappointed. Verse 6 again, I read an outline
by the village preacher in the treasure of David. This poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all
his troubles. Spurgeon gave the poor man's heritage trouble.
The poor man's prayer, he cried. The poor man's friend, the Lord
heard him, no one else did. No one else could help him anyway.
The poor man's blessing, he saved him out of all his trouble. And the next verse gives us the
poor man's legacy. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. The angel
of the Lord. These angels are not imaginary
creatures. Now, you stay with me a moment
and you'll get, I believe, a little comfort and help. They're not
cloud-dwellers. They're not heart-pluckers. They're
real, living, unseen messengers of God. Let me show you some
Scripture. Turn to Exodus 23. Let's just
take a moment here and look at Exodus 23. Exodus 23, verse 20. God says, Behold, I send an angel
before thee to keep thee in thy way, and to bring thee into the
place which I have prepared. Look at Psalm 91, verse 11. Maybe I could just turn to these
and read them to you. Psalm 91, verse 11. For He shall give His angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In Matthew 18, verse 10, our
Lord is talking about not little children here, He's talking about
little ones. Matthew 18, talking about believers
who are little ones. His little ones. In verse 10
of Matthew 18, Take heed, you despised, not one of these little
ones. For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always
behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. And then Hebrews 1 verse 14,
listen to this, Hebrews 1 verse 14, talking about the angels.
It says, Are they not ministering spirits sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation? The same angel that set Peter
free from prison in Acts 12, smote Herod dead, just 15 verses
later. Same angel. Put his hand on Peter
and woke him up, took him out of jail, put his hand on Herod
and he died. Angels of the Lord. They encircle the believers. I believe that. We don't know the dangers that
are about us. We think we know something of
the dangers, but we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, rulers of the darkness,
spiritual wickedness in high places. There's evil all about us. And the Bible talks about angels
being here tonight. When God's people gather to worship,
the angels are here. That's in Corinthians, is it
not? It's angels are present. When you go out and get in your
car and leave here tonight, His angels are traveling with you.
I believe that. In fact, I know it. Satan quoted
that to Christ when He was on the Mount of Temptation. You
remember? He said, has He not said He'd give His angels charge
over thee? Jump off of here! You won't be hurt. That's when
Christ said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Angels. And that's the poor man's legacy.
The angel of the Lord. Verse 7. The angel of the Lord
pitched his tent out there with God's people. He moved in. and encampeth round about them
that fear him, and delivereth them." That word delivereth,
continually, delivereth, delivereth. You'll need delivering many more
times. I really believe that that chariot that came down and
got Elijah, fiery chariot, I believe those were angels. His angels are called fiery messengers. And that's what Elijah saw. The
angels of God just encircled Elijah, took him home. Angels
of God. Well, I've got to move. Taste
and see that the Lord is good. I'll just touch on this. There's
a table spread. Does he not say, come for all
things are ready? The purest wine, the finest meat,
the freshest vegetables, the bread of the Master, But its
goodness will remain unknown except we taste and see. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. There's no want to them that
fear Him. There's no want to them that fear Him. Oh, fear
the Lord. Ye His saints, there's no want
to them that fear Him. Verse 9, fear the Lord. Let me
close with this. The fear of the Lord is mentioned
here. Verse 11, Come ye children, hearken to me, I'll teach you
the fear of the Lord. Let me give you a definition
of the fear of the Lord. What is it to fear the Lord?
Let me give you four or five things. Number one, the fear
of the Lord is to know something in my heart of His majesty. of His glory and of His power. I believe the reason that Paul
said there's no fear of God before their eyes is they've never had
any understanding of the glory and power and majesty of God.
Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done. Thine is the power and the glory. And the fear of the
Lord is to have some understanding of His majesty, power, greatness,
and my weakness. Secondly, the fear of the Lord
is to have some understanding of His holiness, of His righteousness,
His justice. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right, do righteousness? He's a righteous, holy God. You
see, that's what Isaiah saw the holiness of God. That's what made him say, oh,
wretched man. Or talk about, I'm a man of unclean
lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have
seen the Lord in His holiness. That's the fear of the Lord.
Thirdly, the fear of the Lord is to have some understanding
of His love and mercy to us in Christ. And our unworthiness
of this He said, I'll show mercy, but I'll show mercy to whom I
will show mercy. Mercy is sovereignly given. Or it's not mercy. Grace is sovereignly
given. The hymn writer said, Lord, while
on others Thou art calling, don't pass me by. That's the fear of
the Lord. He has mercy. He's going to show
mercy. He's going to be merciful to
somebody. Don't pass me by. while on others
thou art calling, do not pass me by. Let some drops fall on me." That's
what these people, that woman that came, this Canaanite woman,
and fell at his feet and cried, Lord, have mercy. You've got
mercy. He never answered her. She stayed
there. He said, I'm sent to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. She stayed there. He said, it's
not right to give the children's bread to the dogs. She stayed
there. She had nowhere else to go. She feared the Lord. She
said, I'm your dog. Brush some crumbs off to me.
Oh woman, great is your faith. Fear of the Lord. That's what
made Mary sit at His feet. Fourthly, the fear of the Lord
is to have some understanding of His gospel, His gospel in
Christ Jesus, His saving grace, His forgiving mercy in Christ,
His righteousness in blood that cleanses us, and to believe that
gospel, and to cherish it, and hold to it, and value it. He's entrusted me, Paul said,
with the gospel. What a treasure! Don't take it
lightly. Entrusted me. That's the reason Paul said,
oh, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Woe is me if I preach
not the gospel. He has taken this blessed treasure
that sets men free, that gives eternal life, and put it in my
hands. I wouldn't compromise it. I fear
the Lord. And last, listen to this, the
fear of the Lord is to reverence Him, reverence Him, and worship
Him, and trust Him, and tremble to offend Him. One verse of Scripture, Proverbs
16. Fear to tremble, tremble to offend
Him. Proverbs 16, verse 6. It says
this, By mercy and truth, Iniquities purged by God's mercy and God's
truth in Christ. And by the fear of the Lord,
men depart from evil. That's right. It's a clean and
wholesome fear. It's a reverence. Fear the Lord. There's no want to them that
fear Him. And David, mighty captain, warrior, musician, singer, Ever
name it, statesman, but he called the children, come you children,
I'll teach you. Not how to play the lute, or
how to sing, or how to govern a nation. I'm going to teach
you that which is most important of all. Dear the Lord. Dear the
Lord. Our Father used the word, encourage
us. Comfort your people. Lift the
spirits. hearts of thy people, to cause
us to rejoice together. We have so many reasons to rejoice
and to be glad and to be of good cheer for thou hast overcome
this world. I bless this word this day and
thy people this week as they go forth from this place to pursue
their daily walk and their work. and bless them according to your
will. I pray in Christ's name, amen.