Psalm 34 • Taste and see that the Lord is good

we're in Psalm chapter 34 so open your Bible there please and let's begin with prayer Heavenly Father as we dig into this Psalm tonight I pray that you would help us to have a heart of understanding and that we would gain insight from it and that we would learn this evening the things that you want us to learn teach us Lord speak to our hearts you have given us ears to hear and eyes to see now Lord activate those this evening so that we would hear from you we ask it in Jesus name Amen Psalm chapter 34 is the third Psalm to be written as an acrostic I don't know if I've always mentioned this every time we've come to one of these that basically means that every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet and they that was done we think probably just to help promote memorization you know if you were remembering something and you knew that the first verse started with a and then B and then C and so forth you would probably at least it help you get the first word which sometimes helps you to be able to do that and we know that people did memorize these but what we also know about this is that psalm 34 was written during a time in David's life when he was running from Saul who being inflamed with jealousy was trying to kill David and so there was a couple of times actually the David sought refuge in the land of the Philistines and this is just this Psalm is written essentially after that first time and David figured on both of those occasions that Saul wouldn't come looking for him in the land of the Philistines since they were the perennial enemies of Israel and but this particular time David barely escaped with his life and he he knew he had been unwise in going among the Philistines and so when he was able to escape he was very grateful to the Lord and he saw the Lord's mercy in it and so this solemn is a celebration of the mercy and the faithfulness of God and you can just I mean David's gratitude is just replete throughout this Psalm let's begin looking at verse 1 some of you are gonna hear old songs I'll just warn you ahead of time as we read through these first verses I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul makes its boast in the Lord let the humble hear and be glad o magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears I was actually singing the song that goes along with this tusu today while I was studying I won't I won't burden you with it but it you know it's just it it's one of those times when you read through the verses of the Psalms and a song just rises up in in our hearts you can see from these first four verses that David is full of joy he's full of gratitude and full of praise to the Lord he says I'll bless the Lord at all times I'm not going to stop praising him with my mouth my soul makes its boast in the Lord and then he says let the humble hear and be glad that's an interesting statement and then I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all of my fears Wow that's pretty amazing he says in verse 5 those who look to the Lord are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed I want you to stop for just a moment and think to yourself what does it mean to look to the Lord we we see that phrase in the Psalms and it's it's not something that we're on you know familiar with but but what exactly does it mean I I I look to the Lord those he says who looked to the Lord are radiant well if somebody said to you your name inserted here I'm looking to you well that's putting a lot of pressure on somebody but that means they're relying on you maybe a coach might say to one of his players on the team you know Jack I'm looking to you to get the job done tonight well again that's basically applying that that focus on one individual to pull it out to make it happen and so forth so when David says those who look to him or radiant he's talking about those who are utterly depending on the Lord who basically are saying you know it's God that I'm looking to so here's my question to you what do you lack what do you lack in your life right now patience provision a job a relationship maybe a healed relationship we all have things in our life that we lack every single one of us there's probably hardly a time in our lives that we can't look at our lives and say I'm lacking something so here's the point are you looking to the Lord to meet that need whatever it is because David says those who look to the Lord our radiant and their faces will never be ashamed those who are depending on the Lord those who are saying to the Lord this is the need in my life now here's the question or I guess I should say here's the option that you and I have we all have needs here's that here's the question are you going to take care of it on your own work it out yourself or are you going to look to the Lord alright it's kind of the same thing as waiting on the Lord when you stop and think about it it's very very similar but waiting on the Lord should never be and I think looking to the also should never be misconstrued as I'm sitting and kind of twiddling my thumbs waiting for God to do something I'm just gonna wait and forgot to do something you know I don't know you know I need a job so I'm just waiting for the phone to ring you know and I think some people kind of look at it that way like any effort that I do on my part is going to be circumventing looking to the Lord or waiting on the Lord and you know the possibility exists that if I do step out I'm going to step out in my own strength there's certainly always going to be a temptation to do that but I think that there's a point where we do step out in faith believing that the Lord's going to provide in other words I need a job I'm gonna get out there and get my you know resume out there and fill out some applications and so forth but I'm trusting that the Lord is going to provide me with the job that's best I'm looking to the Lord to do that right I'm not gonna bust doors down I'm not gonna you know pulse you know twist somebody's arm I'm gonna wait and wait for the Lord to take care of it for me notice what David goes on to say in verse 6 he says this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles I want you to notice how David refers to himself here in this verse right after saying talking about those who look to the Lord he refers to himself as the poor man and by doing that he's acknowledging that he was without resources to bring about his own rescue right and that is one of the most important revelations that we can have about our lives you know that that we are poor and yet you'll notice here that throughout the course of this Psalm even though he calls himself a poor man he's delighted he's delighted with his poverty he's delighted with the fact that his abundance and his provision is found in the Lord he's basically saying I have nothing but I'm delighted to say that I delighted to admit that I have nothing right if you haven't yet found the joy of your utter poverty then you have not begin to really truly experience the abundance of God's provision and the joy that comes along with resting in him but I want to reiterate it begins with understanding that you're not bringing anything to the table you're a willing vessel you're going to be out there to step in out in faith if that's what the Lord directs but you are not bringing provision to the equation and then asking God to bless it or add to it you are coming to the Lord and saying I have nothing I'm the poor man think about that when you're praying next time and just tell the Lord I believe it delights him to hear from his children when we say to him I have nothing and I'm trusting in you my hope is in you look at verse 7 the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them now this is going to be the first of several verses in this Psalm where David makes a reference to fearing the Lord so it would be helpful for us to ask what does it mean to fear the Lord I'll never forget a number of years ago had a guy come up to me after a message in which I was obviously talking about fearing the Lord and he was really took issue with my my statement although it comes right from the Word of God and he said I don't I don't think we should fear God at all I said well the Lord would disagree because you know he says over and over and over again that fearing the Lord is a good thing here's the deal he was thinking of fear only in the negative sense and and you know and I don't blame him you know somebody coming from a place where they really aren't familiar with the scripture and you and and they start reading verses to say fear the Lord oh you his people they're gonna kind of go really isn't this the same God that we were just singing about and we were saying he's a good good father and the Lord is faithful to it and we sing all these wonderful things and then we read the word nur goes fear him and we're kind of you know again a new person in the Lord is maybe taken aback because when they think of fear they think of all the things they're afraid of they think of getting sick you know where many of us are afraid of disease death crime tragedy happening you know storms demons and and we could go on and on and on about the many things that were afraid of so fearing God when I think of fearing God in that context it seems out of place because isn't he a loving father well the first thing you have to understand that even when it comes to fearing God there's a bad kind of fear and that's an important thing to remember you guys remember in the book of Genesis after Adam and Eve ate of the the tree that was forbidden for them to eat it says that they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the cool of the garden what a cool thing that would have been but it says they ran and they hid and when they were finally called out of their hiding places they said we heard you you know coming and we were afraid we were afraid well that's not the kind of fear that God is talking about when he says fear the Lord because the fear of the Lord has a positive effect in our lives it's not being afraid of God in the sense of I'm afraid things have been going too good lately in my life you ever heard that one and I'm afraid that the sword is gonna fall any day now because it just can't keep going like this in fact I wish something bad would happen so I could kind of just breathe a sigh of relief you know that's not the kind of fear that God wants you and I to have actually there are several Hebrew and Greek words that are translated fear in the and although they can have different meanings different shades of meanings when they're used in in in in relationship to speaking about the fear of the Lord they always have a positive connotation okay so references to the fear law of the Lord speak positively fear of the Lord speaks of good intentions and it serves to make a person receptive to the counsel of the Lord let me show you how what this how this is kind of communicated in the Proverbs proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 look at this the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction so you see what we're saying here the fear of the Lord speaks of good intentions and an open heart toward the counsel of the Lord but somebody who doesn't properly fear the Lord the Bible calls a fool and they are going to despise wisdom and instruction right because they're not open to it because they don't have that proper fear of the Lord now in the Greek when we get to the New Testament and it starts talking about the fear of the Lord it refers to kind of a reverential fear to Revere God in fact vines expository dictionary calls it a wholesome dread of displeasing him but a wholesome dread okay and this is this is a positive and helpful kind of fear of the Lord it's the kind of fear that the early church had let me show you this on the screen from Acts chapter 9 it says so the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up and look at this and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it multiplied interesting in the same phrase we hear the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the spirit so as they feared the Lord and walked in the fear of the Lord they were comforted again do you see that it has a positive connotation this idea of fearing the Lord and that's what David is talking about here in this Psalm in verse 7 when he says the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them but even then sometimes those words need to be added to a little bit check out this passage from Hebrews on the screen chapter 12 verse 28 and 29 the writer says therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe that is that word with fear and awe and it ends with for our God is a consuming fire Wow our God is a consuming fire I don't know it doesn't maybe it sounded like something you want to think about when you're thinking about you know receiving comfort or something from the Lord but we fear him because we know and understand who he is but notice that that the writer of Hebrews says in this passage let us be grateful so he speaks of gratitude in the same passage where we're reading about the fear of the Lord so again the fear of the Lord brings out gratitude right and awe which are good things and then the Book of Proverbs adds this look at this one proverbs 8:13 the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil pride and arrogance in the way of evil and perverted speech I hate so what else is the fear of the Lord it's the hatred of evil all right finally I want to show you a verse that's almost identical to the one we started with but this was in proverbs 9 this one says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom the earlier one said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge now we have the beginning of wisdom you know the difference between knowledge and wisdom knowledge is simply knowing something wisdom is putting that knowledge into practice and knowing how to put that knowledge into practice alright so the fear of the Lord now here's what the reason I brought this up alongside the earlier one we looked at that's almost identical it's because the word beginning here is actually different from proverbs chapter one that says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge now we say the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but it's a different word a different Hebrew word and it literally means prerequisite the fear of the Lord is the prerequisite of wisdom in case you need a refresher on prerequisite let me show you this what does prerequisite mean it's a thing that is required as a prior condition for something else to happen or exist so what are we learning in that verse the fear of the Lord is required before wisdom can exist and interesting wisdom doesn't begin to enter in to the heart of man until the fear of the Lord is present and even then it's just the beginning right it has to come first okay verse eight o taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him you know I've always loved this first because it dares the skeptic to experience the Lord for themselves in a real intangible way you know when I was in the sixth grade fifth or sixth grade I can't remember we were going through this exercise in school where they would blindfold us and have us taste things and we would have to tell them what it was you know so brown sugar you know salt you name it and taste is a very intimate sort of a thing and I remember what they would have us do before we tasted it is they'd have a smell at first and they were kind of talking about our senses and all this and so they took some sugar and they put it first up to my nose now I remember I'm blindfolded and I don't know if you've ever smelled sugar it doesn't really smell that good sugar does not have a nice aroma so you know they said okay here now smell this and went ooh and they said now taste it I was like no I don't want to taste that you know it doesn't that's it but I taste it was like oh sugar sugar and I and first time I learned as a kid you know that sugar doesn't really smell good but it tastes great it by tasting it I was convinced that this thing that I thought smelled bad and I thought was bad I was convinced that it was in fact good and that is exactly what David is challenging you and I to do with the Lord taste and see or taste and prove that the Lord is good I'll I really really like this this challenge to many of us I'll just say this flat-out to many of us as Christians talk about the Lord's goodness second or third hand we might see somebody else who has experienced the goodness of God and we go WOW god is good too few of us have experienced his goodness for ourselves you know when I was thinking about this verse I started looking around at some other authors from years gone by and how they looked at this verse taste and see that the Lord is good and I was kind of touched by several of their quotes I want to put him up on the screen for you the first one by a man by the name of Campbell Murdock he says you know we may argue about God we can talk about his existence we can talk about all the external evidences you know which the universe and and Providence provide you know for like proving that God exists and he's real and so forth and so on but he says you know what only when his of and presence touch our hearts can we really know him in that one undeniable way of his unspeakable goodness you have to really know that firsthand here's another one from a guy check the date on this at the at the bottom 1869 this man wrote you know there are some things especially in the depths of the Christian life which can only be understood by being experienced and which even then are incapable of being adequately embodied in words o taste and see that the Lord is good the enjoyment must come before the illumination or rather the enjoyment is the illumination there are things that must be loved before we can know them to be worthy of our love things to be believed before we can understand them to be worthy of belief I know that's backwards the world would say prove it to me and then I'll believe it what what he is saying here is sometimes you have to believe and then you experience you know can you imagine trying to convince somebody who had never ever in their life tasted sugar trying to explain what it's like you know it's like my wife describing to me what it feels like to have a baby well I can't know that in personal experience and you know same is true if someone to never ever ever eat and sugar and you're saying well it's sweet and they say define sweet huh the opposite of sour I don't know opposite of salty well you just be you grab grasping for words right it ever felt that way when somebody is talking about the goodness of God and you hear them and you hear the words and you know the definition of good intellectually but you have not experienced firsthand God's goodness and so therefore it's a foreign concept so the biblical authors are challenging us open your mouth and taste and see look what Peter says in his first letter chapter 2 verse 2 like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good beautiful passage and then we return here in our Psalm to the subject of the fear of the Lord remember it's a positive thing Oh fear the Lord you his Saints for those who fear Him have no lack remember what I asked you earlier what are you lacking what are you lacking oh and who are you trusting to fulfill that lack he says here those who fear the Lord have no lack the Young Lions they suffer want and hunger but for those who seek the Lord they lacked no good thing what a wonderful promise come o children listen to me I will teach you the fear of the Lord and here it comes here's the fear of the Lord from David he says what man is there who desires life and loves many good days that he may see good and you know you who doesn't want to see good in their life right so how do I do that here's the fear of the Lord keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit turn away from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it there's the fear of the Lord the fear of the Lord moves upon our hearts to live our lives in such a way that there is stability and that's what he's talking about here who desires life wants to see many days wants to see good I want to see good don't you what's the fastest way to not see good in your life do the opposite of these things speak evil let your lips speak deceit talk about other people behind their back run toward evil do evil seek division pursue that well your life is going to be full of chaos and drama so he says rather live a life that is governed by the fear of the Lord and here's another reason why verse 15 the eyes of the Lord are to ward the righteous and his ears to ward their cry but and there isn't a but there but verse 16 should start with but the eyes of the Lord excuse me the face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth notice that we have those two words toward and against the eyes of the Lord or toward the righteous his ears are toward their cry but his face is turned away or against those who do evil verse 17 when the righteous cry for help the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all he keeps all his bones not one of them is broken again we get some wonderful wonderful promises here in these verses verse 17 cry to the Lord he says for help when you do that God will deliver you verse 18 the Lord is near to the broken hearted you know I've said that to many many people when they're going through the pain and heartache of some loss or something in their life I tell them hey you know God he's near very near the brokenhearted to save those who are crushed in spirit and then look what he admits in verse 19 do do God's people get out of having troubles in life no it's as many are the afflictions of the righteous oh yeah that's one of those verses I wish wasn't there I I wish God wouldn't say that in his word I wish he would say you know and for the righteous it's smooth sailing it's a cakewalk nope many are the afflictions of the righteous what did Jesus say he said in this world you will have trouble trials difficulties but he said be of good cheer didn't he be of good cheer why because he had overcome the world well what it says here is the Lord delivers him out of them all and then in verse 20 there he keeps all his bones not one of them is broken and in a general sort of an application this is a promise that God's gonna keep the righteous man complete you know but in a prophetic sense this was ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus check out this on the screen from John's Gospel so the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first meaning the first robber thief and of the other who had been crucified with him but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs for these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled not one of his bones will be broken a quote there from psalm 34:20 verse 21 now after speaking of God's deliverance for the righteous the Bible's here says affliction is actually going to slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned and is why this statement that is given right here is why you and I as believers should never ever take revenge for anything that's awful done to us because we know from this and so many other passages that the Lord is the final judge he's going to take care of those things nothing escapes his notice if there is a judgement to be administered he's going to do it right the judge of all the earth will do right and you and I can rest in that when we when our hearts are filled with vengeance it's because we're not believing that God is able to do it so the wicked are going to be condemned what about the righteous verse 22 another place where it probably should start with but the Lord redeems the life of his servants none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned none of them right well so this is a statement saying that with God's people condemnation is not going to happen right and this of course is echoed in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul when he wrote in Romans 8:1 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus sometimes I've shared this with people in the past and they said to me I see what the verse says but I have to ask you a question why do I feel condemned you know why do I feel that way and they naturally assume that it's God who's condemning them well we can feel condemned for all kinds of different reasons we can feel to get condemned because others are condemning us and they're putting that on us we can feel condemned because our own conscience is condemning us perhaps wrongly so okay because your conscience is a wonderful thing but it can get things wrong and lastly we can feel condemned because the enemy is condemning us and that's what he does so we have to remember that God's Word Trump's my feelings God's Word Trump's even my own sense of condemnation and God's words true definitely Trump's the condemnation of others that are placed upon us wrongly or rightly as far as they're concerned when we come to God when we receive our forgiveness at the cross of Christ condemnation is gone I hear so many Christians talking about judgment for them and it's like they don't understand they'll speak of judgment you know and and they'll even quote verses say well it says that we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and that's absolutely true but if we're condemned at that judgement seat then that verse is wrong and what Jesus did on the cross isn't enough you have to remember believers that we will stand before God but we will not stand before him in a judgment of condemnation it'll be a judgment of a reward and our condemnation has already been born in the person of Jesus Christ he was condemned for you so when he said it is finished we have to believe that and we have to hang on to that even when our hearts are condemning us even when the enemy is condemning us even when other people around us are condemning us we have to know that we are free from condemnation as as david says in this final verse the Lord redeems the life of his servants that word redeem it means to purchase back to I back you and I have been bought back from death to life and now none of us because we are taking refuge in the blood of the Lamb will ever ever be condemned

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 34,176

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Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament, Psalms

Id: O0qRMdqhOHc

Length: 35min 57sec (2157 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 01 2018