No where to go but up: Finding peace in a cave of fear

[0:00] Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Thank you.

[1:00] Thank you.

[1:30] Thank you. And those miraculous events not only tell us something about who Jesus is, but it also reminds us how there's more supernatural reality than we often realize.

[2:12] And there is power in the name of Jesus Christ. And He can change a situation. He can change a life. There is power in His name.

[2:22] And so we'll be starting that series here soon. So this weekend, I want to direct our attention to Psalm 34. This is just kind of a one kind of shot weekend as we look here at this psalm.

[2:35] And I really want to do this to kind of encourage you in whatever season of life that you may be in as we look at a testimony from King David here in Psalm 34.

[2:46] And we're going to read verse 1 through verse 8 for our scripture reading tonight. So if you are able to stand, would you please do so as we honor the reading of God's Word.

[2:57] Psalm 34. It's a psalm of David. He writes in verse 1, Those who look to Him are radiant.

[3:29] Their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

[3:41] The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers Him. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, and blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

[3:57] And God's people said? I mean, just reading those words, some of you are already like, I need to hear what God has to say to us tonight. So let's pray together, and let's ask Him to speak to us.

[4:09] Father, we thank You that Your Word is living and active. And God, You bring us together for times where You speak to us, and You talk to us, and You share through Your Word as Your Spirit works in our lives.

[4:24] And no doubt there are many in this room that need the great truth found in Psalm 34. And even those that aren't currently in a cave, we know that there are many moments in the cave in life.

[4:38] And so may this be something that builds up our faith and strengthens us for now and the days to come. All to the glory of Christ Jesus, and we pray it in His name.

[4:48] And God's people said, Amen. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. Lincoln Hall was left for dead. Lincoln was a professional mountain climber, an adventurer, an author from Australia.

[5:05] Back in 1984, he was a part of the first team from Australia to attempt to climb Mount Everest. On the first occasion that they tried, they were not able to make it up to the peak, but they tried again, at least Lincoln did back in 2006, and this time he was successful.

[5:26] He made his way to the top, but it almost cost him his life. You see, as Lincoln was headed back down the mountain after reaching the peak, he collapsed.

[5:37] He started experiencing altitude sickness. He lost all his vital signs. His brain started to swell. And the guides that were with him, they worked on him for hours trying to revive him, and they finally concluded he would not survive.

[5:57] So they left him there. At an elevation of 28,000 feet without any oxygen or protective clothing, they left him there for dead.

[6:10] In fact, when the guides got down to the bottom of the mountain, they contacted Lincoln's family and told his family that he did not survive the trip.

[6:25] All the while, back up on the mountain, a barely conscious Lincoln keeps telling himself, I can't die. Just stay alive.

[6:38] And sure enough, the next morning, about 12 hours later, there's another group that's climbing up the mountain, and they stumble upon him.

[6:50] Here is what one of the members of that group wrote. Quote, He had his down suit unzipped to his waist, his arms out of the sleeves.

[7:15] He was wearing no hat, no gloves, no sunglasses, no oxygen mask, regulator, ice axe, oxygen, no sleeping bag, no mattress, no food or water bottle.

[7:28] I imagine you're surprised to see me, he said. He said this was a moment of total disbelief to us all. Here was a man, apparently lucid, who had spent the night without oxygen at 28,000 feet, without proper equipment, and barely clothed.

[7:49] And here he was, alive. The team abandoned their summit to the top, and they stayed with Hall.

[8:01] They helped him back down the mountain where he was treated by a medical team. And while Lincoln would end up losing most of his fingertips and a toe to frostbite, his life was ultimately saved.

[8:19] Isn't that an awesome story? It's an amazing story. And let me ask you this, Faith Family, tonight. Have you ever been in a situation you thought you'd never get out of?

[8:30] Have you ever been in a situation where you thought, there is absolutely no way I'm going to survive? As far as you and maybe other people thought, you had been left for dead.

[8:45] Go ahead and pick your cliche. You were in a tight spot. You had no place to go. You were in a bit of a predicament.

[8:59] Maybe a catch-22. You were somewhere out on a ledge or in a pickle. Somewhere between a rock and a hard place.

[9:12] Whatever cliche you want to use, my guess is at some point in life, you have felt like that. Maybe it was a financial situation you thought you'd never get out of.

[9:25] Maybe it was a spiritual funk that you thought would never end. Maybe it was a life crisis that just seemed to go on and on and on.

[9:36] Maybe it was a past that never seemed to go away. But whatever the case may be, Faith Family, it was a moment in life where you felt trapped, you felt there was no way out, and you were in need of deliverance.

[9:53] That's exactly the situation that is surrounding Psalm 34. This is exactly the situation that King David is in.

[10:05] In fact, look at the theme that runs throughout this psalm. Look at verse 4. I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and say it, delivered me from all my fears.

[10:18] You say every word in yellow. All right, here we go. Verse 6, This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

[10:29] Look at verse 7. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Verse 17, When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[10:47] And verse 19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. In other words, you don't need a PhD in Old Testament poetry to know what this psalm is about.

[11:02] I mean, the repeated theme throughout the psalm is that it's a praise to God, the God who delivers, the God who rescues you in times of trouble.

[11:15] Now, let me give you a little bit of background and context. We're all about context here when we study the Bible. So let me give you a little bit of context about Psalm 34. Psalm 34 is written in one of David's lowest points of life.

[11:31] He is in a very, very difficult season. David is king, but his predecessor by the name of, anybody know? Saul. Saul, his predecessor, wants him dead.

[11:44] Saul is raging with jealousy. You will remember that David is the young shepherd boy that fought and killed Goliath. And that made David an instant hero in the eyes of the people of Israel.

[12:00] David is like a pair of parachute pants in the 1980s. Everybody's into him, all right? Don't act like you didn't wear parachute pants, all right? In fact, you remember that in the Bible they chanted, Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands.

[12:20] David has the spotlight. And Saul can't stand it. He rages at David. So David is a man on a run, which is a pattern in David's life.

[12:34] And he ends up in a city called Nob. He is starving, absolutely starving. And so he begs the priest for some bread. The priest gives him some bread.

[12:46] And he also asks the priest for a weapon. He is on the run, after all. And the priest gives him a sword. In fact, it's the same sword that David used to kill Goliath.

[12:59] Still in a life crisis, David runs from Nob, and he runs to a place called Gath. He's still trying to find refuge and escape. He's not thinking clearly.

[13:10] How many of you in a life crisis haven't thought clearly? Amen? Amen. Because what David forgets is that Gath is the hometown of Goliath.

[13:24] You know, the dude you killed. I mean, this would be like showing up at Lambeau Field after you're personally responsible for ending Aaron Rodgers' career.

[13:35] Assuming Aaron Rodgers even plays football anymore. I have no idea if he's in the NFL. But you walk into Lambeau Field after that, you're not going to be received very well, are you?

[13:47] Well, the same thing with David. He has jumped from the frying pan into the fire. And when word spreads that David is here, everybody's after him.

[13:58] In fact, he's now in more trouble than he was when Saul was after him. And so they finally find David and they take him before the king of Gath.

[14:10] And David assumes, listen, listen, David assumes there's no way out. I'm left for dead. There is no hope whatsoever for my situation.

[14:23] How many of you have ever felt that way before? That's how David feels. And so David, feeling like a dead man, responds like this.

[14:34] Bees! Bees! Bees to the star! Bees everywhere! God, they're huge! They're ripping my flesh off! Son, roll around!

[14:46] Jeremy, roll around on the ground! Forget that! I'm starting to swell up! Save yourself! Don't be the hero! Frank, I'm allergic to bees. Me too! They're huge and they sting crazy!

[14:58] We'll come back later and check on you. Yeah, in a while. Save yourself! Your firearms are useless against them! No! No! No! No! That's literally what David does.

[15:12] David starts acting like a madman. And you think, oh, no, no, no, you're just showing that clip to be funny. No, that's actually what David does. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 21 and verse 12.

[15:24] 1 Samuel 21 verse 12 says, And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle, it's a great word.

[15:45] You should memorize this verse just for that word. His spittle run down his beard and the king said to his servants, Behold, you see, the man is what? He's mad!

[15:55] He's nuts! When then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen? I love this. We got enough crazies here.

[16:06] We got plenty of madmen. Why did you bring me another one? That you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence. Shall this fellow come into my house?

[16:18] David goes cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. David starts acting like Bill Walton during a sports broadcast. How many of you have ever watched Bill Walton and you're like, the dude's like puffed a few mini toothache, all right?

[16:33] It's like, the guy's crazy. Well, that's how David's acting. And now, because he's acting insane, because he's acting crazy, the king of Gath says, Get him out of here.

[16:45] And David has been delivered from the king of Gath. And he runs and finds a cave.

[16:56] And he hides in that cave. And from that cave, are you ready, comes Psalm 34. David starts overflowing with praise to the God who delivers.

[17:16] Look, first of all, here at David's praise for deliverance. It's what this whole psalm is about. Look at verse 1. He says, I will bless the Lord at all times.

[17:31] His praise shall continually be in my mouth. You notice here the frequency of David's praise. He can't stop praising God.

[17:44] The verse says, He, like Lincoln Hall, who is literally left for dead, has been given new life.

[17:57] And he has been delivered from his circumstances. And he cannot help but give God praise. How many of you have ever been in a situation where you're like, I shouldn't be here right now, yet here I stand, and I can't thank God enough for his deliverance in my life.

[18:17] Anybody want to shout amen? Like anybody just been delivered from a situation that you thought, ain't no way, this is no way I'm getting out of this. And then when God gets you out and he delivers you and he rescues you and he proves his faithfulness to you, what comes forth is constant and overflowing praise.

[18:38] That's what David is doing here. But look at verse 2 and verse 3. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad.

[18:50] O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Notice secondly, the focus of David's praise.

[19:02] There are two very important things that I want you to see in this psalm, particularly in verses 2 and 3. First is this. David doesn't give credit of his deliverance to his own creativity.

[19:16] His credit is to God's sovereignty. Amen? David doesn't say, Whoa, I'm such a good actor. Where's my Academy Award? Did you see that whole Bill Walton stunt I pulled off?

[19:29] I mean, that was amazing. David's not giving himself credit for getting him out of this situation. He's not saying, I am incredibly smart. What he's saying is, God did this.

[19:44] God did a work. God was faithful. And here's the second thing. Notice this on the screen. That the focus of his praise is not on his deliverance.

[19:56] It's his deliverer. Amen? His gratitude isn't in the deliverance itself. It's in the deliverer.

[20:07] You don't have to put the verses back up. But he says, Magnify the Lord. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. He doesn't say, I am so glad I'm free.

[20:20] He's, I am so glad my God delivers. There's a big difference. Amen? It's a big difference in rejoicing in your deliverance as opposed to rejoicing in your deliverer.

[20:34] Look at verse 3. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name, emphasis on together. Look at verse 9. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack.

[20:51] Look at verse 11. Come, oh children, listen to me. I will teach you to fear the Lord. The third thing here is notice the fellowship of David's praise.

[21:03] That is, David wants to praise with the people of God. How many of you have ever heard somebody say, you know what, it's fine if you have faith, just keep your faith private.

[21:14] You ever heard that? You do realize that that's, it's an impossibility to keep your faith private. And when you've experienced deliverance like David has experienced, you think you're not going to tell somebody?

[21:28] Hello? Of course you want to celebrate. You want your life to be a testimony of God in the life of someone else.

[21:39] David wants this event to edify others. In fact, God in his sovereignty sees that Psalm 34 is in the Bible so that on this Saturday night of July 4th weekend, guess what?

[21:51] You're meant to be encouraged by it. I mean, what if God had not put this Psalm in the Bible? The point is, you're not to keep your faith private.

[22:02] You're not to keep your testimony private. Your testimony is intended to be a source of encouragement for other people. When is the last time, Faith Family, you have testified to God's deliverance in your life to someone else?

[22:19] When is the last time you've shared your testimony? Whether it's your salvation testimony or a different testimony of God's deliverance.

[22:30] This is actually something that's very common in the Psalms. Look at Psalm 40. This is another example in David's life. I waited patiently for the Lord.

[22:40] He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock making my steps secure.

[22:51] He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord and blesses the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie.

[23:06] You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us. None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell them.

[23:21] How can I not? Yet they are more than can be told. Have y'all ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like that?

[23:31] Like the stories I could tell of my great God are too many to tell. Amen? But I'm going to tell. I'm going to share.

[23:43] I'm going to speak. And that's what David is saying in Psalm 34. Oh, that the saints could be together. Oh, children, that you would gather with me and I could declare to you the faithfulness of God in your presence.

[23:59] Now look at verse 8 of chapter 34. It says, Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

[24:09] Fourth and finally, under this point, is the flavor, if you will, of David's praise. I use that word flavor because it goes with all the other words that start with F. But the language is, taste and see that the Lord is good.

[24:26] In other words, David learned the sweetness of God's goodness through the process of God's deliverance. The Lord is good.

[24:37] Amen? Amen? Have you ever tasted the sweetness of God's goodness as He rescues you in your life?

[24:49] And David is saying, man, y'all, I think he would say y'all because he's probably from the South. Y'all gotta taste. Y'all gotta taste. I mean, you ever tasted something and you're like, you gotta try this.

[25:01] How many of us are that way with the sweetness of God? Man, you've gotta taste and see that the Lord is good. Notice this on the screen, Faith Family. A crisis is nothing more than an opportunity to experience God at a level you previously have not known Him.

[25:19] A crisis is nothing more than an opportunity to experience God at a level you previously have not known Him. In other words, it's a way of tasting the sweetness a different way.

[25:35] And there are some of you in this place, I'm not gonna point you out because you're of the older generation. Some of you have been walking with the Lord for a long time and some of you could stand up here tonight and say, let me tell you of the 15 different flavors of my God's goodness that I have tasted throughout my life.

[25:55] Couldn't some of y'all do that? That's what David is saying, taste and see the goodness of God. Chuck Swindoll used to tell a story of a man that was shipwrecked on an island and he built this little hut for protection.

[26:12] For weeks, he lived in that hut praying daily that a ship would come and rescue him but that ship never came. One evening as he was returning from gathering food, he noticed that his hut was on fire, burned to the ground.

[26:29] That evening, he was absolutely discouraged and thought, God, like, you never hear my prayers, you never listen to me, I cry out for deliverance and you're never there and the next day he wakes up to find a ship anchored at shore.

[26:46] He runs to the ship and the captain says to him, we saw your smoke signals and came to your rescue. And the man realized that it was in the crisis of that burning hut that he would be delivered and rescued.

[27:04] taste and see that the Lord is good. Now, faith family, I am not suggesting you put yourself in tight spots so that you can experience the depth of God's goodness, right?

[27:16] The Bible says do not put the Lord to the test. But I'm of the opinion that tight spots are just common in life, that life is difficult and caves are a part of life.

[27:28] David knows that. And so, when those moments come when you're in the cave, it is a place to experience God's goodness. I want to ask you a question tonight, faith family, and it's this.

[27:40] If David praises God like this after being delivered from Saul and Gath, how much more we who have been delivered from hell? What would your Psalm 34 look like?

[27:55] If you went home tonight or you took time this week and you wrote your Psalm 34, like how much more do you have to praise God for because you're not someone who's been delivered from Saul, you've been delivered from hell?

[28:11] Listen to what the Bible says in Colossians 1, verse 13. He has, there it is, delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

[28:26] Hello? That's a lot greater than being rescued from Gath. Amen? And yet that's our story for those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ.

[28:37] A Christian is someone who has experienced a greater deliverance than David. We have experienced a greater exodus than Israel.

[28:49] We are a people by definition who have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light.

[29:01] And if that's true of you, praise Him. Praise Him. Continually praise Him. What does He say in verse 1?

[29:14] At all times praise Him because God has delivered you. Here's the second big idea I want you to get from this point from this psalm.

[29:26] Don't be nervous. I only have 10 points. Here's the second one. I'm just going to let that linger. David's peace in deliverance. Not just his praise in deliverance which is dripping throughout the psalm but notice the peace that he has.

[29:40] Here's the question I want to ask. What specifically was David delivered from? Clearly deliverance is the theme of the psalm but what is he delivered from?

[29:51] Because after all, as I've told you, this psalm was written in a cave. Not on the beach in Hawaii sipping a drink. I mean, you'd think, David, if you're still in a cave, doesn't sound like deliverance to me.

[30:08] Wouldn't you think that? So what was David delivered from? His circumstances are still the same. Look at verse 4. I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from, say it, all my fears.

[30:25] Oh! David wasn't just delivered from his circumstances. David was delivered from being afraid.

[30:37] David has been a man running and afraid of all these different things and now he's free from that fear.

[30:47] And you and I both know that when we are in a tight spot, the common response is to be afraid. And how many people in the Bible experience seasons of fear?

[30:58] Abraham was afraid. Moses was afraid. Mary and Joseph were shaking in their boots. Paul was afraid. The disciples were terrified. In fact, you and I were born in a state of fear.

[31:15] Were we not? I mean, look at that baby. Why is that baby crying? That baby is not crying out of doubt. I don't really think this room's been properly sanitized. That's not what's going through that baby's brain.

[31:27] The baby's not crying out of grief. Oh, I really miss my home. No, no, no, no. The baby's crying out of fear. What just happened to me? And who are these people?

[31:39] And why did you just hit me? And why are you sticking that there? Like, what in the world is going on? Everything that I have known for nine months has just changed radically.

[31:51] And I'm afraid you were born that way and we experience seasons like that throughout our life. What if it is cancer? What if they don't survive?

[32:07] What if the violence never ends? What if I never find someone? Fear.

[32:19] Fear. Fear. From birth throughout life. This is a common experience for us and David knew it. He's afraid in Psalm 34 or leading up to this.

[32:32] He's known poverty based on verse 6. He's known hunger based on verse 10. His spirit has been crushed based on verse 18. He has known affliction based on verse 19.

[32:43] And he knows condemnation verse 22. And keep in mind, can I speak, this is for all of us, but can I speak to the guys for just a moment? This is David.

[32:53] David. I mean, some of us walk around where a macho man, I'm not scared of anything, I don't ever get afraid. This is David who's afraid.

[33:05] The warrior. The one who was willing to fight Goliath when everybody else was too chicken. The guy that literally would defeat lions, tigers, bears, and bears, oh my.

[33:17] A man, the Bible calls, was a man after God's own heart. And yet David at the same time knew what it was like to spend cold, dark nights in the cave afraid.

[33:31] This is not something that only weak people do. Even the strongest know what it's like to be afraid. So how does David experience this deliverance from fear?

[33:43] Let me give you just three quick things. Three things that will help you be delivered from fear rather than destroyed by fear. The first is take note of how you fear.

[33:58] Or maybe a better way of even saying that is what exactly that you fear in life. Let me give you three verses. Verse 7. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who say it fear him and delivers them.

[34:12] Verse 9. Oh, say it fear the Lord you his saints for those who fear him have no lack. Verse 11. Come oh children listen to me I will teach you to fear the Lord.

[34:27] In other words David here is an example of you overcome the fear of life with the fear of God. Somebody say preach preacher. You overcome the fear of life with the fear of God.

[34:41] Jesus says this in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. Do not fear those who kill the body but can't kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

[34:56] Don't fear the world fear God in a good healthy way. Notice this on the screen. Worldly fear is being overwhelmed by the weight of your circumstances but godly fear is being overwhelmed with the glory of Christ.

[35:15] Okay? It's not being overwhelmed by the circumstances of life it's being overwhelmed with who Jesus is. Faith family your greatest fear is not facing cancer.

[35:26] Your greatest fear is facing cancer without God. Your greatest fear is not financial problems. It is financial problems without a provider.

[35:39] Your greatest fear is not death. Your greatest fear is death without the one who defeated it. If you want to fear something fear God.

[35:52] Stand in awe and reverent amazement of God and the things of this world grow strangely dim. Do you see? The way we are delivered from unhealthy fear which is fearing the circumstances of life fearing the things of the world is healthy fear a fear of God of being overwhelmed with who God is in reverence for Him.

[36:19] So first is how you fear second is how you fight how you fight look at verse 7 the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.

[36:35] In other words you can in the moment of fear you can retreat you can try to fight on your own strength or hear this you can let God fight for you.

[36:48] You can let God fight for you. Now I know when I wrote that I thought that's cliche in fact I wrote in my notes I know that seems cliche but it's true. Well just let God fight for you.

[37:00] I mean that sounds so spiritual but it's actually a very real thing. Sometimes you don't need to pick up the sword you just need to wait and let God sort it out.

[37:13] You just need to be patient and let God do His work over time. Let me give you a biblical example of it very quickly. You remember in Daniel 3 King Nebuchadnezzar builds the golden image and he says I want everybody to bow before the image but Daniel I've been saying David too much Daniel says I'm not going to bow.

[37:35] I can't bow. There are to be no other gods before Yahweh so I refuse to bow and they refuse and King Nebuchadnezzar threatens to throw him to the lion's den and later Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace and in all of those occasions what did they do?

[37:56] They let God fight for them. I'm not going to walk up and punch Nebuchadnezzar in the face and say I'll show you and if God wants to take me in this, take me.

[38:09] But if God wants to deliver me, then God deliver me. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.

[38:21] You get set free from fear. Faith family, can I just preach at you for just a moment and myself as well? You overcome fear when you have a healthy fear of God and when you let God fight your battles for you rather than you fighting for you.

[38:39] And when you realize if God is for me, who can be against me? Then what do you have to fear? If God is for us, who can be against us?

[38:52] that will set you free. That will deliver you from the cave. Amen? Third and final to help you be delivered from this fear is how you fellowship.

[39:05] Not just how you fear. Fear God, not the world. How you fight. Let God fight for you. You don't have to fight for you. And third is how you fellowship. Look at verse 3. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name.

[39:19] Say it together. David is not writing this as though this happens in isolation. David is in a cave longing for community.

[39:30] Faith family, isolation is the last place you need to be when you are afraid. David knows that there is comfort, there is encouragement, there is edification when you are with the people of God.

[39:45] And I hope that's true for you at Faith Family Church. Amen? That when you're going through the cave and when you're going through the difficulties of life, you are welcome here and we will do everything we can in the gospel of Jesus Christ to encourage you to keep pressing on.

[40:06] So don't isolate. Okay? How you fear, how you fight, and how you fellowship, these are the ways in which God, even in the cave, delivers us from the fears.

[40:21] So not only in this psalm do we see David's praise and deliverance, his peace and deliverance, but then the last point is I want to show you the person of deliverance.

[40:33] Really, I want to show you the greater David. Because you realize this psalm really isn't about King David. I mean, it's about King David, but it ain't just about King David, it's about the greater David.

[40:46] Look at verse 19 and 20. Notice how this psalm begins to end. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

[40:59] He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. does that sound a little familiar to you?

[41:11] It does, doesn't it? It sounds very familiar. In fact, it gets quoted in John chapter 19 in reference to Jesus. Look at verse 34. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

[41:29] He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Psalm 34 might be fulfilled, not one of his bones will be broken.

[41:52] Who is the deliverer of Psalm 34? His name is Jesus Christ. Christ. The one who knows exactly what it's like to face a situation where there seems to be no way out.

[42:12] The one who knows what it's like to be afflicted in every possible way. The one who knows what it's like to be left for dead.

[42:26] And yet the one who knows that no matter how impossible your situation may be, God is the God who delivers.

[42:37] No one knows Psalm 34 more than Jesus Christ. So faith family today, if you feel trapped, if you feel stuck, if you are in need of rescue, listen, the good news of the gospel is this, God never leaves his people for dead.

[42:59] In fact, our God has quite the history of resurrecting his people from the dead. So fear not, God is able to deliver you.

[43:16] Taste and see that the Lord is good for blessed are those who take refuge in him.

[43:26] And all God's people said, Amen. Let's pray together. God, thank you for the encouragement of this psalm. I am certain there are people in this place tonight that this is precisely what they needed to hear.

[43:43] And I pray, God, that you would encourage your people through your word. There are times in life, like David, we feel like there is no way out of this situation.

[43:53] And yet, God, you are the God who delivers. In fact, we all know that because there was no way out of our sin. There was no way out of our destiny of separation from you except for the fact that you sent your only son to die on the cross, that we could be delivered from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light.

[44:20] We had no way out but Jesus. And that's the song that we'll sing not only to the grave, but the song we'll sing for all eternity.

[44:32] And all God's people said, Amen.