So if you would, open your word, open the Bible to Psalm 34.
!
This is a Psalm of David, and the pretext before the Psalm says this.
It's of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech so that he drove him out and he went away.
Verse 1, 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.
Oh, 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.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints.
For those who fear him have no lack.
The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good.
Come, oh children, listen to me.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
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 them out of them all.
He keeps all his bones.
Not one of them is broken.
Affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants.
None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
Let's pray.
Father, I ask that you would cause your word to touch our hearts deeply this morning.
God, I pray that you'd open our minds to understand and our hearts to receive what you have for us this morning.
I pray in your name.
Amen.
Y'all can have a seat.
There's not many Psalms that give us the context.
But this morning we're given this context when David changed his behavior before the king of Gath.
If we were to read the story, we'd turn back to 1 Samuel.
I'm not going to read the whole thing for sake of time.
I'm going to paraphrase or just share the story briefly.
You remember when David was anointed the coming king and yet Saul was troubled by a spirit and Saul sought to destroy and kill David.
So more than once he threw a spirit, David intended to kill him and David sidestepped it.
And he left the presence of Saul and he went into the wilderness to hide from Saul.
Though God gave him opportunity to kill Saul more than once, he would not do it.
He said, who am I to kill the Lord's anointed, which Saul was anointed as king over Israel.
So on one of the occasions when he threw a spirit, David, David left and he fled.
And where did he go?
He went to Nod.
It's a city where the priests were, one of the priestly cities.
And that priest, he said, do you have a sword?
He didn't have a sword.
He left in a hurry.
He didn't have anything to defend himself.
Didn't even have food.
So they gave him food and the only sword they had in that city, at least the priest, the only sword the priest had was the sword of Goliath.
And so he gave David this humongous sword, this well-crafted sword.
Where David takes it with him and he goes of all places to hide from Saul.
He goes to Gath.
Why, David, would you go to Gath?
You've got the sword of Goliath who was from Gath.
And you go to the people of Gath.
What were you thinking?
I don't know what David was thinking.
There's no way for us to know what he was thinking.
But he ends up in the city where Goliath used to be, who lived, who was born, who was raised in Gath.
And he finds himself among these people who recognize him.
Oh yeah, you're David.
You're the one about whom they sing he has killed his ten thousands.
You're the one that killed Goliath.
Matter of fact, there's his sword.
We've got proof.
So what does David do to get away from this situation?
He finds himself in a spot that's not good.
He's surrounded by himself.
Gath.
He's surrounded by the people of Gath.
And the people of Gath.
And what does he choose to do?
He chooses to act as if he is insane.
He drools at the mouth.
He feigns being crazy.
And by the grace of God, instead of the king killing him, the king says,
What do I have to do with more crazy people?
I don't need another crazy people.
Get him out of here.
And David is able to leave the situation which you would have said,
What is the possibility he's going to be let free, set free?
It is interesting if we were to continue to read past that account.
And when the king of Gath let him go, he ends up in a cave, the cave of Abdulam.
And I don't know how this happened, but these men showed up at the cave.
What men, you might ask?
Well, the scripture in 1 Samuel 22 says that there's 400 men.
Who were these men?
There were men.
The scripture says this.
Everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was bitter in soul gathered to David at this cave in Adullam.
So as we look at this psalm, we need to keep in mind that this psalm is written by David at this time frame when he was delivered out of the hand of the king of Gath.
And where he's got all these other men that are in full of distress of whatever variety.
And they have nowhere else to go.
So where do they go?
They flee to David.
Why would they flee to David?
David is the one who helped them when they were being tormented by the Philistines.
And Goliath would show up day after day, 40 days worth, and defy the army.
And by the grace and the power of God, through this little shepherd boy, David, they were delivered.
So these men flocked to David as one who would lead them.
They've seen how God has used him, and they flocked to him as men in distress.
Their life is in a bad spot.
So you see that David was delivered by the powerful hand of God.
Don't know why he went to Gath, but God even so delivered him.
And we have all these men that are in a bad place, and they all end up in this cave.
And so what we see here, I believe, is we see David speaking to these men that are in distress.
And so what does he say?
What would you say?
If all these people gathered to you, and they look to you for leadership,
and they're all in a bad spot, David just got out of a bad spot,
what would you encourage these men to do?
Isn't it interesting in our psalm the first thing he does?
Verse 1, verse 2, verse 3.
What do you see?
It's as if we have to place ourselves in this cave
in order to really glean the truth of what's being said by David here.
And what does David do immediately?
The first thing David does, listen to verse 1, 2, and 3.
I'm going to read it.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
David, what is your response to being delivered out of the hand of the king of Gath?
I will praise the Lord at all times.
His praise will continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord, not in my own ability,
not in the sword of Goliath,
not in rescue from the hand of men.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord and the Lord alone.
You know, I'll pause a second.
In whom do you boast, Christian, church?
In whom do we tend to boast?
Are we like David when we are in distress?
Do we boast in him?
Do we continually worship and praise?
Listen to what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 9.
Let him who boasts, boast in this,
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love,
justice, and righteousness in the earth.
You know, that's where our boast should be.
And that's where David's boast was.
David had come to know the Lord in a very personal way.
And he saw in his deliverance the hand of God.
What other explanation would David have?
His cunning, his wisdom?
No, it's the hand of God.
His boast is that he knows the Lord.
And it's my prayer that God would help us to know him
more and more deeply so that our response to distress
is very like David's response.
Verse 3,
Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
Can you see him in the cave?
Fellas, I know y'all got problems.
Listen, fellas, I've got problems.
I got the king trying to kill me.
He's throwing spears at me
and he's chased me around the wilderness.
He's bringing his army to try to destroy me.
I'm having to run and flee.
I'm having to live in the land of the Philistines
because there's no safe place for me to live
in the land of Israel.
He's after my life.
But brothers, let me tell you,
let's magnify the Lord.
Do it with me, brothers.
In our distress, here's where we need to be.
God is almighty.
He's worthy to be praised.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together.
Father, the psalm today we're going to look
and we're going to,
for those of y'all who like to take notes
and y'all remember when you jot things down,
we're going to divide the psalm today in two parts.
And the first part is this,
it's invitation.
What is the invitation that he gives to these men?
David gives three invitations to these men,
these men in distress.
And I want us to see what the invitation was.
Did you notice the first one?
The first invitation is this,
come, let us magnify the Lord together.
Men, I know you're in distress,
but let's start here.
Let's boast in the Lord and magnify him this morning.
And then David in verse four,
he shares his story with these men in the cave.
He says this, four through seven, he says this,
I sought the Lord and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those
who fear him and deliver them.
Let me just stop for a second.
Do you hear David's story?
David is sharing with them
of the deliverance that just happened.
Number one from Saul,
number two from the king of Gath.
He's now in a cave with these distressed men.
And he's saying to them,
listen, let me tell you my story.
God's real.
I'm telling you, you can trust in him.
He has delivered me here.
Listen, I'm going to tell you my story,
how he's delivered me
and he'll deliver you too.
Matter of fact, it says this,
for all who fear him,
they will be delivered.
Do you believe it?
Let me ask you, Christian,
do you believe it?
Church, do you believe
that all who fear him will be delivered?
Let me share this.
If you look at verse 17 quickly,
you'll see that it also states
something pretty similar to verse 7.
Verse 7 says,
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 does what?
Delivers them.
Out of what?
Out of all their trouble.
All right.
If you're like me,
when I first read this,
I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
David, are you saying that
if we fear the Lord,
then I'll never have any trouble?
Is that what you're saying?
Are you saying for sure
I can take it to the bank
that I'm going to be delivered
at all my troubles?
That doesn't seem to add up,
does it?
Let me ask this.
How many of the apostles
were martyred for their faith?
Did they get delivered?
As we read this,
we have to understand
there's a physical level
to this psalm
and there's a spiritual message
to this psalm.
There's a physical message.
There's a spiritual message.
Was David physically delivered
from both of those situations?
Yes, he was.
Does he fear the Lord?
Yes, he does.
Is he counted in this number
of those who fear the Lord?
Yes.
Was he physically delivered?
Yes.
Is David saying
that you'll always
be physically delivered?
He's not saying that.
But he is saying
that God is the source
of deliverance.
So let's look at,
quickly look at verse 22
and I want you to see
that there is a spiritual
level to this message.
This message of deliverance
that he's encouraging
these men
with this truth.
What is the truth?
Verse 22 says this.
There's a spiritual deliverance
that trumps
any physical deliverance
that we could ever receive.
There is a spiritual deliverance
from what?
From condemnation.
Does Romans 8, 1
echo in your ear?
There's therefore now
no condemnation to who?
To those who are in Christ Jesus.
New Testament,
Paul's saying
that there's something spiritual
about deliverance.
And here it is.
The Lord redeems
the life of his servants.
To redeem is to what?
To purchase.
The Lord redeems
or purchases
the life of his servants.
None of those,
none of those
who've been redeemed,
none of his servants,
none of those
who fear him,
none of those
who've entrusted
their life to him
will be what?
Condemned.
Is that deliverance?
Of course it is.
Do you all realize
that we need
to be delivered
from sin and death?
Do you realize
that's the biggest animal
in the room?
We can be temporarily
delivered
in a physical sense
from the king of Gath
and I can get away
and I can run to a cave
and have safety,
relative safety,
at least for a time.
But there's still
something greater
from which you will
never recover
and that's sin and death
unless
he provides
a redeemer.
Do you know
that we need
to be
redeemed
from sin and death?
That's the spiritual
truth
that underlays
this psalm.
David is worshiping
because he's delivered
physically
but at the same time
he's worshiping
because God
is the deliverer
who will deliver
his people
from sin and death.
So we go on.
Second invitation.
Do you see it?
Verse 8.
So you put yourself
in this cave
and you're just
a bystander watching
and David,
the one who these men
have come to
and said,
lead us.
And what does he say next?
He said,
taste and see.
Man,
do you hear
what I'm saying?
I know you're
in distress.
I know you're in debt.
I know you've got problems.
I know that you have
nowhere else to turn.
I know that you're
here in this cave.
Taste and see.
What does it mean
to taste?
Taste and see.
Taste is to partake.
Taste and see.
You know,
when I read this,
where my mind went
is John 6.
Do you all remember
what he said
about himself,
Jesus?
What he said
about himself
in John 6
is I am
the bread of life.
And then later
in that same chapter
he says this,
unless you
eat my flesh
and drink my blood,
unless you partake
of me
by faith,
you're not
one of the fathers.
You're not
his.
You're not
his children.
The only way
to be a child
of God
is to taste
and see,
is to partake
of Christ.
He says to them,
taste and see.
What?
That the Lord
is good.
Men,
take a chance
and put your trust
in God.
You know what
you'll discover?
That the Lord
is good.
Yeah,
I know what's
going on in your life
is not good,
but the Lord
is good.
And when you
see his goodness,
you know what happens?
You worship.
So he says,
blessed is the man
who takes refuge
in him.
So he'll always
be physically delivered.
No,
no,
no.
That's not what's
said.
There's something
far greater
than being
physically delivered.
We'll see it
as we progress
here.
But he's saying
to these men,
taste and see.
Step into
this world,
this life of faith.
Partake in Christ
by faith.
Trust in the Lord
by faith.
I will pause
just a second.
I'm using the name
Christ a lot,
and this is Old Testament.
Christ is not born yet,
okay?
But there's a spiritual
connection that I hope
you see as those of us
who are in New Testament
time,
we're on this side
of the cross.
Do you see that
the deliverer is Jesus?
Do you see that
it's because of
his work on the cross
that he has purchased
our redemption,
those of us
who trust in him?
Those of us
who taste and see?
So in the Old Testament,
David's saying,
taste and see.
Hey,
why don't you live
like this?
Why don't you trust God?
And you pray to him
and you ask him,
you cry out to him,
and guess what he does
on behalf of his people?
He always hears.
He always sees.
Do you see it
in 15 and 16?
The eyes of the Lord
are toward the righteous
and his ears
are open to them.
Okay,
begs a question.
Wait a minute,
righteous?
We'll get to that.
But I want you to see
he's saying to them,
taste and see.
That's the second invitation.
If you will,
men,
step into this life
of belief
and faith in God,
you will see
his power at work
and it'll lead you
to worship.
Number three,
invitation number three.
Verse nine.
These men,
oh,
men,
I'm inserting that word there,
but it's talking
to these men.
We've got to see
the setting here.
Oh,
fear the Lord,
you his saints,
for those who fear him
have no lack.
Those who fear him
have no lack.
The young lion
suffers want and hunger,
but those who seek
the Lord
lack no good thing.
What in the world
are you saying,
David?
You're saying,
David,
that if we fear
the Lord,
then we don't lack
any good thing?
Bingo.
That's exactly
what he's saying.
Those who fear
the Lord
lack no good thing.
Where do all
good things come from?
You know,
in our world,
nowadays,
in our culture,
we look,
if we were to say,
what are some good things?
And we were trying
to put together a list.
Well,
I like my four-wheeler.
I love going in the woods.
I like my boat.
I love my house
and the pretty green grass
I've got.
We look at things
and we say,
that's good.
You know what would be good?
If I didn't ever have to
worry about finances again.
That would be really good.
You know,
if I always had the food
I wanted,
that would be really good.
You know,
if life was smooth
and I didn't have any bumps,
I didn't have any problems,
that would be really good.
You know,
that's not the good
that's being spoken of here.
This is a spiritual point
that hopefully we'll see
all good,
truly good things
come from God.
All truly good things
affect us
on a deeper level
than just the exterior.
Just our wants
and our human desires.
Really good things
affect us deep within
in our heart.
You know what's really good?
Being in relationship
with God Almighty.
You know what's really good?
Is knowing for sure
that I'm destined for heaven.
You know what's really good?
Is I can trust in Him.
I know,
even if it doesn't turn out
the way I think,
I know that God loves me.
And I know He's got
my good in mind
and His glory in mind.
I believe
that whatever happens,
He's with me
through the whole thing.
That's good.
Three invitations.
One,
magnify the Lord with me.
Two,
taste and see
that the Lord is good.
Partake of Him.
Trust in Him.
Number three,
fear the Lord.
What does fear the Lord mean?
Verse 11.
I want you to see it again.
We're going to see this theme
in this psalm
that says fear the Lord.
We're going to see it
over and over again.
You know when things
are repeated,
that means that's important
to the message of the psalm.
And in this case,
this phrase is repeated,
the fear of the Lord,
the fear of the Lord.
What is the fear of the Lord?
Come,
oh children,
listen to me.
I will teach you
the fear of the Lord.
Fear of the Lord.
Are you in awe
of who He is?
Do you live
in a reverent way?
The second section
begins here
of the psalm
in verse 11.
That second section
is instruction.
So He invites them
to taste of the Lord.
He invites them
to fear the Lord.
And now this next section,
He instructs them.
He says,
listen man,
let me tell you
what this looks like.
If you hear me
and if you believe me,
men,
it's going to change
your life.
I know you're distressed
and by the way,
the rest of your life
you're going to have moments
and things that happen
that are going to
outwardly give you stress.
But there's such a life
that inwardly
you can have peace
even when outwardly
the world is exploding.
Let me tell you
what it looks like.
And so here He goes.
He says,
I will teach you
the fear of the Lord.
And He asks this question.
He says,
you,
hey man,
I know you're in distress.
Do you desire
to experience
the goodness of God?
Do you desire?
He says that right here.
What man is there
who desires life
and loves many days
he might see good?
Anybody?
Do you want to see
the goodness of God?
Do you want to experience
the goodness of God?
Men,
do you want to step
into a relationship
that's far greater
than you can possibly imagine?
Let me tell you how.
Let me tell you
what that looks like.
And He goes on
to say this.
He says,
keep your tongue
from evil
and keep your lip
from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil
and do good.
Seek peace
and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord
are toward the righteous
and His ears
are toward their cry.
But,
men,
the face of the Lord
is against those
who do evil.
Don't walk like that.
You know,
it's interesting
that in the book
of Peter,
1 Peter,
Peter quotes
this passage
I just read.
He quotes it
in chapter 3
of 1 Peter.
And who is he speaking to?
He's speaking to
the Christians
in Asia Minor
who are being persecuted,
who are suffering greatly.
And you know,
he could have picked
any passage
in the Old Testament
he wanted to,
but he picked Psalm 34.
Why did he pick Psalm 34?
Because these Christians
are in great distress.
They're suffering.
And he's saying to them,
listen to what he says.
I'm just going to read
a small section here.
Now,
who is there
who will harm you
if you be zealous
for what is good?
But even if you should
suffer for righteousness sake,
stop.
Wait a minute.
You mean if I fear
the Lord,
I might suffer?
You mean if I fear
the Lord,
I might have hard times
in my life?
Peter's saying,
absolutely,
you can take it
to the bank.
Jesus in the Sermon
on the Mount said,
if they persecuted me,
guess what?
They're going to persecute you too.
You've got a devil,
an enemy,
that is like a roaring lion
seeking to devour you.
Yes.
The life of a Christian
is not supposed
to be a smooth sailing ship
with no ripples in the water.
And there's a reason.
And we'll see that here shortly.
But here's what he says to them.
In your hearts,
honor Christ as the Lord is holy.
In your hearts.
In your,
you know what the heart is?
It's a place of desire.
In your desires.
In the depth of who you are.
Cause it your desire.
Honors Christ as Lord.
And he also says,
for sake of time,
I won't read it all.
But he says this,
suffer for doing good
if that should be God's will.
Are we willing to suffer
for the kingdom of God?
Man, nobody wants to say,
hey, sign me up.
I'm ready.
I'm going now.
We're not jumping
at that invitation to suffer.
But I'm just telling you
the life of a Christian
is not intended
to be smooth sailing.
Why?
Because we miss out
on tasting what is good.
Oh, I want you to see this.
True happiness.
Not temporary happiness.
You know,
when we get a little puppy
and that puppy comes home
and it's a really nice looking puppy.
It's like,
man,
look at this.
I'm so excited
to have this little puppy.
Right?
Yeah,
you've been talking about
how much you love.
Hey,
that puppy pees on the floor
and that puppy
ain't going to live forever.
But you know,
there's things
that we get happy
and they're surface level.
They might touch a heart.
But my point is
there's some true happiness
that is at a level
that a puppy can't touch.
or that a thing
that you want,
this thing you've been dreaming about
to purchase
so you can go have fun
on the lake.
It touches a little bit
of the exterior happiness.
It's temporary.
There's something far greater.
Church,
I hope you'll hear
what the psalm is saying
right here.
Listen to this.
When the righteous cry for help.
Wait a minute.
God,
why would the righteous
need to cry for help?
Because God allows
these hard things
to happen in life
of those who are righteous.
Who are righteous?
Those that are called
by His name.
In the Old Testament,
there's two distinguishings.
There's a way to distinguish
in the Old Testament.
The people of God,
He uses these terms
like saints,
righteous.
Are the people of God
totally righteous?
Are you totally righteous?
Are you sinless?
You know what Paul said
about righteous?
There's none righteous.
No, not one.
Not one.
Unless we're covered
by the redeeming blood
of Jesus
and then we're counted
as righteous.
He puts us in this category
of His people
and He calls us righteous
not because of what we've done
it's what Jesus did.
It's Jesus' work
that makes us righteous.
It's imputed righteousness.
It's gifted to us
and He puts us
in this category.
So listen again.
When the righteous
cry for help,
that means there's problems,
the Lord hears.
Why?
Not because He loves us.
And He delivers them
out of all their troubles.
Not all their physical troubles.
Spiritually speaking,
He's the deliverer.
Does He sometimes deliver us
out of physical troubles?
Yes.
Does He always show Himself
strong on behalf of His people?
Yes.
Notice this.
It says,
and He delivers them
out of their troubles.
The Lord is near who?
Who's He near to?
Let me ask this question
before I answer that.
Do you want to be
near to God?
Do you want to be
near enough
to call it intimacy?
Do you want to be
so near you hear His voice?
are you longing
to be in a deep relationship
with God?
The maker of the universe,
the author of all good things,
the lover of our souls,
do you want to be
deeply related to Him?
It is my prayer
that all of us say,
please, yes.
And He said,
how do we do this?
Paul is telling these men,
he's sitting in the cave,
he's saying,
let me share this with you.
The Lord is near
to the brokenhearted
and He saves
the crushed in spirit.
You know what leads
to intimacy with God?
Brokenheartedness
and crushed in spirit.
Woo.
Anybody ready to sign up?
Do you know
that intimacy with God
is not just
a smooth sailing ship?
Do you know
in order to really
experience intimacy with God,
I love how Tozer says
He doesn't ever use a man,
I'm really paraphrasing, okay?
He doesn't use a man much
until He wounds him deeply.
You know,
it's the wounds
that come our way
that cut away the pride
and it cuts away
the fleshly tendencies,
it cuts away
the worldly living
and to the point
at which we say,
God, I'm yours.
Wherever you take me,
whatever you send,
I'm going to cling to you.
You know what closeness is?
It's when you're in the storm
and you cry out to Him
and He hears
and you hear Him
and He says to you,
I'll take care of you.
Y'all know a guy
named Polycarp?
If you haven't read
about Polycarp,
I can't encourage you enough
to go read about Polycarp.
There's a guy
who translated
a document
that talks about him.
first century
Bishop of Sardis.
You know,
Sardis as a church
that shows up
in the book of Revelation.
He was one of the leaders
in the book of Revelation
and the authorities
in the Roman Empire
took him captive
and says,
recant that you trust in Jesus.
Recant.
I want you to say,
if you don't say
you trust in Caesar,
then you're going to be killed.
He says,
kill me.
Kill me.
He says,
for 84 years
He's been faithful to me.
He's never let me down.
I'll trust in Him.
Now,
I won't give you
the beautiful picture
of what happened
when they put him
on a bunch of wood.
They went and collected wood.
They made a pyre.
They put him on there
and they were going to tie him.
I said,
you don't need to tie me up.
God had already given him
a picture
that he was going to be
martyred by fire.
And he willingly said,
God,
if that's what you want,
I'm willing to do whatever.
God gave him the strength
to be faithful
in the midst of the flames
and he praised God
because he was walking
into self-sacrifice.
He was willing
to sacrifice himself
for the will of God
and God gave him the strength
to walk that road.
It's powerful.
It lit a fire
among Christians
in that area,
a fire that led them
to be faithful
even in the midst
of persecution.
You know what
true happiness is?
It says,
it's nearness to God
and experiencing his help.
If you want to
deeply know God,
the nearness to God
and experiencing his help,
if we taste that,
that's true happiness.
I don't know if you buy that book
I'm selling right here.
Do you buy it?
Do you really believe
that the path to happiness
is nearness to God?
I'm telling you.
If you read John 15,
you'll hear it.
You know what it says, right?
Abide in me.
Apart from me,
you can do nothing.
He says,
he says,
abide in me
and at the end,
he says,
these things I've told you
in order that you might
have joy
and have it to the full.
You want to experience
the fullness of joy?
It's intimacy with him.
You want to experience
true happiness?
Intimacy with him.
Look what he's telling
these guys.
He said,
man,
don't try to get,
seek happiness
in the things you make
and the things you build
and the things you,
what?
Seek happiness
and nearness to him
and by the way,
you got to go through
the fire to get there.
Don't run from the fire.
Say,
God,
help me in the midst
of the fire
and when God comes
and helps you
in the midst of the fire,
you know what you say?
Woo-hoo!
Shadrach,
Meshach,
and Abednego did.
They experienced him
in a way
that is unbelievable.
The miraculous hand,
redeeming hand of God.
I wonder if you notice
in verse 20.
So verse 19
echoes verse 18.
It says,
many are the afflictions
of the righteous.
Many are the afflictions
of the righteous.
Hey,
righteous one,
Christian,
do you know
that there's many afflictions
going to be in your life?
Verse 20,
he keeps all his bones,
not one of them is broken.
He keeps all his bones.
Y'all recognize that
from John 19?
Isn't this so interesting?
that the apostle John
says this,
speaking of Jesus
when his side was pierced
in that section
of the book of John,
it says,
for these things took place
that the scripture
might be fulfilled
saying,
not one of his bones
will be broken.
Why in the world
would David
put that
in this psalm?
Why would he
share that
with these men?
In a physical
type of way,
he would say,
listen,
God so delivered me
not one of my bones
was broken.
I was in a bad spot.
As a matter of fact,
God tends to do that.
Does that mean
that the people of God
never break a bone?
No, it doesn't mean that.
It's a way of saying
this is what
the powerful hand
of God's deliverance
looks like.
And in this case,
he was really
prophetically
pointing to Jesus.
Have y'all ever wondered
why it was important
for the bones of Jesus
not to be broken?
You remember,
they broke the leg
of the one thief
and they broke the leg
of the other thief,
but Jesus' leg
they didn't break
because he is already dead.
So they do that
to speed up the death
of the criminals
that are hanging on the cross.
Well, Jesus' legs
weren't broken.
In matter of fact,
prophetically,
it said they wouldn't be.
Why is that important?
Let me tell you this.
All along the way,
God said,
I'm going to send
a Passover lamb for you.
I'm going to send
a Passover.
You know what
a Passover lamb is?
That's one
on whom the people of God
place all their sins
on the Passover lamb
and they take
the Passover lamb,
once a year
and they send him
outside the camp.
It signifies
that the sins
of the people
have been taken
by another
and have left
the camp
so that we no longer
are in this condition
of sin
because the Passover lamb
received all
of our sins.
Do you know
that Jesus all along
was saying the lamb,
the lamb of the world,
the lamb who was slain
before the foundation
of the world?
The plan of God
was to send a lamb
to take all
the sins
of his people
and he would
carry that burden
away.
Do you know
that when
the Jewish people
selected a Passover lamb,
do you know
what was important
and what the word
of God declared
they had to do
back in the first
five books
of the Bible?
It has to be
a lamb without spot.
It has to be
a lamb without blemish.
It has to be
a lamb with no defect
at all.
It was important
that the Passover lamb,
Jesus,
would meet
all the criteria
of the law
in order to be
acceptable
as the Passover lamb.
Jesus' bones
weren't broken
because he
met every
single
issue,
element,
dictate
of the law.
He was the Passover lamb
who took my sins
and your sins
if you've trusted in him.
Let me ask you,
have you trusted
in Christ?
Christ alone
for your salvation?
Have you trusted
in this Passover lamb?
Have you been
redeemed?
Have your sins
been forgiven?
When God
looks at you,
does he see
any condemnation
at all
or does he see
the blood of Christ
covering you?
I hope
all of you
have understood
the need
for forgiveness.
A holy God
and a sinful man
can't be together.
You know,
for a holy God,
only those
who've been
redeemed
will be with
them forever.
Only those
who've been
forgiven
by faith
in the finished
work of the
Passover lamb,
Jesus.
I hope
that that's
true for you.
If not,
I beg you
to consider
the truth
and I would
love to share,
to talk to any
of you
who have
questions about
that.
Let's pray.
Father,
we
at least I
speak for me.
God,
I don't get
excited to
think that
I've got to
walk straight
into problems
and difficulties
and trials
and all of
that.
God,
I tend to
walk backwards
when I'm
faced with those
things.
God,
I tend to
shy away
from the
difficult
parts of
life and
yet,
God,
I see
in the
pages of
your word
that the
path to
intimacy
with you
is a
path that
includes
trials and
struggles and
difficulties.
God,
in the midst
of those,
would you
help us
as your
church
embrace you
and cry
out to you
and cling
to you?
God,
would you
draw us
into a
deeper
relationship
with you,
a relationship
where we
trust you,
a relationship
where we're
often praising
you and
worshiping
you?
God,
would you
do a
mighty work
in our
lives?
And God,
if there's
someone here
that doesn't
know you
as Lord
and Savior
that hadn't
understood
the work
of Christ
on their
behalf,
God,
I pray
that you
would open
their eyes
to see.
God,
be praised
this morning.
We worship
you in the
name of
Jesus.
Amen.