WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.000 We're going to be looking at Psalm 34 tonight. It's on page 561. Psalm 34. If you turn it up 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:12.000 ! Natasha's going to come and read it for us. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:25.000 Psalm 34. I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:35.000 Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:47.000 Those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles. 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:59.000 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:11.000 Fear the Lord, you his holy people. For those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:17.000 Come, my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:25.000 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.000 Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:35.000 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:41.000 But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil to blot out their name from the air. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:47.000 The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:53.000 The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:58.000 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:02.000 He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:07.000 Evil will slay the wicked. The foes of the righteous will be condemned. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:14.000 The Lord will rescue his servants. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.000 Thanks, Natasha. Let's pray and ask for the Lord's help as we look at it together. Let's pray. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:29.000 Father, we do ask now, just as we come to your word, we pray that you might speak to us through your words. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:37.000 That we come as those who are hungry for your word, who are often easily distracted and need your help. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:44.000 And we know, Lord, too, that to respond rightly to your word is outside of the grasp of our own energies. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.000 And so we need the help of your spirit. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:55.000 Now, please, Lord, lead us in obedience and faith in your son, the Lord Jesus, as we pray in his name. Amen. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.000 I'm going to move Josiah's guitar back a little bit. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.000 Great. If you look at the footnote in your NIV, which is a great way to start a sermon, isn't it? 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:14.000 If you look at the footnote, you'll notice that you are told that Psalm 34 is an acrostic poem. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:23.000 That is one of those poems that you are taught to write in GCSE English, where each line starts with a successive letter of the alphabet. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.000 And they're very difficult to write. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:31.000 At first thought, I thought it might be fun to do the whole sermon like that. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.000 But then it became quite difficult. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:42.000 Carrying on with a different letter of the alphabet for each line, definitely not easy, especially when you're of limited skill. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.000 Fortunately, though, I decided I didn't need to do it. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.000 Grateful that the psalm does the work for me. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:47.000 Hallelujah. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:51.000 I think we should move on just in case it takes over. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:52.000 Anyway, there you go. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:54.000 I got to J. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:56.000 No one else noticed. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:01.000 Did you not notice? 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.000 I'm not going to do it again, because that just feels like I'm showing off. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.000 Which I suppose I was, but it was wasted on all of you anyway. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.000 There you go. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:21.000 Anyway, unfortunately, what the footnote doesn't tell you, but the commentaries will tell you, is that verse 22 at the end of the psalm stands outside the acrostic. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:29.000 And so it sort of stands out from the rest of the psalm, and I think functions like a bit of a summary of Psalm 34. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:30.000 So we're going to start there. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.000 Verse 24. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.000 The Lord will rescue his servants. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:42.000 That, I think, is a summary of what the psalm is about. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.000 And it's very similar, isn't it, to this morning's passage in Isaiah 4. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Here we find David, like Isaiah, teaching us and telling us, take refuge in God. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.000 Find shelter in him. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:59.000 I wondered as I was preparing, maybe this is just something that the Lord really wants to lay on our hearts today. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:03.000 This is something that he has appointed that we might hear twice today. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.000 Right? 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:09.000 So the psalm series linking in with Sunday evenings has been going back a very long time. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:15.000 So that Psalm 34 has come into land at the same time as Isaiah 4 is all in the Lord's hands, isn't it? 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:21.000 But what stands out as different from this morning's is that the picture is not of future judgment. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:26.000 It's not that David is telling you, like Isaiah, to take shelter in the light of future judgment. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:29.000 His eyes are not on the future so much as the present. 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:33.000 Present trouble is David's occupation here. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:39.000 And what he's emphasizing is not really so much the flimsiness of our weak shelters in the face of the day of the Lord, 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:46.000 but what he's talking about is a satisfaction in, a comfort in, a trust and confidence in, 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:51.000 the shelter of God's goodness in the present trouble that we face. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Seeing that the God who is his God is the one who takes care of us and watches over us and loves us now. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.000 Now, I think as you read the psalm and you look at verse 22 and think, OK, so this is an acrostic psalm. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.000 Verse 22 stands outside of it. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:14.000 I think as you read it through, you notice that verse 10 is really almost identical to verse 22 in its emphasis. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:19.000 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.000 That also works as a summary sentence in the psalm. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:26.000 And so what you've got in the psalm really is two halves. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:31.000 Verses 1 to 10 summarized in the end of verse 10 by the lions may grow weak and hungry, 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.000 but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:39.000 And then verses 11 through to verse 21, which are summarized in verse 22. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:45.000 And so what we'll find is that seeking the Lord and taking refuge in him, 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:51.000 they're basically the same thing from verse 10 and verse 22, are all coming to this one God that we need. 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:54.000 So let's just spend our time splitting in between those two halves. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:00.000 The first half, the God who cares for me, the sort of personal testimony of David himself. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:06.000 And then we'll look at the second half, which is about teaching us to follow David's example and to copy his obedience. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.000 So the first half, God cared for me. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.000 Now, David introduces himself before the psalm starts. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:26.000 So there you go, just underneath Psalm 34, a psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away and he left. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:33.000 It's pretty worth knowing if you don't know this already, that the bits underneath the numbers of the psalms are part of the original psalm. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.000 So they're not like the other headings in your Bible, which are written by the Bible translators. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:44.000 These ones are included by either the psalmist themselves or by the editor of the psalms who put them together. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:56.000 And you'll notice again from the footnote, because we like the footnotes, you'll notice that actually verse one of the psalm is of David when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away and he left. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:59.000 In the Hebrew, that is verse one. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:11.000 So what you know is that the setting that David wants you to know as you read Psalm 34 is 1 Samuel 21, when he is acting insane in front of Abimelech. 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:23.000 Now, you can read it later in all its detail, but what you probably need to know is that David in 1 Samuel 21 is on the run from King Saul. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:28.000 Saul is fueled by jealousy and insecurity and is hunting David down and trying to kill him. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:37.000 I've been reading through 1 and 2 Samuel in my quiet times over the last few months, and I have been struck because you know the end, right? 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:38.000 Because you know that David wins in the end. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:40.000 You read it like that, don't you? 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.000 And you sort of pass over the intensity of the opposition for David. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.000 But he doesn't know that he's going to win, does he? 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.000 I mean, he knows God's promises and he's trusting those. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.000 But in the moments, it is terrifying for him. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:58.000 This is David, largely on his own at the beginning, on the run from the king and all his army and all the power of his army. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:02.000 David is outgunned, he's outnumbered, he's often betrayed. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.000 And he's in fear of his life. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.000 And so he ends up in the Philistine city of Gath. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:14.000 But he's recognized, isn't that that guy that they sing about who killed more people than Saul? 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:16.000 Isn't that the person they sing about? 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.000 And so the king of Gath calls him to him. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:23.000 And, well, David acts like he's insane and he dribbles. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:28.000 And king of Gath says, well, I've got enough insane people of my own in my kingdom. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:29.000 I don't want another one. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:30.000 And so he sends him out. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.000 And David escapes the city and runs to a cave. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:38.000 And in the cave, his brothers and his family join him, along with the other exiles and misfits from the nation. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:45.000 Now, when David reflects on that salvation or that rescue story in Psalm 34, he sees it as God's rescue. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.000 So if you look down at verses one to seven, it's all personal testimony, isn't it? 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.000 I will extol the Lord. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:54.000 I will glory in the Lord. Glorify the Lord with me. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.000 I sought the Lord and he delivered me. 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:05.000 It's fascinating, I think, that David is so keen to attribute his rescue to the Lord, even though the Lord uses very ordinary means. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:11.000 You wouldn't have thought, would you, if your rescue came from dribbling like a madman in front of the king, 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:14.000 that you would then sing a song that says, I sought the Lord and he rescued me. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:16.000 But David does. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:21.000 He writes, doesn't he, verse six, this poor man called and the Lord heard him. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.000 He saved him out of all of his troubles. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:29.000 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:37.000 Dribbling David is clearly also praying David, calling out to God and dribbling at the same time. 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.000 It's interesting, those aren't contradictory actions, are they? 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:41.000 But complementary ones. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.000 And David is not content to leave it there, is he? 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.000 He wants his readers to experience this rescue of God for themselves. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:52.000 So, in verses eight and nine, you swap the personal testimony for a sort of imperative instruction. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.000 Do this, he says. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:55.000 Verse eight. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:00.000 Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.000 Fear the Lord, you holy people. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:05.000 For those who fear him lack nothing. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:08.000 I wonder what you, what do you make of that? 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:12.000 David wants you to see from his experience. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:18.000 He doesn't just want you to be a passive observer of his experience, but more than that, he wants you to be an experiential learner. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.000 That God saves and rescues his people. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.000 Taste this, he says. 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:24.000 See this. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.000 Fear this, Lord. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.000 He will provide, he will rescue. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:42.000 And so, if he's asking us to taste and see that, because that's been his experience in front of King Abimelech, what he's saying is, no, the Lord will care for you. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:47.000 But he won't necessarily swoop in with angels from heaven to lift you up. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:50.000 It might not mean that you're miraculously healed in the moment. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.000 I mean, it could. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.000 But God's rescue might come to you in a very ordinary way. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.000 A way that involves you calling out to God and taking action. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:08.000 God's rescue of you might involve a doctor treating you for a sickness or a friend providing for you or a job offer coming your way. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:15.000 But if it does, and when it does, make no mistake that it was God who stood behind it. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.000 God did it. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.000 Of course, there's more to it than that, isn't there? 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:28.000 Because David wants you to understand that as well as God being involved in all those mini-salvations, if we can put it in that way, he's also involved in major salvation. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:35.000 Because the big threat to David, the big threat to us, is not King Saul or joblessness or financial struggles. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:43.000 Our big threat is our sin and our need of salvation from hell and from the onslaught of the devil's lies. 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:53.000 And really then, in one sense, Jesus becomes like David and he is rescued by God and we share in his rescue in that way. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:03.000 Salvation comes not from the madness of David dribbling in front of Abimelech, but from the foolishness of the cross where Jesus pours out his blood in front of the crowds for you and me. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:07.000 And David says, that's the salvation that you need to taste and see. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:10.000 So here it is. This is the first half, isn't it? 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.000 God is personally involved with you. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:16.000 And he wants you in every moment of every day to taste and see his goodness. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:22.000 I wonder what you think tasting and seeing the rescue of God means. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:38.000 It's an interesting picture. It seems to suggest that it is possible for you, probably even as a Christian, to sort of understand this in theory without sort of really tasting it or experiencing it. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:50.000 David wants you to move from somebody who knows the theory of God's salvation or the idea of God's involvement in your life to feasting on that and recognizing it in every moment of every day. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.000 David wants us to trust in it, to notice it. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:57.000 It's twin in verse 9 is the fear of the Lord, isn't it? 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:09.000 So we taste and see and we fear, not as in terror, but as in a recognition of the power and majesty and glory of God involved in all things and above all things. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:15.000 Knowing that if our lives are in the hands of a God of that kind of glory, then we will, verse 10, lack no good thing. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:22.000 I wonder if, like me, you're quite quick to sort of question where is God when things go wrong? 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.000 Like, why did God allow that? 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:26.000 Why didn't he stop that? 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:29.000 Why did he let me go through that? 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:30.000 Why did I experience that? 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.000 Why do I still struggle with that? 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:37.000 I don't want to dismiss those questions because they're difficult and I have them, I share them with you. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.000 But David wants us to take a different perspective. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:45.000 He wants us to say good things don't happen by accident in our lives. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:15:11.000 And he wants us to notice that God stands behind them and that we should see and recognize that and thank God for the food that we eat, for the job that we have, for the home that you live in, for the clothes he's provided, for the text from a friend that came just at the moment when you need it, for the church family that cares for you, for the bus that came on time, for the swift action of a doctor to diagnose you, for the saviour he sent to die for you. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:18.000 God cares for you. And you see his care and his salvation in every little moment of your life. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:23.000 Secondly then, learn from my instructions, verse 11 to 21. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:25.000 Learn from my instructions. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:30.000 Now, one of the things that you can do in your Bible, I don't know if you like writing in your Bible, maybe you don't. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.000 You don't have to write in your Bible. Certainly if you've got church one, don't do it right now. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:42.000 But, one of the things to do to try and help you understand passages is maybe just to put a little circle around instructions, like do this kind of words. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:47.000 And if you do that in Psalm 34, you'll see that they are collected around this hinge in verse 10. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.000 So you've got taste and see and fear in verses 8 and 9. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:54.000 And then you've got a whole string of instructions in 11 to 14. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:59.000 Come, keep, turn, do good, seek, pursue. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:06.000 And so these are sort of an echo of verses 8 and 9 and now in this second half in verses 11 to 13. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.000 Come my children, says David. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.000 Listen to me, I will teach you. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:12.000 And the lesson is holiness. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:17.000 So verse 13, you are to keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.000 Turn from evil and do good. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.000 Seek peace and pursue it. 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:26.000 This teaches David is the lifestyle or the ambition of the rescued. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.000 These are the people that the Lord hears. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:32.000 These are the people who experience God's care in every moment of every day. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.000 Those who turn to him, who follow him, who obey him. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:44.000 Now, in case you make the mistake of thinking, oh, okay, so I follow these instructions and then the Lord cares for me as a sort of I'm earning that. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:51.000 Well, then if you think like that, then David quickly moves away from the imperative instructions to some more teaching, doesn't he? 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:54.000 Verse 17, the righteous cry out. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:55.000 That's what they do. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:57.000 It's not that they are earning God's care. 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:01.000 Instead, they cry out to God and he responds to them. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.000 He hears them and delivers them. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:07.000 The righteous find themselves to be broken hearted in verse 18. 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:10.000 So righteousness is no protection from broken heartedness. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.000 But even in the midst of the broken heartedness, still the Lord is close. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:17.000 He saves those who are crushed in spirit. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:22.000 Righteousness then is neither the grounds of their rescue nor a protection against trouble. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:30.000 Because the ground of it is the of the rescue is the calling out to God for it, asking for it, desperately seeking him for it. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:35.000 And verse 19 tells you, if you're in any doubt, the righteous person may have many troubles. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:40.000 And even though he does or she does, it carries on. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:46.000 But the Lord delivers them, protecting their bones, slaying the wicked in verse 21. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:50.000 Still, the experience of obedience is not a guarantee of an easy life, is it? 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:55.000 And we know that's true from our own experience and from the experience of our church. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:01.000 Now, we've run through that really quickly, but just think about what David's teaching us here. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:08.000 He's telling us, isn't he, from his own experience, that it's possible to know the presence of God in the most unlikely places. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:19.000 Trouble, desperation are not hallmarks of God's absence, but can be the place that you find God's presence and experience his salvation. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:26.000 That following God, listening to his word, obeying him, is not something that we do to avoid trouble, 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:32.000 but is something that we do because we want to know God even in the midst of trouble. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.000 You might want to turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:39.000 I should have written down a page number, but 1 Peter chapter 2. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:43.000 Someone can yell out a page number when they get there, so you beat me to it. 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:47.000 1 Peter 2, page 1218. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:54.000 There are a number of New Testament passages which echo Psalm 34, the tasting part especially, of verse 8. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:00.000 And it seems in 1 Peter 2 that the tasting is pictured as the beginning of the Christian life. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:03.000 This is where it starts, knowing experientially that God is good. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.000 But it doesn't end there, does it? 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.000 So 1 Peter chapter 2, what does he say? Verse 1. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:29.000 1 Peter 3, verse 1. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:31.000 That's the two halves, isn't it, of Psalm 34. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:36.000 Taste God's goodness from David's word about him and then follow him in obedience. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:46.000 It's almost like, isn't it, I don't know what your particular food preferences are, but it's almost as if once you've tasted something really yummy, 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:50.000 you do not want to go back and eat something really grubby, right? 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:59.000 Once you have tasted and seen the Lord's goodness, his kindness, his mercy, his grace to you in the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:06.000 you will want to eat more and more and more of that and less and less of hypocrisy, envy, slander of every kind. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:14.000 You will be craving pure spiritual milk like a newborn baby screaming out for his mother's milk. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:21.000 And you do that not as a guarantee against trouble, but because you know it's the only way to survive in the midst of the trouble, 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:24.000 to know God in the pain and the difficulty. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.000 And David thinks that's something you learn, isn't it? 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:34.000 So he says, come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you this fear of the Lord. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:44.000 I've had this conversation with a number of you, but I think we wonder, don't we, at times, why the Lord doesn't just make us holy like that, right? 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:51.000 Surely, surely God, my life would be much more straightforward and much easier if you just made me holy. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.000 Just like, and you could do that, Lord, right? 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.000 The temptation, you could take that away like that. 00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.000 You know, the slowness of my heart to feel and love what you love. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:06.000 You know, I come to church and it's great because people are singing God's praises, but I feel in my heart, oh, do you know what? 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:08.000 I could be sat on my sofa at home. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.000 You know, why am I so sluggish in the Lord's presence? 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:17.000 But it seems to be, doesn't it, that God loves this process of us learning and growing. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:22.000 Actually, God delights in seeing us grow and flourish and develop. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.000 God is not in the same kind of rush that you are. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.000 He is patient and caring. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.000 And so we listen to God's word. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.000 We learn from people like David. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.000 We learn the fear of the Lord. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.000 And we are taught it by his word. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:39.000 So study it. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:40.000 Think about it. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.000 Dedicate yourself to it. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.000 It won't come to you quickly. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.000 It's all right, Hilda, no one's noticed. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:57.000 A guy called Nahum Tate lived in London in the 17th century. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.000 Does anyone know who he was? 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:05.000 Nahum Tate. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:09.000 Don't Google it on your phones because that's cheating. 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:10.000 But he was a playwright. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:13.000 He rewrote the end of King Lear. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.000 And he was one of the very first poet laureates. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.000 Does anyone know what a poet laureate actually is? 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:21.000 Does? 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:23.000 Josiah. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:26.000 He writes poems for the king. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:27.000 Yeah, that's right. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:29.000 So, you know what, don't you, Josiah? 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:32.000 Look at that. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:36.000 I just, I got absolutely nothing for the beginning of my sermon 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:38.000 or starting with a different letter of the alphabet. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:39.000 But you got a clap for that. 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:40.000 Anyway. 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:43.000 Do you know where you get paid? 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:45.000 You get paid in wine. 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:46.000 Did you know that? 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:47.000 Did you know that? 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.000 And you also get an allowance. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:51.000 So, yeah. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.000 People are furiously scrolling down poems to see whether they can get themselves a job. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.000 Anyway, but Tate was one of the first, I think he was the third poet laureate. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.000 So it was a job that you held until you died. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.000 I think now you have it for 10 years or something. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:06.000 Anyway, he died penniless in Southwark. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.000 And you can go and find his grave in a churchyard there. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:13.000 But he, as a poet laureate, he set about with a friend called Nicholas Brady, 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:21.000 re-sort of paraphrasing Psalms and setting them to music so that churches could sing them. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:27.000 And so he was doing what people are still doing today, trying to put them into easy hymns to sing. 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:30.000 And this is how he wrote Psalm 34. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.000 I'm going to end with this so you can listen to Mr. Tate. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.000 Sorry? 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:39.000 I should sing it. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:40.000 I should sing it. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.000 No, because, you know, I would start like that and I would regret it. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:46.000 And then you would begin to regret it. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.000 And everything good in this would be lost. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.000 So let me just read it to you. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:58.000 Through all the changing scenes of life, in trouble and in joy, 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:03.000 the praises of my God shall still my heart and tongue employ. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:06.000 O magnify the Lord with me. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:09.000 With me exalt his name. 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:14.000 When in distress to him I called, he to my rescue came. 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.000 The hosts of God encamp around the dwellings of the just. 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:24.000 Deliverance he affords to all who want his succor trust. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.000 O make but trial of his love. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:29.000 Experience will decide. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:35.000 How blessed are they and only they who in his truth confide. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.000 Fear him, ye saints. 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:42.000 And you will then have nothing else to fear. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:46.000 Make you his service, your delight. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.000 Your wants shall be his care. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:55.000 My meditation sweeter far than honey shall be he. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:25:01.000 So shall my cheerful thoughts confess his condescending love to me. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:03.000 Let me pray. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:16.000 Heavenly Father, we experience your love and your care all the time. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.000 And yet often we are ignorant of it. 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:26.000 We thank you that we find ourselves in this room tonight to hear your word, 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:30.000 to sing your praises, to share this supper together. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.000 And that this is a good place for us to be. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.000 And we're here because you brought us. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:41.000 And help us, we pray, to taste and see that you are good. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.000 And to live lives of obedience to you. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:48.000 Not in order to earn an easy life. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.000 But in order to know you even in the trouble of life. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:56.000 And so, Lord, as we think about one another in this room, 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:01.000 we know, Lord, just some of the trouble that we are facing together. 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:09.000 And we pray, Lord, that we, like David, might know that you are with us and will save us. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.000 That we, with David, will be able to extol your name at all times. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:16.000 Glorying in you. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.000 Glorifying and exalting your name together. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:21.000 As we pray in Jesus' name. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:23.000 Amen. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:24.000 Amen. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:27.000 Amen. 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:27.000