Fearing the Lord Who Delivers

Transcript

GR 1228
11/17/2019
Fearing the Lord Who Delivers
Psalm 34; 1 Samuel 21:1-15
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to the book of Psalms and the 34th chapter, Psalm 34. We just finished the study of the book of Ecclesiastes and I want to look into this psalm with you today, not because of any particular connection to Ecclesiastes although I did find a number of similarities in it. It’s just a psalm that I was drawn to and as most of us do, we find the Psalms refreshing, encouraging. As we turn to them they unfold something of the heart and passion of the psalmist as he writes and deals with various issues and situations in life. And the Psalms can be very, very personal and Psalm 34 is a psalm that is a great encouragement and a good reminder.

Let me just say something about the psalms, the psalms are basically songs, that’s what the Hebrew word for this book is, it means ‘songs of praise.’ Then when they translated the Old Testament into Greek, called the Septuagint, the Greek word they used was basically ‘psalms’ as we have it transliterated over into English. It also meant songs that are sung usually with a stringed accompaniment. So basically you need to remember when we read these psalms basically this was the hymnbook, if you will, of the nation Israel and their worship, when they came to the tabernacle these were sung. And so it won’t be true of Psalm 34 but a number of them you have a specific direction, it’s for the chief musician or someone like that because it was to direct in the singing, to fix the truths that God had given in the heart like songs do for us. That’s why it’s important that we sing truth, that our songs have sound theology, because it’s what they are to do, is to help fix the truth in our hearts and minds.

This particular psalm is a psalm that is an acrostic and that was another help for memory. That simply means that every line or every verse, and in this case it’ll be every other line, begins with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It would be like if we did it in English, the first line of verse 1 would begin with the letter ‘A,’ the first line in verse 2 would begin with the letter ‘B.’ And so as the Hebrew the first line begins with ‘aleph,’ and the second line begins with ‘beth’ And that would help fix it in the memory because these people didn’t have their own copy, so to help them commit this to memory, sometimes you have these things. The most well-known acrostic psalm is Psalm 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible. Probably in most of the English translations, they have it sectioned off according to each letter, but it’s impossible to carry that memory technique over into another language. To try to start each of these with the letter A or the letter B or the letter C would not really be possible, but you realize what was done as the psalmist wrote directed by the Spirit and recorded in such a way.

These were truths that were to be sung so they were to be truths. One person said concerning the Psalms, “They should be the model for our songs of praise, the instruction for our prayers, and meditations. They should also be considered to help us understand what worship is about since they were given by God’s inspiration to guide Israel’s worship.” So much to be learned, much benefit derived from the Psalms, often personally, but remember they were intended for corporate use just like we come together and have a hymnbook or we have the screens now but we sing songs together. These were for Israel to join in their worship.

For Psalm 34, as some of the psalms do, not all, there is a superscription, something written above the psalm. Here it is: “A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.” Now we don’t know exactly when it was put there but they are in the oldest copies we have of the Old Testament and there’s no reason they would not be describing the actual setting that was behind this psalm. In fact, in the Hebrew Bible verse 1 is that superscription, so if you use a commentary that’s based on the Hebrew text it can be a little confusing because verse 1 in that they’ll be talking about the superscription, and then what is our verse 1 really begins with verse 2. So it gets a little confusing, I was using one of those this week and I was constantly reminding myself, oops, I’m in the wrong verse but just for your information. So this psalm has a background, something that happened in David’s life ‘when he feigned madness before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed.”

Maybe we just ought to look at that in 1 Samuel chapter 21. Sometimes we don’t know the exact reference of what event it would be referring to, but this we do. First Samuel, you do Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel then 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. So we’re going to 1 Samuel chapter 21, and this is a time in David’s life, he’s not king yet, he has been set apart by God, he will be the next king of Israel. David recognizes and will not do anything to assert himself into the position of king as long as Saul is alive. Saul recognizes that God’s hand is on David and he thinks he has to take steps to try to prevent that from happening. Like most rulers, they’re jealous for their position. And David has a great friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan, who would be the normal successor, as you might think. But Jonathan recognizes that David is the man God has chosen to succeed, and he has a friendship with him.

So Saul is attempting to kill David, David is aware of it. He’s afraid to be in Saul’s presence, because Saul has attempted to pin him to the wall with his spear on a previous occasion. So there’s a dinner at which David is expected to be present, but he has arranged with Jonathan that he won’t be there. So Saul asks Jonathan his son where is David, why didn’t he show up for the dinner? And Jonathan makes an excuse, well, he asked me for the option to go and visit his family for some kind of event. Well, you get an idea what kind of man Saul is because he grabs his spear and throws it at his son Jonathan who avoids it. But you get an idea of the character, he could have pinned him to the tent wall and that would have been it for Jonathan. But you see the hatred that Saul has for David and even for his own son for his friendship with David, so David realizes his life’s in danger so he flees, he gets out of the area.

On his way, leaving town, about a mile out of Jerusalem he comes to where the priests are centered. And he doesn’t even have a weapon, he doesn’t have any food with him, you can tell how urgent this is. He has to get out from where Saul would have opportunity to get a hold of him, so he leaves without even taking a weapon or any food. And when he gets to where the priests are he talks to the chief priest in verse 1 of chapter 21 whose name is Ahimelech. Now don’t get him confused with Abimelech with a ‘b,’ that name is used in the superscription at the top of Psalm 34. That’s Abimelech, this is Ahimelech. No relation, one is a Jew, one is a Philistine. So he comes to Ahimelech, the priest, he says I’m on a secret mission for Saul because Ahimelech doesn’t know all the palace conspiracy going on. So Saul has sent me on a special mission, I didn’t even have time to go home and change clothes, get a weapon, and get some provisions. Do you have a weapon here that I could use, a sword? Well, he says, you know what we’re storing here, you know that sword that you took off Goliath when you killed him and cut off his head with his own sword, it’s here. David said I’ll take it.

That becomes the background of what’s going to happen. Then he says you have any food? Well, I had to leave so quickly, Saul says I had to go quickly, I couldn’t even take any food. Well, there’s some bread of the Presence, the bread presented before the Lord and it’s replaced with fresh bread periodically. it’s just for the priests but in an emergency like this you could use it. That will come back to haunt the priests, because of Ahimelech helping David, 89 priests including Ahimelech will be executed by Saul, so you see how great his wrath and hatred of David is. When Ahimelech says I didn’t have any idea, I’m used to David being sent on missions by you, he’s your own son-in-law. It didn’t matter, Saul had him executed with 89 priests on the spot.

So David leaves Israel and crosses over into the land of the Philistines, and you know what city he goes to, Gath. Now if you’re familiar with the account of Goliath, Goliath was from the city of Gath. Now here comes David into the city of Gath carrying Goliath’s sword that he used to cut off his head, not the best of situations. The king of this area down in verse 10, he’s called Achish, now in Psalm 34 it’s Abimelech. We say, well, is it Abimelech or is it Achish? Well, the resolution is Abimelech means ‘my father is king’ and it’s probably a generic title like pharaoh. Pharaoh is a title no matter who is pharaoh, it’s a title, Caesar for the rulers of Rome after Julius Caesar, so it becomes a title, my father is king meaning I am now king. Achish is the name of the particular king in verse 10. He fled from Saul to Achish, king of Gath, but when he comes in to Achish the servants of Achish say, “Is this not David the king of the land?” Well, he’s not king, but you see how word traveled, they realize he is the one that is going to be sitting on the throne. How the information gets passed.

‘Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’ ” Remember when they come back from battle the ladies were out singing and this greatly upset Saul, I only killed thousands, David killed ten thousands, immediately he sees David as a threat. But David realizes he’s in trouble, because things are going to turn against him very quickly, so his plan is, “he disguised his sanity,” verse 13, “before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard.” He acted like he was a crazy man and “then Achish said to his servants, ‘Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?’ ” Get him out of here! So David uses the occasion to escape and he goes back into Israel, and chapter 22 opens up, he finds a cave, the cave of Adullam and he hides there. He flees from Saul and he has nothing, now he has to flee from the Philistines back into Israel and he’s in a cave by himself and he’s still has nothing. And it’ll take some time until word gets out among the supporters of David and 400 men will join him.

That becomes the contingent but it’s this occasion of acting like a madman, using that as an escape, that was in the background of David writing this psalm. You know, you’re reminded of the character of David. You’re in this kind of situation, the last thing you might be thinking of is writing a song celebrating God’s faithfulness and deliverance of his people, and magnifying the greatness of God. You know, it wasn’t like he had his computer, it wasn’t even like he had his phone, it wasn’t even like he had a ballpoint pen and a tablet. You know, it wasn’t easy. I remember, I’m getting so old, I remember when we got to fourth grade you got to have a desk that had an ink well on it, and you would be able to use the pen that dipped into the ink, and learn to write with ink, and, boy, you felt like you’d really graduated to adulthood. David didn’t even have that. You know you had to write on parchment on a piece of animal skin, vellum, something like that, but he records this account when he escapes.

His heart seems to be filled with God and His greatness, so that’s what it’s about, it’s about the deliverance of the Lord, and He is to be praised because He delivers His people. And he calls the people to join him in the parade and that is why it is a song. David uses his testimony to encourage people and invite them to come and experience the power of the God who is a Deliverer, who is a Rescuer. We’re just going to walk through this psalm, and keep in mind it is a song to be sung in worship, in praising the Lord, and a song that is joined in by the others. Their testimony, their situation will vary, they’re not going to be in the same physical situation as David. But it’s a song that invites others to join in because God will do the same thing for them in their situation as God did for David in his situation, because that’s the way He deals with His saints as he will say.

He begins in the first three verses and he invites the people, and he gives his testimony of what he is doing, and he invites them to join him in these first three verses. I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord; the humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” You see the focus here on God, some words here you can note, and then we’ll walk through. The word ‘bless’ in line one, the word ‘praise’ is in line two, the first line in verse 2 ‘boast,’ and then down in verse 3 ‘magnify, exalt.’ First my praise to God and join me, “I will bless the Lord at all times,” it’s a continual praise, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

David, you’ve got other things you should have on your mind. Where do you go? You’re going back and forth across the border and people on both sides of this border would probably like to have you killed, and now you’re going to hide in a cave. Now you’re going to talk about “I will bless the Lord at all times.” We think of the Lord’s blessing on us and we are blessed, but we also bless the Lord. We sing this song from Psalm 103 verse 1, I will bless the Lord, “bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” We bless Him when we give Him honor, when we give Him praise, as the second line elaborates. We acknowledge You are the source of all good things, it is Your provision for me, it is Your rescuing me. It is giving Him the honor that is due Him. “I will bless the Lord at all times,” but David you’re not out of the woods yet.

It doesn’t matter. Remember Ecclesiastes, day by day, we deal with every day and the events of that day. He can bless the Lord, he’s living that out. Where did Solomon learn it? Well, he learned it from his father who got it from the Lord and this is it: the Lord has delivered me, I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually, all times, continually be in my mouth, it’s all about the Lord and about what He does. Now it is a good thing, it keeps you out of depression, it keeps you out of discouragement, it keeps you out of despair. I am going to concentrate on the great things the Lord has done, I’m going to praise Him, this is what my day is about. Oh yeah, but you don’t know what I’m facing. Well, David’s facing he didn’t know what either, all he has is the word of God and the promises of God as well.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. Paul had a similar thing when he said, God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which I was crucified to the world and the world is crucified. I only boast in the Lord, that’s what I brag about. And what does that mean? I’m talking about what the Lord has done for me, how good He has been to me. What’s the impact of this to be? It’s not to honor David, note the next, “the humble,” the afflicted, that’s what the word ‘humble’ means, “the afflicted will hear it and rejoice.” It will have an impact on others so you see God’s intention is we be joined together with others, it’s not just I’m praising the Lord on my own. He writes this because others have to join with me in praise because my testimony will be an encouragement to them, so that in their affliction they too can boast in the Lord. They will have a testimony like I do, that the God who was sufficient for me is sufficient for them as well. So the impact we have with our lives, God did not intend us to live in isolation. Once in a while I meet a person who says they’re a believer. I say, “Where are you going to church?” Well, I don’t go, you know, I have the Holy Spirit, I have the Bible. God tells us what we need, He tells us what to do. What arrogance that we tell Him!

Keep your marker there and jump over to Hebrews 10. We’re not going to go to many passages because it will take too much time but come to Hebrews 10. The same kind of context as David is talking about, it’s for us today, that doesn’t change. Worship centers on God, and on what God does for His people, and Hebrews is written for our benefit. We’re in the church. But he’s instructing in the… He’s talked about the high priestly ministry of Christ, you come to chapter 10 verse 19, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus;” through the work of Christ, we have Him as our high priest. Verse 22, “Let us draw near with a sincere heart” and you’ll see this exhortation to seek the Lord, to taste of the Lord, to cry out to the Lord. We’ll have… this is what Hebrews is, you draw near to God, coming to Him, you hold fast the truth. Look at verse 24, “Let us consider how to stimulate,” a word sometimes translated provoke and sometimes we use it in a negative sense, you’ll tell your kids don’t provoke me. This is in a good sense, provoking, stirring up one another to love and good deeds, that’s what David says he’s doing with his testimony. I want to tell you what the Lord has done for me, give Him praise and you will be encouraged to do the same. Verse 25, “Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near,” so you see we’re…

Come back to Psalm 34, “My soul will make its boast in the Lord; the afflicted (humble) will hear it and rejoice,” be stimulated, provoked, encouraged to rejoice that I have a God who reaches out to me, so my testimony. Why am I doing it, to honor David? No, so you see what great things the Lord has done and be encouraged in your affliction, He’ll do it for you. “O magnify the Lord with me,” a word that literally means to make someone or something great. O make the Lord great with me, now we can join together. You know I will bless the Lord, His praise shall be continually in my mouth, my soul will make its place, then you’ll hear it, and rejoice. Now we together can magnify the Lord and make Him great. We don’t add anything to the Lord but we declare His greatness, we sing of how great He is, and He is, He’s a great God, we want to magnify Him. Do you realize how great He is? Let me tell you what He’s done for me, then together… Here we are a congregation, you join together to testify to the greatness of God, that’s what is key in our worship.

‘Let us exalt His name together.” We exalt His name. His name is who He is, all His attributes, they all come together. His name, His name is a name above every name. What do you… you bow before Him, we exalt His name, for God, for all He is, all He does, let’s do it together. So you see His testimony is one of things that brings us together. Now it’s recorded as part of scripture, so we can do the same. Be reminded, note those words, bless, praise, boast, magnify, exalt, it’s like I can’t come up with enough words, I just keep piling them up. Bless the Lord, praise the Lord, boast in the Lord, magnify the Lord, exalt the Lord, that’s what we do, that’s what worship is. If it doesn’t start there, you know, it get’s turned around. I was reading some material talking about the church and rather critical, for churches like this that just sort of concentrate just on Bible study and you know they want to get down where people are. Well, true worship brings us up where God is, to remind us of who He is, and He reaches out to us wherever we are, whatever our struggle. The humble, the afflicted, will hear it and rejoice, so it’s not just super-spiritual, it’s how we maintain a proper spiritual life.

Verses 4 to 7 and each of these sections are pretty much broken up according to the content. David is going to now magnify and exalt the LORD as the one who rescues His people. He talked about the afflicted who hear it and rejoice. Now he talks about that deliverance that he experienced and will be their experience. It’s the same God that each of us have, the same love and care He has for each of His people. David doesn’t hold himself out, I’m so important, I’m so special, I’m so much above you, God has done special things for me. It’s just the opposite, so everything He’s done for me He can do for you. “I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” “I sought the Lord,” a word that denotes some intensity here, I earnestly prayed, that’s what it means to seek the Lord. And He answered me… I came before Him with my situation, my condition, and He listened, and He answered. That’s the amazing thing, think about it, any reason, this is how we start. We bumble around and then we look to other people first, and then we look to the world’s solution, when the God of heaven, the God of creation says come to Me. David says, “I sought the Lord,” didn’t have any psychologist or any pills, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me.” What does that mean? He delivered me from all my fears, the things that were a terror to me. He is a delivering God, that’s what He did for me. All the things that terrified me, that word for ‘fears’ here, things that can cause terror, fear. Well, that’s what He did for you.

“They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.” You know what he’s saying, it had the same impact on others who listened and did the same thing. That’s what we had up in the second line of verse 2, “The humble (the afflicted) will hear it and rejoice.” “They looked to Him,” in verse 5, again, he weaves his testimony and its impact on others to draw them in, “they looked to Him and were radiant,” their faces lit up. We still use that kind of expression, you know, I could tell they just lit up when they heard, that the light came on in their face, they were radiant, they rejoice. “Their faces will never be ashamed,” it’s transformed. Poor me, I don’t know what I’m going to do and I’ve got so many problems and I don’t know, and all of a sudden their face is lifted up. Others look, and say what happened, you look like a different person. I sought the Lord and He answered me.

Cast all your care upon Him for He cares for you, the same kind of point that Peter picks up. We go through these truths and then we sort of muddle along through life like, you know, it’s all you can do to take the next step. “I sought the Lord and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.” There’s no disappointment in Him because He can never fail. Some say, well, He did that for you, I don’t know if He’d do it for me. Anybody who turns to Him and seeks Him they’ll never be ashamed, they’ll never be disappointed. He’s the same God for you as He is for me, as He was for David, that’s why our testimonies encourage one another. These are not just isolated personal truths, they’re recorded for us.

“This poor man cried,” you can see how he goes back now to himself, “this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” Can you believe that? Who am I? I was the one under affliction, I was the one beaten down, I was the one despairing, I cried these words, you know, of seeking the Lord. I sought the Lord, I cried to the Lord. You know one of the things these trials do is they are good because they drive us to the Lord. You know how that is when everything is going on, all of a sudden we get so busy and so caught up with things sometimes we forget about the Lord. Oh, not so, I know He’s there, but let affliction come in… I go to the doctor, I get a bad report, and all of a sudden, I find time to be on my knees seeking the Lord, that’s good, it reminds me how great is my need, how great is His sufficiency. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” Now that doesn’t mean every time you pray you’re going to be rescued. Not a health and wealth situation where all you do is pray and you’ll have more money than you know what to do with and your health will be better. No, but the principle is true and He does rescue us and he gives grace to go through when He doesn’t remove us, it’s the principle and it’s true.

The provision, “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.” You have any doubt, the angel of the Lord… that word ‘angel’ means a messenger. When you refer to the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament basically you’re referring to the pre-incarnate Christ. This is God, the second Person of the Godhead who acts on behalf of the triune God in carrying out the will of God. He “encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.” We don’t have time to look through passages on the angel of the Lord, you can do that, we’ve done it on other occasions, you can check it and move through some of the passages that stand out. When He’s asked what is your name… why do you ask My name, it is Wonderful. You cannot encompass all that God is even when He incarnates Himself as He did in the Person of the angel of the Lord to manifest Himself. He doesn’t become flesh but manifests Himself as the representative messenger of the Lord.

Come back to 2 Kings, certain passages you just can’t skip because they so quickly come to your mind and I know some of you are thinking about this passage. Some of you are thinking about something else, but I read about a pastor who claimed he could read the minds of the people he was preaching to, I wouldn’t even want that gift. Second Kings Chapter 6, a situation where Elisha the prophet, you know there was Elijah and then Elisha was his successor, the Arameans are battling with the Israelites but something happens. It seems like Israel always knows ahead of time what the army of the Arameans is going to do. What happens is God sends a word to Elisha of what the Arameans are going to do, so Elisha sends word to the king of Israel and tells him, here’s what the Arameans will do next so he could adjust his armies and keep giving him the victory.

Verse 11, “Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?” We must have a spy in our midst and “one of his servants says, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” Now you would think that would get everybody’s attention. If Elisha can tell all this and God tells him, this is a pretty serious situation. But what this king decides to do: well, let’s go capture Elisha then he won’t be able to tell the king of Israel, maybe he can tell us what the king of Israel is going to do, and so they do that. In the morning, the servant of Elisha gets up, goes out, stretches, and going to have a cup of coffee, looks up. And the city’s surrounded by the armies of the Arameans, so he hurries back in and he says to Elisha, you know we’re surrounded, the army, the chariots. What are we going to do? And I love the calmness of Elisha, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Now can you imagine the servant (murmuring) what a time for my master to lose his mind. So what’s Elisha do? Lord, open this poor servant’s eyes so he can see. “The Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” What does Elisha have to fear? Who’s in trouble? Why? I take it the angel of the Lord surrounds him. These are the armies under that authority so Elisha prays, Lord strike the Aramean’s army with blindness. You know, we think, wow, what’s the Lord going to do? We come up with all kinds of solutions. Sometimes our prayer life is more providing solutions for God, you know God if you would do this, you know God if this happened. Sometimes we’ve just got to say, you know Lord, all I can do is come to You and say help! I don’t have to provide the solution for God, God provides it for me. You know what? All the Arameans are all of a sudden blind!

Later on with Isaiah, you know, you have a similar situation, you know what God does with the army of the Assyrians, they go to sleep one night and 185,000 Assyrian soldiers never wake up. It’s not a problem with God. Well, let’s see, first we’ve got to figure out how to get an army with enough armaments… Don’t worry about it, I’ll just put them all to sleep, called death, they won’t wake up. Don’t worry about it, they’ll all be blind, so they all are brought into the city. Now what do we do, shall we kill them? No, feed them dinner and send them home. So come back to Psalms, David says the deliverance that he experiences is the same, it doesn’t matter if He’s doing it for one with one or for many with many. “The angel of the Lord (surrounds) encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.”

I am never in danger in that sense. Why? Well, I belong to the Lord, He said He’ll never leave me or forsake me. I’m promised that the Spirit of God who dwells in me is greater than the devil that dwells in the world. Now note, it doesn’t mean we’ll never be in problems, but the Lord is there to take us through, to rescue us, to accomplish His purposes in it. So verse 11, verses 8 to 10 first, he uses his testimony, now come and experience it for yourself. I love the way he goes back and forth, he tells us the truth, he tells us about himself, verses 4 to 7, and then the work of God to protect us, and then he says in verse 8, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” You don’t want to be a spectator. You know, some people can come and sit in a service like this, hear the word of God, hear what God does, but they’re just spectators. They need to taste and see, they need to partake, that’s the point of taste, become a participant. Come to know the Lord, to believe in Him, and you’ll see the Lord is good because now He takes care of you like He takes care of His children, because you will be one of His children.

“How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him,” not refuge in the world, not in what the world provides. In Him, it has to become that personal thing. We talk about this, not enough to sit there and observe it, hear about what He does for others if He hasn’t done it for you, but hearing about what He’s done for others. That we are what? Just a collection of sinners redeemed by grace when we placed our faith in Him. We are a testimony, if He did it for us He’ll do it for you, that’s the amazing thing, that’s what we can tell someone else. Yet you’re a sinner, I was a sinner just like you without hope in the world, but I realized Christ died for me, and I cast myself on Him and acknowledged I am a sinner without hope. Oh, Lord, I believe in the Savior You provided. And He did for me what He did for you, and then we tell someone else, that’s how we all got here, someone told us, we heard the testimony. Taste and see for yourself, place your faith in Christ and you become a participant. When you observe a reality, that’s different from partaking in that reality. ‘How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

“O fear the LORD, you His saints; for to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.” The young lions, he’s talking about the lions in their prime, not the old lions like the old people we talked about at the end of Ecclesiastes. You know, the old toothless lion that can’t do anything, nor the young ones that don’t really… aren’t in a position, but those young lions are in their prime, but sometimes they can go hungry. Droughts come, fires come, things come, but God’s people are never without His resources. That doesn’t mean we don’t go through trouble, but He’s always there, as we sing in the song, we’re never alone not even once, the promise is good.

I’ll never leave you or forsake you, except… No, never, that’s what verses 8 to 10 say. You have all that you need, that’s what Peter writes, God has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Now He knows, like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, God knows you need food, He knows you need clothing and He provides for us. That doesn’t mean I just sit in the corner with a sign like some people do. No, because He has also given us instructions to work, but I can only do what I can do, but He sees that what I do will be sufficient because He is in it, so to speak. So his testimony is to encourage others, that’s why we want to have the right kind of testimony, doing the right thing, saying the right things. Our testimony can drive people away if we’re not careful. Are we testifying to the greatness of God and the wonder of Him or some testifying about things that would be better not even said, because they’re not really testifying to magnify God in His greatness?

Now what He’s going to do? I had a question on this. Let me read you verse 11 and 12, “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear the Lord.” Someone asked me what is the fear of the Lord? Well, we’re going to find out because he’s going to teach you the fear of the Lord. “Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good?” This is a way of saying who wants his life to have the provision of God, to have the joy that God can bring as He brings us through affliction and seeing God work in our lives. You think about it, God says He is there, we come to Him, He listens, the God of heaven, and He will respond and answer and meet our needs, so here’s what it means to fear the Lord. There are five basic instructions here for having God’s blessing for fearing the Lord that come in pairs, by that meaning the rest of the verses, verses 13 to 22.

Verses 13 and 14 will tell the first basic thing you need to know, so you could just put a number (1) by verses 13 and 14. They tell you the first basic thing because they’re saying the same thing on both sides. For example, avoid evil in speech and action, pursue goodness and peace, so you have the positive and the negative in verses 13 and “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” How often do we talk about the tongue and the most dangerous, destructive thing in the church and out of the church is the tongue. We’re going through this in the political process and it’s all about what people say, what they say, well, I heard this, I said this, I did this. Every church conflict comes to people passing on what they heard, what they said. Wait a minute, what’s he say? “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” What is David talking about? The greatness of the God he serves. “Depart from evil and do good,” that means “seek peace and pursue it.” That’s the first basic thing if you fear God. It’s not some intangible out here, just an emotion, that I feel fear. Here’s what you do, “keep your tongue from evil.” I’m going to teach you to fear the Lord, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit, depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it,” that’s the first basic thing you need to know. There’s not going to be any reason for us… we say, well, it’s so complicated and deep, I didn’t know if I could get it. I think it’s pretty simple.

The second point, live righteously and avoid evil in verses 15 and 16. “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ear is open to their cry,” so be righteous. First, you get righteousness in Christ and then you’re righteous in your conduct. His eyes are toward the righteous and He listens to their prayers. God told Israel your sins have come between you and Me, that’s why I don’t hear you anymore. Well, a life that is what it ought to be as a child of God. First enter into a relationship with God because without that relationship with God you have no access to God. Because Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Me,” so quit trying to make your own way and come God’s way. Cast aside your pride, bow in His Presence and say Lord, I’m a wicked hell-deserving sinner, I believe Christ died for me, I have no other hope but to trust You. And then live it, live righteously, avoid evil, (verse 16) “the face of the LORD is against evildoers, to cut off the memory from the earth,” so don’t be an evildoer. As one who has feared the Lord you want to honor Him with your life.

The third principle in verses 17 and 18, pray to the Lord in times of trouble and despair. He’s there to rescue you when you are beaten down. “The righteous cry, and the Lord hears” them. Are you righteous? You can only get righteousness in Christ. And you believe in Him, the righteousness of God is credited to you. Now you live a life that’s characterized by righteousness. Well, “the righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and He saves those who are crushed in spirit.” This is the same thing as the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see the kingdom of God.” Poor in spirit means what? They recognize their sin, their guilt, they’re brokenhearted, they’re crushed, I am a sinner unworthy, undeserving. And as His child when the details of life press in on me I realize again my insufficiency and inadequacy and I go to the Lord. So He hears me when I’m walking righteously. But He doesn’t say things won’t come in when I am beaten down and crushed. David is in dire circumstances, he’s running from Saul who wanted to kill him, running from Achish who wanted to kill him. He’s hiding out in a cave but David can celebrate. Here I am today, I don’t know what you’re going through but here you are today. I mean, He’s a God who cares, who keeps for those who belong to Him and walk with Him.

The fourth basic of what it means to fear the Lord is in verses 19 and 20. The Lord can be trusted to rescue the righteous. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers (keeps) him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.” He protects us from the destruction, that doesn’t mean believers will never suffer, there are going to be many afflictions of the righteous. He doesn’t keep us from them but He is there to walk with us through them. Remember the song, “I Was Never Alone,’ that’s the point because He never leaves us. He is there, it’s never out of control. Remember out of our control, never out of His control in Ecclesiastes, the same truths. There are many afflictions of the righteous, the Lord delivers out of them all. You’re here, you look back on those afflictions, you thought I didn’t know if I was going to make it, here you are today. I look back and things seem, well Lord, I don’t see any purpose in this and here I am. He can testify He delivers us. If you’ve gotten here and you are a believer you can testify to that grace that brought you here, and you ought to be, instead of complaining about what’s not. We forget that we’re here to honor Him, to declare His greatness.

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.” Remember when Jesus was crucified and they came to break the legs of those on the cross to accelerate their death. But Jesus was already dead, so they did not break His legs and that was to fulfill the prophecy of Psalm 34 verse 20, not one of His bones is broken. There it was applied literally, here it’s a truth speaking of God preserving us. But there the Spirit of God applied it literally to the Son of God in that situation. Here we’re talking about His care, His deliverance out of all our afflictions. Our bones being broken, being beaten and defeated but there it was applied literally.

The fifth basic of understanding what it means to fear the Lord, verses 21 and 22, take refuge in the Lord and you won’t be condemned with the wicked. Take refuge in the Lord, you won’t be condemned with the wicked. “The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.” We’re back to there are two kinds of people, the evil and the righteous. The evil cannot escape, they’re doomed, they’re under God’s judgment, they will be condemned. No matter what comes, no matter what happens, I will never be condemned. When all is said and done, I will be presented in the glory of His Presence as holy, blameless, without spot, because of the greatness of the salvation He provided.

So this is what he is talking about for us up in verse 9, “O fear the Lord, you His saints.” Saints are holy ones, those set apart from evil for God. So He can talk about our speech, our conduct. We fear the Lord, we entered into that relationship when we tasted and saw the Lord is good. We came to believe in Him. We entered into truly fearing the Lord, recognizing who He is. He is the sovereign, almighty God, but He invites me to come to Him for His salvation and I see the greatness of my need and my lostness. And I bow, cry out to Him, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner, Lord, I believe Christ died for me, I trust Him the best I can. Then I enter into a life of faith, a life of fearing Him, honoring Him, giving Him praise, glory, showing His greatness. Not about me, my little petty hurts, my feelings, my difficulties, it’s about the greatness of my God, I have to live this out day by day. What a privilege!

And if the greatest, wealthiest, most powerful man in the world said that’s all right, I’ll walk with you every day and take care of every need, you’ll say, boy, that’s good. I have something far better, the Creator of the universe, the Sovereign of all says, I’ll take care of you, I’ll provide for you in every situation and when things get difficult, turn and call on Me and I’ll meet that need, too. It’s all about what? David’s not here to bemoan things. You know I escaped, that I escaped a couple of things, but boy, you know, it could be three strikes I’m out. I’m here in the cave of Adullam, I’ve not really made much progress. I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord; the humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” That’s the way I need to start my day. David has put things in perspective. Be encouraged by David’s testimony, then the testimony of others, and say, wow, what a God I have, this day is a great day because I have a great God! This is the day that I can handle because He gives me the grace, the strength, and the provision to deal with whatever He brings. It’s a good day.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. Thank you, Lord, that You are a God who is sufficient. You’ve given us a word that is sufficient, a word that is eternal, a word that is just as true as it was spoken through David 3,000 years ago because You’re the unchanging God. You are consistent, You are faithful, You never fail. Lord, may we as Your people take hold of that truth, may it be the declaration of our lives. May it be when we’re alone and when we’re together we’d be testifying of the greatness of our God. Lord, may we not forget when we go through the greatest difficulties that You are sufficient, You will answer, You will care for us. Bless this day, we pray in Christ’s name, amen.
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