WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:04.400 I am so glad that Webb has introduced that song to us. 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:11.039 If you were not here, that song was sung for us on Good Friday and our service there. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:16.160 Perfect portrait of the suffering Savior forsaken for us. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:27.920 But also a perfect portrait of a time in which God's people gather together to celebrate the Lord's table, to remember what he has done for us. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.800 And that is why we are gathered here today. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:35.200 In a little while we're going to participate together in the Lord's table. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:40.880 But I would like to get us there by going through Psalm 34 together. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:54.000 I want us to understand this morning that Christ is in the Psalms, and that God was preparing us for the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ from the very beginning. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:01:01.759 So if you have a Bible, I encourage you to open it to Psalm 34 or turn your phone on or your iPad or whatever it is you use. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:05.120 And we will begin there this morning. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.359 You have heard me speak before of William Cooper. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:24.640 A friend of John Newton, William Cooper struggled with severe depression, and at times he was overcome by something perhaps more akin to schizophrenia. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:30.079 He was even committed to a mental institution at one time because it was believed that he was insane. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:36.319 But that commitment to a mental institution was God's grace. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:49.599 Because it was there in that mental institution that the Lord's grace grabbed hold of William, and from then on Christ never let go, no matter how much Cooper struggled. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:56.959 Now William was a poet, and the Lord used him to write many, many hymns, some of which we still sing today. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:06.400 One of those hymns that we don't sing, although it's being brought back a little bit, is a song entitled God Moves in Mysterious Ways. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:09.599 I'd like to share the lyrics of that song with you. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:17.520 It goes like this God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:24.080 He plants his footsteps in the sea, and he rides upon the storm. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:37.039 Deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.400 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:50.000 The clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:03:01.919 Judge now the Lord by feeble sense, and trust him for his grace, because behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:09.520 His purpose will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:15.919 The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:22.000 Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:27.840 But God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:36.319 That him is the intersection of insanity and the grace of a sovereign God. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:44.000 The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:59.840 Now he didn't always succeed, but William Cooper sought to view his bitter circumstances in light of all eternity, trusting in God's sovereign work, and this hymn is the fruit of that desire. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:07.680 But Cooper's hymn was not the first song to be the fruit of insanity. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:20.480 Sometime around 1000 BC, God used another poet to work to give us a song born out of trial and we might even say out of insanity. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:23.519 And that song is Psalm 34. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:34.480 It begins telling us that this was written by David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out and he went away. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:41.040 And then David records, I will bless the Lord at all times. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.560 His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.360 My soul makes its boast in the Lord. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:49.680 Let the humble hear and be glad. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.560 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:59.600 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.800 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:11.120 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:15.759 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:19.680 O taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.959 Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:27.839 Oh fear the Lord you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:33.439 The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.720 Come, O children, and listen to me. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:39.279 I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:43.920 What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.759 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.839 Turn away from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:56.560 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:02.000 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:11.439 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles, and the Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:15.920 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:18.800 He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:23.680 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.639 And the Lord redeems the life of his servants. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:30.639 None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:31.839 Let's pray. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:45.360 And it is applicable to all of us. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:07:00.639 We will all face a moment at least, if not if not many years of times in this sin-cursed world where we will be broken and crushed in spirit. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.720 Where we are crying out for help. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:11.360 So we we recognize that our our hearts and our spirits are in tune with David. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:13.199 We we get what he's feeling. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.839 But Lord, we want to see hear what David could not see. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:22.480 We want to see Jesus. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:33.600 So help us to hear what David has to say, but help us to see Jesus most clearly so that we might bring praise and honor and glory to him. 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:34.800 Amen. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:43.600 On the next Lord's Day, we are going to be returning to our study of 1 Peter. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:48.480 We're going to be picking up there in chapter 2 of the Apostle Peter's letter. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:54.800 And when we do that, we're going to encounter a quotation from Psalm 34, verse 8. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:00.399 A little bit later in 1 Peter chapter 3, Peter will quote from this same psalm again. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:13.199 So I thought it would be good for us to spend some time considering what this song is saying so that later on we'll be able to better understand how Peter uses it and what God expects us to get from it. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:27.360 So I'd like us to look together at Psalm 34, but to do that, we have to go back further towards the beginning of our Bibles with an account that is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 17. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:32.960 Now I'm sure that you are very familiar with this account. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:46.960 1 Samuel chapter 17 is the true story of a one-sided battle between a young man named David and a giant named Goliath, thank you. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.240 A young child answered that question for me in the first service. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:52.559 No adult could, but a young child did. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:04.000 Now the Holy Spirit ensured that certain details are recorded for us in the pages of Scripture. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:09.360 And it's important for us as we put pieces of Scripture together to catch those details. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:14.159 And one of those details is here in 1 Samuel 17 and verse 4. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:25.440 It says, There came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:29.279 Now you know the rest of the story. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:40.399 David, the youngest child in his family, was at home keeping the flocks and the herds that belonged to his family, while his older brothers were sent off to war. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:47.039 At one point, their father sent David to the front lines with some food for his brothers and to bring back some news. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:10:09.759 But that just happened to be the time of a standoff between the armies of Israel and the armies of the Philistines, with Goliath himself coming out day after day, challenging the armies of the living God, saying, Send out one person, one person to fight me, just us, the two of us, standing out in the battlefield. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:11.440 Let's see who wins. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:23.679 Israel sent no one until David saw that challenge as not a challenge of armies, but a challenge to the God of Israel. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:39.120 And so David, young David, went out to meet Goliath on the battlefield, doing so armed only with a shepherd's staff, a sling, and five pieces of ammunition, stones from a brook. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:44.240 And so we come to first Samuel seventeen, verse fifty. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:53.200 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:02.639 There was no sword in the hand of David, and so David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:06.480 When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:20.720 And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Sha'a'rim as far as Gath and Ekron. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:25.039 Of course that made young David a celebrity. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:29.759 And after that point Saul, Israel's king, grew jealous of David. 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:46.559 And so we see in the next chapter, chapter 18, verse 6, as they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:53.679 The women sang to one another as they celebrated, Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:03.519 And Saul was very angry, and this displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:05.919 What more can he have but the kingdom? 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:10.559 And Saul eyed David from that day on. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.360 What happens from here? 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:24.000 Over the course of the next few years, Saul sought to kill David. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:32.799 He used various means and various methods to try to take young David's life, and David was constantly on the run. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:37.840 At one point, David was on the run from King Saul, and he went to a small community called Nob. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:41.440 At Nob there was a little sanctuary there, and there was a priest. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:46.799 And he got some food from the priest, but something else happened there. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:58.559 In chapter 21, we begin to see that that happened to be the place where for one reason or another Goliath's sword was stored. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.000 The priest there had watch over Goliath's sword. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.639 We don't know why, we're not told the details around that. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:13.200 But David was on the run, and so he got some food, some bread from the priest, and he also took with him David, I'm sorry, Goliath's sword. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:15.759 Now I'd like you to look with me. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.879 That's 1 Samuel 21, verse 10. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:31.600 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Akish, the king of Gath. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.360 Where had Goliath been from? 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:38.080 You got it. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:39.039 Gath. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:48.240 David fled from his own king to Goliath's hometown, carrying Goliath's sword. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:50.879 Now you remember Goliath the giant, right? 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.039 He also had a giant sword. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:57.440 Everywhere he went, people would know whose sword that was. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.120 And so he went to Goliath's hometown. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:05.840 And it seems as though the people of Gath took David captive. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:07.039 Look at verse 11. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:11.600 And the servants of Akish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:14.399 Did they not sing to one another of him in dances? 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:17.600 Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:18.799 They've been listening. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:20.720 They've been paying attention. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:26.639 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Akish the king of Gath. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:36.960 So he changed his behavior before them, and pretended to be insane in their hands, and made marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:41.840 Then Akish said to his servants, Behold, you see the man is mad. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.759 Why then have you brought him to me? 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:48.399 Do I lack madmen that you brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.279 Shall this fellow come into my house? 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:58.720 Some think that because of the phrase in their hands in verse thirteen, that David was a prisoner. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.720 In fact, in the next verse, chapter 22, verse 1, it says he escaped. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:09.519 So we are well aware that at some point David entered Goliath's city and was taken captive. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:18.159 Evidently they were not going to kill him, so David did everything he could to make them not want him around. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:21.840 So he acted as though he were insane. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:29.120 And then we read David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adulum. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:37.600 Running from his own king, he ran to a hostile town. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:43.120 Running from a hostile town, he ran to a dark cave. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:47.440 From insanity to hiding in darkness. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:04.960 This is how David felt and thought in the midst of that desperate time. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:15.200 That setting is important because it helps us understand how we, as the children of God, ought to react to times of desperation. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:22.320 Did David believe that his ingenuity saved him, rescued him? 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.200 What are we to learn from David's experience? 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:28.320 How are we to apply this to our own lives? 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:38.320 Well, William Cooper said in poetic ways, fearful saints, fresh courage take, and trust him for his grace. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:43.279 But David said, Trust in the care of your God. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:46.159 Trust in the care of your God. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.720 He then shows us in this chapter, verse chapter 34, how to do that. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:17:05.200 How the child of God, the desperate, the depressed, the anxious, the worried, the troubled, even the exiled child of God should trust in God's care for his own. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:10.000 And it all begins, David said in the first three verses, with humility. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:17.440 He says, the child of God should come before God with humility, seeking to make God great. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:23.519 I will bless Yahweh at all times. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:28.480 Even when he's acting insane in Goliath City. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:43.599 Notice here that the direction. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:45.039 It's upward. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:48.079 It is David the man to God. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:18:04.720 When we know that we are in the right place, when the focus of our action is vertical, when it is worship, when we, along with David, bless the Lord at all times. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:08.240 And David could do that because his experience humbled him. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.079 Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:17.119 Going from the height of celebration, the height of victory, the height of success to being a prisoner. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:20.559 Makes sense while he was humbled. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:31.279 And in that place of humility, he called himself in verse 6, this poor man who cried out to God. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:34.319 He didn't wallow in that place. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:37.759 He didn't throw a pity party for himself. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:40.079 Instead, he looked up. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:45.680 And in looking up, he moved his spirit to a place of worship. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.799 His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:51.279 My soul makes its boast in Yahweh. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:59.359 That's why he calls on everyone who experiences desperate moments to magnify the Lord with me. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:06.880 That is a call for each and every one of us in whatever situation in life to make God great. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:08.880 That's what magnify means. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.759 To make someone great. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.200 Now obviously we don't make God anything, do we? 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:18.079 We cannot make God anything. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.519 He doesn't become anything more than he already is. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:25.680 He does not change, he does not grow. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:28.400 God does not learn, he does not become wise. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.119 He is all of those things. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:53.359 But when his children are humble before him, and they follow that humility with praise, with worship, with telling of the greatness of God and what he has done, then he becomes greater to us in our spirits, but also in the hearts and minds of others. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:56.240 Let me give you a very poor illustration. 00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:00.400 You all know how fish stories grow, right? 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.720 We go fishing and it starts out like, I got caught one this big. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.880 The next time we tell it, it gets a little bit bigger. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:12.559 And then a little bit bigger. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:16.880 That's just too crazy. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.160 That's the way it is with God, beloved. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:35.039 The more we tell of him, the more we speak of his grace, the more we speak of his mercy, the more we speak of his greatness, the more we speak of his goodness, the greater he becomes in our hearts and minds and in the hearts and minds of others. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.200 Because our response to trials impacts other people. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:48.480 The way we respond to desperation impacts those around us. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:21:11.839 It will either show those around us that our God is weak and not worthy to be trusted, or that he is strong and mighty, good and gracious, worthy of all of our trust and all of our praise, but it is only a humble heart that can make God great in the midst of desperate times. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:14.960 David experienced that. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:23.200 And through his own experience, he also goes on to show us that we are to seek God in the midst of our desperation. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:25.039 Verse 4. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:29.599 I sought Yahweh and he answered me. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:32.319 He delivered me from all of my fears. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:35.839 So David experienced God's deliverance. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:41.599 But don't overlook the means of David's deliverance. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:47.440 He was not delivered because of his insanity. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:50.720 Now it wasn't genuine insanity. 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:54.400 He was acting, but he wasn't delivered because of his superb acting ability either. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:59.759 The power of God delivered David because he saw. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:02.000 God's power. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:07.200 Does God use means to deliver? 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:08.559 Yes. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:12.799 He uses parents to rescue their children from their poor choices. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:14.880 That's me. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:19.519 He uses firemen to rescue from fire. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:25.039 God uses medicine and the skill of doctors and nurses to rescue. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:31.039 But we must never ever forget the two words God uses. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:37.759 It is God using means in this world, in this life, to rescue his own. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:41.039 So did God use David's acting like a madman? 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:41.920 Yes. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:43.119 Absolutely. 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:48.799 But without God's powerful working through that madness, David would not have been delivered. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:23:01.440 But how God loves to respond to his children who cry out to him for help in the midst of humble praise. 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:10.559 He so cares for his own that his angels are like an army encamped around his children to bring them deliverance. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:17.839 So close and so intimate is God with his humble children that they're like Moses coming down from the mountaintop. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.400 They're radiant, they're shining with joy as in the daylight. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:39.119 Have you ever seen someone going through a just a wretched experience in life, some trial that seems overwhelming, but somehow, in some way, there just seems to be a calm, restful joy that just emanates from them? 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:48.880 That's what God does for his own people who humbly seek him and make him the priority in their desperation. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:57.599 David ran from his own king right into the hands of another enemy. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:02.960 When God delivered him, he ran from there to the darkness of a cave. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:13.440 David sought God in his desperate times, and God became to him a deliverer and a refuge. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:15.519 Beloved, listen to me. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:20.559 When God is our refuge, even a dark cave is a place of rest. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:28.000 When God delivers us from our desperation, it doesn't matter where he delivers us to. 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:38.559 The humble want to make God great, and in their humility they seek his deliverance, knowing that he will hear and that he will provide. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:45.759 That is what David meant when he wrote, Taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:48.319 Taste and see. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:54.559 Now verses 8 through 14 are unique in this song. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:58.480 They contain a cluster of commands. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:07.680 So the two sections at the beginning and the two sections at the end are descriptive, but right in the middle, sandwiched in the middle, the author tells us what to do. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:17.599 He instructs us to use our divinely given senses in order to know that Yahweh is good. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.440 Now he can't taste God, right? 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:23.039 He's not edible. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:25.200 But that's not the point. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:46.799 The point is to use everything you have been given in life to not wallow in desperation, to not worry about tomorrow, not to stress about provision, but to look at everything around you for the express purpose of knowing that your God is good. 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:53.920 Look at your life's circumstances so that you see God's goodness. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:58.720 Have you struggled lately? 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:01.279 Have you been desperate? 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:03.039 Have you been run down? 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.480 Have you been anxious or sorrowful? 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:10.000 Look for God's goodness. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.319 Because it's there. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:16.720 Have you had success recently? 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:19.359 Has life gone well for you? 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:23.839 Look for his goodness and you will see it. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:30.559 As a prisoner in Goliath City, David could taste and see that God is good. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:41.519 And it's through that knowledge of God's goodness that we can begin to rest in his goodness in the midst of desperate times. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:46.880 Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.119 Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:59.119 There's blessing in resting in the goodness of God because he hears, he answers, and he delivers. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:06.480 David could run to the darkness of that cave and rest there in God's goodness. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.240 He wasn't home. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.160 His family wasn't surrounding him with love and affection and care. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.720 But God was his refuge. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:26.160 David's deliverance enabled him to taste and see that God is good. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:30.960 Look at your own life. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:33.920 Look carefully at it. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:53.279 If you are willing to make God great in your own life, if you are willing to humbly see his sovereign hand caring for you and guiding you and providing for you, you will see time and time and time again the goodness of God. 00:27:54.960 --> 00:28:02.559 But so many of us are prone to looking at our lives and our life's work and our accomplishment as something that we did. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:10.160 When we tell others about our life or our life's work, we tell what we did. 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:15.039 Looking at life that way is sinful. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.200 It's full of pride and idolatry. 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.839 Beloved, reject that thinking. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:28.880 Look at your life in order to see the goodness and the grace of God. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:34.160 Because it's then that we begin to respond to God's goodness. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:40.640 Humbly seeking the Lord and resting in his gracious goodness leads us to fear. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:47.839 The child of God should respond to whatever comes in life by fearing him. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:50.160 Look at how this works itself out. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:51.279 Verse 9. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:54.480 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. 00:28:56.319 --> 00:28:57.839 There's a command there. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:01.359 His saints, his holy ones, are supposed to fear him. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:02.400 Why? 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:06.240 For those who fear have no lack. 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:17.680 He there being good thing. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:19.039 Good thing. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:23.119 We lack many things, at least from our own perspective, right? 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:30.559 But if something is missing, if we look at our lives and feel as though something is missing, then it is not truly good. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:39.039 Because God knows what is truly good because he is good, and he knows what is good for his own. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.680 And he promises to provide what is good. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:50.480 And that promise should lead us to fear him, to be in awe of him, to be respectful of him, and to obey him. 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:51.839 What does that look like? 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:57.279 Come, O children, and listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:04.079 Fearing God is an inward response to who he is. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:14.720 We fear him when we know him, when we have experienced his goodness in life, and when we've responded in humility. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:20.400 But that inward response to God works itself out in how we live. 00:30:20.960 --> 00:30:26.319 If we fear the Lord in our spirits, it will be seen in how we live. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:30.880 That's why in verses 13 and 14 we see what the fear of Yahweh looks like. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:39.119 Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit, turn away from evil, do good, seek peace, and pursue peace. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:44.400 When we fear God, that will be worked out in obedience and daily life. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:52.880 And all of that is based on David's own experience, on the experience of insanity, if you will. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:31:03.680 But now in verses 15 through 22, we see two more truths that are applications of the goodness of God. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:11.039 This is what the goodness of God looks like toward his own people, toward the righteous, as he calls them in verse 15. 00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:19.039 Now in verse 17, we are told that when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, but who are these righteous? 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:21.359 How do we know? 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:23.119 Well, we go back to verse 2. 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:25.279 The righteous are the humble. 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:28.880 The righteous are the saints in verse 9. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:32.079 They are the children of God in verse 11. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:39.680 Therefore, the child of God, the righteous one, should respond to desperate times by crying out to God. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:43.359 This is the cry of the desperate. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:47.200 This is the cry of a child. 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:57.680 I cannot tell you that there is nothing that moves me to act much faster than my little Joshua saying, Help me. 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:03.200 Now, if he demands it, that's a different thing. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:08.480 But if I can tell it's a cry out of desperate help, I move. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:15.279 Prayer ought to be our immediate reaction in desperation. 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:20.559 And David, calling himself this poor man, cried to the Lord. 00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:24.799 And that same Lord has eyes that watch his own children. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:27.759 He has ears that are waiting to hear from his children. 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:37.519 In fact, he is actively opposed to evildoers, but he's actively waiting and working to react in deliverance for his children. 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:45.440 The goodness of God is worked out in his hearing the cries of his children. 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:52.799 Cries come from the humble and the poor. 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:06.079 Cries come from children. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:15.839 But God is so good to those who are at the bottom, to those who have nowhere else to turn to Him. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:21.440 He is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:28.240 Brothers and sisters in Christ, do not ever hesitate to cry out to your Father. 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:33.839 His ears are already tuned to hear your cry. 00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:36.880 He wants you to run to him, to cry out to him. 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:42.240 He longs to hear you because he is longing, he is waiting to rescue you. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:46.720 He longs for you to taste his goodness. 00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:54.240 But as is often the case in the Psalms, the psalmist has left the best for last. 00:33:54.640 --> 00:34:02.640 And he tells us that the child of God should respond to life by taking refuge in his God. 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:10.960 Verse 19 many are the afflictions, literally the evils of the righteous. 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:14.320 But Yahweh delivers him out of them all. 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:22.239 Now I don't know about you, but I can come up with plenty of times in which I don't think I was delivered from evil. 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:25.440 It didn't feel that way. 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:27.679 That was not my perception. 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:30.960 So how are we to view this statement? 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:35.519 How are we who experience evil in this life in many kinds of ways? 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:39.599 How are we to feel and sense as though God has delivered us out of them all? 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:46.159 Well, the answer is found in looking at the ultimate divine intention for this song. 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:53.599 God kept David from harm, from physical harm and condemnation by the enemy. 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:59.679 And David used that to point to the fact that God is good and God is trustworthy. 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:07.119 That God hears and that he sees and that he rescues his children in his goodness, and that is all true. 00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:17.199 But God intended this song not merely to point to a one man's desperate time and rescue. 00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:22.880 He intended it to point to mankind's ultimate desperation. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:27.920 Your desperation and my desperation. 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:30.639 How do we know that? 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:43.119 Well, according to Exodus chapter 12, verse 46, God required the Passover lamb to be a sacrifice whose bones were not broken. 00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:48.639 Verse 20, he keeps all his bones. 00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:50.880 Not one of them is broken. 00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:53.039 Now that was speaking of David. 00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:54.960 David was thinking of himself. 00:35:55.199 --> 00:35:57.760 But God was thinking of much more than David. 00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:08.480 And John quotes this in his gospel, telling us that Jesus, as the perfect Passover lamb, fulfilled this passage. 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:15.360 Not one of his bones was broken, as our Passover Lamb. 00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:20.639 How is it that God is able to redeem the life of his servants? 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:25.119 How is it that God is able to rescue us from all evil? 00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:30.000 How is it that those who take refuge in him will not be condemned? 00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:32.480 How can we be ultimately rescued? 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:38.079 It is only because a lamb hung on a cross and his bones were not broken. 00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:42.239 It is only through Jesus. 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:48.800 God intended his rescue of David to be an image of his redemption of all of his children. 00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:56.000 It is only through Jesus that we are able to fully taste and see that God is good. 00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:04.079 If you have not come to faith in Jesus Christ alone, you cannot taste and see that God is good. 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:13.760 But as you lift up your eyes to the cross, you see He is good. 00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:20.000 Because it is through Jesus that God has heard our cries for help. 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:32.159 In light of all of eternity, all of the afflictions and the evils that we face in this world will be nothing because Jesus will ultimately deliver us from death and sin. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:37.119 Nothing can take us out of his protective grasp. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:42.400 And so David says, Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:49.840 David said, This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him. 00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:56.239 Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:06.719 David's earthly rescue by the hand of God pictures God's work of rescuing his own for eternity through the sacrifice of his own son. 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:11.840 Look to the cross. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:18.159 Look to the cross, and you will taste and see that God is good. 00:38:18.800 --> 00:38:20.000 Let's pray. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:29.679 Our Lord Jesus, we come to you this morning thanking you that we are not alone. 00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:34.559 We are not the first to experience desperate times. 00:38:34.639 --> 00:38:36.639 We're not the first to go through trials. 00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:40.000 We are not the first to look for help. 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:47.760 But thank you for the great privilege of having a father who hears. 00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:57.920 But if we are honest, we do not expect our father to give up his unique son to die a death on a cross. 00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:05.519 We do not expect to be rescued by the death of God. 00:39:08.159 --> 00:39:09.920 That surprises us. 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:13.920 But it shows us the desperate need we were in. 00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:21.679 It shows us the depth of our sin and our need for deliverance. 00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:34.480 And so, Lord Jesus, as we come now to gather before you, to receive from a table elements that picture you. 00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:37.679 We long to see you. 00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:45.920 We long to taste the goodness that is there in your death, burial, and resurrection. 00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:56.960 We long to see that you are good and to know that because the tomb is empty, you can hear and deliver. 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:02.800 We come to you recognizing our sinfulness. 00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:08.719 We confess to you that we have sinned against you. 00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:14.159 We have rebelled against your holiness, we have broken your commands. 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:19.840 We have aimed at your target and fallen far short of the glory of the living God. 00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:31.760 But we come before you, before the Lord Jesus, claiming nothing but the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. 00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:41.440 And we remember Him as the one who did it all, who paid for our deliverance. 00:40:43.039 --> 00:40:50.559 And we come and we worship Him together as delivered children, who give praise to Him. 00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:52.079 Amen.