turn to the Psalter. We are turning this evening, as you no doubt have noticed from the bulletin, to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. And we'll be considering all of Psalm 34 this evening as our sermon text. As we turn there, for those of you who don't know, we have been making our way through the book of 1 Samuel. And as we have been making our way through the book of 1 Samuel, we have taken a number of excursuses, and this is one of them, as we explore some of the Psalms, which are reflections of David as he experiences the blessing of the Lord, which we have read about in 1 and 2 Samuel. So this evening, we take up Psalm 34 as a continuation of our series on the text of 1 Samuel. Please give attention to the reading of God's word this evening. of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech so that he drove him out and he went away. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. O fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous and his ears towards their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned." Thus far the reading of God's word, you may be seated. Well, let us once again approach the throne of grace this evening as we ask for assistance in studying God's holy, inerrant, and infallible word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to this blessed psalm, we pray, oh Lord, that you would help us to reflect with David upon your great glory and mercy. And Father, most of all we pray that all of us gathered here this evening would heed the invitation and we would come and taste and see that our God is indeed good. Father, bless us this evening, we pray, through your word. Speak to us, give to us ears to hear, soften our hearts to receive your word humbly, give to us eyes to see, and behold glorious things from your holy word. We pray it in the name of our savior, the Lord Jesus, amen. Well, as we come to Psalm 34 this evening, let me simply remind you, brothers and sisters, of what we saw last Lord's Day evening. You'll be reminded that as we continue our study through the book of 1 Samuel, we had come last evening, or last Lord's Day evening, 1 Samuel chapter 21 and chapter 22. And we considered together that entire section of text from the beginning of 1 Samuel chapter 21 through 1 Samuel chapter 22 verse 5. And contained in that particular portion of the text, you'll remember, is the story of David's continuing time as a fugitive from Saul. You remember there what takes place. David had fled from the presence of Saul and then he has heard this extremely negative report, of course, from Jonathan of his father's continued desire to put David to death. And thus, David had picked up and he had begun to run away, not only from the presence of Saul, but actually out of the nation of Israel itself. And as you remember, he had fled first of all to Abimelech. And as he came to Abimelech, the priest there at the tabernacle at Nod, we learned there in the text, he was in need, you remember, of one thing and one thing in particular, that was food and weaponry. And we saw there in that place that the Lord provided for David all that he needed. He delivered David in many ways from his need. But then, of course, you'll be reminded of that most interesting portion of the passage that we considered last week, whenever David leaves from there at the tabernacle, at Nod, and he goes out to, of all places, Gath, that place where, as you may know, the Bible has so firmly associated that great giant, Goliath, whom David has, just a few chapters earlier, killed in battle. And yet, what does David do? He shows up in Gath, and he doesn't just show up in Gath. He shows up in Gath carrying, of all things, the sword of Goliath that he has taken from the champion of that city after striking him down with the power of the God of Israel. And as he shows up, you remember, the servants of the king of Gath immediately recognize David for what he is, a threat. They see him as the future king of Israel, and they begin to plot against him. They tell the king, there's no way that you can tolerate the presence of this man in your presence. And what does David do? All of a sudden, caught in that situation, fearing for his life, he changes his behavior. And he pretends insanity. It's a remarkable move. Almost as thin as the argument that he had made to Abimelech to give him the showbread. And yet, nevertheless, what does God do? God defends him. He protects him. And then, of course, David is free to flee once more. And you remember how that passage ends. After God has provided for him delivered him from his need, after God had protected him, defended him from his enemies. God, last of all, there at the end of that section of text, the beginning of chapter 22 of the book of 1 Samuel, directs David by giving to him a prophetic word. Now as we consider that text last week, you'll be reminded that the main point that I sought to impress upon you from it was simply this, that God in his great mercy was providing, protecting, and giving direction to his anointed. We could summarize it simply this way, God was good to David. And as we come this evening to Psalm 34, what do we find but a reflection of King David upon these very events? As King David reflected upon God's goodness to him in that series of events, he penned the psalm that is before us this evening. Some have speculated that perhaps he even penned this psalm as he hid in the cave of Adullam, which was described for us last week, but we really don't know. All we know is that as God looked back, or rather as David looked back, on this time in which God had been good to him, he wrote this psalm, this psalm which reflects upon the goodness of God, but this psalm which is really much more than a reflection upon God's goodness to David. It is actually, and this is important, not simply a reflection upon God's goodness, but an invitation. It is an invitation to all of God's people. It's an invitation to you and I. to experience the goodness of God that David himself had experienced. Indeed, to summarize it another way, this psalm writ large is really simply this, a plea to personally experience God's goodness. That is really the focus of the psalm. That is, of course, where that famous phrase comes into picture, O taste and see that the Lord is good. What is that but a cry, a plea for us as God's people to experience for ourselves the goodness the grace and the mercy of our God who never ceases to provide and to protect and to direct us. It is a plea. It is an invitation to experience the goodness of our God. And that invitation comes this evening couched in the midst of praise and promises. And thus, as we look at Psalm 34 this evening, what I want us to do is reflect upon the psalm in three movements. I know you're surprised by that. First, we will look at the praise that results from God's goodness. This is the section of the psalm in which David himself reflects particularly upon God's kindness towards him. We'll see that really in verses one through seven. But then we'll see, as we continue our way through the psalm in verses 8-14, the plea to experience God's goodness. That, in many ways, is the center focus of the psalm. It is the middle part of the psalm which deserves the most attention. And indeed, it is placed in the center because it is at the center of the message. And then as we conclude this psalm, we will come to verses 15 through 22, and perhaps a little briefer, we will consider in this section, the promises that are rooted in God's goodness. So let me restate that one more time. We'll see the praise in verses one through seven, we'll see the plea in verses four or eight through 14, and we'll see the promises in verses 15 through 22. All of which call us to enter into this privilege of God's people of experiencing His goodness for ourselves. Well, let's look together first at verses one through seven, as we see here, the praise that results from God's goodness. Look at the way the Psalm begins. It begins, if you will, with a commitment of praise. Listen to what David says here in verse one. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be upon my mouth. Now, I want you to notice here that there's one thing that is particularly significant here in verse one. Obviously, as I've described it here, this is a commitment to praise God. Now, I hope that's not an unusual thing for you. I hope that perhaps you have a personal commitment to praising God, no matter what that looks like, and we'll begin to flush that out a little bit more as we make our way through the psalm. But what is perhaps remarkable about verse one is the timing of his praise of God. His praise is to be, you notice here, Continual. Listen to what he says here. I will bless the Lord when, at all times, His praise shall continually be on my mouth or be in my mouth. That adverb there is significant. He is saying that he will not stop praising the Lord. There will never be a time in David's life where he gives up on glorifying God. That's what he's trying to tell us. And as we're going to see, he has a good reason for that commitment. But nevertheless, it's worthwhile just thinking of that commitment together this evening. Are you, Christian, someone who continually is committed in your heart and in your mind and in your life to praising God? Is that you? Is that the demeanor of your heart? Is that the demeanor of your soul? You have heard the words of Paul, pray without ceasing. We could paraphrase what David says here, praise without ceasing. The two, of course, are intimately connected. But nevertheless, I think it's worth reflecting on. Are we those who delight in continually worshiping God? Is your life marked by worship? Private worship? Family worship? Corporate worship? Is this the highlight of your week, what we're doing here as we gather together to sing God's praises, to come before his throne of grace and prayer, to hear his word expounded? Is this something that you delight in, or is this something that you come to begrudgingly? Is it difficult? for you to find a place in your day to read God's Word and to pray to Him. Is it hard for you to set aside time to gather your family, to open God's Word, to sing His praises, to pray together? If it is, brother or sister, let me just say to you, emulate David. This is a man who, because of his experience of the glorious grace of God, has committed himself to continual praise of his God. Continual praise. He unpacks this a little more in the next two verses. You notice here he says, my soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. Again, that theme of humility continually comes up, doesn't it, throughout all of God's Word, particularly in 1 and 2 Samuel, though. And here we see the language that David uses, I think, is very significant here. You notice how he speaks. He says, my soul makes its boast in the Lord. Listen to that. Listen to that. Do you boast in the Lord? Is that your soul's demeanor? Are you a prideful person? Do you boast in yourself, in your own self-confidence? Or do you boast in the Lord? Do you delight that He is your God? Do you have hope that He will provide for you? And he goes on, he says, let the humble hear and be glad. The humble person hears of this Boasting in the Lord and the soul of David and he rejoices along with him because he knows that in many ways that's the key to Christian humility, isn't it? Understanding that we are small but God is great and he exalts us. even in the midst of our weakness. He goes on, verse three, O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name. Together here in verse three, he begins to give us a foretaste of what he's going to call us to do in an even more impressive way later in the psalm, particularly in verses eight and following. But for the moment, we just see that this love, this commitment to praise that he has, is overflowing, he desires not only to be a solo voice, as it were, singing God's praises, but he desires for all of God's people to come along and sing his praises in harmony with him. It continues, though. We've seen his commitment to praise in verses one through three. As we move forward to verses four through seven, what do we see but the commemoration of God's goodness? Here is the source, if you will, of the praise that we've witnessed at the beginning of the psalm. Listen to what he says. He says in verse four there, I sought the Lord and he answered me. and delivered me from all my fears." Now we can just stop there for a moment and contemplate what we heard about last week. You remember when David so cavalierly walks into the city of Gath. We don't know what he was thinking, right? Here he is carrying the sword of Goliath. He goes right up to the king of Gath and says, hey, can I stay here? And all of a sudden, what does he hear rumbling in the court of the king? And what are the king's servants telling him? This guy is bad news. And you can, of course, understand what David must have thought when that began to happen. These guys are going to kill me. They want me gone. They want me dead because they understand, just like Saul does, that I am the Lord's anointed. Remember what they said, this man is the king of the land. And so, there in the midst of that dangerous situation of all the warriors in Israel, David is the greatest, but even he is intimidated by standing in the court of an ancient Near Eastern king surrounded by his armed servants. And what does he do? He, according to this text, prays. He prays. Verse 4, he sought the Lord. Of course, he didn't stop right there and fall down on his knees and begin to cry out to the Lord, but no doubt in his heart and in his mind, he was pleading with God, please deliver me out of this mess that I am in. And what happens? Verse four goes on. He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Now, if you would have experienced something like that, I have no doubt that as soon as you escaped to the cave of Adullam, you'd be writing a song of praise to God as well. And yet, as we reflect upon that, of course, we realize that we have experienced this. God has preserved us and he's protected us throughout our life. He sustains us even now. But nevertheless, in an even more important way, we have experienced God's deliverance in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has delivered us from all our fears by giving to us the promise that in Jesus Christ, we are free from our sin, from our misery. Most importantly, perhaps, we have victory over our chief foe, death itself. The Lord has delivered us, indeed, as He's delivered David, but you notice here, He goes on, He says, those who look to Him, who look to the Lord are radiant, their faces shall never be ashamed. He describes himself here in verse six, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. He's saying here, isn't he, in verses six and five, listen, he's saying, you, if you come and you look to the Lord, if you seek him, you will not be disappointed. You will be like me who cried to the Lord and God saved him. He goes on in verse seven and he says, marvelously, that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Now, verse seven, I don't wanna get bogged down here, but just for a moment, I want you to contemplate that verse with me. It's an interesting verse. You notice the way David speaks there. He uses the singular, the angel of the Lord, and that's led some to think that he's speaking there about the pre-incarnate Christ, but I actually think he's speaking a little more broadly, and he is actually speaking about the role of angels who protect God's people. Now, if you're unfamiliar with that teaching, let me simply remind you of the words of Hebrews chapter one. Because it's a beautiful and comforting teaching. God has given it to us in his word to give to us confidence. Listen to the words of Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one verse 13 says, and to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. If you remember the argument of Hebrews chapter one, he is exalting Christ above the angels. Here, in verses 13 and 14, he describes the proper role of the angels. After introducing that concept there in verse 13, he goes on to say this in verse 14. Are they, that is the angels, not ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Now again, I don't want to get bogged down here, but Christian, just stop and meditate upon your privilege for a moment. The angels are at work in this world for your good. They serve you. Is that not an amazing thought? Is that not a wonderful thing to contemplate? Is that not something that you can take comfort in when you find yourself in danger? Surely we know the Lord is at work, providentially, working all things for our good, but nevertheless, one of the ways that he does that is through his angels. And here we have an indication of that, I think, in verse seven. And for all this, David praises God. Now, as we step away from verses one through seven and take a look at it from something of a distance, and I'll try to do this very quickly, I want to simply make one practical observation here. What David is doing in this entire psalm, but particularly in these verses, is he is reflecting upon God's goodness to himself for the sake of encouraging the rest of God's people. Now you catch that. He is saying, this is what God has done for me in the past, and this should be an encouragement to you. It is because I have experienced this blessing that I can now extend the invitation to experience that blessing to the rest of God's people. And let me just say to you, brothers and sisters, this again is a good model to emulate. Are you the kind of person who experiences blessing from God and never says a word about it to anybody else? Or are you the kind of person who, when the Lord answers a prayer, you can't wait to tell your friends, your family, your church, about what God has done for you? Now that might seem simple, but brothers and sisters, let me say, that is a fantastic way to just elevate your average, everyday conversations. It's a way to constantly remind one another of God's grace towards his people. And it's a model I think we should seek to emulate. What we've seen there in verses one through seven, the praise of God that resulted from his goodness. As we transition now into verses eight through 14, we turn to what is really the center, the meat of the passage. We see that beginning there at verse 8. Listen to the cry, the plea of David. Listen to what he says here. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Now, of course, I've already alluded to this a number of times, I've already said it a number of times, but as we come to verse 8, what we have before us is a plea for us all, as God's people, to personally experience the goodness of God. Now I want to emphasize that again. This is an experiential text. It is a text that is calling us to move our Christianity, as it were, past doctrinal statements and past rote practices of piety into the realm of everyday experience. It is a plea for us to depend upon the Lord, knowing that if we do so, we will taste, we will see, we will experience day in and day out the goodness of our God. It is a plea for you and me to take hold of God and to trust that as we do so, we will find delight and provision in Him. Brothers and sisters, I hope that's the kind of faith you have. I hope that's the kind of Christianity you have. I hope that you don't think that because you subscribe, if you do, to the Westminster Confession of Faith, you're good to go. I hope that you don't think that because you drag yourself to church on Sunday and because you make a practice, perhaps, even of doing some of the good things that I described earlier, family worship or private worship, that you're good to go. I hope that's not where your Christianity stops, but I hope it goes all the way to the level of everyday experiencing the goodness of our God. Because let me say this. If it doesn't, you've missed it. You've missed it. If you don't read this psalm and immediately rejoice, because you know what it means to taste and to see in your own life that God is good, if you have not done this, then friend, you have no true faith. You have no true religion. This is part and parcel of what it means to be a child of God. It is to know God's goodness personally. It's a plea. to experience it. And friend, let me say to you this evening, if you are not a believer, if you do not trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, this plea goes out to you as well. It is a plea. not only for those who simply are not living in a way that is in accord with the calling that Christ has put upon their life, but it is a plea for every man and woman and boy and girl in this world that if they come, and if they come to the Lord Jesus Christ, if they come to the God of Israel, if they come to the only true and living God, and they place their hope and their faith in Him and they depend upon Him, they will experience His goodness. It's a guarantee. Come, taste, and see that the Lord is good and receive from Him the blessings that flow from that. Listen to what he says, the rest of verse 8. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. And he goes on and he calls the saints here, doesn't he, in verse nine? Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lion suffers want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Now friend, that does not mean, and I hope you understand that, that you will never go through a time in your life where the refrigerator looks rather bare and the bank account looks rather skimpy. But what it does mean is that come rain or shine, God will give you all that is needful. for your growth in godliness and for your delight in him and if you trust in him he has said he will provide for you. He will provide for you. In verse 11 he introduces a slightly different section here. This is a plea for those who would come and taste and see that the Lord is good. He gives this other plea here in verse 11, that we would come and hear him and that we would listen to his teaching. He says, come children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Now what does he mean by that? He's speaking about that reverential awe that all believers are to have for the Lord God, the true and living God, the one who has created all things and the one who sustains all things and the one who is good to his people and has entered into relationship with them. Nevertheless, though we have this intimacy, though we have this relationship with God, we are still supposed to, as David makes clear here, fear the Lord. Now just as a sidebar, let me say here, intimacy with God, fellowship with God, experiencing God's goodness should never be set in contrast with fearing God. Fear is the right response to a God like this. Not fear that is constantly worried that he will cast us into hell, but fear that sees his power and his majesty along with his mercy and recognizes him for who he is, a great and awesome God. A God who is incomprehensible in his wonder and therefore a God who is to be feared. And that fear of God that he speaks about here, produces a number of good things. We see those in verses 13 and 14. Listen to what he says here. He says, those who would fear the Lord, they would keep their tongue from evil and their lips from speaking deceit. You see that the fear of God produces a particular type of speech, a particular type of action. It goes on in verse 14, they turn away from evil to do good and they seek peace. and pursue it. Again, I'm running out of time here, but let me simply ask you the question, do you seek peace? We heard that time and time again when we were studying together through the book of Ephesians chapter four and five, we heard that call constantly for the unity of the church. I wonder this evening if you can truly say that you are somebody who studies the peace of the church, you pursue it, you seek to be a peacemaker. Well, those who fear the Lord do that. It's in verses 15 through 22, though, that we see yet another transition, and this is where we will end this evening. We come here in verses 15 through 22, having seen the praises, having seen the plea to the promises, the promises. Let me just speak a few words here. As we come to verses 15 through 22, we see the first promise is the promise of answered prayer. See that beginning at verse 15, the eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous and his ear is inclined, it is towards their cry. Of course, David has demonstrated this with his own personal experience, but now he is saying his ear is towards you, believer. He promises that He will hear your prayers. And He promises, of course, that He will see and be present with you. We see that as the text continues. The face of the Lord, verse 16, is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. But when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of their trouble. And He is, in verse 18, near to the broken hearted and he saves the crushed in spirit. The first promise is the promise of answered prayer. The second promise perhaps that we could see here in these verses is contained in verse 18 and it is simply the promise of his presence. The promise of answered prayer should cause us to pray expectantly to the Lord. This promise of continual presence should cause us to have great confidence and comfort knowing that no matter what we experience in this world, in this life, as difficult as it may be, whether it be sickness, whether it be financial difficulty, whether it be the death of a loved one, God is with his people. He promises his presence. Particularly he promises his presence to those who are broken hearted, who are crushed in spirit. Perhaps we could say it this way, he promises to be with those who don't feel like he's with them. But then last of all, There is the promise of protection. We see that in verses 19 through 22, but particularly, perhaps, we see it there in the last few verses, 20 through 22. He keeps, he says, all his bones, not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked, but those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants, none of those who take refuge in him. will be condemned. Now as we come to the end of this psalm, perhaps you have identified here that there is allusion to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You heard it perhaps. If you're an astute reader of scripture, you caught it there. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Now that's an indication, isn't it, that this psalm first and foremost applies to our Savior. That's true. but it also applies to us in him. It is because we are united to this one. We are united to him in his death, as Paul would say, and we are united to him in his life. Perhaps what's referred to there in verse 22, the Lord redeems the life of his servant. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. The Lord Jesus, he died, but he was raised. and we were raised in Him. And as we come then to verses 19 to 22, we would be tempted perhaps simply to see this as God promising to protect us in this present evil age as we wonder as it were through this world of sin and misery and as we face all sorts of difficulty, physical, spiritual, et cetera. But first and foremost, I think as we come here to the end of verse 22, we have to be reminded that this is a promise which endures not only throughout our life in this world, but it endures for all eternity. The Lord has redeemed the life of his servants. And that means that that invitation to taste and see that he is good is not annulled by death. But by God's grace, we who believe in the Lord Jesus. We who taste in this world and see that the Lord is good will taste and see forever His goodness and His kindness towards us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters, I hope that this psalm is a tremendous encouragement to you, It's an encouragement that our God never ceases to be faithful to his people. It is an encouragement that we can boldly live in this world. It is an encouragement that we will never cease to enjoy the great blessing of communion and fellowship with our God. Brothers and sisters, I hope that encourages your heart. even as it encourages mine. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving to us psalms such as this one, which call us to enter in, Father, to fellowship, communion, relationship with you, and to enjoy the goodness of who you are. Father, we know that you not only do good things, but you are indeed defined by your goodness. You are our greatest good. You are the God who is above all things. And Father, we pray that even as we reflect and meditate upon this psalm this evening, as we go to our homes, that you would elevate our hearts and our minds that we might taste and see that you, our God, are good. Father, we pray now for your blessing upon your people in Christ Jesus, in whose name we cry out to you. Amen.