Psalm 34, verses one through 10. A Psalm of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed. Verse one. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Thus far the reading of the Word of Almighty God. Let us pray together. Our Father in heaven, bless us as we consider these words of life. The words of truth, of blessing, of light, and of joy. Dispel from us the darkness of sin and death, and enable us, Lord, to believe your holy words, to embrace the promise that you have made, and to glory in Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. Last week we looked at have I need of madmen from 1st Samuel 21 verses 11 through 15. We saw that God's people are to shine as lights in the world unlike David who put it under a bushel basket and was chastised for doing so. We saw how the fear of man brings a snare and our duty to fear God so that we might be safe. We saw the humiliating spectacle of David's sinful dissimulation, his lying by his conduct. We saw the duty we have to study and practice what is true, honest, and lovely. We saw also God's ever kind providence that without condoning our sin, God looks after our good. He keeps us to the end as he did David in all of his distresses as we'll consider from Psalm 34. We also saw our duty to pray the sixth petition that the Lord would lead us not into temptation, and that we would take steps toward that same end. This afternoon, we'll consider Psalm 34, verses 1 through 10, which was occasioned by the events of 1 Samuel 21, verses 11 and 15. O taste and see, first then, the title of this psalm. It says it's a Psalm of David when he changed his behavior. The word behavior here is the same that's used in 1 Samuel. It means taste or judgment. It means understanding and discernment as you discern different flavors with your palate, with your taste. We'll see this same word is used in verse 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. We saw how David exchanged his judgment or his palette of reason for madness, his wisdom for folly, his understanding for lunacy. He changed his behavior before whom? I thought it was Achish in 1 Samuel 21. Here he's called Abimelech. This is what we call a dynastic title. You have, for example, the Caesars or the Pharaohs. They're called Pharaoh. They're called Caesar. But they're also called Claudius, for example. That was one of the Caesars. Or Julius, one of the Caesars. Sometimes it's the original guy in the office. Julius Caesar, then everyone else takes that title of Caesar along with it, Abimelech being such a title. It says in the title of this psalm that Abimelech drove him away and he departed We consider the remarkable providence of God in this behalf. David killed their giant. David slew their tens of thousands of their armies, which they had just sung about, while bringing him to Achish, and yet Achish says, get him out of here. He had public enemy number one, as we would call David for them. He's the one person we want dead, and we let him go. This is God's providence. And he did it through a cheap lie, as we might say. The Westminster Annotations say, now although he, that is David, escaped by this subtle device, he doubts not that he was delivered by the hand of God. Nor does he ascribe the praise of his safety to the pretense of madness. You'll see that in Psalm 34. He doesn't say how great it was that he was delivered through his lie. Calvin notes this deliverance of David's therefore was the work of God. But the intermediate sin, which is on no account to be excused, ought to be ascribed to David. God concurred in his providence, even abandoning David to this sin, and yet God saved him and heard his prayers. Now this psalm is an alphabetical psalm. We'll look at that when we look at Psalm 119 as our closing psalm. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. If you'll see in your handouts there, your notes, I have the first 10 verses and the letters, aleph in verse one for I will bless, bet, in the Lord by Yehovah, Gimel, the third letter in verse 3, O magnify, Gedilau is the verb there, verse 4, Dalet, I sought, Darashti, I sought, verse 5, they looked, Hibitu, they looked, for He, the next Hebrew letter, the next Hebrew letter is Vav, They were lightened. Those who looked to the Lord were lightened. In verse 5b, verse 6, for the Zion, the letter is Zion. The word is this, this poor man. Verse 8, the Hebrew letter Tet, Ta'amu, which means, oh, taste. David changed his behavior, his Ta'am. Ta'amu means to taste or to come to discernment. Verse 9, Yeru, oh, fear. Yareh is fear in Hebrew. Yeru means you fear, oh, fear. And then verse 10 is the letter Kaf, the young lions. Kefirim are the young lions. So this whole psalm goes through all the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, much like Psalm 119 takes the first letter and does eight verses, and then it takes the second letter and does eight verses, and then it does all the letters through the Hebrew alphabet. So this psalm follows a similar pattern, only one letter for one verse. With that aside, let's read again verse one. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Again, the letter Aleph at the beginning of that word. Avaraka, I will speak well. Barak or Baruch, if you've heard those names, that means the blessed one. Barak in the book of Judges means blessed. Here he says, I will bless, I will speak well of the Lord. And how often will he do that? He says, at all times. This word for time, according to Brown, Driver, Briggs, lexicon means the time of an event, or at all times, when the word all is used as here. It means continually, never ceasing, the usual time, the proper or suitable time. Now we've looked at this in the Greek New Testament, the word kairos means a season or an occasion, redeem the time, take the most of all opportunities and occasions. This is a similar word in Hebrew. In fact, the Septuagint, the Greek translation, uses the word kairo. I will bless the Lord in every opportunity, in every occasion, in every season of my life. David had hard times, but this is his resolution. No matter what comes, I will bless the Lord. I will speak well of God, though he slay me, as Job said. Each season, each event, each time, each occasion, I will find reasons to bless God in all of those. Then verse one, he says, not only will he bless him at all times, his praise shall be in my mouth. Did you know that the book of Psalms is literally called the book of praises? It's the same word. Tehillim is the word for praises. Sefer Tehillim. This is the book of praises that God gave to us. Here's your book. Here are the praises. God says through the inspired prophet that his praise shall continually be in his mouth. We must have God's praises, those that come from Him. They have His stamp of approval upon them. They breathe with His Spirit. They declare His truth. They glory in His power. Those are to be continually, He says, in our mouth, and He resolves that they will be in His. Psalm 66.2 says that His praises are to be made glorious by us. We are to make the voice of His praise to be heard. Psalm 66.8. None of us can show all the praises of God, Psalm 106.2. And when God covered their enemies, when they came out of Egypt and they were at the Red Sea and they didn't know what to do, and God made a way, they sang his praises, they sang his glory, they sang his power. Psalm 106.12. These praises of God are said to endure forever, Psalm 111, verse 10. And these praises are to be sung in the congregation of the saints, Psalm 149, verse one. These are the praises David had continually in his mouth. Now this means again, as we saw, at all times, in all seasons, or all occasions. Augustine Aurelius commenting on this verse, He asks, when shall I bless the Lord? When he blesseth thee, is that when you should bless the Lord, when he blesses you? When the goods of this world abound, when thou hast great abundance of corn, oil, and wine, of gold and silver, of servants and cattle, when this mortal health remaineth unwounded and sound, when all that are born to thee grow up, Nothing is withdrawn by immature death. Happiness wholly reigneth in thy house, and all things overflow about thee. Then shalt thou bless the Lord? No, but at all times, we tend to think, well, I will be blessing God and speaking well of him if he gives me all the stuff I want. That's what Augustine is describing. the goods of this world abounding, corn, oil, gold, silver, nobody dies young, everybody grows up to old age, happiness, holy reigns, completely rules over my house, then I'll bless God because he blesses me. No, David says, I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. I observe then that thanksgiving should seek to keep pace with the blessings God has given. Please open to Ephesians chapter one, page 1179. Ephesians chapter one, page 1179. We'll note a few of the passages that talk about giving thanks or praise to God, blessing him, speaking well of him. Ephesians 1, 15. Wherefore, also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Here, Paul praises God. He thanks God. for the gift of faith, for the gift of love given to the Ephesian saints. We see this also in Colossians 1.3 and First Thessalonians 1.2, which you can look up at your own leisure. Colossians 1.3, First Thessalonians 1.2. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 5, concerning this giving of thanks, page 1194 of your Pew Bibles. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18, we'll look at. Verse 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning you. Everything that comes your way, in other words, is matter of thanksgiving. Look over at 2 Thessalonians 2. Just one page over in your pew Bibles. We'll look at verses 9-14. The apostles referring to the man of sin, even him, he says in verse nine, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth. that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But. We are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Notice here, What are the things that Paul is thankful for? One, that you don't reject the love of the truth and receive the curse of the man of sin and follow after his unrighteousness and his lying wonders. And on the other hand, that you do receive faith and truth, that you have been chosen by God, that you have obtained the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who called you by the gospel. God sanctified you, set you apart and gave you faith in that sanctification. These are reasons to thank God. Psalm 136 is famous for the refrain, for his mercy endureth forever. And this is the final verse of that Psalm 136, verse 26. Oh, give thanks unto the God of heaven for his mercy endureth forever. What use then that thanksgiving should seek to keep pace with the blessings God has given? Is God the God of heaven? As Psalm 136 says, praise him for it. Give him thanks for it. Has he granted you faith in Christ and love for his saints as he did to the Ephesians? Thank God for it always as the apostle Paul did. Do you want to do the will of God in all things? Give him thanks in everything. First Thessalonians 5.18. Have you been delivered from the snare of false doctrine and anti-Christian lies? Have you avoided the strong delusion? Do you love the truth? Have you been chosen by God? Do you believe the truth? Have you been sanctified by God's spirit? If so, you have reason to give thanks, to have God's praise continually in your mouth, to bless the Lord at all times. Give thanks to God always, in good times and in evil times, because these blessings cannot be taken from us. Verse two, let's turn back to Psalm 34. We'll look at verse two. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. The humble here can mean those who are meek or lowly, but notice it's in the Lord that he boasts. He doesn't boast in himself, in his devices, in his inventions, in his wisdom. Rather it's in the Lord, that's the first word. In the Lord emphatically shall make its boast emphatically my soul. The soul is the inner man or the utmost, the zenith, the greatness. If you had to say what is the most powerful or greatest thing in David, it's his soul. That is the thing that will boast in God. Now, this word boasting, I think, is very likely an ironic contrast with 1 Samuel 21, verse 13. If you remember last week, I discussed the verb that was used there, and it can mean actually to be crazy, or it can mean to praise, or it can mean to boast. Here he uses the same exact verb. There he was feigning himself mad. Now his soul is mad with God in that sense of he's ecstatic with the Lord. He's boasting in the Lord. Jeremiah 9, 24 tells us, but let him that glorieth, it's the same verb, let him glory in this, that he to understandeth and knoweth me. That's where David is now boasting, not in his madness, in his lunacy, but rather in God himself. David is a changed man. And he says, verse two, that the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. This word humble means poor, afflicted, meek, needy, poor and weak, lowly and meek. These ones will hear what happened to David. They will hear his boast. They will hear his blessing and praising God. And they, what will they do? They will be glad. They will rejoice. And then David calls on them in verse three. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Not just me, not just what you've heard in me, but let us join together a chorus of magnifying the Lord. The word in verse three is after the alphabetical order is Gimel, the third letter. Gedaloo, make big. In other words, that's the idea of magnify, make something magnus, big. Gedol in Hebrew means big, the giants or the gedolim, the great ones, the big ones. Let us magnify the Lord, he says. Make him great. And the humble and the meek are the only ones who will do this. Think of the prideful man. He believes himself to be great. So will he magnify God? No, he'll make him tiny. The proud man's God is a tiny God, a minuscule God that he can control by his great pride and power or so he thinks. To magnify God, we must shrink ourselves. He must increase, we must decrease. Exalt His name is very similar. It means to lift something up, just like the tall or the great ones, the Gedolim, they were high up in the air, they could look down on everyone else. So we are to exalt His name. Magnify, make it large, exalt, make it high, large and high. Verse four, I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. The fourth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Dalet. Here, Darashti, I sought, I went the way toward him, the Lord himself. David, you'll notice as we read this in tandem with 1 Samuel 21, he says he sought the Lord, but remember, he sought his own devices too, didn't he? David then is both a saint who seeks God and a sinner who seeks his own devices. He fears God as we'll see, but he fears Achish and Saul as well. He sought the Lord, but he sought the device of feigning himself mad. So David is pointing this out throughout this Psalm. He has a saintly part, the new man, and he has a sinner part, the old man. And this is true as we observe the believer is both a saint and a sinner at the same time. Remember what Calvin said, the deliverance of David was the work of God. But the intermediate sin, which is on no count to be excused, just because he's a saint doesn't mean you excuse his sins. That sin, he says, ought to be ascribed to David. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. We serve the law of God, Paul says, after the inner man. But what do we find in our members? A different law, the law of sin in our members. What use then can we make of this observation that we are both saints and sinners? First, we can take consolation in this. Do you have this struggle where you desire to follow God but you find yourself following your own desires? Do you want to sit and pray to God and your mind wanders in a thousand directions? Do you try to read the Bible, God's holy word speaking to you, and you find other thoughts more interesting or other things to do? Do you attempt to control your tongue as God requires, to discipline yourself unto godliness, to control your anxieties or frustrations, but you find yourself giving in to those sins again and again? Take heart, this is the condition that God has determined is best for us. Our sanctification is imperfect in this life. This is David, a man after God's own heart, and he falls into these devices, but he also recognizes and seeks after God even in the midst of his folly. LargerCatechism79 asks, May not true believers by reason of their imperfections and the many temptations and sins they are overtaken with fall away from the state of grace? Wasn't it possible that David could have fallen from grace and left the Lord and followed strange gods? The answer comes back. true believers by reason of the unchangeable love of God and his decree and covenant to give them perseverance, their inseparable union with Christ, his continual intercession for them, and the spirit and seed of God abiding in them can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. This is how David was kept. This is what kept David from falling off the edge like Saul did. He had the Spirit of God. He had the gift of perseverance. He had Christ praying for him. Peter had the same thing. Jesus told him, Peter, Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Satan, he says, wants to sift you like wheat, Peter. But I've prayed for you, and therefore, when you are converted, strengthen your brethren. David was kept. We who are those of faith will likewise be kept, though we fall many times. God says the righteous man falls seven times and he rises up. The Lord lifts him up all of those times. Verse four, I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. What did David fear? What did we see in 1 Samuel? He feared man, he feared perhaps death, he feared punishment, or perhaps many other sufferings or difficulties that might come upon him. Verse 5, they looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. They looked is hebitu, the letter he is the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. They that is the meek, the humble, they are the ones who looked to the Lord. And what happened? They were lightened. This is our next letter, vav in Hebrew, and the vav means and in Hebrew. and they were lightened their faces shine with light he's saying Remember in Leviticus 20 verse three, what would God's face do to the wicked who refused to punish these evil crimes of offering your seat up to Molech? He would turn his face against them. There would be clouds of darkness and judgment, wrath and indignation. We also saw that verses three, five, and six of Leviticus 20. But here, notice, it's God's face of grace. It's the shining of his light of salvation. When they look to the Lord, when the humble look to him, God does not have anger with them as he does with the proud. Rather, he has grace and mercy, a face shining to save them. Their faces, he says, were not ashamed. They were not disappointed in their hopes of salvation. God provided deliverance for them. They found relief when they looked to him, even as David did himself. Augustine again, no face shall be shamed, but of the proud. That's the face that will come to shame. The face that lifts itself up, God will put it down, he says. But these humble ones that look to the Lord will be lightened in their face. I observed then that God is the only way to light and joy. There are many ways that people promise, oh, I have this good thing for you to enjoy. I have this light for you to shine with. And what does it bring you to? Death and destruction, to clouds and gloominess, shame of face. All other ways have God's face against them. The joy and pride, let's celebrate our sin as the sodomites. Let's declare it openly. No, you will come to shame. There is no light. There is no joy. There is only destruction. Look then to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Look to him. Humble yourself and have God's face of mercy and grace shine upon you. Those who put their trust in Christ shall be as Mount Zion, which shall never be moved. Please open to First Peter chapter two, page 1223. We'll see in the coming weeks that Peter has much use of this 34th Psalm. First Peter two, we'll read verses four through six. To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, this is our Lord Jesus Christ, verse five. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. No shame of face, no confounding of those who believe in this precious cornerstone. To be confounded means to be dishonored or disgraced, to be put to shame, to blush with shame, or to have your hope put in someone who deceives you with that hope. That's the idea of being confounded. Christ will not deceive us in our hopes in him. He will deliver on all of his promises. And therefore, when we look to him, our faces will be lightened and never put to shame. Christ will never deceive your hopes. Look to him and be saved. He says, all you ends of the earth, all mankind, look to Jesus Christ. Rest confidently in him. Build your life on this chief cornerstone. Now David, back in Psalm 34, brings another example. The humble look, he looked, they were saved, they were delivered, they were not ashamed, and then verse 6. This poor man, he cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. This is our next letter, Zayin in Hebrew. Zeh is the Hebrew word, this, zeh, this poor man. Now this could be some friend of David's who had a notable deliverance, or it could even be David himself. He is this poor man. What did this poor man do? He cried and the Lord heard him. Our confidence is grounded in God's mercy, in his grace, and when we cry to him and have a confidence to be heard, it's because he is the giver of every good thing, and he's shown us how. because he gave his only begotten son. So there's no other good thing he could withhold. If he gave the best gift, he'll give all those underneath it. And so he says that when this poor man cried, what did the Lord do? He heard and saved him out of all his troubles. This is universal. It admits of no exceptions. Those who are poor in spirit, who magnify the Lord, who bless the Lord at all times, who have his praise in their mouth continually, who look to him and are lightened, who seek the Lord, these shall have universal salvation from all their troubles. Do you have troubles? Or as the song goes, who got troubles? We got troubles. How much troubles? Too much troubles. What's the answer? Knock on wood, no. Here he says, he looks to the Lord and cries to the Lord and the Lord saves him out of all of his troubles. Please open to Romans chapter eight, verses 28 and following. Look at the troubles that the people of God have. First, we start with this assurance in verse 28. For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Then he gives us various blessings that the Lord has given to his people in Christ. Then he says in verse 32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Now listen. Listen to the troubles, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. This poor man cried to the Lord, and the Lord delivered him from all these troubles. Tribulation? Will the Lord deliver me from that? Distress? Persecution? What if I have nothing to wear, nothing to eat? What if the sword comes against me and I'm in danger of robbers, in dangers on the sea, in danger in my car, in danger in my house? What if they kill us all day long like a slaughterhouse? Will the Lord deliver us from those troubles? Yes, we will have more than deliverance. We will be more than conquerors though we die. All who love God, all who call upon him will have universal deliverance. I observe then, divine providence is not a cold mechanism. but rather a fatherly course of growth and good for those who are poor in spirit. There were the Stoics who were sort of like pantheists. All is this divine machine. They had a very strong belief in providence, but it was more like this impersonal force out there, that logos that rules the universe, Here notice, we have the love of God. We have a father who cares for us, who gave his son for us. This father designs good things for us, even through tribulation, nakedness, peril, sword, all these things, God designs good for us. He will deliver us from the evil of all affliction and only bring good to us through those same afflictions. What use then? Do not faint under adversity. Cling to the promise that God has made to you in Christ Jesus. Look to the Lord Jesus, cry to him, be poor in your spirit, do not be lifted up with pride. And note, God will rescue you. He will cause you to be delivered from all the evils of afflictions. Let's turn back to verse seven. God continues to describe how he delivers his people from all of their troubles. Verse seven. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Here's our next letter, chet in Hebrew, chone or encampeth is the Hebrew verb. Encampeth emphatically, the angel of the Lord. Genesis 32 verses 1 and 2, we see our father Jacob. He's in a place that he calls Mahanaim. Mahanaim is the same as this verb, it's a noun though. It's describing two camps. That's what Mahanaim means in Genesis 32, 1 and 2. In 2 Kings 6, we have the prophet being opposed by the king of Syria. He surrounds the whole city. He wonders, who is it that's telling this prophet all of my plans? He sends an army to go down and surround the city where the prophet is and to kill him. But it says there, and he says to his servant, there are chariots of fire all surrounding us, and there are more with us than are with them. God sent his angels. Hebrews 1.14, we also see that angels are sent to minister for the salvation of God's people. Matthew Poole comments. The angels in camp round about us, meaning they guard them from dangers on every side to which work they are appointed by God. Now, this could the angel sometimes is the angel of the Lord, like God before he was incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ, a singular angel. And sometimes a singular is used for the multiplicity of angels that encamp roundabout God's people. I believe it to be the latter in this case. But notice, around whom do they encamp, these angels? Roundabout them that fear him. Fear God, that is. That's the him there, God. Though David feared Saul and Achish, Yet his enduring and ultimate fear was of God himself. He had periods of, we might call it backsliding, where he feared Achish and Saul, but he feared God and therefore God put his angel around him. W.G. Blakey in his commentary on 1 Samuel says, it would seem that the carnal spell under which David had been for some time burst when Achish drove him away, that he returned to his early faith and trust. And we'll see that as we get back into 2 Samuel and as we see here in Psalm 34. In Samuel, we start seeing David inquiring of the Lord about everything after this expulsion by Achish. He is restored to his earlier faith and trust. I observed then that believers have seasons of setback, but the new man prevails by God's almighty power in the end. Again, believers have seasons of setback, but the new man prevails by God's power. That's God's design. He's created us in Christ Jesus, but he's left the remnants of sin inside of us to humble us, to show us our need for his grace and to make us walk more closely with him. Chapter 14 of Saving Faith of Our Confession, paragraph three, says the following concerning saving faith. This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong, may be often and many ways assailed and weakened, but gets the victory growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ who is both the author and finisher of our faith. Our faith may be strong, it might be weak. It will be assailed, it will be fought against with armies coming against it. Our faith might grow weak in such conditions, but it always gets the victory. It grows up in many to the full assurance of faith, but Christ is its author, so it cannot go awry. So believers, yes, we have seasons of setback, but God has designed our faith to prevail in the end. What use then? in seasons of setback. When you find yourself in such a season as David was in, we must repent and we must rejoice. If your faith is weak, remember the father whose son had a dumb spirit inside of him that was destroying his son. Remember what he prayed, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. My faith is not perfect, Lord, but I want to believe in you. Cry that to the Lord, confess your sins afresh. Renew your trust in the Lord Jesus and in his promises. He has made a testament. He has appointed you as an heir. Plead those promises with him. Then look to get the victory over your sin, over Satan's suggestion. Ah, well, you're in a period of setback. Just stay there. You deserve to be there. Yeah, that's right. You deserve to be there. But Christ suffered for you. Christ has called you unto holiness and will cleanse you from every defilement. Do not listen to Satan's suggestion. Get the victory over him. And the world says, good job, you're in a setback. Now we feel better because you're like us. You're not there in front of us condemning us anymore. The world will congratulate you that you finally fell in line with them when you're in a period of setback. Get the victory over all three, your sin, Satan, and the world by faith, by believing again the promise that Jesus will cleanse you, that he is the author and the finisher of your faith as he was of David's faith, as he was of Peter's faith. When Peter denied him, Jesus said, I pray for you, Peter. Your end will be the same as David's. You shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Verse eight. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. I talked about this earlier. This is our next letter, Tet in Hebrew. Ta'amu. Taste is the meaning of that. Oh, taste. Would you just taste? Please come along and taste, he's saying. That's what it means. Oh, taste. Remember the title of this psalm when David changed his behavior, it said? This is the same word. Ta'amu. First Samuel 21, 13 says he changed his behavior. He changed his taste. He changed his discretion. He changed his understanding into folly and madness. We also looked last week at Numbers 11, 8. Remember the taste of the manna was like fresh oil. Very good, very delightful. Remember Job 12, 20, it says, he removeth away the speech of the trustee and taketh away the understanding of the aged. Again, David may be using an ironic form of speech here. Samuel describes him as changing his behavior, his taste, his understanding. And now he says, but taste and see that the Lord is good. I changed my taste, my wit, my wisdom into foolishness. Now you do the opposite, taste and see. Diodati says this means to clear your judgments. Some people when they taste wine want to know the distinctions in the flavors and they take what's called a palate cleanser. I was reading about this last night. Some people will use an unripe pineapple and they will eat the unripe pineapple because the tannins from the wine will stick on your tongue and that will cleanse your palate. When he says taste and see, he's saying clear out your palate, your spiritual palate, get rid of all that other stuff so that you can discern the goodness of God. Take a spiritual palate cleanser. That bitter wine of unbelief that you drink, it sours your mouth, cleanse it out and taste. The rancid food of fearing man that makes you sick in your stomach, cleanse your palate. The disgusting dessert of devilish pride, cleanse your mouth. The salty speech of slander, cleanse it so that you can taste, so that you can make trial of his bounty by seeking relief from him alone. Let's turn back to 1 Peter 2. Page 1223, once again, 1 Peter 2. As I said, Peter has much use for the 34th Psalm. We'll consider it in more detail, God willing, in the future. We'll look at the first three verses here. 1 Peter 2, verse 1. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Notice what Peter says. You have these flavors in your mouth. They make you so that you don't want the sincere milk of the word. What are those flavors in your palate that you must cleanse out so that you can taste and see that the Lord is gracious? What are they? Malice. Guile, wishing evil to others, being deceitful, hypocrisies, wearing masks to disguise your true intentions. Envies when you covet and desire evil for others and you want what they have. Evil speakings when you slander and gossip. Get rid of that filth out of your mouth and you'll finally be able to taste the word of God. God requires that we have a spiritual cleansing so that we can taste and see that the Lord is in fact good. If I think of myself as a good person and then bad things happen to me, what do I think about God? He must not be very good. He makes bad things happen to good people like me. He can't be good. But if I say I am a bad person, I have these sins of malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, I have evil speaking, that makes me not desire the milk of God's word. I'm the problem here. Then we see God in a whole different light. And so I say, in use of this, as David changed his palate from wisdom to folly, so now he calls us in the spirit of God, David inspired to say, we ought to change our palate from folly to wisdom. You see this chapter, this Psalm 34 is an antipode, it's a correspondence, it's like a mirror held up. It's the inverse of what David once was. David in 1 Samuel 21, he doesn't have the spiritual palate. He has the madness and folly. He doesn't fear God, he fears man. He doesn't trust the Lord, he trusts in his own devices. So now here he calls us, I've come away from that people of God, come with me. Taste and see, use your palate, clear your judgment, see that God is good. He hasn't abandoned me like I thought. He hasn't discarded me as I supposed. He is with me. Folly will cast doubt on God's goodness. God's goodness and man's idea of his own goodness are not consistent with each other. They are mutually exclusive. If you say God is good, man can't be good because bad things are done by God to him in punishment for his wickedness. If man is good, God can't be good. He punishes all the good people. He makes bad things happen to them. That's not fair. We must change our palate. We must cleanse our palate. We must remove that sour wine flavor that we think is so delicious that is destroying us. Turn back to Psalm 34, please. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. I was cursed when I trust myself. Now I am blessed because I trust in God who delivered me when I did not deserve it. Verse 9. O fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him, not just taste and cleanse your palate. Now you must be taught and disciplined in the fear of God, as we'll see next week, God willing, in verses 11 and following. This is our next letter, Yod in the Hebrew alphabet. Yeru, O fear, come with me and fear the Lord. Matthew Poole says fear is commonly put for all the parts of God's worship. This is possibly, again, another ironic parallel to 1st Samuel 21. It's another mirror image. Who does it say he feared in 1st Samuel 21? He feared greatly, Achish, that's who he feared. Now he calls them and says, I have forsaken the fear of man. I fear God, come with me. Fear the Lord together. This is the same exact verb that he used or that the Spirit used in 1st Samuel 21, 12. He was sore afraid of Achish. He was afraid beyond measure, it says in the Hebrew. Fearing man and faith are the opposites. Just like if you think God is good, you can't think you are. And if you think you're good, you can't think God is. So if you fear man, you can't fear God. And if you fear God, you can't fear man. They push each other out. But believing and trusting in God and fearing God are companion graces. God gives them together. They don't push each other out. Some people think they do. Oh, well, if I believe in Jesus, I can't fear God. That's the Old Testament. And if I fear God, I can't believe in Jesus. No, he just said, trust in the Lord. And then he says, fear the Lord. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth. That means believes in him. Oh, fear the Lord. They go together like a hand and a glove. They are mutually beneficial duties. They are twin graces. Why should I fear the Lord? Why should the saints fear the Lord? For there is no want to them that fear him. Man will justify disobeying God's commandments usually because he thinks he has a good reason. Well, if I don't lie, how will I make money? My job requires that I lie. My job requires that I steal. My job requires that I pretend to be things that I'm not. How could we have national security if we didn't lie to other nations? We're constantly telling ourselves, well, I cannot fear God in this area, because if I actually feared God, I couldn't prosper. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for God will take care of most of your needs if you fear him, right? Isn't that what it says? Isn't that what I just told you, that if I don't sin, I won't be able to prosper in this life? That's the reality that I live in. I have to lie, I have to do immoral things, or I won't prosper, my needs won't be met. What does God say about this? Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and most of these things will be added unto you. No, all these things will be added unto you. You who fear the Lord, you will not want anything. He'll get even more specific in verse 10. We'll look at it. Calvin discusses the temptation that godly men might see the wicked who prosper or they might see how their society is unjust and say, well, I got to get by somehow. I want to be like him and I got to have a job. If I stop lying, I lose my job. If I stop breaking the Sabbath, I won't have work. Calvin says, David represses as with a bridle these temptations, promising that all will be well with the people of God, provided they keep themselves in the fear of God, which he opposes to all wicked and deceitful counsels, even David's deceitful counsels, even his lies to Ahimelech, even his deceitful feigning madness to Achish, All these counsels are rubbish, they do you no good, because they withdraw you from the fear of God. Verse 10. O fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no one to them that fear him. Verse 10. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Young lions are ferocious. This is our last letter here. Koth in Hebrew. Kefirim are the young lions. They will devour you. Lions in their strength. They will catch the prey. They are fast. They are strong. They rule the jungle. And yet, sometimes they're hungry. Sometimes they don't have what they need. Sometimes they lack. But if you are seeking God, there is no good thing that God says, I'm not going to give to you. That's the temptation. I must be like the young lions out there in the career world, or I can't prosper. I must be ferocious. It's a dog eat dog world. I gotta be a young lion and God says, fool. Don't you see? Sometimes they're hungry, but I give every good thing when you seek me. They that seek the Lord by prayer, by trusting his promises, by obeying his precepts, seeking the Lord, these shall not want any good thing. He puts it in a very interesting way, they shall not lack all good things. In other words, a universal statement, every single good thing, all goods God gives to you, every good thing. Turn over to Psalm 37, page 608, couple pages over, verses 22 through 25. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." That's what we were talking about earlier. David was not cast off, nor will we be. Verse 25, I have been young and now am old, Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. God will provide for those that seek him. Turn over to Philippians chapter 4, page 1187. The Apostle Paul writing to the Philippians, Philippians chapter 4. Page 1187, starting at verse 15. Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all and abound, I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God, but my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Notice that. How rich is God? What all does he own? What all can he dispense with? What's in his bank account? Is there a limit? Is there a maximum? Is there some point where he's going to run out? No. The riches that he has in glory by Christ Jesus are inexhaustible treasures. So God will provide for you, he says. Turn over to First Timothy, chapter six, page 1199. 1 Timothy 6, page 1199, verse 1. Let as many as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed, Then he talks about working hard for your faithful and beloved master if he's a Christian. Verse three, if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words whereof comest envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth. Supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Notice there, you're a slave. You have nothing. Your master gets all the profits from your labors. That's not right. The false teacher comes along and says, hey, pal, you're a good guy. You deserve a cut in this. I'm going to make sure you get some money out of this. We're going to get you out of slavery. We're going to steal you away from your master. We're going to make gain for you. This is a false idea. They assume that gain is godliness, that worldly treasure equals godliness. But what is the actual gain? What is the good that Paul talks about? If you are godly and you are content, you fear the Lord, you trust in him, you keep his commandments, that's godliness. And you're content with the things he's provided for you, you have gained everything. Because if you have everything you could have and you are not content, you have nothing. You can't enjoy, as Solomon says, the rich man, his goods eat away at him because he can't enjoy them. He's always coveting after more. But the poor, he says, the slave, you're a slave, but you're content with what God has given you. You have it all because you do not have that constant desire for more. With godliness, we have all things for this life and the next. With contentment, we have gain on top of that. God says we will inherit the earth in Psalm 37, that we will never want the good things of this life there, that we've never out begging bread. God will sustain us. God in his fatherly goodness will give to us what is good for us by his riches in Christ Jesus. He shall supply, he says, all of our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. What a kind master, even if we were in slavery, his slavery to be a slave of God is perfect freedom. And if a man is a slave and he believes in Jesus Christ and fears God, he is the Lord's free man, even in the midst of slavery. I say then, be anxious, be worried, be afraid. Of what? Of God. Be anxious to fear him and to do his will. Be worried that you might not do it. Be afraid that you're not fearing God and trusting him enough. Fear God, seek him by prayer and his lawful worship and the fears and anxieties of this life will vanish away. God will richly supply your needs. Though the most ferocious of beasts, the young lions may suffer hunger, God will provide for every good thing for his saints. God willing, next week we will consider Psalm 34, verses 11 through 17. And thus far the explanation of Psalm 34, verses one through 10. Amen.