Oh, Magnify The Lord With Me!

So if you would, open your word, open the Bible to Psalm 34.

!

This is a Psalm of David, and the pretext before the Psalm says this.

It's of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech so that he drove him out and he went away.

Verse 1, 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.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Oh, 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.

Come, oh 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 toward the righteous and his ears toward 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 them 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.

Let's pray.

Father, I ask that you would cause your word to touch our hearts deeply this morning.

God, I pray that you'd open our minds to understand and our hearts to receive what you have for us this morning.

I pray in your name.

Amen.

Y'all can have a seat.

There's not many Psalms that give us the context.

But this morning we're given this context when David changed his behavior before the king of Gath.

If we were to read the story, we'd turn back to 1 Samuel.

I'm not going to read the whole thing for sake of time.

I'm going to paraphrase or just share the story briefly.

You remember when David was anointed the coming king and yet Saul was troubled by a spirit and Saul sought to destroy and kill David.

So more than once he threw a spirit, David intended to kill him and David sidestepped it.

And he left the presence of Saul and he went into the wilderness to hide from Saul.

Though God gave him opportunity to kill Saul more than once, he would not do it.

He said, who am I to kill the Lord's anointed, which Saul was anointed as king over Israel.

So on one of the occasions when he threw a spirit, David, David left and he fled.

And where did he go?

He went to Nod.

It's a city where the priests were, one of the priestly cities.

And that priest, he said, do you have a sword?

He didn't have a sword.

He left in a hurry.

He didn't have anything to defend himself.

Didn't even have food.

So they gave him food and the only sword they had in that city, at least the priest, the only sword the priest had was the sword of Goliath.

And so he gave David this humongous sword, this well-crafted sword.

Where David takes it with him and he goes of all places to hide from Saul.

He goes to Gath.

Why, David, would you go to Gath?

You've got the sword of Goliath who was from Gath.

And you go to the people of Gath.

What were you thinking?

I don't know what David was thinking.

There's no way for us to know what he was thinking.

But he ends up in the city where Goliath used to be, who lived, who was born, who was raised in Gath.

And he finds himself among these people who recognize him.

Oh yeah, you're David.

You're the one about whom they sing he has killed his ten thousands.

You're the one that killed Goliath.

Matter of fact, there's his sword.

We've got proof.

So what does David do to get away from this situation?

He finds himself in a spot that's not good.

He's surrounded by himself.

Gath.

He's surrounded by the people of Gath.

And the people of Gath.

And what does he choose to do?

He chooses to act as if he is insane.

He drools at the mouth.

He feigns being crazy.

And by the grace of God, instead of the king killing him, the king says,

What do I have to do with more crazy people?

I don't need another crazy people.

Get him out of here.

And David is able to leave the situation which you would have said,

What is the possibility he's going to be let free, set free?

It is interesting if we were to continue to read past that account.

And when the king of Gath let him go, he ends up in a cave, the cave of Abdulam.

And I don't know how this happened, but these men showed up at the cave.

What men, you might ask?

Well, the scripture in 1 Samuel 22 says that there's 400 men.

Who were these men?

There were men.

The scripture says this.

Everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was bitter in soul gathered to David at this cave in Adullam.

So as we look at this psalm, we need to keep in mind that this psalm is written by David at this time frame when he was delivered out of the hand of the king of Gath.

And where he's got all these other men that are in full of distress of whatever variety.

And they have nowhere else to go.

So where do they go?

They flee to David.

Why would they flee to David?

David is the one who helped them when they were being tormented by the Philistines.

And Goliath would show up day after day, 40 days worth, and defy the army.

And by the grace and the power of God, through this little shepherd boy, David, they were delivered.

So these men flocked to David as one who would lead them.

They've seen how God has used him, and they flocked to him as men in distress.

Their life is in a bad spot.

So you see that David was delivered by the powerful hand of God.

Don't know why he went to Gath, but God even so delivered him.

And we have all these men that are in a bad place, and they all end up in this cave.

And so what we see here, I believe, is we see David speaking to these men that are in distress.

And so what does he say?

What would you say?

If all these people gathered to you, and they look to you for leadership,

and they're all in a bad spot, David just got out of a bad spot,

what would you encourage these men to do?

Isn't it interesting in our psalm the first thing he does?

Verse 1, verse 2, verse 3.

What do you see?

It's as if we have to place ourselves in this cave

in order to really glean the truth of what's being said by David here.

And what does David do immediately?

The first thing David does, listen to verse 1, 2, and 3.

I'm going to read it.

I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

David, what is your response to being delivered out of the hand of the king of Gath?

I will praise the Lord at all times.

His praise will continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord, not in my own ability,

not in the sword of Goliath,

not in rescue from the hand of men.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord and the Lord alone.

You know, I'll pause a second.

In whom do you boast, Christian, church?

In whom do we tend to boast?

Are we like David when we are in distress?

Do we boast in him?

Do we continually worship and praise?

Listen to what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 9.

Let him who boasts, boast in this,

that he understands and knows me,

that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love,

justice, and righteousness in the earth.

You know, that's where our boast should be.

And that's where David's boast was.

David had come to know the Lord in a very personal way.

And he saw in his deliverance the hand of God.

What other explanation would David have?

His cunning, his wisdom?

No, it's the hand of God.

His boast is that he knows the Lord.

And it's my prayer that God would help us to know him

more and more deeply so that our response to distress

is very like David's response.

Verse 3,

Oh, magnify the Lord with me.

Can you see him in the cave?

Fellas, I know y'all got problems.

Listen, fellas, I've got problems.

I got the king trying to kill me.

He's throwing spears at me

and he's chased me around the wilderness.

He's bringing his army to try to destroy me.

I'm having to run and flee.

I'm having to live in the land of the Philistines

because there's no safe place for me to live

in the land of Israel.

He's after my life.

But brothers, let me tell you,

let's magnify the Lord.

Do it with me, brothers.

In our distress, here's where we need to be.

God is almighty.

He's worthy to be praised.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me

and let us exalt his name together.

Father, the psalm today we're going to look

and we're going to,

for those of y'all who like to take notes

and y'all remember when you jot things down,

we're going to divide the psalm today in two parts.

And the first part is this,

it's invitation.

What is the invitation that he gives to these men?

David gives three invitations to these men,

these men in distress.

And I want us to see what the invitation was.

Did you notice the first one?

The first invitation is this,

come, let us magnify the Lord together.

Men, I know you're in distress,

but let's start here.

Let's boast in the Lord and magnify him this morning.

And then David in verse four,

he shares his story with these men in the cave.

He says this, four through seven, he says this,

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 deliver them.

Let me just stop for a second.

Do you hear David's story?

David is sharing with them

of the deliverance that just happened.

Number one from Saul,

number two from the king of Gath.

He's now in a cave with these distressed men.

And he's saying to them,

listen, let me tell you my story.

God's real.

I'm telling you, you can trust in him.

He has delivered me here.

Listen, I'm going to tell you my story,

how he's delivered me

and he'll deliver you too.

Matter of fact, it says this,

for all who fear him,

they will be delivered.

Do you believe it?

Let me ask you, Christian,

do you believe it?

Church, do you believe

that all who fear him will be delivered?

Let me share this.

If you look at verse 17 quickly,

you'll see that it also states

something pretty similar to verse 7.

Verse 7 says,

the angel of the Lord encamps around

those who fear him and delivers them.

Verse 17,

when the righteous cry for help,

the Lord hears and does what?

Delivers them.

Out of what?

Out of all their trouble.

All right.

If you're like me,

when I first read this,

I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

David, are you saying that

if we fear the Lord,

then I'll never have any trouble?

Is that what you're saying?

Are you saying for sure

I can take it to the bank

that I'm going to be delivered

at all my troubles?

That doesn't seem to add up,

does it?

Let me ask this.

How many of the apostles

were martyred for their faith?

Did they get delivered?

As we read this,

we have to understand

there's a physical level

to this psalm

and there's a spiritual message

to this psalm.

There's a physical message.

There's a spiritual message.

Was David physically delivered

from both of those situations?

Yes, he was.

Does he fear the Lord?

Yes, he does.

Is he counted in this number

of those who fear the Lord?

Yes.

Was he physically delivered?

Yes.

Is David saying

that you'll always

be physically delivered?

He's not saying that.

But he is saying

that God is the source

of deliverance.

So let's look at,

quickly look at verse 22

and I want you to see

that there is a spiritual

level to this message.

This message of deliverance

that he's encouraging

these men

with this truth.

What is the truth?

Verse 22 says this.

There's a spiritual deliverance

that trumps

any physical deliverance

that we could ever receive.

There is a spiritual deliverance

from what?

From condemnation.

Does Romans 8, 1

echo in your ear?

There's therefore now

no condemnation to who?

To those who are in Christ Jesus.

New Testament,

Paul's saying

that there's something spiritual

about deliverance.

And here it is.

The Lord redeems

the life of his servants.

To redeem is to what?

To purchase.

The Lord redeems

or purchases

the life of his servants.

None of those,

none of those

who've been redeemed,

none of his servants,

none of those

who fear him,

none of those

who've entrusted

their life to him

will be what?

Condemned.

Is that deliverance?

Of course it is.

Do you all realize

that we need

to be delivered

from sin and death?

Do you realize

that's the biggest animal

in the room?

We can be temporarily

delivered

in a physical sense

from the king of Gath

and I can get away

and I can run to a cave

and have safety,

relative safety,

at least for a time.

But there's still

something greater

from which you will

never recover

and that's sin and death

unless

he provides

a redeemer.

Do you know

that we need

to be

redeemed

from sin and death?

That's the spiritual

truth

that underlays

this psalm.

David is worshiping

because he's delivered

physically

but at the same time

he's worshiping

because God

is the deliverer

who will deliver

his people

from sin and death.

So we go on.

Second invitation.

Do you see it?

Verse 8.

So you put yourself

in this cave

and you're just

a bystander watching

and David,

the one who these men

have come to

and said,

lead us.

And what does he say next?

He said,

taste and see.

Man,

do you hear

what I'm saying?

I know you're

in distress.

I know you're in debt.

I know you've got problems.

I know that you have

nowhere else to turn.

I know that you're

here in this cave.

Taste and see.

What does it mean

to taste?

Taste and see.

Taste is to partake.

Taste and see.

You know,

when I read this,

where my mind went

is John 6.

Do you all remember

what he said

about himself,

Jesus?

What he said

about himself

in John 6

is I am

the bread of life.

And then later

in that same chapter

he says this,

unless you

eat my flesh

and drink my blood,

unless you partake

of me

by faith,

you're not

one of the fathers.

You're not

his.

You're not

his children.

The only way

to be a child

of God

is to taste

and see,

is to partake

of Christ.

He says to them,

taste and see.

What?

That the Lord

is good.

Men,

take a chance

and put your trust

in God.

You know what

you'll discover?

That the Lord

is good.

Yeah,

I know what's

going on in your life

is not good,

but the Lord

is good.

And when you

see his goodness,

you know what happens?

You worship.

So he says,

blessed is the man

who takes refuge

in him.

So he'll always

be physically delivered.

No,

no,

no.

That's not what's

said.

There's something

far greater

than being

physically delivered.

We'll see it

as we progress

here.

But he's saying

to these men,

taste and see.

Step into

this world,

this life of faith.

Partake in Christ

by faith.

Trust in the Lord

by faith.

I will pause

just a second.

I'm using the name

Christ a lot,

and this is Old Testament.

Christ is not born yet,

okay?

But there's a spiritual

connection that I hope

you see as those of us

who are in New Testament

time,

we're on this side

of the cross.

Do you see that

the deliverer is Jesus?

Do you see that

it's because of

his work on the cross

that he has purchased

our redemption,

those of us

who trust in him?

Those of us

who taste and see?

So in the Old Testament,

David's saying,

taste and see.

Hey,

why don't you live

like this?

Why don't you trust God?

And you pray to him

and you ask him,

you cry out to him,

and guess what he does

on behalf of his people?

He always hears.

He always sees.

Do you see it

in 15 and 16?

The eyes of the Lord

are toward the righteous

and his ears

are open to them.

Okay,

begs a question.

Wait a minute,

righteous?

We'll get to that.

But I want you to see

he's saying to them,

taste and see.

That's the second invitation.

If you will,

men,

step into this life

of belief

and faith in God,

you will see

his power at work

and it'll lead you

to worship.

Number three,

invitation number three.

Verse nine.

These men,

oh,

men,

I'm inserting that word there,

but it's talking

to these men.

We've got to see

the setting here.

Oh,

fear the Lord,

you his saints,

for those who fear him

have no lack.

Those who fear him

have no lack.

The young lion

suffers want and hunger,

but those who seek

the Lord

lack no good thing.

What in the world

are you saying,

David?

You're saying,

David,

that if we fear

the Lord,

then we don't lack

any good thing?

Bingo.

That's exactly

what he's saying.

Those who fear

the Lord

lack no good thing.

Where do all

good things come from?

You know,

in our world,

nowadays,

in our culture,

we look,

if we were to say,

what are some good things?

And we were trying

to put together a list.

Well,

I like my four-wheeler.

I love going in the woods.

I like my boat.

I love my house

and the pretty green grass

I've got.

We look at things

and we say,

that's good.

You know what would be good?

If I didn't ever have to

worry about finances again.

That would be really good.

You know,

if I always had the food

I wanted,

that would be really good.

You know,

if life was smooth

and I didn't have any bumps,

I didn't have any problems,

that would be really good.

You know,

that's not the good

that's being spoken of here.

This is a spiritual point

that hopefully we'll see

all good,

truly good things

come from God.

All truly good things

affect us

on a deeper level

than just the exterior.

Just our wants

and our human desires.

Really good things

affect us deep within

in our heart.

You know what's really good?

Being in relationship

with God Almighty.

You know what's really good?

Is knowing for sure

that I'm destined for heaven.

You know what's really good?

Is I can trust in Him.

I know,

even if it doesn't turn out

the way I think,

I know that God loves me.

And I know He's got

my good in mind

and His glory in mind.

I believe

that whatever happens,

He's with me

through the whole thing.

That's good.

Three invitations.

One,

magnify the Lord with me.

Two,

taste and see

that the Lord is good.

Partake of Him.

Trust in Him.

Number three,

fear the Lord.

What does fear the Lord mean?

Verse 11.

I want you to see it again.

We're going to see this theme

in this psalm

that says fear the Lord.

We're going to see it

over and over again.

You know when things

are repeated,

that means that's important

to the message of the psalm.

And in this case,

this phrase is repeated,

the fear of the Lord,

the fear of the Lord,

the fear of the Lord.

What is the fear of the Lord?

Come,

oh children,

listen to me.

I will teach you

the fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord.

Are you in awe

of who He is?

Do you live

in a reverent way?

The second section

begins here

of the psalm

in verse 11.

That second section

is instruction.

So He invites them

to taste of the Lord.

He invites them

to fear the Lord.

And now this next section,

He instructs them.

He says,

listen man,

let me tell you

what this looks like.

If you hear me

and if you believe me,

men,

it's going to change

your life.

I know you're distressed

and by the way,

the rest of your life

you're going to have moments

and things that happen

that are going to

outwardly give you stress.

But there's such a life

that inwardly

you can have peace

even when outwardly

the world is exploding.

Let me tell you

what it looks like.

And so here He goes.

He says,

I will teach you

the fear of the Lord.

And He asks this question.

He says,

you,

hey man,

I know you're in distress.

Do you desire

to experience

the goodness of God?

Do you desire?

He says that right here.

What man is there

who desires life

and loves many days

he might see good?

Anybody?

Do you want to see

the goodness of God?

Do you want to experience

the goodness of God?

Men,

do you want to step

into a relationship

that's far greater

than you can possibly imagine?

Let me tell you how.

Let me tell you

what that looks like.

And He goes on

to say this.

He says,

keep your tongue

from evil

and keep your lip

from speaking deceit.

Turn away from evil

and do good.

Seek peace

and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord

are toward the righteous

and His ears

are toward their cry.

But,

men,

the face of the Lord

is against those

who do evil.

Don't walk like that.

You know,

it's interesting

that in the book

of Peter,

1 Peter,

Peter quotes

this passage

I just read.

He quotes it

in chapter 3

of 1 Peter.

And who is he speaking to?

He's speaking to

the Christians

in Asia Minor

who are being persecuted,

who are suffering greatly.

And you know,

he could have picked

any passage

in the Old Testament

he wanted to,

but he picked Psalm 34.

Why did he pick Psalm 34?

Because these Christians

are in great distress.

They're suffering.

And he's saying to them,

listen to what he says.

I'm just going to read

a small section here.

Now,

who is there

who will harm you

if you be zealous

for what is good?

But even if you should

suffer for righteousness sake,

stop.

Wait a minute.

You mean if I fear

the Lord,

I might suffer?

You mean if I fear

the Lord,

I might have hard times

in my life?

Peter's saying,

absolutely,

you can take it

to the bank.

Jesus in the Sermon

on the Mount said,

if they persecuted me,

guess what?

They're going to persecute you too.

You've got a devil,

an enemy,

that is like a roaring lion

seeking to devour you.

Yes.

The life of a Christian

is not supposed

to be a smooth sailing ship

with no ripples in the water.

And there's a reason.

And we'll see that here shortly.

But here's what he says to them.

In your hearts,

honor Christ as the Lord is holy.

In your hearts.

In your,

you know what the heart is?

It's a place of desire.

In your desires.

In the depth of who you are.

Cause it your desire.

Honors Christ as Lord.

And he also says,

for sake of time,

I won't read it all.

But he says this,

suffer for doing good

if that should be God's will.

Are we willing to suffer

for the kingdom of God?

Man, nobody wants to say,

hey, sign me up.

I'm ready.

I'm going now.

We're not jumping

at that invitation to suffer.

But I'm just telling you

the life of a Christian

is not intended

to be smooth sailing.

Why?

Because we miss out

on tasting what is good.

Oh, I want you to see this.

True happiness.

True happiness.

Not temporary happiness.

You know,

when we get a little puppy

and that puppy comes home

and it's a really nice looking puppy.

It's like,

man,

look at this.

I'm so excited

to have this little puppy.

Right?

Yeah,

you've been talking about

how much you love.

Hey,

that puppy pees on the floor

and that puppy

ain't going to live forever.

But you know,

there's things

that we get happy

and they're surface level.

They might touch a heart.

But my point is

there's some true happiness

that is at a level

that a puppy can't touch.

or that a thing

that you want,

this thing you've been dreaming about

to purchase

so you can go have fun

on the lake.

It touches a little bit

of the exterior happiness.

It's temporary.

There's something far greater.

Church,

I hope you'll hear

what the psalm is saying

right here.

Listen to this.

When the righteous cry for help.

Wait a minute.

God,

why would the righteous

need to cry for help?

Because God allows

these hard things

to happen in life

of those who are righteous.

Who are righteous?

Those that are called

by His name.

In the Old Testament,

there's two distinguishings.

There's a way to distinguish

in the Old Testament.

The people of God,

He uses these terms

like saints,

righteous.

Are the people of God

totally righteous?

Are you totally righteous?

Are you sinless?

You know what Paul said

about righteous?

There's none righteous.

No, not one.

Not one.

Unless we're covered

by the redeeming blood

of Jesus

and then we're counted

as righteous.

He puts us in this category

of His people

and He calls us righteous

not because of what we've done

it's what Jesus did.

It's Jesus' work

that makes us righteous.

It's imputed righteousness.

It's gifted to us

and He puts us

in this category.

So listen again.

When the righteous

cry for help,

that means there's problems,

the Lord hears.

Why?

Not because He loves us.

And He delivers them

out of all their troubles.

Not all their physical troubles.

Spiritually speaking,

He's the deliverer.

Does He sometimes deliver us

out of physical troubles?

Yes.

Does He always show Himself

strong on behalf of His people?

Yes.

Notice this.

It says,

and He delivers them

out of their troubles.

The Lord is near who?

Who's He near to?

Let me ask this question

before I answer that.

Do you want to be

near to God?

Do you want to be

near enough

to call it intimacy?

Do you want to be

so near you hear His voice?

are you longing

to be in a deep relationship

with God?

The maker of the universe,

the author of all good things,

the lover of our souls,

do you want to be

deeply related to Him?

It is my prayer

that all of us say,

please, yes.

And He said,

how do we do this?

Paul is telling these men,

he's sitting in the cave,

he's saying,

let me share this with you.

The Lord is near

to the brokenhearted

and He saves

the crushed in spirit.

You know what leads

to intimacy with God?

Brokenheartedness

and crushed in spirit.

Woo.

Anybody ready to sign up?

Do you know

that intimacy with God

is not just

a smooth sailing ship?

Do you know

in order to really

experience intimacy with God,

I love how Tozer says

He doesn't ever use a man,

I'm really paraphrasing, okay?

He doesn't use a man much

until He wounds him deeply.

You know,

it's the wounds

that come our way

that cut away the pride

and it cuts away

the fleshly tendencies,

it cuts away

the worldly living

and to the point

at which we say,

God, I'm yours.

Wherever you take me,

whatever you send,

I'm going to cling to you.

You know what closeness is?

It's when you're in the storm

and you cry out to Him

and He hears

and you hear Him

and He says to you,

I'll take care of you.

Y'all know a guy

named Polycarp?

If you haven't read

about Polycarp,

I can't encourage you enough

to go read about Polycarp.

There's a guy

who translated

a document

that talks about him.

first century

Bishop of Sardis.

You know,

Sardis as a church

that shows up

in the book of Revelation.

He was one of the leaders

in the book of Revelation

and the authorities

in the Roman Empire

took him captive

and says,

recant that you trust in Jesus.

Recant.

I want you to say,

if you don't say

you trust in Caesar,

then you're going to be killed.

He says,

kill me.

Kill me.

He says,

for 84 years

He's been faithful to me.

He's never let me down.

I'll trust in Him.

Now,

I won't give you

the beautiful picture

of what happened

when they put him

on a bunch of wood.

They went and collected wood.

They made a pyre.

They put him on there

and they were going to tie him.

I said,

you don't need to tie me up.

God had already given him

a picture

that he was going to be

martyred by fire.

And he willingly said,

God,

if that's what you want,

I'm willing to do whatever.

God gave him the strength

to be faithful

in the midst of the flames

and he praised God

because he was walking

into self-sacrifice.

He was willing

to sacrifice himself

for the will of God

and God gave him the strength

to walk that road.

It's powerful.

It lit a fire

among Christians

in that area,

a fire that led them

to be faithful

even in the midst

of persecution.

You know what

true happiness is?

It says,

it's nearness to God

and experiencing his help.

If you want to

deeply know God,

the nearness to God

and experiencing his help,

if we taste that,

that's true happiness.

I don't know if you buy that book

I'm selling right here.

Do you buy it?

Do you really believe

that the path to happiness

is nearness to God?

I'm telling you.

If you read John 15,

you'll hear it.

You know what it says, right?

Abide in me.

Apart from me,

you can do nothing.

He says,

he says,

abide in me

and at the end,

he says,

these things I've told you

in order that you might

have joy

and have it to the full.

You want to experience

the fullness of joy?

It's intimacy with him.

You want to experience

true happiness?

Intimacy with him.

Look what he's telling

these guys.

He said,

man,

don't try to get,

seek happiness

in the things you make

and the things you build

and the things you,

what?

Seek happiness

and nearness to him

and by the way,

you got to go through

the fire to get there.

Don't run from the fire.

Say,

God,

help me in the midst

of the fire

and when God comes

and helps you

in the midst of the fire,

you know what you say?

Woo-hoo!

Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego did.

They experienced him

in a way

that is unbelievable.

The miraculous hand,

redeeming hand of God.

I wonder if you notice

in verse 20.

So verse 19

echoes verse 18.

It says,

many are the afflictions

of the righteous.

Many are the afflictions

of the righteous.

Hey,

righteous one,

Christian,

do you know

that there's many afflictions

going to be in your life?

Verse 20,

he keeps all his bones,

not one of them is broken.

He keeps all his bones.

Y'all recognize that

from John 19?

Isn't this so interesting?

that the apostle John

says this,

speaking of Jesus

when his side was pierced

in that section

of the book of John,

it says,

for these things took place

that the scripture

might be fulfilled

saying,

not one of his bones

will be broken.

Why in the world

would David

put that

in this psalm?

Why would he

share that

with these men?

In a physical

type of way,

he would say,

listen,

God so delivered me

not one of my bones

was broken.

I was in a bad spot.

As a matter of fact,

God tends to do that.

Does that mean

that the people of God

never break a bone?

No, it doesn't mean that.

It's a way of saying

this is what

the powerful hand

of God's deliverance

looks like.

And in this case,

he was really

prophetically

pointing to Jesus.

Have y'all ever wondered

why it was important

for the bones of Jesus

not to be broken?

You remember,

they broke the leg

of the one thief

and they broke the leg

of the other thief,

but Jesus' leg

they didn't break

because he is already dead.

So they do that

to speed up the death

of the criminals

that are hanging on the cross.

Well, Jesus' legs

weren't broken.

In matter of fact,

prophetically,

it said they wouldn't be.

Why is that important?

Let me tell you this.

All along the way,

God said,

I'm going to send

a Passover lamb for you.

I'm going to send

a Passover.

You know what

a Passover lamb is?

That's one

on whom the people of God

place all their sins

on the Passover lamb

and they take

the Passover lamb,

once a year

and they send him

outside the camp.

It signifies

that the sins

of the people

have been taken

by another

and have left

the camp

so that we no longer

are in this condition

of sin

because the Passover lamb

received all

of our sins.

Do you know

that Jesus all along

was saying the lamb,

the lamb of the world,

the lamb who was slain

before the foundation

of the world?

The plan of God

was to send a lamb

to take all

the sins

of his people

and he would

carry that burden

away.

Do you know

that when

the Jewish people

selected a Passover lamb,

do you know

what was important

and what the word

of God declared

they had to do

back in the first

five books

of the Bible?

It has to be

a lamb without spot.

It has to be

a lamb without blemish.

It has to be

a lamb with no defect

at all.

It was important

that the Passover lamb,

Jesus,

would meet

all the criteria

of the law

in order to be

acceptable

as the Passover lamb.

Jesus' bones

weren't broken

because he

met every

single

issue,

element,

dictate

of the law.

He was the Passover lamb

who took my sins

and your sins

if you've trusted in him.

Let me ask you,

have you trusted

in Christ?

Christ alone

for your salvation?

Have you trusted

in this Passover lamb?

Have you been

redeemed?

Have your sins

been forgiven?

When God

looks at you,

does he see

any condemnation

at all

or does he see

the blood of Christ

covering you?

I hope

all of you

have understood

the need

for forgiveness.

A holy God

and a sinful man

can't be together.

You know,

for a holy God,

only those

who've been

redeemed

will be with

them forever.

Only those

who've been

forgiven

by faith

in the finished

work of the

Passover lamb,

Jesus.

I hope

that that's

true for you.

If not,

I beg you

to consider

the truth

and I would

love to share,

to talk to any

of you

who have

questions about

that.

Let's pray.

Father,

we

at least I

speak for me.

God,

I don't get

excited to

think that

I've got to

walk straight

into problems

and difficulties

and trials

and all of

that.

God,

I tend to

walk backwards

when I'm

faced with those

things.

God,

I tend to

shy away

from the

difficult

parts of

life and

yet,

God,

I see

in the

pages of

your word

that the

path to

intimacy

with you

is a

path that

includes

trials and

struggles and

difficulties.

God,

in the midst

of those,

would you

help us

as your

church

embrace you

and cry

out to you

and cling

to you?

God,

would you

draw us

into a

deeper

relationship

with you,

a relationship

where we

trust you,

a relationship

where we're

often praising

you and

worshiping

you?

God,

would you

do a

mighty work

in our

lives?

And God,

if there's

someone here

that doesn't

know you

as Lord

and Savior

that hadn't

understood

the work

of Christ

on their

behalf,

God,

I pray

that you

would open

their eyes

to see.

God,

be praised

this morning.

We worship

you in the

name of

Jesus.

Amen.