Psalm 34: Living the Good Life

Let's just bow our heads in prayer as we stand, please.

Father, you know what our hearts are really like.

You know, Father, the things that we say to ourselves.

You know the inclination of our hearts.

And, Father, you know how, especially for Christians,

we often live in denial of this or pretend to be something different than we actually are.

But we give you thanks and praise, Father, that you know each of us perfectly and completely,

and still you love us.

And so, Father, we ask that your word would come into our hearts

and that you would rule in our hearts through your word,

that the gospel would become more deeply real to our heart

and would form the inclinations of our heart and how we speak to ourselves

so that we might live free and whole and beautiful lives to your glory.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

I guess Jono mentioned the couple of people who are sort of trained on the slide.

Neither of them are here today, so we have somebody wonderfully stepping in.

But you might not see some of the scripture text up on the screen when I refer to it.

But it's all just a good reason, a good, not a good excuse,

a good reason to have your own Bibles with you.

And because we're going to be looking at the Bible.

And if you're a guest here, of course, there's the screen available.

There's also always some free Bibles over here that you're welcome to come and take for the service

or take home if you want.

We've had a couple of weeks of very, very hot weather.

And after a couple of days of hot weather, I went into one of the coffee shops,

which is that I'm a regular at.

And I wondered why the doors were open on such a hot day.

But as soon as I stepped inside the coffee shop,

I understood why the doors were open because the air conditioning wasn't working.

And I saw the poor barista.

And she had, like, literally sweat just running down her forehead

and looking very sort of pale from the excessive heat.

And I said, how's it going?

And her response was, well, I'm living the life.

I'm living the life.

And we're all really familiar with that phrase, I'm living the life.

And usually we use it in situations like that when we're doing something

which is the opposite of the good life.

But behind that comment, of course, is that if we really could,

what we really know that we should be doing, we're trying to do,

or if we were more successful, we would do is that we would be living the good life.

And the Bible text that we're going to look at today, believe it or not,

actually asks that question about what it means to live the good life.

And it's a little bit surprising.

Even Christians often, when they want to understand how to live the good life,

don't actually think that the Bible is going to give them the type of wisdom that they need.

But we should.

Partially we're just affected by our culture.

And for many people outside the walls, and maybe for some of you here,

or maybe for some of you not that long ago,

the last place you would have looked to get some advice about what the good life is like.

Well, actually, I think one of the things that's going to surprise us is that this psalm,

it actually has many of the same aspects that our culture would have about what the good life is.

But it's sort of subversive to how we think about the good life.

And in fact, actually, it both subverts what we think of the good life,

but it actually gives us what we really want at a deeper level.

So it both fulfills our desires and it subverts our desires so it can fulfill our desires.

Even though many people in our world would never think of looking to the Bible

for some insight about what to live as the good life.

Well, let's look.

If you have your Bibles, we're looking at Psalm 34.

We're in the summer of the Psalms.

And right at the very heart, the center of the psalm, in verse 12,

that's where we're going to begin, where this question is asked.

Look what it says, verse 12 of Psalm 34.

What man or woman is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

Now, what this is, it's a bit of a poetic question, but it really is saying,

don't we all want to live a good life?

And what the good life is going to look like, of course, is that it's going to be,

we desire more and more of life.

We want to have many days and we want to have those many days of long life

characterized by goodness, the good life.

Very, very obvious.

If a teenager was praying that they would live the good life

and they died in three months, they would think that they hadn't lived the good life.

They don't want to just live the good life for a couple of months and then die.

They'd like to have a long life, which is a good life.

And that's the question.

So who wants to figure out how to have more life, more life and longer days and see good?

Really, who wants to live the good life?

Now, it's very curious that this question is being asked in this particular psalm,

because the context within which the psalm was written would suggest that it couldn't possibly

be a meditation upon the good life, or at least not without being sort of a complaint.

In fact, you would expect the person who wrote the psalm to be like the barista in the coffee

shop where the air conditioning wasn't working.

And I asked them how it was going and they said, I'm living the life.

If you have your Bibles, I don't think it's up on the screen.

The psalm begins with a little superscript.

And this is a bit of a side thing.

Some Christians don't know this.

Like in my version of the Bible, there's a little thing by the editor that names the

psalm, Taste and See That the Lord is Good.

But that's just written by the editor.

That's just, you know, if a couple of us were putting together the Bible and we wanted to

try to give the psalm a title, we'd do that because it helps modern readers.

It's not the Bible.

It's just the editors.

But underneath it, there's this little thing.

And it says of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech so that he drove him out and

he went to wait.

Jono read it for us, wherever Jono is.

I thought he was sitting there.

He's somewhere over, somewhere else.

He's at the back.

And that actually is part of the Bible.

It's not just done by the editor.

It's actually part of the Bible.

And in fact, if you're ever talking to a Jewish friend about a psalm, you're going to maybe get

a bit confused with the verses because in the Jewish Bible, that bit that I just read

of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech so that he drove him out and he went

away, that's actually verse one for them.

And so what we count as verse one would be for their verse two.

It's why if you look, sometimes you'll see that in the Hebrew Bible, they almost always

seem to have one verse more than us.

That's just the reason.

They actually include that as a verse.

But here's the point.

Now, David is the person who wrote this psalm, and he's asking the question about who would

like to live the good life.

But he's asking this after he's had, in the midst of having what all of us would say is

a completely and utterly terrible life.

He'd risen from obscurity to being sort of in the pinnacle of the kingdom.

And at the pinnacle of the kingdom, the king became massively jealous of him and decided

that he was going to kill David.

And David had to flee.

And while he was fleeing and being pursued by the king, he decided that he had to get

out of the country where the king was going to capture him and kill him.

So he went to a neighboring country thinking he would have some sanctuary there.

But when he gets to the neighboring country, the king of that country gets intimidated by

him.

And his advisors say, listen, isn't this the guy who's a massive military campaigner and

he's just come here to take us over?

And David was worried that he was going to die.

So what David did is he pretended to be insane.

He pretended that he was psychotic and having a psychotic episode.

And it describes that in another part of what we call the Old Testament, our Jewish friends

called the Tanakh, that he let drool come down his beard and he started gnawing the door

frames and stuff like that.

And as a result of that, Abimelech says, listen, don't I have enough crazy and insane people

in my country?

Why do I need another one?

Like, kick him out of the country.

And so David is writing this after he's had to pretend he's psychotic.

The king of Israel is trying to kill him.

The king of Gath, if he realized that David wasn't insane, would kill him.

He's homeless, separated from his family, running for his life.

And he asks the question, not ironically, he doesn't say, I'm living the life.

He says, who wants to live the good life?

Now, right off the bat, if we realize this, it should pique our interest.

Because when Canadians talk about living the good life, one of the big problems we have

when we Canadians talk about the good life is we can't conceive of how the good life can

coexist with hard times.

Many of you have probably seen a woman who went by the name of Nightbird in America's

Got Talent and a conversation she had with Simon Cole when she was on America's Got Talent

to sing.

And if you haven't seen it, it's really worth Googling, not Dream Church, After Church, Google

Nightbird, America's Got Talent.

And it's her first time before them.

And no spoiler alert or anything like that.

She's big, beaming smile.

She looks very skinny.

And they're asking her how she is.

And then she reveals that she has cancer throughout her body and has only a 2% chance of survival.

And the whole audience is completely and utterly shocked.

Now, by the way, Nightbird's a Christian, which isn't obvious in this.

If you do some other searches, you discover that she's a Christian.

And she says something to the effect of, after there's been this back and forward about

her situation and everything, and she said, you know, we can't wait until we don't have

any hard times.

Basically, she says something like this.

We can't wait until we don't have any hard times before we decide to be happy.

And she says it looking right at Simon Cowell.

It actually moves.

You see him having to fight tears when she says it.

You see, because in our culture, we all want the good life, but we can't conceive of how

the good life can exist in adversity and hard times.

For Simon Cowell and all of the judges, it's impossible for them to get their mind around

the fact that she has only a 2% chance of survival for cancer and yet had a sense of peace and

a sense of joy.

And if you hear her song, she knocks it out of the park.

She really does.

Just knocks it out of the park.

So, it's curious then that David, when he should be being ironic and saying that I'm

far from the good life, he's going to describe the good life while he's homeless and being

pursued by the authorities and separated from his family.

Now, it's even more shocking if we see just went before this question.

So, if you have your Bibles, look at what he says.

So, verse 12 is the question.

What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

But look what actually is just before it.

And in the structure of the psalm, verses 1 to 10 is testimony and then 11 to 22 is teaching,

but it's the very center of the psalm.

And look at the question.

O 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?

Now, isn't that really weird?

Like, in fact, before I studied this psalm, I think this is the first time I've ever preached

on the psalm.

I had never really struck me the connection between the fear of the Lord and living the good life.

In fact, actually, for many people, even for Christians, there's a large number of Christians

who somehow think that once you know Jesus and have the Holy Spirit, that you'll no longer fear the Lord.

But that's actually not correct.

The New Testament teaches us to fear the Lord.

But for many others, this phrase is everything that's wrong about Christianity,

that it shouldn't be the fear of the Lord, but the love of the Lord, or the peace of the Lord,

or the joy of the Lord, and that the fear of the Lord somehow is a discordant note.

It's something that goes against that.

And yet before...

But here he's connecting the fear of the Lord to giving the good life.

Now, I don't know where you all are with Jesus.

I'm going to share with you something.

If you wouldn't understand yourself as a follower of Jesus,

or if you're watching this online and you wouldn't think of yourself as a follower of Jesus,

I want to share with you something that you might not know.

And that is this, that even for Christians,

we struggle with a type of whispering that goes on inside of our head.

And the whispering that goes on inside of our head first began in Genesis chapter 3,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

where the serpent, the devil, the dragon, the devil, the serpent, the worm,

is speaking to Adam and Eve.

And what he starts to whisper in their ears,

and that reverberates even today for those of us who would consider ourselves Christians,

the whispering is,

if you want to live the good life,

you have to not be in the center of God's will.

You need to be outside of God's will.

Just a tiny bit.

You don't want to be really crazy.

But just be careful.

You'll get hurt if you're in the center of God's will.

Because to live the good life,

you've got to be a little bit outside of God's will.

And that's the whisper in the heart of every Christian,

which we have to fight.

And it's the whisper I would actually say

for every human being on the planet.

Be careful about the triune God and Jesus.

Don't think that by being in the center of Jesus' will,

you'll really experience the good life.

You know, don't think about sex and money.

You've got to be a little bit outside.

And that's part of the reason why you see for most of us,

like before I became a Christian,

I didn't want Christianity to be true.

But it's a constant whisper in the human heart.

And this beginning challenges this.

Look again at what it says in verse 11.

Come, O children, listen to me.

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Like really right in there with the Lord.

I'm going to explain what it means more towards the end.

But what, what, what, I'm going to teach you the fear of the Lord.

Why should you be interested in the fear of the Lord?

Well, what man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

Like, don't you all want to live the good life?

So you've got to know about the fear of the Lord if you want to live the good life.

Who talks like that?

Well, the Bible talks like that.

And I think it's wise.

Look how wise it actually is.

And it's wiser than how we think as Canadians.

Look at what he says first in verse 13.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceit.

Turn away from evil and do good.

Seek peace and pursue it.

So verse 13 again.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

Turn away from evil and do good.

And seek peace and pursue it.

A couple of years ago, I've used this.

Some of you might have heard this illustration before.

But a couple of years ago, I think it was in the National Post or the Citizen, something like that.

They were interviewing a famous actress.

And it was a very, you know, like a puff piece actress sort of showing her wisdom and her insight and stuff like that.

And, you know, she had some wisdom and insight about stuff.

But one of the questions they asked her is if there was one thing you could change that would make your life way better, what would it be?

And the answer was there would be no guilt.

I'd have no guilt.

And the interview went on and it obviously took that to being a very, very glowing and insightful type of thing.

Like, what a wise thing to ask.

But what they didn't realize is this.

She just asked to be a psychopath.

She just asked to be a sociopath.

People who don't feel guilt.

That's what we call them.

Psychopaths or sociopaths.

And it never struck her or the interviewer that her idea of what the good life would be is to be a psychopath.

Well, obviously, it's not going to be.

That can't be the good life.

Right?

Like, that's the opposite of a good life.

It's actually one of those things that doesn't matter if you're progressive or right wing or whatever.

If you want to describe the opposite of a good life, you talk about psychopaths and sociopaths.

And yet, you see, when the Bible here says, in verse 13, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit, it's talking about your inner life.

You know, I know most of us at times, some of us way too often, we speak, speak, speak, speak, then think.

Right?

And really, part of the good life is think, then speak.

And if we could do that more often, like think, think more deeply, then speak, like we'd have a lot less conflict in our lives and have a better life.

So it's really not just so much talking about what we say.

It's talking about our inner life, what's going on in our inner life.

And what it's saying is that one of the things that the fear of the Lord does is it helps us to have a proper inner life in regards to the good and in regards to truth.

Now, you see, that's actually probably what the actress wanted.

You see how all of a sudden, remember I said how one of the things that this psalm does, it both, it subverts what we think is wise, but actually fulfills what we want to have.

And what she's really trying to express is I'd really rather have a whole good relationship with the truth and a whole good relationship with what's true.

I mean, with truth and goodness.

That's what she'd really like to have.

But she doesn't understand that if she got rid of guilt, she'd become a psychopath and a sociopath, the opposite of a person who's going to live the good life.

And you see that the other next part of it is just as wise.

Look what it says.

If you want to have the good life, you have to understand the fear of the Lord.

What will the fear of the Lord do?

It's verse 14.

Turn away from evil and do good.

Seek peace and pursue it.

Now it's talking about what you do and what you pursue.

So the first part's talking about your inner life.

The next part's talking about what you do and also talking about what you're pursuing, where you're headed.

And it's very, very interesting because it says that we're going to turn away from evil and do good.

And it's not just turning away from evil and it's not just doing good.

It's doing both.

And if we think about it, it's very, very wise.

That it's not maybe like if you go, let's say that same barista,

and I came in and she snapped at me and she was really grumpy at me.

And I might just get on my hind legs and say,

one moment, she can't snap at me like that.

I can snap way better back at her.

And I do.

And I give it to her.

Right?

And then I walk away and I get my coffee and she's even in a worse mood.

And I'm in a worse mood.

Or maybe I'm a little bit happy that I really got her with a zinger.

But afterwards, I'm really thinking to myself,

you know what really would have been far, far better

is to say a word of kindness to her and encouragement.

See, it's not only that I shouldn't have just blasted her with my tongue,

it's that I should have used my tongue in some way that was actually going to do good for her.

Isn't that more like what we want with the good life?

That's exactly what we want with the good life.

And this other thing about seeking peace and pursuing it,

well, every time you see the word peace in the Old Testament,

almost every time,

we tend to misinterpret it by interpreting it in emotional terms.

And the Bible doesn't mean it in emotional terms.

The Bible is referring to something structural about us in our life.

So it would be as if my youngest son and my youngest daughter,

let's say, one's an engineer, the other's an artist,

and they decided they were going to do some type of a sculpture in a place like this.

And they get some others to help them.

And one of the things they decide to do in a place like this

is they're going to make a very, very complicated mobile.

You know, mobile, there's the sticks and the little,

I know, usually you see them over cribs and, you know,

little bunny rabbits or butterflies or angels or something that sort of moves around.

But let's say they're going to do actually a very, very complicated one

so that on one end, they're going to get the right type of steel.

They're going to do all the mathematical calculations

to make sure that the rods are able to hold it

and the chain that's holding it to the ceiling is at the right distance.

And they might have a very large thing, let's say, like a refrigerator at one end,

but they have it so beautifully balanced

that the other end of that same piece of stick

are like three little delicate glass butterflies.

And they've been so balanced that the whole thing holds it.

And they do a whole pile of things like that at different heights,

of different weights and different lengths.

And you'd come in and you'd go, wow.

Wow.

Like that looks remarkable and beautiful.

The balance and the harmony is really quite something.

That is what the Bible means by peace.

You see, it's the difference between...

You know, in war movies, you see guys,

they're getting shot and they're all in pain.

And they're still in pain.

Maybe they're even dying, but the medic gives them morphine.

Well, they have some peace,

but they're bleeding out and dying.

It hasn't actually dealt with the problem.

It's just given them a feeling.

And you see, in our culture,

inadvertently, when we think of the good life,

we think of those feelings.

But really what we're thinking of is we have a druggie,

stoner image of the good life.

You go, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Well, actually, that's actually what you're longing for.

Like, ironically.

Like, tragically.

And the Bible is pointing to something better,

that the fear of the Lord

is going to deal with your relationship inside of yourself

to goodness and also to the truth.

And it's also going to deal with your outer life

of not only helping you turn away from evil,

but also doing good things.

And it's also going to involve you in a pursuit

of that type of harmony and balance in your life.

There's going to be really, really huge, massive things

like death and heartache

and also other massive things like marriage.

And there's going to be the small little daily pleasures,

like just really how unbelievably delicious

freshly made blueberry scones are

with butter and a cup of coffee.

It's all the small things and the big things.

And that's what we want.

And that's what the Bible says.

The fear of the Lord is going to help you

and train you to pursue.

And we end up tending to think of things

in terms of a stoner mentality

or sociopathic mentality.

And then the fear of the Lord

talks about something even more astounding.

Something that if you're watching this

and you don't know Christians,

most Christians are terrified about talking

in terms of things like heaven and hell.

But the psalm, look what it says right next

in verses 15 and 16.

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous

and his ears toward their cry.

And the face of the Lord is against those who do evil

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Now, here's the thing.

He's still talking about teaching of the fear of the Lord.

And now he brings in the presence of the triune God.

And he uses it in terms of the metaphor of the face.

And he said,

you know, the fear of the Lord,

as you start to walk on it and enter into the path,

what you see as you walk on the path

and at the end of the path

is that the face of the Lord is toward you.

is toward you.

You know, is toward you.

It's like we just had my son Jesse visiting us.

And he has a, you know, his youngest is Bronwyn.

And, you know, she's at that age that she's, you know,

chattering and wanting this and wanting that

and wanting that.

And Jesse's trying to have a conversation.

But there's the moment when the dad, right,

his face is toward her.

And he looks at her.

His face is toward her.

His ears are toward her.

He's with her.

He sees her.

He's listening to her.

And she knows it.

The other option,

those of you who have ever counseled somebody

who've been terribly, terribly, terribly, terribly betrayed,

terribly abused.

And maybe they've been terribly abused

by their father or their mother.

And you mention their father or their mother to them.

And their face,

their face

is against them.

They don't want to look.

You can see by the setting of the jaw,

the setting of the mouth,

the setting of the eyes.

You can see the anger.

You can see that there

there's not going to be any love towards them.

And the image here,

which is painted,

I mean,

we tend to think of things like heaven and hell

and all of that,

but it's actually painting

of just a very,

very stark image

that any of us who know how faces work,

that we can say that there's a way of life

that is lived

and ends

with the Lord

looking at you

and seeing you

and hearing you.

and there's affection

and there's fatherly concern

and desire

where there's a face

that's hardened

and turned away.

The fear of the Lord

walking it

is a walk

with a father in heaven

who looks at you like that.

And it's a walk

that ends

with him looking at you like that.

And to walk outside

of the fear of the Lord

is to walk

with the father

looking at you

in that other way

and it ends with that.

But if you think about it

for a second,

you see,

if we're going to actually

live the good life,

often when we think

of the good life in Canada,

we just think of,

well,

we just think of endless repose.

We just think of

endless consumer goods.

We just think of

one day after another

with blue skies

and sunny skies

and there can't be affliction

and there can't be hardship

and we have to somehow

or another,

if we're to live the good life,

be completely

and utterly insulated

and inoculated like that.

But if you think about it

for a second,

that type of a picture

that we as Canadians

desire

when we sort of imagine

the good life

of just endless consumption

and good clothes

and good weather

and no hardship

and no adversity,

in science fiction movies

where there's a dystopia,

they're the bad guys.

They're the cruel,

heartless people

up in the sky

while the people

down on earth

are suffering

with the pollution

and no food.

That's,

you know,

if it's in the train,

it's the front of the train

where they're all like that

and the back of the train

where people are suffering

and at the heart of us

what we actually desire

is a good life

where we're the bad guy

and we go,

oh no,

but no,

that's what you're desiring

and what's it like,

you know,

and then,

and then,

and those other types

of science fiction movies

where there are people

like that,

what happens to them?

They start to despair

because a day after,

blue sky after blue sky

and all your food

being met

and it doesn't actually

feel your heart

with meaning,

it feels you with despair.

You know,

there's a very telling phrase

in the book of Revelation

which describes

so many things

in science fiction movies

where they,

they describe,

it describes a time

where they long for death

and cannot have it.

That's all the old vampire movies,

the despair,

not the new ones

where they try to make them

look cool.

It's all part of trying

to rehabilitate evil,

rehabilitate the serpent.

You see,

all of a sudden

we realize

that one moment,

life,

if it's going to be good,

we're going to have

the right relationship

internally to goodness

and truth

and we're going to have

the right relationship,

we're going to turn away

from evil,

we're going to do good

and we're going to speak,

we're not going to just seek

superficial stoner types

of peace

but actually get our life

in some type of balance

and harmony

and have those big things

and those small things

and we're going to have

some type of a direction

to our life

and you know,

one of the things

which is so wonderful

about this description,

it made me think

of that great old hymn,

Great is Thy Faithfulness

and this explains

to those outside

the Christian faith

the emotional power

and beauty

of a person

who's been captivated

by the gospel.

Listen how it goes,

pardon for sin

and a peace

that endureth

thine own dear presence

to cheer

and to guide

strength for today

and bright hope

for tomorrow

blessings all mine

with ten thousand

beside.

Now,

the psalm continues

and you might wonder,

George,

you're just some type

of special person

that knows how

to fear the Lord

or you're saying

that all these things happen,

you see,

and you still haven't,

well,

look how the psalm continues.

Now,

one of the things

which is really shocking

about this psalm,

we're going to continue

reading it at verse 17,

is that Jesus shows up

in this psalm

that was written

a thousand years

before Jesus.

I'm not making it up,

Jesus shows up

in the psalm.

Look at verse 17

and see what happens.

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.

Now,

just as an aside,

you see,

we Canadians

can't think of

how the good life

can be with hardship,

but if we imagine

a world of a good life

without hardship,

we've actually imagined

ourselves in the bad guise

of all science fiction movies,

dystopias,

and here we're saying

that that great peace,

that huge mobile

that God is going to form

in your life

through the fear of the Lord,

that has the room in there

for the hard things

and the good things.

It's maybe not just a fridge,

but a terrible burden

on one end

and it has the scones

with blueberry and butter

and coffee

at the other end

and it's all overseen

by God

and you don't,

you have his own dear presence

to cheer and to guide,

but Jesus still hasn't shown up.

Look what happens next,

verse 19.

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.

If you don't know your Bible

very well,

in the Gospel of John,

Jesus dies on the cross

and because it's the Sabbath,

the other two men

haven't died

and the religious authorities

ask that the Roman authorities

would break the bones

of the two men

so that they would die

and they wouldn't have to be

up on the Sabbath dying.

And so the soldiers

go and break both bones

and the men die,

but they come to Jesus

and Jesus is already dead.

And the centurion

takes a spear

and pierces it

into Jesus' side

and out of the side

comes blood and water

and they don't break his bones.

And John says,

this fulfills the prophecy

that says,

he keeps all his bones.

Not one of them is broken.

Jesus shows up in the psalm

in his crucifixion.

He keeps all his crucifixion.

See, my only hope

to learn how to fear the Lord

isn't because I'm specific,

I'm very righteous

or I'm specifically holy

or religious

or anything like that.

I mean,

what the fear of the Lord

text is here

showing us too

is, you know what?

You need redemption by Jesus.

You need redemption.

David wrote of what

he did not know.

Why did he throw that line in

unless he was inspired

by the Holy Spirit?

And God was going to show us

this deep promise

that God would do something

for us in the person

of his son

where he does not weigh

our merits

but he pardons our offenses.

Where the justice

and the judgment

that I deserve

falls on him

and the grace

that he deserves

is given to me.

Like it even continues,

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.

If you take refuge

in Jesus,

the condemnation

you deserve

is on him.

The grace

you don't deserve

is given to you.

Listen to how this theme

is taken up

and explained

in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 8

Romans 8:1

verse 1

declares,

there is therefore

now no condemnation

for those

who are in Christ Jesus.

And that's remarkable

and it goes on

and talks more about it

but listen to how

Romans 8 ends

in verse 31.

What then shall we say

to these things?

If God is for us,

who can be against us?

He who did not

spare his own son

but gave him up

for us all,

how will he not

also with him

graciously give us

all things?

Who shall bring

any charge

against God's elect?

It is God

who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus

is the one

who died.

More than that,

who was raised,

who is at the right

hand of God,

who indeed is

interceding for us.

Who shall separate us

from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation

or distress

or persecution

or famine

or nakedness

or danger

or sword?

As it is written,

for your sake

we are being killed

all the day long.

We are regarded

as sheep to be slaughtered.

No!

In all these things

we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us.

For I am sure

that neither death

nor life

nor angels

nor rulers

nor things

present

nor things

to come

nor powers

nor height

nor depth

nor anything else

in all creation

will be able

to separate us

from the love of God

in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

Amen!

That is my hope

in life and death.

That is where

the fear of the Lord

begins

and where it will end.

You see,

the fear of the Lord

at its heart

is a

deep knowledge

of the difference

between God

and you

and where you begin

and where you end.

And you can't

know that knowledge

unless you're also

Christ has worked

in your heart

to create peace

between you

and God.

And you see,

brothers and sisters,

that's why it is

that we should pray

that we will learn

to fear the Lord.

It should be part

of your daily prayer.

Lord,

help me today

to grow in the fear

of you.

You know,

when you pray

that prayer,

you're asking

that he would start

to heal your inner life

in terms of goodness

and truth.

You're asking them

to heal

how you treat people

and turn away

from evil

and pursue that

which is good.

You're asking him

to help you

to allow him

to make that balance

in your life

that you need.

You're asking

that you might know

that he is God

and you're not

so that you understand

and experience

his face

looking towards you

as you live your life,

as you deal

with hard things,

as you deal

with good things

and know

that at the end

of the story

that how the story

ends is that

you are redeemed

and he looks at you

with love and affection

and welcomes you.

And you see,

I haven't read

the beginning of the psalm.

It's only if you understand

how the psalm ends

that you can understand

the outrageous promises

of the first ten verses.

Let's read them

and we're going to

stand and pray.

Listen how,

you see,

it's only if you understand

the end

that you understand

the beginning.

Listen how it goes

at the beginning.

Psalm 34, verse 1.

Psalms 34:1

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 angels of the Lord

encamps around those

who fear him

and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see

that the Lord is good.

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 thing.

come, oh children,

listen to me.

Come, oh children,

listen to me.

I will teach you

the fear of the Lord.

I invite you to stand.

For those of you

who are in Christ,

we're going to pray

that the Lord

will help us

to grow into fear the Lord.

Why wouldn't we want that?

Why wouldn't we want that?

And for those who

maybe have been far

from the Lord

for a long time,

this is your day

to renew your commitment

to him.

Every time we gather

around the Lord's table,

it's a time to renew

our commitment to Christ,

to maybe say to him,

you know,

I've had,

Father,

I've had a really terrible,

in terms of my walk

with you,

I've been absolutely terrible

for days,

weeks,

months,

years.

I thank you

that you never let me go.

I recommit to you.

And for those of you

who are outside of the faith,

all,

you know,

I don't have,

there's no formula,

just call out to him,

say,

Lord,

I want the good life

as is described

in Psalm 34,

and I give myself to you,

and thank you

that you'll take me.

I give myself to you.

That's all you need to pray.

Just say to him,

Psalm 34,

I want that.

I surrender.

I take refuge in you

that that might be my life,

that I might grow

in that direction.

Let's pray.

Father,

we give you thanks and praise

that your word

is wiser than the world,

and we give you thanks

and praise

that even though

there is a part of us

at times,

sometimes very loud,

that whispers

that if we really want

to live the good life,

we have to step outside

of your will,

we ask,

Lord,

that you,

in your mercy,

that you would help us

to not only shut that out,

but that rather than

listen to that whisper,

that we would listen

to your word,

that we would listen

to Psalm 34,

that we would listen

to verses 11 and 12,

that that might,

Father,

that your word

might be that

which speaks to us

very, very deep within us,

that we might learn

to memorize your word

and have that word

preached to us

that we might live out of it,

and we give you thanks

and praise

that you want us

to know you deeply

and to know that

you are God

and that we are not

and know where we begin

and end

and where you begin

and end

and to know that

is good

and we ask,

Father,

we ask,

Lord,

that you would help us

to grow in that,

that you would help us

to grow in the fear

of the Lord,

that we might know

your presence

and your promise

and your comfort

as we deal with

the good times

and the bad

and that we might know

that Christ

is our hope of glory

and that in you

your face is towards us

and that when we finally

see you face to face,

we will see you smile.

We ask these things

in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior,

and all God's people said,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.