"How to Love Life" Psalm 34:11-14 Sunday Evening Worship Service

So we'll end our time this evening by looking at God's word together, just a few verses from Psalm 34.

I want to read to you, Psalm 34, verses 11 through 14, and share with you the core of this message, which is how to love life.

Psalms 34:11–14

If you look with me at Psalm 34, verse 11, the scripture says this Come, O children, listen to me.

Psalms 34:11

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.

This is the word of the Lord.

This text begins by saying, Come, O children, and listen to me.

And many of us in this room literally are children.

This is a text for you to listen to.

This is a scripture.

God's word takes you into account, and God wants to teach you something through his word.

But the word that's used for children is also a word that would apply from a teacher to his disciples.

And every Christian is continuing to learn more from Jesus.

And so this is a text that is for children, but it's also for all of us at the stages of life that we are in in our pursuit of the Lord.

These are truths in this text that we can learn as children and we spend the rest of our lives growing into.

What is it that the text calls us to listen to?

Or why should we listen to this passage from the Bible?

Well, it says very clearly in verse 12 What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

You want to love your life?

Do you want to have a really awesome life?

This passage says that if you listen and you learn what this passage of Scripture has to teach, you can have a really amazing life.

You can love your life and enjoy it.

That's what all of us want.

All of us naturally want to love our life and to enjoy it.

And naturally, we all think that we know how to do that.

But do you know that one of the most frequent proverbs that's in the Bible is there is a way that seems right to a man, but its way leads to destruction.

That is, there are some things that seem so good to us in our hearts that we think if I do that, then I'll be really happy.

But in fact, they'll lead you to destruction.

You know, you can see this even from the time you're a little kid.

Some of us, our parents, have tried to teach this to our children.

If you're a child, think has there ever been a time that you have yourself or seen maybe one of your siblings think, you know what?

It looks really fun to run in the street.

I'm gonna run in the street.

That will make me happy.

And yet, will that make you happy?

It'll make you a flat pancake real quick.

There's a way that seems right, but its way leads to destruction.

It's natural that there are things that are in our hearts that we think will make us happy, but if we pursue them, we'll find that they actually lead to pain and destruction.

And this doesn't end when we're children, this continues through the rest of our life.

There are relationships we want, there are experiences we desire, there are paths we would like to pursue that seem naturally so wise that they will end in happiness, but in fact, they will lead to destruction.

The scripture says that we shouldn't rely on our hearts.

We should look outside of ourselves to God.

God is so wise and so loving that he speaks to us and teaches us how to live happy, joyful, blessed lives.

We can't listen to our hearts, but we can listen to God.

And in this passage, God teaches us how we can have blessed and happy lives.

Well, what is it that's going to lead to a blessed and happy life?

It's this.

Come, children, listen to me.

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

If you want to love your life, then you need to learn to fear the Lord.

That is the key.

That is what will make your life blessed and happy, fruitful and wonderful, is to learn to fear the Lord.

So then the question becomes, well, what does it mean to fear the Lord?

Because fear isn't something that I would like to do.

I don't like fear, it's not fun.

So when the scripture talks about fearing the Lord, what is it talking about?

Why should I fear the Lord?

And the best way to understand what the scripture is talking about is to think for a second about a time that you've been afraid.

What was that experience like?

One of the times, I've told this story to the teenagers many, many times.

One of the times that I was most afraid is when I came within inches of losing my life by falling into the Grand Canyon.

I was 16 years old on a trip with my family.

My father and brother and I were walking along one of these paths that was about armlets wide.

And on one side of the path was a hill that led up about 50 feet or so up to another paved walking path, and on the right was a sheer cliff face that if you fell off, you would surely die.

Now the path was wide enough that if you exercised some basic common sense, you'd be safe.

Unfortunately, I was 16 and I didn't have a lot of common sense.

And so as I was walking along this path, my mother was up on a higher path that was, you know, 50-foot little climb up to this paved path.

I decided I'm gonna go talk to her for a while.

So I clambered up this hill, spoke with my mom, and then began to come down the hill, and my feet slipped.

And I started to slide down this hill.

And as I'm sliding down this hill, I'm digging my heels into the ground and trying to grab roots.

In my memory, I'm sliding down the hill for what feels like an hour.

It's an eternity-long slide.

Now it probably lasted just a quarter of a second.

But the reason that it felt like it lasted so long is because in that moment I was terribly, terribly afraid.

And think about what that means.

For me, to be afraid of falling in the Grand Canyon at that moment means at that moment, I wasn't worried about school, I wasn't worried about sports, I wasn't worried about what I was going to eat for dinner that night.

There was only one thing in my mind, only one thing that really mattered.

Don't fall in the Grand Canyon.

That's what the Bible is talking about when it says we need to learn to fear the Lord.

To fear the Lord is to see that God is so great, so wonderful, so big, that He pushes out all the other things from our mind.

God's so wonderful that He compels me and He fills everything in my mind so that I'm more concerned with God than I am about my friends, and I'm more concerned with God than I am about my family, and I'm more concerned with God than I am about anything else, and I only want to do what God wants me to do all of the time.

That's the fear of the Lord.

Obviously, I survived.

My feet stopped just as I was right on the edge of the cliff.

My father, who was about 20 feet away, just far enough to see what was going on, but not far enough away to or far enough away you couldn't actually do anything about it, and made sure that I didn't do that again the rest of the day.

We made it to the bookstore at the end of the trip, and my father found a book of stories of people who have fallen into the Grand Canyon and died, and he told me, hey, check it out.

You almost got in a book.

What it would mean for you to have a happy life is to learn how to fear God.

For God to be so big, bigger than anything else in your life, the one thing you want to do is please the Lord.

Now, this text actually tells you specifically two ways that you can do that.

If you want to fear the Lord, here are two things that you can do.

Number one, guard your tongue.

This is in verse 13.

It says, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

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

Guard your tongue.

The word that's keep here is a word that's used for an all-night security guard, a watchman.

So what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to watch over your mouth so that you don't say anything that is evil or complaining or false.

You're not supposed to be lazy and just speak whatever you feel like.

You're supposed to be active.

Like an all night security guard.

He doesn't fall asleep or just do whatever he feels like, but he's awake.

And whenever somebody tries to break in, he's on it.

So this is the way we're supposed to treat our mouths.

We're supposed to be active and thinking about what we're saying and speaking only the things that God wants us to do.

Do you see how if God is so amazing and you're so in love with God that you're thinking about God, then you're gonna want to guard your tongue and only say the things that you that you know God wants you to say.

Now, why is it so important that you be active and guard your tongue?

Well, because if you're not, you have sin in your heart.

And it's gonna come out.

Jesus says in Mark chapter 7, from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all of this is in our hearts.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

Nobody had to teach us to be selfish.

Nobody had to teach us how to lie, nobody had to teach us to tell uh half truths.

All of that came right out of our own hearts.

We need to guard our tongues and speak only the things that God would want us to say.

In fact, Jesus says that when we die and stand before God, we're gonna have to give an account for everything that we say.

Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12, I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Every word we say matters because God sees every word.

So if you live your life knowing that God's here, God's present, God cares about me, God's watching me, and you speak like God is here because you know He is, that's how you're going to guard your heart.

You do it in the fear of the Lord.

Here's the second thing that you can do to fear God.

It's in verse 14.

It's to learn to repent.

Now, repent is one of the most common Bible words and the most common words that we hear at church.

Whether you are three years old or a little bit older, if someone asks you, that's a common Christian word, repent.

What does it mean to repent?

Could you define it clearly?

Verse 14 defines repentance for us.

Verse 14 says, turn away from evil and do good.

Seek peace and pursue it.

This is what it means to repent.

You have sin in your heart, and when you recognize that there's sin in your heart that God doesn't like, you turn away from it and you seek what God does like.

You turn away from evil and you pursue good.

That's what it is to repent.

And this is the whole of Christian life.

We learn this when we are children and we grow into it through the rest of our life.

The whole of Christian life is an act of repentance, of turning from evil and learning to do good.

How do we do this with regard to our mouth?

Well, the way that we do this with regard to our mouth is that we live in the fear of the Lord so that we see, God is so amazing and so awesome.

I love Jesus more than anything in the world, and I want to do what Jesus wants me to do and say what Jesus wants me to say.

So when I feel like complaining because I'm not getting what I want, instead of complaining, I will think, God is so amazing.

God is bigger than my problems.

Instead of complaining, I'm going to be thankful that God loved me.

And I'm going to be thankful for the things God has blessed me with.

When I'm tempted to lie in order to cover up something that I've done, I'll recognize that God sees my lie, and I don't want to lie before God, and so I will uncover what I've done and I'll be truthful and honest before God.

When I'm tempted to be prideful and make things about me and just talk about me, me, me, me, me, I'll remember that God's bigger than me.

And God loved me and God cares for me.

So instead of talking about me, I'll ask about other people and I'll talk about other people and I'll build other people up.

When I think about insulting other people, when people are mean to me, I want to be mean back.

I'll think about how God is bigger than me and forgave me.

And because God forgave me, because Jesus forgave me, I'll forgive other people instead of returning evil for evil.

You see that when God becomes bigger than you, you'll guard your heart and you'll learn to repent.

You'll learn to turn away from evil and do good.

And do you know that the Bible says, this is the key to a blessed and happy life.

If you want to love life, then you don't follow whatever's natural in your heart, or you will find that sooner or later you'll end up running out in the street and you'll end up a pancake.

If you want to love your life, then you don't trust your heart, you trust the word of God, which says, to fear the Lord, recognize the greatness and wonder and beauty of God in Jesus, loved you and gave himself for you.

Fear him, turn from evil, learn to do good, and God will bless you.

In fact, that's where the Psalm ends, Psalm 34, verse 22.

Psalms 34:22

This is the outcome of the person that fears God.

The Lord redeems the life of his servants.

None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

But everyone who trusts in him and fears him will be blessed.

That's how you can love your life.

God, thank you that you loved us.

Thank you that you gave us your Son, Jesus.

We pray that you would bless us this evening as we worship you together.

We thank you that you've given us song, that we can be united in heart and mind around the truths of Jesus.

We thank you for the songs that we have sung.

We thank you that the songs that we have sung aren't just tunes and melodies, but they are truths, truths that are eternal, that we're here before us, and that we can trust in and live in for all of eternity.

God, we thank you that you gave us your word.

We pray that you would help us to love our lives by living in fear and awe of you.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

And now, for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, iBC.church.

If you want more information about the Master Seminary or our location here in Washington, D.C., please go to TMS.edu.

Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.

area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel.

I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service.

But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.

Now may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel boldly.