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An Invitation · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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Let's turn back to our reading in Psalm 34 in the book of Psalms.
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Page 556 or thereabouts. Psalm 34.
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We're going to look at the beginning of the psalm, verse 1 through to verse 12.
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Verse 8, it says,
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O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
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These great words of this verse, familiar to many of you, I'm sure.
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Come, taste and see that the Lord is good.
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And then there's a question that we see too in verse 12.
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What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?
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How many questions have you had to answer in this past week?
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Every day we have to answer questions of all kinds.
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From the standard questions, maybe what do you want for your dinner?
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What time is it?
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We just have these constant questions that keep recurring.
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We have pleasant questions.
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When we meet somebody, maybe ask, how are you?
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And they're interested in how well you are or how you're doing in life.
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You often answer these kinds of questions.
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And then there's the direct questions.
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Very often we'll be asked direct questions, maybe questions we want to avoid or get away from.
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They can be maybe to do with our work situation.
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We're approaching the holiday season and maybe you're avoiding the boss before he asks you,
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will you work Christmas Day and New Year?
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You try and avoid answering these kinds of questions, maybe direct questions.
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You've been asked about maybe coming to church.
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Will you come to church with me?
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You've tried to avoid that question or to come to Hope Explored or something like that.
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And you're trying to put these questions away.
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Maybe perhaps in this coming week you'll be asked direct questions as well,
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especially as we approach a time of communion.
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And maybe it's not somebody around you that's asking the question.
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Maybe it's yourself.
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You're asking questions of yourself when it comes to the Lord's table.
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Should I go?
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You may be asking yourself or others may come and ask you,
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are you going to the Lord's table?
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Do we feel we are worthy of going to the Lord's table?
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There's all kinds of questions maybe going on in our lives.
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As we look at this psalm this evening, we find David in the midst of his own experience.
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Psalmist David writing this psalm.
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And he's writing from his own experience in life.
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Things that he has gone through in his life.
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And he's writing to others around him, not just at that time.
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He's writing to generations to come after him to ourselves today with these great statements
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and these great questions for ourselves to ponder.
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Statements like we have in verse 8.
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Come, taste and see that the Lord is good.
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Or the questions that we have like in verse 12.
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What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?
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It's a direct question, that one.
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He's talking there about where is your desire?
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What is your heart's longing?
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And he's going right into the very being of who we are.
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It's a direct question.
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And basically behind it is he is saying, how is it with your soul?
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How are you with the Lord?
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What is your desire?
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What is the greatest desire in life that you have?
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And so he's asking direct questions.
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And they're questions for ourselves to ponder and to consider as well.
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In light of not just communion time, but in light of our lives in general.
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And when you see the situation of David here, I just want to put this psalm into context for a wee moment.
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Notice if you have perhaps the ESV Bible, or some of them at least have a little bit before verse 1.
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It explains the situation of the psalm.
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It says, it's a psalm of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out and he went away.
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Now it doesn't explain everything for us, but it explains the context of David writing this psalm.
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And it's related to a time in David's life when he was in a particular place, in a particular situation.
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And you can read about it in 1 Samuel chapter 21.
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And there you read of what David, how he changed his behavior, as it says here.
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He changed from being a normal person to pretending to be mad, pretending to be crazy.
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He was fleeing from Saul at the time.
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And he was fleeing and his life was in danger.
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And those who came after him, they found him and they thought they had caught who they were looking for.
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But David pretended to be crazy, to be mad.
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And Abimelech came along and says, I've got enough madmen.
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I don't want any more.
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Just leave him.
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And so in pretending to be mad, he was able to escape.
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And it sounds such a bizarre situation that the one who has been appointed king by God himself,
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to be king over his people, is having to act like a madman.
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But that is what he did.
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And it's following this that we see, well, why did he have to do this?
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Where was it that this incident occurred?
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It was in a place called Gath.
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A place called Gath.
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Who else came from the place called Gath?
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A man called Goliath, who David had killed.
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And so here is David, who had killed one of Gath's mighty warriors.
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His very life in danger.
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His enemies around him.
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If they recognize him, his very life is going to be taken from him.
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But he came through.
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The Lord spared him.
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The Lord kept him.
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And that's the context of Psalm 34 being written.
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After these events.
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That David is able to look back in his life and see how the Lord has spared him.
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The Lord has kept him.
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And as you go through this, that's what you're seeing.
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That's what we're going to see as we look through these first 12 verses.
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There's a sense of praise and joy towards the Lord coming out.
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That there's a sense of sharing his testimony.
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A personal word of the testimony of God's goodness towards him.
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So and then you have this praise testimony.
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And then the third thing we're going to see is a desire.
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A desire that others would know this.
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That others would taste of the goodness of God.
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And come and put their trust in him.
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And so there's these three parts.
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That we're going to look at this evening.
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And in many ways there are parts that we can reflect on ourselves in this coming week.
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As we prepare to come to a time of communion.
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When we think of these three things.
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Praise.
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It is our praise and thanks towards God.
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Testimony.
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What is our testimony of the Lord?
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Has the Lord been good to us?
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And are we being faithful to him?
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And then thirdly when we see that desire.
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Is our desire, is our longing to come and taste of the goodness of God.
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To come and together praise the Lord.
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Give thanks to God.
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And how can we do it?
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How can we do it but by remembering what the Lord has done for us.
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How he gave himself for us.
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The Lord protected David here in a particular way.
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The Lord has protected us.
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That if we put our trust, our faith in the one who gave his life for us.
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We know that salvation.
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That salvation joy.
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That we are to remember in him.
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So I want to look at these three things then.
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First of all, that sense of praise.
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And you notice that in the first three verses here.
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I will bless the Lord at all times.
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His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
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My soul makes its boast in the Lord.
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Let the humble hear and be glad.
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O magnify the Lord with me.
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Let us exalt his name together.
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These verses are full of praise.
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They're full of words that express that sense of praise that David has.
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I will bless the Lord.
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I will offer up my praise to God.
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Just like Psalm 103 expresses.
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O thou my soul bless God the Lord and all that in me is.
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There's this sense of blessing God.
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His praise, it says, shall continually be in my mouth.
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Never-ending praise.
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Is that how we live our days?
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Are we constantly praising God?
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Not just as we sing a psalm together, but as we go from here.
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Are we constantly expressing that praise to God?
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Boasting in him.
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Boasting in the Lord.
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Magnifying the Lord.
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Magnifying the Lord.
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Exalting the Lord together.
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There's just a sense of praising the Lord.
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And as you look at these opening verses, what you see is David pledging himself to the Lord.
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That this is how he is going to live.
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That the Lord alone is worthy of all his praise.
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There are so many other things that could easily take our attention away from the Lord.
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There are so many other things that could take our praise away from God.
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But David here is focused.
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David here is seeing the one who is truly worthy of all his praise.
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And that's what he's saying to us.
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There is no other God in this world who compares.
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There is no other idol that we can worship who is worthy of praise.
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That's all it is.
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An idol-dom.
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We are to praise the Lord with everything that we have.
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So God is worthy of our praise.
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And just as David pledges himself to praising God,
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so we are challenged ourselves to pledge our lives to him.
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To say that I will bless the Lord.
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Not just David speaking here, but yourself, myself speaking personally.
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That this will be my praise.
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I will bless the Lord.
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His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
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That this is what we want to feel of ourselves as well.
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And we can so often do that.
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We can pledge ourselves to the Lord and say,
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I will bless the Lord because he's been good to me when things are going well.
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But look at what David's situation was here.
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It was difficult.
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It was hard.
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His very life was in danger.
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But the Lord has spared him.
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Because he had that delight in the Lord in the midst of it all.
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But he will continue to praise him.
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And that's for you and me to consider as well.
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Where we find ourselves.
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Whether it's today, tomorrow, or in all the days ahead.
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Whatever situation we come into, will we still praise the Lord?
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David was afflicted.
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David was challenged.
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David was persecuted.
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And yet he still praised the Lord.
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So similar to what Paul says in Philippians 4.
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Rejoice in the Lord always.
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I will say it again.
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Rejoice.
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That sense of praising God no matter what.
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No matter what the circumstances are.
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So do we praise the Lord?
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There's a phrase that's used.
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Sometimes used of sports fans.
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Fair weather fans.
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So there are those who are there when things are going well.
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When there's success.
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But when that changes, they disappear.
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They only want to be there when the going is good.
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When the success is there.
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You just have to look at our own nation.
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You look at Hamden just over a week ago.
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Where 50,000 people singing their hearts out.
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Singing their hearts in celebration.
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They could be heard for miles away.
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There was that sense of delight.
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But how often is it the opposite?
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When the tide turns.
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When things aren't going so well.
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Seats are empty.
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There's no joy.
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There's only shouts.
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I'll sack them.
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Get rid of him.
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All of these things.
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Fair weather fans.
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They can so easily change.
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And the same is used of Christians.
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Fair weather Christians is a phrase used by some.
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And that's being used as those who will only praise God when things are going well.
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But when the going goes hard.
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They disappear.
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They don't trust God.
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They don't give him the praise in the midst of that situation.
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They turn away.
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We don't want to be fair weather Christians.
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We want to praise him.
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No matter what.
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To praise him with all our heart.
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To extol.
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To magnify.
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To bless.
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All of these things.
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Constantly going on.
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In the praise of God.
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C.S. Lewis once put it like this.
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I think we delight to praise what we enjoy.
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Because the praise not merely expresses.
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But completes the enjoyment.
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Praising completes our enjoyment of God.
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Psalm 146 which we sang together.
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The first two verses.
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Praise the Lord my soul.
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O praise him it says.
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But then it goes on to say.
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I'll extol him all my days.
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Another way of putting it is.
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While I have breath.
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I will praise the Lord.
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Let us praise him.
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John Wesley.
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When he was 21 years old.
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He was studying in Oxford University.
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And he'd been brought up in a Christian home.
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And he was a very gifted man.
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Even at that early age.
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But in those younger days.
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He was often described as being sarcastic.
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And snobbish.
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He hadn't come to trust the Lord.
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But something happened to him in those early days.
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That made him realize what real praise was.
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And it was when he met a man who was working at the university.
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He was a porter.
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This man in the university.
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And he had very little.
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And when John Wesley was speaking to him.
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He discovered that this man only had one coat.
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That was all he had to wear over his clothes.
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Just one coat.
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He lived in such poor conditions.
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That he didn't even have a bed to sleep in.
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And yet this man was always happy.
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He was always glad.
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Filled with gratitude towards God.
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And he expressed his delight in God.
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And John Wesley said to him this day.
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In his snobbish way.
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What else do you have to thank God for then?
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Very sarcastic.
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And the man stopped and said.
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Well I thank God that he has given me my life.
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My being.
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And a heart to love him.
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And above all a constant desire to serve him.
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And this resonated with John Wesley.
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He may have made the comments sarcastically.
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But the response moved something in him.
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And he recognized that this man.
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Had something that he wanted.
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That he had a sense of praise within him.
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That didn't go.
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It didn't matter what his surroundings were.
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What his possessions were.
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He could still praise God.
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And John Wesley came to believe in God.
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And gave his life to him.
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And so much so that years later.
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On his deathbed.
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At the age of 88.
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People said of him.
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How he was still praising God then.
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And while he was there on his deathbed.
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He began one day to sing a hymn.
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I'll praise my maker.
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While I have breath.
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He still had that sense of.
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No matter what.
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I can praise my God.
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While I have breath.
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Just like Psalm 146 expresses.
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So that is our call.
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To be a people who praise God.
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The second thing we see with David here.
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Is his testimony.
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In verse 4.
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Through to verse 7.
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David gives us here a sense.
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Of how he came through.
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This experience.
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And again.
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When we look at our lives.
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We see so many things.
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That the Lord takes us through.
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And in verse 4 to 7.
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David expresses it like this.
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I sought the Lord.
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And he answered me.
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And he delivered me.
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From all my fears.
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Those natural fears.
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Those who look to him are radiant.
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And their faces shall never be ashamed.
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This poor man cried.
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And the Lord heard him.
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And saved him out of all his troubles.
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The angel of the Lord encamps round.
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Those who fear him.
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And delivers them.
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So David here gives us an insight.
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Into his own testimony.
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How the Lord has delivered him.
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And that's what a testimony is all about.
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Not about us.
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And what we've done.
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But what the Lord has done for us.
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And David expresses here.
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I prayed.
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I sought the Lord.
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And he answered me.
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This poor man cried.
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And the Lord heard him.
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It doesn't express that.
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Well the Lord needed.
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And should answer all my prayers.
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It's more humbling ourselves before God.
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This poor man.
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This poor man was David.
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Anointed king.
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Of God's people.
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And yet he's humbling himself.
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And saying this poor man cried.
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And the Lord heard.
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And that's all we are.
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Poor men and women.
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Poor boys and girls.
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And all we can do is call on the Lord.
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And the Lord is able to hear.
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And as you look through these verses.
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You see that there's two sides of the coin here.
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Two like themes that we see in David's testimony.
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One is fear.
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And the other is desire.
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Fear and desire.
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There's his own natural fear.
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He delivered me from all of my fears.
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It says in verse 4.
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And we all have fears.
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But we see too that there was this desire.
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I sought the Lord.
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I cried to the Lord.
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And the Lord was able to help.
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And what you discover as you go through this psalm.
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That it's shaped on these two things.
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What we fear most.
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And what we desire most.
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And that's the way it is with our lives so often as well.
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There are the things that we fear.
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And there are the things that we desire.
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And so often the things that we fear.
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Keep us from what we desire most.
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And especially when we think of fearing.
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Or deciding the Lord.
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There are so many fears that will come in.
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That will keep us from fully having that desire satisfied.
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Because we look to ourselves.
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He feared.
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His natural situation.
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But it says here.
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He also feared the Lord.
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And what fearing the Lord means here.
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Is not being afraid of God.
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But giving reverence.
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To God.
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And one person.
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Put it like this.
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If you fear God.
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Or if you give reverence to God.
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You will fear nothing else.
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You will give reverence to nothing else.
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But if you do not fear God.
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If you do not give reverence to God.
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You will fear everything else.
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You will give reverence to everything else.
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So we are to be a people.
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Who fear the Lord.
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Who give reverence to God.
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And then that helps us.
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In our natural fears.
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Because when we give reverence to God.
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Suddenly nothing else matters.
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When we put our trust in God.
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When we cry to God.
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When we call upon him.
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Then we know the help of God.
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As you see here in verse 7.
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The angel of the Lord encamps.
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Round those who fear him.
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And delivers them.
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This is the help that David had.
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As he was playing the madman.
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In front of Abimelech.
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But the angel of the Lord was with him.
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The angel of the Lord encamped.
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The Lord was there to help.
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Because David was fearing God.
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Fearing his natural situation.
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But fearing God.
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Giving reverence to God.
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And there he knew God's help.
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His desire was towards God.
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There's fears.
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And there's desires.
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And for ourselves.
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Especially maybe as we approach a communion.
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There can be many fears.
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Many fears of failure.
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Maybe a fear of rejection.
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They're not going to let me come to the Lord's table.
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A fear of failing God.
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But what if I let him down?
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Or a fear when it comes to comparing others.
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Or not measuring up to others.
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So many things.
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A fear of guilt.
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A fear of the unknown.
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So many of these fears.
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Natural fears.
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That we can have.
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But as David shows us here.
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It is to fear the Lord.
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To desire the Lord.
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To give through reverence to God.
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And then we will know.
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What it is to have the help of God.
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We'll know what it is to have the angel of the Lord encamped.
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That is God with us.
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God strengthening us.
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God helping us.
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That we commit ourselves to him.
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And that he will help us.
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That he will deliver us.
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We like to take control of our own lives.
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To think that we have everything in our hands.
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In our doing.
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But there comes that time we have to say.
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No.
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Lord I'm going to put it all into your hands.
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It's the best place to put all of these things.
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My fears.
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My worries.
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My desires.
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Everything Lord I give over to you.
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To fear God.
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To reverence him.
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To bless him.
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To praise him.
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David's testimony is one of knowing fears and worries and troubles in his life.
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But also knowing God with him.
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God there constantly.
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God hearing his prayers.
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God answering his prayers.
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A testimony is a declaration.
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David's testimony here is God is good.
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God is gracious.
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God is faithful.
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Is that your testimony this evening?
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Is that what you're able to say in your life?
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Is your praise one that leads you into the sense of.
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My testimony is one that I can do nothing but praise God.
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Because God has been good to me.
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May we all have that testimony.
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That assurance of God with us.
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God is good.
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Thirdly and finally we see here.
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That desire that David has.
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Not for himself.
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But for others.
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Is it time to come?
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That's what David is saying here.
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Taste and see that the Lord is good.
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Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
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As we give reverence and fear to the Lord.
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That means taking refuge in him.
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That means bringing ourselves.
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As I said.
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Where we take control away from ourselves.
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And give ourselves over to God.
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And say Lord.
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My refuge is in you.
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Verse 8 says it here.
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Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
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And verse 22 says it as well.
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The Lord redeems the life of his servants.
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None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
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So this refuge is a place of security.
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A place of safety.
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A place of blessing.
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And so David says.
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Come.
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Taste and see.
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That the Lord is good.
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He has experienced it himself.
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He has spoken of his natural fears.
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The fears that he had.
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But the Lord delivered him from all of his fears.
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And he was brought to fear.
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To reverence the Lord.
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And you see how it expresses.
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Fear of the Lord so often here.
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In verse 9 it says.
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Oh fear.
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The Lord you his saints.
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For those who fear him have no lack.
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The Lord is with him.
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In verse 11.
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Come oh children.
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Listen to me.
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I will teach you.
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The fear of the Lord.
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And so the fear of the Lord.
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That reverence of God.
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Is something we are learning.
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Something we are depending on.
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All of our days.
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So we are to be a people.
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Who fear the Lord.
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And when we fear the Lord.
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The angel of the Lord.
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Enamps round those.
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Who fear him.
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And delivers them.
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David calls on us.
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Taste and see.
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That the Lord is good.
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How do you know.
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If something tastes good.
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Do you look at it.
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Do you listen to someone.
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Describe it.
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So many people.
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Base it on that.
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You look at something.
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You say.
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I'm not touching that.
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I'm not eating that.
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No way.
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Or someone describes it.
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And I'm still not sure.
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So many are watching.
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I'm a celebrity at the moment.
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And they have all these.
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Eating challenges.
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And you're looking at these places.
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There's no way.
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I would taste that.
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There's no way.
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I'm going to go near.
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Any of that.
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And you see the reaction.
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As they're eating.
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It's like.
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Well I'm definitely not.
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You're put off.
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Even trying it.
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Smells.
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And looks.
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And all of these things.
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Can put us off.
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Trying things.
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But the reality is we don't know if it's good unless we've tasted it ourselves.
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If we base it only on what others say or how it looks, we cannot say anything about it really.
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But the reality of the Christian life is that that's the way so many people look at it.
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They'll hear other people talking about it.
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And say, you don't need the Christian faith.
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You don't need to go to church.
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It's a waste of time.
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It's nonsense.
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And so many people will just listen and say, well, if you say it, then yes, I'll just believe you.
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Or maybe you've looked on and you've thought, I want nothing to do with church.
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I want nothing to do with these people.
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Because you've seen something that's wrong in them.
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And we all have our faults.
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People will look at us and they can rightly say they're not perfect.
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Because we never are.
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But it's no reason to turn away.
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It's no reason to say I'll have nothing to do with it myself.
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And maybe you say, I've tried church.
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I've come to church.
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And it does nothing for me.
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And it's all based on that experience that's at a distance.
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But what David is saying here is not just to look on from a distance.
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Not just to listen to what others are saying.
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But to come for yourself.
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It doesn't say to come and taste and see that God's people are good.
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Or that church is good.
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It says come and taste and see that the Lord is good.
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Put the Lord to the test.
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Can we say that Jesus is not worthy of our praise?
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Can we say that Jesus will not help us?
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That Jesus is just make believe if all we've done has been at a distance from him?
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To be able to answer, we have to come and taste and see the Lord for ourselves.
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And what David is saying here is,
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When you do, then you will know it is good.
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When you put your trust in the Lord.
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When you taste and see the Lord.
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All you'll be able to say,
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It is good.
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It is wonderful.
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It's the greatest thing I've ever tried.
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And you will not lack.
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For those who come and taste and see,
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they will not lack in any way.
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There are so many things in life that man never convinces.
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So many things that maybe look appealing for a moment,
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but we change our mind on them.
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But when we come and taste and see the Lord himself,
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there will be no going back.
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Because there's nothing better.
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That's what David is saying.
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He is saying,
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My testimony is,
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I have seen the Lord's goodness.
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I have been in many trials and tribulations and situations
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that apart from God,
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I would not have survived.
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And God is good.
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And so he's saying to others,
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Come,
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taste and see
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that the Lord
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is good.
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Why does he say that?
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Well,
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he has that question
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in verse 12.
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What man is there
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who desires life
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and loves many days
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that he may see good?
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What is better
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than knowing the Lord?
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Let our desire be
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towards him.
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We'll be asked many questions
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in this coming week.
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But what of the Lord?
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How is your heart with him?
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Are you trusting in him?
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And then we'll know many statements.
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And David's statements
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is one of the greatest ones
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we could take with us this week.
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Come,
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taste
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and see
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that God is good.
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Blessed is the one
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who takes refuge
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in him.
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Let us pray.
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Amen.
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Lord,
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our gracious God,
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we do thank you
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for all you do for us.
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We thank you
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for the praise
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that you put into our lips.
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We thank you
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for the testimony
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that we are able to give
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of your faithfulness
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towards us.
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We thank you
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for the desire
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that you put in our hearts
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to come
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and taste
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and see
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of your goodness.
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And we pray,
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Lord,
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that if we have experienced it,
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we will know it
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all the more.
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And if we have not yet
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come,
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that we would indeed
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be a people
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who would hear
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your call to us
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to come
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and taste of you,
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of all your goodness,
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of all your mercy,
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that we might be blessed
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in you.
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As we ask all
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in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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I'm going to conclude
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by singing
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some of these verses
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of Psalm 34,
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the Scottish Psalter version
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page 247.
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We'll sing
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from verse 7
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to 11.
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Psalm 34,
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the Scottish Psalter,
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we'll sing
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from verse 7
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to 11.
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The angel of the Lord
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and the angel of the Lord
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encamps and round
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encompasseth
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all those about
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that do him fear
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and them delivereth.
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O taste and see
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that God is good
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who trusts in him
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is blessed.
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Fear God
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his saints
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and on that
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in fear
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shall be with want
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oppressed.
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We'll sing
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verse 7
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to 11
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to God's praise
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to Tuna's Wiltshire
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and we stand
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to sing.
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The angel of the Lord
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encamp
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and round
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and come
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at said
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for those
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are
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those
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To trust in heaven's place
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Dear God, his saints
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Than that in fear
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Shall be where come to press
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The lions young may agree
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And they may love their food
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But they that truly seek the Lord
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Shall not lack any good
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O children, hither do ye come
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And unto me give ear
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I shall you teach to understand
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How ye the Lord should fear
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After the benediction I'll go to the door to my right
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We'll close with a benediction
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Now may grace, mercy and peace
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From God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
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Rest upon and abide with you all
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Now and forevermore
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Amen
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Amen
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Thank you.