Series: Psalms
Title: Christ Teaches Us to Look
Text: Psalm 34: 4-8
Date: February 8, 2018
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
In Psalm 34 we have the words written by
David when God had delivered him from the hand of his enemies to the cave
Adullam. This Psalm declares what David taught his brethren when they came to
him in the cave Adullam.
But as with all the Psalms, we look to
Christ. These are the words of Christ to his people now that God has raised him
from the hand of his enemies to God’s right hand. This is what Christ teaches his brethren when
God draws us to him. In the first four
verse, we heard Christ teach us to glory only in Jehovah, our triune God. This
time, in verses 5-8,
Subject: “Christ Teaches
Us to Look.”
Divisions: He begins by showing
what God did for our brethren in the past who looked to the LORD God—Psalm 34: 5: They looked unto him, and were
lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. 6: This
poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his
troubles. Then Christ declares the main point of his message to his people—Psalm 34: 7: The angel of the LORD
encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Lastly,
Christ gives the most important exhortation and promise that we will ever hear—Psalm 34: 8: O taste and see that the LORD
is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Proposition:
All
who look to the triune God, trusting, believing on Christ, shall be saved.
Christ Jesus is the Prophet, Priest and
King who teaches all his people as he does in this Psalm. His message to his people is “Salvation is of the Lord.” Christ’s
message when he walked this earth is his message to us from God’s right hand.
It is the same message he declares to us in this Psalm,
John 10:9: I am
the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,…
You and I who already believe may think we
do not need to be taught this over and over again. But we are mistaken if we
think that. Faithful preaching is not
preaching new things. Faithful preaching is putting
believers in remembrance of things they already know.
1 Timothy 4: 6: If
thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good
minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good
doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
2 Peter 1: 12:
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these
things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
13: Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by
putting you in remembrance;
Philippians 3:1:
To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it
is safe.
So once again, I am here to put you in
remembrance of what many already know. It is not enough to merely have a
knowledge of Christ. All who believe on the triune God by believing on Christ Jesus
the Son of God and confessing him shall be saved.
FAITHFUL
WITNESSES OF THE PAST
Psalm
34: 5: They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not
ashamed. 6: This
poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his
troubles.
It is helpful to encourage us to believe
on Christ by seeing those in the past who believed on God to save them. So our Lord Jesus beings by giving us
faithful witnesses of the past.
First,
our great Prophet, Priest and King gives us the example of humble believers
from the past. He said in verse, “the
humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.”
Speaking of those humbled by God’s grace, he said, “They looked unto him, and were lightened:
and their faces were not ashamed.”
“They
looked”—Christ declared to Nicodemus using the brazen serpent that eternal
life is given freely to sinners who look to Christ and him crucified. (Nu 21:
4-9; Jn 3: 14-18) Salvation is not by
works of righteousness we have done nor by merely sorrowing over our sin.
Salvation—eternal life—is given to those who look to Christ. Augustus Toplady wrote:
Could my tears
forever flow,
Could my zeal no
languor know.
These for sin
could not atone
Thou must save,
and Thou alone:
In my hand no
price I bring,
Simply to Thy
cross I cling.
Our Savior declares that we must actually
look. We must actually believe on Christ.
Isaiah 45:22: Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is
none else.
Hebrews 12:1: 1:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2:
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God.
When these humble believers from the past
looked to the LORD—“they were lightened:
and their faces were not ashamed.” When God gave them light, they looked and
they were lightened. They were given the light of life. As the margin says “they flowed together” or
were made one with Christ like the vine and the branch. And by being given the Light of Christ “their faces were not ashamed.”
All who look to Christ the Light are enlightened
by Christ the Light.
Psalm 18:28: For
thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
The margin says they “flow together.” All
who look to Christ are made one with Christ and flow together with Christ like
the sap from the vine to the branches. Christ becomes our Life. Christ has
entered in giving us life and making us look. And when we look to Christ we are
given more light.
Psalm 36:9: For
with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Therefore, their faces were not ashamed. All who are made to behold the Light
of Christ, are no longer ashamed to trust the Lord. They are not ashamed before
men to confess Christ. And they shall
never be put to shame for trusting Christ.
Romans 10: 10: For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
The Light of Christ which lightens the
face of a man is when the Spirit of God purges our conscience to know that the
righteousness of Christ is our Righteousness.
That is when a man is made willing to confess Christ.
Romans 10: 10:…and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11: For the scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Confession does not mean that we have to
stand up and make a confession. It means we will not be ashamed to tell men or
to declare his word to men.
A great many preachers will tell you
privately that they believe the doctrine of election, predestination, and particular
redemption but they will not preach Christ publicly. It is because they are
ashamed. They do not believe on Christ.
It is in a man’s face that we see when a
man is ashamed. His face turns red with the blush of shame. But those who actually
look to Christ are never ashamed! Instead we are given the light of life, the
light of righteousness and holiness and joy and peace and comfort and
confidence in Christ.
Isaiah 45:16: They
shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion
together that are makers of idols. 17: But Israel shall be saved in the LORD
with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world
without end.
Brethren, go home and read Hebrews 11 and
see all those believers from the past who looked to Christ. You will see that
they were all given Light, all made one with Christ and not one was ashamed to
confess Christ and not one who confessed Christ were put to shame for trusting
him.
Then, better than all past witnesses,
Christ uses himself for the example—“This
poor man cried, and the LORD heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.” Christ
is the Son of God, the second person
in the holy trinity; equal with God the Father and God the Son. But he humbled himself, took flesh
like unto his brethren, and under the law he served God in perfect obedience,
even unto the death of the cross to make us righteous and holy in him. As he
suffered, he cried to the Father and he was heard.
Hebrews 5: 1: For
every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining
to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
And pertaining to men,
Hebrews 5: 2: Who
can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for
that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 3: And by reason hereof he
ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 4: And no man
taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was
Aaron. 5: So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but
he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. 6: As he
saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchisedec. 7: Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able
to save him from death,…
As Man, Christ made himself servant to God
to work out perfect holy heart-obedience to God for his people. He served God to establish his people in perfect
righteousness before his law. Therefore, he was entirely dependent upon God as
he bore our sins then bore our curse to justify his people from our sins. So we
see him praying and making supplications to God just like you and I do—except
he did so without sin, perfectly.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death…And
he…fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might
pass from him.” “He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and
tears unto him that was able to save him from death.”
On the cross, he looked to the Father,
praying—“My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? why art thou so
far from helping me, and from
the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not;
and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou
that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted,
and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they
trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the
people.” [In our Psalm he says of
himself, “This poor man cried”—this
afflicted, sin-bearing, God-forsaken, man-forsaken man, cried.] I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly. Be
not far from me; for trouble is
near; for there is none to
help.” (Ps 22: 1-10)
Hebrews 5: 7:…and
was heard in that he feared; 8: Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by
the things which he suffered; 9: And being made perfect, he became the author
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Having perfected obedience, wisdom,
holiness, righteousness, redemption for his people, having perfected glorifying
God to the highest, God heard him and raised him from the grave to God’s right
hand and Christ is the Author of Eternal Salvation. He is the maker of
Salvation and he is all salvation unto all that cast all their care on him.
Oh what faithfulness we see in Christ! As the High Priest faithful to God and his
people even unto the death of the cross we see his faithfulness as God who
heard him raised him. In our Psalm, we see his faithfulness to teach us that he
is faithful, to make us unashamed and bring his redeemed to cast all our care
on him! We see his faithfulness to all who ever looked to him in that he saved
all our brethren of the past.
THE
MAIN POINT
Psalm
34: 7: The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and
delivereth them.
This is the gospel, the point of Christ’s message
in our Psalm. Our God has many created
angels sent forth to protect those that fear him and deliver them.
Hebrews 1:14: Are
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation?
But THE Angel of the LORD is Christ Jesus
the Son of God! He is the Angel of God's
presence, the Angel of the covenant, the Captain of our salvation, the Leader
and Commander of his people. Christ is the
Angel who was with Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness.
Exodus 23: 20:
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee
into the place which I have prepared. 21: Beware of him, and obey his voice,
provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions [not let them go
unchastised]: for my name is in him. 22: But if thou shalt indeed obey
his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies,
and an adversary unto thine adversaries. 23: For mine Angel shall go before
thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut
them off.”
Isaiah 63: 9: In
all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved
them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and
carried them all the days of old.
Those that really fear him, those that
really obey his voice, Christ is the Angel of God’s presence, who with his
heavenly host of angles, always constantly “encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”
Zechariah 9: 8:
And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that
passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass
through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.
The Targum is an Aramaic interpretation of
the Hebrew Bible from around the 1st century AD. In the Targum this verse
reads, "and I will cause my glorious
Shechinah to dwell in the house of my sanctuary, and the strength of the arm of
my power shall be as a wall of fire round about it.''
I pray God would give us hearts to
understand how true God is encamped about us. Christ and the heavenly host of angels
will protect and defend his believing people like a fire round about us. God says no
oppressor shall pass through them anymore:
·
Not
the law—Christ fulfilled it and honored it
·
Not
justice—Christ fully satisfied it
·
Not
Satan—Christ crushed his head
·
Not
false prophets
·
No
governments of this world nor wicked men nor heretics with their heresies
·
None
shall stop God’s church from assembling to worship him in spirit and in truth.
God says, “for now have I seen with mine eyes.” God has seen Christ his Wisdom, Righteousness, Sancificationa and
Redemption. And God is satisfied in him.
He will keep us for Christ’s sake, even giving Christ the risen GodMan
all power to do so.
He “encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” There are many
examples of this in scripture. But one of my favorites is when Elisha’s young
servant awoke to see they were surrounded by the enemy. The young servant said,
“Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he
answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with
them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he
may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and,
behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
(2 Ki 6: 14-15).
Christ entered covenant to save all God’s
elect. Christ shed his blood to prepare a place for us. Christ will preserve us
to that inheritance and not lose one. He is faithful to him that appointed him!
That is why Christ promises his people,
John 10: 27: My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28: And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand.
THE
EXHORTATON
Psalm
34: 8: O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that
trusteth in him.
Christ declares the most important
exhortation we will ever hear. May he make it his effectual command in our
hearts.
We all hear this gospel each week and most
of you have a knowledge of the truth. Most everyone here knows the truth that God
must regenerate and give life. You know
none can come to Christ except the Father draw him. You know repentance and
faith are gifts of God. But he does not
say, “blessed is the man that knows
doctrine.” He says, “blessed
is the man that trusteth in
him.”
Happy is the man who actually takes refuge in Christ! It is not enough to know God gives light to those that walk in his light, you must walk in his light yourself. Do not
make excuses that God must give us a heart to read his word. That is true! But
I myself and you yourself must pick up the book and taste to see the Lord is
gracious!
I was talking to a man about seeking and
calling a pastor and supporting him. He said, “Well God is sovereign if he has
a pastor for us he will provide him.” I said, “Yes but you will have to pick up
the phone, schedule the appointment, show up to hear and write the checks. God
is not going to do that for you.”
It is not enough to know a system of
doctrine or enjoy hearing sermons or admire pictures of Christ in old testament
scriptures. I myself must actually cast all my care on Christ. I myself must
commit to Christ and his work of spreading the gospel. I must sacrifice to support
the gospel being preached. I must not be ashamed of him but confess him before
men—“Blessed is the man who trusts in him."
So let me end with a word for you who have
not yet confessed Christ, “O taste and
see that the LORD is good.” The happy man actually puts all his trust in
the Lord. No one is more worthy of our trust than Christ. Believe on him and you
shall have the light of life and joy, peace in Christ and not be ashamed!
For you he has just drawn to cast your
care on him, “As newborn babes, desire
the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious.”
(1 Pet 2: 2-3) By desire he does not merely mean be
thirsty for the Lord and his word. He means taste, drink it up and ask for
seconds!
Then for you who have been in the faith
for awhile…the same goes for you. We
never grow beyond being a baby in our insatiable desire to drink up the Lord and
feast upon the pure milk of the word. We must actually do it continually!
May God give us grace to not only believe
the Lord is trustworthy but to always taste and put our trust in him and never
be ashamed to speak of him before men! Those who truly look to Christ shall be
enlightened by his Light and shall not be ashamed! May Christ teach us—may he
command us effectually—to look!
Amen!