Series:
Psalms
Title:
Christ teaches us to Fear
Text:
Psalm 34: 9-22
Date:
February 15, 2018
Place:
SGBC, New Jersey
All who
fear the LORD shall never want any good thing.
That
includes the life that now is and the life to come. That is a bold,
all-inclusive statement. Can I back that up with scripture? Christ speaking in
our Psalm says,
Psalm 34: 9: O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to
them that fear him. 10: The
young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not
want any good thing.
We are
living in perilous times. Paul described
these times:
2 Timothy 3: 1: This know also, that in the last days perilous times
shall come. 2: For men shall be
lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3:
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent [no
self-control], fierce, despisers of those that are good, [especially of God’s
people] 4: Traitors, heady,
highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5: Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
I expect
every generation considered that a description of their times. Because each
generation is worse than the one before. Sinners and society continually runs
further away from God.
Yet, in
the midst of such perilous times, Christ gives us this promise—“there is
no want to them that fear him…they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.”
Subject: Christ
teaches us to Fear
Proposition: Fear the Lord and you shall never want any good thing in
this life or the life to come.
CHRIST’S COMMAND
Psalm 34: 9: O fear the LORD, ye his saints:
When Christ
speaks effectually into our hearts to give us the fear of the LORD at least three
things are involved.
One, the
fear of the LORD is to be persuaded of God’s absolute sovereign power and
wisdom and of our absolute total weakness and ignorance. Nebuchadnezzar was taught this.
Daniel 4: 34:
And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I
praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 35: And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can
stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Two, the
fear of the LORD is to be persuaded of God’s perfect holiness and that we are completely
ruined in sin.
Isaiah 6: 1:
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2: Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain
he did fly. 3: And one cried
unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the
whole earth is full of his glory. 4: And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried,
and the house was filled with smoke. 5:
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine
eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Three, the
fear of the LORD is knowing God’s love and grace has saved me from my sins so
that I really want to have Christ my All and serve him.
Isaiah 6: 6: Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live
coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7: And he laid it upon my
mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken
away, and thy sin purged. 8: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom
shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Just as
the fear of the LORD made Isaiah serve the LORD, it made Paul count all things
loss for Christ.
Philippians 3: 7:
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8: Yea doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ,
The fear
of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom because when he brings us to fear him
above all other things then we have the LORD to provide and protects us over
all things.
Isaiah 8: 11:
For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I
should not walk in the way of this people, saying, 12: Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this
people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13: Sanctify the LORD of hosts
himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be
your dread. 14: And he shall be
for a sanctuary;
Do you
hear Christ speak in our Psalm?—“O fear
the LORD, ye his saints.” Has he
given you this reverence for God: reverence for his sovereign power and wisdom,
for his perfect holiness, for his free forgiveness in Christ our Righteousness? If so then let’s hear…
CHRIST’S PROMISE
Psalm 34: 9:…there is no want to them that fear him. 10: The young lions do lack, and
suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
This is
Christ’s promise to all that fear the LORD. Our Lord promises those that fear
him shall not want. God will not allow
one of his saints who fears him to want any good thing. Concerning what we need for heaven: God our
Father has met our need in Christ his Son through the Holy Spirit by giving us
righteousness, holiness, redemption, a new heart of love and mercy and
longsuffering. Concerning what we need
for daily provision: God does not promise to give us luxuries or extras but he
promises to supply all our need.
The young
lions are the king of the jungle. He is fierce,
cunning, strong and vicious, in the prime of life, and at the top of the food
chain. Yet with all their strength, they shall lack, they shall hunger. The same is true of men who are try to make
themselves righteous and holy for heaven and who in this life are crafty and
strong in power, being oppressive over men with no fear of God before their
eyes. Despite all their worldly strength, God is against them in this life and
when they meet God without Christ they shall lack the one thing needful—Christ
Jesus the Righteous!
Yet the
believer who reverences God with a child-like fear, trusting Christ shall not
want. Though we do not have the power
and cunning of men of this world, who are like greedy lions, God has justified
us in Christ. And with Christ, God shall feed us, clothe us and shelter us so
that we shall not want.
Look to
Christ. He speaks from experience. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah—God all powerful, the King of kings and
LORD of lords. But when he died unto sin
he was crucified through weakness as the defenseless Lamb of God.
Isaiah 53: 7: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
But did
our Savior want any good thing? Not one! God our Father provided for him in this life
and has raised him and given him all things in glory!
Therefore,
in Christ, by Christ and for the sake of Christ nor do those who trust in him!
We are defenseless lambs amidst lions but those that fear the LORD shall not
want any good thing. This is why Christ teaches us not to make this world’s
gain our objective in life but to seek Christ preeminently in all things at all
times. He said,
Matthew 6: 19:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also….25: Therefore I say unto you, Take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for
your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body
than raiment? 32 (For after all these
things do the Gentiles seek: [lost worldly men) for your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
I watched
a documentary on JP Morgan. What a crafty, ruthless business man! He built an
empire off of war. But the lowly, unknown, weak sinner who believes God for all
our need, both in this life and the life to come, is far richer than all this
world’s wealthiest businessmen combined.
CHRIST TEACHES US THE FEAR OF THE LORD
Psalm 34: 11: Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear
of the LORD. 12: What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that
he may see good? 13: Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking
guile. 14: Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
As
fathers and mothers we call our children to our side and we teach them the
right way to speak, the right things to do in this life, which will result in a
better life than a life of evil. Christ
is the Head of the church with all power as the GodMan Mediator who calls all
his children through the preaching of the gospel, saying—“Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the
LORD.”
This is
why Christ is our Prophet, Priest and King.
As our Prophet he gets all the glory for teaching us the fear of the
LORD through the preaching of his gospel.
As our High Priest he gets the glory for being our Righteousness and
Holiness in the holiest of holies in God’s presence and he gets the glory for
applying his blood to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. As our King he gets all the glory as our
sovereign who by his power overcomes every obstacle to bring each of his
children the gospel and makes this word effectual in our hearts, making us
believe on him and making us hunger after righteousness from a holy heart in our
daily lives.
He asks a rhetorical question—“What man is he
that desireth life, and
loveth many days, that he may
see good?” We all do. Well, this is the blessing of
God. So what Christ is declaring is that
these things he is about to teach us concerning walking in the fear of the LORD
are what God delights in. Those who speak
and walk in this way are already blessed of God with all Righteousness in
Christ, already blessed of God who makes us be able to speak and walk this way,
and shall be blessed of God with a fruitful, productive life, chiefly with
eternal life hereafter because these are righteous things in which our
righteous God delights.
Concerning
our speech, Christ commands, “Keep thy
tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.” Out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks. Christ is the holy one who walked this earth with a
holy heart. Christ only spoke that which was true and right. He only spoke the
gospel of God. Our great Prophet went
everywhere declaring salvation is not by the works of our hands but by him
fulfilling the law for his people, redeeming us from the curse of the law. There
was no deceit in his mouth in anything he spoke, only truth. God is well-pleased with Christ for his
righteousness sake.
Brethren,
all who rest entirely in Christ our Righteousness, should only speak what is
right and what is the gospel, never evil, never deceit. When God gave us a new heart, in which is no
guile, then we ceased speaking the evil and deceitful lies in which we made our
boast that we found Christ by our will and contributed to our salvation by our
works. Now, we speak the truth confessing Christ to be the Author and Finisher
of our faith, all our Salvation. And in our daily lives, rather than speaking
evil, we speak that which is good, true, and for edification.
Colossians 3: 16:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17:
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
The
apostle Peter quoted our Psalm,
1 Peter 3: 8: Finally, be ye all of one mind, having
compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 9: Not
rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing;
knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. 10: For
he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from
evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11: Let him eschew evil, and do
good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. 12: For the eyes of the Lord are over
the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the
Lord is against them that do evil. 13: And who is he that will harm you, if ye
be followers of that which is good?
In the
mid-eighties, I recall digging water lines for the church in south Arkansas
with brother Otto McGoogan. We worked
for a good ten hours that day. The entire
time we worked brother Otto preached the gospel to me. There were very few words he spoke that day
that were not pointing me to Christ. And
that was a time when the Lord had begun to teach me the gospel so I was soaking
up every word. I pray God would make
each of us more ready to speak the gospel of Christ for the edification of our
hearers and less apt to speak just for the sake of talking.
Concerning
our doing, Christ says the fear of the Lord will cause us to “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace,
and pursue it.”
Think on
this! Being conceived of corrupt seed “every imagination of the thoughts of [our]
heart was only evil continually.” (Gen 6: 5) But God sent his Son who was
conceived in the womb of a virgin by the Holy Spirit and “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only good
continually.”
The Lord
Jesus desired life and long days—eternal
life—for all those the Father gave him. So he sought peace between God and his people and pursued it. He did so by dying
in place of his people to satisfy justice, to erase our crimes from record, and
he brought God and his elect together in peace.
When he gives us a fear of the LORD he makes us depart from our evil
will-works religion and makes us pursue
Christ our Peace, confessing him to be all our salvation, trusting in him,
his work.
Romans 5:1: Therefore being justified, by faith we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Due to
the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us, in our daily lives, it is the desire of
our inward man to “Depart from evil, and
do good; seek peace, and pursue it.”
Folks are always talking about wanting to be happy. If you want to be happy, make someone else
happy. The apostle Paul quoted our Lord
Jesus,
Acts 20:35: I have shewed you all things, how that so
labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord
Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Do good
for one another, brethren. Seek peace and pursue it with one another and with all
men as much as possible. Peter preached from
this passage and said, “And who is he
that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” (1 Pet 3:
13)
CHRIST TEACHES US GOD IS JUSTICE IN
PROVIDENCE AND SALVATION
Psalm 34: 15: The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his
ears are open unto their cry. 16:
The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth. 17:
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all
their troubles. 18: The LORD is
nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit.
Now, we
saw at first, Christ said those who fear the LORD have the promise that God will
provide for us. Having shown us what it is to walk in the fear of the LORD, he
elaborates on that promise—“The eyes of
the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.”
Be sure
to get this! God is as just in daily providence of his people as he is in our
salvation.
Christ
bought his people with his precious blood and made us the very righteousness of
God in him. So it is right and just that the Lord’s eyes are upon us. They were before we were born-again. Now,
that we believe, his eyes are certainly upon us. He has made us servants of righteousness so
that in our daily lives we love these things that are righteous. His eyes are
upon us because we are well-pleasing in the sight of our righteous God in
Christ our Righteousness. Therefore, for
the LORDs own name’s sake, for his glory’s sake, for the sake of Christ his Son—“The eyes of the LORD are upon the
righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry….The righteous cry, and the
LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh
unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit.”
I know
from experience that when your heart is broken you do not feel like God is
anywhere around. But for you who are suffering in trials, whose heart is
broken, Christ is near you, God’s eyes are upon you, his ears are open to your
cry, and his hand ready to deliver you out of all your troubles.
And,
because God is just in providence the same as in salvation—“The face of the LORD is against them that do
evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” God sees the righteous and the evil. If
the evil is that they are speaking and doing evil in their daily life, the LORD
is against them in daily providence to cut them off from their pursuits in this
world.
If the evil is that they are looking to their own will and works, rather
than Christ, the LORD is against them to cut them off eternally.
God is
just in providence as well as in salvation.
Therefore, believer, we can be sure that for the sake of his justice,
God will do what is right in providing and protecting each one for whom Christ
died because in Christ we are righteous.
It is just for God to do so!
CHRIST TEACHES US WE SHALL HAVE TROUBLE, BUT
Psalm 34: 19: Many are the afflictions of the
righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. 20: He keepeth all his
bones: not one of them is broken. 21: Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the
righteous shall be desolate. 22: The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants:
and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Does Christ
mean that a believer will never have trouble in our life if we do what he says
is right? No, we shall have
trouble. Christ taught us to expect it.
John 16: 33: These things I have spoken unto you, that in
me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good
cheer; I have overcome the world.
But
Christ is teaching us “the LORD delivereth
him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.” This is Christ teaching us what he knows
from experience as our Substitute. When Christ and the two thieves hung on the
cross, the soldiers were sent to break their legs so they would die. So they
could get them off the cross before the sabbath day.
John 19: 33: But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he
was dead already, they brake not his legs:…36: For these things were done, that
the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
What do
we learn from that? God is so well-pleased with Christ that he delivered him
without allowing even one bone to be broken, as he promised. He did so
fulfilling the type of the passover lamb who had not a bone broken. He has and
shall do the same for all who trust in him. It does not mean that we shall not
have a bone broken. But it speaks of the care of Providence over the righteous.
Matthew 10: 29:
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the
ground without your Father. 30: But
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31: Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many
sparrows.
The evil
shall be slain by their evil because they are guilty—“Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be
desolate.” Desolate means guilty.
Man’s own evil shall slay the wicked.
They hate Christ Jesus the Righteous therefore they shall remain guilty
before God.
But those
who trust in the LORD can have no charge laid against us in Christ—“The LORD redeemeth the soul of his
servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” God purchased the soul of his servants
with his own blood. Therefore, none of
that that trust in him shall be guilty before his judgment seat. Our judgment was settled in Christ when he
said, “It is finished!”
Our
righteous and holy God loves righteousness and holiness in his Son. He is
against those that do evil by not trusting in Christ. But he hears and delivers
those who trust in his Son. We shall not want in this life or the life to come—“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but
godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now
is, and of that which is to come.” (1 Tim 4: 8)
Amen!