Genuine Worship Series: Personal Knowledge of God

Genuine Worship Series: Personal Knowledge of God

This evening, let's turn together to Psalm 34. Psalm 34, and we want to begin the reading in verse 1. Psalm 34, beginning the reading here in verse number 1.

The superscription says, a psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and deliver them. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Amen to God's word.

This evening let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Father, as we've opened your word now, we ask that you would bless it to our understanding, bless it to our hearts and lives, that it may be part of our thinking this week. It may have an effect upon how we view situations, how we respond to things in lives knowing that you have a particular plan for us and we pray these things asking them in Jesus name amen.

When we began looking at this is the sixth message but genuine worship what God desires we saw that he wants he's looking for those that will worship him in spirit and in truth. In fact, he told the Samaritan woman at the well that he seeketh such to worship him. He seeketh such to worship him. There is the possibility of a form of worship, a formality of worship that doesn't have the right spirit for God. And it's just, you know, it's very possible for us to grow up in church, in a church, and know how to go through the motions and parrot the talking points and yet not have the heart of worship that the Lord desires.

But when I think of that woman at the well that we began with and we were looking at her words, I know I've mentioned this a handful of times as we've been going through these messages but I'm reminded again how when she went back to the town she said come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. If I had to if I had to say one word about that I would say convinced. She was convinced. It was very, Jesus was, the Messiah was very real to her and it says, well it shows really, in what the response was in verse 30 in that passage, John 4 verse 30, it says, they went out of the city and came unto him. Why? Why? What caused them to go out of the city? Well, it was the testimony, the convinced testimony of a woman who had personally met the Savior.

They heard her speak and they knew, they knew that that she believed what she was saying. She wasn't just saying something to be saying it. Perhaps knowing her personally, they knew she was the type that was the show-me type, you know. I'm not gonna believe it unless I see it with my own eyes. Well, I'm reading something into it there, but we noticed that that she came and they went out of the city and came unto him.

And in verse 39 here in John chapter 4 it says, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did. They believed, it says, many believed that what she was saying was true even though they had not yet met him and obviously even if there were some that were just curious they went out and they wanted to hear him for themselves.

So when the Samaritans were coming to him, verse 40, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word, when they heard the things he spoke, and said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. This brings us back to our text here in Psalm 34 this evening.

But I think about even as we're gathered here this evening, we're gathered to worship the Lord corporately. But even when we gather corporately, it must always be individual worship. We are gathered together as a body of believers but before God we don't just sort of get lost in the, not that we have a mass here, but in the group you know. Pastor Peacock used to say you can't ride anyone else's, and I may be paraphrasing not getting exactly right, but I can't ride someone else's coattails into heaven. I can't, I can't, you know, as much as someone else may be a blessing to me, we must individually have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a personal relationship,

and in this psalm tonight I can't help but see that, what word do I want to use, it overflowing, oozing from every verse. The words, the verbiage that the psalmist is using here. He says in verse 1, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul, we read, shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. When we read these words he's saying that at all times he will bless the Lord he will praise the Lord at all times well that sounds like to me you know Sunday through Saturday or however in their time they would do their way that sounds like every day of the week it sounds like morning evening and noon it sounds like all the time at all times and we've just seen in Thessalonians 1 Thessalonians 5. Rejoice evermore, right? At all times we've we've seen in everything give thanks and so on and so forth we are this is the this is not just something that we put on on Sunday it's it's our everyday reality before the Lord if we know Him individually.

So remember what we saw not too long ago. I mentioned that passage in Hebrews 13 isn't it? Where it says that we are to offer up continually. We're to offer up the sacrifice of praise to God through Jesus Christ continually. That is to be our spirit. And this is the spirit that David is is speaking in here in this psalm. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. And he says he would make his boast in the Lord.

And then he says this in verse two, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. When others, well, when sinners see other sinners sinning, they take delight in that sinning. They feel comfortable around that sinning because they themselves, well, they don't have the, they don't have the same, it doesn't have the same effect on them that that Abel's righteous offering had upon Cain. It made Cain feel, well I feel kind of bad. I feel like he thinks he's better than I am or something to that effect.

But here we see that when the righteous hear another righteous soul offering praise and boasting in the Lord, it just brings a joy to their heart to hear that you can hear someone speaking sharing a testimony and as you hear them speaking you may never have met them before but you your heart can even be knit with that person because you know as you're listening to them speak they have experienced the grace of God they they know what it means to be a child of God and to to know the Lord's deliverance in their lives and to know the Lord's mercies poured out to them. And you can even say, Amen, when you hear that. Amen to that, brother. I can say that as well. I can say that is the truth.

Well, in verse 3, now the psalmist says, O magnify the Lord with me. They're glad when they hear me saying it and now magnify the Lord with me. Let us together magnify the Lord and let us exalt his name together. Let us make it great, not that the Lord's name is not already great, but let us, as we are worshipping him together corporately as individually redeemed souls, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let us say it together so that the Lord will be pleased with that. It makes us glad to hear it. How glad does it make the Lord to hear it when we are offering up praise?

And once again this may not just be in a, yes it is in the corporate worship service, but it's also just as we converse with one another as we're in the midst of trials and we're talking about, but God has been so good to me. God is teaching me this through these things. God is, you know, fill in the blank that we can say that God has, you know, been comforting me through this trial. He has, as the psalmist is going to say here, he's delivered me from all my fears in this same passage tonight. And so magnifying the Lord, not magnifying the trial or the problem itself magnifying the Lord and how he has how he has faithfully brought us through even when the psalmist even when David is sometimes talking about you know he's in the throes of the trial but he will recall the goodness of the Lord he'll remember what God has done for him in the past you know I've noticed that people I wrote down a exhaustive, but I've noticed that people value, they understand, they remember, and they're able to put into their own words things that they have learned or received for themselves rather than simply somebody else told me about it.

You know, there's some people who have, and I think I have at least a of this case, at least a light case of this, maybe it's heavier than I think it is. But I look at someone, shake their hand, how you doing, I'm Daniel Peed, and they tell me their name. I see this happening when we go to Breckenridge. I'll come back the next time and say, what was their name, what was their name, what was their name, and I'm sitting there thinking. And so sometimes it helps me if there's something that I can relate that name to that's tied into some personal experience or something obvious about that person that will help me to remember their name. And I just say, you're going to have to forgive me, what's your name again? And there's, well I think of one lady, her name is Ruby Cherry. Ruby Cherry, well red, you know both of those names are red and then she had red fingernail polish on, so that helped me remember that. I mean sometimes I can relate something, make it personal I guess is what I'm trying to say. Make it memorable by making it personal. And that's just with remembering a name.

But it's very true also, and I think we see it in the words of the psalmist here tonight, that it's not good enough just to hear what somebody else says about it. It's just like we saw with those that heard him for themselves. They heard the Lord speak themselves and now we believe not only because of the word of this woman, who we understand that she was touched by your grace, but now we've heard your word for ourselves and we believe on your word. Well, thank God for testimonies. Thank God for testimonies that pointed us, I think John the Baptist was pointing then to the Lord. But ultimately, even though we are pointing to the Lord, our lives should be pointing to the Lord.

Like we talked about this morning, the channels, the reflection of the light, we should pray, Lord, sanctify me holy and make me so that I will not be a hindrance to what you want to to do in my in and through my life but but ultimately we are to we are to introduce people I guess we can say to the Savior so they may know him personally it's not I heard someone recently was saying that they gave a testimony and they said so-and-so saved me and it's just newborn talk you know and and of course the the pastor didn't correct him right there but he said you know the Lord saved you right it wasn't me that saved you it was the Lord that that changed you and so of course you know he agreed with that but just the the terminology

thank God for for Bible preachers and Bible teachers right that God has used to point us to himself our parents or you know what maybe a sibling I don't know whoever God used to point us to him but there there are things even in this world that in this in the natural realm that we're living in you know I think I'm certainly not a mechanic I told brother Daniel that this afternoon and that's not something that I've learned a few things but just just a I can change the oil on my car, my vehicles, but if I was reading an example the other day about, you know, if you have an apprentice mechanic, he's learning how to work on vehicles and you know, the mechanic that's teaching him could say something to the effect of, and I didn't make this up, I read this, okay, so I'm going to read it to you so don't get it wrong.

If the temperature gauge spikes while idling at a red light but drops when driving on the highway, replace the radiator fan motor. Okay, let me memorize that. Okay, if this happens, I have to do that. Well, that's good to know that information, but why do I need to replace the radiator fan? Why is that the case? I'm an individual the likes and the whys. Why? Well, the instructor could say when the truck is moving down the highway at 55 miles an hour, what is pushing air through the radiator? Well, evidently it's called ram air. When you stop at the red light, what takes over that job? Well, the radiator fan does, right? You stop, pause, let the person think, oh, the radiator does that. The radiator is move that air when you stop at the red light so if the engine only overheats when the car sitting still where's the breakdown in the system well oh it's the radiator you know oh that makes sense and the light comes on it's this beautiful thing when you know you're teaching I'm teaching the children and my life is and we see the light come on ah I see it for myself I understand that.

And that's really, in so many words, what was happening with those folks from Sychar. In Samaria, they were hearing for themselves the word of the Lord. Not that the testimony of the woman that had been at the well, not that that was unimportant. It was very important. It was very needed. But it was not, she was not the one to save him. It was now they understood for themselves.

And here we see in our text, Psalm 34 verse 4, David says, I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. So in delivered me from all my fears. And we can think of other passages like where he said, what time I am afraid I will trust in thee. Trust! I was delivered by trusting in the Lord from these fears.

He also says here in verse, he says in verse 5 that the Lord delivered him from shame and brightened his countenance. What does he say in other places? The Lord is the help, or the help, of my countenance. The Lord, I have personally experienced that the Lord has lifted my countenance, because the countenance is oftentimes a window to the soul. Is the soul depressed, oppressed, weighed down with cares, guilt and shame, whatever we may say is in the soul, it may be reflected upon the countenance.

He also says the Lord saved him out of all his troubles. The Lord doesn't necessarily take the troubles away but the Lord brings us through all of them and his intention in them is to purify, his intention is to mature, to strengthen us, to purge us of whatever dross needs to be purged from our lives.

I read in Psalm 119. If you look over there, Psalm 119 verse 71. Psalm 119 verse 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes, you know, in the things that God has brought you through in your Christian life as you look to the Lord in the midst of that trial, I'm confident that the Lord has made some passages of Scripture very near and dear and opened your eyes to understanding them in a greater way than you did before and understood more things about him in a very personal way than you could have had you not been through that trouble. You had not been through that trouble that the Lord put you through.

Well David, even in this psalm in our text here, he changed his behavior before Abimelech because he was afraid of men wasn't he? He was afraid but and he feigned to be something to be wasn't it crazy and yet he was not really crazy but he was afraid and yet through that even the Lord taught him the Lord. And at the end of this passage here in verse number eight, well he talks about the fear of the Lord here in verse seven. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. We can't fear God and fear man at the same time. But you know, no chastening in the present moment seems to be a joyous thing, does it? It doesn't seem to be a joyous thing. But nevertheless, afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Blessings come out of those trials as we trust the Lord, as we let the Lord teach us through that chastening, through that testing in our lives.

And now David appeals to others in verse 8, based on his own experience, kind of the woman at the well appeal to others. Come! Come! See! Come! I want you to meet it. Come! I want you to know what I've come to know. And he says here in verse number eight, Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. You ever get something good tasting in your mouth. At least me, anyway. I was like, honey, try this. This is really good. Have a taste of this. I'm actually kind of full right now. It's so much better when somebody wants to share it with you and experience that good taste with you. Or you look out the window and you say, oh, isn't that beautiful scenery? And the child's falling asleep, you know, or something like that. It's not even that beautiful scenery. I want to experience it. I want to magnify the name of the Lord together. I want to see this beautiful scene together. I want you to join me and let's taste together what the Lord can do and has done. Let's experience it together.

Well, in order to do that, like we said this morning we must individually trust the Lord. We must trust the Lord. There are many benefits that come just naturally speaking when we actually learn something for ourselves. I cannot say that I fully learned all the lessons, I've learned some things over the years, but I haven't learned all the things surely that my dad's tried to teach me about electricity over the years. Well, that certainly would be more beneficial for me if I remembered all the things he ever taught me about electricity. And yet, once you understand how something works or you understand how to do it for yourself, then you can go show someone else. If you don't have a grasp on something yourself, how are you going to tell someone else how to do it? You know, but even a teacher, even a good teacher may, you can show someone something but you can't learn it for them. They have to learn it for themselves. You can present it to someone, but just because they heard it with their ears doesn't mean they actually got it, it doesn't automatically mean that they actually learned it. Even if they can memorize the information and write it down on a test, that doesn't always mean they necessarily learned it or they they have what they heard.

Some things I'm sure that I've probably crammed for for a test and it was short-term memory but it didn't didn't actually didn't actually stick but when you make it your own by trust, I think about what teachers are good for. Teachers are good to point us in the right direction, and they are oftentimes a teacher. We need to listen to those who are good teachers because they can save us a lot of heartache as well by saying, don't go down that. Don't waste your time on that dead end trail. And here's why it's a dead end. You know, this is, you're going to find that that is just a waste of time. And so we may be saved from many heartaches. Thank the Lord for parents, you know, that loved us enough to keep us off of certain paths. Don't go down that path, turn away from it. Pass by it. Go another way. Don't go that way because there will be things that you will deeply regret from going that way.

But I think of what we read in Psalm 119 verse 99. Psalm 119 and verse number 99. The psalmist says here, I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation. Now that's a good student, isn't it? A good student receives, appreciates, they show their appreciation for what they've been taught because they have learned what they've been taught, but then they also, this should be the hope of the teacher, right? That they will continue to grow in what they've been taught. That they will continue to expand in their understanding of what they've been taught. If it's the truth, you know, that they will have a deepening understanding of that which they have received.

And I think of Aquila and Priscilla and how they did that with Apollos. They took him in and he had learned and he was zealous about what he had learned but then they taught him more perfectly, the way of God more perfectly. If we have that heart that Apollos had, we will grow in our understanding of the Lord. Grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord.

One thing that's for sure is you cannot grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord for somebody else, and somebody else can't grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord for you. You must grow. I must grow individually in that personal understanding of the Lord's grace and if we will grow and if we will let the test and the troubles and the trials and let the Lord teach us through all the circumstances of life and we will in everything give thanks then we will grow as we're trusting the Lord. We will grow in the way that he wants us to grow.

So as the psalmist is saying here tonight, well even as we just read, there in Psalm 119 verse 99, it said at the end of that verse, for thy testimonies are my meditation. It is what I'm thinking on. I am internalizing the things that I'm hearing. It's not just that they're, I don't know I'm memorizing it in my brain or something like that I am taking these things to heart and as I'm doing so I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart as the hymn says I'm learning more of my Savior I'm learning more of his truth day by day what is it what is it we read in Colossians 3 verse 16 Colossians 3 and verse number 16 what let's turn there together. In Colossians chapter 3 and verse number 16 we read let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Let it saturate your very thinking, your and then it says teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

If God's Word personally individually dwells in our hearts richly then it's to produce praise to God and words of edification to one another, isn't it? We're going to be able to speak, and the righteous are going to be glad, and they're going to magnify the Lord together with us because they can say, amen to that. Thank God for that, or you gave me something to think on there, something you said. We were just talking about this at lunch. There's some, sometimes it's just a simple statement we can make, but it's true and it's timely and it's Spirit-led speech that can stick with us for years and years and years and help us even over the years. We can aid each other in our understanding of truth. As God's teaching me and God's teaching you, we can certainly honor the Lord by sharing from his truth one with another. And the more we grow, the more of God's word we understand and apply, the more we'll be able to share. It's kind of like compound interest. It just keeps growing. And then you say, oh, well, you know, as you're speaking to someone else, they say, you know, and that's like what the Lord says over here, and that's what the Lord showed me this. and it's just it's it's exponential in nature.

We cannot we cannot grow in the grace of God for one another as we've already said but as we individually grow and respond and learn and walk with the Lord and let his word saturate us and we continue to grow and taste and see more of the Lord's goodness in our own lives, then we can provoke one another to love and to good works. Then we can be a greater channel of blessing to to to one another as we together worship the Lord as we individually but together we worship the Lord. May the Lord help us this week just to to realize does the influence that each one of us have upon, well, we can please the Lord by the way we respond to what he's teaching us, but even the influence that we have one on another by how we respond to the Lord and how we, are we growing in the grace personally and the knowledge of the Lord, the effectual working in every part, is God's word working effectually in me? Am I letting the spirit have an effectual work in my heart through that word and then growing up into him, edifying one another? So the value, the benefit of an individual relationship, an individual pursuit of the individual growth in the Lord and how that affects, that testimony affects others, both the unsaved as well as our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these moments we've had in your Word tonight. We're thankful that that you've given us a good day, a number of good things through conversation, through fellowship, through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God that we can chew on, that we can take with us and meditate on. Help us not to forget what you've said to us, but help us to let this Word dwell in us richly. Help us to taste and see that the Lord is good and to know, truly blessed, genuinely happy, is the man that trusts in Thee. We pray these things. We ask them in Jesus' name, Amen.