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[0:00] Good morning and a warm welcome to church this morning. Good to see everyone and it's good to see some visitors with us this morning as well and you're especially welcome. There's tea and coffee served at the end of the service today and if you're able to stay it would be great to see you and be able to enjoy fellowship with you the services today obviously at 11 and at 6pm this evening both of which will be conducted by myself God willing. I want to encourage the young ones come in the evening you know I promised for a long time that we'd finish by 7 and I know I missed it quite a few times I'm sorry about that for the last Sunday evening I preached it was 7 o'clock on the button that's not too late for bedtime so parents be encouraged to take the young ones along in the evening as well if you're able.

[0:52] One or two intimations to carry on with the ladies Bible study tomorrow at 8. First fruit fellowship on Tuesday at half past 7 at the Church of Scotland Hall Road to the Covery on Tuesday at 8 in the community centre. Fundraising cafe on Saturday 21st of May today's money for a forthcoming youth trip to Nepal. Donations of baking etc would be greatly appreciated.

[1:16] please contact Teddy McLeod or Flora Morrison for more information or for any donations. Prayer meeting on Wednesday at half past 7 in the community centre here as usual. It's hoped to have a holiday club from the 8th to 11th of August here and just to see whether or not this would be viable possible it would be good to know how many helpers you would have. So if you think you could help please add your name to the list which is at the door. It's proposed to have catering hospitality teams to help with church events. We've had various things in the past few weeks and we've got a few more in the next few weeks. Communion meals, communion fellowships, barbecues etc. And so if there was three teams you could rotate and it would just help to organise things and streamline things in the preparation.

[2:07] A couple more intonations which I have got a sort of note of. There's a fun day and there's a fun day which is when... is this on the screen?

[2:20] Sorry, no but it's just the congregational meal and the barbecue. There's a congregational meal and barbecue scheduled for the next few weeks. The congregational meal and the AGM will happen on the 17th of June. So please put that date in your diary. The AGM will have the usual kind of thing where we have to present the accounts and have questions asked. We'll have a congregational meal as part of that evening and also we'll have the plans. Probably a couple of plans that will be proposed for the church building in the development of that. So that's a date for your diary.

[3:03] The application for the planning application is in and so we're waiting for that to progress. But meanwhile we can look at the development of the design. And the barbecue for the church with Scalpy and Leaverborough is I now think set for the 11th of June. And so please put that date in your diary. Is that right?

[3:24] 11th of June? Yes. So please put your date in your diary as well. Can you please challenge me? Challenge me.

[3:34] Challenge me. Come and tell us please. It's up there. It's up there.

[3:47] Signed to keep the door locked for offers of help and donations and refreshments. I should have got Lucy if somebody's come and doing this. For the Challenge of Us Community Fund Day on the 28th of May.

[3:57] So for more information, speak to Mary or Lucy. Thank you. It was there. Okay. Okay. And I've got one more information.

[4:15] And I've got to be careful with this one. This is for the weekend Tuesday, which I think is the 24th of May. I don't have a venue for this yet, but I'll give you the venue for next Sunday.

[4:28] But the 24th of May, Tuesday, the 24th of May is the date, I think. We'll talk about his work in Glasgow with refugees and asylum seekers and his plans to move to the Middle East with his family in the near future.

[4:44] So please, if you'd like to hear about that and pray for him as he goes, then be encouraged to come along to that meeting.

[5:01] I think these are all the intimations. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank you for this, your day and this morning and our being here together with you.

[5:28] We thank you that we have the invitation and the call to worship the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And we thank you that we have that call to come to the throne of grace in prayer.

[5:43] We thank you that the throne of God above is a throne of grace. And we are received as we come in the name of Jesus, seeking forgiveness, seeking cleansing, seeking acceptance in and through him.

[5:59] Amen. Even in these moments already, we are conscious of the busyness of the weeks past and the week that is impending and should we be spared to see all of it.

[6:11] And Lord, we pray that in the busyness of life and in the busyness even of this morning, with all the things that fill our minds, we pray that you would enable us now to be still, to be free from destruction and to know that you are God and that you are with us.

[6:31] So still our hearts, we pray. Settle our minds. Enable us to fix our eyes upon Jesus. And we pray that we would be in that true spirit of worship as we come in his name.

[6:45] Amen. We are going to sing now to God's praise. Let me sing from Psalm 34. Psalm 34 and verses 1 to 9.

[6:59] I think of that psalm. God will I bless. All times is praise. My mouth shall still express. My soul shall boast in God. The meat shall hear with joyfulness.

[7:12] Down to the end of verse 9. The taste and see that God is true. Who trusts in him is blessed. Fear God is saints. None that in fear shall be with want oppressed.

[7:23] We stand to sing and sing to God's praise. God will I bless. God will I bless. All times is praise.

[7:34] My mouth shall still express. My soul shall boast in God.

[7:48] Amen. Son. convictions. tow the Lord with me.

[8:05] Euro pardon. Mayjust BOB come to mother. Hour to pray. The Lord prepared and did me from all fears deliver.

[8:27] They looked to him and lighted with, not shamed where their faces.

[8:40] This poor man cried, God, bear and save him from all his deceptions.

[8:55] The angel of the Lord encamps and round him compasses.

[9:10] All those are worked that you him feared, and then did it again.

[9:24] Oh, taste and see that God is good, who does in him is blessed.

[9:38] Fear God is saved, and that in fear shall be with want oppressed.

[9:52] Boys and girls, would you like to come forward please? Good to see you all today. Are you all well? Now then, who wants to be a volunteer today?

[10:04] Alistair, I'll let you be one volunteer, and I think I'll get two. They're all sitting there, aren't they? They never answer my questions. Will we get two of them? Get two of them to be volunteers as well.

[10:17] Okay, I've got some things to show you here today. And the first thing is two plates of crisps. You see them there?

[10:28] One of these plates of crisps is very salted flavour. One of these plates of crisps is cheddar and bacon flavour, I think it is.

[10:39] And then I have two cups of tea. One of these cups of tea has two sugars in it. One of these cups of tea doesn't have two sugars in it. It has no sugars in it.

[10:50] And then I have two cups of tomato sauce. One of these cups of tomato sauce is just tomato sauce, and one of these cups is a spicy tomato sauce.

[11:01] Now then, here's the question. Just looking at these two plates of crisps, do you know which ones are very salted and which ones are cheddar and bacon? How do we know? Can you tell just by looking at them?

[11:13] If you got one of these big bags of multi-packs of crisps with six different flavours in them, and you emptied every packet out, and you put it in a big bowl, how would you know which crisp is crisps?

[11:26] Would you know by looking at them? If you said, well, I like very salted, but I don't like Worcester sauce, would you be able to tell which one is very salted and which one is Worcester sauce just by looking at them?

[11:38] No, you wouldn't, would you? Two cups of teas. Come on, Jono. Up here. I'm not going to make you drink tea, don't worry. One has two sugars in it, one doesn't.

[11:49] Which one do you think has the two sugars in it? Are you guessing? Yeah, you're guessing. Because they both look exactly, do they look the same? Exactly the same, don't they?

[11:59] And then the tomato sauce. One's spicier than the other, one's just normal tomato sauce, one's a wee bit spicy. Do they look any different? They just look the same.

[12:10] So how do we know which is which? How can we tell which is the spicy one and which isn't? How can we tell which is two sugars and which doesn't? How can we tell which is very salted and which is peas and bacon?

[12:24] But how can we tell? Katie? By tasting. Come on then. How you come, Katie? No chance.

[12:35] She's wise. She's wise, that one. Who's coming then? Come on, Jono, then. Your first hands first up. Taste test number one.

[12:46] That's bacon, is it? Now, you finish that one. It's no trick, girls. Don't worry. You want to taste that one? What was that? Very salted.

[12:58] Ready, salted. Thank you very much. Cups of tea. Who here takes two sugars in their tea? Russell, come on. One sweetener. Eh?

[13:10] Can I not try any crisps? No. Taste the first cup. Has that got two sugars? I honestly don't know. Taste the second one. Has that got two sugars? Oh, I might have been sure.

[13:22] Nope. Take that one with you. Mm-hmm. Okay. Thank you, Russell. Thank you. One had two sugars. One had about eight salts.

[13:34] LAUGHTER And then there's the tomato sauce. Who's going to be tasting the tomato sauce? Gordon? Come on then. It's always nice to see the police commander cry.

[13:47] Spicy or not? Not. Not spicy. So I'll take a smaller scoop of this one. Spicy. Very spicy. I'll take it over.

[13:58] LAUGHTER Whoever's going to be sitting next to Gordon, it's going to be hot for the rest of the service. LAUGHTER So how did we know the difference? We tasted and we saw that one of the cups of tea was bad.

[14:13] One of the cups of tea was good. One of the tomato sauces was bad and spicy. Very spicy. Lots of Tabasco sauce in it. The other one was good.

[14:24] One of them was very salted. One was bacon. But in order to find out, we had to taste. Here's the verse that I want to give you this morning, boys and girls.

[14:39] We just sang it. And it says in Psalm 34 and verse 8, Oh, taste and see.

[14:50] Taste and see that God is good. Taste and see that God is good. Lots of people today, and they say, Oh, I don't think I believe in God.

[15:05] And I'm not sure I want to read that Bible. And I definitely don't want to go to church. And yet they've never tasted God. And they've never tasted how good the Bible is.

[15:17] And they've maybe never tasted even coming to church. How can we taste and see that God is good? How do you taste God? What do you think? It's quite a hard question.

[15:28] How do we taste and see that God is good? Do you believe that God is good? Anish? Why do you think God is good? Because it says it in the Bible.

[15:41] If the Bible never gets opened, never gets tasted, there's lots of people who think, Oh, I'm not sure God is good. You think God is good, Caitlin? Yeah?

[15:53] Why? Because of you, helper at grace. Who's the one that shows us how good God is? Caitlin, Jesus.

[16:05] And he was so good. He loved us so much that he left heaven. He came to this world. He loved us with that perfect love.

[16:17] He lived that perfect life. He died to take away our sins. And he promises that anyone who comes to him, he will never turn them away.

[16:30] You ever go on to try and play with some friends in the playground? And they kind of turn you away. They say, we're playing our game. You're not playing with us. Jesus says, whoever comes to me, I'll never turn him away.

[16:47] He's good. In a thousand million different ways, he's good. And so let's taste and see, week after week, that God is good.

[16:59] Let's pray. Amen. Lord God, we thank you that you are good. And you are good beyond any words that we can find to describe you.

[17:14] You are indescribable. And yet we thank you that you've shown enough of yourself to us for us to know that you are good and that you love us. And that you are for us and not against us.

[17:28] You're against the sin that we are born with. But we thank you that Jesus came to take that sin away. And we thank you that when we trust in him, we find that we are blessed.

[17:43] We find that we have you as the friend that sticks closer to us than anyone. We have you as our saviour. We have you as our king, the one who guides us.

[17:54] Forgive us, Lord. Sometimes we taste so many other things in this world and we spend little time tasting and seeing that you are good.

[18:05] Help us today and every day that you give us to come to know you more and more. And Lord, as we see more and more of your goodness, we pray that we would love you more.

[18:17] Please forgive our sins. Please lead us by your spirit and help us in the rest of this service and this day and in our lives to taste and see that you are good.

[18:30] And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing and we're going to sing this time. It's not in the book, but it's on the screen. Or it will be in a minute.

[18:42] One of the main ways that we find out how good God is is in the Bible. And the Bible is the way that he speaks to us. And so now we're going to ask God to help us and to speak to us as we open his word, both here and as you go to Sunday school.

[18:57] So speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the fruit of your holy word. We stand to sing. Well, if you can turn in your Bibles with me, please, to Psalm 34.

[19:10] Psalm 34. And we're going to read the whole of the Psalm. Psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away and he left.

[19:24] Verse 1. I will instill the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

[19:36] Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant.

[19:48] Their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them.

[20:04] Taste and see that God is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you as saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

[20:23] Come, my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

[20:37] Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.

[20:50] The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles.

[21:02] The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

[21:16] He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked. The foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems his servants.

[21:30] No one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. Amen. And may God bless that reading of his holy word to us.

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[26:09] I'm going to sing again to God's face from Psalm 34, and verses 10 and 11 in English. And I'll read these verses in English.

[26:23] We'll sing them in Galilee. The lions young may hungry be, and they may lack their food. For they that truly seek the Lord shall not lack any good. O children hither do ye come, and unto me, Gauria, I shall ye teach to understand how ye the Lord should fear.

[26:41] We sing these two stanzas in Galilee. Can you hear them in a secret to sing in Galilee? Be yes me in a yon of all, as of Christ, all ye.

[26:55] Be yes me in a yon of all, so my thing is the mostack a forest and you many.

[27:13] That's true, baby. FFA RABOVAL Thank you.

[28:01] Thank you.

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[29:01] Thank you.

[29:31] Thank you.

[30:01] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[30:13] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[30:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[30:37] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[31:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[31:55] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[32:07] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[32:19] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[32:31] glor livrentire. Thank you. Thank you. our minds. We pray that we would have that understanding that comes from you and we ask Lord that you would speak into our lives in such a way that we will be changed eternally and that we would with the psalmist have a testimony to who you are and what you have done and what you continue to do in our lives. So hear us we pray. Bless us as we come into your presence here and we pray for those who would desire to be here but who can't be. We remember them in prayer and ask that you would meet with them where they are. I thank you for that verse said when the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. We pray especially today for those who are struggling, who are battling in their minds, who are battling in their bodies, those who may be under spiritual attack and affliction. And we ask Father that you would be near to them, that the angel of the Lord would encamp around them and give them that protection. And we ask Lord that they would know as we pray that we would know and the children in the rooms of the Lord would know that you are God and that you are good.

[33:59] So hear our prayers and lead us by your spirit. Lead us into truth we pray and truth we thank you we find in your word. So open it for us we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

[34:15] One of the blessings that we enjoyed those of us who were here last weekend was we were able to hear not just great preaching and all that the Lord has been saying to us through the servants that he sent to be with us last weekend. But one of the blessings as well that we had last weekend when we had that time of fellowship and communion was we were able to hear of how the Lord works in the real lives of individuals here and now. And as we were listening to various people give a testimony, Am-Am and Kenny and Kevin Norman, John Myrtle and the Sian, each of them spoke about how they came to know the Lord Jesus. They testified of how the Lord came into their lives and what he's been doing in their lives ever since. And this morning as we come to Psalm 34, I have to say it's a bit of a surprise to me that we're in Psalm 34. I hadn't intended on being in Psalm 34 but I woke up, I think it was last Thursday, with a verse going round and round in my head. And then that same verse and this same Psalm has been stalking me ever since. In my Bible readings, through the praises that were chosen by the ministers who were here and through conversations that I've had, this Psalm has been coming to me time and time again and it's been laid upon my heart. And so I think that God has something to say to us, myself included, through this Psalm this morning. What is this Psalm? Well, it's a testament. Essentially, it's a testament.

[36:15] It's a record of how the Psalmist comes to know the goodness and the deliverance of God in his life.

[36:26] He gives a testimony of one particular encounter but he gives testimony to the knowledge that he has of the Lord. And I wonder just at the outset of the service, could you answer the question, do you have a testimony? If I was to sit down and invite you to come up and share just a simple word about how you've come to know the Lord and what he's doing in your life presently, would you have anything to say as a psalmist? Do we have a testimony? It might not be dramatic. It might not be that we could point to a day or a moment or an hour where in some spectacular way we came to know the Lord.

[37:22] Most people can't. But could we speak about that relationship that we have and we enjoy with the Lord in our lives? Well, let's look at this testimony. Let's look at the elements of this testimony of the psalmist.

[37:41] These are elements which are common to any testimony that could be shared here or elsewhere. There's three things that we can note in this psalm. I was taught last weekend every good sermon should have three points.

[37:54] So I'll endeavor to give you three points this morning. There's three things to note. The first is that we see that the psalmist has a desire to glorify God.

[38:05] The second is the psalmist, he speaks of the deliverance that he has received at the hand of God. And thirdly, the psalmist shares with us the delight that he feels and he experiences in his relationship with the Lord. So firstly, there's that desire to glorify God. And we see that particularly in the first three verses.

[38:30] Now, one of the testimonies we heard last weekend was from Kenny. Hopefully Kenny won't crawl into the chair when I share this with you. But Kenny told a story last weekend of how he was in the barn over at Strong.

[38:47] His mother had become a Christian. Kenny had become a Christian. He'd come home and he was conscious that there was a house full of people and they were all in fellowship and they were all singing, I guess, and speaking of the things of God.

[39:02] Kenny took off to the barn to escape. And when he was in the barn in the quiet, he heard two people who were leaving the house towards the end of the night. One obviously had given their testimony and one hadn't.

[39:15] The one who had given their testimony turned to the friend that was with him and said, you know, was it okay? And the line that he used, which I remembered was, I hope, speaking about his testimony to his friend, he says, I hope there was more of the Lord in my testimony than there was of me in it.

[39:36] And that's the desire of the Christian. We desire that people would see and hear and taste and join with us in glorifying God.

[39:53] Listen to what David says. Verse 1. I will extol the Lord at all times. And we know from our studies on Wednesday evening that David had some bad times.

[40:06] And yet he continues to extol the Lord. I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips, not just when I'm having a good day. My soul will boast in the Lord.

[40:19] And that's David's introduction. As he stands, if we could pitch them to share his testimony, he gives that word of preface, that explanation, he stands, he speaks, he writes, because he is determined in his will that he will extol, that he will praise, that he will boast in the Lord at all times.

[40:42] And so there's that desire that David has to glorify God. And when we have that desire, it indicates that God has been at work.

[40:55] And is at work in our lives at present. If you drive out to Kailas this morning, there's all kinds of evidences that the men have been at work on that road.

[41:07] One of the evidences of God at work in our lives is that we have this new desire to glorify, to exalt, to praise, to lift up the Lord and not ourselves.

[41:20] See, in our sinful nature, the way that we're born, the nature that we inherit from Adam, we are prone to boast in ourselves the things that we do.

[41:32] We crave the praise of others. We are the ones who want to be extolled and have our names and likes. But when God reveals himself to us and we see his own glory and our own sin, we realize no longer can I boast in myself.

[41:54] I never should have been boasting in myself. We realize when God is at work that we are not the ones to be praised and extolled and worshipped.

[42:05] Even our best efforts, Isaiah tells us, they're like filthy rags before God. Kevin Norman on Saturday night, remember, for those who were present, he shared a word of testimony and Kevin Norman spoke about how he had this gift to play the guitar and sing.

[42:28] So, all the way through secondary school, his ambition, his desire, was that he be on the stage with a microphone, he in the park, thousands upon thousands in the field, all looking at him, lights set on him, microphone on him.

[42:47] But when he came to know the Lord, that instantly changed. He spoke about how the Lord put a new song in his mouth.

[42:59] No longer himself, but his God to glorify. And the personal, the inner desire of the Christian is to glorify God and not ourselves.

[43:20] It's one of the elements of any testimony. It's why we stand up when everything in us is saying, sit back down. It's because we want to glorify God.

[43:36] But it's not just the inner desire. There's also that desire in any testimony that others would join with us in glorifying God.

[43:48] I know we live in a very individualistic society where every man is like an island, you could say. We're very protective of our privacy, but that's not the Christian way.

[44:02] When we become Christians, not only do we have this new desire and this new focus, but we want everyone else to join with us in giving praise and adoration to the God who saved us.

[44:18] So the desire of the Christian is to call with others so that they will join in with us in glorifying and praising the Lord. Look at verse, the second half of verse 2 and into verse 3.

[44:31] David says, let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me, says David. Let us, the congregation, exalt his name together.

[44:46] Remember John Murdo on Sunday night and he made reference to it on the nights before. John Murdo was one of the ministers that was here last weekend and he spoke about with great candor the affliction that he suffered under for many years.

[45:04] Alcohol had a grip on him. It was killing him. He was in that dark and fearful pit. He was in that mighty clay, but he spoke about how Jesus saved him.

[45:19] And because Jesus saved him, when he knew that it was such an impossible case, his desire and the rest of his life was given over to tell other people that Jesus can save them too.

[45:32] And not just from the affliction of alcohol, but from the disease of sin. This is what David is doing here in the psalm.

[45:45] He's calling the afflicted, he's calling the sorrowing, he's calling the lost, he's calling the hopeless, he's calling the lonely, he's calling the godless.

[45:56] To listen to his testimony and to look to the Lord and to join with him in glorifying and exalting the name of the Lord.

[46:12] It's another mark of the Christian. We've got to be searching our own hearts and asking the Holy Spirit to be searching our hearts as we sit here. we've got to be allowing God to search us with a view to us finding that assurance if we are Christians of where we are before and if we're not Christians of having that clarity to be able to see that we're not.

[46:44] So we'll come in repentance and faith and be saved. But just as David glorifies God in his inner being and calls others to do so, it's another mark of the Christian.

[47:00] The Christian cannot keep quiet. When Jesus comes into a life, he cannot be contained. he cannot be kept secret.

[47:15] He wouldn't allow us to live that way. Remember in the scene, his testimony, he spoke about this wrestle that he was having with the world.

[47:27] And eventually, with great reluctance, he gave in. And he asked for salvation. And he asked that God would save his soul.

[47:41] And there was that elation. But he said to the Lord, here's the conditions. You come in, but this will be our secret.

[47:53] This will just be between you and I. No one else must know. And the Lord said to him, no deal. He spoke about how the Lord must have been laughing at his prayer.

[48:07] A Christian is not only one who has the desire to glorify God, but has the commission and that growing compulsion to tell our wish.

[48:20] One of the ways that we do that is by what we did last weekend. We sat around the Lord's table. Now, for many people, that's a hugely costly thing to do.

[48:31] I know of some of the personal torment that some went through to sit at the Lord's table. It's difficult to go there sometimes because, yes, people are looking at you.

[48:49] It's a visible place. But when you're a Christian, you have to go in obedience to Christ. As a personal testimony to the work of salvation that the Lord has done in your life, you have to go if you're a Christian.

[49:15] Remember the woman with the issue of blood? If you had that bleeding for year after year, they made an outcast in that culture. And if Jesus was there, she was one of the crowd.

[49:31] And she just crept through the crowd very solubitiously. She touched the hem of his garment. She was healed instantly. And Jesus said, remember, who touched me?

[49:47] Who received that salvation that I've just given? I'm sure he knew already. but he was asking her to make herself known, to share her testimony.

[50:07] I wonder if there's someone here this morning who needs to come forward. There's someone here this morning who needs to let others know what Christ has done for them.

[50:21] I wonder if there's someone here this morning who has given opportunity, must never sit outside the Lord's table again.

[50:34] John Calvin says, let us learn that when each believer testifies to the personal benefits he has received, all will be inspired to join publicly in giving praise to God.

[50:54] we do this not just that others may witness our gratitude, but also that they may follow our example. Wouldn't it be wonderful, wouldn't it be God glorifying if we witnessed the domino effect here?

[51:16] As some come forward and speak of the faith that they have in Christ and all that he has done for them others follow.

[51:32] If someone here this morning who knows that they are not in the forever family of Christ, as one of the ministers put out last Sunday, if they would trust him today and from this day glorify his name, what a wonderful thing that would be.

[52:00] And I wonder how many more would follow. So we see first of all in the psalm there is this desire to glorify God and that's the longest point by a long way.

[52:14] The second thing that we see here is the deliverance that David received and experienced. verses 4 to 7 David says I sought the Lord and he answered me.

[52:28] He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called and the Lord heard him.

[52:39] He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. So if the introduction to the testimony was to do with the new desire that David had to glorify God and the gratitude that he had towards God, the second section here, it gives us an explanation of why David is the way he is.

[53:07] David speaks about all that the Lord has done to deliver him. David speaks here of the trouble and the fear and the calamity that he was facing. David was that poor man, verse 6, who had no hope.

[53:21] David was that poor man who was in the corner and had no means of escape but the Lord was with him in trouble. Verse 7, such a beautiful verse, the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them.

[53:46] trust the Lord.

[54:18] He doesn't leave them high and dry. He doesn't watch them a distance to see how they cope under pressure but the Lord is close to them, he is with them, he is encamping around them, he's the friend that stands shoulder to shoulder with us, no matter how tough things get in the battlefield.

[54:39] Others may flee when trouble comes our way but the Lord draws close close. That's true, isn't it? Sometimes in the darkest times of our lives when we are struggling the most and people know we are, people cross the road to avoid us because they don't know what to say to us and yet the Lord he draws close.

[55:09] Others cross over, he draws close. the Lord verse 18 is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

[55:26] Anyone broken hearted this morning? Anyone crushed in spirit? It can happen in the playground, it can happen in our midlife workplace, it can happen at the end of our days.

[55:40] and we're isolated but God is with us through it all. What a friend he is, what a friend to have, is he your friend?

[56:00] The hymn writer says, I found a friend though such a friend so kind and true and tender so wise a counsellor and guide so mighty a defender and that's David's testimony.

[56:20] Not only is the Lord with him in trouble, he's the one who delivers him out of his trouble and just let's click to 1 Samuel 21 just for a moment.

[56:36] It's not often that we're given that clear insight into what David was actually going through as he wrote the words that we have but this is one of the occasions where we do know what David was going through.

[56:50] David is running for his life. David is being pursued by King Saul. He flees to Gath, the land of the Philistines, which is enemy territory, which shows you how desperate things have become.

[57:08] If he's got to flee to enemy lands to be able to seek solace from the king, then he's in dire straits. He goes to the land of the Philistines where David himself was notorious because he was the one who killed their champion Goliath.

[57:23] So he was hated there and he was well known there. And so in 1 Samuel and 21 we pick up at verse 10 and it says there, that day David fled from Saul and went to Achish, king of Gath.

[57:41] But the servants of Achish said to him, isn't this David the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sang about in their dances? Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands.

[57:55] And David knew his number was up at that point. David took these words to heart. He was very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath. So he feigned insanity in their presence.

[58:08] And while he was in their hands, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard, Achish said to the servants, look at the man, he is insane, why bring him to me?

[58:25] Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house? And so we read in verse 22, verse 1, David left Gath and escaped to the cave of a dove.

[58:43] David is delivered. When it looks like he has no hope, he is delivered. He comes up with this ingenious plan and he manages to execute this plan.

[58:59] He's delivered. But notice that David, he doesn't congratulate himself on the sand for his quick thinking. David, yes, he's experienced deliverance, but in verse 4, he puts it all down to God.

[59:10] I sought the Lord. You don't have that prayer in the account, but he's obviously seeking the Lord and the Lord answers him. And so David realises that God is the one who saved him.

[59:24] There's a point there for the hypercalvinists amongst us this morning, if there's any here. The hypercalvinist says, well, if God is going to save me, he's going to save me. There's nothing I can do about it. If God is going to restore me, from my lukewarm state, he's going to restore me.

[59:40] There's not a thing I can do, but I'm just going to sit here and wait for it to happen. Well, God saved David, but David was no immobile passenger.

[59:52] He was no silent spectator in the middle of all this. David had to act. David had to respond. And we're not in the same situation David was in, I know, where our lives are in danger and we're pursued by kings, but spiritually we're in danger.

[60:08] That's the fact. None of us sit here in neutral before God. We are either saved or we are down. By nature, we are down.

[60:21] Through Christ, we can be saved. We are in danger because of the sin that we have inherited. We are in a more fearful and calamitous and hopeless position than David ever was in the physical sense.

[60:40] But if we cry out to the Lord from our hearts, if we trust the Lord, if we come to the cross, if we ask for forgiveness of sin, if we look in faith to Jesus, we will be delivered.

[61:00] That's God's promise. We'll be delivered. Delivered from the penalty of sin, delivered from the clutches of the enemy of our soul, the devil, delivered from the sting of death, delivered from the prospect of eternity lost, which is hell.

[61:21] David says in his testimony, I sought the Lord, verse 4, and he answered me. Here's the question.

[61:35] Have you sought the Lord yet? you're in danger, as am I in our sinful condition. We're in danger until the second that we seek the Lord.

[61:52] Have we asked the Lord for that deliverance that only Jesus can bring? if the answer to that question is no, you're not a Christian.

[62:11] And if the answer to that question is no, and God is showing you that in this moment, he's showing you so that you'll ask. Seek the Lord.

[62:28] Ask him today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. Ask him today.

[62:40] That he will deliver you from all your fears. That he will gift you with that salvation that Jesus has brought. So there's that desire to glorify God.

[62:56] There's that deliverance that David gives testimony to and thirdly, and just in a word, I'll give you the heavens. There's that delight in verses 8 to 10 and following.

[63:08] you know, there's so many people who say today, I would become a Christian, but I'd love to be safe from hell.

[63:19] I'd love to know that I'm safe if I die, but I don't want to become a Christian. This is just so dull. It's just so boring.

[63:31] It's like I've got to hand my life over and everything I enjoy and everything that's good and gives me pleasure, I have to say cheerio to it and embrace this misery of life, this dullness of life.

[63:45] That's a devil's lie. And yet I hear it all the time. It's not dull to be a Christian. It's anything but dull.

[63:56] David speaks here about the delight of knowing the Lord. And David speaks about the delight of knowing the Lord through some of the darkest paths.

[64:09] It's not an easy life to be a Christian. Somebody prayed over the last few days. It's not better roses. But it's a so satisfying, delightful life to be Christ's.

[64:26] So what must we do if we are to share in that delight that David just testimony to? Or what must we do if we have lost that sense of delight and we are Christians who are dulled and we've got lukewarm on the edges of us?

[64:46] Three things, just take the evidence. Taste the Lord, fear the Lord, and seek the Lord.

[65:00] Taste the Lord, children, show us. Taste and see that God is through. Blessed is the man or the woman or the boy or the girl who takes refuge in him.

[65:13] The devil's a master chef. He has so many tastes to tickle the palate of our souls with and he will pile our plates high with everything this world can offer.

[65:28] He'll say money, you need money, I'll get you money. Success, popularity, lust for things, lust for people, possessions, you need more stuff, I can get you stuff.

[65:48] And the list goes on. There's so many people have a taste for these things and yet the more they taste, the more we want. You know that chemical that gets put on some of these fast foods, MSG?

[66:05] It heightens the taste, I think. But there's something in it that stops us being satisfied and causes us to crave another portion. It's like sin. And all the devil puts in our plates.

[66:18] David says to the one who has never tasted and seen before, David says to the one who is lean in their soul, taste and see that God is good.

[66:31] And use this faith, the Lord's day. Taste and see, not just for this hour, but once we go out and we're in a quiet place, if we get a quiet place.

[66:43] Taste and see that God is good. Meet with him in the word. Draw near to him in prayer. Determine that we're not going to fritter the whole day away, but we'll use it to taste and see that God is good.

[66:59] Taste the Lord. You'll find it's a delight. He's a delight. Fear the Lord, secondly. Fear the Lord, verse 9, you saints.

[67:12] Those who fear him lack nothing. And fear that David writes, fear is not that dreadful fear that drives us away, but it's that awe-inspiring fear that draws us close. This author Paul Daly Tripp, in his book Awe, writes this.

[67:27] He says, I was wired for God. I was wired for awe of God. No other awe satisfies the soul. No other awe can give my heart the peace, rest, security that it seeks.

[67:42] must say his testimony also. That is exhortation to us. Fear the Lord, you saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.

[67:56] And finally, when we're done with this, seek the Lord. This is actually the verse that I woke up with on that Thursday morning, thinking, which song is that from the lions young may hungry be and they may lack their food, but they that truly seek the Lord shall not lack any you.

[68:23] The lions and their young, their ambitious, ferocious young, they're the kings of the animal world, and they seem so sovereign, and they seem so in control, and they seem so self-sufficient, but even with all their might, they grow weak, and they grow hungry, and they get weak.

[68:49] But the Lord Jesus, the one whom David is pointing us to, verse 19, and the verses before it and after it, he is the only true sovereign.

[69:04] He is the king of kings, and yet he is the one who became poor in order that we can become rich, and he is the one who became sick in order that we can become righteous, and he is the one who went to a cross as our Passover lamb, and just as the bones of the Passover lamb must not be broken, the Passover lamb, and he tells us not one of his bones were broken.

[69:41] It's one of these details from the cross, the Passover lamb, not one of his bones were broken. John tells us that in John 19 36.

[69:53] The soldiers came to Calvary Hill, they came to break the bones of those who hung there, because when the bones were broken, the asphyxiation was sped up, and death was accelerated.

[70:09] But when they came to Jesus, he had already laid down his life. No one was going to take his life away from him, and so he didn't touch him, not his bones, not one of his bones was broken.

[70:33] He laid his life down, it wasn't taken from him, and he laid his life down, in order that we could receive eternal life, and satisfaction, and delight for our souls, in and through him.

[70:56] And we're going to sing in a moment, now none but Christ can satisfy him. None other name for me, there's love and life and lasting joy Lord Jesus find in you.

[71:14] Seek the Lord, and you'll find what you do, he's seeking you first. Let's pray. our heavenly father, we thank you again for this psalm, this testimony that we are given from David, the one who has a heart like the Lord's.

[71:43] God, we pray that you may be at work in our lives, and as we hear your voice to us through the word, we pray that we would not resist, but that we would seek you.

[71:57] And we thank you that just as we seek you, and as we turn around in faith to find you, we find that you are the God who is like the father and the brother, and the scanning horizon for those who will return for them.

[72:14] We pray that even today, there may be some who will turn from sin, and will turn in faith, perhaps for the first time, or perhaps for the first time in a while, to receive that forgiveness and that delight that comes from spending time, Lord, in your presence.

[72:38] hear our prayers. We pray that as we seek you, we may find you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[72:50] We're going to sing to finish the words on the screen, they're not neither of the books. O Christ, in thee is the hymn, my soul hath found, the finding thee, O Lord, the peace, the joy, I sought so long, the bliss till now unknown.

[73:11] And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all, both now and forever more. Amen.