If you would be turning in your Bibles to Psalm 34. We will be in this 34th Psalm to begin. That will kind of be our, our pivot verse for the lesson. We'll start there, then go back, then come back to it, and move on forward from there. While you're doing that, I just want to say I'm enjoying getting to be a part of something where I don't have to be the one that speaks all the time. I get to hear all of you singing songs of praise and teaching in those songs. I get to hear these good men talking about very important and good subjects. We've talked about Jesus and who he is. We've talked about brotherly love. We've talked about grace and holiness. It's already been an encouraging couple of days for me. So.
The title of this sermon is David Peter and me, or David Peter and you. And what I like to do in this lesson is show how throughout human history, anyone that's ever tried to serve God has sometimes broken their own hearts. They've struggled at times to be all that they were supposed to be. But those that are faithful and stay with him and stick with it. They learn important lessons. In fact, if I was to ask this morning, how many of you have learned some of the most important lessons in your life because you have fallen short or failed or broken your own heart in some way, and God taught you many things through that. That's the spirit of this lesson. I want you to notice here in Psalm 34 there's a superscription that says that this is a Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed. The Abimelech is kind of like the word Pharaoh. It's a word that describes Philistine kings. There's a story in first, Samuel 21 that we'll look at in a moment where David pretends to be crazy. He feigns madness before Achish, the king of Gath, he was the abimelech. There are those, though, that are scholars over the years that have doubted that description. They wonder if this Psalm was actually written on that occasion. Now here's their argument as to why they might they don't think it was. It seems like Psalm 34 is a Psalm of deliverance, where David is praising God for deliverance. But on that occasion, the way that he was delivered was ungodly and cowardly. It was beneath him to pretend to be somebody else and be out of his mind. So, how could David, they would say, praise God for deliverance when that deliverance was not right? Now, I don't have any reason to doubt that this Psalm was written on that occasion, but I think there's another thing going on here. When you pay close attention to the Psalm, he's not actually thanking God for deliverance from that king, but really from some other things that were going on in his own life and in his own heart.
We're going to read this psalm in just a minute, but I will point out, according to the Psalms, there are three psalms that were written around this time of David's life. Psalm 34 Psalm 56 which I might make reference to briefly, and Psalm 142. Those three Psalms were all written around this time in David's life, when he had pretended to be crazy. He left the the presence of King Achish, and he went to a cave in Adullam and lived there for a little while. But we'll get to some of that later. Let's go ahead and read the Psalm, and what I want you to do as I read this is I want you to look for what's going on in David's heart, what he's feeling when he wrote these words. So let's begin. "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me and Let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, saved him out of all of his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them. O Taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. O fear the Lord, you His saints. For to those who fear Him, there is no want. The Young Lions do lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord will not be in want of any good thing. Come you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers to cut off the memory of them from. The earth the righteous cry and the Lord hears, delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned."
Now, that is a beautiful psalm for a million reasons. In fact, you might have even heard Jesus there in verse 20. John, and John chapter 19 will reference this verse to talk about how the bones of the Messiah were not broken on the cross. But did you notice as we read that David described some things going on inside of himself? Go back to verse four. The end of verse four. What David said he was delivered from were his fears, not necessarily the king in front of him, but other things going on inside of him. If you look down there in verse six, he describes himself as an afflicted or a poor man, and at the end of verse six, he has troubles. Go to verse 17 and notice some of the descriptions. In verse 17, he speaks of crying again. He speaks of trouble. Verse 18, he speaks of having a broken heart and being crushed in spirit. Verse 19, he speaks of many afflictions. Now, just for a minute, here's the question. Have you ever had a time in your life where those were the things you were feeling? You were afraid, you were troubled, you were crushed in your spirit, you were worried and brokenhearted, and you just sort of looked around and you weren't sure what was coming next, but you were you were having a hard time in your life. David felt that. And I think everybody at times has felt that, if you have not felt that yet as while walking with the Lord, you will feel that at some point.
So, David is celebrating God's kindness of being close to him during this these times in his life. But I want to kind of set the scene for this psalm by going back to the event that happened in David's life. So, go back to First Samuel 21 with me, and we're going to talk a little bit about what happened there to David and maybe why it happened. If I was to ask you to think of David's sin in his life. What would be the first thing you'd think of if I asked you to think of David's failure? What would you think of? Bathsheba. I think when we think of this man after God's own heart, I think I grew up thinking he was a relatively sinless guy, except for that Bathsheba incident, but that's much later on in his life. Here in First Samuel 21 I think you begin to see the first cracks. This is not a good chapter for David. He's having some trouble in this chapter. At the beginning of the chapter, David is fleeing from Saul, and he goes to some priests at the house of God, and He lies to them. He tells them that he's on a mission from the king. He's not on a mission. He's running for his life. Not only does he lie to these priests, he does something that Jesus would later comment on and says what David did on this occasion was not lawful for him to do. He eats the consecrated bread. But I want you to notice in this text that David's really not in his right mind. Go down to about verse eight. Look at verse eight of First Samuel 21. "David said to Ahimelech," that was the priest there. "Now is there not a spear or a sword on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's matter was urgent." That's a lie, by the way. "Then the priest said, The Sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah. Behold, it's wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you would take it for yourself, take it for there is no other except it here. And David said, there's none like it. Give it to me. Then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, King of Gath."
In this conversation that David has, he says, hey, you know, I kind of left pretty quickly because the king's matter was urgent. I forgot my weapons. I mean, this is a man who was a great warrior. He'd slain his 10,000s. We're going to find out in a minute. You know, those songs that hit the top of the charts, even internationally, in the land of the Philistines. Like, everybody knew David was a warrior. He's not going to leave without any weapons. But here he is asking the priest for a weapon. And that's not typically the kind of thing you keep in a church building, I suppose. But he points over and he's like, over there in the corner, there's the sword of Goliath. Does David know that sword? Does he know that sword? Yeah, a few chapters before this, he used it to cut off the head of the giant that he had defeated. And David said, that's a great sword. I'll take it. And so he takes the sword and he leaves and goes to Achish, King of Gath. Do you remember where Goliath was from? Where was Goliath from? He was a Philistine, but he was from Gath. David is not thinking clearly here. You don't take the champion of Gath sword, who you killed, and then drag it back to the country he's from, expecting to not run into any trouble. But here he goes to Gath with the sword of Goliath.
Notice the next verse, verse 11. "But the servants of Achish said to him, is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced saying, Saul has slain his 1000s and David is 10,000s. David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath." Does verse 12 sound like the David that you know? That David hears them talking about him being recognized, they're telling Achish that this is David, the one who's killed 10,000s. Does it sound like David to be afraid of any man? I mean, he's holding the sword of the champion of Gath. Why would he be afraid of Achish on this occasion? So, here's David's best idea. You ready? Verse 13, "so he disguised his sanity before them. He acted insanely in their hands. He scribbled on the doors of the gate. He let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? Do I lack mad men that you've brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?" Chapter 22. "So, David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Abdullam. And when his brothers and all his father's household heard of it, they went down there to him, everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, everyone who was discontented, gathered to Him, and He became captain over them. Now there were about 400 men with him."
You know, as the servants bring the king into the presence of David, he panics and he begins to drool down his beard. I'll save you from that today. I won't do that to reenact it. But can you picture the one after God's own heart, the anointed king of Israel, drooling all over himself, scribbling on the walls? I'm not sure what he used. If he picked up a coal from the fireplace and begin to write strange words and mumbled and babbled. Is there something about that that's kind of brilliant? What do you think? Is it clever? You don't want to look like the king of Israel, drool and scribble and mumble. It's kind of smart. There's something else about this that's almost funny. Like, I find it funny that when Achish comes in and looks at David, he looks at the servants, and he's like, why are you bringing me more crazy people? I've got enough crazy people around here. Get this guy out of my sight. But let me ask you a question. Do you think deep down in David's heart, he thought he was so clever? Do you think he was proud of himself? Do you think he thought this was a funny moment as he walked out? Or do you suppose David might have been ashamed of himself? That's why I read into chapter 22 by the way, when he goes to the cave of Adullam, sounds like he's there for a while by himself. In fact, if you read Psalm 142 when he's writing from the cave, he's talking about like no one being with him. He's all alone, and he's asking God to help him. And actually, 22 is the answer. God brings people around him, just like he asked for in the Psalm.
But have you ever done something in your life where maybe in the moment, it delivered you from a situation, or it gave you some amount of pleasure, but then when you laid your head down on the pillow that night, you began to think about what you'd done, and it really troubled you? It broke your heart. You ever had those moments? I have a theory that psalm 34 is not just a Psalm of deliverance, it's actually a Psalm of repentance. Listen to the first words of Psalm 34 again, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth." Or in other words, I'm never going to do that again. The only thing coming out of my mouth from now on is praise, not drool. I'm not going to pretend to be somebody else. I've broken my own heart. God, please forgive me for what I've done. That's my take on Psalm 34 at least partially. I'll come back to it in a minute.
Did you notice the people that got around David in chapter 22? It describes these 400 men as those in debt, distressed and discontent. I call it David's 3-D army, because of the 3 "D" words. This might be a little bit of foreshadowing of the Messiah, because David is the rightful King of Israel, but he's not recognized as such, and the only people he can get around him are those in debt, distressed and discontent. Later on, the son of David will come to his own people. They won't recognize him, and the only people he can get around himself are those in debt, distressed and discontent. So, maybe David's foreshadowing Jesus there in chapter 22. What do you think of David here? Are you disappointed in him? Does it kind of trouble you that he would act like this when he's supposed to be somebody different? What I'd like to do is to try to have a little bit of compassion on him. I want to do something real quick in our study that I don't think I do enough of. I don't think we do enough of. I want to fast forward to this moment in David's life and maybe ask the question, why did this happen in chapter 21? What's been going on leading up to this moment? Go back to chapter 16. And I have two requests of you while we do this sort of Fast Forward version of David's early life. Number one, please remember that what we're about to look at is somebody's real life. These aren't just stories. This really happened to David. He went through these things, he lived this life. These aren't just fairy tales. And that they happened in sequence. I think, as a child, I learned all the stories of David, kind of in snapshots, forgetting that they would go together in his life. But the second thing I want you to do is I want you to think about a time in your life when everything was changing really fast. Like life was coming at you like a million miles an hour, for good or bad, either way, maybe it was when you left home for the first time. I was just talking to a young man who's getting ready to go away to medical school, and I asked him what he's thinking. He said, it's kind of a scary thing. But you remember when you got out on your own? New temptations, new challenges, new freedoms. Here's a question, Did you always handle yourself the way you were supposed to? I mean, did you ever break your own heart when you had those new opportunities? Maybe it's not something like that. Maybe it's a difficult thing. Somebody in your life dies suddenly. Now all of a sudden, they're not there anymore, and everything's changed, and it sets you upside down for a couple of years. In those moments when life was happening to you, did you always do what you were supposed to do? Or did you not? Think about that as we look at David's life.
It starts here in chapter 16, verse 12, of First Samuel. "So, he sent and brought him in. He was ruddy with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward, and Samuel arose and went to Rama." Have you ever had a day like this where you heard somebody was coming to your father's house? All the older brothers get invited. You're still out looking after the sheep. But eventually somebody comes out and says, hey, that old man inside wants to see you. And you wander into the room and he dumps oil on your head, and he says, you're the next king of Israel. You ever had a day like that? Does anybody know how old David was that day? Do you know how old he was? That name Josephus, the Jewish historian says he was 10 years old. Josephus exaggerates a lot. Most scholars think he was 15. But can you imagine, at 15 years old, not even being invited to the party, but all of a sudden, in front of your brothers, you're the anointed king of Israel. That would change your life.
Do you remember how many years it is from that moment until he actually gets to sit on the throne? It's 100% of the years that he's lived. He's got to wait another 15 years. From the time that he was anointed to the time he sits down on the throne, he's got to live a whole other lifetime. Have you ever seen a Christian that was what we called underemployed? You know that term? Like they go to school, they get a degree, and they get out thinking, I deserve a corner office in a high rise building, but they only can get a job like pushing papers. Have you ever seen that bother somebody a little bit?Like it kind of frustrates them. Well, imagine being a teenager. You're the rightful King of Israel, but what does David have to keep doing in his life? He's still a shepherd for his father. He's going out looking after sheep. He doesn't get to look after all the people of Israel, but he actually gets a side gig. Do you remember what his side gig was? Look at the next couple of verses. Verse 14 says, "the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. Saul's servants then said to him, Behold, now an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you, let them seek a man who's a skillful player on the harp. And it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well." Do you remember who they find to soothe this savage beast? And the only thing that can calm him down is music. Who do they find? David. He's working for his father, but now he's got to go into the White House and play music for the crazy King. I have a theory that later on, when he's in front of Achish, the king of Gath, and he's like, how can I not look like the king of Israel? He probably thought, act like Saul. Act like Saul. Act like Saul. He'd seen this before. But could you imagine playing music to calm down somebody who's out of their mind, who's supposed to be the rightful leader of the nation? That would be difficult, wouldn't it?
The next chapter, 17 is an equally difficult chapter, I think. Do you remember what happens here? Look down there around verse 17, "Jesse said to David, his son, take now for your brothers in ephah of this roasted grain and those 10 loaves, and run to the camp to your brothers. Bring also these 10 cuts of cheese to the commander of the 1000s. And look after the welfare of your brothers. And bring back news of them. For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines." Now, again, just try to get into the head of a teenage boy who's been anointed the king of Israel, but he doesn't even get to fight in the army yet. He's just still running bread and cheese back and forth and gets to go out to the battlefield to see his older brothers fighting. In fact, this is an interesting thing to me, Jesse says in verse 19, they're fighting the Philistines. Can you imagine David going out to the battle, getting ready to watch the fight? But that's not what he sees when he gets there. Skip down to verse 24. "When all the men of Israel saw the giant, they fled from him and were greatly afraid." They weren't fighting. They were fleeing. Do you think that would play tricks on David's mind a little bit? This is the state of the nation. This is the army that you're going to inherit. You ever seen a Christian who was going to like, take over their parents' business? And as they got closer to taking over the business, all the excitement left them because they realized it was in shambles. They were in debt. Everything was upside down. Morale was low, and they're going to be handed this big ball of yarn to untangle. That's David's pressure here. This is his people, his army, and they're all running away.
So, he begins to ask questions, hey, what will be done for the man who kills this giant? Skip down to verse 28. 17:28 says, "Eliab, his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men and Eliab's anger burned against David, and he said, why have you come down, with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart. You've only come down here to you've come down here in order to see the battle." But David said, What have I done now? Was it not just a question? Did any of you grow up in a family where you had siblings that hated you? I don't mean you just didn't get along sometimes, but they hated you. Shunned you. Spoke like this to you. Sometimes just that one thing in our lives can turn us upside down. We have some folks like that in Minnesota. Number of people up there have been converted to the Lord, and they left their family's religion. And as soon as they do that, their families turn on them. In fact, they say some of these same words, hey, what are these questions you're asking? We know your insolence. What are you trying to make us look like down here, over here by asking these things. Why don't you go back to where you you came from? And these people are just saying, well, I'm just asking a question. So, imagine that. That's David's life. Do you think that'd be tough to navigate as a teenager?
But I'll tell you the next thing that happens probably would have been my downfall. Go to chapter 18, verse six. "It happened as they were coming when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, with musical instruments. The women sang as they played, and said, Saul is slain his 1000s, and David his 10,000s. And Saul became very angry for this saying displeased him, and he said, they ascribed David 10,000s, but to me, they've ascribed 1000s. Now, what more can he have with the kingdom? So, Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on." You know what I think would have been hard here? Is David in one moment goes from unrecognized to the most famous guy in Israel. He kills the giant. This is a question for the men. Men, if you were in your late teens, early 20s, I'm not exactly sure how old David is here. But if you were a young man, and you went from zero to hero and all of a sudden, like the nation of women were singing about you, coming from everywhere, saying, this is the most important guy and coolest guy around. Would you have conducted yourself right? You ever seen a young Christian man become like captain of the football team, or all of the sudden, become like the big fish in his little pond. Sometimes that's enough temptation to cause some people to lose their minds. David doesn't. He's godly. He handles himself well. And did you catch that Saul is suspicious of him now.
Alright, let's just keep going as we look at David's life, look at verse 10 of chapter 18. "Now, it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house while David was playing the harp with his hand as usual, and a spear was in Saul's hand. Saul hurled the spear for he thought, I will pin David to the wall, but David escaped from his presence twice." Have you ever had a day like this? You go into work and your boss tries to shoot you. You ever had a day like that? You have not had a day like that. And if you did have a day like that, did you go back to work so he could try to do it a second time? Let's get into David's head for a minute. Do you think like the second time he ducked the spear and was running out of the room he might have thought something like this? God, what's going on in my life? Nothing makes sense to me. I mean, ever since Samuel dumped oil on my head, my family hates me. I don't understand what's happening. I don't know how long I've got to wait. Why am I? Why is my life in jeopardy now? This is not what I planned. And yet David just keeps serving God. Now, have you ever had your boss try to shoot you and then look down there in verse 17, "Saul said to David, here's my older daughter, Merab. I'll give her to you as a wife." You just tried to kill me. You want me to marry your daughter? Yeah, that's right.
Alright. What does a man, after God's own heart, do when he's getting ready to get married? Because David agrees to marry Merab. What does a godly man do. You think David prepared for that day? Read all the right books. Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Whatever. I mean, godly people get ready for the day of marriage. Do you remember it? How would you have reacted if verse 19 was your story? "So, it came about at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife." Did any of you get ready for your wedding day and when you marched down the aisle and you got to the end of the aisle, the person you were going to marry was marrying the best man or the maid of honor? Would that have broken your heart a little? Made you confused? I've seen Christians who their their engagement broke and they couldn't handle life for the next couple of years. That's David's young life, and he keeps serving the Lord.
Now, to make things more complicated, verse 20 says, "Michal, Saul's other daughter, loved David." When they told Saul it was agreeable to him. Saul thought verse 21, "I'll give her to him that she may become a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore, Saul said to David for a second time today. You may be my son in law." Okay, that's just weird. I'm just, I don't know what to say about that. That's just weird. We live in a different time, you know. But can you imagine David coming out of the bridegroom chamber? All his buddies are there. David, this is a great day. You're marrying Merab. No, I'm marrying Michal. They're like, we got the invitation, right here. It says Merab. And he's like, there's been a change of plans. Like, it's Michal now. But we have to get a dowry together. Do you remember what the dowry was? 100 Philistine foreskins. We got some work to do, fellas. Let's go. I'm glad we don't live back then. David goes out and doubles the order. He comes back with 200 of them. Look at verse 29 now. "Then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus, Saul was David's enemy continually." Did any of you on the day that you got married make an enemy of your in-laws forever? Maybe so. But how would you have handled all of that?
You know, if this was a movie, and I was watching the movie, you know what, I'd hope? I'd hope that David and Michal, who love each other, could move to the suburbs, you know, have a nice honeymoon, live their life and have some peace, because David's life's been a mess. It's not what happens. Look at chapter 19, verse 11. "Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David's wife told him, saying, if you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow, you'll be put to death. So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped." If you were the one crawling out the window, off into the darkness, and you look back at the window and tears are streaming down the face of your spouse. Would you be ready to give up yet? Would you? Would you be tired? Where are you gonna go?
You know, if you got a best friend, then life can be all right, right? If you got a best friend, you're all right. Did David have a best friend? He did, didn't he? But that's not complicated. What was his name? Jonathan, and that's Saul's son, who hates you. So, David goes to Jonathan, and they come up with a plan. Jonathan says, Give me three days, David, I'm going to find out if dad really wants you dead. If I find out that he's calmed down and it's all right, then you can come home. But if he's going to kill you, you got to run away and go far away. So, here's the plan. A couple of days from now, I'm going to go out to the archery range. I'm going to bring a little boy with me. I'm going to shoot some arrows. You hide off in the bushes, and when I send the lad out to get the arrows, if I say, go further, young man, go further, as if the arrows are further out then David, you've got to flee. But if I say to the young man, come closer, come closer, then the coast is clear, you can come home. So, let's hide with David in the bushes. Here comes Jonathan. Here comes the boy. There goes the arrows. What do you want to hear? What do you want to hear? Come home, come closer. Life's going to be all right. Chapter 20, verse 41 as that little boy walked out into the field, Jonathan shot an arrow as far as he could, and he said, go further. Go further. In 20:41 says, "When the lad was gone, David Rose from the south side. He fell on his face to the ground. He bowed three times. They kissed each other and wept together. But David wept the more." Folks, when we get to chapter 21 David is a broken man. I mean, everything he's ever tried to do is the right thing, and every time he does the right thing, it doesn't work out like he thought.
Do you remember the day in your life where you'd always tried to do what was right, but it didn't seem like you were getting anywhere? You know? You have like a psalm 73 thing. Everybody else, their life is good, and here I am trying to serve God, and it's all falling apart. Can't I just today be somebody else? Can't I just, in my fatigue, tell some lies or do a thing that isn't like me? Can't I drool on my beard and scribble on the walls and just - can't I just have a day off. Remember the day you did that, and you broke your own heart? You'd never drank that stuff in the red cup before, but now nobody knew who you were. Somebody gave it to you, and you just went ahead. Or maybe you'd always kept yourself pure, but that person sitting across the table on that date, she was so beautiful, or he was so handsome, and you were so in love that you finally just did the thing that you never thought you would. Or everybody else in your company, you know, they're moving up the charts, making sales. You were going to be the honest one, and they were telling lies. And so, just to finally get on the board, you finally said something that wasn't true. And you remember when you laid your head down on the pillow that night, you thought, oh, what have I done? I shouldn't have been so tired, so brokenhearted, so lost. So, that's where David was.
Go back to Psalm 34 and let's see if we can maybe find another hint at why he wrote this psalm. Look down there around verse 11 of Psalm 34. "Come you children. Listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Not the fear of Achish, but fear of the Lord. By the way. Did David have children yet? We just sort of told the story. Did David have any biological children yet? Doesn't seem to he had just married Michal. So, who could he be talking to when he says, Come children, listen to me. I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. Remember that cave? David had 400 men that were looking to Him as the patriarch, as the leader, as their father, in one sense. Teach us. So, here's what he says in verse 11 or verse 12, "Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good?" Can you imagine that that question echoing through the Cave of Adullam? Who wants to love life and see good days, who wants to learn the fear of the Lord? I bet every man said I want to know teach me. Here's the answer. "Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous. His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers." Wait, that's it? Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit? That's all? Now, keep it in context. What was the deceit that David had spoken? He had denied who he was or whose he was. He had denied being the anointed. He denied being with God. He says, Listen, if you want to love life and see good days, it's not about avoiding the difficulties in front of you. It's about not breaking your own heart. Don't ever do what I did. David wanted to teach us something. So it's a didactic Psalm, not just a Psalm of deliverance or psalm of repentance.
But I said this sermon is David Peter and us. Do you recognize verse 12 through 15 or 16a? Do you recognize that paragraph from the New Testament? It's quoted in First Peter, chapter three. Go to First Peter three. Right there in the middle of this great letter that Greg's been talking about. The beginning of with us. You'll see through in verses 10 through 12 of Chapter Three that Peter quotes Psalm 34, that section. "Whoever wants to love life and see good days, you've got to keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit." You ever wondered why Peter might have put that in a letter like this? Had Peter ever feigned madness? Had Peter ever, in a difficult situation, decided he was going to drool down his beard a little and deny the Lord that he belonged to? You remember it, don't you? Jesus had told Peter, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. Luke 22. You ever seen wheat sifted? It's taking something and throwing it up in the air. Kind of like happened to David, kind of like happened to Peter. Life's coming apart. Nothing makes sense. And Peter, like David, had been so brave, just like David had swung a sword against Goliath, Peter took out his sword at the garden and cut off Malchus' ear. He was ready to fight. But a few hours later, when nothing made sense and he was tired, a little girl at a soldier's fire said, surely you were with them. Surely you're one of them. Remember what the Bible says? He cursed and he swore and he denied having been with Jesus. And when that rooster crowed, he wept all the more, just like David with Jonathan and both of these men wanted to teach us something.
What did they want to teach us? Look, you're going to find yourself at times in life where you've served God for a long time, there are going to be these moments where you're tempted to be somebody different, and it's usually in times of persecution or difficulty. In fact, it's interesting to think about who Peter was writing to in first Peter. The beginning of the letter, it's people that are scattered. They're not at home anymore. In Chapter Two, it was people who were under difficult governments, having to submit to Nero. Slaves who had masters who were difficult. Women who were married to men who didn't obey the truth. Chapter Three, people whose lives were all upside down. And right in the middle of it, he says, I don't care how in debt, how distressed, how discontent you may be with your life, if you want to love life and see good days, keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit. It's an important lesson, isn't it?
Want you to notice the question Peter asks in chapter three, verse 13. After he quotes Psalm 34 listen to the question of verse 13. "Who is there to harm you? If you prove zealous for what is good?" You know that's actually a difficult question. Think about it for a minute. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? Let's go back and ask David whispered in his ear in front of Achish king of Gath. David, if you prove zealous for what is good, right now, who is there to harm you? You know what David could have said? Achish king of Gath, he could have me killed. Let's whisper it to Peter. Peter, who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? The Romans, the Jews. Tey could put me on a cross next to the one that I love. What do you mean who is there to harm me if I prove zealous for what is good? We're living in a world that's against us. There's all kinds of harm. I could lose my job. I mean, if I preach the truth in my church, we could lose our tax exempt status. There's all kinds of harm that could come fromthese people around us. But do you understand why Peter's asking this question? What's the worst they could do? Who is there to really harm you? Because if Achish had cut off David's head, as it rolled to a stop he would have appeared in the presence of God. Who would have not, he would not have said, David, what have you done? Why are you here? He would say, Well done. Well done.
I mean, if Peter had been put on a cross next to Jesus that night, as he breathed his last breath and appeared before God. God would not have said, What have you done? Why are you here? He would have said, well done. You loved life and you saw good days. You didn't break your own heart. You know that question, who is there to harm you if he proves zealous for what is good? It's kind of like David wrote in Psalm 56, verse 11, that other Psalm. In fact that other Psalm, one of the lines in it is, "God, you've taken account of my wanderings, and you've put every tear in a bottle." Isn't that a great thought? that all those years that David was going through his difficulties and crying, God was saving every tear because he was watching the path. But here's what David said in verse 11 of Psalm 56 listen to it. "In God, I have put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" It's good question.
Let me say something to the young people as I finish. By the way, young people, I'm glad you're here. I know it's early and it's a weekday. I don't know what life's going to be like for you in this country as time goes on. I don't know. I don't know if speaking the truth, living right, teaching this book is going to become a hate crime, like it is in some places. But I hope you'll remember this story. That if you want to love life and see good days, it's not going to be because you get so clever at avoiding all of the difficulties that come with being with Christ. What's going to make you love life and see good days is knowing who you are and unapologetically being unafraid to make Christ the Lord of your heart. Nobody else. And you do what's right. You turn away from evil, and you do what's right. And whatever comes God will bless you. Let's learn from the people of the past. Thanks for your attention. I appreciate it.
