Today's scripture reading is taken from Psalms chapter 34 verses 1 through 8. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes His boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let His exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard Him and saved Him out of all His trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and deliver them. O take and see that the Lord is good, bless this man who takes refuge in Him. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and the hearing of His Word. Worship is an experience, beloved. It is an experience. And to say it is an experience, I mean that it is an experience that grows out of experiencing God. Let me explain what I mean. When the children of Israel were slaves in the Egypt, God sent Moses, you from me with the story, God sent Moses to Pharaoh. In the next list, chapter 8 and verse 1, God says to Moses, go and tell Pharaoh, let my people go so that they may worship me. Now, the point here was not just to let them go. The point was to let them go so that they may fulfill the purpose of worshiping God. Subsequently, subsequent to Israel's Exodus and deliverance out of Egypt. Israel would forever be rooting their worship in the experience of God delivering them out of slavery in Egypt. Delivering them from the chariot of Pharaoh and delivering them through the Red Sea. This would be the experience that would inform and empower their worship. Going forward. In fact, out of the Exodus experience of deliverance, we actually get the very first song in the Bible. The very first corporate worship song is written in Exodus. Chapter 15 called a song of Moses and they sing. I will sing to the Lord for He is highly exalted, both horse and driver He has hurled into the sea. I think that's important. I think that's important. The reason that's important to know because many, if not most, of our most powerful songs in the church, come out of the life experiences, often traumatic experiences where we discover God's grace and goodness in spite of everything. Horatio Spaffer wrote, it is well with my soul after experiencing the loss of his children at sea. Thomas Dorsey wrote, precious Lord, take my hand after learning of the death of his wife and new born child. Many, many of the Psalms in this regard, beloved, are rooted in the personal experiences of the Psalms. Their experiences with the Lord our God and our text this morning is a prime example of this. Psalm 34 is an example of someone who through a difficult and even dangerous time was able to see the goodness of God and working a gracious deliverance for him. The Bible gives us the context of the Psalm does it not at the very beginning in the subtitle of the Psalm. It reads, of David, right? When he changed his behavior before a bemaleck so that he drove him out and he went away. That is the experience out of which this psalm of worship and the praise comes. And the circumstances are detailed for us in 1 Samuel 21 verses 10 through 15. If you go and you read that count, one thing that will strike you very quickly is that this is not one of David's finest moments. This is not David's finest hour. He was literally between a rock and a heart place. King Saul was after him. King Saul was chasing him after to kill him. The Philistines were on the other hand where no friends of his either, particularly after he had embarrassed them and that slain their giant champion, Goliath. David was running out of friends. David was running out of places to hide. And so he thought that he would hide himself among the men of King Acish or King Abimalek and Gael. But obviously he's David. And everybody knows who David is and immediately when he tries to hide himself among the men of King Acish, the men recognize him. This is David. This is the one who slew the life of a king would want to know where he is. And so they take David to the king and David, fearing for his life, the great warrior of Israel, what does he do? He played the mad man. He feigned the crazy one. And in 1 Samuel 21 verse 13, the Bible says, So he pretended to be insane in their presence. And while he was in their hands, he acted like a mad man, making marks on the doors of a gate and letting the livers run down his beard. David fakes foaming at the mouth. David fakes scribbling all over the walls. And King Acish looked at David and said something that's remarkable if it's not comedic. In verse 15, the 1 Samuel 21, the king says, am I not sure of madman? That you bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? In other words, do I not have enough crazy men in my company? Do I need another one? Must he also be brought into my house? And yet despite David's antics, or perhaps even account of David's antics, God faithfully once again brought David through this dangerous situation and out of this experience. David now invites all of us to come and worship the God who delivered him. In fact, beloved, he does more than just invite us. He teaches us what true experiential worship is. True experiential worship. That is worship that is more than just headwork. But worship that is also heartwork. True experiential worship is not fabricated. It is not the result of theatrical performances. It is not the result of orchestrated lighting or choreographed dance. It is not merely education or entertainment. But rather, David reminds us this morning that true experiential worship is the right heart response to the spirit's invitation to a life that is filled with praise, a life that is filled with prayer and a life that is filled with the presence of God, a life of praise, prayer, and the presence of God. This is what David invites us to experience this morning. True worship is an invitation to a life of praise. It is an invitation to a life of prayer. It is an invitation to a life in the presence of God. He begins, doesn't it, with an invitation to praise, doesn't it? An invitation to a life of praise. Beloved, I want y'all to understand something this morning. And that is true experiential worship is not incidental. It is not accidental. But it rises from a heart that is used to singing God's praises. Praise is not a sometimes thing for the Christian. It is the perpetual disposition of the Christian life. And that is why David begins by saying, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Do you see that? This all times and continuously, you know, this idea of all time and continuously, you know what it does? First of all, it just speaks to the worthiness of God, doesn't it? Reminds us of the worthiness of God. I will praise God at all times because there is never a time when God is not worthy to be praised. That's why the Bible says in Philippians 4 and 4, right? Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice, why? Because there is never a time in which God is not worthy of you and I rejoicing in the hymn. You know, we like to praise people, particularly people who are gifted in some way, but beloved the praise of human beings is fickle. Sometimes we are worthy of praise and sometimes we're not. Sometimes the sermon is good and sometimes it's not. Sometimes we make the shot and hit the ball and sometimes we miss and strike out. Sometimes the cookies come out moist and delicious and sometimes they come out burnt. Sometimes we are worthy of praise and sometimes we are not. But beloved God never misses. God never strikes out and therefore God is always, always worthy of our praise. His praise should continuously be on our lips. Because he never misses, never strikes out. This kind of worship, David is talking about here. This worship is the background music of the Christian life. That's what it is. It's the background music of the faithful Christian life. What is the elevator of background music of your life? You know, elevator music was developed in the early 1920s as a way to calm people's fears and anxieties of being on those early elevators and I can understand that. Those things do not look very sturdy or very safe. And they develop elevator music to calm the people's fears and anxieties. What is the elevator music of your life? You go to most offices and stores around town and you'll find their background music playing. You know what I've discovered? I've discovered that what music they play in Greenbride isn't the same music they play in Sandy Springs. What they're playing down in Riverdale, in the same thing they're playing in Alpharetta. But beloved, it really doesn't matter. You don't have to have the same music that I have. But there just needs to be music playing. The praise of God needs to be filling the elevator of your life. There needs to be songs and praise in the background all the day long. Beloved, I'm not talking, I want you to, I don't want you to misunderstand me. Beloved, I don't want you to understand. I don't want you to misunderstand me. If the only time you praise the Lord is on Sunday morning, then you will never enter into the praise that David is talking about here. You won't understand, you won't know this. If the only time you praise the Lord is on Sunday morning. And the music that I'm talking about, the praise that I'm talking about, I'm not talking about the music that entertains you. And I'm not talking about that music that might educate you. I'm talking about the praise that changes you. Listen, listen, listen. I have never had, I have never had beloved. And I tell you this with all honesty, I have never had an attitude, a bad mood, or a difficult posture out of which the praise of God could not lift me. What is your elevator music? What's your go to? I mean, listen, what do you need to hear when you need to hear something? I know what I need to hear. Walk with me, Lord. Walk with me. Walk with me. Walk with me. I can hear the saint singing that song in my heart. And it births forth from me and whatever mood I find myself in. The spirit of the Lord lifts me up, beloved. What is that praise? There needs to be a worship that you bring to worship. This is what David says in verse 3 when he says, Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. David said, you bring your worship and I'm going to bring mine. And we will exalt the name of the Lord together. That's the worship, experiential worship. That's what David does. He invites us to a life of praise and he invites us then to a life of prayer. Because that's what true experiential worship is rooted in. Loved it is rooted in the answered prayer, answered prayer. David reminds us that our God is not some distracted or disinterested deity. But the God that we worship is intimately involved, intimately intertwined with the everyday affairs and concerns of our lives. And the reason prayer is such an indispensable aspect of worship is because the God we worship delights to answer the prayers of his people, which results and his people giving him praise. Notice what David says in verse 4. I saw the Lord and he answered me. Notice what he says in verse 6. This poor man cried and the Lord heard me. Beloved, I want to press something upon you this morning in case you have forgotten it or in case you hadn't really come to grasp it. But the Lord our God delights to answer the prayers of his people. He delights to answer the prayers of his people. In Proverbs 15 and 8 the Bible says the Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked but delights in the prayers of the upright. God delights to answer the prayers of his people in Psalm 3 and 4. The Psalmist says I call out to the Lord and he answers me from his holy mountain. David reminds us that it is the poor and the humble who get the attention of God, the poor and the humble. It is those who, and when the Bible says poor, he is not talking about those who don't have much in their bank account. He's talking about those who don't think much of themselves, those who are poor and spirit, those who think rightly about themselves, those who recognize that God is God and I am not. That God is able and I am not, that God is worthy and I am not. David reminds us, beloved, that I've got problems that only God can solve. He reminds us that I have troubles that only God can get me out of. I have fears that only God can come because I've got sin that only God can forgive. So he cries out. He cries out to the Lord in the midst of his trouble. David said he sought the Lord in the midst of his fears. And the Bible says that the Lord heard him and the Lord answered him. Why? Because, beloved, our God is a prayer answering prayer hearing God because our God is a good God. He's good. He's good. I think everything David was here this morning, you'd ask David, David, why did you pray? I think he'd say, well, I prayed because of two things. I prayed because God hears and I prayed because God is good. I think that's a pretty good reason to pray, beloved, that God hears and that God is good. If God was good, but he didn't hear, I don't know why you were praying. If God hears, but God is not good, I don't know why you were praying. But since God is good and God hears, I don't know why we don't pray. He hears and he's good. The Lord delivered David, not because of David's schemes, not because of David's theatrics, but the Lord delivering him because Jehovah hears and Jehovah is good, because Jehovah is a God of deliverance. He delivered this people. He delivered his people again and again and again. You know, it is easy. It is easy, so easy today for us to lose track of the first cause. It is easy for us to lose track of the first cause and get all caught up on secondary cause. You read the account of David and you think that David got rescued from a bemaleck because David acted crazy. You think because David and all of these theatrics foaming at the mouth and writing on the wall caused a bemaleck to look at him and say, oh, I don't want to mess with that crazy man. But love it. That's a secondary cause. David understood the first cause and David understood I cried out to the Lord and the Lord delivered me. It's easy. It's so easy. It is so easy to get so caught up in the secondary causes and you miss the first cause. But I want to tell you this morning, but love it. If there is food on the table, when you get home today, God put it there. If there is health and strength in your body, it is God who is keeping you. If there is family and home, it is God who is built it. Therefore I say to you, have you triumphed? Automations, is there trouble anywhere? We should never, never be discouraged. Take it, take it to the Lord. You know what David says in verse 19? Many, many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord, not my theatrics, but the Lord, delivers them out of them all. Beloved, if you are delivered this morning, it was God who did it. If you need deliverance this morning, it is God who can do it. Cry out to the Lord. Call upon the name of the Lord. The Lord is good, and He is. This answer prayer becomes the ground and root of true experiential work. You bring that background music, and you bring all the time that the Lord has answered your prayers. And you come with me, and then find out how much we will exalt the Lord together, because there is an invitation to really experience the presence of God here. Beloved, this is really what worship is about. It's about the presence of God. What's about experiencing the presence of God? And you read verse 8, and you just got to love this. If you love worship, if you love praising God, then you love this. David invites us to come and experience the Lord himself. And the Bible is filled with wonderful invitations, beloved. God has inviting his people all over the place. It's amazing. The grace is holy, good, and faithful. God invites unworthy, filthy sinners over and over and over and over again. And over again. You hear when people do in evangelism, they walk like I said, they tell people, well, you need to invite Jesus to come into your life. Well, I understand that, but that's not really the invitation that you want to hear. You don't want to hear yourself inviting Jesus. What you want to hear is Jesus inviting you. And he does over and over again. Isaiah chapter 55, the Lord says, come, come, come, come. Everyone who thirst, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come by any, come by wine and milk without money and without price. Come, come, come, come. Jesus says, Jesus says, Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, come, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come, come, come. And how about the invitation given by the woman who met Jesus at the well? And after a conversation with Jesus, she went back into town. And what did she say to those gathered in town? Come, come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? Come, in this morning, beloved, this invitation to worship is one of the most blessed and memorable invitations in all the scriptures. As David says in verse 8, all come, taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. It is an invitation to experience God. Someone had said, we eat with our eyes first. Isn't that so true? We eat with our eyes first. In fact, oftentimes our eyes are bigger than our bellies. But it just looks so good. Amen, brother vinyl. It just looks so good. We eat with our eyes first and food that looks good to us more than likely, taste good. And good eating is not just engaging the sense of taste. Good eating is also engaging all of the senses. And so too is worship. Experience with God, beloved, is holistic. So many Christians fail to experience God because they only engage Him with their heads. They only engage Him academically. They only engage Him intellectually. And they fail to taste and see. They fail to experience emotionally presence of God. Beloved, there is something to see in God. David says, there is something to see in God. See the beauty of His holiness. See the mighty works of His hand. See His glory in all that He has created. See how He delivers His people again and again and again. See how He builds His church. See how He gave Himself up for Her on the cross. See how He was raised from the dead for Her justification. See how He protects and preserves Her despite attacks from within and without. In worship, beloved, there is something to see in God. And then there is also something to taste, to taste. So the fullness of worship is an experience with the wholeness of God. You see His goodness. You taste a fresh His Word. Psalm 119. Psalm 103. How sweet are your words to my taste, to some extent. Sweeter than honey to my mouth. How sweet is honey? Have you ever tried to describe how sweet honey is? Think about it. Somebody asked you, how sweet is honey? What would you say? Zachary, he calls, there is this indescribable element. You know it because you taste it. And you would say, they say, how sweet is honey? You would say, well, come and taste it. Is taste it? As Peter says, and first of Peter, chapter 2, again, in verse 2, like newborn days, crave, crave pure spiritual milk. So by it you may grow up in your salvation. Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. Love, I love this, I love this, I love it because what David does here is he gives a personal invitation. I mean, David is not telling you something he heard. He's telling you what he knows. He has tasted the Lord. He has seen the Lord, and he invites you in Medica. And see and taste them too. It's a personal invitation to a personal experience. David has tasted the goodness of God. He has seen the mighty works and the graciousness of God in his life. And so he says, this morning, I have tasted the goodness of Jesus. I have seen the gracious hand of the Lord. You come and see like the woman at the well. What does he say to those men? Come. I can't describe it. But I've tasted it. You come. And you taste. And you see. Isn't that the truth, though? That's what we do. Isn't that what we do? That's what we do. That's what we do. We always want people to experience our good experience. When you jump into the pool and the pool feel nice and warm, what do you do? You tell, hey, y'all come in. The pool is warm. People who live down in Florida, they call up the people in Michigan and say, how are you doing? They say, oh, the weather is fine. You should come down. Get a brand new picture of your grandchild. You put it on your phone and you're rushing around. You're showing people. Oh, look, isn't she so cute? It's good all the time. And all the time, God is good. Come and see. That's what David said. God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good. You just come and see. Come and see. Come, come and see. Come and see why? Because all of our experiences are in the hands when we share them with the people we love. No matter how well you worship on your own, if you really worship, you want others to join you. You want to join with others in the worship of God like eating good food. When you eat something good, what'd you do? Oh, honey, you got to taste this. You got to taste this. Maybe Alan doesn't do that. But you know, the rest of us do that. Oh, honey, you got to taste this. You watching a good movie. The first thing, man, did you see this movie? Oh, you got to see this movie. Sitting at a sunset on the ocean. You want to look. You should either somebody seeing it with you. Worship, singing, praising Jesus Christ. Beloved, there is nothing better than that. There's nothing more wonderful than that. There is nothing more precious than that. And that's why David says, oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. I have tasted and I have seen you come and have a taste. You come and experience this. I want you to see this. Oh, it's beloved. There is no secret. What God can do. What he's done for others. You do for you. Come taste, come taste, come taste, come taste and see that the Lord is good. He delivered me. He delivered me and guess what? I'm nobody special. I'm just a poor man who cried. I'm just a humble man who called out and he delivered me. You deliver YouTube. If you just come, come and see. Come and taste and see. Whatever you're going through, Jesus is able to deliver you. You just come and see. Can you do me a favor just for a moment and get your mind off the coronavirus just for a moment and get your mind on the goodness and the mercy of Jesus and you will see just how good and gracious and wonderful it is to taste them. Can you please just do me a favor just for a moment of time. Get your mind off a George Floyd. Get your face out of Facebook. Get your mind off a scene in and get to taste in Jesus again.
Just for a moment. And you'll see, you'll see once again that the Lord is good.
And he is worthy to be praise. Come, come, come taste. Magnify the Lord with me to let us his name.