I Sought the Lord!

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Psalms 34:4-7

This is a psalm of personal testimony that allows us to understand to goodness and the greatness of our God. Read this text and see if it is not true in your life also.

"I sought the LORD" -- Think in terms of Ephesians 2:4 here... "But God...made us alive together with Christ..." also think in terms of Ephesians 1:18... "having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know the hope to which he has called you." Along with understanding all of Romans 3... "there is none righteousness... there is none who seeks you... there is none who desire you..."

ALL OF THIS gives to us a framework of understanding what it means that "I sought the LORD." We cannot seek Him unless God makes it possible for us to desire Him. It is God who makes us alive. It is God who enlightens the eyes of our heart. It is God who puts within us a desire to seek Him. Praise His name for He has made you alive in Him! "For by grace you have been saved through Faith, it is NOT OF YOURSELVES, it is a gift of God!"

Hallelujah! Praise the Lamb!

"He answered me" -- Also remember the promise given by Jesus... "Seek me and you will find me." If God has made you alive with a desire to seek after Christ, then you have already been given spiritual life! And we know that once you have been given spiritual life, that the Spirit will persevere in your heart for all of eternity! Therefore, if you seek God, He WILL answer you!

This is a personal testimony of salvation here. If one seeks after salvation in Christ through Faith, he WILL find Hope! But his desire to seek Jesus Christ is only because of the gift of grace and mercy from our Heavenly Father!

This is where our theology in believing in the Sovereignty of God comes from. Give ALL GLORY to God! Don't take credit for your own salvation. "I sought the Lord and He answered me" ONLY BECAUSE He was gracious enough to make me alive in Him! If God has not chosen me before the foundation of the world, then I would NOT HAVE "sought Him." If God had not predestined my eternity to be with Christ for all of eternity, then I would be dead in my trespasses and sins... I would fall into Romans 3... I would be a hater of God.

Praise the Lord for His Grace!

"He delivered me" -- Your salvation is a story of deliverance. You have been delivered from death. You were a dead sinner with a destination for eternal damnation. And God delivered you!

We often forget that we are saved FROM something....

We are saved FROM the wrath of God.
We are saved BY the Grace of God.
We are saved BECAUSE OF the love of God.
We are saved FOR the Glory of God!

"From all my fears" -- Before being delivered by God from God for God, you feared this world and yourself and your eternal state. Think in terms of Proverbs 10:24... "The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted."

The reality of the unrighteous is fear, trembling, uncertainty, anxiety, hatred, etc. You will either fear one or the other: you will fear this world/culture/society/what satan offers, or you will fear God.

No matter what someone tells you about his own life without God, there is fear in his life... He may be so darkened to not understand it, but the Bible clearly shows that "their path of full of ruin and misery."

But by God's Grace, you don't fear this world, instead you fear God!

"Those who look to him are radiant" -- This is no doubt in reference to Moses in Psalm 34... "Show me your glory!"

When you are saved by God's Grace, your life changes! You are "radiant!" You are changed. You are different. You WANT what God wants. You DESIRE what God desires. And your complexion on life is different. It is radiant!

"and their faces shall never be ashamed" -- "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of salvation to those who believe."

After your salvation, you life's purpose is different. You have a passion to know God and pursue Him in His Word. And because of what God has done in your life, you have a desire for other people to know Him as well.

Is this true of your life? Do you live out the Gospel? Do you walk in the Truth? Do you have a desire for others to know Him?

Your life should be spent as a "Fisher of men." You should be SO CHANGED by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that everyone in your life should know what you believe. You should be sharing the Faith that is within you to everyone you come into contact with.

"This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him" -- This is another emphasis to who we are without Christ. We are "poor"... we are "dead"... We have absolutely nothing without Christ.

Christ is enough for us!!!

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you WANT TO, you can cry out to Him this morning and He will hear you! Repent of your sins. Ask Him to change your life. Put your Faith and Trust and Hope in Christ Alone.

"and saved him out of all his troubles" -- This is not to say that you will never have another hardship in this life. But the trouble that you are saved from is eternal damnation. If you step back and understand everything from the eternal perspective that we are to view everything from, THIS is the only trouble worth worrying about. There is no trouble greater than to be separated from the grace of God and to be eternally experiencing the wrath of God.

When you are saved BY God's Grace, then you are saved FROM God's wrath. This is to be saved from all of your troubles.

"The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them" -- This is our eternal security that is promised to us. When you are IN CHRIST, you will never be lost... when the Bible saved, "those who left us were never of us," it means that there will be people who SAY they are Christians, there will be people who come to church, there will be people who do all the things they are supposed to do, but the reality is that they never surrendered their life to Christ. "They left us, because they were never OF US..."

We understand a Doctrine called "Perseverance of the Saints," which is the perseverance of the Spirit. In other words "once saved always saved." And you think, well then why did my friend who "used to be saved" turn atheist? Well, it is because he was never actually saved.

The Bible says that if one is truly saved, then the fruit of his life will show that he is a believer. Acts 2:42... He will continue with us.

But as a believer, we are promised that our salvation is protected and secure! IF WE COULD LOSE IT, WE WOULD! In our daily failure, we would surely lose our salvation... But the Lord our God is FAITHFUL! And MERCIFUL!

Praise the Lord our God for saving you! It is NOT of your own doing... it is only because of His grace.