God is about to recuse his people
Resuce • Sermon • Submitted
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17 The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
19 The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.
20 For the LORD protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!
21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
22 But the LORD will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
Psalm 34:17 "[The righteous] cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles."
That is, one of the advantages or benefits of being righteous is the privilege of crying unto God, or of calling on his name, with the assurance that he will hear and deliver us. No one has ever yet fully appreciated the "privilege" of being permitted to call upon God; the privilege of prayer. There is no blessing conferred upon man in his present state superior to this. And no one can fully understand the force of the argument derived from this in favor of the service of God. What a world would this be, how sad, how helpless, how wretched, if there were no God to whom the guilty, the suffering, and the sorrowful might come. If God were a Being who never heard prayer at all. If he were a capricious Being who might or might not hear prayer. If He were a Being governed by fitful emotions, who would now hear the righteous, and then the wicked, and then neither. And who dispensed His favors in answer to prayer by no certain rule!
"And the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles": Their inward troubles, through the workings of corruption in their hearts. Through the violent assaults of Satan, the blasphemous thoughts he injects into them, and his solicitations of them to sin. And through divine desertions, and their outward troubles; through afflictions of body, losses of estate and friends, and the reproaches and persecutions of men. And out of all these the Lord sooner or later delivers his people who cry unto him.
When we are in right standing with God, He hears and answers our prayer.
James 5:16 "Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
Psalm 34:18 "The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
“Broken heart, contrite spirit”: These are graphic idioms that describe dependent disciples (compare Psalms 51:17; 147:3; Isa. 57:15; 61:1; 66:2; Matt. 5:3).
The word contrite in the Scripture above, means crushed. The world may abandon us, but God is always there. He is as near as our next prayer. Jesus promised that He would not leave us comfortless. When we are broken in spirit, He will lift us up.
Verses 19-22: The side-by-side realities of human persecution and divine preservation once again vividly depict real life in the real world.
Psalm 34:19 "Many [are] the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."
In the world they may have tribulation, and their afflictions and troubles may be many. For they must not promise themselves such prosperity as will exempt them from the trial of their faith and patience.
"But the Lord delivereth him out of them all": As Christ was, and all his people will be. That many are the sins committed by righteous persons; for there are none without sin, in many things they all offend. Yet they shall not perish by them, but they shall be delivered from them. As, from the dominion of them by the power of grace, and from the guilt of them by the blood of Christ. And from condemnation for them through his righteousness.
Job is a very good example of a righteous man with afflictions. I have read the last page, and I know that God blessed him in the end. We know that in this life we will have tribulations. If we will just place our faith in God, we will come out of the troubles. The wrath of God will never fall on those who put their trust in Him. We will however, taste of tribulations.
2 Thessalonians 1:4 "So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:"
Praise God! The following Scripture from Revelation tells it all.
Revelation 7:14 "And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Read (chapter 7 of Revelation), to get the whole picture.
Psalm 34:20 "He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken."
The "bones" are put for the entire frame, or body, of a man (compare Psalms 6:2; 31:10; 32:3; 38:3; 42:10; 102:3). God "keepeth," i.e. watches over, and keeps from harm, the entire persons of the righteous, letting no hurt touch them. But such as he permits and sees to be needful. In using the phrase, "not one of them is broken," the psalmist probably alludes to (Exodus 12:46 and Num. 9:12), taking the Paschal lamb as a type of innocence, and so of godliness.
(John 19:33-36), verifies that Jesus’ bones were not broken as He hung on the cross.
David had no broken bones. This also speaks of Jesus who was nailed to the cross, yet had no broken bones. We may be persecuted too, but God will stay them in time of our trouble.
Psalm 34:21 "Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate."
Or "shall be guilty". Be found so; or "shall be condemned", or "damned", as the Targum renders it. All wicked men hate the righteous, both Jesus Christ the righteous, and his people. And that because they are righteous, and do not run into the same excess of wickedness with them. These will be arraigned at the day of judgment, and will be convicted of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against Christ and his members. And will be pronounced guilty, and will be punished with everlasting destruction.
"And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate": That persecute them and plot their ruin, which is an evidence they hate them, whatsoever they may pretend to the contrary.
Evil man destroys himself. We are a free agent. God will not force Heaven upon any of us. The wicked have no hope of everlasting life, unless they repent and turn from their wicked ways. Instead of reaching out to the righteous who could lead them to the truth, they hate them. They have sealed their own doom. They chose evil over good. They rejected Jesus and will wind up in hell.
Psalm 34:22 "The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate."
Who are made so by his grace in the day of his power, and are willing to serve him, and to serve him with their minds, readily and cheerfully. And the soul of these, which is the more noble part of them. And is of more worth than a world, the redemption of which is precious, and requires a great price. The Lord redeems. Not that their bodies are neglected, and not redeemed; but this is mentioned as the principal part, and for the whole. And this redemption is by the Lord, who only is able to effect it, and which he has obtained through his precious blood. And here it seems to denote the application of it in its effects. That is, the forgiveness of sin, justification, and sanctification, since it respects something that is continually doing.
"And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate": rather, shall be held guilty, or shall be condemned. The same word as in the preceding verse (compare Romans 8:33-34). Those whom God has redeemed he justifies, and saves from all condemnation. They are "passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).
Jesus Christ is the redeemer of all those who believe in Him and have made Him Lord of their life. He bought and paid for us with His precious blood.
Romans 6:18 "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Trust in Jesus brings salvation. This not only brings us eternal life with Jesus, but it saves us from a horrible sinful life here. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.