All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Psalms chapter four. Psalms chapter four. A few weeks ago, I preached a
message out of Psalm 62, and I entitled that message Selah. And I related to you that there's
only certain passages that are found in the book of Psalms and
in the book of Habakkuk that possess that word selah. And I've thought more and more
on that word and so what I've done is I've gone back and I've
started looking. Now there is a passage in Psalm chapter 3. And I prepared a message on Psalm
chapter 3 on that where that word is used. And that word,
if you remember, it means pause. Just contemplate and meditate
on what was said. And that word was put there not
by the translators. It was put there by the Spirit
of God. And the next passage was chapter
4. Well, even though there's one in chapter 3, my heart just
was drawn to chapter 4. So Lord willing, I'll go back
and preach that one in chapter 3, but this morning I want us
to look at this one. And that deal with that psalm,
there's 8 verses in this 4th chapter. and deal with that which
the Spirit of God has instructed us. And I told you this before. It just takes me back when I
realized that every word in this book is inspired of God. They're God-breathed words that
have been written down by, the scripture says, holy men of God. Made so by the imputation of
the righteousness of Christ. Not in themselves, we know that.
But holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Spirit
of God. But in the midst of that blessed
knowledge, there are verses where the Spirit of God said, now you
pause right here. You just contemplate what was
just said. That just, I think, Lord, help
me. So, Lord willing, I'm going to
look, you know, as the Lord gives me some instruction, I want to
look at those passages of Scripture. But I want us to look this morning
at this particular fourth song. I noticed where there's a title
to this psalm also. And it says, to the chief musician
on Naginoth, a psalm of David. Now let me tell you what else
I found. That wasn't added by the translators either. That
title was given by the Spirit of God. How would a translator
know that? God moved upon men to write that down. But that
wasn't something that men came up with. Now, this psalm was
penned by David, it says that, it's a psalm of David. And even
the title itself, the Spirit of God said, I want you to title
this psalm, it's a psalm. A psalm is a psalm. And I want
you to title this song to the chief musician on Naginoth. Now, you write this to the musician
that is appointed to, and here's what Naginoth means. It means
the instruments that were played with the hand like a harp or
even a symbol. That's what Nijinov means. You write this to the musician
that's appointed over the stringed or hand instruments. Instruments that were chosen
of God to be used in Israel, Jerusalem, in the singing of
this song. This is the words I want you
to sing, and this is the instruments that I want you to use. You know,
God's people love to sing the songs and the melodies of Zion.
They love it. Singing is to the praise and
the honor of the Lord of glory, and it rejoices the hearts of
God's people when they bless Him with words that He said. God's people, here's
what we like to do. We don't sing songs that don't
agree with this book. We don't sing songs of man's
will or man's glory. We're going to sing songs that
honor the Lord, that the Lord Himself has said. And so, when
we consider this song, I want us to listen. Now remember, I've
been looking at that word, see law. So I want to see what did
the spirit of God say to pause over. Well, all right, let's
just start in verse one. Now this is divided into really
three segments, three different segments in this song right here.
This first segment is this first verse. And David was moved to
say, hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Thou hast
enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Now, this psalm started off by
David speaking unto the Lord. Now he's getting ready in this
second segment. He's gonna say something to men. But the Spirit of God moved him. You say, you speak to God first. Before I come to stand before
you, let me tell you what, by the grace of God, I do. I'm gonna talk to the Lord about
it first. And I'm gonna ask the Lord. I'm gonna ask the Lord,
Lord, would you bless the service? I told you what Henry said one
time. He said, talking about his notes, he said, I got a set
of notes here. And he said, they're consistent
with the Word of God. I know they are. But he said,
if God doesn't bless them, they're just words. So I asked the Lord,
asked the Lord, Lord bless the messages today. Lord bless them
to your glory and the good of your people. So David is doing
that very thing. He's by faith, He's talking to
the Lord and has the assurance. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. In the third verse, we'll look
at it in just a second. The third verse declares, I know
that the Lord has set him apart that is godly for himself. The
Lord will hear when I call unto him. So whenever we speak, unto
the Lord in prayer, we believe that God hears. The Lord said
when you pray, enter into your closet. That is, go somewhere
private, get somewhere by yourself, have some time apart from the
hustle and bustle whenever you can just talk to the Lord. And bear your heart to Him. David's
asking Him. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. Now, we know who is the author
and the maintainer and the rewarder of the righteousness of His people. God Almighty, hear me when I
call, O God of my righteousness. Whenever we hear or behold the
word God, Jehovah, Jehovah, who is the God of our righteousness?
Well, I'll tell you who He is. He's the Father who has chosen
a people who shall be the possessors of the righteousness of God. It's the Father who chose and
it's the Lord Jesus Christ who has procured and established
the righteousness of His people. He earned it. And it's the Spirit
of God who applies that righteousness to everyone that believeth. So
who is the God of my righteousness? It's God Almighty, the triune
God, God in the triunity of His persons, one God, the covenant
God of all grace and mercy to His own. Hear me when I call,
O God of my righteousness. And then he cries unto the God
of his righteousness and he says this, Thou hast enlarged me when
I was in distress. You know, enlarged. What it means
is you have, actually the definition is you've made room for me. You've
made room for me and you set me at ease when I was in trouble. I was thinking about this this
morning, going over my notes. If you look at my notes, they're
typed out so I can read them. I've got to the point where I
can't hardly read my own writing. I type them out, but then I'll
draw errors and things like this. And I got to thinking this morning
about David saying, Lord, hear me, O God of my righteousness.
You've made room, you've made room, you've surrounded, you've
kind of given me some comfort when I was in distress. I think
about David when he was, well, growing up. You know, he was
the last of the brothers, you know, that was chosen. And Samuel
had come, and God was going to anoint the king. He came down
to David, all the others, you know, where is he? You got any
more sons? None of these sons. Yeah, I got
one boy. He's out there in the field somewhere
keeping the sheep. You go get him. That was the
one. And it was that one, that one right there, that when the
nation of Israel, the Israelites, they had a standoff. The enemy of God was standing
off and there was a fella there, a big old tall guy. His name
was Goliath. And nobody wanted to deal with
him. Big guy. But David, here's David. Goliath came before him and David
walked out there and what did he have? He had a sling. He had
a sling in his hand. And that giant mocked him. Mocked him. Raised his helmet
up a little bit. Worst mistake he ever made. And
David took that sling and just buried a rock right in his forehead,
right there. Distress. David, growing up,
out there tending sheep. Bear come to him. Lions came
to him, trying to get the sheep. God delivered him, made room
for him. His son, Absalom. Oh, oh. animosity that his boy
had against him. King Saul was jealous of him.
There was a spear at him trying to kill him. Jonathan befriended
David. I mean, it was just distress
after distress after distress. The sword never left the house
of David. The trials, hear me when I call,
O God of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. And the distresses that David
had, we can enter in somewhat of that. Then he says, have mercy
upon me and hear my prayer. God's people, like we just dealt
with, they know that whatever comes their way, providentially
the Lord sent it. But even with that knowledge,
we know, we're talking about that meek and quiet spirit, But
even with that meek and quiet spirit by which God Almighty
calms us down, it does not relieve us of the need and the necessity
to call upon the Lord. Have mercy on me and hear my
prayer. Call out to the Lord, to the
attentiveness of His hear. So David, that was the first
segment of this psalm. David talking to God about Him. Now here's the second. It starts
in verse 2. Now he's turned his attention
and he's going to be speaking to those who are bent upon opposing
God. He's going to be talking about
those that have been opposing the Lord. Now listen to what
he says. All you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory
into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after leasing? Now look here, Selah. David is saying something to
those that oppose God. And the Spirit of God moved upon
him to say, now you pause right there. You that David was speaking
to is what he's saying. Those that oppose God. He said,
now you stop right here and you pause. David is asking the sons
of men. Now you know we're going through
the book of Genesis and you know when it says the sons of men
in the book of Genesis it's talking about the unbelievers. Not the
sons of God, sons of men. Oh you sons of men. How long
will you turn my glory into shame? Who is the glory of David? Now, we'll look at chapter 3,
Psalm 3, verse 3. The scripture says, But thou,
O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of
mine head. So whenever David says, to the
sons of men, to these unbelievers, how long will you turn my glory
into shame? How long will you shame my God? That's what he's saying. How long will you oppose the
God of my glory? The Lord Himself, the Messiah
Himself, how long Will you turn His glory into shame, into disgrace,
into confusion and dishonor or reproach? Now, David is asking
unbelievers here, those of you who are disrespectful
toward God and the things of God, the things of God, that
His grace, His gospel, His justice, His mercy, His compassion, How
long will you turn my glory, the glory of my God, into shame? Now here's what he's asking. How long will you continue ingesting
and mockery of that which is of God? How long will you seek
after leasing? You know what leasing is? Lies.
How long are you going to seek after lies? Lies on God? The lies of false religion? How
long are you going to seek after that? Will you mock yourself? You're a possessor of a heart.
All men are born with a heart that is carnal. We talked about
that earlier this morning. And the carnal heart is deceitful above all things.
It's desperately wicked. Who can know it? And here's what
David's asking. Will you mock yourself? Now listen. Listen. Especially, all of us
need to hear that, but especially those that don't know Him. That
don't know Him. This is what the Spirit of God
moved on David to write. And this is what we're going
to hear. This is what the Scripture says. You sons of men, how long
will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after lies? Will you continue in this vain
and worthless attitude and the foolishness of your heart until
your ignorant vanity is turned into a howl when you cry out? weeping and gnashing of teeth
unto the judgment of God. He said, how long will you continue
doing what you're doing? Until God puts you in hell? And then the Spirit of God, as
I said, moved upon David to write, Selah. Listen, unbeliever, especially
an unbeliever, you pause and contemplate this.
This is what God's Spirit directed David to say. To the sons of
men, you contemplate the folly of the wicked. continuing this
folly of this evil, of disrespecting God. David said, My glory! How long? How long will you turn
my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity,
that which is vain and evil, that God's going to judge? How
long are you going to seek after lies? Then he said, Stop! Stop! And think about this. Surely the depravity of man is
here revealed. He said, will you continue to
despise Christ? Do you not know that you're despising
the gospel of His grace? You're despising the only message
that the Spirit of God is going to bless to the salvation of
His people? How long will you seek after
the lies of Satan? Until you hear the words, depart
from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. And there'll
be men and women that'll hear that. In that day Mitch said,
I remember hearing that. I heard that. I remember that
now. And you're cast out? It just,
it amazes me that the Spirit of God, I bow to this right here.
It amazes me that the Spirit of God moved David and said,
you talked to unbelievers and said, how long are you going
to do this? Verse 3, but know that the Lord
has set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear
when I call unto him. He's still talking to those that
he was talking to. He said, I want you to know something.
The Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. Election. That hated doctrine that is absolutely
founded in these scriptures. This is the truth. God has got
a people and I know that the carnal man hates that. I know
that. I understand that part of it. They hate God's right to be God. They hate God's sovereignty. I know what the carnal mind says.
That is not fair that God can show mercy to one and pass by
another one. I know it. David said, how long
are you going to do that? Do you realize that when you
stand before God, you're not going to win? You ain't going
to win. You bow. This is what He said, you know.
Here, the Spirit of God moved Him. He said, you tell them,
you say it again. You know that the Lord has set
apart Him that is godly for Himself. You tell them. You tell everybody
that God has a people and you tell them the truth of God's
electing grace. You tell them of the glory. of
Almighty God to put them in His Son, and that Christ came into
this world, and He lived for them and died for them. You tell
them He was buried for them, and He was raised for them, and
you tell them that everyone that the Father's given Him is going
to come to Him. You tell them that. And a believer
says, yes, sir. Yes, sir. The Lord will hear
when I call upon Him. Is election needful to be preached? Absolutely. God moved on Paul
the Apostle to say in Romans 11, five to seven, even so at
this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, it is no more
works. You know, that pretty well settles
it, doesn't it? It just pretty well ends it right
there. Otherwise, work is no more work.
What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh after. No man obtained what he sought
after, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were
blinded." The Spirit of God told David, said, you write that down.
And you tell him, and he said, you sing it. You sing that song. And you give this to the chief
musician that handles the harps and the cymbals. When you sing
it, you play those instruments with it. The Lord has a people
that are going to hear the truth. The gospel is the declaration
of the finished work of Almighty God. To save a people of His
choosing, found in Christ, redeemed by Christ, set apart as God's
particular treasure. Verse 4. He's still talking. He's still talking. Same people.
Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Here it is again. Selah. The Spirit of God continues to
direct David to address those that oppose themselves. And here
he tells them again, you tremble. You fear. Stand in awe. Of what? Of God. Don't fear the one that can kill
the body. He said, I'll tell you who to fear. You fear the
one that can kill the body and put you in hell. What do you
say? You fear Him. You fear this one. You stand in awe and sin not. What do you mean, sin not? What
he's saying is don't disbelieve God. This passage just amazes me. He says, you stand in awe and
sin not, and commune with your own heart upon your bed. In the silence of night, in solitary
musings, when you're withdrawn from the world, from the promptings,
of our passions and ambitions. Reflect upon what you're doing. Pause. Think on that. And then he said, and be still. What does that mean? Be quiet. Be quiet. Hush. Hush. The arguings and the hush. I thought about this. I'm going
to go into verse 5 here in just a second and I'm going to make
a statement that I'm going to kind of start right now. About laying on your bed. Somebody said, well I thought
you said that we can't do anything. You know what? Every man is born
with a conscience. And he knows right from wrong.
Every man can see nature. Every man, you know. You can go buy a Bible anywhere
you want to. I heard Brother Henry said, I've heard people
say, I can't do it. You said I can't do anything.
He said, you can go get a Bible. He said, you can come sit under
the gospel. He said, you can hear somebody open these scriptures
to you. He said, so don't think you're without excuse. The amazing
thing about this is that men hear, well, I can do nothing.
They say, well, since I can't do anything, I'm OK. No. The Spirit of God told David,
He said, you write this. How long will you turn my glory,
verse 3, into shame? You stand in awe. Don't disbelieve
God. Scripture declares that all men
are commanded to repent. Listen, I'm telling you, if we
think that we'll stand before God and somehow it's going to
be okay, it's not going to be okay without Christ. Verse 5
says, Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust
in the Lord. Now, I know this. This is what
I said. I touched on this. Here's what
I got in my notes. I know that unless the Spirit
of God gives a new heart to do what we're commanded here, I
know, I know based on Scripture that no man will obey. I know
that. I know that. But let me ask you this. What
better, according to these Scriptures, what better advice can one give
a hell-deserving sinner than this? What better advice? I'm commanded to tell you what
God has to say. And I'm so thankful because in
my little fickle mind, I would have never thought to tell these
things to a person that opposes themselves and turns the glory
of Almighty God in the hearts of God's people, the person of
the Lord Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, into shame. I would have
never thought of it. This is what it is. He's telling them in verse 5,
offer the sacrifices of righteousness. What is that? What is the sacrifices
of righteousness? Well, the scripture says, a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite heart, which God will not despise. We tell every man, this is what
David is saying, you flee to Christ. Come to Him. Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God. Don't wait. Don't wait. I realize
it's going to take the Spirit of God to bless this to somebody's
heart, but faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
I need to tell men. I need to hear it myself. We're
sinners. Sinners. You trust the Son, who
is the Savior of sinners. Trust Him. Call upon Him. Call
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that God send mercy, compassion. Then David said that verse 6,
There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift
thou up the light of thy countenance. Now, here's this last part right
here, starting in verse 6, this third division of this. Now David
is speaking. some peace and some contentment
in his own heart and to the hearts of God's people. What he's saying
is, in verse 6, there'll be many that say, who will show us any
good? There's pessimists. We're all
pessimists by nature. Who will show us any good? Again,
that's the language of an old man, that carnal, he sees trials
and trouble and heartaches He said, all that is nothing but
bad. This world is just pits. Well, yeah. Yeah, that's right.
But we realize something. This world in which we're living,
as we said before, is God's world. And the Lord is ordering these
things. So the unbeliever that hungers for nothing but ease
and riches and health and prosperity. I can understand. I'd rather
have it easy. I'm not going to pick adversity. I'll never pick it. I told you
what Walter said. I asked Betty. He said, you know,
I wish we didn't have to go through all these trials. And she said,
it just don't work that way. I would rather have ease. I'm
not going to pick something that's hard. But Paul the apostle says,
In Romans 5.3, we glory in tribulations also, knowing that the tribulation
worketh patience. Again, we need it. So David said
in verse 6, there be many that say, who will show us any good?
But he said, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance
upon us. Lord, lift up the illumination
of your love in the person of your blessed Son. Lord, if I
have Christ, if I have your gift, if I have salvation, Lord, I
have acceptance with you. If I have acceptance with you
and if I have the smile of your countenance, Lord, I have all,
no matter what I'm going through. Verse 7, Thou has put gladness
in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their
wine increases. You know, a believer does, as
I just said, finds favor in fellowship, in acceptance with the Lord God
Himself in the person of His Son. And I know that there's
tribulation in this world, but the regenerated saint has joy
in his heart, and it's going to be joy that is You found it
in more than those things that are perishing. Thou has put gladness
in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their
wine increase. You know, if I go out there and
plant something, or I'm doing something, I'd like to see an
increase in it, and I rejoice in it, and I'm thankful for it,
but it's not enduring. But he said, Lord, you put gladness
in my heart. And that endures, that rest that's
there. And then he says in verse 8,
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only
makest me dwell in safety. There's an old man that still
wars against the new one, and worrying and Contemplating about
the uncertainty of this life is just with us. Because the
old man is still there. That body of sin that Paul says,
who shall separate me from, is still there. Still there. But
I can tell you what a believer does when it comes to his eternal
security. I will both lay me down in peace. Is there a believer here? I know
we struggle. We struggle, you know. We make
our calling in the election, sure. But we say as the Apostle
Paul, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded he's able.
Is there a believer here that would say, being found in him,
That would not say, being found in Him, I have peace. I have peace. I have peace with God. It wasn't
based on anything I did. I know that. I will both lay
me down in peace and sleep. You know, first of all, in closing,
when we lay down at night, if I got something on my mind and
I can't get it off, My mind, I'll just sit there and I'll
tell myself, I know it's always worse at night. I tell myself
that. But you know, so often, that just don't work. It just
doesn't work. I can't, if I can't get it off
my mind, I can't get it off my mind. I can try to, I have found
this, I've told you this before. I would highly, highly encourage
you. Try to, from memory, try to quote scriptures. Try to quote
the word of God. Remember the things that God's
taught you. Quote scriptures. And it's a
help to me. I need it, because I worry about
everything, Donna Glenn Jean. I worry about everything. That's
what she tells me. She said, Marvin, you worry about stuff
that nobody worries about outside. But more than that, more than
that natural sleep, how about the sleep of those that die in
the faith? David said, I will both lay me
down in peace and sleep, sleep in Christ. If the Lord were to
take me today, you that know Him, if He were to take you today,
can you say, you know, I've cast all my care upon the Lord, trusted
Him for my soul, that's all I do. I come to Him, I come to Him
again. I come to Him and say, Lord,
If you're pleased to take me today, Lord, by your grace and
your grace alone, I'll lay down in peace and I'll sleep and sleep
in the Lord until you're pleased to come back and reunite my soul
that is going to be with you and reunite it with my body that
you're going to change. I can rest. I can rest in the
Lord. He knows that the security of
his soul is being held, not in himself, but in the hand of him
that cannot fail, will not fail, does not fail. I give them eternal
life, and they're never gonna perish. And a believer says,
Lord, that's enough for me. That's good, that's good. I pray
God bless this to our heart, to his glory, our good, amen.
Okay, Gary.