If you would, turn to Psalm chapter
four. Psalm chapter four. I want to read this Psalm. Verse
eight is what caught my attention. I want to read the whole thing
once through. Psalm chapter four and pick up in verse one. David
speaks and he says, 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. O ye sons of men, how long will
you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity,
pride, and seek after leasing lies? But know that the Lord
hath set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear
when I call unto him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord and Christ. There'll be many
that'd say, who will show us any good? We can't find any.
We just can't find any good. Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance, thy favor, thy face upon us. Thou hast put
gladness in my heart more than the time that the corn and the
wine increased. Now listen to verse eight. This is what caught
my attention. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for
thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. Now I don't know exactly what
was going on in David's life when he wrote this psalm. The
inspired titles that come before these psalms Just doesn't tell
us for Psalm 4. We don't know what's going on.
Most of the commentators I read on this though, everybody agrees,
David probably wrote this Psalm right about the same time he
wrote Psalm 3. Wrote them right after the other. Psalm 3, Psalm
4, right after that. And they give a good reason for
that. There's a lot of parallels between Psalm 3 and Psalm 4.
David reiterates a lot of the things in Psalm 4 that he said
in Psalm 3. Look down here, look at Psalm
3, one chapter back, and look at verse 5. David said, I laid
me down and slept. I awaked for the Lord sustained
me. That's what he just said in verse
eight, wasn't it? He said, I laid down, I was vulnerable. I was
unguarded. I was defenseless, completely
open to the elements, completely open to my enemies, completely
vulnerable. And you know what happened? The
Lord was faithful. He was faithful. He guarded me, he washed over
me, and he sustained me all the way through the night, and I
woke up unscathed. Exact same thing he said in verse eight. And if that's the case, if that's
the case that he wrote these at the same time, here's what's
going on in David's life. His firstborn child, Absalom, had
turned on him. He had betrayed him. He had attempted
to emasculate his father through cruel and malicious means. He
had tried to usurp his father's throne. He had driven David out
of his own kingdom and he wanted to kill his own father. Now to
have an enemy that cruel and that malicious would be a terrible
thing. To have them be a former friend.
would be even worse. To have them be your kin, bone
of your bone, flesh of your flesh, would be even worse. But to have
it be your own child, your own flesh and blood, that baby that
you swaddled, that kid you dandled on your knees, that one you played
ball with, you took hunting, that same one, he usurps you,
he betrays you, he wants to kill you, that's the worst day ever. That's about as bad as things
could possibly get as far as I can tell. And what does David
say at the end of all this? Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm
gonna lay down in peace. I have peace. And I'm gonna rest. The Lord only, he's gonna make
me dwell in safety. And I believe that David has
a double meaning here. It's not just, I'm gonna lay down, and
he wasn't laying down that night in the king's bed. He was laying
down in a cave. Unguarded, cold, rocky, rock
for a pillow. I'm gonna lay down, not just
in this life, but one day lay down for the final time. I'm
gonna lay down in death. I'm gonna lay this body down, and
I'm gonna lay down in peace, peace with God, in rest, worried
about nothing. Why? Because I'm trusting that
one, he's gonna be faithful. He's gonna carry me over to the
other side, and I'm gonna stand before him. He's gonna say, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Here's my point, point
of this whole thing. What David has here, I want. This same peace and confidence
and rest, I want this exact same thing David had. Why did David
have this? It's a very simple answer. David
knew God. It's as simple as that. First,
he was known of God. He was loved by God. He was chosen
by God. God chose him to be his king.
He anointed him. He carried him through the entire way. He was
known of God. And because he was known of God, everybody who's
known of God, you know what they do? They know God because he
reveals him to them. David had this peace and he had this confidence
because he knew who God is. And he tells us, he tells us
right here in this Psalm. Now, I wanna know who God is. Y'all wanna know the same thing?
Look over here and look at verse five. I'm sorry, look at verse three.
David says, but no. Now I want to start here because
that's strong language. He says, but no. I take that to mean he's
saying, if you don't listen to anything else I have to say,
listen to this, pay attention to this, but no. But no what,
David? What is so important? What do I have to know? but know
that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. David's God is a God that sets
apart. This thing of setting apart,
what does this have to do with? This has to do with sovereignty, and
this has to do with omnipotence. Now, this thing of setting apart,
does this deal with election? Absolutely. Does it deal with
sanctification? Does it deal with the entire
realm of salvation, God reaching down and setting apart His people,
making the difference? Absolutely. We gotta back up
even further. It's greater than even that. This is about the
sovereignty of God and the omnipotence of God. The first time we ever
read in the scriptures of the Lord separating, dividing anything
is in the creation, all the way back in Genesis chapter one.
Who created all this? We drove through the countryside
today. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. the trees,
the stars, the universe, the intricacy of everything that's
around here. We're always trying to understand it. We're trying
to figure it out. We can't even scratch the surface. Who created all
this? A man named Jesus Christ created
all this. That's what John said. I lost my place, forgive me.
John 1.3. John said, all things were made
by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Jesus Christ made everything
we see down here, the entire creation. And this is David's
commentary on how he made it. Psalm 33, verse six, he says,
by the word of the Lord were the heavens made. That's Christ,
he's the word. The word dwell among us, and
he was made flesh. And all the host of them by the
breath of his mouth. You know what that means? When
He created, when He created everything we see, this earth, the heavens,
the heaven, He did it by doing this. He willed, He purposed, He breathed,
and it was. This is the power, this is the
sovereignty, this is the omnipotence of this one we're talking about
here tonight. He gathers the waters of the sea together as
a heap. He layeth up the depth and the storehouses. Let all
the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of Him. For He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. That's who we're talking about
here. And in that account in Genesis, this is what he did.
He started dividing. He started setting apart and
separating. He separated the light from the
darkness. He said, light, when you're here,
darkness, you can't be here. You go away. There's a separation.
There's division here. He divided the day from the night.
When the day is here, night you flee. You go away. There's a
division, there's a separation made right here. The waters and
the firmament. He said, waters, this is as far
as you can go. This is the dry land. This is mine. You will
extend no further. This is the one we're talking
about here. This is the God that sets apart, that he separates,
that he makes the difference. Now, how do things work down
here in his creation? in the heavens and the earth.
It works by His sovereign, omnipotent power. Do you know what that
means? That means that everything that happens is everything that
he has purposed. It is all according to his purpose,
and nothing happens outside his purpose. It's all just the purpose
and the good will of God towards his people, acting out at any
given time. The very hairs of your head are
numbered. Not a sparrow falls on the ground without your Holy
Father calling the shots and saying it that way. Now, if you
want reason for peace and comfort in this world, this is why David
had this peace and comfort. His God, was a God who ruled
and reigned in omnipotence and sovereignty. And he had this
promise, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you.
If you're a believer, that is promised for you in this world.
I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. All things will
work together for your good. The painful things, the hard
things, the good things, the glad things, they will all work
together for your good. And he said this, Exodus 11,
seven, he said, but against any of the children of Israel, speaking
of spiritual Israel, the elect, Shall not a dog move his tongue
against man or beast that ye may know how that the Lord doth
put a difference, a difference, that's that same word is set
apart, between the Egyptians and Israel. While you're here,
not a dog can wag his tongue against you because your God
sits on the throne. And that absolute sovereignty,
that omnipotence, it extends everywhere up to and including
salvation. Now this thing of, look at verse three again. He
says, but know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly
for himself. You know what the word godly
means? It means saintly. Saints, sanctified ones. What's
this talking about? This is talking about election.
This is talking about redemption by blood. Before the world ever
began, God made a difference. He made a choice. He set apart
some people. He chose some people unto salvation.
He put them in the only safe place, the only place of safety,
and that's in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ agreed to be the
surety of those people. and He went to the cross bearing
the sins of those particular people. He died under the wrath
of God for those particular people, and He single-handedly accomplished
the salvation of those particular people, those the Father set
apart and gave to Him. That is the gospel, and this
is the appropriate scripture, Hebrews 10-14. for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, the godly
ones, those that God set apart. Christ is no failure, he's the
victor, the victor. Notice the language here. I think
the language is so important. It says he did this, the Lord
has set him, set apart him that is godly, for whom? For himself. Why did God do this? And why
did Christ do this? It tells us right here, the person
he did it for, he did it for himself. In what way? In what
fashion? Number one, for love's sake.
These he set apart, his elect, he did it for love's sake. These
people that are saved, not will be, not maybe will be, that are
saved, perfected forever by him. It's because the Father loved
them. The very love of God has always rested on, it's his children,
the little brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
because the father would not be without his children, this
was for himself that he might have his family. He offered his
only begotten son out of love for them. Christ would not be
without his bride. That's who the elect are. It's
the bride of Christ. He loved the bride. He loved
the church so much. He said, I will not be without
you. I won't be without you. Therefore, I'm gonna suffer the
equivalent of an eternity in hell for each and every one of
you, just so I'll have you. I love you that much. If you're
a believer, this is a simple point, but it deserves our awe.
If you're looking to Christ alone right now, God loves you and
he always has. You have been on the heart and
mind of God from the eternities, always, always. Secondly, he
did this for himself, why? So someone would praise God appropriately. Now the Lord has the angels.
The angels are in heaven and they sing his praises. They sing,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. They sing that, but here's what
they cannot do. They cannot sing the praise of
God from the standpoint of somebody who has been personally redeemed
by him. That is third-hand information to them. They don't know anything
about it. What are we gonna do? What do we do? When we get to
that great choir in heaven, somebody's gonna praise God appropriately,
it's us. No second-hand knowledge, first-hand knowledge. We will
sing, worthy is the lamb, worthy is the lamb. Why? Because he
saved me. None of you are the ones, you
don't know anything about this, this is personal. He gave himself, God
gave himself for me. Somebody's gotta praise God appropriately,
and that's exactly what we're going to do. We do it here in
part. One day we're gonna do it perfectly. And finally, he
did this, he did this for himself, that the great glory of the Godhead
in the person of Jesus Christ might be manifest. And it works
like this. Let's say you have an athlete, right? Football player,
basketball player, whatever it is. And he's the most talented
athlete out there, and he's the strongest, he's the fastest,
he can do anything, right? There is no glory for that player
until he takes the court or takes the field and he beats everybody. And at the end, everybody sees
all those great attributes on full display. And that's what
you see at the cross. You see all the wonderful attributes
of God all on display for everybody to see. You see the unwavering
justice of God. He wouldn't spare his own son.
You see the love of God for his people. You see God dying for
man. You see the holiness of God raining
down on all this. Every attribute of God is on
full display. This whole thing, this whole
creation, this was all for this purpose, that Christ would be
greatly glorified. And we see that glory in part.
One day, everybody's gonna see that glory. That great glory
will be on display and everybody is gonna bow their knee, whether
they want to or not. Now I hope the question that
everybody's asking right now is this, am I in that number? This is a definite number, it's
a finite number. The choice has already been made.
Salvation is historical, understand that, it's done. The only question
is, am I in that number or not? Look up at verse one. David said, hear me when I call,
O God of my righteousness, thou hast enlarged me, when? When I was in distress. Now, David wants to be heard,
and he's confident that he's gonna be heard, and it's for
this reason. He knows something. He knows it by experience, and he
knows it by the promise of God that God enlarges, the Lord enlarges,
the Lord gives to graciously and fills who? Those in distress. How do you spot the Lord's people
in this world? How do you spot His elect? It's
very simple. There are a bunch of people who are in distress.
You know what kind of distress that is? This is what the word
actually means. It means oppression. They're an oppressed people.
They're oppressed by this. They're oppressed by their sin.
David said this. It's the first verse of Psalm
3. He said, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? He's
talking about his sin. What was he saying about it?
It's increased. It's always on the increase. Every day it gets
worse. Those sinful desires, those sinful lusts, those sinful
motivations that rest in this heart, they're not getting any
better. They're not getting lessened. I'm not getting more holy and
less sinful. That is not my experience. It
gets worse every single day. How are they increased that trouble
me, that bear me down, that declare my guilt before God? They increase. Many are they that rise up against
me. All day long, they're there in
front of me. I see them. I know it demands my death. I
have done this. I have sinned against God. I've
sinned against this holy God, and they're always risen up against
me, and I can't stop. What I do is sin. What I am is
sin. What I think is sin, and I can't
do anything about it. That type of oppressed person.
Oppressed not just by sin, but by the law. A law we can't keep. You remember Egypt? Pharaoh said,
build bricks without straw. And the taskmaster sat there.
Straw, you can't build a brick without straw. It's impossible,
right? He said, build the bricks without straw. We can't. Build the bricks. We can't. That's
the law. Can't, can't, guilty then, absolutely
and utterly guilty. The only thing the law has to
say to a man is this, it's guilty. God's people, this elect, how
do you spot them in this world? They're an oppressed people,
oppressed by their sin, nothing but oppressed by a law that they
can't keep. But every one of these distressed
ones, they all do the exact same thing by the grace of God. This
is an excerpt from 1 Samuel 22. Here, David is a type of Christ.
It says, and everyone that was in distress, it's that word we
just saw, oppressed by sin, oppressed by the law. Everyone who was
in distress and everyone that was in debt can't come up with
the goods, can't please God, can't do anything to make him
happy. And everyone who was discontented
absolutely hated themselves and what they were. This is what
they did. gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain
over them. That's what every one of these
distressed ones do. You wanna spot the Lord's people
in this world? It's very simple, they're an oppressed people,
they're a bunch of sinners, but this is what they do. They come
to that captain, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that captain is not
just a captain, he's a champion. You know what a champion is?
He's the one who fights for you. goes to the champion, fight my
battles for me, I will. He says that to everybody who
comes to him. The captain, you're on a boat, captain of the ship,
the waves roll, they rock, you're caught in the storm, what do
you wanna do? Jump out and swim? Paddle? Try to help out? Just
look to the captain. He's gonna steer that boat, he's
gonna get you to the other side just fine. That's what each and every
one of God's people do. There are a bunch of oppressed
folks, but they look to their captain. for everything in their
salvation. That's them. And this is the
name of their captain. Look back at verse one. David said, hear me when I call,
listen to this, oh God of my righteousness. You know, that's
the only time in scripture that he has ever referred to that
way. It's the only time. That's the only time anybody
has ever called Him the God of my righteousness, and yet this
is His name to all His people. What does God demand? God demands
righteousness. He is the righteous judge. To
be accepted by God, I personally must be righteous, and I can't
come up with the goods. All my righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. But for every one of these distressed
folks, Listen to what David says, he says, oh God of my righteousness. David's saying, I have a righteousness.
I can pass the test. God accepts me. Whose righteousness
is it? It's mine. Where'd it come from?
It's his. It's the very righteousness of
Jesus Christ. He is the God of righteousness
to every distressed sinner. This is what Jeremiah said. He
said in Jeremiah 23, six, speaking of the Christ, he said, this
is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. That's the name of Christ. And
you go 10 chapters up right here, Jeremiah 33, 16. And this is
the name wherewith she, The church, every member of the elect, shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. The exact same name because the
righteousness of Jesus Christ is the very righteousness of
every one of these distressed sinners. All of them look to
the same thing, Christ. Now, this thing of righteousness,
This is where man's enmity gets most hot and fierce toward God,
this issue of righteousness. Man hates this issue of righteousness.
Number one, because God is the righteous judge. He has the right
to judge. He has the power to judge. He
has the authority to judge, and he will judge. All four of those
things. Man hates that. He hates that
standard, righteousness, perfection, holiness, never having done anything
wrong, always having done that which is right. Man says it's
too strict. Can't stand that. They hate the declaration, the
declaration of God in this book that I can't achieve and you
can't achieve that standard. We can't even take a step towards
this. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. Absolutely hate everything about
this issue of righteousness. And David talks about that right
here in the Psalm. and it's not David speaking,
it is, but you gotta read it in the Messianic. Read verse
two, read it as the words of Christ. It says, oh you sons
of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long
will you love vanity, your own pride, and seek after leasing
or lies? What is the lie? What's the lie
that just keeps on getting told through every generation and
every natural man believes it? It's this single lie. There's
something you can do that God can be pleased with. You can
come up with something that God can be pleased with, at least,
at least you have the ability. If you never have done before,
you at least have the ability to. That's the lie that's been
told generation after generation. The natural man latches onto
it. After the fall, it didn't take long. What did Adam do after
he fell? He saw he was naked and he sewed
a fig leaf apron together. He tried to cover his own shame,
cover himself and make himself acceptable before God. And when
he stood before God, what did the Lord do? He ripped it off.
And we see the first death. He took a lamb and he killed
it, the first shedding of blood. And he took the skins of that
lamb and he covered him and said, this is the only way out. Somebody's
got to die. I'm that holy. Somebody has to
die. and the only way you'll be covered, the only way you
can stand before me is if I cover you, if I make you righteous,
that's it. Not too long after that, his
son stepped up to the plate, Cain, stepped up to the altar. He's a farmer, he offered the
fruit of the ground, he offered the best that he could come up
with, and it says unto Cain, in his offering, God had not
respect. You can't come that way, Cain.
Your best will not cut it. I can't accept anything from
you. There are only two religions,
as you well know. There is law and there is grace. Now this thing, this lie that's
been told through every generation, it's been molested and turned
and turned into different denominations and everything else, but it's
always the same. There are just two religions
out there. There's law. Law, salvation being predicated. on something you do. Somehow
or another, your salvation is levied on you doing your part,
whether it be in the beginning, the middle, or the end. And if
salvation is in any way dependent on man holding up his end of
the bargain, you won't make it. It's either all of grace or it's
all of law. If you're coming that way, a
mixture, well, I need the grace of God, I need the blood of Christ,
but I gotta come up with this as well. That means you are a
debtor to do the entire law. There is no mixing. If you come
on the grounds of your own obedience in any way, you are a debtor
to do the entire law. You can't. And this is grace.
Salvation being completely and utterly up to the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ on a man's behalf. And this is
what the question that is asked in all this. The Lord asks a
rhetorical question. God never needs information. He says, how
long? How long will you turn my glory into shame? How long
will you love your own vanity, your own pride? How long will
you seek after this lie, loving that lie, wanting that lie, wanting
it to be true? How long will you do that? Here's the answer.
Until the day that man dies and wakes up in hell. Unless, unless
God intervenes for that man. That's the only way that man
will be drug away from the law, is if God, in His sovereignty,
reaches out and grabs a man that hates Him, that doesn't want
to come His way, wants nothing to do with Christ, wants nothing
to do with His grace. He grabs that man, and He actually turns
that man and says, no, you're coming with Me. And actually
makes that man want what he hated before, Christ and His grace. And if the Lord does that for
a man, it is a testimony to his loving kindness and his forbearance
of sinners. And if he doesn't, key in on
this, if he doesn't, if he doesn't reach out and he leaves a man
alone, and that man goes to hell, all he is doing is leaving that
man alone to do exactly what he wants to do. And God is right
either way. Now, here's the last thing David
wants us to know about his God. Look at verse one again. He said,
hear me when I call, O God. Now David wants to be heard. He wants to be heard of God,
but it's not just wishful thinking, he's confident in this thing.
You look down there at verse three, he said, the Lord will
hear when I call unto him. He's confident of it. This is
something every believer should relish. If you want peace and
comfort in this world, think of this, another very simple
point. If you're a believer, you have the very ear of the
king at all times. For Christ's sake, for Christ's
sake, when you pray, those words just don't go up to the ceiling.
The Lord Jesus Christ takes those words, he makes acceptable before
his father, he delivers them, and the father actually hears.
He pities, he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
This is the confidence David had. This happens every single
time. This is real. If you're a believer, you have
the very ear of the king. But I notice something here.
I wanted to look at something. What did David ask for? During
this entire psalm, the whole thing, what did he ask for? He
only asked for two things. That was it. He said, one, Lord,
be merciful to me. That was it. Here was the other
thing he asked for. It's verse six. He said, there'll
be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou
up the light of thy countenance upon us. Show us your face. Show us your favor, your grace. David wanted this from the Lord,
two things. He says, I just want to be heard.
And I want you to deal with me on the grounds of mercy and grace
for Christ's sake. And here's my point in all this.
David never once assumed to tell the Lord what he should do. He
never said, Lord, here's all my problems, and I want you to
do this and move this over here and change this and cause this
person to stop doing this and him start doing that. He didn't
do any of that. He said, Lord, I just want to be heard. I just
want to pour my heart out before you, tell you all my problems,
tell you about all my sin, lay everything out before you, and
I'll be content if you just deal with me on the grounds of mercy
and grace. And however you answer, However
you answer, whether it be in pain, or whether it be in gladness,
I'll know that's what's good, because you always do good to
those you show mercy to. That's how a benevolent sovereign
is to be approached. Just like that. Lord, deal with me on the
grounds of mercy, deal with me on the grounds of grace, and
any way you answer, any way you answer, I can't lose. It's always
what's best. Seek and ye shall find. What
you were looking for? Maybe. But if you don't, you'll
find what's better. Knock and it shall be opened.
The door you're knocking on, maybe, not if it's not good though,
it may be another door down the hallway there. Whatever you do,
Lord, if you'll deal with me on the grounds of mercy and grace
and you just hear me and pity me, I'll be content with just
that because it's all good. It's all good. Now, what am I to do? If I'm
a distressed sinner, And all my hope is in that captain, the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the best news we've ever
heard. My salvation has been accomplished.
There is nothing I need to do. What do I do while I'm here?
How do I spend my time? David gives us four things, four
things. He says, stand in awe and sin
not. Now, what does it mean to stand
in awe? That word is commonly translated fear, tremble, quake,
shake. And to be honest with you, I
looked at just about every time it's used in the Old Testament, it's always
used in a negative way, just about. It says, fear, stand in
awe of the Lord. I saw it one time that it was
used in a good sense. And I'm gonna read this to you. I think
it sums it up. This is Jeremiah 33, verse nine. It says, and
it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before
all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good
that I do unto them, and they shall fear and tremble for all
the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto
it. This is how we stand in awe.
We sit there and we just contemplate the goodness of the Lord toward
us. And this is the thing I think
we all stand in awe of. This is not just me, this is every believer.
Stand in awe. He chose me. I'm loving God. Jesus Christ bore my sins in
his body. He suffered the wrath of God
for me. This was all done for me. Stand in awe of that. And
he says, stand in awe to sin not. Do not stand in awe. Contemplate
the person of God, his sovereignty, his omniscience, his omnipotence,
every attribute. But this is personal. The goodness
and the prosperity he's had to me, to me, all this, and Christ
too. And this is what John said. He
said, beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, this is, listen to this, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. I don't know what to say about
that. When we see him, We're gonna be like him. Stand in all
that. Stand in all that and sin not.
To not contemplate that, to not love that, to not cherish that,
that's sin. Contemplate that, the goodness
of God. Next thing he says this, he says,
commune with your own heart upon your bed. I thought a lot about
this. You know what this has to do
with? It has to do with being alone and being honest. If you
and I are together, One thing we can't be is this, we can't
be honest. It's impossible. If we're together, we're always
gonna put our best foot forward. We're always gonna try to make
the story sound better for ourselves. Even if we're being self-deprecating,
it's in a manipulative way every single time. It's the way it
is. Y'all know it. The only time we can be honest
is when we're by ourself, alone with God. He says, commune with
your own heart on your bed. And this is a sad thing in the
beginning. Because when I commune with my own heart on my bed,
when I'm honest and I walk the holes of my heart and I examine
those little creases, here's what I find. And you find the
same thing too if you're a believer. That my best work, the best thing
I've ever done, the best thing I've ever thought, is motivated
by self-glory, by evil intentions, by evil emotions, evil motivations,
The best thing I have ever done is sin and iniquity and transgression
before God. When I commune with my own heart
on my bed, that's the truth concerning me. And that's a sad thing. We
mourn over that. We should. We should. But it's not sad forever. When we think of this, I'm not
happy about my sin. I'm not happy about my sin at
all. I hate my sin. So do you, if
you're a believer. But I'm thankful for this, there's gladness in
this. If that's the truth concerning me, if when I look at this heart,
there is no good inside there, that I'm just a sinner before
God, that means this, that Jesus Christ really is my Savior. That's the truth concerning me.
If I, in fact, am a sinner, just a wretched sinner, that means
this is true concerning me, that Jesus Christ really is my righteousness
before God. I really do belong to Him. And
you know what? That sadness, that just turned to great joy.
Best thing I've ever heard. Jesus Christ really is my righteousness
before God. He really did die for me. I really
belong to him. What could be better? What else
could I possibly want? That's it. David talks about
that. Look at verse seven. He says,
thou has put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their
corn and their wine increased. This is a glad thing, knowing
you belong to Christ, knowing that one day we're gonna see
him for as he is, and we're gonna be like him. We're gonna worship
him as we ought. This never-ending euphoria we're
gonna experience, this is not our home. This is just a pilgrimage.
Don't get down about too many things down here. This is a waiting
room, right? We have so much waiting on us,
so much glory, so much greatness, that's it. And you look at this
world, where's their joy? Where's their happiness? When
their wine and their corn increase, Well, stuff, I got a new car,
I got a new house, and I like those things, don't get me wrong,
I like a nice truck, don't get me wrong. But if that's where
my joy's at, that means when that truck goes away, and that
house burns down, and I lose everything, and I lose my health
and everything else, that means that gladness is gone too. But
this is a gladness, this is a gladness, this is a joy that is eternal,
because this standing I have before God and Christ, it can't
go away. Christ secured it, therefore
it is forever. That means that gladness, that
joy, that's forever. He says, be still. That's the
third thing Davis tells us to do. Be still. What does he mean
by that? Do not go back to the law. Be still. Don't work. You've tasted the graciousness
of God. You've tasted of liberty, true liberty in Christ Jesus.
You've been set free. The law is satisfied with you
in Christ. God is satisfied. His justice is satisfied. You
owe absolutely nothing. Don't dare go back to that law
and try to justify yourself before God with what you do. Be still,
be silent, be quiet, and just stand at all. Stand at all. And
this is the last thing. These two are intricately linked.
He says, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your
trust in the Lord, in Christ. Now, what does that mean? Two
things, and they're the exact same thing. Offer the sacrifices
of righteousness and put your trust in Christ. Who did that? Abel did that. Abel stepped up
to the altar after Cain did. Cain offered the fruit of the
ground, the Lord rejected him. Can't accept anything that comes
from you, Cain. Abel came, and I'm sure he was very careful.
There wasn't anything else on that altar, not a speck of dust.
And he offered one thing. He offered a slain lamb alone. And in that, he was saying this,
this is my only hope of acceptance with you, God, Messiah. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He's the lamb that's gonna come
in time to be slain, and the only way I will be saved is if
this man dies for me. That's it, I don't have anything
else. Look at the altar. There's only one thing on this altar,
this slain lamb. The slain lamb is everything
I have. Now, this is where I'm gonna
leave you. This is it. What am I to do right now? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ alone. If you are a distressed sinner,
oppressed by your sin, oppressed by that law, you come to that
captain, that captain, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's never turned
a sinner away, he never will. You come to him and he will take
you to the other side and you're gonna be just fine. Thank you
for meeting with me tonight, I appreciate it.