All right, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Psalm chapter 4. Psalms chapter 4. We'll be looking at the first
verse this evening. Verse 1 of chapter 4. And the title of the message
this evening is, The Cry of the righteous, the cry of the righteous. David said, 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. Believers in Jesus Christ, we
know this about ourselves. We are a very needy people. If we were to number our needs,
how large would the number be? These are the needs that we know
about. We're not even counting the deeds
the needs that we have daily of every breath that we breathe,
of our health that we enjoy. We cannot stand and this world
cannot spin unless God does it. We are a very needy people, but
God is very gracious to us. He has given us something that
which every believer has. Every one of us has this opportunity. Every one of us has this gift
of God. And that is prayer. I'll tell you this, I agree with
the pastor I heard say this today. I am the most unworthy person and
probably the most incapable person to talk to you
about the mystery of prayer. It is a very great mystery. It
is a very great mystery how that we here in this world can commune
with God on his throne. We have this opportunity and
yet we Don't avail ourselves to it as often as we should. As needy as we are, you figure
that we would be more apt to pray. That we would be more inclined
to pray. And so this is the first thing
that we need to see is our need of prayer. And one thing about
it, if we don't see our need of prayer, we're not going to
pray. And most of the time, when we
do see our need of prayer, we don't feel like praying. It's
then we need it the most. It's then we need it the most.
David, here in this psalm, cries out to God and desires the audience
of one. The audience of one. Now, David
doesn't care so much if anyone else hears him. He only cares for one to hear
him because only one can help. And that's God. The only one
that can help is God. Now, David was a man that was
very afflicted. In his life, we read of his life,
and I love the Scriptures because they're so open. They're so revealing
about a man. Nobody in their right mind would
have wrote this about themselves. None of us would have wrote all
of those bad things. We would have just skipped over
them and been nostalgic. Our history is always nostalgic,
isn't it? It's somewhat, you know, frolicking through the
fields and stuff when we were little and we don't remember
all of the bumps and bruises and scrapes and heartaches and
troubles. We just skip over that. But God
doesn't skip that. I'm so thankful he doesn't because
I can identify with David. I do. I identify with David. We are afflicted in this life
just like David. Just like he was full of grief
and trouble, we are full of grief and troubles. Man is born unto trouble as the
sparks fly upward. They're just born to it. David
was a man after God's own heart, and yet he still sinned. This
was a man that God claimed was after his own heart, and yet
he still sinned and disobeyed God many times. Many times he was weary and tempted. He was hated of the self-righteous.
He was hunted down by Saul. And even his own son tried to
kill him. David was a man that was afflicted
and hunted as an animal. In Psalm chapter 6, he said,
as the deer panted after the water brook, so does my soul
pant after thee. This is a good picture of believers
in Christ. We are chased every single day. We are fearful every single day
of our life. We are skittish and scared and
running. God's saints are chased. And
the only thing that will refresh our souls Waterbrook of prayer. We must engage in prayer. We must have it. It is my desire
to be heard of God. Is it your desire to be heard
of God? I know we lean on one another's shoulders. I know that
we cry to one another because of our griefs and struggles.
But truly, what can we do for each other? But sympathize. What can we do but reach out
and give you some little something? We can't give you the comfort
that only God gives. And if you're only engaging with
each other and that's not bad, that's good. We have to. I think
sheep are to flock together, but sheep is not in the fold. I'll tell you this. He's either
lost or he's sick. One of the two. And we'd love to dwell together,
but one thing we desire is that God hear us. Because God is the
only one who can help us. Believers in Jesus Christ, David's
troubles are our troubles. David's struggles are our struggles.
His failures are failures. And his need of prayer is our
need of prayer. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. Hear me. Hear me. Now, we may not experience the
extent of David's trials. I don't think anyone here has
been hunted by their family yet. Maybe they'll hear what we're
saying and then they'll hunt us down, but God has spared us
to this point of such things. But our trials may not be to
the extent of this, but as David learned, so should
we learn, we can't lean on an arm of flesh. We can't trust.
this flesh. We can't trust our own selves
to keep ourselves. We can't trust someone else to
keep us. We must lean upon God as our
rock. God says this, in Jeremiah 17,
verse 5, He said, The Lord says, Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
from the Lord. The cause of much of our grief
is because we are looking to ourselves rather than to God. That's most of our grief. This
is the most because I'll tell you what I can. I can travel. Someone told me that Jack had
said this. He said, you know, I can sometimes
I just want to get away. I just want to run away from
everybody and everything. The problem is, wherever I go,
there I am. And that's just so. We can be
away from everybody, but trouble follows us because we're there.
We're there. And we struggle within our own
selves. We keep looking to our own selves. And this causes us grief because
we have no strength in ourselves. We cannot sustain ourselves. And others, when we cry to them
or lean on them, they're just as weak as we are. They're just
as weak as we are. Instead, we should be seeking
God who is the strong man armed. He is the man that can sustain
us in every trouble, in every difficulty. Only God can sustain
us. And we will look at the circumstances
of things when we look within and see no sign of life. We look
inside and all we find is darkness and silence. We become so overwhelmed and
despaired Because we cannot feel the presence of God. Our love grows cold. Our faith becomes weak. I'll tell you, there's nothing
more that I desire than to feel the presence of God. There's
nothing I desire more than to have a heart that's affectionate
to Christ. That's affectionate to you. There's
nothing I desire more. But this flesh is very weak.
Very weak. It's then the believer in Christ
must flee to God. Must flee to God. Well, how do we flee to God?
How is it that we find peace? and comfort and assurance and
boldness against the world, and yes, against our own self? How
is it that we find peace in this time of trouble and circumstances
of grim difficulties? How do we find peace? How do
we know that we are heard of God? Well, first of all, we must
call on the Lord. Not by sight, but by faith. This whole life is to be walked
by faith and not by sight. We are people of earthy things. We're very visual people. But
yet, this is not an earthly or a carnal matter. It is a spiritual
warfare. It is a spiritual warfare. And
we must not fight this by what we see, but rather what we See
by faith. The love of God. We see that
by faith. The presence of God, we know
this by faith, the grace of God is only seen by faith in Christ
alone. There's no other place. It's
not known or seen by our feelings. I've often struggled with that.
And I still do. Feelings. Luther said feelings come and
feelings go, but feelings are deceptive. They're very deceptive. I want to show you this. This
is very interesting. Go to Genesis chapter 28. Genesis
chapter 28. This is the. experience of Jacob in Genesis
chapter 28 and verse 16. It says, And Jacob awaked out
of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and
I knew it not. Jacob pulled up a rock and went
to sleep. And God gave him the vision.
And he woke up out of that dream, out of that vision. And he said,
Oh, God was in this place. And I didn't even know it. And
he began to fear. You see, all that time God was
there and he didn't even realize it. Go over to Judges chapter
16. Judges chapter 16 and verse 20. This is the record of Samson. Judges 16 and verse 20. And she said, The Philistines be
upon thee, Samson. And he awoke up out of his sleep
and said, I will go out as other times before and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord
was departed from him. You see that? Neither one of
them felt anything. Jacob didn't feel when the Lord
was present. And Samson didn't feel when the
Lord departed, when He took his strength away from him. He felt
just as strong as he did before. Is this not our experience when
we come into the worship service and have no feelings at all?
And then God comes in and pours over us His gospel. And we feel
refreshed. And we feel exuberant. And we
feel joyful when we leave. Man, I didn't even know the Lord
was present in this place. And He was. And how many times
have we felt so full of faith, so strong in ourselves, and wished
not that the Lord was not with us? That the Lord would have us to
fall. We are not as strong as we think we are. When God removes that presence,
we become scared. We become very scared. I do. What should we do in such a case?
We should seek and desire the audience of one. We should pray. Hear me when I call, O Lord,
this is my desire. Is this your desire? someone, I don't know who said
it, but it was good, the breath of the believer, the life breath
of the believer is prayer. If you don't pray, it's because
you don't believe. What should we do? We should
pray. And now we pray, hear me, O Lord,
I call unto thee, O my God, and we're not demanding, but begging."
Begging. Prayer is a thing of humility. It's a thing of humility. When
we pray, it must be in an humble manner. Lord, please hear me. That's what David's saying. Please
hear me. Please. Well, how do we know we're heard? If we are not to trust our feelings
and not lean on our own understanding of things, our good works, or
any evidence we have outwardly, how do we know that God hears
us when we pray? There's only one way that you
can ever know that God hears you, and that is, do you believe
on Jesus Christ? This is the only reason God would
ever hear us. I don't deserve to be heard,
do you? Because if you go deserving to be heard, you will not. You
will not. Think of that Pharisee and the
publican. See, the Pharisee, he prayed
openly, he prayed abundantly, he prayed lengthy, he prayed
eloquently, and he was not heard. The man in the corner prayed
one simple prayer. and walked away justified before
God. Humility. We must bow and see
the only reason God will ever hear you or me is because of
Him. Because of Jesus Christ. And
here, the only reason that God should hear us is found in this
text here. Look at this. Hear me when I
call, O God of my righteousness. This is why God's going to hear
you. Because He's the God of our righteousness. I don't deserve to be heard,
but I'm heard because He is the God of my righteousness. We cry unto the God of our righteousness. We cry unto God the Father who
chose us to be His children. Now, is that not comforting?
Is that not assuring? When we go to God in prayer,
we go to Him as our Father. I know we use it so much that
it becomes nothing. It's like we're reciting it over
and over. We don't get points for reciting
it. He's our Father because He chose
us to be His children. There's no other reason. I don't
deserve to be His child, do you? No, we don't. He chose us Not
because we were righteous, He chose us because He would make
us righteous. Because He purposed to make us
righteous. He purposed it. I like that word
purpose because it means on purpose. It wasn't on accident. God purposed
that we be righteous. Before the worlds were made,
God loved us. I don't love myself. How in the
world could he love me? I don't see how you love me,
but man, I'm really amazed at this, that he loved me. Yes. God says, yes, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. An everlasting love. So we can
be heard, we can understand this, and we're heard because our Father
chose us. Our Father purposed for us to
be righteous. So that we could approach unto
Him. He has made us righteous where? In Christ! In the Beloved! We have been accepted of God!
In the Beloved! When? From eternity! We've been
accepted in Him. How will He deny us now? Not a chance. Not a chance. We may know that we are accepted,
that we are heard because we cry. We cry with confidence because
of Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished. You see, Christ did not make
salvation possible. He actually accomplished it. This is what our faith rests
in. It rests in a person, in a man that sits on the throne
of God. And he has died for our sins. He has brought in everlasting
righteousness by the works of his own hands. He has obtained
it. Friends, God's law is real. This
is something that people That when we were lost, we miss it.
And the lost world misses it. That God is just and holy and
nothing like ourselves. The law is real and God demands
perfect obedience. This is not a hit. This is an
all or nothing principle here. This is not hit and miss. You
can miss this and do good here and make up. My son gets these
NCs. I've never got an NC in my life.
Not complete. And he gets to send it home and
he gets to redo it. You know, no. Not with God. No. If it's not perfect, hell
is what you'll get. If you're not perfect, you will
not stand before God. And these are the pillars of
His law. Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your
soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and your
neighbor as yourself. Perfect. You must be perfect. Sinners don't judge God's standard
by the standard of men. God's standard is infinitely
higher than man. But see that God will come and
judge the world in righteousness. He will. He'll give every one
of us exactly what we deserve. Although all men are born in
a state of depravity and sinfulness, the same Helpless and dead condition. We're all born in Jesus the Son
of God Became a man for this purpose to fulfill the law of
God for us He did it all by himself But the wonderful thing is, when
he was doing it all by himself, I was right there with him. You
know, when the high priest brought in those robes and he had those
stones on his shoulders, he had those stones on his breastplate,
and the names of the children of Israel were written on those
stones, those beautiful stones. And He brought in the blood into
the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood. You see, we were there
when He obtained righteousness. We were there when He died for
our sins and bore the guilt, shame. Because He did it for us. And the Scriptures, Jeremiah
chapter 23 rightly called him the Lord our See I am righteous I Am righteous
Why am I righteous? Because of what Christ has done
in my place What he's done for me Scripture
says, therefore, by the offense of one judgment came upon all
men and the condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift upon all men and the justification of
life, or as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. That's why
I'm accepted before God. That's why he'll hear me, because
I'm righteous. Can God not hear me? No. No. This is the wonderful thing
about salvation. And this brings me to the last
reason. It's because the Holy Spirit,
the work of the Holy Spirit, we may cry unto God and be accepted
because of the work of the Spirit. This is what He does. He comes
in and He creates in us a righteous nature that cannot sin. So now, I have two natures. I
still have this old rotten man, this filthy, detestable creature. Oh, but I have a new man. The scripture says, let's turn
to a couple of places with this, Ephesians chapter four, see it,
see it for yourself, Ephesians chapter four. I tell you this, I wouldn't say
something so bold unless the Scripture says it. I wouldn't say anything like
that unless the Scripture says it. Look at this in Ephesians
4, 24. It says, And that you put on the new man, which is
after God, is created. Now, only God can create. And what is it to create? When
God created the world, did He create the world out of something
or out of nothing? He created it out of nothing.
And that's exactly what He did to me. He created a brand new
nature in me. And that nature is created after
the righteousness, the holiness, in righteousness and true holiness. Created after God. After the
image of God. After the image of the Son of
God, isn't that what he predestinated us for? That we should be conformed
to the image of his Son? I am. I am. In the inner man, I am. In the
new man, I am. Go over to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation. A new creation. Do you realize
you're a new creation? Do you realize the work of the
Holy Spirit is to create a new nature in us? A new heart that's
part of the new covenant? We are created new. All things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And look at verse 18. And all
things are of God. All things are of God. Galatians
chapter 6 and verse 15. Galatians chapter 6 and verse
15. For in Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." It doesn't
matter if you were born a Jew or you were born a Gentile. It
doesn't matter if you think you've obeyed the law or you think you're
the worst sinner. That doesn't avail anything if
you don't have a new creation, if you're not made a new creation,
new creature. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. Have you believed on Christ alone?
This is the evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit. No man can
believe on Christ except it be given him of God. That's it. And if you believe on Christ,
then you may approach unto God and be heard. You may approach. God says, come
boldly. Let us, therefore, come boldly. That's not arrogantly. That's
with confidence, not in ourselves, but in God. By faith, we come
boldly. We come boldly to do what? To
find help. Find help. Do you feel cramped? I'll tell you what, I feel cramped
in this old body. I feel like I want to jump out
of my own skit. I don't want to be in it. It's confining and constricting,
this life is. But I'll tell you what opens
it up. Prayer. Look at what David said. Now
finish. To hear me when I call, O God
of my righteousness, Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress."
You in distress? Clench up. Tighten up. Everything
is distress. I don't like small places, do
you? claustrophobic. I don't know why it just happened
to me one day. I mean, I used to not really
be that way. Now I am. I don't like confined spaces.
And I'll tell you, if I'm trapped in a small space for a long time,
when I get out, I feel refreshed. I feel wonderful in a large place. I like a large place. And that's
exactly where God sits us when we go to him in a large place. His grace. And love. and mercy are so deep and so
high we will never find the end of them. Never. You won't find a bottom. You
won't find an end to His love. His blood is enough to cover
all our sins. His love is enough to cover all
of our sorrows. His grace is enough to keep us
until He brings us home to Himself. Why then would we not avail ourselves
to prayer? I don't know. I don't know. Hear me. That's my desire. Because I'm a needy man. But there's plenty of mercy with
Him. You take a cup out of the ocean.
Does the ocean drain? I mean, is it diminished? He can take all your cares. Cast
all your cares on Him. For He careth for you. I don't
know. I believe, I trust that He cares
for me. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Cook, would you dismiss us in
prayer, brother?