If you'll note the last verse
of Psalm 4, I take my title from this last verse. Psalm 4, I will
both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest
me dwell in safety. So here's my subject, dwelling
in safety. dwelling in safety. And this
is a perpetual condition for the people of God. We're always
dwelling in safety. We may not always be aware of
it. We may not always be sensitive
to the fact that our Lord is our refuge and our keeper and
our preserver. But our standing before God and
our preservation is not based on how we feel. A lot of times
we don't feel good. A lot of times our faith is weak. Our preservation, our safety,
our salvation has never been dependent upon us. It's always
been dependent upon the shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus,
our Savior. It was He who stood for us as
the mediator of the new covenant. It was He Himself who was our
surety, who entered into a contract with the divine trinity for the
salvation of all of His people. God chose us under salvation. David knew that. He rested in the fact that his
salvation was not owing to himself. It was not because he was more
dedicated than somebody or more concerned about the things of
God. He recognized that the God of
grace showed mercy and salvation to him because he purposed to
do it, because of his everlasting love for him. And David speaks
at the end of this Psalm of his safety. of His preservation,
those of us who have been brought to believe the grace of God. We know that we're depraved in
sin. We know and believe God's unconditional
election of grace. We know and believe that Christ
died for his people. It was a particular redemption.
It was a victorious redemption. It was a successful redemption.
He saved us by his bloody death upon the cross of Calvary. And
we know that we have been drawn by the irresistible effectual
grace of the Holy Spirit. We've been drawn to Christ the
Savior. He drew me. Philip Doddridge
said, he drew me and I followed on. We don't follow on our own,
we follow because the Savior by his almighty magnetic pull,
he drew us to Christ and we follow him. My sheep hear my voice,
the Savior said, and I know them, I love them. They hear my voice, I know them,
and they follow me. And he says another voice, will
they not follow? This is our Lord who is our preserver,
our preserver. He says, for thou, Lord, only,
only makest me dwell in sake. There's no safety anywhere else
except only in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no safety in
religion. There's no safety in the church.
There's no preservation of your soul in your obedience or in your study of the scriptures. though you should study the Scriptures. We dwell in safety only in Christ
our Savior. That's where the grace of God's
found. It's found in Christ. That's where our salvation is
found. It's found in Christ Jesus. Look
at the inscription of this psalm, Psalm 4. to the chief musician
on Neganoth. In other words, the head of the
stringed instruments of Israel. David, led by the Spirit of God,
he wrote this psalm and then he gave this, he inscribed it
and gave it to the leader of the musicians of stringed instruments. We have a stringed instrument
over here. And you see the Israelites, they worshiped God through music.
Music was very important to them. And let me tell you something,
music ought to be important to you in here. Because it's not a time to just,
well, occupy a few minutes and then we'll get to the worship. Music is an integral part of
worship. We sing the songs of Zion because
they're honoring to our God. We're very careful of the hymns
that we sing. I don't just pick out anything
in this songbook because there's some songs in this songbook that
are not worth singing. I try to pick out hymns that
are honoring to our God, honoring to our Savior, that are full
of grace and full of mercy, full of the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when we sing these songs,
when I announce the hymn and Brother Joe gets up and leads
us in the hymn, we're not trying to just occupy a few minutes
and then get on to something else. Though the something else
is the reading of the Word and the preaching of the Gospel.
That's important. But when we sing, it's to be
a joyful noise unto the Lord. You know, when we sang that song,
Oh, Happy Day, I was happy to sing it. I was happy to sing
it. And even the chorus, though Brother
Doddridge didn't write the chorus, I sure was happy to sing that.
Oh, happy day, when Jesus redeemed me, when he bought me, when he
shed his blood for me. Oh, happy day. He sealed my pardon
with his blood. That's something to be happy
about. I know we don't wave our hands and jump over pews and
stuff like that, but there's a joy in the heart. He taught me how to watch, to
look. He taught me how to pray. He's
still teaching me how to pray. and he taught me how to rejoice
every day. I tell you, for a people who
were chosen in grace and redeemed by blood and robed in righteousness
and called effectually to Christ by the Holy Spirit, we have too
many sad days. We do. We should get up every morning
facing the day with this thought that this is the day the Lord
hath made. You know, the Jews, even today, they call the third
psalm a psalm of the morning, a psalm of the amen, of the AM,
I should say, a psalm of the morning. He says in verse 3, Psalm 3,
3. But thou, O Lord, art a shield
for me. When you begin the day, remember
the Lord's my shield. Nothing can harm me. No sickness
can really harm, can't harm my soul. Thou art the shield for me, my
glory. You're the one that lifts up
my head. Don't let your head hang down in disgust and in dismay. Lord, lift up my head. Let me
look up to thee for all things. Look what he says in verse 5,
Psalm 3, 5. I laid me down and slept, I awaked. That's why the
Jews call it the morning psalm. I awaked. And you know what the
Lord did all night long? He sustained me. He sustained
me. And then they said of the fourth
psalm, this is an evening psalm. Psalm 3 is the morning psalm,
and Psalm 4 is the evening psalm. And so he says in verse 8, as
he is glad in the Lord, according to verse 7, He said, thou has
put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn
and their wine increased. In other words, farmers who reap
a wonderful harvest, they're full of joy. But he said, I got
more gladness than they got. And so therefore, since God has
made me his own, and the Savior has bought me, verse eight, I
will both lay me down in peace, because all is well between me
and God. Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He made our peace with God by the blood of His cross. He's
the great peacemaker. And therefore let His people
lay down in peace and sleep. For this reason, the word for
in verse 8 means because. You say, I've got so many troubles.
Jim, you just don't know it. I got aches and pains. I got
more aches and pains than who has got cod liver oil pills. Who's that? Carter, thank you. Carter's got more than Carter's
got liver pills. He said, but I can rest in this.
Thou, Lord, makest me dwell in safety. So when you go to bed at night,
Go home to sleep. The Lord's your safety. Well,
what if I don't wake up in the morning? Well, it'll be another,
a dawning of an eternal day then for me. Because the Lord makes me, He
makes me. He does something that nobody
can undo. He always makes me to dwell,
to abide in everlasting safety. That's why worry is such a bad
thing. And I'm pretty guilty. And I suspect I speak for all
the rest of you. Worry and murmuring, it's a foolish
thing. It's contrary, contrary to the
to the actions of a child of God. Let me rejoice. And David writes
this, he inscribes it to this song later. To the head of the
stringed instruments. He used him to speak to the superintendent
of the stringed instruments in the sanctuary. Let us lift up
our voices in praise to our God. We're blessed with innumerable
blessings, more than we could ever count. More blessings belong
to you, to you, than there are stars in the sky. More blessings,
more mercies belong to you are yours through the Lord Jesus
Christ than there are sands upon the seashore. So get up in the morning full
of thanksgiving, optimistic. So I don't know what the day
holds for me. It holds whatever God has ordained
for you. That's what it holds. And when you lay down at night
to go to sleep, remember this, the Lord makes you to dwell in
safety. No need to be concerned what
the enemy can do to you. Oh, now, he may sift you like
wheat, like he did Simon Peter. But he couldn't do that apart
from the will of God. And he may send some real trouble. You think you got troubles? Job
had real troubles. But the devil could only do to
him that which God had purposed. And Job, when all was lost, Children and
possessions. He said the Lord gave. And the
Lord had taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And in Job 2, when Job's wife
said, your God brought all this upon you, why don't you just
curse God and die? He said, what, what? Shall we receive good, pleasant
things from the Lord and not those troublesome things? Whatever God sends your way,
whatever God sends my way, it's good. because he'll work it all
out for our good. Isn't that right? We know it's
right. Well, what is the occasion of
Psalm 4? I'll tell you what the occasion
is. It's the same as it was in the third Psalm. Absalom had rebelled against
his father. And so many of the people joined
with Absalom. Many soldiers. Many soldiers. And David finds this comfort in the
midst of all this turmoil. I mean, your own son turning
against you? And not only him turning against
you. But he rallied thousands and
thousands of people to join forces with him against God's anointed. Against David. And David has
to leave the city. And as he leaves, they mock him. And they make fun of him. All
the difficulties that God put into the life of this sweet psalmist
of Israel. But David writes, he writes this
psalm and rejoices in the fact the Lord watches over him. Let
me turn over to Psalm 121. I find myself going to this psalm
over and over again. Psalm 121. David says this, Psalm 121, I will lift up mine
eyes into the hills from whence cometh my help. Don't look down,
look up. Look up to the God of the mountains,
the God of the hills, the God-man who died on a hill, a hill called
Calvary. Look up to the one who redeemed
you, who bought you, who purchased you by his own death. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. Well, where's my help
come from? Well, it don't come from self. Every once in a while I listen
to these self-help gurus. You know, you can help yourself.
No, I'm beyond self-help. I need divine help, don't you?
I need God's help. So he says in verse 2, my help
cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. I need help
from somebody who's almighty. So almighty that he willed, he
spoke all of creation into existence. That's who I need to help me. He says in the third verse, he
will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will
not, he will not slumber. Why, He raised us up from the
miry clay and set our feet on the rock. We're not going to
be moved. The only way we could ever be
moved is for the rock to be moved. And our Savior is immovable. And His purpose is unchangeable. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. You go ahead and go to sleep.
Because he's not going to sleep. He's always awake. Like ask this
dear elderly lady who was on a ship. The thunder was crashing
and the lightning was flashing. And somebody said, how in the
world can you sleep? Said to her the next morning.
How could you sleep through that? She said, because my Lord was
awake. I don't need to be awake if he's
awake. And he always watches over his
people. Says this in verse four, behold,
listen up now, pay attention. He that keepeth Israel, God's
true Israel, the true sons of Jacob, shall neither slumber
nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper, he's
thy guardian. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. I love this verse, all of them.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He will preserve me from the
evil one. and he will preserve me from
my evil. He shall preserve my soul. So you believe Jim once saved,
always saved? If my savior is the great God
of glory, I'm safe forever. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth, even forevermore. David, he realized he dwells
in safety. And you, who are the Lord's people,
you dwell in safety. And I'll draw your attention
to one more thing, and then I'll let you go for the night. Look
there in verse one. And I'll come back to a part
of this about the God of our righteousness. I'll come back
to that next Wednesday. But it said, thou hast, thou
hast enlarged me when I was in distress. David is now looking
back. He looks back to the times when
God has preserved him and God has surrounded him by his gracious
presence. Thou hast enlarged me. Thou hast
surrounded me. When my enemies were all around
me, my Lord has surrounded me and he keeps me safe. Thou hast. He looks back to past
deliverances. And as I close out the message
tonight, look back and see the past deliverances. Do you remember when the Ark
of the Covenant was stolen? The Philistines stole it and
then finally they wanted to get rid of it. Brought them death
and judgment. Stayed in the house of Abinadab
for what, 20 years? Something like that. And then Samuel told the people,
He said, here's what we need to do, get rid of the false gods
and worship the Lord only. And they did, they got rid of
the false gods. Baal and I forget the name of
the other one, doesn't really matter, Astaroth maybe, they
got rid of him. And Samuel set up a rock. He said, this rock right here,
This stands for Ebenezer. What does that mean? Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. And Israel could look back to
their captivity in Egypt. Who helped them? The Lord did. Israel could look back to their
journey to the land of promise. Who preserved, who gave them
water? Who gave them manna? Ebenezer, the Lord hath hitherto
kept me and preserved me. And on and on he could go. And
that's what Samuel said. He said, I'm gonna put up a rock
right here. And this rock stands for Ebenezer hitherto. The Lord hath helped and the
Lord hath guided. And I'll tell you what, when
you go home tonight, just pull up a rock and name it Ebenezer. Ebenezer. Because the Lord has
helped you thus far. He has helped you from old eternity. You think he's gonna turn loose
now? You think he's gonna abandon you now? Never. He said, your names are imprinted
upon the palms of my hands. A mother might forsake her little
baby, but I'm not gonna forsake and I'm not gonna forget you. Oh, we're safe in the Lord. Our safety is secure. Well, let's
sing a closing song.