Psalm number four. Look there
in verse three. Look what it says. But know that
the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord
will hear when I call unto him. Set apart by the Lord. Set apart
by the Lord. David, if you look there in the
title, David dedicated this psalm to the chief musician, to the
chief musician of Negeanon, a psalm of David. The chief musician
was the leader of the music, the person who wrote the music. And psalms, all the psalms are
psalms. And I was asking Gary if he'd
ever sung from a psalter. Psalms are psalms, and they're
psalms with notes, and they're psalms with leaders. And they
actually sung these psalms. And they'd sing these. And if
we knew the notes, if we knew the meters, we could sing these
songs, if we knew them. And you know, like a song addresses
certain issues, well, the psalms do too. They address certain
issues. They deal with different seasons of our lives. You know,
it deals with us when we're in sadness, deals with us in gladness,
even deals with us when we're in our madness and our anger.
But I've got three points that I want to make tonight and go
through this psalm together. First of all, we have words of
encouragement to believers. Words of encouragement to believers.
Now, what God did for David, He does the same for us. What
God does for His servant David, for the king David, for the shepherd
David, He does the same for us. And
first of all, look what is said here. In verse 1, When hear me
when I call, O God, of my righteousness, thou hast enlarged me. Now that
word, has enlarged me, or he has heard me when I call, he
set me at large. That word meaning enlarged, set
at large. That word set at large means to be freed. And what God
did is he made him free. You notice he said that he was
in distress. I was in distress and I cried unto the God of my
righteousness, have mercy upon me or be gracious to me and hear
my prayer. And David says, you enlarged
me, you set me free. He was in distress. He was set
free. It was as if he was in prison. It was as if he was at the end
of his rope. And the Lord always does this
for his people. When they get in distress, when
they get in trouble, when they feel like there's Nothing but
mercy that you can ask for. David said, God came and set
him free. He enlarged me, put me out there,
set me free from all this distress. And look who set him free. Who
set him free? The God of my righteousness set
him free. The God of my righteousness.
What he said is that my righteousness is of God, and my God is a righteous
God. The God of my righteousness,
is He the God of your righteousness? You know, there's a lot of people
got a lot of righteousness, but if it's not the God of righteousness,
who's yours? And your righteousness is not
of God, you don't have a righteousness at all. It has a filthy rank. And He says, the God of my righteousness,
He is righteous. And He's the one who makes us
righteous. And I'll tell you something else, He deals always
with us in righteousness. He deals with us in righteousness.
If He dealt with us the way we are, as we are in this world,
the way we act, the way we think, the things we do, what in the
world would happen? But you know why He deals with
us righteously? Because of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is a just God. God is a righteous
God. And when we call unto Him and
tell Him our distress, He comes and He sets us free from them
distresses. And He does it righteously so.
Righteously so. And I love that about Him. We're
righteous by Him and by Him alone. And He's a God of righteousness.
And that's what most folks, they just, all they can think of is
He's a God of love. My God's a God of love. My God's
a God of mercy. Well, He's a God of righteousness.
He must do right. He's gonna do right. And the
only reason He deals with us righteously is because of Christ. And that's why we can say, the
God of my righteousness. My righteousness. Our Lord Jesus
Christ stood and said, I'll declare thy righteousness among the congregation
of the people. And what righteousness have we
got to declare among the people of God but the righteousness
of God, the righteousness of Christ? And God can deal with
us righteously, and He always has, and He always will. You
know why He didn't destroy us when we was lost? Because Christ
stood at that man's length on the foundation of the world.
And then not only did He set him free, but look down in verse
7, He made him glad. Boy, when He sets you free, He
makes you glad. Thou hast put gladness in my heart. Did you
notice that? He said, He put it there. It's
not natural to us. We always look on the bad side
of things. David said, He has put gladness
in my heart. He put it in my heart. And then
David says this, he says, Thou hast put gladness in my heart
more than in the time that the corn and the wine increased.
Whenever the harvest comes, And everybody's rejoicing over the
corn and drinking the wine and eating the corn, and it's a wonderful
harvest time and things are great. He said, I'm telling you, as
much as our hearts get glad over the corn and the wine, he said,
the gladness you put in my heart is way more than anything like
that. Oh, beloved, nothing compared
to that. Now, you keep Psalm 4. Look with
me in John 20. Look in John 20 just a moment.
You know, he puts gladness in our heart. And he puts it there
by his grace. And oh, I tell you, when you
start talking to people about Christ, you start talking to
people about the Lord, then you get happy, you get glad. And
that's what David said here, you not only set me free, but
you came along and put gladness, gladness in my heart. And look
what he said here in verse 19, John 20, 19. Then the same day
at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be
unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto him his hands and his side." Now listen to this, then were
the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. You know, that's
why you put gladness in our hearts. when we see Him, puts gladness
in our hearts when we're in distress. And I tell you, beloved, He does
it by His grace. That's why the apostle Peter
says, though we see Him not now, rejoicing with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. That's what we do, and He fills
our heart with gladness. And then look what He says in
verse 8. He made him safe. Look what He said in the last
part of verse 8. For thou, Lord, only... Oh, for thou, Lord...
Now, listen to this. God done all this. Thou put gladness
in my heart. You enlarge me. Everything that
happened to this man, God did it. David doesn't attribute anything
to his self that happened to him. He said, Thou, Lord, only,
only You are the one that makes me dwell in safety. You, Lord, make me dwell in safety. I don't have, I don't, I'm not
afraid of what's going to happen. I dwell in safety. You made me
safe. You put, you, you made, you made
me safe. And, and, and nothing, what,
what, I dwell in safety. You, if you're for me, who can
be against me? If you save me, who can unsave
me? If you made me righteous, who can, who can do anything
to the charge of God's elect? I dwell in safety from law, I
dwell in safety from justice, I dwell in safety from sin, I
dwell in safety from death. We dwell in safety in so many
things. And then look what he said, because
he said, you alone make me dwell in safety, look what he said,
and I'll lay me down, I will both lay me down, now listen
to this, in peace, I'll lay down in peace, and sleep. I'll lay down in peace and I'll
sleep. Oh, there's nothing like a good
night's sleep. Nothing like it whatsoever. And, oh, beloved,
he could lay down and sleep in peace because nothing could disturb
him. Look in Deuteronomy 33. Nothing could disturb him. Ain't nobody going to come in
and get me. Ain't nobody going to come and disturb my sleep.
I'll just lay me down in peace. And I'll lay down and sleep.
Deuteronomy 33, verse 12. Talking about dwelling in safety. 33, 12. And of Benjamin, he said, the
beloved of the Lord, now listen to this, shall dwell in safety
by him. The beloved of the Lord, shall
dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the
day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders." Don't
dwell between God's shoulders. You ain't got shoulders big enough
to hide you in. That's a pretty safe place to
be, ain't it? He said, the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety. Oh my, bless his holy name. free,"
he said at Believer's Tree. He makes glad, he puts gladness
in a heart, and he makes us dwell in safety. And then look what
else is there. He says there in verse 3, But
know that the Lord hath set apart the godly, he hath set apart
him that is godly for himself. Now let me say something about
this. He set them apart, first of all, by himself. And in setting
them apart, they're made godly. Now, He doesn't set them apart
because they are godly. That couldn't possibly be. You
see, beloved, that's, we, we, you know, a lot of people think,
well, these people are godly, so God sets them apart for Himself.
We can only be made godly when God sets us apart. That's what,
you know, Ephesians 1.4 said, According as he hath chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Part four, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And
gee, when he set us apart, that's what makes us godly. He don't
set us apart because we are godly. That'd be putting the cart before
the horse. Don't you think? And listen to this. He set them
apart for himself. This is election. Blessed is
the man whom God chooses and calls us to approach unto this.
And I tell you what, everybody God sets apart, and this is something
that we just have to accept up here. And what God says is so.
Whether we grasp it, whether we understand it, I never have
felt godly. I've never felt godly one day
in my life. I've never felt I've never felt
like I've done a holy act or a holy deed. But God says that I'm godly. So evidently, my feelings don't
have nothing to do with it. If He chooses us and sets us
apart and says, you know, I've done this that you might be holy
and that you might be without blame, and I've done it in love. And God says that we're godly,
whether we feel it, whether we think it. And I'll tell you,
sometimes we certainly don't act it. But this is what's wonderful
about the Scriptures, that what God says is so. That's why the
word of God is so precious, because of what He says to us. What He
says to us. Oh my, He called us and set us
apart. And listen to this, He says,
the Lord will hear when I call unto Him. If we're godly, and
He's God, and we're godly when we call unto Him, He'll hear
the godly. He'll hear the righteous. He'll hear them that He has chosen
for Himself. I thought of this today. You
know, there's Judas and there's Simon Peter. Judas betrayed the
Lord for 30 pieces of silver and went out and hung himself.
Simon Peter denied the Lord three times. What made the difference? One was set apart for himself. And another reason why is because
Christ said, I prayed for you. And I immediately thought, right
then, Lord, pray for me. Take up my name. Take up my cage.
Take up my home. Take up my family. Take them
up and call on them. Pray for me. Because, Lord, if
you don't intercede for me, I certainly don't want to be... Remember
when you sang that chorus, I don't want to be a Judas in my heart? I don't want to deny the Lord,
but I tell you what, And that's what David said. When I call
unto Him, I call on Him. And He hears me when I call.
Now, let me tell you some words. That was words for believers.
Here's some words against the unbelieving. The unbelieving. Look here in verse 2. And they
call them sons of men here. And there's three things the
sons of men were guilty of. Three sins of the sons of men
that men are guilty of. And the first one here, In verse
2, O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long? How long will you ridicule
God? This is as if Christ Himself
is speaking, and He's in the temple, and He's in there with
the scribes and the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and He says
to them, How long? How long will you turn my glory
and turn it into shame, and make the things that makes me glorious,
makes me beautiful, makes me powerful, makes me majestic,
makes me shine like the sun. How long will it be that you'll
take my glory and turn it into a shameful thing? How long will
you do it? They said to him, he's not a
devil. He cast out, when he healed that blind boy, that blind man
in John chapter 9, they turned the glory of Christ doing that
into shame. Threw his mother and daddy out
of the synagogue. When he took that man at the
Pool of Bethesda, and he picked up his bed and walked, they turned
the glory of him causing a man who hadn't walked in 38 years
into shame. And they said, this man is a
sinner, he done this on the Sabbath day. So he's a wine digger, he's
a friend of publicans and sinners. And Moses says, show me your
glory. And God declared his glory. I will be glorious. I will be
merciful to whom I'll be merciful. I will be compassionate to whom
I'll be compassionate. That's my glory. And what do
men do? They turn the glory of God's
sovereignty into the glory of man's free will, the glory of
man's decision, the glory of man's power, that God cannot
do anything unless man allows Him. They turn the glory of Christ's
blood that we shed, for everybody has shed for Him. It actually
puts away their sin. It actually answers the justice
of God for us. It actually cleanses us from
all our sin. And they turn it into a thing
that all you've got to do is just put you some faith with
it, some repentance with it, and then the blood is as good
for you as it is anybody. No, no. They turn it into righteousness. And shame is, that's His glory,
that He had no sin in this world. And then they turn His righteousness,
well, yes, Christ is from, I've got His rights on the cross,
but I've got to go back there, and I've got to live right, and
I've got to live holy, and I've got to be saved as much by my
obedience as by His obedience. Oh my, turn His death, the crowning
act of our Savior, When he cried out, it is finished. It was done. Salvation, covenant, purpose,
decrees. Every soul for whom Christ died
was saved that day more once and for all. And God Himself
would be just to justify everyone for whom Christ died. And they
take His death and they'll say, Jesus loves you and died for
you. and tell me of that indiscriminately. I'll tell you here and now, I
don't know if Christ died for you or not. I don't know if He
died for my granddaughter, I don't know. I don't know if He died
for my son or my daughter, I don't know. But I do know this, if
He did, He will make that death an imperfection. I know that. And I'm not going to make His
death, turn His death and the glory of it into shame. Would
you? Oh, no, no. Look in Romans 1.22.
Oh, this stirs me up. I tell you, people... You know,
there's a fellow today talking. He keeps telling me. I keep telling
you, I'm going to come over. He said, I'm trying to read the
Scriptures. He's talked to me about several
times today. He's talking about all these
things. I need to practice forgiveness and all this. I said, you can't
do it by yourself. He said, well, I keep doing it.
I sure ain't going to trust nobody on earth. I said, that's my whole
point. Only God and only Christ can
do for you what you need done. He said, yeah, that's right.
Now, whether he knows it or not, I don't know. He keeps saying,
I'm going to come over there some Wednesday night. I'm going
to come, I'm going to come. He's been telling me that for five
or six years. Hopefully one of these days he'll show up. I like
him awful well. He's got problems, real problems. I hope he shows up. But look
here in Romans, talking about turning God's glory into shame.
How long will you do? And this is one of the awfulest
sins a person can commit. To take the glory of God, the
glory of His sovereign, free grace, the death of Christ, the
blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, His blessed Word,
and take that and bring it down to where it has no power, no
glory, no effectualness in it. Turn it into shame. I'm ashamed
of a gospel that don't give God all the glory. And the only way
you can tell a gospel, if it's of God or not, does it give God
all the glory? If it gives man one iota of glory,
it gives the flesh any degree of recognition, it's not of God. It's not of God. I know that
because I've been on both sides. Look what he said here in verse
22, 1st Romans 1.22, professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools. Now listen to it, they changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like the
corruptible man. How many statues you see running
around on people's cars and around their neck? I mean, even the
crucifix, that's turning the glory of God into a corruptible
man. These little St. Jude, St. Patrick, and all them other saints. Buddha. You know, when I was
in Vietnam, Buddhas were everywhere. What they had, these little old
pagodas. And there's a little old, there's a big old fat guy
in that outfit. And he was a big old fat boy,
and that's where all them, all the Vietnamese from. Buddha,
Buddha, Buddha. Big ol' fat, ball-headed, but that Buddha,
and that boy put incense in there, oh my, and prayed to a statue,
a corruptible man, a fat little, fat, ball-headed. Oh boy. And listen, not only
that, and the birds, four-footed beasts and creeping things, I
read the other day, and it may not have been in California,
but I think it was in California. It may have been in someplace,
but they made a golden calf and had a big festival and danced
around a golden calf just a week or so ago. Made them a golden
calf and danced around a golden calf. And listen, they liked creeping
things, snakes and monkeys. And look what happens to them
when God does that. God gave them up to uncleanliness
through the lust of their own hearts. I'd rather have a crucifix
on my wall than the living God. I'd rather have Buddha than the
living God. I'd rather have the Pope than
a true and living God. I'd rather have a golden cross
or a golden can than a true and a living God. I'd rather have
something visible than I can see than trusting a God that
is invisible. And Moses endured and said Him
is invisible. And if He was visible, you wouldn't
need faith. And that's why when we see Christ,
faith will be no more. But until then, we're going to
walk by faith. Look what it goes on to say then.
And they dishonor their bodies between themselves. And here's
what it says. Who change the truth of God into a lie. That's
what he just said. How long are you going to turn
my glory into shame? They changed the truth of God
into a lie. And worship and serve the creature
more than the creator. Oh my. So okay, that's the first
thing. They ridiculed God. Back over
in our text. Not only did they, how long will
you turn my glory into shame? But then he says this, and then
verse two again, how long will you love vanity? How long will
you love vanity? You know what vanity is? It's
emptiness. Vanity is emptiness. Solomon said, I tried everything.
If ever anything in my heart was set on, I tried it. I had
the wealth to do it. I had the power to do it. I had
the opportunity to do it. I could do anything I wanted
to. I had all the wealth. I had thousands of country bonds,
I had cash, I had gold, I had the wealth, I had the power,
I had the opportunity, and I tried everything that my heart wanted
to do. And you know what the conclusion
I come to? Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Nothing, nothing
will satisfy you. And that's what vanity is, a
person trying to satisfy themselves with that which can never, ever
satisfy. Try anything you want, the only
thing, O Augustine said it like this, Lord thou hast made us
for thyself, and we're not satisfied until we have thee for ourselves.
That's the way it is, and I tell you, that's the only place, and
to love vanity is to love that which is worthless to satisfy. It's not worth anything, worth
nothing. And then look what else it says
there in verse 2. This is words against unbelieving. Sons of men. Oh, you sons of
men. How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing? That
word leasing means lying. Seeking falsehood. How long will
you seek after leasing? Lying. And you know where the
place we lie the most? We'll lie to ourself more than
anybody else. How many times have you said
that about somebody? Well, you say, can't they see
that? Can't they see that about themselves?
Are they deceived in themselves? Well, that's what he says here.
Lying to oneself is where it starts. Once you start lying
to yourself, to seek the false, And only God can make you honest.
Only God can. To seek the false when there
is truth. Oh, what an awful sin it is.
And then let me quickly give you some words of exhortation. Words to believers. Words to
unbelievers. Let me give you some words of
exhortation. Look here in verse 4. Stand in awe and sin not. Stand in awe. What an exhortation.
Stand in awe and sin not. Oh my, stand in awe of God? Sin against God? Stand in awe
of His Word that exposes us, that speaks to us, that lays
our hearts bare? Stand in awe of a salvation that's
holy of the grace of God? That we attribute nothing to
ourselves but to Him. Stand in awe of His blessed Son
who bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Put our sins
away by Himself. And this is something that we
need to stand in awe of. Of our own weakness and our own
inability. After all these years, you'd
think a person would grow, son. But stand in awe, I stand in
awe of how weak and frail. We really are. Old Scott Richardson
heard him say, one time, God can bring us down to the dust
in the blink of an eye. You can be strong and full of
strength and ability. Next thing you know, he blinks
his eye and you feel like you're a dog on a chain. A mangy dog
on a chain. A mangy dog on a chain in a junkyard. Now that's how fast he can do
things for you. And then look what else he says. Commune with
your own heart upon your bed. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Be still. Now I know everybody
here has done this at one time or another. And we do it. When
he says commune with your heart, when you go to bed, commune with
your heart. Think, meditate on your heart. Paul says this, if we judge ourselves,
we should not be judged with the world. Now, our heart's deceitful,
and to commune with it, lay and consider its motives, its desires. That's why Paul says, prove your
own selves. And oh, beloved, listen, you
know the battles, how many battles have been fought on the bed at
night? How many battles have been fought
on the bed at night over our motives, over our desires, over
our fears, as we consider our hearts and the fears and things
that go on in our hearts. And then he says, when you commune
with that, when you learn something, you see something, just be still
about it. Be quiet. Be at rest. Be at rest. And then look what he says here
in verse five. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. Now, boy, this
is, you know, the sacrifices of righteousness. You must be
made righteous before you can make any kind of an offering.
And all of our offerings have to be spiritual offerings. And
Paul told the Romans, he said, I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. And that's just your
reasonable service. And when he says, offer up the
sacrifices of righteousness, you know the only righteousness
we can offer up. I mean, I'm talking about the
tenor of the whole Scriptures. See, that's what men do. They
pick out a verse of Scripture, and they don't know the whole
Scriptures. So they'll park on that there, and they'll say,
well, we must have sacrifices of righteousness. Since we're
righteous people, we can offer sacrifices of righteousness.
Well, first of all, you've got to be made righteous. And the
only righteousness that's acceptable to God that you can offer is
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only one. And that's
intended. See, that right there goes with
the whole Scripture. And when you come to offer a
sacrifice of righteousness, the only one you can offer is the
Lord Jesus Christ. You can't offer nothing else. Come on,
offer some righteous act you've done. Offer up your righteousness. Offer up a thought of righteousness
as a sacrifice. Offer up the righteous deeds
you've done today. You can't do it. We can only offer up Christ.
And then last of all, last word of exhortation is there in verse
5. Offer the sacrifice of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord. Put it right there. They'll say,
who will show us any good? Well, the Lord will lift up His
life, countenance on us, put your trust in Him. Look what
David said in the last verse of Psalm 2, the last sentence
in that verse. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. And let me show you, that word
trust, you know, that's the same word as you put something in
trust. You go and say, well, I made a trust for my kids. I
put it in trust. That's what he's talking about.
Put your trust in the Lord. Put your life in the Lord. Now,
look at Psalm 62 and 8 and I'm done. Psalm 62 and 8. I love this verse of Scripture
right here. I just dearly, dearly love this verse. I've used it
so many times. Psalm 62 and 8. Trust in Him at all times, ye
people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. That works, don't it? That works. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, Thank you for allowing us this time here
tonight. I pray that you've been honored,
you've been glorified, your blessed son's been magnified, that we
again find you to be our only hope, our only righteousness,
and that, Lord, you take up our calls, you take up our prayers,
you take up our needs, And that you pray for us like you pray
for Simon Peter. I thank you that we know that,
we believe that. So let me come to a throne of
mercy, a throne of grace, a throne of mercy. Oh, what a blessing,
what a mercy it is to come to a throne of mercy. Bless these
dear saints. God strengthen and encourage
them. Bless Joyce and strengthen her. Bill, God, these dear saints,
these precious people that are so precious to us, Lord, meet
their needs. Save your people in this place
for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.