We are much involved in avoiding
the taking of the Lord's name in vain as Brother Al is ably
set forth before us. A man in his pride considers that
he is able to design ways to worship the Lord. And we can
improve on those things and make them more
appealing to men. And in reality, we can do things
that make religion more appealing to the flesh. I mean, we can
do that. There's no question about it.
But only the Lord can make the worship of God to be a thing
that is pleasing and desirable to the sons of God. He is the
only one that can do that, because by nature we do not want to worship
Him. We are not opposed to religion
per se, or we are not opposed to having a little bit of God
as long as we have Him on our terms. You know, people like
to worship God on their terms, don't they? I mean, you know,
as long as a man can determine when it is he'll worship Him
and how he'll do it, he's alright with that. But the Lord said
to the woman at the well, the Father seeketh such to worship
Him as worship Him in spirit and truth. And that's the only
way that I hope that we would desire to worship Him, is in
spirit and truth. And whenever he's pleased to
give men worship, that's what it will be. It won't be the things
that men often confuse with being worshiped. We're looking in the
Psalms, Psalm 4. And you see the title of this
psalm says to the chief musician on Neganoth, a psalm of David. 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
ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity
and seek after leasing? Selah. Or that word leasing means
lying. 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, say thou. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say, Who will
show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my
heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." Now,
the title to this psalm is kind of interesting. There are a number
of psalms speak about the chief musician on Negunoth, and we're
not 100% sure what that means, but the Hebrew word Negunoth
is most often translated as song, but it is also translated as
musician, and it's also translated as a stringed instrument. So it's hard to say exactly what
is meant here. But we can say, as we look at
the songs, that these are, of course, songs. And the Lord gave
music to men for their benefit. And not simply for their benefit,
though. He gave it primarily for His
glory. And, you know, it is an amazing
thing that men have, as all things God has given, They have abused
it, but it also has been used unto the glory of God. And so
all of the Psalms, of course, are songs that are to be sung. They are hymns. And so that is
a glorious part of those things that God has enabled men to do,
to worship Him. And it 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. As we've said with all of these
Psalms, these are the Psalms of David, but they are reflective
of the words of Jesus Christ. They are the heart of the Lord
Jesus Christ as He walked among men as a man. Now, I don't suppose
there's any greater mystery that exists than that one of the God
of glory coming down and walking among men as a man. Now, if you think about that,
that's just beyond the comprehension. of the human mind, so much so
that the natural man thinks that's kind of a hoax. I mean, he just
almost was a man. He appeared like a man, but he
wasn't really a man, though the Scripture says that he took on
flesh and blood. He became flesh and blood. Now how that is, that's not for
us to be able to figure out. It's just a wonder. that we pause
and consider, and whenever we read the Psalms, and we read
these words, which were indeed the words of David, he did pray
these prayers, but they are also those prayers which the Lord
prayed as a man, as he was, of course, the author of all of
the Word of God, and as he spent many hours in prayer unto the
Lord. Hear me when I call, O God, of
my righteousness. Now, I suppose that here is the
very essence of the man who is trusting the Lord. A lot of people,
when they get in trouble, will call upon the Lord. You've all
heard of foxhole religion. Anybody in a bind will begin
calling out to whoever they think God is. They'll begin to call
out to Him, Oh Lord, I need you to help me. They'll make deals
with God. Lord, if you'll get me out of
this, I won't ever do that again. Or whatever. That's just how
men think. And that's how men are. But that
is not what the psalmist says here. He says, Hear me when I
call, O God of my righteousness. Now, there is a confession on
the part of David that he has really no basis upon which to
come before the Lord except that he comes there believing that
the Lord is his righteousness. Now the average man thinks he's
got the right to talk to God. I mean, he says, well, you know,
God created me. I can go to Him anytime I get
ready. But the man who has been humbled
before Almighty God by two things, number one, a knowledge of what
He is by nature, and a knowledge, however limited it might be,
of the magnitude of God, He has to come to the place where
he recognizes that he has no grounds upon which to even be
in the presence of God. Who shall ascend unto the hill
of the Lord? The Scripture says, it tells
who it is, it says, He that hath clean hands and a pure heart,
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully,
That's the man who can ascend into the hill of the Lord. Now,
who is that? Who could possibly do that? Can
a man just say, well, I'm going to go up to the hill of the Lord?
No. He can't do it. A man can't do
it. But it is the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the righteousness of the people of God. And it's upon
that basis that we come to Him in prayer. Our Father, which
art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." See, in that confession,
a man is saying, Lord, You are my righteousness. I don't have
any. Father, if You don't have mercy
upon me, I can't come into Your presence. Your name is hallowed.
Our God dwells in the heavens. He cannot be approached by men. Hear me when I call, O God, of
my righteousness. This is not a demand. Now some
people, and you don't have to go very far to listen to preachers
who will say, you know, you've got to more or less back God
into a corner and just demand from Him, just say, Lord, You
said this and we're just going to hold Your feet to the fire.
How foolish! How foolish is that? No, we're
at the mercy of God. And that's what David's saying
here. He says, Hear me, Lord. Oh, God of my righteousness. He's not demanding. He's begging.
He's pleading. Oh, hear me. Oh, please hear
me, dear Lord. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Enlarged, the word literally means to broaden. It means to
make large. In fact, there is another place
wherein this is used. It talks about the bounty of
the Lord being given unto men who call upon His name. And when
a man is in distress, he is like the weight of the world is upon
him, is he not? I mean, when the Lord Jesus Christ
was in the garden, and the sin of his people was put upon him,
and it pressed upon him. And the burden was so great,
the Scripture says, that he sweat as it were great drops of blood.
He was distressed. He was pressed upon. And so what
David is saying here, and the Lord by reflection, is saying,
Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. You have relieved
me. You have put me into a broad place. You have taken me out
of that place when I was being crushed. Have mercy upon me and
hear my prayer." Now, did the Lord hear the prayer of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, of course He did. The Lord
took delight in His Son. He heard His prayer. He showed
mercy to Him. The Scripture says that the angels
came and ministered to him in the garden, or else he would
have been overwhelmed. They held him up. I mean, the
Lord sent mercy to His own Son, and He will send mercy to all
who call upon Him in His Son's name. Those that come believing
that the Lord is His righteous, then he will indeed be enlarged
by the Lord, and the mercy of God will be upon him, and he
will hear his prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will
ye turn glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity,
and seek after lying, and say lies? Now, the world is not the friend of
the people of God, because the world is not the friend of God. Men want what they want. Only
as the Lord gives a man grace and gives him humility as he
approaches unto the Lord can a man want what the Lord wants.
And you know, when the Lord answers a man's prayers, when He brings
him to the place where he wants what the Lord wants, as long
as the man wants what the man wants, he is in conflict with
the way of God. The Lord said, if you ask anything
in My name, if you ask anything according to My will, I will
hear you. And so it is, as the Lord brings
His people into conformity with His will, which is not always
initially what we want, is it? I mean, there are many times
when we have things that we want, and we pray and we pray and we
pray, And when the Lord brings us to the place that we want
what He wants, isn't that the place where the Lord Jesus Christ,
isn't that what He said? Father, you know, let this cup
pass from me. But He said, nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt. Because you see, He had that
perfect righteousness. And He desired the Father's will
perfect. Oh, that He might bring us to
that place. But the world is not in such
a place as that. They love their own way. They
turn our glory into shame. They tell us that, oh, well,
you know, you just don't have enough self-esteem. You think
all your righteousness is in God. But you see, our glory is Christ.
We're not interested Feeling good. And feeling good about
ourself and building ourself up in our own mind. That's not
the place for the sons of God. Our desire is to have His glory
to be seen. But the world mocks that. Of course, I know you've heard
recently, and of course I've never even seen this program,
but some talk show I've heard of this woman, And she made fun
of Vice President Pence and something he had said. I don't remember
exactly what it was. But the gist of the whole thing
was she was mocking the fact that a person would express faith
in the Lord. The world is not a friend to
that. The world likes religion. Now all of them will talk about
religion. And when Thanksgiving comes around, they'll talk about
being thankful like you say, I often wonder, you know, when
people in general are talking about being thankful, who are
they thanking? I mean, you know, people talk
about, some of these people, you know, they'll be blaspheming
one minute, and the next minute, well, I'm thankful. Well, who
are they thankful to? What are they thanking? I mean,
surely they're not thankful to God if they're taking His name
in vain, if they have no regard to Him, if they consider that
His way is ridiculous. I mean, how could they be thanking
Him? They're not thanking Him. I don't
know who they're thanking. I don't know what they mean by
that. But you see, the people of God have no place to go but
to the Lord. They don't have a bunch of options.
I mean, we don't have a bunch of different avenues to go down,
do we? There's only one avenue, and
that's the place we want. But know that the Lord has set
apart him that is godly for himself, and the Lord will hear when I
call unto him. Now, who is the one that is godly
that the Lord has set apart? There's only one. It is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is godly. Now, we desire to
be godly, but we know this, any godliness that is, any god-likeness
that might be in us is going to be found as that which Christ
has performed for us. As we are hidden in Him, as His
righteousness is imputed to us. But know that the Lord has set
apart Him that is godly for Himself. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is primarily performed for the glory of God. Now, the sons of
God benefit from it. But never forget that the purpose
of redemption is the magnification of the glory of God. The redemption
of sinners is the avenue and the way in which the Lord would
manifest that unto men and angels. But the purpose of redemption
is the glory of God. And he says here, Him that is
God has set apart Him that is godly for myself. He belongs to me. The Lord will
hear when I call unto Him. David replies, 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. Now is this
not the place that the prayer began, stand in awe? I mean,
is that not the place that when a man prays, Lord, hallowed be
thy name? Is that not the place it is,
he's standing in awe? And is it not true that if a
man is really standing in awe of God, he is not likely going
to be blaspheming Him on the other hand, is he? No. Love God and keep His commandments. For therein is the whole duty
of man. This is the work of God in the
sons of God, to cause them to fear Him, To run from the way of sin, commune
with your own heart upon your bed and be still. Now, is he
saying, just get wrapped up in your own thoughts? No, he is
saying that your thoughts as you are considering those things
that are going on in your life and mind, as you are meditating on the
things of God, that they be applied to you. Commune with your own
heart upon your bed and be still. Be still from what? Be still
before the Lord. One of the Psalms says, Be still
and know that I am God. And you know that is a necessary
part of coming to be reconciled unto the will of God, is being
still. Is it not? Because you know,
as long as we are fretting and worrying and what not, but when
the Lord brings us to that place, well, we say, Lord, we just can't
do it. You know, when the Lord brings
you to the place where you are totally exasperated with your
own efforts, That is when he begins his work. Or he's actually
been doing the work all the time, but that's when he actually begins
to apply those things to you. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord. Now what are those sacrifices
of righteousness? There's only one. Only one sacrifice of righteousness. And it is the righteousness of
Christ. I mean, are we going to come up with things? You know,
this is the time of the year, I think it's coming up around
now, that people, it's called by some religious circles, the
time of Lent. And what people do is they say,
well, you know, I like to eat pecan pie, but during Lent I'm
going to give up eating pecan pie. And the Lord is going to
be so happy that I don't eat any pecan pie. And you know,
that's a sacrifice in the minds of many. In the religious mind,
the giving up of things is a sacrifice of righteousness. But that's
of no value, because what did the Lord say? He said if something
goes in the body, it comes out of the body. But He said that
which comes out. of the mouth is what defiles
a man. It's not that, it's that which
is in the heart. And so it is that the sacrifices
of righteousness are not things that we do, but they are as we
recognize the righteousness of Christ, and He is the righteousness
that we desire. And put your trust in the Lord,
because the man who believes that, he doesn't have any place
else to turn, does he? I mean, if you believe all your
righteousness is in Christ, then he's the one in whom you're going
to trust. Just like if you had some illness that only one doctor
on earth could treat, and you believed that he was the only
one that could treat it, And then you would seek Him out,
would you not? I mean, He'd be the only one
you'd seek. You wouldn't come seek my advice on what you needed
to do, but you'd seek His. And so it is that those that
believe the righteousness of Christ is all of our righteousness. It's in Him that our trust is
put. There'll be many that say, who
will show us any good? And don't we tell ourselves that?
Quite often, this old fleshly mind that says, you know, sometimes
we get where we don't believe these things to be true, and
we doubt whether or not the Lord will show mercy to us, whether
or not He will help us. We're in the midst of a problem
or whatever, and it seems like the Lord has hid His face from
us. And we say, even to ourselves, and of course there will be many
that say, Who will show us any good? Who's going to help us
out of this? We've got to take the bull by the horns and solve
this problem ourselves. We can't wait on the Lord. No. If a man can't wait on the
Lord, he's too busy. You know what I mean? When you get too busy to wait
on the Lord, you're too busy. When you get so filled up with
your own thought that you can solve a problem by yourself,
then you've got too high of an opinion of your ability to solve
a problem. But wait on the Lord. Lord, lift
up. There will be many that say,
the Lord is not going to help you. Have you ever heard this,
the Lord helps those that help themselves? I mean, that's a
pretty common consideration, isn't it? I mean, we think of
ourselves that way sometimes. But the reality is the Lord helps
those that can't help themselves. And when a man has cast himself
upon the Lord, the Lord will help him. But there will be many
that say, well, that's foolish. Who will show us any good? Lord,
lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us, for we are
in need. Thou hast put gladness in my
heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I don't believe there is one
of God's people who has gone through troubles and trials that
cannot confess with the psalmist and with the Lord Himself that
thou hast put gladness in my heart. The Lord does give us
gladness. There are many trials and there
is much sadness and heartache in the world. And as we traverse
through the world, But there's not one of us that can't say,
the Lord has put gladness in my heart. When He has shown us
the sweetness of His deliverance and the sweetness of His mercies
toward us, when He has given us a glimpse of the work which
Christ has performed and given us eyes to behold it and to desire
it, He's put gladness in our heart more than in the time that
their corn and their wine increased. Because you see, the men of this
world They are satisfied when the corn and wine is increased.
They are happy. I mean, you know, if a farmer
has a big crop, he is happy, isn't he? I mean, I remember
when we used to carry the tobacco to the market when I was a young
lad, and if the tobacco sold good, boy, everybody was happy. You know, it was just a joyous
thing. Well, for the sons of God, our
joy is even greater than that because you see, that passed
away. I mean, you know, you might have a temporary joy there, but
it wouldn't last. But that's put gladness in my
heart more than in the time that their corn and wine increased.
Now, let me give you a side note here about this. Now, the Lord
does show mercy to the men of this world. Those who are not
necessarily the objects of His mercy in a redemptive fashion,
the Lord does show mercy to them. You see, not just the sons of
God have times of joy in this world. We have joy that doesn't
fade away because it's built on something that's lasting.
But the Lord in His mercy does treat the people of this world
with kindness. He gives them their meat and
their season. He blesses them with good things. And it doesn't
make any difference. You know, the person on earth
who has had the bleakest existence has yet had times when they were
joyed in some measure. Now, we might look at them and
say, well, man, you didn't have much joy. But nonetheless, what
joy did they deserve? See, that's the thing. None of
us deserve anything. So whatever we receive is the
mercy of God. And so let us not think that
the Lord is just set against this world. This world serves
His purpose and He will bring glory to Himself in the midst
of it. But He has shown mercy to all
men and all creatures. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. And
I think about the Lord when He slept in that boat. I've used
that illustration many times, but the Lord gave it to us. And He is the epitome. I'm glad He's my righteousness. I'm glad that He's able to have
that peace for me. Because I wouldn't have been
asleep in the boat. I would have been up there with
the disciples fretting and worrying, what are we going to do next?
But the Lord, He had perfect faith and trust in His Father,
did He not? Do you not want that to be your
righteousness? Do you not want that to be your
faith? Do you not want that to be that place where He would
bring you? I mean, is that not what we want?
Do we not want His righteousness? I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." We
know this. We don't know what the Lord would
have for us. We don't know that we'll be safe
as far as what men are concerned. You know, when we say to one
another, be careful. And that's a good thing to tell
somebody to be careful when they're doing something. I mean, that's
just prudent, is it not? But we don't know what may befall
us. I mean, we may not be, as far
as what men would concern, in a place of safety. We might have
some calamity come upon us that takes our life away. And so in
that respect, we are not safe, but we are safe in this knowledge
that He is our safety. He owns our safety. Even if He
destroyed Job, said, though He slay me, yet will I trust in
Him. And that's really what the psalmist
is saying here. I'll lay down and sleep, for Lord, Thou only
makest me well and safe. Whatever the circumstances that
you see fit to send to me, I will rest in You. I'll wait upon You. Because I know that whether I
live or whether I die, that you are going to have glory. And
that's the thing that's pleasing to the sons of God. And when
a man is brought to the place where he's reconciled to the
will of God, he rejoices. And that, and therein, is the
man who trusts the Lord. For Lord, Thou only makest me
to dwell in safety.