Open your Bible, if you would,
to Psalm 4. Psalm 4. I name the message tonight,
Confidence in Christ. Now, before we were born again
by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, and sometimes even after we're
saved, we still have confidence in ourselves. especially though
before we were saved. And I think that as we grow in
grace, we learn more and more not to have any confidence in
ourselves at all. Because confidence in ourself
only leads to failure. We often let each other down. We often let our loved ones down, but our confidence as believers
should never be in another other than the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are mere humans. He's God incarnate in the flesh
who came to this world to save sinners. And so the confidence
for the salvation, think of this. As I said, we could never sing
those words of that song before we were saved. We would never
say, Lord, take my life and let it be consecrated only for you. We would never sing that before
we were saved. But now he's our all in all,
isn't he? And through trials and tribulations
in our lives, Has he not, Brother Zane, proved to be our confidence? Has he not proved to be the only
one that we can have full confidence in? I like what Brother Jim Harmon
used to say. He said, he said, don't look
to me. I'm going to let you down. Look
to Christ, follow Christ, follow him alone. Now Paul said, follow
me as I follow Christ. That's Paul saying that. I say
just follow Christ. And I'll follow Christ with you
by God's grace. Together we'll follow Christ,
but together we'll do it by God's grace, right? And the confidence,
think of this, the confidence for the salvation of our souls
is only found in one person. Right? We can have no confidence
in the salvation of our souls by anything we do. What we can
have confidence by what we do is the damnation of our soul.
But for salvation, our whole confidence for salvation is all
wrapped up in Jesus Christ our Lord. Right? All in Him. And that's why we
tell other sinners, because we're just mere safe sinners, we tell
other sinners where to find bread. Here's the bread of life. Here's
the one. who can save all who come to
Him. And we're living proof of that, aren't we? We confess that,
that the only Savior of sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this in Psalm chapter
4. We see here that David's confidence
is in God. Well, who's our Savior, Brother
Zane? Christ, who's God, isn't he? God in the flesh. So David's confidence, he's looking
to the Messiah. He's looking to the Deliverer.
We look to the Deliverer too, don't we? The only Deliverer
from sin. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shed his precious blood to save sinners of whom
I'm chief. And we all say that, right? We're
chief. I tell you what, the more we
grow in grace, the more we see ourselves as the chief of sinners,
don't we? But that's growing in grace.
That's growing in grace. Watch here as David's confession
about his confidence in God alone as he's going through trials
and tribulations that this world brings upon us, right? Look at
David's confidence. We see it's in God alone. Look
at verse 1, Psalm 4, verse 1. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. Thou has enlarged me when I was
in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. This is the cry of a believer,
isn't it? We have all cried this at one
time. Oh God of my righteousness, my
salvation, deliver me from this. Oh my. Now David's the one who's
appointed by God to be the king and to bring about peace and
security in the land as God gives him grace and strength to do
that. He's God's representative, isn't he? He's ordained by God
to represent God's justice and mercy in the land of Israel and
amongst his people, amongst God's people. And you know what's happening? He's not being received. He's
not being received. Well, nothing's changed, has
it? Nothing's changed. David's a
picture of Christ. What did they do to our master,
Brother Brian? They didn't receive him, did
they? They didn't want nothing to do with the who's who of religion
turned their back on him. My oh my. They turned their back
on him. They despised him. They hated
him without a cause, the scripture says. And he was not received
by any man. Think of this. He wasn't received
by us until God made us willing in the day of his power. And that's so true, isn't it?
We can say with confidence, God saved us. God's given us a hope. God's given us a confidence in
Christ. And that comes by faith, doesn't
it? By God giving faith. Because before we were saved,
I know for me anyways, I don't know, all the confidence was
about me. And even in religion, right,
when I got a little religion, then the confidence was in my
performance, still in me. Brother Zane, we've talked about
that. Had to do this, had to do that, had to do this, had
to do that, all these things. Our confidence is in Christ now,
wholly in Him. It's wonderful. It's absolutely,
it gives us such peace, such comfort, that our salvation is
not based upon our performance, but it's all based upon what
Christ has done. It's wonderful. What peace and rest, Brian, we've
talked about it. What peace and rest comes from that? My, oh,
my. Sister, you're teaching the littles.
Trust in Christ. Look to Him and Him alone. He's
the only hope. Every time you do Sunday school
and I'm here teaching too, we're holding Christ up to them. He's
the only Savior. He's the only one. My oh my. Do you know, with Christ, see,
man might not outwardly say, I don't want him to rule over
me. They might not. And we don't
often say that outwardly. Or we don't often say in our
natural state, well, I hate God. I've had so many people say,
well, I've never said I hate God. And I said, well, I didn't
come out with those words either. But you know what? With my actions. and my rebelliousness. And we
were talking about this, are law-breaking. We're lawbreakers
by nature, we're criminals, rebels, Zane said, rebels by nature,
right? Lawbreakers by nature. We're saying, I'll not have this
mandarin over me. And Israel wanted a king. God
said, okay, you want a king? He said to Samuel, they haven't
rejected you because Samuel is supposed to be the next judge.
And they said to Samuel, he said to Samuel, they not rejected
you, they rejected me. But then David gave him a king
after his own heart. And they, some of them were like,
we won't have this. His own kids rose up against
him, didn't he? My oh my, imagine the pain that that would have
bought. His trusted advisors turning on Him? Oh, my. My, oh, my. We may have had a
taste of that if a brother or a sister in Christ turned on
us. We've had a taste of that, just a little taste. My, but
could you imagine Christ coming into this world and everyone's
just rejecting him by nature? Won't want nothing to do with
him. I know that's where he found me. Right? And I know we can say
that's where he found us. Praise God, eh? Praise God for
his mercy and grace set upon us, his love set upon us. So
by their actions, their thoughts, and their intents, they were
saying, we're not going to have this man reign over us. It actually is brought forth
in John chapter 1, the scripture declares this, of Christ, he
came unto his own, and his own received him not. So he comes
unto the Jewish people, the ones who have the oracles of God with
them. Right? Blessed above all the other nations
that way, to have the oracles of God. And it says, in his own, received
him not. How were we, Zane, before the
Lord saved us? I won't receive him, right? Weren't
even looking, yeah. Content in our deadness, and
then we got religious, and then we were content in our religiousness. My, oh, my. And the scripture
says, but as many as received him. How did we receive him? Amen, brother. You must be born
again, right? You must be made willing in the
day of God's power. Oh, my. Listen to this. To them gave he power. You see, the power doesn't come
from us, does it, sister? The power comes from God to receive
Christ. We're made willing. And it's
wonderful. God made us to differ. I was
thinking about this. Here I am. I'm born of my mother's
womb. My two brothers are born of my
mother's womb. And the Lord saves me. And so
far, he's passed them by. Who made me to differ? Only God.
Think of that in your own family, beloved. Isn't that amazing? Isn't God incredible? Are we
more deserving than them? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. God has made us to differ, brother,
by his eternal choice and love in Christ. And it's magnificent,
isn't it? It's absolutely magnificent.
Because left to ourselves in our natural state, we would have
went into a crisis eternity. But God had mercy on us, and
that's why we tell sinners, flee to Christ. He's the only hope. There is no other hope outside
of Christ, none. Are you weary laden with sin?
Come to Christ. Are you weary laden with the
chains of religion? Do, do, do, do, do. Let me tell
you, it's already done. Flee to Christ, who's already
accomplished and finished the work of salvation by the shedding
of his precious, precious redeeming blood. He's the only hope. John goes on to say, but as many
as receive them, to them give he power. To what? To become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Those
who are born again, those who are given faith will believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. People get all caught up. Well,
what if I'm not one of the elite? Do you believe on Christ? It's not natural to believe on
Christ, is it, Brother Brian? But if God does the work in us
and gives us faith, we'll believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
it's wonderful. Listen to this. Which we're born
not of blood. So we're not born Christians.
I had someone tell me that one time. I said, how long have you
been Christian? He said, ever since I was born. I said, you're
not Christian. Kind of looked at me. And I said, and they wanted
to be baptized. I said, I said, you're not Christian. I said, sit and listen. Sit and
listen. Right? A few years down the road,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, my Savior. Okay. Time to stir the waters, but
the Lord took him home before that. But isn't that wonderful? That's God's work. That's God's
work, beloved. Oh my, which were born not of
blood nor the will of the flesh. Oh, oh, our supposed free will. Let us always remember that our
will is tied to our nature. If we have a dead nature, we
will never choose God. But if we're born again, we have
a new nature. And now we willingly run to Christ. Don't we, brother? I mean, we
flee to him. I like what Rupert Reichenbach,
you've heard me say it many times, I'm going to say it again. A
team of wild horses couldn't keep us from Christ after we're
born again. You'd drag them all the way to the king, wouldn't
we? Oh my! I'll never forget when I heard
Rupert say that. I thought that was one of the
best illustrations I've ever heard, because it's so true. nor the will of flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God. We come to Christ by the power
of God and God alone, salvations of the Lord. So David here is
experiencing injustice and oppression. And he's pleading to the Lord
for help because he knows he can't fix it. He has no confidence
in himself to be able to take care of this situation. And that's
how we are, that's how we should be in trials and tribulations,
right? Because the first thing we try to do is fix the situation,
right? That's natural for us. And then
we go, why? I just need to bring it to the
king. I just need to bring it to the
king. Look at his calmness in this situation. Notice David's
confidence in God. He states these words, hear me
when I call. Hear me when I call. He's confident
that God will hear him. You know why? Because God's heard
him before. And he can look back on his life
just like we can, before we were saved and after we were saved. And we can look and go, Look
at what the Lord delivered me from. Brother, we talked about
how we should have died before we were even saved. He knew we were one of his. We didn't know. We had no idea. And he delivered
us and delivered us. He bought you guys all the way
from Grand Rapids, brother. So you'd be here with your family.
Isn't that wonderful? Absolutely amazing. God's grace
is amazing. And His grace is sustaining grace,
beloved. He keeps us. He keeps us. I ask you, beloved, do we not
remember what God has done for us in the past? Do we not remember
the trials and tribulations that's come our way? Brother, you just
went through a big one with your health. God delivered you right
through it. And your trust and your confidence
was in Him and Him alone. yeah and that grows doesn't the
more we exercise that confidence in him which comes from god too
because it doesn't come from us right what happens when we
get sick as men we don't like getting sick do we no you ever
grumble a little bit Yeah, just a little bit, right?
Oh, I feel so bad. Yeah, we do. But you know, God,
He is so, He's so long-suffering with us. He's so, He's so wonderful
for us. I remember Zane was going through
all that stuff, and he says, please just keep praying, you know.
One thing after another, little brother, but your hope is just
in Christ. Just trust in Him. Knowing that
He's either gonna take you home, Or he's going to deliver you
from that stuff. And he did. Praise be to God. We're so thankful.
My, oh, my. So we can look back and see how
he sustained us, how he's delivered us in the past. This helps us
to know that, as the scripture says, God is the God of all comfort. That's one of his titles. He's
the God of all comfort. In 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3
and 4, it says, Blessed be God, our Father, Blessed be God, even
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies
and the God of all comfort, who comfort us in all our tribulations. Do not think that there's not
one time you're going through a trial or tribulation that God's
not there with you. The scripture says all, all our
tribulation. Why? that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble by the comfort where which we
ourselves are confident of God. Have you ever went through a
situation and you wonder why? Why am I going through this?
And then later on maybe in your walk, five, 10, 15, 20 years
later, somebody comes to you with the same thing you went
through. And you're like, I can totally know what you're going
through. Come alongside them and you can comfort them. Screw
that, because God took you through that situation. That's scriptural,
beloved. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing. Let's go back to our text and
notice this. And remember this, too. Remember trials and tribulations
on their own for us would crush us, any one of us. But remember, God's always there
with us going through. And listen to this. Behold, I
have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in
the furnace of affliction. So we know as believers that
we're going to have affliction in this world. There will be
no more tribulation, no more trials, no more afflictions when
we get home, beloved. None at all. Peace and rest. serving our King gratefully forever,
singing praises to the one who ransomed us with his own blood.
Look at this again in verse one again. Hear me when I call, O
God of my righteousness. Listen, look at those words.
Who's he speaking of there? He's speaking of the Messiah,
isn't he? Who's our righteousness? The
Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness. As a matter of fact, one of his
titles is the Lord Our Righteousness. It's wonderful. Oh, we've been
taught that. And we've also been taught that
as we go through trials and tribulations, and Vicki and I were talking
about praying for those who despitefully use us. You know, it's hard to
forgive people when you're in the natural state.
But when you're born again, Have you ever noticed you can't stay
mad at people? You can't. Now you can be angry
with them for a time. But the more you hear the gospel,
the more you hear the grace of God in Christ, the more that
gets quelled. The more quieter it gets. And
do not ever let this happen where someone will wrong you and that
becomes a root bitterness. And you know what happens? That
root starts to grow. And it becomes a massive tree
in your heart. And you know what the scripture
says to get rid of that? You take the axe of the gospel. Forgiven
in Christ. Pardoned by the blood. Jesus Christ is my righteousness. Who shall bring anything to the
charge of God's elect? I am justified by God, saved
by God. And that tree just tumbles. Oh my. And you know what? This is how I find it easy for
me to forgive people. When I consider how much God's
forgiven me. Right? A great multitude of my
sins, they're all gone. Not just a great multitude, all
of them. which are a great multitude.
They're gone. My, oh my. So let us move on
as soldiers of the cross, trusting and resting in heaven, our confidence
in Christ and Him alone. Right? Oh my. Because God will
vindicate His people. He will. And don't forget we're
just pilgrims traveling through this world of woe. My look at
this again. Oh God of my righteousness That's
speaking of Christ that's speaking of the Messiah So when false
acquisitions are leveled at the sheep of God, where do we find
refuge in Christ in him alone? So we've been taught we've been
taught that God will vindicate his people Vengeance is mine
saith the Lord. I will repay And we've learned
that We've learned that, haven't we, beloved? And David calls
out to the one who is his righteousness. Look at that. I love this. Oh
God of my righteousness. God is perfectly righteous. Our
savior is the holy one, the righteous one, the just one. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's God. God became a man to
save us from our sins. Wonder of wonders! The God of
my righteousness became a man, David's saying. He's my righteous,
he's my savior, he's my justification before God. And note this too, he will deliver
his people. He will deliver his people. And he's able to protect his
people, just like a shepherd protects the sheep from the wolves,
he protects his people. Think, our Lord was falsely accused.
He didn't even open his mouth. Didn't even open his, he committed
himself to God. You ever think that we've been
looking at how Christ was a willing servant? He willingly committed
himself to the Father while he's being falsely accused. Did it
for us, Brian. to save us from our sins because
scripture says he went to he's like a lamb he he's taken to
the shears to the slaughter silent because he's our substitute oh
it's beautiful and so here david has many who
are seeking counsel against him unjustly And our Lord had many who sought
against Him too, didn't He? Sought counsel against Him. Gathered
together. His enemies were brought together
against Him. You know, the Sadducees and the
Pharisees, they did not like each other. But now they got
a common enemy. And they really didn't like Pilate
in Rome. But now they got a common enemy. Oh my, oh my. And so what David's
here doing is what we do. He's appealing to God's mercy.
He's appealing to God's grace during this trial, because his
confidence is based on the fact that God's helped him in the
past, God's delivered him in the past, and that God is his
only confidence. Look at this, thou has enlarged
me when I was in distress. Hmm. My oh my. My oh my. He's our king. He's our savior. And he's our Lord. Look at that
verse one. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. I ask you this, beloved. Has
God not given you relief and me relief in times of trials
and distress? Over and over and over again,
hasn't he? Oh my. So David's experienced
God's grace and mercy just as we experience God's grace and
mercy in life's distressing situations. And God gives mercy and strength
to his people during times of trial and tribulation and temptation.
See the word distress there in verse one? In the Hebrew it's
defined as narrow and tight. It's also as straights. So like
a tight straight. for a ship going down in a tight
straightening. Just have to get, just gotta
go over the right exact time. My oh my. I ask you, have you
ever been squeezed into a place like that? In times of trouble and trials,
you feel like your walls are closing in on you? My oh my. When David was hemmed
into a tight spot by a trial or a tribulation, he could look back and say, God's
delivered me from that, and he's delivered me from that, and he's
delivered me from that. And that's why we say, even Lord,
you take my life, I'm still gonna trust you, no matter what. He may deliver us by taking us
home. Right? He delivered dear sister
Kathy. She has no more Parkinson's or
nothing. Nothing's bothering her at all
anymore, brother. My oh my. He delivered her from
that situation. My oh my. God always makes a way for us
to escape. He always opens a way for us
to escape, whether he's going to take us home or whether he's
going to take us out of the situation. But we do have to go through
it, don't we? We do have to go through it. David's feeling like
he's being buffeted from all sides. You ever felt like that
before? I think we all have, haven't
we? You guys experienced that. It's hard. It's not easy. My oh my. So David's learned
by past experience that God will deliver him and rescue him and
make him a way to escape distressful situations. So if we find ourselves
in a tight spot due to a trial or tribulation, let us remember,
God's delivered me. He'll deliver me again. Right? One way or another. My oh my. See, our confidence, then, is
in Christ, isn't it? Our confidence is the one who
has all power, as we saw, we heard in John 1. He's got all
power. All power. There's not a drop
of power that He doesn't have. And remember, those in power
are only in power because He allowed it. And they will accomplish
what He wills. That's the amazing thing. That's
the most incredible thing to me. is that people who hate him by
nature, and literally with their mouth say they despise him, he
makes them do his will. My oh my, he's so powerful, isn't
he? He's so powerful, he's almighty,
he's God. That's our savior, that's our
king, that's our redeemer. My oh my. Christ says, come unto me. I
have believers and unbelievers. Come unto me. Right? All you
that are laden and heavy laden, are you heavy laden by sin? Are
you weighed down by religion? Come to Christ. Dear brother
and sister in Christ, are you weighed down by the trials of
life? By the situations in the world? Let us look to Christ. Keep our eyes on him. Right? Do we hate the evil that's going
on in the world? Absolutely. Absolutely. One day we're going
to be delivered from it all. Let's keep our eyes on the King.
Let's keep our eyes on the Savior. There'll be heavy burden with
trials and tribulations that no one knows but you. Let's go
to Christ. Flee to Christ. He says, I'll
give you rest. Not only does he give us rest
from trials and tribulations, he gives us soul rest, doesn't
he? Oh my. He's God of all comfort, beloved.
He's the God of all comfort. So note this too, David's not
in despair. He's not in despair. We can see by these words his
confidence is in Christ. His confidence is in God. We don't need to despair about
what's going on in the world. Now it grieves us. But don't
despair, beloved. We have the King who holds all things. All things
consist by the word of his power. Oh my. And God is the one we
can trust in all circumstances. I don't care what comes our way.
He's the only one we can trust in, in all circumstances, in
life and in death. Let our confidence forever be
in Christ and not in ourselves. Our confidence not in our prayers
is that they're tainted with sin. Our confidence is not in
our strength or our intellect. No, our confidence is in Christ. Our confidence is not in our
wisdom. Our confidence is in He who's
called wisdom in the scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our confidence
is not in our faith. Oh, my faith is so weak. Is yours? Oh, my. But my faith is in the one who
is the object of all believers' faith, all true, born-again,
blood-washed believers. The object of our faith is Christ. The confidence of our salvation
is Christ in what he did, what he did by his perfect sinatonic
work on Calvary's cross. So David here is actually declaring
the character of God, that he is the God of the Bible. He is God, our righteousness.
He is a righteous God. And then look at the words, have
mercy upon me and hear my prayer. Oh, we see here that our God
is a God of mercy. He heard our prayer, didn't he? He heard our prayer and he hears
our prayers. Oh my. And what do we, what do
we receive every day from God? Amen sister. Mercy. Every day. Even when we don't
acknowledge it or see it. Because the scripture says his
mercies are what? New every morning. Isn't that wonderful? I remember
an old sister in Christ. I don't mean old, but she's gone
home to glory now. And you know what she told me
one time? She said, you know why they had
to collect manna every day? Because yesterday's manna is
not sufficient for today. New manna every day. We keep
looking to Christ every day, don't we? He's our sufficiency. He's our heavenly manna. Isn't
that wonderful? Oh my. Now look at verse 2. So
here David enters the field of conflict with his enemies. And
notice the courage of the man of God. Now, the only courage
we have comes from Christ. Comes from Him. And he asks, how long will they
turn your glory into dishonor? Man naturally loves vanity and
seeks after falsehood. We've seen that in our reading
in Ecclesiastes. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. That's written by the wisest
man in the world who had everything. Everything. Turn, if you would,
to Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23. For David,
the experiences of another day enabled him to declare Jehovah,
to declare that Jehovah is great. Each day we get upon this earth,
we declare Jehovah's great, don't we? He's wonderful. And David does this, he's not
ashamed. Like Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. No, we're not ashamed to profess
Christ. He's our savior. Look at here, the Lord rebuked
the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew chapter 23. Look at verses
13 to 17. But woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men. For you neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering in, entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make
long prayer, therefore you shall receive the greater damnation.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you can pass
sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make
him twofold the child of hell, Twofold more of the child of
hell than yourselves. That's a lost person getting
another lost person into religion. Oh my. Warned you, you blind
guides. That's what they are. They're
blind guides, aren't they? They're not proclaiming the truth.
They're not proclaiming the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
proclaiming works. Look what our master calls them.
Blind guides. Which say, whosoever shall swear
by the temple, it is nothing, but whosoever shall swear by
gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Ye fools and blind. This is the
religious who's who of Israel. This is the top-notch guys. You fools and blind. For whether
is greater the gold or the temple that sanctify the gold. Then
look down at verses 27 to 30. Same chapter, Matthew 23, verses
27 to 30. Here he's going to just, he is
going to reveal to them what they are. Look at this. Now, is this holding back? He
says, well, maybe you should hold back a little bit and you
know, We're all sinners. Well, people don't like to hear
that. I didn't like to hear it either, but it's the truth. Right. False religion is damning to
one soul. A pinprick of works, like we
were talking about, brother. A pinprick of works is damning
to one soul. Salvation is in Christ and Him
alone. Look at this. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you are like the whitish sepulchres, the graves,
all cleaned up, which indeed appear beautiful outward. Oh,
they look like they're beautiful. but are within full of dead man's
bones and all in uncleanness. I knew a fellow one time, this
man could quote scripture, could cut people to pieces with scripture,
and he had no grace. And he was like this whited sepulcher
right here. Oh my, praise God for his saving
mercy and grace. Look at this. Even so, ye also
appear righteous unto men. O men say, Well, if anybody say
surely it's them. Unto man, but within ye are full
of hypocrisy and iniquity. Now we, we as believers, we know
our hypocrisy, don't we? We know our iniquity. This fellow
doesn't know that. This fellow is self-righteous. This fellow uses the Bible as
a weapon if he's a professed Christian. This fellow sees fault in everyone
else but himself. Warned you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. And say, if we had
been in the days of our father, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. We wouldn't have killed
the prophets. Notice that? They said in their
hearts, we wouldn't have killed the prophets. Well, they killed
the prophet of prophets, didn't they? They killed the king of kings
and the Lord of lords. They said, well, we wouldn't
surely not kill Isaiah and Elijah Oh, but you'd kill the one that
they spoke of. Bunch of hypocrites, aren't they?
We're all born that way. You know that? I was the nastiest religious
Pharisee, just ask Vicki. Praise God for his deliverin'
grace, beloved. Oh, my. If you say we had been
in the days of our father, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. Now let's go back to
Psalm 4. So David, he's entering into
a field of conflict with his enemies. He's being despised
by them. He's being called all kinds of
things by them, just like our king was. Look at verse three. But know
that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.
The Lord will hear when I call unto him. You see that word,
but know? This means take notice. This means consider this. Consider
this. Be assured of this truth. And also it may be dependent
upon, why? Because it's the Lord. It's the
Lord who makes sinners godly. How can you say that, Wayne?
Well, because we're called saints, which means holy. Isn't that
amazing? And the only way, the only way
those spoken of here that are set apart that are called godly
is because we're in Christ. Outside of Christ, we couldn't
be called that, could we, Brother Zane? But in Christ, we're godly
in Christ. It's all about Him. It has nothing
to do with us. The only way we can be called
righteous is in Christ. The only way we can be called
forgiven is in Christ. It's magnificent. So David's speaking of a man
who's separated by God, or a woman, who's separated by God and made
holy. That can only happen in Christ,
because we are not holy outside of Him. We're a bunch of sinners. And even on this earth, as believers,
we're safe sinners, aren't we? But God looks upon us and sees
us in Christ, and He sees us as the godly ones. We don't see
ourselves that way, but God sees us that way. And notice that
He separated us. You notice that? Right, we didn't
separate ourselves, did we? God separated us. I love this. He set us apart. That Lord there
is Jehovah, the self-existent one. Look at this. But no, take
notice of this, right? Again, in the Hebrew, take notice
of this. Consider this. Be assured of the truth of this,
that God, that Jehovah, the self-existent one, has set apart him that is
godly, what? For himself. Look at that. Oh
my gosh. We're set apart for God. We're set apart for Jehovah,
beloved. That's magnificent. That's absolutely
magnificent, isn't it? My oh my. Look at this. The Jehovah will hear when I
call unto him. Look at the confidence he has.
And it's not in himself. It's in Christ, brother. Amen.
It's all in Christ. So he's no longer confident in
anything he can do. He's just wholly confident in
Christ, which is what happens to the believer. It's wonderful. And think of this, too. Our master,
as a willing servant, was fully confident that God would take
care of him, right? He was here to do the Father's
will, and he trusted and rested in him, totally fulfilling that
which God demanded for the salvation of every one of his sheep's souls. living the life, the perfect
life that we never could and dying in our ruined place as
God's justice fell upon him. Think of this, it's God who separated
David. Remember Samuel went there and
there was all the brothers there and he said, he looked at each
brother and nope, nope, nope. You got another one? Yeah, he's
out in the field. He's just a little one out in the field. Go get
him. Go get him. He comes and God
says, he's mine. You ever think in our time of
love, Holy Spirit went, he's mine. Christ is dying on the cross
for us. They're mine. The Father gives them an eternity.
These are mine, they're yours. Isn't our God great? Isn't he
wonderful? And look at this, for himself. Oh my beloved, we are made righteous
by Christ in him alone. So God took David from the sheepfold
and set him upon a throne, didn't he? God took us from the dunghill
of humanity and made us kings and princes in Christ. Isn't that magnificent? I know
I keep saying that word, but it's incredible, isn't it? This
is amazing. This is amazing. Oh, my. So let us keep in our minds,
too, that our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Messiah.
God's Holy One, whom He has chosen out from among the people to
be our Savior and our Redeemer, and all to the glory of God.
And everything that He's done has prospered in Christ. Everything
Christ's done prospered in His hands, hasn't He? Oh, my. He set out to accomplish
the salvation of our souls, and He did it. He saved His people
from their sins. But look at this again, but know
that the Lord has set him apart that is godly for himself. Oh
my. Again, the Father chose us in
Christ in eternity, separated us from all others, and we've
obtained mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord, beloved. And again,
those who are called godly in our text are only called that
because the Spirit seeks us out, calls us out, works mightily
in us, we're born again, given faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, right? All according to the will and
mercy of God. It's absolutely incredible that
God should make us to differ That God should make us to differ.
That God should call us godly. My oh my. This is the pure mercy
and grace of God. This is the free grace of God
on display, beloved. And then note the words the Lord
will hear when I call unto him. Brother Brian, we can have confidence
when we go to the throne of grace. Sister Linda, when we pray to
Christ at the throne of grace, we can have confidence that he
hears us. He even hears us before we get
there. And the cries of our hearts, the tears rolling down our face.
He knows everything. Look at verse four. You know,
it's a vain thing for man to set themselves against Christ
and his people. Look at verse four. Stand in
awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. He warns them to stand in awe.
Be still. Tremble and sin not. Tremble
at the sovereignty of God. Marvel at the sovereignty of
God. Marvel at the holiness of God. Marvel at the mercy of God. Marvel at the everlasting love
of God, shown to us in Christ. Marvel at the greatness of our
God. Marvel at his majesty. Marvel at his power. Marvel at
his glory. And tremble in awe of him who
is almighty. Look at verse 5. Offer the sacrifices
of righteousness and put your trust in the Jehovah, in the
Lord. Let the greatness of God fill
your heart with awe, beloved. Let our lips be filled with praise.
Let us trust in the Lord of Glory. That's who our King is. Our Savior
is the Lord of Glory. Our King, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is the Captain of the Lord's Host. Our King is the Ancient
of Days. Our Redeemer, our Redeemer is
the same One, yesterday, today, and forever. He's God evermore.
He's just as much God as the Father and the Holy Spirit, and
the three are one. One in will, one in purpose. Oh, my. So let our hearts be
filled with joy. Because in Christ, our king,
in him alone is found all grace and mercy. And he willingly and
joyfully, I was looking at that again, Brother Zane, he he was
joyful for the cross that was set before him. Because he's
saving us from our sins, his bride. Oh, my. And look at verse 6, there is
no hope for sinners but in the work of Christ, who died for
sinners. Look at verse 6, there be many
that say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the
light of thy countenance upon us. See, this world's always
seeking after riches, isn't it? Always seeking after something.
Always. And it's just emptiness. The
things are fleeting. A person dies and can't take
nothing with them. They can amass a great wealth. That Howard Hughes fellow. Was
it Howard Hughes? Had all that money? Wasn't he
the guy that built that Spruce Goose and all that? Was it Howard
Hughes? I think it was. I can't remember. But anyways, he built this. He
was a millionaire. Had all this money, all this money. Was him,
died, left everything behind. The original guy from Apple died
a few years back. Mass of billions, worth billions,
left it all behind into a Christless eternity. Oh my. No hope for sinners but in Christ. Oh. See, they do not delight
in the things of Christ. We delight in the things of Christ.
Isn't that amazing? But we were just like them, and
now we delight in the things of Christ. He's caused the darkness
to flee, filled our heart with peace and praise, hasn't he? He's given us an understanding
of what we are, but more importantly, who Christ is. who Christ is
the Savior of sinners. So let us have joy in his reconciling
love, because his love, remember, we're reconciled to God. We fell
in Adam, and now we're reconciled. His love is a reconciling love,
reconciles us back to God. In one man, we all fell, but
in one, many are made righteous. And that many is all who trust
in him, all who rest in him. Look at verses seven and eight.
We're close here. Now here's David's confession,
and I ask you, is this not our confession? Look at this. This
is magnificent. Thou hast put gladness in my
heart. Oh my. We just start thinking about
our king, we got gladness, don't we? We come hear the gospel,
we get gladness in our hearts. Look at this. 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. David's gone from trouble to
triumph. From trouble to triumph. He's
delighting in God now. Oh, he's went from trouble to
peace. My, oh, my. Let this be our prayer, beloved.
And know this, David's peace comes from the Lord. It's a peace
that passes all understanding, a peace that keeps his heart
and his mind focused upon Christ. And I'll tell you what, I would
be good to repeat this verse to myself. And I think it'd be
good for all of us to repeat this verse to ourselves. Look
at verse eight. I will both lay me down in peace. I'm going to
just pillow my head in the pillow of God's sovereignty and sleep. For thou, Lord, only makest me
dwell in safety. Who we dwell in safely, brother?
The Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? Can you close us in prayer,
brother?