Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 4. Psalm 4. The title of the message this evening
is, The Cure for Insomnia. The Cure for Insomnia. And I've
taken that title from verse 8. Where David says, I'll both lay
me down in peace and sleep. For thou, Lord, only makest me
dwell in safety. Now, my question is, How can
I be at peace and go to sleep at night? It seems to me like
a very big problem in our country today. You don't have to watch
television very long, and there's a commercial for some sort of
sleep aid, isn't there? Just a couple years ago, I had
surgery, and after that surgery, they gave me all kinds of steroids
to help with the swelling and healing process. I normally can't
go to sleep anyway, but on those steroids, Buddy, I was wired
for sound 24-7. So they gave me a prescription
for a sleep aid. It worked pretty good. And I'd
been on it a few days, and I took one one evening. And shortly
after I took it, I saw my three-year-old daughter, who was at that time
about 20. I saw her in the corner playing hide and seek with me.
I saw Holly. She was about seven or eight.
She's over doing her homework. And Eric and Wayne showed up.
They were like, Wayne, I saw you just as plain as I'm seeing
you right now. And you were talking, I was talking to you. You were
talking back. Jan's watching this, you know, and she's trying
to get me to go to bed. Well, I don't want to go to bed.
We got the house full of company, you know, and let's party. We threw
that medication away after that night. But just even a normal
course of life, I just have trouble going to sleep. Well, I believe
I found something tonight. That's a whole lot better cure
for insomnia than that prescription. And David's talking about something
here more serious than just having trouble falling asleep. David's
talking about being at true peace when you are in the midst of
a severe trial. He's talking about falling asleep
in the midst of this troubled world, in the midst of not just
the troubles out there, my troubles and my worries and my anguish
that's in my heart. So that I just, I worry. Oh, and cannot go to sleep. David
wrote this Psalm just like he wrote Psalm 3 when he was running
from his son Absalom. His son is trying to kill him. He's taken his throne and now
he's trying to kill him. Now how can I put that out of
my mind and have peace and sleep? David here in this psalm is going
to give us several ways a believer can have peace and sleep, even
in the midst of those kinds of troubles. As we go through this
psalm, I want you to understand this. David is not just talking
about getting eight hours of rest in bed at night. He's talking
about more than that. He's also talking about lying
down in peace and dying in peace and letting this body rest in
sleep. And that's what it is when a
believer dies. He sleeps. Isn't that what our Lord said?
Our Lord said about Lazarus, he sleepeth. It's just what we
call the death of the body is sleep. Well, the best way for
my body to get eight hours rest in bed at night is to know that
because of the sacrifice of Christ, because of his precious blood,
my body can die in peace because my soul will rest with the Lord. Now that's peace, that's heart
peace that will let us rest even in the midst of genuine anguish. And David in this psalm gives
us seven cures for insomnia. Let's look at them. The first
one is this, prayer. Prayer is a wonderful cure for
insomnia. Verse one, hear me when I call,
oh God. A calling on the Lord in prayer
is good for us. Believers ought to be men and
women of prayer every day. God's our Father, we should spend
time talking to Him every day. But especially in times of trouble,
when our heart is so heavy, we're heartbroken, we're in such anguish,
how a child of God should then call upon the Lord. Because when
the Lord hears our prayers, you know what He does? He speaks
back to the heart, to comfort the heart. Our Father speaking
peace to the heart, that will comfort a troubled heart. That'll
bring peace to the heart. In prayer, I think we learn best
to pray when we're really in trouble. When you're in trouble,
you don't bother with flowery words. You don't, you know, try
to sound like John Gill or somebody when you're praying. Prayer is
not nearly as complicated as what we make it. Prayer is just
talking to the Lord. talking to the Lord in our words
about what's in our heart. He already knows what's there.
It's just laying out before the Lord what's in our heart. Lay
out before the Lord your fears, your pain, your doubts, just
lay them out to the Lord. Who else you gonna lay them out
to? Nobody else cares like he does. And nobody else is able
to do anything to help you and comfort you and give you peace
like he is. Talk to the Lord about your troubles. And don't
forget this. Talk to the Lord about who He
is. Talk to the Lord about how thankful
you are that He is who He is. I promise you that'll put everything
in perspective. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. If we could see our troubles in comparison to who God is,
Our troubles aren't going to look so big. You know, they are
troubles that just seem that we feel like they're going to
crush us. If we start talking to the Lord about who he is and
see who he is, suddenly these troubles aren't going to look
so bad. They're not going to look so big. 2 Corinthians 4, verse
17. Now, you know the story of the
Apostle Paul. He knew about affliction, didn't
he? How many times he'd been beaten
and shipwrecked and stoned and cast into prison and all these
things. Listen to what he says, for our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. Now how can Paul call these troubles
our light affliction? Because he put them in perspective,
verse 18. We call these things our light
affliction while we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. See, talking to the Lord about
who He is, that puts the rest of our troubles in perspective. And I tell you, this will comfort
your heart about prayer too. Come before God in Christ. We don't come in prayer before
God in our own. No, we come before God in Christ. Come pleading the name of Christ.
Come pleading the blood of Christ, the merits of Christ. If you
do that, you will be heard. At the end of verse three, David
says, the Lord will hear when I call unto him. If I call unto
him in the name of Christ, I will be heard. Does that comfort your
heart? What comfort it is to know somebody
like us can come before God and be accepted in the beloved, be
heard in Christ. Prayer is an awful good cure
for insomnia. The second cure for insomnia
is looking to the Lord your righteousness. David says, hear me when I call,
oh God of my righteousness. Now this is the only place in
scripture this name, God of my righteousness is used. I tell
you the only way we can lie down and in peace and die is if we're
perfectly righteous. Isn't that what God requires?
All he requires is we be perfectly righteous. If He's going to accept
us, we've got to be as righteous as God is. But if we know anything
about ourselves, we know that's the one thing we can never do.
We can't be righteous. We can't keep the law. We can't
do anything holy or righteous. So the only way I can find comfort
for my soul is if God is my righteousness. That's why this name is so important
here, O God of my righteousness. The only way I'll ever be righteous
is if God is my righteousness because I can't produce any.
And I can tell you how God is my righteousness. God has an
elect people. He chose to save those people
before the world began. But those people can't produce
any righteousness and God requires they be righteous. So God sent
his son to do for them what they could never do for themselves.
He sent his son to be righteous for them. Christ came as a man,
born of a woman, made under the law, and he worked out a perfect
righteousness as a man. He obeyed God's law in every
jot, in every tittle. Not just outwardly, but inwardly,
in desire and motive and thought, he obeyed God's law perfectly. He's the only righteous man to
ever live. And he freely gives that righteousness,
that obedience to the law, he gives it to his people. so that
it's theirs. Christ joins himself to his people
so that he's one with them. Now, when Christ joins himself
to us, we become everything that he is. We're joined to him. We're
joined to Christ by faith. So that Christ, our righteousness,
is one with us. We have his righteousness. We're
everything that he is. That union with Christ is so
real. When God looks at his people,
you know what he calls them? He calls them by the name of
his son. He doesn't say, there's my son,
and there's his people. No, he says, there's my son.
There's Jehovah Sidkenu. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called. Jehovah Sidkenu. That's how real
this righteousness is, that we've been made the righteousness of
God in him. Now, if Christ is your righteousness,
if your righteousness is God our righteousness, you don't
have any troubles. I mean, not really. You can lie
down in peace and sleep because you're righteous. You can lie
down this evening and have a good night's sleep because you know
your soul shall rest in peace because Christ is your righteousness.
He's made you righteous. If Christ died for you, He died
because your sins became His sins. He took your sins away
and made them His. Those sins really became Christ. They belonged to Him. In Psalm
40, He calls them mine iniquities. That's the only way the Father
could have put Him to death. If He was truly guilty of sin,
that He was made sin, the sins of His people really, truly became
His. And in the exact same way, the
righteousness of Christ truly became yours. It's actually yours,
just as surely as your sins became His, His righteousness became
yours. Now, if we have any understanding
of that truth whatsoever, we can sleep in peace. We're righteous
in Christ. What a cure for insomnia. Number
three, the past mercies of God are a cure for insomnia. David
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. David says, In the past, you've
been merciful. In the past, you've delivered
me. Now, would you deliver me now? In the past, you've heard
my cry. Would you hear my cry now? And that just comforts my
heart. It comforts my heart to think
about God's past mercies. Because God never changes. Whatever
it is that he's done for his people in the past, he's still
doing for them right now because God never changes. The Bible
is full of stories about how the Lord miraculously delivered
his people from trial, from bondage, from heartache and suffering.
The same God is on the throne right now. Now, doesn't that
enable you to rest in him? That does me. God has always
comforted His people with His mercy. He'll still do it today. Because God hasn't changed. Each
person in this room can look back at points in your life,
whether it's a short life or whether it's been a long life.
However long it's been, each of us can look back in our life
and see how God's been merciful to us. God's been so merciful.
If you can't think of a time that God's been merciful to you,
I can tell you when He has. God's allowed you to be here
tonight. That's a blessing of God. He's been merciful. Well,
I can rest in that. I can rest in God's mercies.
God's rich in mercy. His mercy endureth forever. It'll
never run out. I can rest in that. And of all
the great things God's done for his people in the past, there's
one that stands out. There's one preeminent one. There's
one that is the the crowning glory of God Almighty. God sent
His Son into this world to save sinners of whom I'm cheating.
The Father sent His Son into this world to make them righteous
by obeying the law for them. The Father sent His own beloved,
darling Son to Calvary to bear the punishment that the sin of
His people deserves. And Christ went to the cross.
He went there willingly. And he shed his blood as he is
dying agony. He shed his blood so that his
people would be cleansed from all their sin. He shed his blood
to blot out the sin of his people, to make it not exist anymore.
By his one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. That is the crowning glory of
what God's done for his people. Now, if the Lord has done something
so great for you, If he put your sin away by the death, by the
suffering of his beloved son, do you think he's ever going
to let anything harm your soul? Of course he won't. God's not
a monster. God's merciful and he'll never
take that mercy away from his people. That's why scripture
calls God's mercy the sure mercies of David. He'll never take them
away. God's mercies to his people are
sure because of Christ, the son of David, what he's accomplished
for his people. God's past mercies are an awful
good cure for insomnia. Fourth divine election is a sure
cure for insomnia. Verse two, O ye sons of men,
how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you
love vanity and seek after leasing or seek after lying? Now how
is it, David says here, you sons of men, how long will you turn
my glory into shame? How can we turn the glory of
God into shame? How can we do that? Well, it's
simply by twisting the scriptures and by perverting the gospel.
We turn the glory of God and turn it into shame by saying
that Christ died for all men. Christ died to make salvation
possible for everyone if they'll just decide to accept it. You
write this down. That message is a message of
shame. There's no glory in that message
whatsoever. The glory of God is his sure
mercy to his people. I know that so because that's
what God said is greatest glory. In Exodus 33, after Moses saw
all those miracles, after he saw how the Lord parted the Red
Sea and brought the children of Israel out safely, after he'd
seen all that, Moses knew he was missing something. He knew
there was a greater glory. He asked the Lord, would you
show me your glory? God said, Moses, my glory is
my goodness to my people. My glory is my sovereign mercy
to my people. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. God's greatest glory is his sovereign
mercy to his people. God's glory is his mercy to save
a people that he chose to save. And God's mercy, his great glory
is sure and it's certain. It saves everyone God chose to
save. There's not a chance any of them
can be lost. But these false preachers turn
that glory into shame. They say, don't you feel sorry
for Jesus? God, he wants to have mercy on
you. Jesus died to save you, but he can't do it unless you
decide to accept him as your personal savior. That's change. That's a perversion of the gospel.
It's changed the glory of God into shame. If God wants to save
somebody and he can't do it because they refuse to let him, God's
got shame, not glory. It's no wonder somebody can't
sleep and needs medication that believes that message, that believes
that message of shame. And I promise you that message
is not going to give them any peace in death. There's no peace
there. There's nothing but shame there. Yet, that's the message
of the world, isn't it? That is the message that man,
that natural man believes every time. So we wonder, the regenerate
man, David wonders, how long will the heathen rage? How long
is unregenerate man going to be allowed to turn God's glory
into shame? How long is God going to let
this go on? Well, I don't know how long, but I do know this. They're going to keep turning
God's glory into shame until God puts a stop to it. That's how long it's going to
last. I can tell you who God stops in their tracks. His elect,
verse 3. But know that the Lord has set
apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. See, God chose a people unto salvation. He set them apart
for himself. He set them apart for his holy
use. And all those people are born
in this world dead in sins. They're born believing this message
of shame. They're born loving this message
of shame, because it's a message to God's shame, but it gives
some glory to them. But God chose them to salvation. He'll stop
every last one of them in their tracks, just like he did Saul
of Tarsus. He stopped him in his tracks,
didn't he? And when Christ appears, they're going to change their
mind about everything they used to believe. It's all going to
change because now they've seen Christ. Once we see Christ by
faith, we're going to know this. He can't fail to save his people
from their sin. There's no feeling sorry for
him. He's not the beggar. He cannot fail to save his people
from their sins. We'll know that if we see him.
Once we see Christ, our doctrine gets straightened out. Once I
see him, I know He had to choose me because I'll never choose
Him. He had to be the one to do the choosing. Once I see Christ,
I'm going to know He had to love me before I ever loved Him. It
has to be that way. If I ever see Christ, I'm going
to know this matter of salvation is Him calling me. I'll only
call on Him if He calls me first. If I ever see Christ, I'm going
to know this. If I'm going to have life, He's
got to give it to me. I'm dead, He is life. If I'm going to have
life, He's got to give it to me. Once I see Christ, I'm going
to know this. He's going to have to be the
one to keep me because I can't keep myself. All my salvation
has got to be in Him or I'll not be saved. And everything
I need for Him to do for me, He'll do. He's able and He'll
do it for His people. Once I see Christ, all the pressure's off. And that
lets me sleep like a log. God's election of a people guarantees
their salvation and it guarantees their acceptance with God. David
says, since you chose me for yourself, you set me apart for
your use, then this is what I know. I know that when I call, you're
going to hear me because you made me belong to you. And the
same thing is true of every believer. If God chose to save you, he's
always going to accept you. Always. Because that's what he
chose to do, and God never changes His mind. If God chose you, if
He chose to save you, He's going to bring you through every danger,
every toil, and every snare. He's going to bring you all the
way, safe to glory, to that day that you're with Christ. That
you see Him face to face. And then, you're never going
to worry again. You're never going to cry again.
You're never going to hurt again. All worries gone, all fears gone.
God's going to do that for all of his people. That's a guarantee
because that's what God chose to do. And he always does his
will. Do you see how God's election
of a people? That's a good cure for insomnia,
isn't it? His election of a people guarantees
my salvation. It guarantees my joy. It guarantees
my peace. That's the only way my soul ever
rests when this body dies. And if I see that by faith, then
I'll know God's, I'll rest in his election. That's going to
let me lie down in peace and sleep every night until the Lord
calls me home. God's election of a people is
a sure cure for insomnia. The fifth cure for insomnia is
standing in awe of God. In verse 4, David says, stand
in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Stand in awe of who God is. You remember that time David
came in to the temple. He came before the ark and he
said, Oh Lord, you're mine. And he just sat in awe of who
God is. Oh, if we do that. That would
be a sure way to bring peace to our heart. Stand in awe of
God's holiness. God's holiness. He cannot do
something wrong. Well, then everything's all right.
That gives me peace to sleep. Stand in awe of God's wisdom. God is too wise to make a mistake. Whatever it is that's happening
to me is not a mistake. God's too wise to make a mistake.
Then that gives me peace, lets me sleep. Stand in awe of God's
love. God eternally loves his people. He's always loved his people.
And it's not going to change now. God loves sinners. What an amazing attribute of
God that He loves sinners. He loves His people eternally.
So don't ever think that some trial happening to you means
God quit loving you. Because His love is eternal.
He'll never stop loving you. God loves His people in Christ.
He loves His people for Christ's sake. Christ hasn't changed. Christ hasn't failed, has He?
He's always perfect. And God's love for His people
is never going to change. He never came to that. Wayne read
this verse from 1 John this evening in his study. We love Him because
He first loved us. Look at Psalm 145. I know I love
Him because He first loved me. I know that's where it comes
from. My love is far from perfect. It's not near what I wish it
was. But I can tell you in honesty, I love God. Look what David says
here in Psalm 145 verse 20. The Lord preserveth all them
that love him, but the wicked will he destroy. Those who love
the Lord, they love him because the Lord first loved them. Yes,
they love the Lord and he's going to preserve every one of them.
Then this thing is going to turn out all right in them. That gives
me peace just to lie down and sleep. Stand in awe, stand in
awe that God Almighty sent His own
beloved Son to die for me. Now you chew on that a while. I cannot get over it. God sent
His Son to die for me. This is what I'm confident of.
He'll never let my soul die the second death. My substitute has
already died. Stand in awe of God's mercy. His mercy endureth forever. In Psalm 23, verse 6, David said,
surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my
life. And because of that, I'm going to dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. of his mercy. Oh, if God's been
merciful to you, everything's all right. Have peace, lie down
in peace and sleep. Stand in awe of God's sovereignty
to rule and reign over everything. Nothing can happen in this creation
that's outside of God's control. If it's happened, it's happened
by his direct permission. Then even this sorrow, this pain,
this anguish that I'm going through has caused this difficult trial,
even that is under his control. Even that has been sent by the
loving hand of my sovereign father. Everything's alright. It still hurts, but everything's
alright. I lay down and sleep. Stand in
awe of God's Son. David says here, stand in awe
and sin not. Now make that your aim. Make
that your aim to not sin. Don't make it your aim to go
sin tomorrow. Make it your aim to not sin. But take comfort
in this when you do. Make it your aim not to sin,
but you will. Take comfort then. That when we sin, we have an
advocate with the Father. Who's our advocate? Jesus Christ
the righteous. And He is the propitiation for
our sin. All stand in awe of God's Son.
He is the propitiation for our sin. He has blotted out, made
to not exist the sin of His people. What sin do I have to worry about?
None. What sin? If Christ died for
you, what sin? It's gone under His blood. Everything's
alright. Lie down in peace and sleep in
awe of God. The sixth cure for insomnia is
to be still. That's what David says at the
end of verse four in be still. Now, you know, as long as I can
remember, even from the time I was a little, little boy, I
have had trouble falling asleep. I mean, I just cannot do it.
I can't shut it off. Surely there's something better
to do, more fun to do than sleep. And I was a little boy. I remember
my mother telling me this, now it's time to go take a nap. And
I said, there's no point. I'm not going to fall asleep.
And you know what she'd say? Just go in there and be still, and
you'll fall asleep. And sometimes that worked. But
I'm telling you, often it did not. Because I could keep my
body still, but my mind could not be still. I still have that
trouble today, you know. And like I said, I'm not good
at falling asleep. I can't give you any advice about
how to do it. But this I know. I've learned this from experience.
You cannot sleep when your mind's active. Well, when you come before
God in prayer, be still. Just be still. What do I mean by be still? Come
before God in prayer. Lay your heart out open to Him.
And don't offer Him suggestions about what to do to fix your
problem. That's being active. Be still. Be still. Just lay
your heart open before the Lord and leave it there. The songwriter
said, take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Don't
go back and pick it up. That's not being still. Leave
it there. Just leave it there. A sure cure
for insomnia is a heart that's still. A still heart is silent. waits on the Lord to accomplish
His purpose. I've laid my heart open to Him.
I've laid bare my burden. I've laid bare my heart's desire. Now be still, be silent, and
wait on the Lord to accomplish His will. You can be still if
the Lord saved you. If He saved you, you know how
to be still. You have to be still in order to be saved, don't you?
You can't do any work in order to be saved. Christ has got to
do all the work. You just be still and see the
salvation of the Lord. Now, if Christ has saved me,
there's nothing for me to do. Why wouldn't I be still? There's
nothing left to do. There's nothing left to worry
about it. Christ has done it all. Then be still. Rest in peace. And then seventh, a sure cure
for insomnia is trusting Christ alone. Verse five, offer the
sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. Now,
what is the sacrifice of righteousness? Well, the sacrifice of Christ,
our righteousness, that's our sacrifice. And all the sacrifices
of righteousness were all the sacrifices that were offered
in the Old Testament. when they were offered as a picture
of Christ. I show you that in Psalm 51. Psalm 51 verse 19. Then shall thou be pleased with
the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole
burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
Now, the only way the Lord could have been pleased with all those
different animal sacrifices is if they were offered as pictures
of Christ, is if they were offered in faith, looking to Christ,
our sacrifice, if they were offered, putting our trust in the Lord.
Now, that's the only sacrifice the father has ever been pleased
with. It's the sacrifice of Christ. So if we come to the father through
Christ, if we come to the father through his sacrifice, if we
come to the father trusting, that Christ is all of my salvation. That His sacrifice has removed
all of my sin. His sacrifice has made me accepted
and there's no doubt about it. I'll be accepted. I know that
because that's what our Lord said. Our Lord said, shall not
God avenge His own elect which cry unto Him day and night? I
tell you, He will avenge them. He will hear them. speedily,
our Lord said, so that gives me confidence to come to the
Lord in Christ. David says here at the end of
verse eight, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. That's how we can lie down in
peace when we know that we dwell in safety. And that's what a
believer has when we trust Christ alone. If we trust Christ alone,
We have safety. Now, if it's me plus Jesus, I'm
not too safe because I'm going to not be able to hold up my
end of the bargain. But if I'm trusting Christ alone,
I've got safety and I can have peace. If I'm in Christ, I'm
safe from all my sins. Every one of us is late awake
at night just, oh, agony over our sin. Just beating ourselves.
Why'd you do that? Why'd you say that? Why'd you
think that? Just our sin is just... God, He's just gonna cast me
out? I mean, I would! I mean, how could God stand me?
And we beat ourselves up about our sin, don't we? Just, oh,
it worries us. I used to have a friend. I mean,
he just worried every day about the sins of his youth. Well,
there's one place there's safety from that sin. It's in Christ. If Christ put my sin away, In Christ, I'm safe from condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's only had by trusting Christ
alone. In Christ, I'm safe from the second death. This body's
got to die. It's got to be changed. But I'm
safe from the second death because Christ already died as my substitute.
In Christ, I'm safe from Satan. Christ crushed his head at Calvary.
I don't have to fear him. He's on God's chain. He's on
God's leash. I'm safe from him. Now that is
peace and rest that a believer has in the heart and you cannot
know it. You cannot know that peace. You
cannot know that kind of rest unless you know Christ. As Lord
David says in verse 6, there be many that say, who shall show
us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us." The world says, who will show
us any good? To the world, just any old good
is good enough. Just give me any of the goods
of this world and that'll be enough. I can gather enough together
so I can feel secure and then I can sleep. But the believer
says, just any good, just any old good of this world, that's
not going to satisfy my soul. The believer says, give me good. That word any is in italics. It was added by the translator.
The believer says, the only thing that's gonna do my soul any good
is Christ. Who's gonna give me good? The
only way we can have good is in Christ. Give me Christ. He's
the one who's good. If you would do any good to my
soul, if you do any good to me, the only way you can do it is
by showing me Christ. Show me Christ. I was at a conference recently.
Brother Bruce Crabtree was there. The pressure was off Bruce. He
preached the night before. I was to preach that morning.
And Bruce came up to me and said, Boy, I've been praying for you
this morning. He said, Can you do any good for the poor heart
of this sinner? I said, Bruce, my intention is
to preach Christ. He said, Oh, that'll do it. That'll
do it. Who's gonna show me good? The
only way we'll ever see good is if somebody dares preach Christ
to us. If somebody lifts up the light
of God's countenance upon us, if we ever see the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, that will give us security. That'll
give us peace so we can lie down and sleep. And this good that's
found in Christ, it's real, it's real gladness, it's real joy
that'll never run out. Christ in the heart will give
peace, lie down and sleep, no matter what our circumstances
may be. Verse seven. Thou has put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
You know, the world's only glad when they've had a good harvest.
If their barn's full of corn and wine, they're glad, aren't
they? But what happens if there's no
harvest? What happens if a drought or locust or something come through
and kill the harvest? What happens if there's no harvest?
What happens if the barn's empty? Hmm. The world doesn't have any
reason to have peace, are they? The world has no reason to be
glad. What happens to the believer when the Lord empties the barn?
You think you've got a barn full, saved up for a rainy day. What
happens when the Lord empties the barn? Now that's a severe
trial. Just if it's physically speaking,
the Lord empties the barn. I don't got nothing, no food
to eat. That's a trial. I mean, I understand food's not
the greatest blessing. It's food, you know, it's not
the blessing my soul needs. But I need to eat. I mean, you
know, if I'm gonna stay alive. What happens when the Lord empties
the barn? What happens when the Lord just
burns the barn to the ground? Is there any gladness to be found?
Is there any peace to be found? The Lord Jesus Christ is so precious
to the believer that even when he takes everything else away,
I find joy and peace in Christ. In verse one, David said, thou
hast enlarged me when I was in distress. What that means is
when I was in distress, I was in a tight fix and you enlarged
me. You made a way to to take the
pressure off of me. And he also means this, when
I was in the midst of trouble and distress and sorrow, you
enlarged my heart and made room for peace, even in that time. So as long as I have Christ in
the heart, I've got peace that the world cannot understand. And the believer learns this.
We normally don't learn it just once. We have to be taught over
and over again. This is true. Every believer in this room will
amen this. This is what we've learned by
experience. I can't do without everything that I have. I don't want to do without them.
When the Lord takes them away, it hurts. I don't want to do
without Him, but I can do without Him. But I cannot do without
Christ. I can't live without Him. I can't
have peace without Him. When everything else is taken
away, my body is going to suffer. But my soul is going to lie down
in peace and sleep if I have Christ. In short, Christ is the
cure for insomnia. Christ is the cure. The only
way my soul can have any peace and rest is if I'm in Christ. The only way this body can lie
down in death in peace is if I'm in Christ. So if you find
rest for your soul, look to Christ. Just look to Christ. Lie down
in Christ and you'll have peace. You lie down in Him and you'll
sleep soundly. And I hope the Lord will bless
that to His glory and to our good. Let's bow in prayer. Father, how we thank You for
this sweet psalm of comfort and assurance and peace and rest
by revealing the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how I pray that You would
reveal Christ to each of our hearts here this evening. Reveal
Christ to us. Cause us to find our rest Cause
us to find our true peace and joy in Him. Cause us to see everything
else in this world, the joys, the pleasures of this world,
and the sorrows and the heartaches of this world in light of who
you are, in light of your greatness, in light of the preciousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And cause us to seek Him above
all. Father, enable us to seek and
to find the Lord Jesus Christ, to find in Him everything you
require of us, everything we need, and to be able to rest
in Him, to lie down and sleep peacefully, knowing all is well,
Christ is the Savior. And when that day comes that
we lie down in the death of this body and you call us home, I
will look forward to resting in peace, sleeping in peace,
having our soul rest with all because of the mercy, the sure
mercies of David, your mercy and grace to your people. Father, apply your word to our
hearts, we pray, for your glory and for our good. It's in the
precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the
glory of his name, we pray and give thanks.