Morning. Good to be with you
all this morning. Open your Bibles with me, if you would, to Psalm
chapter four. Psalm chapter four. While you're
turning there, I'd ask you a question. Have you ever struggled to fall
asleep? You ever tossed and turned all
night and just had a bad night's sleep? Maybe you're awake thinking
about everything going on in this world. Worried about the
trouble in different places. Thinking about all the scary
things we see on the news. Maybe you're worried about all
the things going on in your life. You know, who's picking up the
kids this week? What projects you got going on
at work? The errands you gotta run and that list, it just goes
on and on and on. Maybe you're concerned about
the health and well-being of you and your family. Maybe someone's
sick and hurting and it just seems to be getting worse and
worse and worse. Maybe you're up at night mourning
your sin, mourning everything that you are, everything that
I am. all these sinful and wicked thoughts.
Why do I act this way? Why do I think this way? I'll
be sitting and feel like the Lord's blessing me with something.
And then all of a sudden, where in the world did that come from?
How did that pop in my head? You know, like our brother John
Newton, you know, when I look within myself, all is dark and
vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I deem myself a
child? Why do I think this way? Why
do I act this way? I claim to be a believer. How
many nights are we up thinking that and we just cannot sleep?
Those are hard and painful nights. But then every now and then,
you just fall asleep so peacefully. Maybe you heard something in
a message, or the Lord brings a scripture to your mind, and
you're at rest, and you're at peace, and you just fall asleep
so easy. And you wake up, and you feel
so rested. And you know, I want that. I need that. I need those
nights of good sleep. And that's the title of my message
this morning, good sleep. And it seems as time goes on,
those nights of good sleep be less and less and less. And we
need that rest. We need some of those nights
of good sleep. But the real rest I'm talking
about, it's not the recommended eight hours that everybody says
we're supposed to get. I'm talking about true rest,
true good sleep, true peace. And contrary to what this world
says, there's only one true place of rest, just one. Our rest is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe our Lord has given
us some rest right here in Psalm chapter four. Look at verse eight
with me first. David says, I will both lay me
down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell
in safety. We read of peace and sleep. Why can we have peace and sleep?
Because of thou, Lord, thou, Lord, it's because of him. And
it's because of him only, thou Lord only, makest me dwell in
safety. We are safe and secure in him. That's our hope. That's our rest.
And I believe in this whole psalm, our Lord has given us reason
to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. So just for a few minutes here
this morning, let's go through this psalm together and see the
rest and the peace and the good sleep that our Lord has given
his people. Look at verse one here at Psalm
four. 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 starts this Psalm by saying,
hear me. How often on those sleepless
nights when we have no idea what to pray or what to ask the Lord,
we just cry, Lord, hear me. Lord, hear my cry. We need him
to hear us. And aren't we thankful because
of the Lord Jesus Christ? He does hear us. He hears the
cry of his people. David says, hear me when I call,
O God of my righteousness. David's saying, Lord, you are
my only righteousness. You are my only hope. Hear my
cry. He says, you've enlarged me in
distress. David's looking back and all
this troubles that David's have been in. And he says, Lord, you've
enlarged me in the past. You've heard me in the past.
You brought me. You brought me through so much. Can't that be
said for us? How many trials and troubles
has the Lord brought his people through? Has he brought us through?
Can't we cry with David? Lord, you've heard me. You've
enlarged me. Would you hear me again? Would you hear my cry
again? Will you help me again? I'm so thankful he hears our
cries. In Isaiah 65, we read, and it shall come to pass that
before they call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. He says, I will hear. Is there
any doubt in that? I will, I will hear. And yet
so many times because of our sin and our doubt and our unbelief,
it feels like he doesn't. But listen, this isn't based
on my feelings. And aren't we thankful that this
isn't based on our feelings? My feelings are up and down and
sideways and every which way. But this is according to his
word. And his word is the same yesterday, today, forever. He's
the same. He doesn't change. According
to his word, he hears his people. Turn over with me just a couple
pages to Psalm 39. Psalm 39, look at verse 12. David here, he's crying again.
And what does he say in verse 12? He says, hear my prayer,
O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my
tears, for I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner, as all
my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover
strength, before I go hence and be no more." David's crying again. He says, Lord, hear my cry. He says, spare me. He says, help
me. And look down in the next chapter,
there's Psalm 40. Look at verse one. What does
David say? He said, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he
inclined unto me, and he heard my cry. I'll say it again. Aren't we glad that he hears
our cries? Aren't we glad he hears our cries?
If he hears us, We can say with David back in Psalm 4, I will
both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only,
makest me dwell in safety. Turn back to Psalm 4 in our text. Look at verse 2. David says,
O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing? Selah,
pause and think. Here we read of the vanity and
pride of man. Verse two says, how long will
you turn my glory into shame? Can't we see the words of our
Lord here? How long will you turn my glory into shame? But
this is also David speaking. And again, David says, how long
will you turn my glory into shame? Well, what is David's glory?
What's the glory of any believer? The Apostle Paul says this in
Galatians chapter six, but God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our only glory is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He gets all the glory. His work,
his finished work is glorious. He is glorious. To think that
God Almighty became a man and he took on himself the form of
a servant and he took our sins and sacrificed himself to save
us, to save a wicked people. Some of some of Adam's fallen
race. That's glorious. He is glorious. We read, how
long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love
vanity and seek after leasing? It means to seek after lies.
This whole world is seeking after lies. Right now, all over this
town and all over this world, there are people standing in
pulpits that are telling lies and turning his glory into shame. They're standing, most of them
probably, talking about a man named Jesus and saying that he
died on a cross. But they say he died for everyone
and that he loves everybody. And now it's up to you to make
a decision. That's turning his glory into shame. Those are lies. Those people are lying on God. And that seems to be most of
this world. You know, you go to work or the grocery store and
most of them probably are going to say that. They're probably
going to say God loved everybody and Christ died for everybody. And
it's up to you. Those are the biggest lies ever told. Those
are lies. That's not the truth. Our Lord
spoke in Malachi and said, Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith
the Lord? Yet I love Jacob and I hated
Esau. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. And that's the truth. And men
and women by nature, Don't want to hear it. But that's the truth.
How long did we not want to hear that? How many of us did we not
want to hear that truth, that same truth? Another lie they
like to tell is that Christ died for good people. Again, that's
not true. That's a lie. The truth can be
found in First Timothy, where Paul says that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners and not just, you know, everyday
sinners, the chief of sinners. He said, I came to say he came
to save sinners of whom I am chief. How long? How long will
you seek after lies? Again, how many of us believe
those lies? And that's what we do by nature.
We choose to believe lies rather than bowing to the truth of the
gospel, the truth of God's word. In 2 Thessalonians, we're told
him, for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie. And that's all of us. We choose
to believe these lies because we're dead. And that's all we
believe. And that's all we're ever going
to believe unless God reaches down His hand in mercy and causes
us to believe on Him and look to Him. But again, we all deserve
death because we believe that lie. And that's a scary thought. But we've got some good news
here in verse 3. Look at verse 3 of Psalm 4. David
says, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long
will you speak these lies and believe these lies? But in verse
three, what does David say? He says, but he says, but don't
we don't we love that word when we see it in the scripture? But
I feel like when I see that or I read, I can just just take
a deep breath. I know I'm about to read something
good. David says, but know that the Lord hath set apart him that
is godly for himself, the Lord will hear. When I call on him,
the Lord has set apart. The Lord has separated. The Lord
has made a difference. The Lord has made a wonderful
difference. All of us by nature, we seek
lies and vanity and we deserve death. But God. But God sovereignly chose a people
to save. He chose to set apart a remnant
for himself. God elected a people. That's
so loving and so kind. If he didn't do that, no one
would be saved. Doesn't that make us want to
cry for mercy? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Save me. Aren't
we thankful that he chose to be merciful to some sinners,
that he chose to save a people, and that the Lord Jesus Christ
came and died for those people? Doesn't that give us rest? Doesn't
that make us say with David, I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep, for thou, Lord, only, makest me dwell in safety. That's
our only hope. He's our only hope, that he would
show me mercy, that he would be merciful to me. Look now at
verse four. We read, stand in all and sin
not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Selah. We read, stand in all. Stand in fear. Stand and tremble. Stand in reverence. Last summer,
me and Clara, we took a trip out west. We went up to California,
and we spent a couple weeks out there. And it was a really good
trip. And we saw just some incredible scenery. And I felt like there
was a part of this trip where I felt like I had this feeling
of awe. And we went to Yosemite National Park. And up at the
top of this park, it's called Glacier Point. You get to the
very tip top and the view is just incredible. You can see
Half Dome and Yosemite Falls and just this other big mountain
range. And it's incredible. And so we get up there and there's
like a little overlook with a guardrail and you can walk up to it and
you get your picture taken. And all these people are standing
up next to this guardrail. And so we walk up and we just
see and we're just, man, we're just amazed. And then I looked
down and there's about a 3,000 foot drop to the bottom of Yosemite
Valley. And there's what I think is a
pretty big house, but to me it looks to be about that big. And
I remember I just stood back and I was just shaking and I
felt like I was in awe. I mean, to think of looking at
just God's creation and how wonderful it was and incredible, but knowing
if I took one wrong step, that was it. I was in awe. How much
more in all should we be in the presence of God Almighty? Standing
in all, it's not just standing being amazed or standing and
loving what we see, though we do those things. In Psalm 33,
8, we're told, let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants
of the world stand in all of Him. Standing in all is standing
in reverence, standing in fear, knowing that I am in the hands
of God Almighty. and he can do with me whatever
he sees fit. That's standing in all. And I
heard someone give a list of things that we are to stand in
all of, and I wanted to go through them real quick. The first was
this. Stand in all at the very being
of God. There is none like him. I mean,
is there any like our God? In 2 Samuel, we're told, wherefore
thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee. Neither
is there any God beside thee. Stand in awe at the very being
of God. Secondly, we're to stand in awe
for his grace to you. By grace, you have been saved.
By grace, you're being saved. By grace, you will be saved.
In Ephesians, we're told, for by grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. He reached down His hand for
me. It's by His grace. Stand in awe of His grace. I
didn't make a decision. He reached down His hand. He
chose to save me. He chose to be merciful to me.
Stand in awe of His grace for you. Thirdly, stand in awe at
the love of God for you. In Romans, we're told, but God
commended His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Never get over his love for us,
for his people. This love, it's not for everybody.
His love's for his people. Rest in that. Stand in awe of
that. Stand in awe of his love. Fourth, we're to stand in awe
at his work of redemption for you. In first Peter, we're told
we weren't redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ. As of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, we have been purchased. We have been bought
with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been bought by
the blood of God Almighty. Stand in all of that. Stand in
all of his work of redemption. And then fifthly, stand in all
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand in all of who he is. We should always be amazed of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I think back to at a counting
mark where our Lord and his disciples, they were out on the water and
that big storm arose. And our Lord was asleep in the
hinder part of that ship. And all those disciples, they
started freaking out and they were running around and scared
to death. And they came and woke our Lord up. And our Lord spake
and he said, peace, be still. And immediately there was quiet. And you know what those disciples
said? In Mark 4, we read, And they
feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of
man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Stand in
awe of the fact that Jesus Christ is God Almighty. Stand in awe
of him. Look at verse 4 again. Stand
in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed. and be still. We're told to stand
in awe and sin not, to commune with your own heart upon your
bed. If I truly look within my heart, what am I gonna see? If
I commune with my own heart, all I'm gonna see is this sinful
and wicked flesh, no goodness in myself, and yet at the end
of verse four, what do we read? Be still. How in the world can
I be still and be at rest, knowing full well who and what I am?
Well, look at verse five. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. Who offered the sacrifice of
righteousness? The Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous
one, the perfect one. He is righteousness. He sacrificed
himself for his people. You know, I'm full of this sinful
and wickedness. And he took that on himself and
he sacrificed himself for me. He lived a perfect life and bled
and died on Calvary Street to put away the sin of his people.
He offered the sacrifice of righteousness. He is the sacrifice of righteousness. And that sacrifice, that's our
only hope. He is our only hope. Verse 5
says, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust
in the Lord. The end of verse 4 says to be
still, to be at rest. How can I? How can I be still?
Trust in the Lord. Trust in His sacrifice. Trust
in Him. What all should I trust in Him
for? Trust Him with everything. Absolutely everything. Trust
in Him. In Psalm 46, 10, we're told,
be still and know that I am God. How can we be still? Know. Know
that He is God. Know that He is exactly who He
says He is. Trust Him. Trust in the Lord.
Turn over with me to Proverbs 3, a familiar passage of scripture
here. Proverbs chapter 3, look at verse
5. Proverbs 3, verse 5 says, Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy paths. Oh, I wish I could do that. I
wish I could trust him like I ought. I wish I could. Lord, cause me
to trust you more and more. Cause me to trust you like a
little child trusts their parents. I've got a cousin back home,
and he's got a little daughter. And her name's Sailor, and she's
about three years old. And back in the fall, we were
all out playing in the backyard, and we had this big Halloween
scarecrow. And it was pretty scary looking.
And she was playing around that thing. me being stupid. I grabbed part of that scarecrow
and I kind of jump at her and it scares her. And so she goes
running to her Paul, that's her grandpa, and she goes running
up to him and he picks her up and she climbs up on his shoulders.
So I walk over and she sits there for a second still looking kind
of scared and then she just gets real serious and she looks at
me and she goes, I'm not scared of you. And so I shoot back at
her and I'm like, well why not? She said, because I'm on my Paul's
shoulders. because I'm on my Paul's shoulders.
Shouldn't we as believers be able to say that? If the Lord
Jesus Christ died for me, he's carrying us. We're on his shoulders. He's not going to let anything
happen to us unless he purposes it. Nothing's going to touch
us. He's upholding us and carrying us through this life. Do we really
have any reason to be afraid? Turn over with me to Isaiah 41.
I want you to read this real quick. Isaiah 41. or to be able
to trust Him. Isaiah 41, look at verse 10. We read, Fear thou not, for I
am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. If we're His, He's carrying us. He's upholding us. He is with
us. So be still. Be at peace. Trust in him. Hope in him. Not hoping in anything
in ourselves. Hoping in him. Trusting in him.
And if our Lord causes us to know this, if he reveals this
to us, to believe this, to take him at his word, we can say with
David, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. For thou,
Lord, only, makest me dwell in safety. Turn back with me to
Psalm chapter 4. Psalm chapter 4. Psalm 4, look at verse 6. David
says, There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord,
lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. David says,
All around us, there's people saying, Is anything good ever
going to happen to me? Anything good ever going to happen? And
they're saying, I want this and I want that. And I guarantee
you that there are people right now that are probably asking
for mercy and for grace, but that's not what they want. They
want a good religious feeling. They want to feel respected for
the work that they're doing. That's what people are asking
for. They're asking for that good. But what does what does
David say at the end of that verse there? He says, Lord, lift
thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Lord, let us have thy
favor. This right here, this is the
true good that we need. We need God's favor. We need
his mercy. We need his his grace. We need
him. I am a sinner, nothing at all.
Jesus Christ is my all in all. That's our hope. He is. We need
him, his favor. And listen, if we have his favor,
if we have God's favor, that's what brings true happiness. Look
at verse seven. David says, thou has put gladness
in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their
wine increased. David says, even when those others
have, they seem like they've got everything. He said, Lord,
you put gladness in my heart. He said, you've made me to rejoice,
not in a religious feeling or because I shook the preacher's
hand, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in him. He is our reason to rejoice.
This world seems to have everything. We think they've got everything
they could want, but we're more happy. We have more of a reason
to rejoice. Why? Because of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, you've put gladness
in my heart. The gladness this world experiences, it's going
to fade away. Just like that, it's all going to be gone. But
the gladness he gives, it endures forever. It goes forever. And
after all that, brings us right here to verse eight where we
started. We read, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. For thou, Lord, only, makest
me dwell in safety. Doesn't that just settle our
hearts down just a little bit? Doesn't it make us want to have
good sleep? I will both lay me down in peace
Who is our peace? Christ is our peace. The Lord
Jesus Christ is my peace. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our
peace. I will both lay me down and in Christ, in him I have
peace and sleep. For thou, Lord, only, makest
me dwell in safety. God is the only one who makes
us dwell in safety. And listen, this right here,
this gives us peace to rest and go to sleep in this life, you
know, hopefully to have a better night's sleep. And it's comfort
to us when trials come and things come up. But listen, this right
here is a word of comfort because there's going to be coming a
time where we get to lay our eyes, we get to close our eyes
and we get to lay down and we get to sleep forever in Him.
And we get to awaken and be with our peace and be with our rest
and be with our comfort with the Lord Jesus Christ forever.
Now in closing, I just want to read a couple of scriptures to
you here. In Psalm 121, we read, He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. We can sleep and have rest and peace because he never
does. He never slumbers nor sleeps.
In Psalm 127 too, we read, It is vain for you to rise up early.
To sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, so he giveth his
beloved sleep. Not everyone, he gives it to
his beloved. He gives it to his sheep. And then lastly, we've
got time, turn with me here to Proverbs 3 again. Just turn over
to Proverbs 3. Proverbs chapter 3, look at verse
24 with me. Proverbs 3, verse 24. We read, when thou liest down,
thou shalt not be afraid. Yea, thou shalt lie down, and
thy sleep shall be sweet. You know, when people truly rest
and truly sleep, when there's no more work to be done, when
there's nothing left to do, he finished the work. It's finished.
So rest in him. Just lie down. Don't be afraid. And your sleep, it's going to
be sweet. Oh, I long for that. I want that. I want that good
sleep. All right.